Though elementary teacher educators introduce new, reform-based strategies in science and mathema... more Though elementary teacher educators introduce new, reform-based strategies in science and mathematics methods courses, researchers wondered how novices negotiate reform strategies once they enter the elementary school culture. Given that the extent of parents' and veteran teachers' influence on novice teachers is largely unknown, this grounded theory study explored parents' and teachers' expectations of children's optimal science and mathematics learning in the current era of reform. Data consisted of semi-structured, open-ended interviews with novice teachers (n=20), veteran teachers (n=9), and parents (n=28). Researchers followed three stages of coding procedures to develop a logic model connecting participants' discrete designations of the landscape, regulating phenomena, contextual orientation, and desired outcomes. This logic model helped researchers develop propositions for future research on the interactive nature of parents' and teachers' influential role in elementary science and mathematics education. Implications encourage science and mathematics teacher educators-as well as school administrators-to explicitly develop and support novice teachers' ability to initiate and sustain parent/family engagement in order to create a school climate where teachers and parents are synergistically motivated to change.
A group of mathematics educators worked together to implement the lesson study model as a profess... more A group of mathematics educators worked together to implement the lesson study model as a professional development strategy while teaching their methods courses. The idea of collaborating across universities to engage in a professional development opportunity by forming a professional learning community created an appealing challenge. Because the group members were teaching in different institutions (and, in one case, a different country), however, they could not meet face-to-face on a regular basis. To overcome this obstacle, the group formed a “virtual community” by using various technology formats for communication. This article describes the experiences of the
Impacting Education: Journal on Transforming Professional Practice, 2021
Despite high attrition rates and abundant criticisms, online graduate programs continue to grow. ... more Despite high attrition rates and abundant criticisms, online graduate programs continue to grow. This paper describes the efforts of one online doctoral program that focused on developing programmatic support structures to increase community. Utilizing a qualitative, case study research design, including surveys and semi-structured interviews, this study examined two research questions: 1) In what ways did students experience a sense of community? 2) What elements of an online professional doctoral program did students find most influential in developing a learning community? Findings indicate that students experience community through peer collaboration, program support, and shared learning and networking. A sense of community was developed through the cohort model, strong student support services, synchronous live sessions, and relationships formed with faculty. As a result, a community of practice was formed among program participants. Findings from this study have the potential ...
Children's literature involving mathematics provides a common, natural context for the sharin... more Children's literature involving mathematics provides a common, natural context for the sharing of mathematics. To learn more about how preservice teachers included children's literature in their mathematics lessons, a study was conducted over two semesters during a required field experience component of an undergraduate teacher education program. The preservice teachers were required to use a children's literature book to explore a mathematical concept in three mathematics-focused lesson plans. The qualitative data analysis revealed that in planning mathematics lessons to incorporate children's literature, preservice teachers tended to focus on basic approaches. Specifically, the preservice teachers most often used a book as context for review, to develop a concept, or to use with manipulatives. As a result, it is important for teacher educators to provide the opportunity for preservice teachers to learn more about the various ways of integrating literature and provide the necessary support for incorporating these strategies into their lessons.
There exists an increased focus on school mathematics, especially first-year algebra, due to rece... more There exists an increased focus on school mathematics, especially first-year algebra, due to recent efforts for all students to be college and career ready. In addition, there are calls, policies, and legislation advocating for all students to study algebra epitomized by four rationales of the Algebra for All movement. In light of this movement, there must be a clear consensus about what is taught in the name of algebra. Yet, researchers documented this is not the case. The present research proposes to unify the leading algebra standards and assessment framework documents to identify the key ideas of algebra. The analysis resulted in six key ideas: (a) Variables, (b) Functions, (c) Patterns, (d) Modeling, (e) Technology, and (f) Multiple Representations. Outlined is the research process and resulting unification of existing algebra framework documents, and consideration is given for its uses in educational policy regarding algebra and potential directions for future research.
... Some of these include Beyond Numbers at the Maryland Science Center, Geometry Playground at t... more ... Some of these include Beyond Numbers at the Maryland Science Center, Geometry Playground at the Exploratorium, Pattern Wizardry at the Brooklyn Children's Museum, Secrets of Circles at the Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose, Flip It, Fold It, Figure It Out at the North ...
