Education Commons^™

Pedagogical Content Knowledge In Early Mathematics: What Teachers Know And How It Associates With Teaching And Learning, Yinna Zhang

Dissertations

The study was designed to examine the profile of early childhood teachers' content-specific knowledge, also referred to as pedagogical content knowledge, in early mathematics (PCK-EM) and investigate how PCK-EM relates to the quality of their mathematics teaching quality and students' mathematical learning outcomes. A total of 182 teachers working with high need students from Pre-K through Grade 3 in an urban public school system participated in the study and analyzed a video of mathematics teaching through an online survey. The results painted a bleak picture regarding the profile of early childhood teachers' PCK-EM: as a whole, teachers' survey responses lacked …

Latino Students In Suburban High Schools: An Examination Of School Malleable Predictors Of High School Graduation, Kira Jean Hicks

Dissertations

Despite recent gains, Latino students drop out of high schools in the United States at a higher rate than their peers and at a significant cost. As more Latino students move to the suburbs, it is important for suburban high schools to meet their needs and solidify their path to graduation. Practices that appear to be promising in keeping students on track to graduate have been developed and studied in urban education settings and need to be validated with other populations and settings. The purpose of this study was to investigate the indicators that are predictive of on time graduation …

Shifting Narratives In Doctoral Admissions: Faculty Of Color Understandings Of Diversity, Equity, And Justice In A Neoliberal Context, Dian Drew Squire

Dissertations

Little is known about how faculty make decisions in the doctoral admissions process or how they conceptualize diversity, equity, and justice in those same processes. As the United States continues to diversify, understanding how students are selected into graduate programs and how faculty understand diversity, equity, and justice is increasingly important to supporting diverse leadership bodies and shaping an inclusive campus cultural context. This qualitative study utilized semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and critical discourse analysis to explore how faculty of color understand diversity, equity, and justice norms, values, and behaviors in the doctoral admissions process in Higher Education and Student …

Mandated Reporting: An Examination Of Training And Practice Of School Psychologists, Katie Nicole Bradshaw Sears

Dissertations

This study sought to explore the training opportunities, knowledge, confidence in intervening, reporting behaviors, and types of supervision received and given in the areas of child maltreatment and mandated reporting by practicing school psychologists. Little is known about school psychologists' knowledge of child maltreatment and specific mandates about reporting suspicions of abuse or how to appropriately respond to disclosures of abuse (Arbolino et al., 2008). Given school psychologists' unique role in schools working directly with children, it is not uncommon for school psychologists to either suspect maltreatment is occurring or to hear a disclosure of maltreatment directly from a student. …

Teaching, Learning, And Leading: Preparing Teachers As Educational Policy Actors, Amy J. Heineke, Ann Marie Ryan, Charles Tocci

Education: School of Education Faculty Publications and Other Works

Within the current federal, state, and local contexts of educational reform, teachers must be recognized as central actors in policy work, but rarely do we explicitly consider preparing teachers to become policy actors. Understanding these implications for teacher education, we investigate teacher candidates’ learning of the complexity and dynamism of educational policy through a field-based teacher preparation program. Situated across four unique school contexts in the diverse neighborhoods of Chicago, Illinois, we qualitatively study the cases of eight teacher candidates as they explore policy in practice. We found that candidates developed enduring understandings about policy as complex, situated, and multilayered, …

The Project Approach Meta-Project: Inquiry-Based Learning In Undergraduate Early Childhood Teacher Education, Adam S. Kennedy, Erin Horne, Kelcie Dolan, Cindy Herrera, Naomi Malutan, Kathleen Noetzel

Education: School of Education Faculty Publications and Other Works

This article describes a case study involving the planning, phases, and outcomes of an exploration of the Project Approach led by four teacher candidates as part of an undergraduate early childhood teacher preparation program. Four undergraduate junior-level teacher candidates investigated the phases of the Project Approach during their junior year; this work took place during a 26-week learning module comprised of a seminar and part-time student teaching placement in a preschool setting. The candidates aligned the stages of their investigation with the phases of the Project Approach, which provided a framework complementary to that of action research, within which the …

