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Full-Text Articles in Education

Approaches To Teaching Young Children Science Concepts And Vocabulary And Scientific Problem-Solving Skills And Role Of Classroom Environment, Amy Colgrove Jul 2012

Approaches To Teaching Young Children Science Concepts And Vocabulary And Scientific Problem-Solving Skills And Role Of Classroom Environment, Amy Colgrove

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The current study was a replication of the study completed by Hong and Diamond (2012) which explored the effectiveness of two approaches to teaching young children science concepts and vocabulary and scientific problem-solving skills related to objects’ sinking and floating: responsive teaching (RT) and responsive teaching combined with explicit instruction (RT + EI). The current study also examined the moderating effects of classroom environment and teacher-specific factors on the relation between teaching approaches and children’s science learning. Participants included 26 (15 girls) four-and five-year old prekindergarten children. Responsive Teaching (RT) mirrors common approaches to teaching (observing and commenting on behaviors, …


Effective Science Teachers’ Professional Development: A Multiple-Case Study Of District-Level Science Supervisors’ Perspectives, Chris J. Schaben Dec 2011

Effective Science Teachers’ Professional Development: A Multiple-Case Study Of District-Level Science Supervisors’ Perspectives, Chris J. Schaben

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

At its heart, science teachers’ professional development is about continual growth and improvement (Yager, 2005). Conducting research to understand what constitutes effective professional development is inherently complex (Hewson, 2007). The imperative to link research on professional development to student achievement (Fishman, Marx, Best, & Tal, 2003) increases complexity of research on the topic. These complexities require multiple research approaches and indicate that all stakeholders could provide insights to identify what constitutes effective professional development. District-level science supervisors’ voices are missing from the data on effective science teachers’ professional development and this provides a potential gap in the literature (Banilower, Heck, …


Is Competition Making A Comeback? Discovering Methods To Keep Female Adolescents Engaged In Stem: A Phenomenological Approach, Kathryn B. Notter Aug 2010

Is Competition Making A Comeback? Discovering Methods To Keep Female Adolescents Engaged In Stem: A Phenomenological Approach, Kathryn B. Notter

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The decreasing number of women who are graduating in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields continues to be a major concern. Despite national support in the form of grants provided by National Science Foundation, National Center for Information and Technology and legislation passed such as the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 that encourages women to enter the STEM fields, the number of women actually graduating in these fields is surprisingly low. This research study focuses on a robotics competition and its ability to engage female adolescents in STEM curricula. Data have been collected to help explain why young …