Scholarship & Research
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Item Continued professional development among secondary agricultural education teachers in Uganda, a case study(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 2023) Kibirige, Brian; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Dustin PerryThe purpose of study was to identify the existing professional needs among Ugandan secondary agricultural education teachers. This was investigated using the following research objectives: 1. Profile the educational background of Ugandan secondary agricultural education teachers. 2. Identify the kind of continuous professional development activities that Ugandan secondary agricultural education teachers participate in. 3. Assess the perceptions of Ugandan secondary agricultural education teachers towards the available CPD programs. 4. Establish the level of subject content knowledge among majority of Ugandan secondary agricultural education teachers. 5. Determine if pedagogical gaps exist among Ugandan secondary agricultural education teachers.Item Evaluating the impact of permanent school closure(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 2022) Robinson, Willard Montellous, IV; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Gregory GilpinIn any given school year, about seven percent of all U.S. public school districts will close one of its schools. In the years directly following the Great Recession, school closure increased by up to 5 percentage points. School closures can be devastating events that disrupt student and teacher routines, separate peer groups, and potentially overextend the resources of receiving schools. As a result, they are usually the last result of a school district to decrease funding. Closing a school allows districts to reduce spending by decreasing expenditures on building maintenance and operation. School closure was a tool used by districts to alleviate the financial distress following the extreme negative effects on public education caused by the Great Recession. During the recent Covid-19 pandemic, state funds began to follow similar trajectories to the 2008 recession. Thus, we ask ourselves 'what could we have done differently in response to the Great Recession?' This question is worth examining as it allows us to develop better policy in the wake of budget shocks that U.S. districts almost faced. While a closure is hard on a district, it can also provide a unique opportunity to re-allocate resources within the district to be more efficiently allocated. In normal years, tenure makes teacher re-allocation difficult, but the significant change in the educational environment brought about by closure can provide an opportunity to re-orient staff. Do districts take advantage of this opportunity? In this paper, I test the hypothesis that school districts used school closures as an opportunity to re-allocate resources in the wake of serious declining funds caused by the Great Recession. My results do not show convincing evidence that districts induced to close a school from the Great Recession's budget shocks used the opportunity to re-orient staff. This could be for two reasons: (1) they are not realizing the opportunity they have or (2) they are already allocating resources efficiently and that is not affected by the change in educational setting. If the first reason is the reality, this suggests that districts did not respond optimally to the event of school closure.Item Surveying middle school computer science throughout the United States: a needs assessment for teachers(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Engineering, 2022) Firth, Olivia Rose; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Brittany FasyMiddle school computer science plays an important role in increasing student interest and engagement, as well as leveling the playing field for students as they enter high school. Computer science courses or the introduction of CS into other STEM courses is also a valuable opportunity to build higher order thinking and problem-solving skills that will serve students throughout their education. However, the state of middle school computer science (CS) has yet to be studied in depth. Particularly, research is needed to understand the challenges facing a diverse population of middle school CS teachers. With the goal of learning to better support CS teachers, we have performed interviews and surveys amongst teachers throughout the country to illustrate the state of middle school CS and CS teacher self-efficacy. This project fills in this gap by serving as a needs assessment for a difficult to reach population because the track to become a middle school CS teacher is not well-defined, and many of these teachers are new to the role or have taken it on as an additional responsibility.Item Education For Sustainability (EFS) as a lived experience at a land grant university (MSU): a case study of MSU teaching faculty(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 2022) Short, Daniel Owen; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Michael BrodySustainability is a contentious and awkward topic to teach. Increasing concern and awareness of sustainability issues drives a need to study sustainability through an education lens. Education, specifically Higher Education (HE), is a vital source in understanding and ultimately addressing sustainability issues. However, HE institutions continue to promote unsustainable patterns on a local, regional, and global scale. There is an alignment between MSU's mission as a land grant institution and that of Educations for Sustainability (EfS). The shared mission is to serve local regions and citizens by addressing local, regional, and global issues through education, research, and service. This exploratory qualitative study aims to examine and describe the lived experiences of educators at MSU who teach 'fundamental' EfS courses. Data collected is from Interviews, course artifacts, a survey, and observations from the sample of four (n=4) MSU faculty and their courses. The research used a collective case study methodology. A central finding of this study is the faculty's dedication to accurately representing the complexities of sustainability to their students. The faculty's beliefs and experiences manifest in their courses by promoting inclusive scholarship and adaptable course design. This study offers a reflection of a small sample of MSU faculty teaching EfS to promote further research into EfS at MSU.Item Teacher confidence and classroom practices: a case study on science identity(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2021) Bowers, Alison Taylor; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Greg FrancisThis study examined the relationship between students' science identity and their teacher's science teacher identity, as well as the influence of teacher confidence and understanding of Next Generation Science Standards and three-dimensional science teaching and learning on science teacher identity. Teacher and student surveys were used to evaluate correlation, while observations and interviews were used to understand the relationship between teacher confidence and science teacher identity. Results showed that there is little correlation between strong science teacher identity and strong student science identity, but there is a relationship between teachers' understanding of Next Generation science teaching and learning and overall science teacher identity. Teachers who have a solid background in science content knowledge and science pedagogy, especially three-dimensional science teaching based on the framework for the Next Generation Science Standards, tend to better see themselves as science teachers.Item Investigating the efficacy of a collaborative evaluation model using visual research methods and concept mapping strategies to evaluate a professional learning program for teachers building competency in media literacy(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 2021) Vradenburg, Nicole Angeline; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Sarah PenningtonThe purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of collaborative evaluation as a method for understanding and describing how a collaborative professional learning program for educators will improve their self-reported skills in media literacy while engendering them to deliberately employ media literacy