Supporting representation-rich problem-solving in high school physics

Findings from physics education research strongly point to the critical need for teachers’ use of multiple representations in their instructional practices such as pictures, diagrams, written explanations, and mathematical expressions to enhance students\u27 problem‐solving ability. In this study, we explored use of problem‐solving tasks for generating multiple representations as a scaffolding strategy in a high school modeling physics class. Through problem‐solving cognitive interviews with students, we investigated how a group of students responded to the tasks and how their use of such strategies affected their problem‐solving performance and use of representations as compared to students who did not receive explicit, scaffolded guidance to generate representations in solving similar problems. Aggregated data on students\u27 problem-solving performance and use of representations were collected from a set of 14 mechanics problems and triangulated with cognitive interviews. A higher percentage of students from the scaffolding group constructed visual representations in their problem‐ solving solutions, while their use of other representations and problem‐solving performance did not differ with that of the comparison group. In addition, interviews revealed that students did not think that writing down physics concepts was necessary despite being encouraged to do so as a support strategy

"Exalted Ideas of the Arts": John Francis Rigaud's Vision of the Role of the Artist in Eighteenth-Century England as seen in his Portraits of Fellow Artists and in his Self-Portraits

This thesis analyzes John Francis Rigaud's (1742-1810) vision of the role of the artist in eighteenth-century England by examining his portraits of fellow artists and by examining his self-portraits with his family, particularly in light of "Facts and Recollections of the XVIIIth Century in a Memoir of John Francis Rigaud Esq., R.A.," his memoir as compiled by his son, Stephen Francis Dutilh Rigaud. Rigaud's Memoir is one of the few surviving documents that illustrates the working life and aspirations of an artist in late-eighteenth-century England. Throughout the Memoir and in his paintings of himself and other artists, Rigaud supported the academic construction, as voiced by Sir Joshua Reynolds and as promoted by the Royal Academy of Arts, of the artist as a learned, hard-working, academic genius, rather than as notions of the artist as an original, creative genius popularized by the Romantic Movement

Why Domain-Specific Science Knowledge Matters in Teacher Certification: Focusing on Evidence for Effective Science Teaching (Revised Version)

The landscape of teacher preparation is complex. From a research perspective, how to prepare teachers presents as a multilevel, multivariable puzzle. For decades, federal and state policymakers, educational researchers, and administrators, along with teacher education institutions, school districts, and other stakeholders have tried to determine and measure the key malleable factors that result in effective teaching (NRC, 2010). Periodically, state departments of education review secondary science teaching endorsement policy guidelines. As revisions occur, teacher educators in higher education and district administrators need to engage in a multidisciplinary discussion about: 1. the ways in which strong domain-specific science content knowledge contributes to better opportunities for students to learn science, 2. why robust secondary teacher certification standards are vital for achieving not only K-12 scientific literacy, but also better preparation of career and college-ready students, and 3. the problems caused by underprepared secondary science teachers who have only minimal, introductory-level college science coursework via general science endorsements. A recent study by Nixon et al. (2017) showed that only about one-third of science teachers in their first five years are assigned to teach in-field. They also reported that about 20% of teaching assignments were entirely out-of-field and about 43% of assignments were some combination of in-field and out-of-field. Informational brochure on science teacher certification and subject matter knowledge expertise produced for school administrators, teacher educators, and other stakeholders

Beginning Science Teachers\u27 Subject Matter Knowledge, Misconceptions, and Emerging Inquiry-based Teaching Practices (Poster)

When we investigated the relationship of science subject matter knowledge with subsequent inquiry-based instruction, we found on average that over the induction period the MAT teachers taught lessons using more inquiry-based instruction at twice the rate of the average teacher prepared in the undergraduate program without an undergraduate degree in science. Specifically, new science teachers from the MAT program with an undergraduate degree in chemistry were better prepared to use an inquiry-based approach to teaching chemistry. Our research of our two teacher preparation programs contribute a reliable design for producing highly-qualified teachers who can provide active, engaging, constructivist learning opportunities for diverse students while addressing rigorous national science education standards. Our work has provided evidence that factors such as science content area credit hours, science GPA, and test scores are indicative of teachers’ content knowledge and possible misconceptions. Policy makers can look at these and other findings to refine state guidelines for teacher certification to ensure that teachers are strongly prepared. State departments of education that set teacher certification policy should consider making a careful distinction among specific science disciplines, as all sciences are not the same in their learning progressions, degree of linear accumulation of knowledge, and diversity of topics. The project has informed other teacher preparation designs and the findings have been presented at various stages at NARST and ASTE conferences along with a new book chapter in press (2018)

Meeting the Vision of the NGSS: Critical Factors of Effective Science Teaching (Poster)

