College of Education
Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/1647
The collections in this community comprise faculty research works, as well as graduate theses and dissertations..
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Item Investigation of Elementary Teacher Capacity to Implement Environmental Literacy Requirements(2017) Parker, Melanie Denise; McLaughlin, Margaret; Norris, John; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)To uphold Maryland’s environmental literacy high school graduation requirement and curricular standards, local school districts must develop programs that graduate environmentally literate students and provide effective teacher professional development. This study focused on assessing the confidence and ability of elementary teachers in a Maryland school district to implement these requirements. It also sought to determine if there is an association between teachers’ environmental training and their own confidence teaching environmental literacy. This study is a quantitative descriptive and exploratory study that utilized an online survey. Descriptive analysis and tests of significance were used to examine how teachers’ experience, training and environmental knowledge relate to their awareness of state and district policy and curriculum, teaching about the environment, teaching outdoors, and overall confidence in teaching environmental concepts. The study found that elementary teachers in this school district have high awareness and confidence regarding teaching in and about the environment. They are also highly knowledgeable about environmental topics. These teachers demonstrated that focused training and experience significantly impacts confidence in environmental and outdoor teaching. These findings provide compelling evidence of the need to incorporate direct experiences and practice when shaping environmental literacy teacher professional development. Despite the overall confidence in teaching in and about the environment, a little over half of the teachers reported that they took students outside for instruction. Challenges noted are similar to those reported in other studies and include safety, time, resources, appropriate spaces, permission, appropriateness, and student management. Overcoming these challenges does not lie solely with teachers and their confidence but also will require input and support from the administration, facilities, and curriculum developers. Focused professional development on the pedagogy and management strategies for instruction in the outdoors is needed for both teachers and administrators. The opportunity of utilizing school grounds as its own classroom needs to be pursued as a cultural and systemic shift in our understanding of the modern classroom. The integration of environmental topics and outdoor instruction into content areas beyond science will build both the understanding and capacity of teachers and benefit student engagement and environmental literacy.Item A Narrative Analysis of the Process of Self-Authorship for Student Affairs Graduate Students(2011) Schoper, Sarah E.; Komives, Susan R; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Research on preparation programs for student affairs professionals has focused primarily on identifying competencies. Limited attention has been paid to the process of how meaning is made of preparation program experiences. Of the scholarship conducted, minimal consideration has been paid to the relationship between development and the environment. The purpose of this study was to explore the process of self-authorship for graduate students within a student affairs preparation program, and the environmental conditions that promoted that process. Utilizing narrative inquiry methodology (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000; Lieblich, Tuval-Mashiach, & Zilber, 1998; Marshall & Rossman, 1999; Shank, 2002), data was collected through in-depth interviews of six graduates of a student affairs preparation program meeting the standards set by the Council for the Advancement of Standards (2009), and analyzed using the constant comparative method (Lieblich et al., 1998). The preparation program studied was located at a public research university in the Midwest. The results were considered in relation to constructive-developmental theory (Boes, Baxter Magolda, & Buckley, 2010), self-authorship theory (Baxter Magolda, 2001; Kegan, 1982, 1994), the environment of reference model (Conyne & Clack, 1981), the learning partnerships model (Baxter Magolda, 2004), and transition theory (Schlossberg, Waters, & Goodman, 1995). Results indicated that although movement toward self-authorship was achieved those who graduated had not fully reached self-authorship. The conditions identified that promoted the process of self-authorship included self-reflection and experiencing different perspectives. For example, participation in self-reflection helped participants separate their own meaning from that of others, as well as determine the value of the meaning made. The results also indicated that the participants sought out support within the environment as they experienced transition. Finally, the findings included a description of conditions within the environment that aided the participants in deciding to select the specific preparation program studied. Although the interaction between the environmental conditions and the participants' meaning making systems varied, the findings can be transferred to student affairs preparation program environments, as well as practitioner environments.