Teaching, Learning, Policy & Leadership Theses and Dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2759
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Item FROM INTERACTION TO INTERACTION: EXPLORING SHARED RESOURCES CONSTRUCTED THROUGH AND MEDIATING CLASSROOM SCIENCE LEARNING(2010) Tang, Xiaowei; Coffey, Janet E; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Recent reform documents and science education literature emphasize the importance of scientific argumentation as a discourse and practice of science that should be supported in school science learning. Much of this literature focuses on the structure of argument, whether for assessing the quality of argument or designing instructional scaffolds. This study challenges the narrowness of this research paradigm and argues for the necessity of examining students' argumentative practices as rooted in the complex, evolving system of the classroom. Employing a sociocultural-historical lens of activity theory (Engestrӧm, 1987, 1999), discourse analysis is employed to explore how a high school biology class continuously builds affordances and constraints for argumentation practices through interactions. The ways in which argumentation occurs, including the nature of teacher and student participation, are influenced by learning goals, classroom norms, teacher-student relationships and epistemological stances constructed through a class' interactive history. Based on such findings, science education should consider promoting classroom scientific argumentation as a long-term process, requiring supportive resources that develop through continuous classroom interactions. Moreover, in order to understand affordances that support disciplinary learning in classroom, we need to look beyond just disciplinary interactions. This work has implications for classroom research on argumentation and teacher education, specifically, the preparation of teachers for secondary science teaching.Item Youth Exchange and Peacebuilding Post 9/11: Experiences of Muslim High School Exchange Students(2010) Radomski, Carol; Lin, Jing; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the U.S. government initiated a youth exchange program to bring Muslim students to the U.S. for a school year. The Youth Exchange and Study (YES) program was created to help reduce tensions, and foster mutual understanding and respect between people in the U.S. and the Muslim world. It is commonly assumed that exchange programs promote cross-cultural understanding and goodwill, leading to a more peaceful world. Drawing on literature in the fields of peace education, intergroup relations, and international educational exchange, this study explores the connections between youth exchange and peacebuilding in our post 9/11 world. This qualitative, interview-based study examines the experiences of twenty-one Muslim high school exchange students participating in the YES program in the 2007-2008 school year. The study participants were between 16 and 19 years old and came from eight countries in the Middle East and Asia. The study highlights the exchange students' experiences living with American host families and attending American high schools. The study also explores how the exchange students carried out their role as young ambassadors, helping Americans understand their countries, cultures, and religion, as well as how they dealt with sometimes being labeled as terrorists. The experiences of the exchange students in this study provide evidence that youth exchange can foster changes in attitudes, affects, skills, and behaviors that are likely to contribute to a more peaceful world. The program structure and duration facilitate the formation of close personal relationships, as well as tremendous personal growth. The program goals and expectations also contribute to the students' success as young ambassadors. The students were able to correct inaccurate stereotypes and develop skills in cultural mediation. This study also demonstrates that youth exchange incorporates many of the key components of peace education programs. Recommendations for program changes include focusing more directly on peace and peace education, addressing conflict issues, building skills in conflict mediation, developing leaders for peace, and training local coordinators in peace education.Item A TALE OF TWO GROUPS: DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MINORITY STUDENTS AND NON-MINORITY STUDENTS IN THEIR PREDISPOSITION TO AND ENGAGEMENT WITH DIVERSE PEERS AT A PREDOMINANTLY WHITE INSTITUTION(2009) Hall, Wendell Diedrik; Cabrera, Alberto F.; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which minority students and non-minority students differ in their predispositions to engage in campus-based diversity activities upon entering college and engagement with diverse college peers during college. These ethnicity-based interactional differences were examined under a revised version of the Transition to College Model (Locks et al., 2008). The Diverse College Student Engagement Model accounts for the joint influence of student pre-college characteristics along with collegiate experiences, in shaping engagement with racially diverse peers at a predominantly White college. Using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and Latent Means Modeling (LMM), this dissertation examined direct and indirect effects of factors that influence engagement with diverse students