Supporting Beginning Teacher Planning and Enactment of Investigation-based Science Discussions: The Design and Use of Tools within Practice-based Teacher Education

Current reform efforts prioritize science instruction that provides opportunities for students to engage in productive talk about scientific phenomena. Given the challenges teachers face enacting instruction that integrates science practices and science content, beginning teachers need support to develop the knowledge and teaching practices required to teach reform-oriented science lessons. Practice-based teacher education shows potential for supporting beginning teachers while they are learning to teach in this way. However, little is known about how beginning elementary teachers draw upon the types of support and tools associated with practice-based teacher education to learn to successfully enact this type of instruction. This dissertation addresses this gap by investigating how a practice-based science methods course using a suite of teacher educator-provided tools can support beginning teachers’ planning and enactment of investigation-based science lessons. Using qualitative case study methodologies, this study drew on video-records, lesson plans, class assignments, and surveys from one cohort of 22 pre-service teachers (called interns in this study) enrolled in a year-long elementary education master of the arts and teaching certification program. Six focal interns were also interviewed at multiple time-points during the methods course. Similarities existed across the types of tools and teaching practices interns used most frequently to plan and enact investigation-based discussions. For the focal interns, use of four synergistic teaching practices throughout the lesson enactments (including consideration of students’ initial ideas; use of open-ended questions to elicit, extend, and challenge ideas; connecting across students’ ideas and the disciplinary core ideas; and use of a representation to organize and highlight students’ ideas) appeared to lead to increased opportunities for students to share their ideas and engage in data analysis, argumentation and explanation construction. Student opportunities to engage in practices that prioritize scientific discourse also occurred when interns were using dialogic voice and the tools designed to foster development of teacher knowledge for facilitating investigation-based science discussions. However, several intern characteristics likely moderated or mediated intern use of tools, dialogic voice, and productive teaching practices to capitalize on student contributions. These characteristics included intern knowledge of the science content and practices and initial beliefs about science teaching. Missed opportunities to use a combination of several teaching practices and tools designed to foster the development of knowledge for science teaching resulted in fewer opportunities for students to engage in data analysis, argumentation based on evidence, and construction of scientific explanations. These findings highlight the potential of teacher-educator provided tools for supporting beginning teachers in learning to facilitate investigation-based discussions that capitalize on student contributions. These findings also help the field conceptualize how beginning teachers use tools and teaching practices to plan and enact investigation-based science lessons, and how intern characteristics relate to tool use and planned and enacted lessons. By analyzing the investigation-based science lessons holistically, this study begins to unpack the complexities of facilitating investigation-based discussions including the interplay between intern characteristics and tool use, and the ways intern engagement in synergistic teaching practices provide opportunities for students to engage in data analysis, explanation construction, and argumentation. This study also describes methodological implications for this type of whole-lesson analysis and comments on the need for further research investigating beginning teachers’ use of tools over time. Finally, I propose the need for iterative design of scaffolds to further support beginning teacher facilitation of investigation-based science lessons.PHDEducational StudiesUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/138648/1/smkademi_1.pd

A TF-CBT group guidebook for adolescents & their non-offending parents exposed to domestic violence

Includes bibliographical references (pages 61-68)Domestic violence affects families from all cultural backgrounds, socioeconomic classes, communities, and ages. Much research has focused on treatment for victims; however the children who witness the violence run the risk of facing lasting emotional, psychological and behavioral difficulties. Recent reports of increased rates of children witnessing domestic violence cannot be ignored. The purpose of this project is to propose a Trauma Focused ??? Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) group for adolescents and their non-offending mothers or caregivers who have been exposed to domestic violence. There are two provided guidebooks in this project, one for the adolescents and one for their non-offending parents. There are outlines and materials for all of the sessions that include main themes, goals, interventions, activities, and worksheets. Each group session is geared towards increasing the self-esteem and self-concept of adolescents and their non-offending parents. A main objective of this group is to also minimize the trauma-related symptoms that these adolescents may experience as a result of witnessing domestic violence. Each group session is geared towards aiding group members find a sense of peace and hope for the future

