Browsing by Subject "Preservice"
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Item Knowledge and understanding of probability and statistics topics by preservice PK-8 teachers(Texas A&M University, 2005-11-01) Carter, Tamara AnthonyGiven the importance placed on probability and statistics in the PK-8 curriculum by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (2000) and on teachers by the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (1995) and the Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences (2001), it is important to know how well preservice teachers understand topics that are vital to a thorough understanding of the probability and statistics topics emphasized by national standards. It is necessary for a teacher to thoroughly understand the subject matter in order to teach effectively, but that is not sufficient. A teacher must also be able to successfully communicate with the students about that material. Therefore, this study utilized a standards- and literature-based assessment to study 210 preservice teachers with the goal of taking the first step in determining whether current PK-8 preservice teachers are prepared to teach select probability and statistics topics specified in standards documents. The assessment contains 11 probability and statistics items with a total of 23 parts in a variety of shortanswer, multiple-choice, and extended-response formats. It is described in detail in Chapter III and reproduced in Appendix A. A confirmatory factor analysis indicated that for this sample of PK-8 preservice teachers, the assessment measured the underlying constructs on which it was based. Preservice teachers?? ability to answer these items varied greatly. For short-answer and multiple-choice items, the percentage of preservice teachers incorrectly answering an item was as high as 87% and as low as 18%. For extended-response items, incorrect answers were provided by as few as 12% of the participants on one item and by as many as 83% on another. Individual responses were analyzed to illustrate correct conceptions and misconceptions of these preservice teachers. There was not a statistically significant difference between responses based on the grade band the participants were preparing to teach, but students specializing in mathematics and science did perform better than other participants. Although effect sizes were small, the amount of time elapsed since an elementary statistics class was taken and the number of methods courses taken were positively associated with performance on this assessment.Item The synergy between scientists and experienced educators : an examination of dialogues for professional development opportunities within a team of university instructors who prepare pre-service secondary STEM teachers at an RU/VH research university(2011-05) Buckley, Deanna H.; Barufaldi, James P.; Marshall, Jill A.; Marder, Michael; Brown, Keffrelyn; Walker, MaryProfessional development is an essential component to maintaining quality teaching in mathematics and science (Monk, 1994; Milken, 2000; Loucks-Horsley et al, 2003). University mathematics and science faculty have been subject to criticism regarding professional development and teaching practices (CSMEE, 2000; NRC, 1999; NSES, 1996). Undergraduate students in secondary pre-service Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) teacher training programs adopt the models that they have experienced as learners in the university setting (NRC, 1999). This qualitative case study followed a team of three research faculty, one lecturer, one master teacher, and two graduate teaching assistants who team taught an upper level inquiry- based science research methods science course in a STEM teacher preparation program in the College of Natural Sciences at a large public Midwestern research university. Course instructor dialogue between members was recorded, transcribed and triangulated with teaching sequences, course materials, and student interaction during two semesters. The study detailed how faculty members’ and graduate teaching assistants’ content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about teaching and learning were confronted, challenged, and transformed using interdependent disquisition via regular weekly meetings and team teaching practices. Examples of actual dialogue and meeting characteristics are presented compared and discussed against best practices in science education. Four themes emerged from the data: (1) students’ inquiries drive the conversation, (2) confrontations sort out what works from what doesn’t, (3) leadership seems to contribute to learning opportunities for the team and (4) humor indicates the divergent creative abilities of the members of the team and engaging in humorous episodes facilitates learning between team members. Students were directly connected to team members’ developmental processes. This analysis suggests that measurable professional development opportunities exist in team meetings for science faculty and graduate teaching assistants when team teaching inquiry based undergraduate science courses.Item Theory and practice : preservice teachers negotiating critical literacy(2016-12) Wiebe, Molly Trinh; Worthy, Jo; Wetzel, Melissa; De Lissovoy, Noah; Martínez, Ramón A; Keating, Elizabeth LIn this qualitative research study, I examined how preservice teachers learned to implement critical literacy. I looked at four preservice teachers’ critical literacy teaching and learning experiences across contexts, from early schooling experiences to program coursework into student teaching experience. Ethnographic methods were used to collect data across one academic school year. The data corpus included observations in multiple contexts, field notes, interviews, and documents. Critical pedagogy (Freire, 1996; Freire & Macedo, 1978) and critical literacy theory (Lewison et al., 2002) provided the theoretical underpinnings for this study. The research findings revealed that student teaching in a public school with a rigid schedule is a challenging place to learn to do critical literacy. The findings also point to the importance of developing mentorship models with an emphasis on cooperating teacher-preservice teacher reflections. Implications for practitioners, teacher educators and researchers, and policy are discussed.