in college. Findings indicated that engagement with diverse peers does not take place in a vacuum; conditions and mechanisms that facilitate engagement also matter. Several pre-college variables and college variables were shown to influence predisposition to engage in diversity-related activities and engagement among diverse peers in college. Findings from testing the proposed model indicate that minority students were significantly higher in the latent factor Predisposition to Engage when entering college; however, no significant differences were found in the latent factor Engagement after the sophomore year of college. The differences appear to have been attenuated by some of the campus mechanisms the University of Maryland has in place to foster engagement among diverse students.Item Attending to Stories of High School Displacement: The Lived High School Experience of GED® College Graduates(2009) Snyder, Mary Grace Catherine; Hultgren, Francine H; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This hermeneutic phenomenological inquiry is called by the question, "What is the lived high school experience of GED college graduates?" GED college graduates are people who have dropped out of high school, used the GED Tests to earn their jurisdiction's high school diploma, then graduated from a four-year institution. If these individuals have the intellectual acumen and personal commitment to earn a bachelor's degree, then why did they drop out of high school? Conversations with seven GED college graduates uncover the displacement that drove them out of a traditional high school program. The hermeneutic phenomenological methodology is grounded in the philosophical work of Heidegger, especially as developed by Merleau-Ponty and Levinas, which elicits an awareness of our embodied being's struggle to embrace Being and the moral necessity of responding to that presence. Van Manen's work guides the "doing" of this philosophy as human science research in education. The stories of the lived high school experiences of the seven GED college graduates reveal the disquiet of their displacement. They each felt that they did not fit the mold that high school wanted: they felt they were different, outcasts, not part of the "in crowd." They felt the inequitable treatment and bodily discomfort caused by this difference. They report only a nominal, caring presence at school, and this disregard further alienated them. School was disappointed in their lack of commitment and enthusiasm for traditional coursework, and the students, in turn, were disappointed that school cared so little for their needs. Dropping out protected them from the pain of further displacement. Attending to these stories of displacement may help educators imagine a different way of creating high school. Smaller high schools might make each student a more significant part of the student body, better known to teachers, and more likely to feel implaced. Additionally, alternate programs might allow students to deviate from the traditional K-12 timeline into work experiences, to follow compelling interests, or to gather into community around similar questions about their world. Teacher preparation programs that offer multiple visions for high school could be instrumental in making such change a reality.Item Teacher Sense-making and Policy Implementation: A Qualitative Case Study of a School District's Reading Initiative in Science(2009) Quinn, John Rory; Mawhinney, Hanne; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)In response to No Child Left Behind federal legislation and Maryland's Bridge to Excellence Act, a school district created a strategic plan that included a program initiative for improving reading in secondary schools. The initiative involved the implementation of Reading Apprenticeship, a program that required content teachers to infuse reading instruction into their practice by modeling reading behaviors and utilizing tools designed to promote metacognitive conversations with their students. This qualitative case study used a cognitive perspective to explore the sense-making of a team of middle school science teachers who received training and sought to implement the program in their instructional practice during the 2004-2005 school year. The findings revealed that policy implementation varied for the different members of the team and was adversely affect by other policies and resistance by students. At the same time, policy implementation was enhanced by teacher participation in the communities of practice associated with the initiative. Implications from the study advocate that school districts actively engage in sense-giving activities and support the communities of practice that are established when new policy measures are introduced. The study calls for further research on how students respond to policy initiatives and how they shape their teachers' sense-making. This study contributed to the sparse body of literature in this new field of education policy implementation research.Item Leveling the Field: The Need for Explicit Instruction of Argumentative Form for 'Struggling' Secondary Students(2009) Bado-Aleman, Jennifer; McCaleb, Joseph; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)In this essay, a method for explicit teaching of argumentative form is purported, based on the methods of classical rhetoric. Throughout, it argues that the secondary student labeled "struggling" is