Matching Items (3)
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- All Subjects: Curriculum planning
- Creators: Ewing, Kris M
- Creators: Faltis, Christian
- Creators: Moore, Jonathan Prescott
Description
Sustainability is a relatively new topic that has transcended traditional disciplinary boundaries. Since faculty members have been trained in traditional disciplines, developing curriculum for and teaching sustainability presents both a great opportunity and a challenge. In order to embrace sustainability education and develop and implement new curriculum, faculty members have to expend a large amount of effort and time. Moreover, faculty members require support and help of professional development programs. All these issues and problems demonstrate a need for this research study. The purpose of this study was to analyze the processes and procedures used by a small sample of faculty members of Greenville Community College District (GCCD) to integrate sustainability into the curriculum and classroom. The diffusion of innovation was identified as the conceptual framework, and qualitative case study methodology was used. The findings revealed three major themes why faculty members were interested in sustainability education: love of nature, inherent nature of their discipline, and commitment to issues of equity. The findings revealed that sustainability is taught using pedagogical tools such as experiential learning, problem-based learning, inquiry-based learning, and a heavy focus on research. As lesson plans were developed, appropriate assessment tools were created. The participants interviewed identified several barriers for teaching interdisciplinary courses, among which time constraints and increase in workload emerged as common themes. The study found that strategies for helping mainstream faculty members embrace sustainability education were time, rewards, recognition, support and encouragement, motivation of students, and creating a network of early adopters as mentors.
ContributorsRamakrishna, Pushpa (Author) / De Los Santos Jr, Alfredo G (Thesis advisor) / Ewing, Kris M (Thesis advisor) / Hogan, Margaret P (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
When it comes to planning for instruction, many teachers may feel an overwhelming need to rely on prescribed curricular resources and when those are not available many teachers may feel lost. While several methods for improving instructional planning exist, research has shown that prioritizing standards, creating assessments aligned to those standards, and using the data from those assessments to make instructional decisions have positively impacted teachers' instructional planning practices. Grounded in participatory action research (PAR), this mixed methods action research study sought to investigate the influence that targeted coaching could have on teachers' planning practices. The study was conducted in a K-8 Title I school and included four participants who engaged in targeted coaching and professional development designed to help them improve their planning practices. It utilized surveys, observations, artifacts, and interviews to answer the research questions. From the surveys, interviews, lesson plans, artifacts and coaching conversations, the Coaching Model for Effective Planning provided helpful and beneficial professional development that was readily adaptable and useful to the participants' classroom. In addition, the findings exhibited that coaching can influence planning whether formally by being written into lesson plans or by incorporating it into instruction. Furthermore, the findings also raised the question of teacher efficacy in coaching relationships as wells the impact of coaching.
ContributorsMoore, Jonathan Prescott (Author) / Jimenez-Castellanos, Oscar (Thesis advisor) / González, Gustavo (Committee member) / Gestson, Chad (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
This study investigates the hidden curriculum of home learning, through participant observation of ten families, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), who chose to educate their children at home. The term "hidden curriculum" is typically used to describe the values and behaviors that are taught to students implicitly, through the structure and organization of formal schooling. I used the concept of hidden curriculum as a starting point for understanding how the organization and process of home learning might also convey lessons to its participants, lessons that are not necessarily an explicit object of study in the home. Using naturalistic inquiry and a multiple case study method, I spent a minimum of ten hours each with ten families, five who homeschool and five who unschool. Through questionnaires, taped interviews, and observation, I documented typical home learning practices and purposes. These families were selected through a combination of purposive and snowball sampling to reflect a diversity of approaches to home learning. Key findings were organized into four main categories that incorporated the significant elements of the hidden curriculum of these homes: relationships, time, the learning process, and technology. The study offers three main contributions to the literature on home learning, to families, whether their children attend public schools or not, to policy makers and educators, and to the general public. First, in the case of these LDS families, their religious beliefs significantly shaped the hidden curriculum and specifically impacted relationships, use of time, attitudes about learning, and engagement with technology. Second, lines were blurred between unschooling and homeschooling practices, similar to the overlap found in self-reports and other discussions of home learning. Third, similar to families who do not home school, these families sought to achieve a balance in children's use of technology and other educational approaches. Lastly, I discuss the significant challenges that lay in defining curriculum, overt as well as hidden, in the context of home learning. This research contributes insights into alternative ways of educating children that can inform parents and educators of effective elements of other paradigms. In defining their own educational success, these families model the kind of teaching and learning advocated by professionals but that remain elusive in institutionalized education, inviting a re-thinking of and discussions about the "one best system" approach.
ContributorsHinton, Marlene (Author) / Hayes, Elisabeth (Thesis advisor) / Faltis, Christian (Committee member) / Rolstad, Kellie (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012