ASU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This collection includes most of the ASU Theses and Dissertations from 2011 to present. ASU Theses and Dissertations are available in downloadable PDF format; however, a small percentage of items are under embargo. Information about the dissertations/theses includes degree information, committee members, an abstract, supporting data or media.
In addition to the electronic theses found in the ASU Digital Repository, ASU Theses and Dissertations can be found in the ASU Library Catalog.
Dissertations and Theses granted by Arizona State University are archived and made available through a joint effort of the ASU Graduate College and the ASU Libraries. For more information or questions about this collection contact or visit the Digital Repository ETD Library Guide or contact the ASU Graduate College at gradformat@asu.edu.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4
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- All Subjects: Teacher Education
- Creators: Jordan, Michelle E
Description
A reform movement in the United States has focused on STEM education and 21st century soft skills such as critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity. This spotlight on STEM instruction provided an opportunity to explore how K-14 STEM teacher participants perceived a Design Thinking Instructional Problems (DTIP) approach to developing instructional lessons. The study used a convergent parallel mixed-methods design with a survey instrument and a multiple case study focused on K-14 in-service STEM teachers. Data were collected from teacher participants during two five-week summer Research Experience for Teachers (RET) programs as part of two separate National Science Foundation (NSF) funded Engineering Research Centers (ERC) located at a large southwestern university in the United States (n=16). The study was conducted over three phases. During Phase I and II, teacher participants experienced a Design Thinking Overview workshop and weekly DTIP professional development sessions to facilitate the development of an RET instructional lesson. Pre- and post-program DTIP surveys and background interviews were conducted with all teacher participants (n=16). From this original group, teacher participants were selected as cases. Implementation observations and post-implementation interviews were conducted with these case-teachers (n=10). The study included frequency analysis and descriptive statistics of survey data. Qualitative data were analyzed using direct interpretation, thematic analysis, and open coding with the constant comparative method. A variety of arrays, summaries, and matrices were used to visualize patterns across and within individual case-teacher results. All 16 teacher participants viewed themselves as designers solving complex instructional problems. All 16 teacher participants found the DTIP professional development sessions to have somewhat to very much provided additional value during their RET summer programs. Six of the 10 case-teachers perceived the DTIP model graphic as mostly to completely corresponding to the way in which they developed their RET instructional lesson. Lastly, eight of the 10 case-teachers chose to embed a Design Thinking student learning strategy into the RET instructional lesson they developed.
ContributorsElwood, Kristin (Author) / Savenye, Wilhelmina (Thesis advisor) / Jordan, Michelle E (Committee member) / Henriksen, Danah (Committee member) / Mishra, Punya (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
As scrutiny of teacher effectiveness increases, there is a greater call for multiple instruments to measure teacher effectiveness and provide robust feedback to support teacher growth and development. Student perception surveys, questionnaires completed by K-12 students about their teachers, have increasingly been used to evaluate teachers and provide feedback. Situated in the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College (MLFTC) at Arizona State University, this action research study used Attribution Theory, Sensemaking Theory, and research on teacher emotion to 1) document the experiences of pre-service teachers as they related to the administration and subsequent results from a student perception survey (SPS), and 2) examine the influence of two online professional development modules created to prepare teachers for the SPS process and make sense of the results. Teacher candidates participated in the SPS process in their final, year-long residency. Results from the mixed-methods study provided evidence that pre-service teachers had both positive and negative experiences that were influenced by the SPS results they received from their students. Also, depending on the results they received, teacher candidates either attributed the cause of the results to themselves or to characteristics of their students. Results from the study also indicate that teacher candidates use few strategies to make sense of the results and used those strategies to varying degrees. Pre-service teachers indicated that they regarded the modules as helpful in the sense-making process. Furthermore, evidence indicates that pre-service teachers value their students’ feedback.
ContributorsVilla, Lessita Ann Lorin (Author) / Jordan, Michelle E (Thesis advisor) / Beardsley, Audrey (Committee member) / Ribbens, Teressa (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
This research investigated preservice teacher collaboration in the context of an undergraduate teacher preparation program. Small groups of preservice students were examined over five collaborative work sessions as they collaboratively designed and delivered instructional projects for their fellow classmates. This study contributes to understanding factors that influence the quality of preservice collaboration to help teacher educators better prepare preservice students for current collaborations with their peers and future collaboration in professional settings. A parallel mixed methods design, with an embedded two case study, was employed to analyze and interpret two research strands, quantitative, and qualitative. Quantitative results served as complementary to corroborate the qualitative findings. The quantitative results and qualitative findings indicate that past collaborative experiences and beliefs about future professional collaboration impacted students’ current collaborative efforts. Students with a flexible orientation toward collaboration and/or expanded beliefs about professional collaboration were more likely to heedfully interrelate than students with fixed orientations or simple beliefs about collaboration. Preservice students’ perceptions of the quality of their own heedful interrelating remained stable across the phases of the collaborative task. However, analysis of the HICES noted significant differences in groups’ perception of the quality of their collaborative interactions. Finally, analysis of the two-case study indicated that high quality heedful interrelating among group members created the more effective collaborative instructional project. A model of how preservice beliefs and orientations may influence their heedful interrelating during collaboration, and impact their efforts in designing and creating effective collaborative instruction was presented. The dissertation research contributed to a more thorough understanding of factors that influence preservice collaboration as they prepare for professional collaboration, when the outcomes of collaboration are critical not only for themselves, but also for their own students. Implications for educational practice and further research point towards the continued need to better understand the processes of preservice collaboration, and factors that impact their interaction as they learn to collaborate for improving instruction, and how teacher preparation programs can support and best address their needs as they prepare for their critical careers.
ContributorsBrown, Denise Miller (Author) / Jordan, Michelle E (Thesis advisor) / Daniel, Sarah R (Committee member) / Stamm, Jill K (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
Uncertainties are inherent in education as learners encounter gaps in their awareness of topics, receive new information that potentially conflicts with prior understandings, and grapple with known unknowns in order to construct new knowledge. While researchers have shown that students productively struggling with problematized and uncertain elements within math and science contexts can lead to greater conceptual awareness, literature is scarce regarding how teachers intentionally use student uncertainty to facilitate learning, let alone how their own perceptions of uncertainty impacts their practice. However, being aware of one’s own uncertainties as well as the productive potential of using student uncertainty as a pedagogical tool can help to enhance instructional practice and initiate change. To that end, I aim to identify strategies and resources to support math and science teachers enhance their awareness of the productive potential uncertainty can have in their instruction. In Chapter One of this dissertation, I introduce the background and purpose of this line of inquiry before presenting three independent, but interconnected, manuscripts. In Chapter Two, I report findings from a qualitative study exploring pre-service math teachers’ sources and perceptions of uncertainty after engaging in a course that intentionally introduced personal, pedagogical, and mathematical uncertainties. In Chapter Three, I describe the findings from a qualitative study that identified changes in middle school science teachers’ perceptions and practice of using student uncertainty as a pedagogical resource, specifically after engaging in a practice-based professional development designed to elicit and reflect on scientific uncertainty. Then, expanding on the findings presented in the two previous chapters, I propose resources in Chapter Four intended to enhance math teachers’ awareness and ability to embed mathematical uncertainty into problematized instruction. Finally, in Chapter Five, I conclude the dissertation connecting the three manuscripts, integrating the findings, and summarizing future implications.
ContributorsStarrett, Emily (Author) / Firetto, Carla M (Thesis advisor) / Jordan, Michelle E (Thesis advisor) / Beghetto, Ronald A (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2024