often one who is a cultural minority and who experiences a cultural mismatch between implicit standards in argumentative writing and that of his own culture. In order to provide culturally responsive instruction for such students, the essay suggests that teachers must make these standards for what constitutes a "well-organized" explicit and teach students methods to self-regulate their thinking during the composing process. In this way, students are granted an opportunity to succeed academically in terms of writing ability.Item Passions and Possibilities: The Lived Experience of Teaching Advanced Placement English in Public High School(2009) Borenzweig, Suzanne R.; Hultgren, Francine; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study explores the lived experiences of Advanced Placement English teachers in public school high school. Max van Manen's methodology for hermeneutic phenomenological research establishes the framework for the inquiry. The writings of Heidegger, Gadamer, and Greene provide philosophical grounding throughout the research process. The work of curricular theorists elucidates possibilities for understanding the experiences of Advanced Placement English teachers, as I address the question: "What is it like to teach Advanced Placement English while caught in the tension between teaching and testing?" Six Advanced Placement teachers engage with the researcher in conversations about being with students in the Advanced Placement English classroom. The teachers also reflect on their practice through a series of shared journal entries. The teachers, five women and one man, range in age from 25 to 45 years, and have between 2 and 10 years experience teaching Advanced Placement English. The phenomenological text constructed from conversations and written reflections brings forth aspects of the experience of dwelling aright in the Zone of Between in AP English teaching: between teaching and testing, high school and college, and childhood and adulthood. The teachers approach their work as master-craftspeople in the classroom-workshop, passing on to their student-apprentices the proper use of tools in the art and craft of reading, writing, thinking, and test-taking in the AP English classroom. As teachers prepare students for the College Board exam, they also embrace, question, and innovate around aspects of the test. The teachers use the exam as a foundation for courage and encouragement, confidence and passion building, and creative ways-of-being with students. The study suggests a need for Advanced Placement teachers to participate in the development of curriculum, to retain the autonomy to teach from the self, and to be trusted to provide students with meaningful experiences in the art and craft of literature study. The study also reveals the importance of widening the narrow definition of student achievement to include more than test scores. Finally, the study recommends an inquiry-based project approach to assessment to expand the notion of teaching with passion for possibility in the Advanced Placement English classroom.Item The Teacher's Homecoming: Understanding Vocational Identity Development of Military Career Changers(2008-11-11) Fleming, Kimberly; McCaleb, Joseph; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)As increasing numbers of teacher candidates enter the field of education from other careers, teacher educators must consider the complexities of career transition. Insiders' accounts of vocational change can help teacher educators act with tact and authenticity in a way that is sensitive to the experiences of career changers. This study uses philosophical hermeneutics to develop understanding related to the sociocultural process of vocational identity development for two military career changers as they become teachers. The concept of identity is explored, and it is developed both as lived experience in community as well as a sense of self, fashioned through rememberings and imaginings. Two case studies center on Caucasian males with military experience who are transitioning into secondary English teaching positions. Thomas, a 50-year-old Air Force retiree with 24 years of service, is enrolled in a local school system-sponsored alternative preparation program. Rob, a 38-year-old past Verizon employee and current lieutenant in the Army Reserves, is enrolled in a Master of Arts in Teaching program. This study employs a participatory paradigm in which participants serve as co-researchers. The study follows each co-researcher into three communities of practice related to their teacher preparation and/or induction to teaching. Their experiences as persons-in-community are analyzed using a sociocultural perspective. The following constructs are explicated for each community of practice under study: place, social structures, practical tools, conceptual tools, metaphors, narratives, and imagined futures. Each community is shown to promote certain teaching identities while constraining others, although the process of vocational identity development emerges as a negotiation among person and community. In the spirit of Wenger (1998), each individual's nexus of being is then discussed, and vocational identity is explored in relation to coordination and contradiction of multiple communities as well as in mutual constitution with an individual's rememberings and imaginings. A vocational meta-story is told in archetypal language to