Scholarship & Research
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Item Classroom climate in a rural school context: reflection, modification, and improvement in the science classroom(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2018) Kessler, Aaron William; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Greg FrancisWhen the tardy bell rings and the door closes behind the last student, a very peculiar thing happens. In an age that promotes complete and total connectivity, classrooms are very often being ran in isolation. Only during passing periods or time outside of the teacher/students class periods do conversations regarding student behavior, best practices and classroom climate take place amongst the teachers. This study was an attempt to modify this common occurrence and challenge teachers to learn from their peers during the most critical part of the school day, the time teachers and students were interacting during class time. Instructors observed their own students in different settings, commonly exhibiting different strengths and weaknesses academically, socially and behaviorally. Observing teachers learned from other teacher's good instructional strategies as well as learned from watching poor teaching strategies. Professional conversations regarding what happened during each aspect of the class period were held. Teachers collaboratively identified what works and what needs to be modified to work better. The results of the surveys that were given to the participating teachers indicated that for the first time in many of their careers, they feel that they had an honest assessment of their classroom climate as well as new strategies and teaching methods that could transform their teaching.Item Using menus as a differentiation technique in small multilevel life science and physical science classrooms(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2017) Martin, Diane Marie; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Walter WoolbaughDifferentiating instruction for classes that include a diverse group of learners can be challenging. In this research project, the use of menus as a differentiation method was studied with two classes at a small, rural school. The first class studied was a 7th-8th grade life science class of 11 students, the second was a 9th-grade physical science class of seven students. Each class was taught four separate units. In two of the units, students were given a list-style menu of activities from which they selected a certain number of their choice to demonstrate their mastery of the unit objectives. The other two were taught using a more traditional mixture of mini-lectures, labs, and written activities in which the entire class received the same assignment. Student mastery of unit objectives, student attitudes towards science in general and their class in particular, and the effects of this teaching method on the classroom teacher were investigated using a range of data collection methods including pre- and post-unit assessments, student written surveys, student oral interviews, and a teacher journal. Although no significant overall trends in student content mastery were observed during this research, the performances of some individual students in both classes were affected negatively by this technique, while others showed a slight improvement in mastery during the treatment units. The majority of students liked having the ability to choose activities and be responsible for their own learning. The researcher intends to use a modified form of the menu-style units in the future, perhaps with a more limited scope and shorter time frame.