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Full-Text Articles in Education
“How Am I A Maker Making A Makerspace?” : A Focus On Teachers In Practice Self-Authoring As Makers In Constrained K-8 Spaces, Bridget Looney
“How Am I A Maker Making A Makerspace?” : A Focus On Teachers In Practice Self-Authoring As Makers In Constrained K-8 Spaces, Bridget Looney
Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects
Although there has been an abundance of empirical inquiry into making in recent years, interestingly, and despite growing interest in the integration of making into N-12 education, little seems to be known empirically about the ways in which teachers are implementing making and creating makerspaces in their own classrooms. Very little direct attention has been paid to ‘pioneer’ N-12 teachers who are engaging students in making. This gap in the research obscures our understanding of how teachers think about making, how they practice as teachers and makers, and how their school context might influence their teaching and making practices. This …
A Community Of Practice Approach To Teacher Learning, Jayne L. Tanis
A Community Of Practice Approach To Teacher Learning, Jayne L. Tanis
Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects
Teacher effectiveness has been targeted by government agencies and educational think tanks for raising student achievement and providing equitable education for all. Exploring how teachers enacted their development of practice in a teacher-initiated learning community of practice to improve student achievement in mathematics exposed mediating factors responsible for teacher learning. This qualitative study drew upon Aristotle’s discussion of phronesis and Lave and Wenger’s (1991) concept of legitimate peripheral participation to interpret how artifacts produced within and across communities of practice reified the elements of collaborative teacher learning that lead to changes in instructional practice during a reform initiative. These findings …
Grassroots Professional Learning : The Homegrown And Human Dimensions Of Teacher Learning, Heather A. Frank Matteo
Grassroots Professional Learning : The Homegrown And Human Dimensions Of Teacher Learning, Heather A. Frank Matteo
Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects
This qualitative study was prompted by the current climate of teacher accountability and educational reform efforts focused on teacher quality and effectiveness in the U.S. Initiatives, at both the national and state levels, reflect top-down professional development policies that tend to prioritize one-size-fits-all approaches to teacher development and ultimately serve to deprofessionalize teachers. As a result, little attention has been paid to understanding teachers’ professional learning in a grassroots sense. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine how a group of elementary school teachers of literacy engaged collectively in grassroots professional learning in the context of top-down professional …