Education Commons^™

Third- To Fifth-Grade Teachers’ Training And Their Confidence In Teaching Writing, Lysette Dorothy Cohen

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Third- to fifth-grade teachers are struggling to teach writing, and research had not addressed how their training to teach writing or their confidence in their ability to use effective strategies to teach writing influences their teaching. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore third- to fifth-grade teachers’ training in writing instruction and their confidence in their ability to use effective strategies to teach writing. The conceptual framework was Bandura’s theory of self-efficacy and Shulman’s theory of pedagogical content knowledge. Participants included nine third- to fifth-grade teachers who had experience teaching writing. Data were collected through semistructured interviews. …

Perceptions Of Preservice And Mentor Teachers Of Gaining Pedagogical Content Knowledge In Phonics And Phonemic Awareness, Penelope Maureen Montfort

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Research has shown that, although phonics and phonemic awareness predict reading success, a majority of early learners still lack these skills. Research also showed that a majority of preservice teachers (PSTs) in early childhood education teacher (ECTE) may not have gained adequate pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in phonics and phonemic awareness during their mentored practicums. This may have contributed to kindergarten students’ poor performance in phonics and phonemic awareness on the national literacy assessments between 2015 and 2018 in one education district in Guyana. These students are not prepared for reading success. Using a basic qualitative design, semistructured interviews were …

Pedagogical Content Knowledge (Pck) Change And Professional Development For Educators: An Assessment Of A Master’S In Chemistry Program For High School Science Teachers, Mary Charlotte Bautista

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The M.S. Chemistry – Chemical Education Specialization program at South Dakota State University provides in-depth general chemistry coursework to in-service high school science teachers in a virtual format. The goal of the program is for the teachers enrolled to become more effective teachers while gaining content knowledge in chemistry; in essence, to increase their pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). The aim of this study is to follow participants through their experience in this program in order to understand how the program’s requirements enhance its participants’ teaching and learning. A narrative framework follows one participant through their two-year experience in the program, …

Developing New Teachers' Pedagogical Content And Relationship Knowledge (Pcrk) During A One-Year Urban Residency Teacher Preparation Program, Daryl Essensa

Doctoral Dissertations

This study examined how participation in a full public school year-long urban teacher residency program influencedthe perceptions of 17 new middle and high school teacher candidates about the use of affective qualities of learning within their classroom practices as teachers—Pedagogical Content and Relationship Knowledge (PCRK).The preservice teachers in this study explored the relationship between pedagogy and student learning of subject matter through a variety of course-related assignments, which included classroom-based application of the pedagogical strategies learned in coursework, readings, and reflections. Individual interviews were used to evaluate how the course and the assignments influenced the instructional practices of the preservice …

Examination Of Experiential Phenomena Influencing Culinary Educators’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge, Danny Babin

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This study aimed to explore the theory of expert teaching by comparing culinary educators at the secondary and postsecondary levels based on their varying levels of experience. Experience for culinary educators included pre-service teacher training, in-service teacher training, professional industry experience, and teaching experience. The primary goal of this descriptive phenomenological study was to examine the impact professional experience has on culinary educators’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). Distinctions in PCK include collective PCK, personal PCK, and enacted PCK. PCK theory has been an integral part of educational research for over three decades; it has been studied, refined, and implemented into …

How Do Beliefs Come Into Play? An Examination Of The Influence Of Core Conceptions On Science Teachers’ Inquiry Lesson Plan Designs, Mehmet Fatih Dulger

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Teaching science through inquiry-based methodologies has been advocated by several governmental and professional organizations (National Research Council [NRC], 2000; NGSS Lead States, 2013); however, their use is not widespread. Why is this? What science teachers do in their classrooms is shaped by their beliefs, especially their beliefs about the nature of science, about the goals and purposes of school science and the goals of teaching science, and about the teaching and learning science. By critically examining these core conceptions and their influence on teacher lesson planning, this study aims to shed light on the role conceptions play when teachers design …

Student Teachers' Tpack Development And Technology Integration In The Shared Collective Lesson Planning, Chen Guo

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Collaborative lesson planning is an effective teacher training approach for improving teaching skills. One critical challenge is how to ensure effective collaboration and interaction among teachers. This study attempts to address this issue by proposing a pre-service teacher professional development model, Shared Collective Lesson Planning (SCLP). To illustrate how this model can be implemented, 24 student teachers were invited to participate in the SCLP activities. Their behaviors and strategies performed were presented and highlighted. Additionally, pre-service teachers are required to be competent in technological knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and content knowledge (TPACK) for successful pedagogical technology integration. Therefore, this study also …

Elementary Math Teachers' Narrated Noticing: What Occurs Between Teacher Listening And Teacher Response, Allison F. Stansbury

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

Teacher noticing requires listening to student sense-making, interpreting the mathematical understandings teachers hear, and deciding how to respond based on what they notice in a specific interaction. Teachers manage what they notice about students in instructional interactions to both make key teaching decisions and adjust their interactions with specific learners. Elementary teachers narrate their procedural and declarative knowledge in the moment between listening and deciding how to interact. The data is generated through qualitative interviewing, observation, and documentation. There is a cyclical process of listening to student sense-making, then recalling the student criteria that triggered an interaction, as well as …

A Validity Study Of The Cognitively Guided Instruction Teacher Knowledge Assessment, Debra Smith Fuentes

