The acceptance of online graduate coursework by school districts in Wisconsin and Illinois

Includes bibliographical references

Monitoring What Matters About Context and Instruction in Science Education: A NAEP Data Analysis Report

This report explores background variables in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) to examine key context and instructional factors behind science learning for eighth grade students. Science education is examined from five perspectives: student engagement in science, science teachers' credentials and professional development, availability and use of science resources, approaches to science instruction, and methods and uses of science assessment

Attitudes and Beliefs of New Teachers Towards Induction Requirements

There is worldwide teacher shortage that is affecting the access to quality education. In past 5 years, as high as 50% of new teachers have been leaving the field during their first 5 years, after receiving a teaching credential. To help slow attrition rates in California, induction has become a required element for new teachers to transition from a preliminary credential to a clear credential. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore and examine the effect on teaching and retention of novice teachers based on their beliefs and attitudes regarding California induction policy requirements. The research question to guide this study was: How do the attitudes and beliefs of new teachers, regarding California induction policy requirements, affect teaching and retention after participating in a university-based online induction program? The sample was a purposeful convenience sample consisting of 11 teachers who were required to complete an induction program in California. The data collection instruments were initial interviews, archival data in the form of Individual Learning Plans (ILPs), and follow-up interviews. Inductive analysis was used. Throughout the study, the constant comparative analysis method was used. The findings showed the attitudes and beliefs of induction participants in California do affect teaching and retention. While induction has positive effects on teaching and retention rates, the policy tied to induction sometimes elicit negative attitudes and beliefs in new teachers. These findings shed light on the importance of providing teachers’ attitudes and beliefs towards induction to policymakers

Does Teaching Geometry with Augmented Reality Affect the Technology Acceptance of Elementary School Mathematics Teacher Candidates?

The purpose of this research is to determine the impact of augmented reality technology and geometry teaching on elementary school mathematics teacher candidates’ technology acceptance and to examine participants' views on augmented reality. The sample of the research was composed of 40 elementary school mathematics teacher candidates who were freshman students in the faculty of education of a university which located in the central Anatolian region of Turkey during the fall semester of 2016-2017 academic year. Participants in the study were given a training seminar on teaching geometry via augmented reality (AR). They were provided with the opportunity to develop teaching materials for AR. At the end of this process, their opinions on the use of these materials were taken. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were used in the research. The quantitative data of this study were collected by the Technology Acceptance and Use Scale for Information and Communication Technologies and the qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews. The themes and codes related to the usefulness of geometry teaching supported by augmented reality teaching emerged by means of qualitative content analysis. The t-Test, one of the parametric tests, was used to analyze the quantitative data. The data obtained from the semi-structured interview forms were classified under 9 categories and 35 themes. As a result of data analyses, it was found that the teacher candidates' attitudes towards the effectiveness geometry instruction supported by the augmented reality technology were positive but as regards’ teacher candidates’ intentions to use augmented reality technology, it was observed that some of them had reservations because of technological limitations, such as recognition of signs and freezing of the augmented reality environments. Keywords: augmented reality (AR), geometry teaching, mathematics teacher candidate, technology acceptance and us

Attitudes towards science: a review of the literature and its implications

This article offers a review of the major literature about attitudes to science and its implications over the past 20 years. It argues that the continuing decline in numbers choosing to study science at the point of choice requires a research focus on students? attitudes to science if the nature of the problem is to be understood and remediated. Starting from a consideration of what is meant by attitudes to science, it considers the problems inherent to their measurement and what is known about students' attitudes towards science and the many factors of influence such as gender, teachers, curricula, cultural and other variables. The literature itself points to the crucial importance of gender and the quality of teaching. Given the importance of the latter we argue that there is a greater need for research to identify those aspects of science teaching that make school science engaging for pupils. In particular, a growing body of research on motivation offers important pointers to the kind of classroom environment and activities that might raise pupils' interest in studying school science and a focus for future research

The Effect of Science Teaching Enriched With Technological Applications on the Science Achievements of 7th Grade Students

This study aims to research the impacts of science teaching enriched with technological applications on the science course achievement levels of 7th grade students. 13 weeks long research was carried out with 7th grade students studying at a state secondary school in Turkey in 2016. In the study, quasi-experimental method, experimental design with the pretest-posttest control group was used. There were 83 students (control=42, experiment=41) in the study group. “Science Achievement Test” developed by the researchers was used as data collection tool. There are 28 multiple-choice, four-choice items in the achievement test covering subjects taught, and the KR 20 reliability coefficient is 0.78. “Science Achievement Test” was used as the pretest, posttest, and follow-up test. Teaching was carried out by the same science teacher in the science class in both the control and experiment groups. In the control group, student-centered learning approach suitable to the 2013 Science Course Curriculum was given to the students, and no experimental procedure was applied. In the experiment group, 2013 Science Course Curriculum was followed, and teaching was carried out with technology enriched science teaching applications. At the end of the research, it was found that the achievement levels of the experiment group with the technology enriched science teaching applications increased significantly and was higher at a meaningful level than the achievement of the control group students. According to this findings, it can be suggested that technology enriched teaching should also be used in science teaching to address individual differences by enriching teaching

Promising practice in school-related gender-based violence(SRGBV) prevention and response programming globally

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