Positive Learning Environments Aiming for Success In Science Education PLEASSE

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Positive Learning Environments Aiming for
Success In ScienceEducationPLEASSE

• PI Obed Norman
• Co PI G. Prime J. Wilson
• Morgan State University
• DRK12 Exploratory

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Project Research Question

• Can a structured intervention aimed at fostering
  positive student academic attitudes be integrated
  with a quality inquiry science program to
  increase both student academic outcomes and
  positive achievementoriented attitudes?

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The Impact of No Child Left Behind(NCLB)
Accountability Pressures on Instructional
Practices In an Urban Middle School Science
Class The Case of the Downward Spiral
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Sub Research Questions

• a. How are the instructional strategies of the
  teacher impacted by the accountability
  requirements of NCLB and related state mandates?
• b. How do the enacted instructional strategies
  compare with strategies that have been identified
  as holding the most promise for enhancing
  learning among urban students from economically
  disadvantaged backgrounds?

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Methods and Data Sources

• This was a classroom case study
• Two classes taught by the same teacher were
  observed for a year
• Typical lessons covering a two-month period were
  analyzed.

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Theoretical Framework

• Theory of symbolic interactionism (Rosenthal and
  Jacobson, 1968).
• SI Interactions and contexts provide the
  interpretive lens through which actions, people,
  and objects acquire meaning,
• Accountability can be explored as generating
  potent incentives for individuals to engage in
  particular behaviors and avoiding others.

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Theoretical Framework

• Threat rigidity Organizations whose legitimacy
  is under threat adopt responsive strategies that
  can at times be characterized by rigidity.
• Olsen and Sexton (2009, AERJ) have described how
  schools can respond to these threats by
  emphasizing routinized and simplified
  instructional/assessment practices, and applying
  strong pressure for school personnel to conform
  (p. 9).

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Narrow Test Score Accountability as Rigidity
Threat

• The instructional strategies we observed can be
  interpreted as reflecting the rigidity
  engendered by the threat of an accountability
  regimen narrowly focused on test scores as the
  sole indication of teacher effectiveness.

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The Cultural Context of Urban Science Classrooms

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• Urban classroom as cultural interface zone
  (Norman et al. 2001)
• Ladson-Billings(1994) notion of culturally
  responsive pedagogy.
• The Pedagogy of Successful teachers of African
  American students
• a. The use of concrete experiences as a criterion
  of meaning.
• b. The use of dialogue in assessing knowledge
  claims.
• c. The ethic of personal responsibility.
• Helping students understand and participate in
  knowledge-building'

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The Teaching Gap

• Overwhelmingly, students responded to
  teacher-directed, text-centered activity in this
  science class. They focused their attention
  either on the teacher and the teachers notes on
  the board or screen at the front of the room or
  upon worksheet packets that came with the
  textbook adoption that they completed either in
  class or as homework.

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The Teaching Gap

• Defining new vocabulary terms dominated the
  lesson. Attention rarely focused on objects,
  events, or experiences. The lesson contained many
  occasions when student responses and questions
  provided opportunities for the teacher to engage
  the students in meaningful knowledge
  construction. These opportunities went unused.

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The Response to Rigidity Threat

• I love your questions, but we have to get
  through this stuff.

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The Teaching Gap

• This means that students likelihood of
  receiving encouragement for their curiosity and
  exploration may depend less on the individual
  characteristics of their teachers than on the
  goals their teachers are trying to achieve and on
  the very human tendency teachers have to comply
  with the goals articulated by those in authority
  (Engel and Randal, 2009, p. 196. AERJ).

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The instructional and pedagogic approach used
by our study teacher was encouraged by the
school. It was the same approach that Achinstein
et al. (2004) have identified as being
encouraged in schools serving large minority
populations. Achinstein et al. raise the
possibility that the instructional and pedagogic
regimens promoted in schools with large minority
populations may serve to perpetuate and even
exacerbate inequities in student achievement.
Our observations tend to confirm such a
conclusion.
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Table 1 Urban vs. Suburban School Data

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• 
  Study School(urban)
  Suburban School
• of 8th-graders scoring
• below state benchmarks in science
  75
  2
• of 8th-graders exceeding state
• benchmarks in science
  2
  30
• of the students receiving free or
• reduced-price lunches.
  59
  7
• African American students
  53
  3

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Appendix Classroom Observation Measure

• I. Lesson Design and Implementation
• The instructional strategies and activities
  respected students prior knowledge and the
  preconceptions inherent therein
• The lesson was designed to engage students as
  members of a learning community
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• In this lesson, student exploration preceded
  formal presentation
•  
• This lesson encouraged students to seek and value
  alternative modes of investigation or of problem
  solving
• The focus and direction of the lesson was often
  determined by ideas originating with students

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• II. Content IIa. Propositional Knowledge
• The lesson involved fundamental concepts of the
  subject
• The lesson promoted strongly coherent conceptual
  understanding
• The teacher had a solid grasp of the subject
  matter content inherent in the lesson
• Elements of abstraction (i.e. symbolic
  representations, theory building) were encouraged
  when it was important to do so.
• Connections with other content disciplines and/or
  real world phenomena were explored and valued
•  

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IIb.Procedural Knowledge

• Students used a variety of means (models,
  drawings, graphs, concrete materials,
  manipulatives, etc) to represent phenomena
• Students made predictions, estimations, and/or
  hypotheses and devised means for testing them
• Students were actively engaged in thought
  provoking activity that often involved the
  critical assessment of procedures
• Students were reflective about their learning
• Intellectual rigor, constructive criticism, and
  the challenging of ideas were valued

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III. Classroom Culture IIIa. Student/Teacher
Relationships Active participation of students
was encouraged and valued There was a
climate of respect for what others had to
say Students were encouraged to generate
conjectures, alternative solution strategies, and
ways of interpreting evidence In general the
teacher was patient with students. The teacher
acted as a resource person, working to support
and enhance student investigations. The metaphor
teacher as listener was very characteristic of
this classroom.
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• IIIb. Communicative Interactions
• Students were involved in the communication of
  their ideas to others using a variety of means
  and media
• The teachers questions triggered divergent modes
  of thinking
• There was a high proportion of student talk and a
  significant amount of it occurred between and
  among students
• Student questions and comments often determined
  the focus and direction of classroom discourse