Theses and Dissertations at Montana State University (MSU)
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://scholarworks.montana.edu/handle/1/733
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Item Effect of professional development on teachers' understanding of interdisciplinary earth science concepts(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2023) Huffman, Sue Ellen; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: C. John GravesThe Critical Zone describes the interactions that support life on Earth among the biosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere. To truly understand the complex processes, scientists must look outside their immediate focus: geologists, biologists, hydrologists, and physicists collaborate to see how their research fits together. Teachers can do the same and use critical zone concepts to bridge across subjects and from the classroom to the real world. Unfortunately, K12 teachers may not have the requisite knowledge or research experience to feel confident in incorporating critical zone topics into their classes, and professional development services provided by scientists may not properly meet those needs. A three-day professional development program, the result of a collaboration between a research group, Critical Zone Network Drylands Hub, and a non-profit science center, Insights Science Discovery, was developed to support teachers with including place-based, cross-curricular instruction. This mixed-methods study aimed to measure the impact on teachers' knowledge of the related concepts and their confidence in teaching it. Teachers were assessed, surveyed, and asked to draw an image or mental representation of the critical zone model and identify related academic disciplines. Both teachers and contributing scientists were surveyed to learn how their motivations for participating in professional development compared to one another. Mental models increased in their complexity and accuracy of CZ components. This result, combined with a modest improvement in their performance on assessments and a substantial increase in confidence towards including CZ concepts in their curriculum, could indicate that the PD successfully impacted teachers and actions in the classroom. Surveys also revealed that teachers and researchers share many of the same motivations for participating in PD. Ultimately, both groups shared that contributing scientists could be better informed about the teachers' context and needs, making PD content more relevant and applicable to better support student motivation and learning.Item The effect of integrated, cross-curricular co-teaching on student achievement, engagement, and high school completion at an alternative high school(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2019) Tonelli, Matthew Charles, Jr.; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Greg FrancisThis study examined the effect a cross-curricular, team-taught course had on student achievement and high school completion at an Alternative High School. Additional sub-questions included what was the effect on a student's engagement in coursework, what was the effect on student attendance, and what was the effect on a student's attitude towards school? Engagement, attendance, credit earned, attitude survey and interview data were used to identify this impact. Students from integrated courses were compared to courses that taught the same science content in a traditional classroom. Engagement, attendance, credit earning, and attitude experienced significant increases in the treatment group over the study period when compared to the control group. The study supports offering students course experiences that are integrated, co-taught, and project-based. The study showed this had a positive impact on engagement, student attendance, and attitude leading to improved course completion, outcomes for graduation and future success. This approach has significant implications in the alternative school setting where students are often at a deficit in credit earning in relationship to their age. In this scenario, opportunities for credit recovery and accelerated learning increase the likelihood of students completing high school.Item Integrating biology subject lessons into a high school visual arts classroom(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2019) Walsh, Edmond B.; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Walter WoolbaughStudents at Thunder Ridge High School in Idaho Falls, Idaho were having difficulty integrating compelling subject matter into their artwork, often copying ideas from Google or Instagram. Topics in biology were introduced to create inquiry surrounding the selection of subject for student projects. The literature base for this project strongly supports the integration of art and science as a means of building relevance and interest among students in science and art topics. This study was developed to determine if student work improved when provided artistic subject in biology topics compared to projects where students developed artistic subject independently. Students in either Art 1 or Ceramics 1 visual arts classes were expected to complete four projects over the course of a trimester. Students created two projects related to subjects in biology and two projects were developed by students independently. Qualitative surveys and interviews were employed alongside quantitative project rubrics and biology content assessments to determine the effect on student perceptions and performance during biology and art integration.Item The impact of an integrated curriculum on student success in science(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2016) George, Janelle LaRae; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Greg FrancisThe impact of an integrated science curriculum was studied in a sixth grade classroom. Prior to the treatment, students attended three different classes at different times. Each class had its own specific content that was not connected to any other class. At the sound of the bell, students had to stop learning about what they had previously spent ninety minutes on and begin learning something completely different. The purpose of this study was to identify what impact integrated teaching had on students. Rather than stopping their learning at the sound of the bell, students use the knowledge, they just learned in a new way to continue learning about that topic. According to observations I have made, students often struggle to transfer or connect information from one content area to another. During this research, I taught two different science units to two different sixth grade classes. One science unit was not integrated with other subjects and one science unit was integrated with other subjects. The treatment science unit was integrated with math and language arts content. Students studied about the weather or the water cycle and continued to use those topics to learn in their math class and their language arts class. Students in the control group learned math and language arts skills that did not have a science topic connected to them. Students' achievement on pre and post tests did not show observable growth. Their attitudes about science, according to a survey, also did not show an observable difference after the units. However, their ability to transfer, connect, and learn was affected, as demonstrated by their responses, which were recorded in their science notebooks about their own learning during the course of those units.Item The integration of English language arts, science and other subjects : learning from elementary educators' knowledge and practice(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 2013) Nollmeyer, Gustave Evan; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Lynn Kelting-Gibson.A cursory review of the literature reveals that integration is a difficult practice to define, yet elementary teachers are quick to speak positively of integration and many claim to integrate in their practice. If there is a lack of consensus about what integration means, what then are these teachers doing when they say that they integrate? Surprisingly, few researchers have taken the time to explore the descriptions and practices of elementary educators. This study investigated five cases in an effort to establish how teachers view the domain of subject area integration. Qualitative data was collected through interviews with the participants and observations of the integrated lessons they taught. The data revealed a healthy mix of commonalities within and differences between the teachers' descriptions and practices. These similarities and differences revealed a model of integration that goes beyond the linear continuums common in the literature. The conclusions of this study propose a model of the domain that consists of four variables. These variables can be used to describe with great detail an individual practice of integration and allow educators and administrators an opportunity to consider and plan for growth in the practice of subject area integration.Item The effects of direct mathematics instruction on attitudes and success in general chemistry(Montana State University - Bozeman, Graduate School, 2011) Bowser, Lindsey Paige; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Peggy Taylor.In this investigation direct instruction on mathematical topics critical to the general chemistry curriculum was delivered by the chemistry teacher and members of the math department as part of a Proportions Project. Changes in student attitude and performance were measured using pre and post treatment surveys and assessments. After the Proportions Project, student performance improved by up to 28% at tasks incorporating multiple variables and unit conversions. The majority of students also reported better study skills, better understanding of the role of mathematics in the study of chemistry, and a perception of chemistry as more relevant to their daily lives.