Theses and Dissertations

This study reports the development of an instrument intended to measure mathematics teachers' knowledge of Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI). CGI is a mathematics professional development framework based on how students think about and solve problems and how that knowledge guides instruction for developing mathematical understanding. The purpose of this study was to (a) analyze and revise the original CGI Teacher Knowledge Assessment (CGI TKA), (b) administer the revised CGI TKA, and (c) analyze the results from the revised CGI TKA. As part of the revision of the original CGI TKA, distractor analysis identified distractors that could be improved. Experts in …

Teacher Judgment Accuracy In The Domain Of Spelling, April Spencer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated first and second grade teachers’ understanding of their students’ skill in spelling words of varying difficulty. Specifically, teachers judged their students’ item- by-item performance on a twelve-item spelling test adapted from a commercially available developmental spelling inventory. Results showed that teachers’ judgments were accurate 77% of the time, a figure similar to accuracy levels reported in previous teacher judgment research in the area of literacy. The study also included an error analysis task that was designed to assess teachers’ knowledge of developmental spelling. Results revealed a significant relationship (r = .42) between teacher judgment accuracy and performance …

Preservice Science Teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge For Nature Of Science And Nature Of Scientific Inquiry: A Successful Case Study, Gunkut Mesci

Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation project is to explore preservice science teachers’ development of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) for targeted aspects of nature of science (NOS) and nature of scientific inquiry (NOSI). Through multiple data sources, it is examined how preservice science teachers’ understanding of NOS and NOSI have changed over the program, and manifests itself in their classroom practice. This is an exploratory multiple case study of participants’ experiences and developments during a teacher development program. Data is collected in the form of open-ended surveys, interviews, observations, lesson plans, video materials, and teaching documents. After all data is collected, …

Exploring Alternate Route Science Teacher Development Of Pedagogical Content Knowledge, Kim Feltre

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to understand how alternate route first year science teachers’ learning experiences gained from their alternate route courses translated into their classroom instruction and facilitated the development of their pedagogical content knowledge. Participants included three first year high school teachers from two alternate route program institutions. Data collection and analyses focused on semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and teacher-generated artifacts. Findings reveal patterns among participant responses that emphasized the limited translation of learned pedagogical experiences from their alternate route programs into classroom instruction. In addition, findings show that participant alternate route program learned pedagogical …

Negotiating The Inclusion Of Nanoscience Content And Technology In Science Curriculum: An Examination Of Secondary Teachers' Thinking In A Professional Development Project, Jennifer Gayle Wells

Dissertations and Theses

The Next Generation Science Standards represent a significant challenge for K-12 school reform in the United States in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines (NSTA, 2012). One important difference between the National Science Education Standards (NRC, 1996) and the Next Generation Science Standards (Achieve, 2013) is the more extensive inclusion of nanoscale science and technology. Teacher PD is a key vehicle for implementing this STEM education reform effort (NRC, 2012; Smith, 2001).

The context of this dissertation study is Project Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Outreach (NANO), a secondary level professional development program for teachers that provides a summer workshop, …

Effectiveness Of Teacher Professional Learning : Enhancing The Teaching Of Fractions In Primary Schools, Derek Hurrell

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This study was motivated by the need to develop professional learning for primary school teachers that would support them to more effectively teach the mathematics topic of fractions. What seemed evident, was that previous professional learning attended by teachers had not adequately met their needs.

The aim of this study was to investigate whether professional learning, with a focus on subject content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and reflective practice could enhance primary school teachers’ PCK for teaching fractions and make them more confident teachers of fractions. Demonstrating this to be the case would have wide implications for the development of professional …

The Teaching And Learning Of Word Problems In Beginning Algebra : A Nigerian (Lagos State) Study, Omolola A. Ladele

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

At both the junior and senior secondary school levels in Nigeria, student performance in mathematics examinations has been poor. Within the context of large classes, with inadequate facilities, and teaching and learning in a second language, algebra and algebra word problems are introduced to students during their first year of junior secondary school. The transition from primary school arithmetic to the use of the algebraic letter is challenging to students and it is important that teachers should know the likely difficulties and misconceptions students may have as they begin algebra (Welder, 2012).

In this study, the impact of a teacher …

Technology Use As Transformative Pedagogy: Using Video Editing Technology To Learn About Teaching, Michelle Macy

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Within the paradigm of Sociocultural Theory, and using Activity Theory as a data-gathering and management tool, this microgenetic case study examined the processes - the growth, change, and development – engaged in by student-teachers in a foreign language education program as they worked together to complete an activity. The activity involved digital video recording and editing, mediators which were intended to facilitate the iterative review of and subsequent reflection and action upon the content of the video during its creation.

By investigating the process of contextual interaction between learners and the mediational elements of their environment as the activity progressed, …

The Relationship Between Pedagogical Content Knowledge And Mathematics Teacher Questioning Strategies, Lynne Smith Nielsen

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine whether an intense two-week professional development program for middle school mathematics teachers, along with follow-up classroom visits, video review of lessons (with feedback), and two six-hour follow-up sessions each semester would improve teacher questioning strategies and promote higher-level questioning based on Bloom's (1956) Taxonomy of cognitive categories. A second purpose of the study was to determine whether, through reflection and instructor feedback, teachers would gain the ability to involve students in high press questioning situations. The third purpose of the study was to investigate whether relevant professional development would result in an …