... Sandi Cooper Science and Mathematics Education Program Texas Tech University United Statessan... more ... Sandi Cooper Science and Mathematics Education Program Texas Tech University United [email protected] ... elementary schools, and there are several ongoing Lesson Study professional development endeavors throughout the United States (Lewis, Perry, & Hurd ...
We are teacher educators (in elementary science and mathematics) who are enthusiastic about techn... more We are teacher educators (in elementary science and mathematics) who are enthusiastic about technology as a teaching tool-though it is as new to us as it is to our university colleagues. We recently led a United States Department of Education Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to Use Technology (PT3) grant project entitled TechLinks. In an effort to encourage peer faculty members to connect methods instruction with current technology initiatives (namely the International Society for Technology Education [ISTE], 2000, and the National Council on Accreditation of Teacher Education [NCATE], 1997), TechLinks provided faculty fellowships-$1,000 for equipment and materials and a technology assistant who provided just-in-time learning for up to six interested faculty members each year. This development money helped to generate a community of teacher educators who not only began to appreciate the power of teaching with technology but recognized new-found confidence in technology knowledge and skills. As members of this group ourselves, we developed a number of ideas for integrating technology into science and mathematics methods courses. We created a number of course assignments that incorporated technology teaching applications-helping future teachers learn about good science and mathematics teaching methods and new technology tools simultaneously. This article is intended to share examples of successful technology applications with others and to propose the usefulness of the Flick and Bell (2000) guidelines.
Though elementary teacher educators introduce new, reform-based strategies in science and mathema... more Though elementary teacher educators introduce new, reform-based strategies in science and mathematics methods courses, researchers wondered how novices negotiate reform strategies once they enter the elementary school culture. Given that the extent of parents' and veteran teachers' influence on novice teachers is largely unknown, this grounded theory study explored parents' and teachers' expectations of children's optimal science and mathematics learning in the current era of reform. Data consisted of semistructured, open-ended interviews with novice teachers (n = 20), veteran teachers (n = 9), and parents (n = 28). Researchers followed three stages of coding procedures to develop a logic model connecting participants' discrete designations of the landscape, regulating phenomena, contextual orientation, and desired outcomes. This logic model helped researchers develop propositions for future research on the interactive nature of parents' and teachers' influential role in elementary science and mathematics education. Implications encourage science and mathematics teacher educators-as well as school administrators-to explicitly develop and support novice teachers' ability to initiate and sustain parent/family engagement in order to create a school climate in which teachers and parents are synergistically motivated to change. Continuous improvement of elementary teacher methods courses directs our interest in helping science and mathematics methods students enter the classroom successfully.
We are teacher educators (in elementary science and mathematics) who are enthusiastic about techn... more We are teacher educators (in elementary science and mathematics) who are enthusiastic about technology as a teaching tool—though it is as new to us as it is to our university colleagues. We recently led a United States Department of Education Preparing Tomorrow’s Teachers to Use Technology (PT3) grant project entitled TechLinks. In an effort to encourage peer faculty members to connect methods instruction with current technology initiatives (namely the International Society for Technology Education [ISTE], 2000, and the National Council on Accreditation of Teacher Education [NCATE], 1997), TechLinks provided faculty fellowships–$1,000 for equipment and materials and a technology assistant who provided just-in-time learning for up to six interested faculty members each year. This development money helped to generate a community of teacher educators who not only began to appreciate the power of teaching with technology but recognized new-found confidence in technology knowledge and sk...
Impacting Education: Journal on Transforming Professional Practice, 2022
This article reports on the program changes that emerged from the Baylor University Ed.D. in Lear... more This article reports on the program changes that emerged from the Baylor University Ed.D. in Learning and Organizational Change program development team as we engaged as a community of practice in the organizational change process to reframe our conceptualization of the Problem of Practice dissertation. This process led to logical implications for the program course offerings and student support systems. The following article, therefore, traces these changes as they emanate out from the Problem of Practice dissertation reconfiguration, into the course sequence, and finally the student support systems. This article concludes by offering the perspective gained about this work as we engaged in the same organizational change process through which we guide our students.