A Multiyear Investigation Of Combating Bullying In Middle School: Stakeholder Perspectives, David L. Shriberg, Mallory Burns, Poonam Desai, Stephanie Grunewald, Rachel Pitt

Education: School of Education Faculty Publications and Other Works

Working collaboratively to address bullying among middle school students is an ongoing challenge. This study used participatory action research to collaborate with key stakeholders within a middle school to identify needs and implement more effective practices. Extensive qualitative and quantitative data are presented, along with process recommendations for bringing different stakeholders together for a sustained change effort.

Students' Attitudes Towards Socially--But Not Scientifically--Controversial Subjects: Evaluating Ways In Which These Attitudes May Be Shifted, Benjamin Elijah Carter

Dissertations - ALL

Chapter1: Numerous anti-science bills introduced into state legislatures reference the "strengths and weaknesses" of scientific subjects, but the subjects they target, most commonly evolution and global climate change, are not topics of contention within the scientific community. This brief work provides a researched rebuttal to the notion that evolution and climate change have strengths and weaknesses of the form implied by anti-science legislation while providing examples of actual scientific disagreement about these subjects. The disagreement is not, of course, about whether or not evolution or climate change are factual occurrences, but rather over ideas such as the finer points of …

The American Student Abroad And The Perceived Impact In The Local Community, Emily Gaul

Master's Theses

The internationalization of higher education has contributed to the increase of American students studying abroad. Students studying abroad do have an impact the local host communities’ social, economic and cultural traditions. Although, students may or may not be aware of the consequences, both negative and positive, of their impact. This research sought to examine the perceived impact by both alumni and local faculty of a small program in Tanzania. Alumni were reflective on their experience in regards to how they wavered between feeling like a tourist and feeling more connected to the community. Alumni and local faculty both felt that …

Defining Character: A Curriculum Analysis Of The Boy Scouts Of America And The National Kappa League, Helen Marie Gerety

Master's Theses

Since the early 2000s and the dawn of No Child Left Behind and standards based accountability character education has been neglected and for the most disappeared. Many school districts can no longer justify spending part of students’ school day discussing character. Some character education remains, however, it is often only addressed in health, student financing, and college and career readiness. Most other character education programs have been contracted out. Schools now rely on community partners to help students develop values and morals. This thesis will examine two of these community partners: the Boy Scouts of America and the National Kappa …

Conditionalities Of The Knowledge Banks And The Financing Of Higher Education In West Africa: A Focus On Ghana, Nigeria, And Sierra Leone, Innocent Chima Ugwoke

Master's Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to understand how the loan conditionalities of the knowledge banks—the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) are affecting the funding of higher education in West Africa generally by particularly comparing Ghana, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone. The role of higher education has been linked with development, and development has remained a concerned issue in Africa. The commitment of the states in funding higher education in order to achieve the desired goal of development is continuously met with difficulty. The reliance of these countries on the loans of the knowledge banks, which are associated with …

Math, Science, And Engineering Integration In A High School Engineering Course: A Qualitative Study, Clara G. Valtorta, Leema K. Berland

Research, Publications & Creative Work

Engineering in K-12 classrooms has been receiving expanding emphasis in the United States. The integration of science, mathematics, and engineering is a benefit and goal of K-12 engineering; however, current empirical research on the efficacy of K-12 science, mathematics, and engineering integration is limited. This study adds to this growing field, using discourse analysis techniques to examine whether and why students integrate math and science concepts into their engineering design work. The study focuses on student work during a unit from a high school engineering course. Video data were collected during the unit and were used to identify episodes of …

Preliminary Evaluation Of The Friends For Life Program On Students’ And Teachers’ Emotional States For A School In A Low Socio-Economic Status Area, Cristina A. Iizuka, Paula M. Barrett, Robyn Gillies, Clayton R. Cook, Welber Marinovic

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of the FRIENDS for Life program on students’ and teachers’ emotional outcomes in a school serving a high-poverty population. The focus of the intervention was to train/coach teachers with strategies to develop social and emotional skills for students. A single group, pre/post-test design was used to conduct a preliminary investigation of the intervention to improve participants’ social and emotional outcomes. At the end of the intervention, students who were at risk showed significant decrease in their anxiety levels and teacher’s demonstrated significant improvements on their emotional resilience.

