Browsing by Subject "science"
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Item Developing Kindergarten and Second Grade Teachers' Pedagogical Content Knowledge of Academic Science Vocabulary Instruction(2014-11-14) Venegas, Annette Mich?leAn extensive academic vocabulary in science is a critical component required for students' abilities to construct their own conceptual understandings about how things work in the natural and designed worlds. While science curriculum reformers use hands-on, minds-on scientific investigations to form the heart of science learning for young children, the acquisition of science vocabulary is also an essential part of the process of science learning. Words allow students to communicate their ideas to others and "make sense" of the world. Words are the representations of experiences and ideas about students' experiences within the world. Despite the importance of vocabulary acquisition, little research has been done on methods for teaching primary students academic science vocabulary. The purpose of this study was to explore how professional development alters primary grade teachers' abilities to incorporate vocabulary instruction during science lessons. The solution explored in this record of study was to develop and assess the effectiveness of a self-designed model for professional learning preparing teachers in primary grades to teach academic science vocabulary. This model included four and a half hours of professional learning, a pre- and post- vocabulary questionnaire, four classroom observations including instructional support and coaching, post-observation conversations, one interview per participant, and one group discussion. The study took place over a four-month period. Participants included three kindergarten teachers and three second-grade teachers, and took place in a rural public primary school near San Antonio, Texas. The researcher used a mixed methods approach to investigate teachers' subsequent use of vocabulary instruction methods in their own classes while teaching science. Quantitative data were collected from teachers' responses to the Science Vocabulary Questionnaire (SVQ). Additionally, the rating scale on the Science Classroom Observation Worksheet (SCOW) was used to generate a scaled score. Qualitative data included teachers' open-ended responses from the SVQ, observational notes entered on the Rationale for Rating section on the SCOW, teachers' responses to post-observation interview questions, and teachers' responses during the informal group discussion. Analyses of the data revealed five out of six teachers implemented suggested methods of teaching academic science vocabulary during their science lessons. Furthermore, four of the six teachers consistently improved their practices of teaching vocabulary instruction after each individual professional development sessions. In the teachers? final remarks regarding their professional development experiences, five out of six teachers stated they believed the individualized model of professional support was more effective than whole group professional development. Results from this exploratory study provide preliminary evidence associating the professional development model the researcher developed with teachers' improved used of vocabulary instruction during science lessons.Item Hearing the Voices of Alternatively Certified Teachers in Texas: Narratives of Teaching English Language Learners in Urban Secondary Mainstream Classrooms(2012-11-21) Zannou, YetundeIn Texas, nearly half of all new teachers are alternatively certified (AC) whilst English language learners (ELL) are over one-third of the public school population in some districts. As this trend continues, the likelihood that AC teachers will teach ELLs increases and alters what Texas teachers must know upon entering the classroom. This research explores teacher knowledge and beliefs about teaching ELLs through constructivist and narrative lenses. Four AC science teachers in two diverse school districts participated in in-depth interviews and reflective interviews following classroom observations to answer the research questions: (1) how do AC teachers describe and interpret their acts of teaching ELLs in mainstream classrooms; and (2) how do AC teachers describe and interpret their learning to teach ELLs in mainstream classrooms. Data were transcribed and analyzed using thematic narrative methods. This study found that participants saw ELL instruction as: (1) "just good teaching" strategies, (2) consisting primarily of cultural awareness and consideration for student comfort, and (3) less necessary in science where all students must learn the language. The most experienced teacher was the only participant to reference specific linguistic knowledge in describing ELL instruction. Many of the teachers described their work with ELL students as giving them an opportunity to improve their lives, which was consistent with their overall teaching philosophy and reason for entering the profession. Participant narratives about learning to teach ELLs described personal experience and person-to-person discussions as primary resources of knowledge. District support was generally described as unhelpful or incomplete. Participants portrayed their AC program as helpful in preparing them to work with ELL students, but everyone desired more relevant information from the program and more grade-appropriate strategies from the district. Participant narratives reveal AC teachers needed a pragmatic and less theoretical understanding of diversity during pre-service training. Participant tendency to draw upon "common sense", affective, and practical strategies in teaching ELL students in lieu of the state-mandated English language proficiency standards (ELPS) suggests AC programs should have teachers articulate and discuss their beliefs about ELL instruction in order to provide training targeted towards misconceptions about language development, particularly in science.Item Impacts of graduate student content specialists serving in middle school classrooms on teachers and graduate students(2009-05-15) Mowen, Diana L.Improving student achievement is a major concern across the United States. One strategy being implemented to help students achieve in math and science is the partnering of teachers with professionals in math and science careers. One such program is the Fellows Integrate Math/Science in Rural Middle Schools program, from which this research stems. The intent of the program was to match middle school teachers with graduate students preparing for careers in science, technology, mathematics, or engineering fields. The graduate students spent ten hours a week in classrooms, interacting with teachers and students. Improved student performance in math and science, improved teacher content knowledge, and improved graduate student communication skills were expected program outcomes. This research assessed the impact of program participation on the teachers and graduate students involved. Data were collected from 33 middle school teachers and 33 graduate students over the course of two years of program participation. Questionnaires included a pre post measurement of knowledge, experience, and comfort level with education related groups and issues and summative program evaluations. Major findings of the research included: 1. Teacher knowledge, experience, and comfort levels with education related groups and issues did not change significantly because of participation in the program. 2. Graduate students experienced a decrease in knowledge, experience, and comfort level with several education related groups and issues from the beginning of the school year to the end. Knowledge decreases were noted with the following groups and issues: a. High school students b. Teaching college students c. Theories of learning d. Planning a project e. Following through on project tasks Experience level decreases were noted with the following groups and issues: a. Science education reform b. Current issues in K-12 education c. Teaching college students d. Theories of learning e. Assessing student learning Comfort level decreases were noted with the following groups and issues: a. Elementary school students b. University faculty engaged in K-12 education c. Science education reform d. Teaching college students e. Theories of learning f. Evaluating educational activities 3. Graduate student gender, race, and age were not found to be predictors of success in this partnership program.Item Romantic Science: Science and Romance as Literary Modes in Sir Kenelm Digby's Loose Fantasies and Two Treatises(2010-07-14) Streeter, Michael T.This thesis argues that 17th century polymath Sir Kenelm Digby treats his scientific discourses as psychological romances in his works Loose Fantasies and Two Treatises, with his use of courtly romantic tropes, and that a contemporary audience would have read Digby's scientific treatises as literary. I first argue that science and romance in Digby's narrative romance Loose Fantasies are literary modes of the text's narrative form and that these modes are not mutually exclusive, since science is a "pyschodrama" to Digby, who is both the audience and author of these putative "private memoirs." I then relate Digby's "romantic science" in Loose Fantasies to his "poetike Idea of science" in Digby's Two Treatises in order to argue that while the treatise is traditionally received as a philosophical discourse, it is also a work of literary criticism. I conclude that Digby's "poetike Idea of science" is always unstable, because Digby cannot choose between the primacy of language and ideas in human cognition, due to the rapid rationalistic developments in epistemology during his time.