There is a compelling need to develop an algebra teacher self-efficacy instrument (ATSEI) as alge... more There is a compelling need to develop an algebra teacher self-efficacy instrument (ATSEI) as algebra continues to be considered a gatekeeper course for postsecondary educational and career opportunities, which is seen as a crucial piece in closing the achievement gap. This paper reports on the development and validation of the ATSEI, an instrument that measures two domains, Efficacy To Do School Algebra (Knowledge Efficacy, KE-A) and Efficacy to Teach Algebra (Personal Teaching Efficacy, PTE-A) along six categories. Four of the categories represented content standards (variables, functions, patterns, and modeling) and two of the categories represented process standards (technology and concrete models, and multiple representations). Through conducting an exploratory factor analysis across two phases, the instrument was reduced and refined from an initial 118 items developed from a curriculum analysis to 36 items that reflected two significant categories, Functions and Technology. The ATSEI measure is validated for in-service mathematics teachers and thus provides an instrument to examine need and impact in professional development venues. The specificity of the ATSEI allows those working with teachers to be better able to support them in the field and in return positively influence the learning outcomes of the students they teach.
This study was organized to examine the impact of a field experience for elementary preservice te... more This study was organized to examine the impact of a field experience for elementary preservice teachers working with young children enrolled in a summer academy focusing on early mathematics. The academy was designed to provide engaging learning experiences to support the development of early number concepts for pre-K students from an elementary school with low socioeconomic populations. Using a qualitative case study, the researchers examined the experiences of the preservice teachers through pre-and post-focus groups, daily and weekly reflections, and a follow-up interview. The results revealed an increased confidence in preservice teachers' ability to teach early number concepts when supported by a lead teacher. The preservice teachers also demonstrated growth in supporting student learning through differentiation in instruction. As teacher educators must consider the types and timing of field experiences offered to elementary preservice teachers, findings have implications for teacher preparation programs with varied field experiences.
Though elementary teacher educators introduce new, reform-based strategies in science and mathema... more Though elementary teacher educators introduce new, reform-based strategies in science and mathematics methods courses, researchers wondered how novices negotiate reform strategies once they enter the elementary school culture. Given that the extent of parents' and veteran teachers' influence on novice teachers is largely unknown, this grounded theory study explored parents' and teachers' expectations of children's optimal science and mathematics learning in the current era of reform. Data consisted of semi-structured, open-ended interviews with novice teachers (n=20), veteran teachers (n=9), and parents (n=28). Researchers followed three stages of coding procedures to develop a logic model connecting participants' discrete designations of the landscape, regulating phenomena, contextual orientation, and desired outcomes. This logic model helped researchers develop propositions for future research on the interactive nature of parents' and teachers' influential role in elementary science and mathematics education. Implications encourage science and mathematics teacher educators-as well as school administrators-to explicitly develop and support novice teachers' ability to initiate and sustain parent/family engagement in order to create a school climate where teachers and parents are synergistically motivated to change.
A group of mathematics educators worked together to implement the lesson study model as a profess... more A group of mathematics educators worked together to implement the lesson study model as a professional development strategy while teaching their methods courses. The idea of collaborating across universities to engage in a professional development opportunity by forming a professional learning community created an appealing challenge. Because the group members were teaching in different institutions (and, in one case, a different country), however, they could not meet face-to-face on a regular basis. To overcome this obstacle, the group formed a “virtual community” by using various technology formats for communication. This article describes the experiences of the
Impacting Education: Journal on Transforming Professional Practice, 2021
Despite high attrition rates and abundant criticisms, online graduate programs continue to grow. ... more Despite high attrition rates and abundant criticisms, online graduate programs continue to grow. This paper describes the efforts of one online doctoral program that focused on developing programmatic support structures to increase community. Utilizing a qualitative, case study research design, including surveys and semi-structured interviews, this study examined two research questions: 1) In what ways did students experience a sense of community? 2) What elements of an online professional doctoral program did students find most influential in developing a learning community? Findings indicate that students experience community through peer collaboration, program support, and shared learning and networking. A sense of community was developed through the cohort model, strong student support services, synchronous live sessions, and relationships formed with faculty. As a result, a community of practice was formed among program participants. Findings from this study have the potential ...