A Case Study Of Online Instructors And Their Quest For Greater Interactivity In Their Courses: Overcoming The Distance In Distance Education, John A. Huss, Orly Sela, Shannon Eastep

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The purpose of this study was to explore the attitudes and experiences of seven online instructors in Teacher Education (three from the United States, four from Israel) pertaining to the deliberate efforts they make to build interaction into their web-based classes to support learning. In the tradition of cooperative inquiry, the use of purposive sampling and a semi-structured interview protocol provided the best opportunity to describe, rather than explain, the perspectives of these instructors who are currently teaching online and developing within the medium. Participants expressed the need to establish quality interactions throughout their distance courses, yet acknowledged barriers they …

Enhancing Playful Teachers’ Perception Of The Importance Of Ict Use In The Classroom: The Role Of Risk Taking As A Mediator, A. Lin Goodwin, Ee Ling Low, Pak Tee Ng, Alexander S. Yeung, Li Cai

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

In today’s world, teaching and learning processes inevitably involve the application of information and communication technology (ICT). It seems reasonable to expect personal attributes such as cognitive playfulness to be associated with consistent application of ICT. Using survey responses from Singapore students in a teacher education programme (n = 450), structural equation modelling (SEM) found that the effect of cognitive playfulness on the perceived importance of ICT was mediated by risk taking orientation, but the mediation effect was not observed with perceived competence in ICT use. Academic self-concept had negligible relation with the two ICT variables. As personal attributes …

Professional Learning Of Teachers In Ethiopia: Challenges And Implications For Reform, Fekede Tuli Gemeda, Päivi Tynjälä Professor

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Abstract

Continuous professional development of teachers is of growing interest globally, as it is considered vital to cope effectively with ongoing changes and to improve the quality of education. This qualitative case study explores potential and actual barriers that hinder teachers’ professional development in Ethiopian schools. Data was collected via interviews and focus group discussions from 37 purposively sampled participants. The study reveals three major challenges in teachers’ development: 1) conceptions and conceptual issues related to teaching, professional development and mentoring, 2) management and leadership, and 3) teachers’ work conditions. The need to reconsider educational change management strategies, reform teacher …

Exploring Links Between Pedagogical Knowledge Practices And Student Outcomes In Stem Education For Primary Schools, Peter Hudson, Lyn English, Les Dawes, Donna King, Steve Baker

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education is an emerging initiative in Australia, particularly in primary schools. This qualitative research aimed to understand Year 4 students’ involvement in an integrated STEM education unit that focused on science concepts (e.g., states of matter, testing properties of materials) and mathematics concepts (e.g., 3D shapes and metric measurements) for designing, making and testing a strong and safe medical kit to insulate medicines (ice cubes) at desirable temperatures. Data collection tools included student work samples, photographs, written responses from students and the teacher, and researcher notes. In a post-hoc analysis, a pedagogical knowledge practice …

Epistemological Considerations For Approaching Teaching In An On-Line Environment Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander Teacher Education Program: Reconsidering Tpack, Brian Ellis Lewthwaite, Cecily Knight, Max Lenoy

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This research inquiry explores teacher educator knowledge, understandings and beliefs informing their teaching in a web-based Australian teacher education program for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. Through the use of a phenomenologically aligned interview process, the study investigates instructors’ consideration of practice for teaching in an on-line environment. Using the TPACK framework (Mishra & Koehler, 2006) as a lens for analysis, what emerges from the data is how lecturers’ knowledge and beliefs about students influences the roles they adopt as educators, and how this influences, in turn, what and how technology is used to support student learning. The …