represent the reverse coming of age which military career changers undergo on their journeys to become and belong as teachers. Finally, a synthesis of understandings related to identity, ways to make meaning, and the needs of military career changers is offered.Item Middle-School Students Coomprehending, Analyzing, and Evaluating Persuasive Text(2008-05-30) Leon, Tina Marie; Chambliss, Marilyn J.; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Students are inundated with posters, fliers, commercials, and advertisements intended to persuade. Students also are challenged to think critically about persuasion on high-stakes assessments, but their textbooks rarely include argument. Students have little experience with written persuasion and may lack the knowledge and skills necessary to comprehend and evaluate it. Research with adults has shown that prior knowledge and text characteristics affect reader persuasion. However, it is risky to design instruction for middle-school students based on adult outcomes. Thus, this study extended research on adults to middle-school students. A total of 357 middle-school students between 11 and 15 years old in grades six through eight read an argument on keeping animals in zoos structured as one-sided, two-sided refutation, or two-sided nonrefutation. Text content was emotional and factual. Students rated the persuasiveness of content during reading, rated their knowledge and beliefs before and after reading, and answered comprehension and evaluation questions. Verbal reports collected from 26 students informed how students processed persuasive text. Overall, most middle-school students' lacked adult knowledge of argument and persuasion for reasoning through the argument and its content. Most students identified persuasive text as written to inform, and selected the topic as the main point and a claim as the supporting detail. Students identified the argument in two-sided refutation more accurately. Verbal responses revealed that few students used knowledge of argument structure or persuasive content to comprehend, analyze, and evaluate. Instead, most students reacted to the content as they read and later inaccurately induced the author's purpose and argument. When evaluating premises, a majority of students selected the evidence as their source, but verbal responses indicated that students reasoned from text-based evidence, prior knowledge and their beliefs, despite selecting the evidence basis. Their particular basis depended upon the premise statement being evaluated. Students lacked knowledge of argument and persuasive content and were highly persuaded by both the emotional content and argument structure. Students rated emotional content as more persuasive than factual content. Other results suggested that one-sided argument affected students' beliefs the most. Changes in perceived knowledge mirrored changes in beliefs.Item Increasing Black Student Participation and Achievement in Advanced Placement Courses: A Comparative Analysis of Two Schools(2008-05-05) Ringo, Saroja R.; Valli, Linda; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Equal educational opportunity, especially as it pertains to Black Americans, has a long ideological history in the United States. As part of that history, the achievement gap has currently taken center stage in mainstream discussions about K-12 education in this country. This study focuses on the implications of the achievement gap for Black students' participation and achievement in Advanced Placement classes. Participation and success in AP courses is privileged in the college admissions process and students who perform well on AP exams are more likely to be accepted by institutions of higher education and to be better prepared for the rigors of college coursework. In high schools across the country, administrators are engaged in reform efforts to narrow the AP gap and ensure that all students have equitable opportunities to access higher education. The existing literature suggests that addressing the Black-White AP gap requires deliberate, collaborative action on the part of school-personnel and students' families. This involves the development of productive teacher-student and teacher-parent relationships based on high expectations and care. This qualitative study employs comparative case study methodology to investigate what two schools in a large, diverse, suburban school district are doing to 1) increase the participation of Black students in AP classes, and 2) support the academic achievement of Black students in AP classes. At each school, administrators, school counselors, AP teachers, Black AP students, and their parents were interviewed to develop understandings of the programs, processes, and practices aimed at addressing the Black-White AP gap as well as the various perceptions of each group. As these findings indicate, school-district accountability pressures influence school-level reform efforts. In one school, increased pressures to meet accountability demands contributed to the creation of an accountability culture. At the other, characterized by a culture of achievement, there was less intense pressure from the school-district. Despite the varying accountability demands from the school-district, the climate at each school was influenced similarly by issues of race, which was a salient factor in relationships between White AP teachers and Black AP students and their parents.