Children's literature involving mathematics provides a common, natural context for the sharin... more Children's literature involving mathematics provides a common, natural context for the sharing of mathematics. To learn more about how preservice teachers included children's literature in their mathematics lessons, a study was conducted over two semesters during a required field experience component of an undergraduate teacher education program. The preservice teachers were required to use a children's literature book to explore a mathematical concept in three mathematics-focused lesson plans. The qualitative data analysis revealed that in planning mathematics lessons to incorporate children's literature, preservice teachers tended to focus on basic approaches. Specifically, the preservice teachers most often used a book as context for review, to develop a concept, or to use with manipulatives. As a result, it is important for teacher educators to provide the opportunity for preservice teachers to learn more about the various ways of integrating literature and provide the necessary support for incorporating these strategies into their lessons.
There exists an increased focus on school mathematics, especially first-year algebra, due to rece... more There exists an increased focus on school mathematics, especially first-year algebra, due to recent efforts for all students to be college and career ready. In addition, there are calls, policies, and legislation advocating for all students to study algebra epitomized by four rationales of the Algebra for All movement. In light of this movement, there must be a clear consensus about what is taught in the name of algebra. Yet, researchers documented this is not the case. The present research proposes to unify the leading algebra standards and assessment framework documents to identify the key ideas of algebra. The analysis resulted in six key ideas: (a) Variables, (b) Functions, (c) Patterns, (d) Modeling, (e) Technology, and (f) Multiple Representations. Outlined is the research process and resulting unification of existing algebra framework documents, and consideration is given for its uses in educational policy regarding algebra and potential directions for future research.
... Some of these include Beyond Numbers at the Maryland Science Center, Geometry Playground at t... more ... Some of these include Beyond Numbers at the Maryland Science Center, Geometry Playground at the Exploratorium, Pattern Wizardry at the Brooklyn Children's Museum, Secrets of Circles at the Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose, Flip It, Fold It, Figure It Out at the North ...
... Sandi Cooper Science and Mathematics Education Program Texas Tech University United Statessan... more ... Sandi Cooper Science and Mathematics Education Program Texas Tech University United [email protected] ... elementary schools, and there are several ongoing Lesson Study professional development endeavors throughout the United States (Lewis, Perry, & Hurd ...
We are teacher educators (in elementary science and mathematics) who are enthusiastic about techn... more We are teacher educators (in elementary science and mathematics) who are enthusiastic about technology as a teaching tool-though it is as new to us as it is to our university colleagues. We recently led a United States Department of Education Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to Use Technology (PT3) grant project entitled TechLinks. In an effort to encourage peer faculty members to connect methods instruction with current technology initiatives (namely the International Society for Technology Education [ISTE], 2000, and the National Council on Accreditation of Teacher Education [NCATE], 1997), TechLinks provided faculty fellowships-$1,000 for equipment and materials and a technology assistant who provided just-in-time learning for up to six interested faculty members each year. This development money helped to generate a community of teacher educators who not only began to appreciate the power of teaching with technology but recognized new-found confidence in technology knowledge and skills. As members of this group ourselves, we developed a number of ideas for integrating technology into science and mathematics methods courses. We created a number of course assignments that incorporated technology teaching applications-helping future teachers learn about good science and mathematics teaching methods and new technology tools simultaneously. This article is intended to share examples of successful technology applications with others and to propose the usefulness of the Flick and Bell (2000) guidelines.