practices in their lesson plans. The model investigated for this study had six phases and employed the use of surveys, collaborative discussion, and the creation of visual artifacts to gather descriptive data to answer research questions. This participatory approach to evaluation gave participating teachers the opportunity to evaluate the data alongside the researcher. The role of the researcher as the program evaluator and facilitator leveraged the collegiality and strong relationships developed over time to gather detailed data about the professional learning program and the self-reported growth in media literacy competency of the teachers. Facilitators of professional learning for teachers can employ a collaborative evaluation model to gather testimony form participants describing their experiences that will inform the design of future programs for teachers. Findings suggest that including teachers in the evaluation of the programs in which they participate is an effective evaluation strategy that increases the chances that the data collected will inform the future professional learning programs for teachers. This model is recommended for programs that are meant to support teachers in building their competency in a specific content area, such as media literacy, over time through collaboration with peers.Item An exploration of the relationship between resilience and commitment to teaching across Montana agricultural educator career stages(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 2021) Toft, Joshua Thomas; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Dustin PerryThe purpose of this study was to fill an identified research gap between resilience and commitment to teaching and establish whether a relationship between these two factors exists across educator career stages. This study used a mixed methods research design, beginning with a quantitative survey instrument examining resilience and commitment to teaching. The survey was delivered to all Montana agricultural educators in each defined career stage (pre-service, early, mid, and late). All quantitative data was analyzed using Excel. A purposive sample of participants was selected for further qualitative analysis via semi-structured interviews. Interviews were delivered face-to-face and over the phone, with audio recordings and field notes used for data collection. Data analysis was completed for quantitative and qualitative data separately, with analysis of variance (ANOVA) and correlation analyses used for quantitative data and thematic analysis used for qualitative data. The two analyses were integrated, with the qualitative analysis used to help explain and support the results of the quantitative data analysis. Results from the survey revealed no statistically significant differences in mean resilience scores; however, a significant mean difference was identified between the commitment to teaching scores of pre-service and early-career educators. Subsequent interviews revealed four prevalent themes: (1) distinct purpose, (2) lifelong learners, (3) focusing on the good, and (4) strong support systems. A statistically significant difference in commitment to teaching scores between pre-service and early-career educators was discovered and linked, using interview data, to the presence or absence of strong support systems. A significant correlation between resilience and commitment to teaching was also observed, though the low strength of the correlation was suggestive of the complexity of both concepts. Interviews revealed noticeable discrepancies in perceived resilience between quantitative and qualitative measures, leading to a recommendation for an updated and educator specific instrument for evaluating resilience. Lastly, a suggested relationship, particularly among experienced educators, between prior successes and their resilience and commitment to teaching was discovered. It was therefore recommended teacher educators design programs to help pre-service and early-career educators develop a bank of successes to draw on as they begin their teaching career.Item Exploring the conceptual framework and knowledge base of nature-based experiential education(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 2020) Meyer, Joshua Joseph; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Robert CarsonThis study examined the current status of Nature Based Experiential Education (NBEE) with respect to its underlying knowledge base and conceptual framework. Compared to other professions, including K-12 education, these formalized attributes have appeared to be fairly minimal. Anecdotally, NBEE draws upon an eclectic array of sources for inspiration and knowledge, while practitioners rely extensively on their own acquired base of personal experience for guidance. If this is true, then there is a certain element of rugged individualism to be admired. The tradeoff, though, would be a commensurate inability to form a cohesive discourse community, to identify and codify best practice, to establish a coherent research agenda to advance the state of the art, and to support either professional development or the establishment of standards in any kind of systematic and meaningful manner. Assuming that these are desirable goals, the initial challenge was to determine what sources of knowledge are most prominent among its practitioners. This study addressed that problem by using a qualitative mixed methods approach. The researcher employed three separate but complementary methods - by critically reviewing NBEE-related literature, by interviewing individuals with expertise in NBEE, and by surveying NBEE practitioners. The results of this study tend to support the anecdotal view that practitioner knowledge is eclectic, diverse, and largely dependent upon the experiences of individual practitioners, a kind of folk craft which is nevertheless shared among members of the field. It also revealed a small but robust inventory of inspirational and informative publications, some widely known. The project itself was met with interest, as practitioners and experts generally agreed that the profession would benefit from a more systematic and contemporary foundation of canonical knowledge and guiding principles. The study concludes by making several recommendations on how these goals can be served.Item The space between: the plight of rurally isolated, impoverished Montana school districts(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 2019) Patterson, Joshua Glenn; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: David HendersonDespite growing awareness of the teacher staffing crisis in rurally isolated, impoverished Montana school districts, little has been done to effectively address the issue. As opposed to a general lack of supply, current state and national research attribute the problem to challenges in teacher recruitment and retention. While many of these studies have identified factors associated with teacher staffing challenges, none have fully conveyed the essence of the struggle through the experiences of school leaders who endure the crisis. Therefore as revealed through the experience of eligible superintendents, the purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate teacher staffing challenges in rurally isolated, impoverished Montana school districts and the role of state school funding policy in the recruitment and retention of high quality teachers. Anchored by punctuated equilibrium social theory, the study's conceptual model provides a basis for multiple instrumental case studies. Investigative research began with two focus groups of eligible superintendents and was followed by multiple interviews with the superintendents of four representative case study school districts. Audio recordings of interviews were transcribed and reviewed using typological data analysis methods to identify semantic relationships, themes, and significant statements. Study trustworthiness was established through bracketing the researcher's personal experiences with teacher staffing challenges, thick description, peer review, member checking, and triangulation with school district related information and other state research. Findings indicate that current Montana school funding policy may exacerbate the staffing challenges experienced in these remote and poor districts as well as their organizational functioning.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.