Response: Making Sense of Sensemaking in Elementary Education

This part introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters. The part focuses on the teacher’s consistent approach to sensemaking which employs an instructional pattern that moves across varied opportunities for students to engage in talk, investigation, and reasoning. It offers a range of important insights into scientific practices in the context of elementary education and contributes in novel ways to sensemaking research at both a theoretical and methodological level. The part argues that discourse identity might offer a valuable lens in examining the ways in which teachers provide opportunities for students to engage in sensemaking. From a sociocultural point of view, a person’s speech is a marker of identity. The locality of the context supported the enactment of culturally relevant practices such as engaging students in reading local newspaper articles as well as providing them with opportunities to communicate effectively with local officials, scientists, and community members

Guiding students towards sensemaking: teacher questions focused on integrating scientific practices with science content

Science education reforms articulate a vision of ambitious science teaching where teachers engage students in sensemaking discussions and emphasise the integration of scientific practices with science content. Learning to teach in this way is complex, and there are few examples of sensemaking discussions in schools where textbook lessons and teacher-directed discussions are the norm. The purpose of this study was to characterise the questioning practices of an experienced teacher who taught a curricular unit enhanced with educative features that emphasised students\u27 engagement in scientific practices integrated with science content. Analyses indicated the teacher asked four types of questions: explication questions, explanation questions, science concept questions, and scientific practice questions, and she used three questioning patterns including: (1) focusing students on scientific practices, which involved a sequence of questions to turn students back to the scientific practice; (2) supporting students in naming observed phenomena, which involved a sequence of questions to help students use scientific language; and (3) guiding students in sensemaking, which involved a sequence of questions to help students learn about scientific practices, describe evidence, and develop explanations. Although many of the discussions in this study were not yet student-centred, they provide an image of a teacher asking specific questions that move students towards reform-oriented instruction. Implications for classroom practice are discussed and recommendations for future research are provided

Characterization and functional significance of glucocorticoid receptors in patients with major depression: Modulation by antidepressant treatment

Hyperactivity of the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis in patients with major depression is one of the most consistent findings in biological psychiatry. Experimental data support the idea that glucocorticoid-mediated feedback via glucocorticoid receptors (GR) is impaired in major depression. The aim of the present work was to assess the putative changes in GR density of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in a group of patients with major depression and to determine modulation of these GR sites by antidepressant treatment. In addition, susceptibility of PBMCs to glucocorticoid effects was also studied using a functional end-point analysis in vitro, such as cortisol inhibition of mitogen-induced lymphocyte proliferation. Cortisol levels were also measured before and after dexamethasone suppression test (DST). The results showed a decrease in GR density in depressed patients compared with healthy subjects, mainly in those patients that showed basal cortisol levels in the upper normal range and were refractory to DST. Regarding the functional significance of this variation, two representative groups emerged from our study: a) free-medication patients with GR function comparable to healthy controls, and b) patients showing diminished GR activity. These results suggest a lack of relationship between GR density and cortisol-induced inhibition of lymphocyte proliferation. Patients treated with different antidepressant drugs showed a marked increase in the number of GR sites per cell compared to non-treated. Interestingly, this increase was even higher than in normal subjects. Hence, restoration of GR density after an efficient antidepressant treatment could be an index of an effective modulatory action of drugs on GR expression and highlights the possibility that GR levels might be used as markers of a successful treatment. © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.Fil: Calfa, Gaston Diego. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas. Departamento de Farmacología; ArgentinaFil: Kademian, S.. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas. Departamento de Farmacología; ArgentinaFil: Ceschin, Danilo Guillermo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas. Departamento de Farmacología; ArgentinaFil: Vega, G.. PSIQUE; ArgentinaFil: Rabinovich, Gabriel Adrián. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Hospital de Clínicas General San Martín; ArgentinaFil: Volosin, M.. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas. Departamento de Farmacología; Argentin