Though elementary teacher educators introduce new, reform-based strategies in science and mathema... more Though elementary teacher educators introduce new, reform-based strategies in science and mathematics methods courses, researchers wondered how novices negotiate reform strategies once they enter the elementary school culture. Given that the extent of parents' and veteran teachers' influence on novice teachers is largely unknown, this grounded theory study explored parents' and teachers' expectations of children's optimal science and mathematics learning in the current era of reform. Data consisted of semistructured, open-ended interviews with novice teachers (n = 20), veteran teachers (n = 9), and parents (n = 28). Researchers followed three stages of coding procedures to develop a logic model connecting participants' discrete designations of the landscape, regulating phenomena, contextual orientation, and desired outcomes. This logic model helped researchers develop propositions for future research on the interactive nature of parents' and teachers' influential role in elementary science and mathematics education. Implications encourage science and mathematics teacher educators-as well as school administrators-to explicitly develop and support novice teachers' ability to initiate and sustain parent/family engagement in order to create a school climate in which teachers and parents are synergistically motivated to change. Continuous improvement of elementary teacher methods courses directs our interest in helping science and mathematics methods students enter the classroom successfully.
We are teacher educators (in elementary science and mathematics) who are enthusiastic about techn... more We are teacher educators (in elementary science and mathematics) who are enthusiastic about technology as a teaching tool—though it is as new to us as it is to our university colleagues. We recently led a United States Department of Education Preparing Tomorrow’s Teachers to Use Technology (PT3) grant project entitled TechLinks. In an effort to encourage peer faculty members to connect methods instruction with current technology initiatives (namely the International Society for Technology Education [ISTE], 2000, and the National Council on Accreditation of Teacher Education [NCATE], 1997), TechLinks provided faculty fellowships–$1,000 for equipment and materials and a technology assistant who provided just-in-time learning for up to six interested faculty members each year. This development money helped to generate a community of teacher educators who not only began to appreciate the power of teaching with technology but recognized new-found confidence in technology knowledge and sk...
Impacting Education: Journal on Transforming Professional Practice, 2022
This article reports on the program changes that emerged from the Baylor University Ed.D. in Lear... more This article reports on the program changes that emerged from the Baylor University Ed.D. in Learning and Organizational Change program development team as we engaged as a community of practice in the organizational change process to reframe our conceptualization of the Problem of Practice dissertation. This process led to logical implications for the program course offerings and student support systems. The following article, therefore, traces these changes as they emanate out from the Problem of Practice dissertation reconfiguration, into the course sequence, and finally the student support systems. This article concludes by offering the perspective gained about this work as we engaged in the same organizational change process through which we guide our students.
There is a compelling need to develop an algebra teacher self-efficacy instrument (ATSEI) as alge... more There is a compelling need to develop an algebra teacher self-efficacy instrument (ATSEI) as algebra continues to be considered a gatekeeper course for postsecondary educational and career opportunities, which is seen as a crucial piece in closing the achievement gap. This paper reports on the development and validation of the ATSEI, an instrument that measures two domains, Efficacy To Do School Algebra (Knowledge Efficacy, KE-A) and Efficacy to Teach Algebra (Personal Teaching Efficacy, PTE-A) along six categories. Four of the categories represented content standards (variables, functions, patterns, and modeling) and two of the categories represented process standards (technology and concrete models, and multiple representations). Through conducting an exploratory factor analysis across two phases, the instrument was reduced and refined from an initial 118 items developed from a curriculum analysis to 36 items that reflected two significant categories, Functions and Technology. The ATSEI measure is validated for in-service mathematics teachers and thus provides an instrument to examine need and impact in professional development venues. The specificity of the ATSEI allows those working with teachers to be better able to support them in the field and in return positively influence the learning outcomes of the students they teach.
This study was organized to examine the impact of a field experience for elementary preservice te... more This study was organized to examine the impact of a field experience for elementary preservice teachers working with young children enrolled in a summer academy focusing on early mathematics. The academy was designed to provide engaging learning experiences to support the development of early number concepts for pre-K students from an elementary school with low socioeconomic populations. Using a qualitative case study, the researchers examined the experiences of the preservice teachers through pre-and post-focus groups, daily and weekly reflections, and a follow-up interview. The results revealed an increased confidence in preservice teachers' ability to teach early number concepts when supported by a lead teacher. The preservice teachers also demonstrated growth in supporting student learning through differentiation in instruction. As teacher educators must consider the types and timing of field experiences offered to elementary preservice teachers, findings have implications for teacher preparation programs with varied field experiences.
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