Facebook And The Final Practicum: The Impact Of Online Peer Support In The Assistant Teacher Program, Lisa F. Paris, Julie Boston, Julia Morris

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Australian pre-service teachers (PST) frequently report feeling isolated and vulnerable during the high stakes Assistant Teacher Program (ATP) final practicum. Mentoring and online learning communities have been shown to offer effective support during periods in which pre-service and beginning teachers feel challenged. As social media progressively infiltrates all aspects of contemporary life, individuals and organisations are opting to use technology in highly adaptive ways; as a result, they have to navigate both the positive aspects and pitfalls of the medium. In this paper we examine whether university Facebook^© support groups, coupled with professional standards training and moderator involvement by …

In Defence Of The Lecture, R. Scott Webster

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

In response to the lecture format coming under ‘attack’ and being replaced by online materials and smaller tutorials, this paper attempts to offer not only a defence but also to assert that the potential value of the lecture is difficult to replicate through other learning formats. In this paper some of the criticisms against lectures will be challenged, in particular that they are monological and promote a banking concept to learning. To make this argument I shall be drawing upon Freire’s ‘banking concept’ and Vygotsky’s notion of ‘inner speech’ and shall claim that listening is a virtue to be encouraged …

The Curious Schools Project: Capturing Nomad Creativity In Teacher Work, Mary Ann Hunter, Sherridan Emery

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The Curious Schools project is a teacher professional learning initiative that aims to provide an insight into – and resource for – creativity in Tasmanian schools. It offers an alternative to conventional models of teacher professional learning by engaging teachers in multi-modal methods of documenting and reflecting on their work as the basis for an online community of practice and public showcase for creativity in education that takes place ‘behind the scenes’. The authors, as coordinators of the project, describe the rationale behind the project and the ways it embraced discourses and practices of curiosity as a means of making …

Learning To Become Teacher Educators: Testimonies Of Three Phd Students In China, Rui Yuan

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

While there has been an increasing number of graduate students who enter teacher education after obtaining a higher research degree (e.g., PhD or EdD), scant attention has been paid to their professional learning as prospective teacher educators in higher education. To fill this gap, this study, informed by the social theory of learning, investigates how three PhD students learned to become teacher educators in a university in China. Drawing on the data from interviews and the participants’ personal reflections, the study shows that the participants engaged in professional learning by interacting with different others (e.g., teachers and teacher educators), negotiating …

Early Childhood Pre-Service Students’ Transitioning Into Discourses Of Professional Practice, Gloria Quinones, Avis Ridgway

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The focus of this study is to investigate early childhood students’ discourses of play – based curriculum. In this paper we focus on how students made implicit and explicit links to the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework (VEYLDF). Twenty-six early childhood students had volunteered their de-identified play and pedagogy assignments. We analysed their assignments and selected quotes that focused on their role as educators and related to the VEYLDF. We theorized the concept of conceptual reciprocity as students’ understanding of their role in being sensitive and reciprocal with children and families. Our findings indicated that early childhood pre-service …

Students’ Attitudes Towards Individual Musical Instrument Courses In Music Education Graduate Programs In Turkey, Gülten Cüceoğlu Önder

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The Individual Musical Instrument course is a compulsory part of the curriculum, in the Music Education Departments of universities in Turkey. The main purpose of the course is to ensure that each student is able to play a musical instrument and, use the instrument once they become music teachers. This study aims to determine the attitudes of students enrolled in the Music Education Department towards the course within the program. Participants included 334 students studying Music Education at four different Universities in Turkey. The study adopted the “Attitudes towards Individual Musical Instrument Course Scale” (Topoğlu & Erden,2012). No statistically significant …