With new national science education standards, we must understand how to prepare science teachers capable of advancing reform initiatives. In a 3-year longitudinal study we adopted a multi-method approach to investigate beginning science teachers’ instructional practices. We analyzed transcripts, observed science lessons, and documented weeks of lessons. Using this large dataset we posed research questions about the use of NGSS scientific practices in teachers’ science lessons (Project #1) and classroom diversity as it relates to teachers’ use of inquiry (Project #2). In order to expand our coding capability of science teaching data for use in our structural equation modelling efforts (Project #4) we also completed an initial validation of the DiISC instrument (Project #3). Findings included: (a) differential use of scientific practices by physical and life science teachers in their lessons; (b) beginning teachers used lower levels of inquiry, as well as teachers with only a minor in a science, and classrooms that had more female students, however there was no significant difference in the amount of inquiry used in low versus high diversity; (c) there is a strong body of evidence for the validity of the DiISC across standard aspects of a modern validity argument; and (d) a SEM showed that master’s level teachers exhibited greater initial use of inquiry-based instruction and growth over time than undergraduate certified teachers when combined with professional development over time

Educating Effective Science Teachers: Preparing and Following Teachers Into the Field

This chapter focuses on: (a) our development of a research-based, graduate- level science TPP for teachers with a degree in science; (b) an analysis of teachers’ subject matter knowledge (SMK) as it relates to their subsequent use of inquiry-based instruction; and (c) results of a longitudinal study of beginning science teachers who graduated from a master’s level TPP in comparison with the instructional practices of science teachers prepared through a traditional undergraduate program. We offer what we consider to be a typical case of an undergraduate and less typical case of a graduate science teacher preparation program that occur at a large, land-grant, 4-year state university in a Great Plains state in the United States. The undergraduate and graduate programs have some overlapping coursework and clinical experiences, but provided different entry points, depth of coursework, culminating degrees, and rates of completion

Measuring and Modelling How and When Effective Science Teaching Occurs

With new national science education standards, we must understand how to prepare science teachers capable of advancing reform initiatives. In a 3-year longitudinal study we adopted a multi-method approach to investigate beginning science teachers’ instructional practices. We analyzed transcripts, administered a teaching self-efficacy survey, observed science lessons, and documented weeks of lessons. Using this large dataset, we posed research questions about the use of NGSS scientific practices in teachers’ science lessons (Paper #1) and teacher- and student-level characteristics as it relates to teachers’ use of inquiry in the classroom (Paper #2). In order to expand our coding capability of science teaching data for use in our structural equation modelling efforts (Paper #4) we also completed an initial validation of the DiISC instrument (Paper #3). Findings included: (a) differential use of scientific practices by physical and life science teachers in their lessons; (b) beginning teachers had lower levels of assessment use and there was little evidence to suggest that assessment varied greatly by classroom diversity; (c) evidence for the validity of the DiISC with factor analyses, correlations with the EQUIP instrument, and think-aloud and semi-structured interviews with DiISC raters; and (d) an SEM showed master’s level teachers exhibited greater initial use of inquiry-based instruction and growth over time than undergraduate certified teachers with many contributing factors

Noyce Science Teacher Master of Arts with emphasis in Science Teaching Program: Meeting Challenges of 21st Century Classrooms. UNL Noyce Track I, Phase I, Final Report.

To meet the state’s and the nation’s need for more highly qualified science teachers, the 14-month Master of Arts with emphasis in science teaching (MAst) program was established in the College of Education’s Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, along with a Robert Noyce, Track I, Phase I grant from the National Science Foundation, awarded in 2010. This report presents a summary of the accomplishments of this Noyce grant, in which 60 post-baccalaureate science majors and professionals were provided with Noyce stipends to become science teachers. The MAst program is now in its sixth year, producing an average of 10 new science teachers per year. The project team, led by Dr. Elizabeth Lewis, was also awarded a second Noyce grant in 2015 to support 30 more individuals to become science teachers along with funding to continue to research the practices of beginning science teachers. The MAst program engages science professionals in a research-informed program of study that supports them in developing the knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary to meet the challenges of the modern American secondary science classroom

Discourse in Inquiry Science Classrooms, DiISC Version 2.0 (User’s manual for an observation research instrument)

This is a user\u27s manual for the externally validated Version 2.0 of the Discourse in Science Inquiry Classrooms (DiISC) instrument. The instrument is best suited for use in conducting research in secondary (grades 6-12) science classrooms that focuses on teachers\u27 instructional practices, but can also be used as a professional development tool for teacher self-reflection and identifying goals for instructional change. The DiISC Version 2.0 is aligned with a model of a scientific classroom discourse community and articulated characteristics of social constructivist lessons in the categories of inquiry, oral and written discourse, and academic language development and essential learning principles