Remembering Reflection In Pre-Service Teachers' Professional Experience, Geraldine M. Ditchburn

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Abstract

In an Australian education policy environment where professional standards are determining the parameters of effective teaching and learning, it is important that we revisit ways to ensure reflection and collegial engagement are embedded in pre-service teachers’ professional experience. This article reports on a university program initiative that used a non-clinical model of professional experience to centralise opportunities for pre-service teachers to engage in reflection and research of their practice in a collaborative and largely non-hierarchical learning and teaching environment. Ultimately the results of their experience indicated that pre-service teachers were able to theorise about their practice in ways …

Developing Culturally Competent Teachers: An International Student Teaching Field Experience, Michelle Salmona, Margaret Partlo, Dan Kaczynski, Simon N. Leonard

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This study offers a theoretical construct for better understanding how experiential learning enables student teachers to acquire social and cultural variation skills, develop cultural empathy in the K-12 classroom, and the transference of these skills to new educational situations. An Australian and United States research team used a phenomenological approach to explore the connections between the skills student teachers acquire and the application of these newly developed skills to professional practices. Participants were a group of United States pre-teachers who enrolled in a 5 week teaching experience in Australia. Findings show that participation in cultural based events is part of …

Pathways To Professional Growth: Investigating Upper Primary School Teachers’ Perspectives On Learning To Teach Algebra, Karina J. Wilkie, Doug Clarke

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper discusses upper primary school teachers’ perspectives on changes to their knowledge and practice through participation in a design-based research project. It analyses their experiences using Clarke & Hollingsworth’s (2002) empirically-founded model for professional growth to understand more about the mechanisms for change that might support teachers in learning to teach a challenging but important aspect of mathematics – algebra. Ten teachers were involved in cycles of collaborative planning, team-teaching, evaluating, and revising five lessons for their classes on developing functional thinking through pattern generalisation over one year. The teachers referred to observations of teaching in action, and modification …

Changing Teachers’ Practices Through Exploratory Talk In Mathematics: A Discursive Pedagogical Perspective, Carol Murphy

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Abstract.:This paper presents data collected as part of an intervention research project to develop exploratory talk and collaborative group work with six and seven year-old students in mathematics. A discursive approach was used to analyse and interpret variations in the way that three case-study teachers, involved in the project, managed the group work and developed the students’ talk. Analysis suggested that the intervention required, not just a change in practice, also but a shift in ideologies for these teachers. Ideologies are seen as discourses that legitimate and maintain a social pattern, and the paper explores how a research-based intervention …

Preparedness Of Pre-Service Teachers For Inclusive Education In The Solomon Islands, Umesh Sharma, Janine Simi, Chris Forlin

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Recent policy changes in the Pacific Islands have seen a strong emphasis on implementing inclusive education. Preparing teachers for this change in education will be essential if they are to have the knowledge, skills and understandings so that they can become inclusive practitioners. Pre-service teacher education will play a critical role in supporting this process. This paper considers the perceptions of pre-service teachers undertaking the first year of the Diploma of Teaching in the one university in the Solomon Islands. This is the only university that prepares teachers to work across the entire archipelago. Data are collected pre and post …

Investigating First Year Education Students’ Stress Level, Gretchen Geng, Richard Midford

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper investigated the stress levels of first-year education students who undertake teaching practicum and theory units during their first year of teacher education program. First, 139 first-year and 143 other years’ education students completed the PSS-10 scale, which measures perceived level of stress. Then, 147 first-year education students completed an online questionnaire to identify the particular stressors in their learning experience. The first-year education students had significantly higher stress levels than other years’ education students, (p < .01). Contributing stressors included academic work commitment; completing placement and related performance assessments in schools and at university; having a good understanding of the requirements of professional teaching, such as classroom management, and working with mentor teachers; and conflicting work and family commitments. These findings provide greater understanding about the stressors experienced by first-year education students and usefully inform ways to help this group achieve their study and career goals.