Dissertation
Teachers’ learning in professional development aligning with the NGSS: the understanding of epistemic tools and the change of epistemic orientation
University of Iowa
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Iowa
Spring 2023
DOI: 10.25820/etd.007093
Abstract
This dissertation focused on the outcome of elementary science teachers' learning in theories and practices of epistemic tools in professional workshops over the course of two years, starting in the summer of 2019.
Study one focuses on teachers’ understanding of language as an epistemic tool. The data were teachers’ written responses to a vignette. In their responses, teachers gave advice to Naomi, the science teacher in the vignette, about how to use language in the science classroom and explain the importance of the use of language. The teachers’ written data were collected in the summer of 2020, one year after teachers first learned the concepts of epistemic tools. Purposeful sampling was used to select teachers’ written responses to find similarities and differences in teachers’ understanding. All teachers were ranked based on the total scores of a questionnaire measuring teachers’ knowledge of the language as an epistemic tool (Fulmer et al., 2021). Fifteen teachers on the top were selected as Group 1, and another fifteen teachers from bottom were selected as Group 2. With Gee’s theory of critical discourse analysis (CDA), it was found that both groups of teachers had similar understanding about how to use language to teach, that is, the pedagogical understanding. However, the two groups of teachers had different understanding of the relationship between language and learning, that is, epistemic understanding: Group 1 teachers emphasized the relationship between writing and learning more than Group 2 teachers’ understanding.
Study two focuses on the shift of teachers’ epistemic orientation over time. A short version of the epistemic orientation survey (S-EOS) adapted from Suh et al. (2021) was used for data collection. The S-EOS, which has 35 items with four subdomains on a five-point Likert scale, was repeatedly distributed on four occasions. The interval between adjacent occasions was approximately six months. The four subdomains include knowledge construction (KC), knowledge replication (KR), classroom authority (CA), and epistemic nature of knowledge (ENK). By employing the curve-of-factors model (CFM), the first-order factors had a partial residual variance invariance model, based on which the growth curve for the second-order factors tracked the change of teachers’ epistemic orientation over time. It was found that teachers’ epistemic orientation grew fast in the first six months of the workshops and reached the peak of the magnitude. After six months, the magnitude of epistemic orientation continually declined at a much slower rate compared to the growth rate in the first six months. In addition, when each of the subdomain’s growth curves was examined, it was found that only KC had a continuous growth pattern over time, and the growth rate was faster in the first six months compared to the growth rates after the six months. Thus, KC is the primary contributor to epistemic orientation growth.
In conclusion, the vignette analysis showed that teachers had a similar pedagogical understanding of using language in science classrooms regardless of the language questionnaire scores. However, teachers with higher questionnaire scores emphasized the relationship between writing and learning, which underlies the epistemic understanding of language. The analysis of teachers' epistemic orientation change with growth modeling showed fast growth in the first six months, and teachers' epistemic orientation appeared to stay the same after that. Also, knowledge construction was a main contributor to the growth of epistemic orientation. Combining results from two studies found that teachers' learning of epistemic tools positively influenced their epistemic orientation.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Teachers’ learning in professional development aligning with the NGSS: the understanding of epistemic tools and the change of epistemic orientation
- Creators
- Chenchen Ding
- Contributors
- Gavin Fulmer (Advisor)Brian Hand (Advisor)Carolyn Colvin (Committee Member)Lesa Hoffman (Committee Member)Shea Brown (Committee Member)
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Degree Awarded
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Iowa
- Degree in
- Teaching and Learning
- Date degree season
- Spring 2023
- Publisher
- University of Iowa
- DOI
- 10.25820/etd.007093
- Number of pages
- xi, 157 pages
- Copyright
- Copyright 2023 Chenchen Ding
- Language
- English
- Date submitted
- 04/11/2023
- Date approved
- 04/27/2023
- Description illustrations
- illustrations, tables
- Description bibliographic
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 132-148).
- Public Abstract (ETD)
- This dissertation investigated elementary science teachers’ learning of epistemic tools in professional development workshops spanning two years. The first study examines teachers’ understanding of language as an epistemic tool (LET). Two methods were used to measure teachers’ knowledge of LET: a questionnaire and written responses to a vignette. Purposeful sampling was used based on the questionnaire scores: written responses from 15 teachers with higher scores and 15 teachers with lower scores were selected. It was found that both groups of teachers emphasized the use of writing and talking, the importance of student-friendly classroom environments, and the teachers’ role as facilitators. The difference is that teachers with higher scores emphasized the relationship between writing and learning more than teachers with lower scores. The second finding is that teachers’ epistemic orientation (EO) showed rapid growth in the first six months and appeared to stay unchanged after that. To measure teachers’ epistemic orientation, a questionnaire was used, which included four subdomains about knowledge and knowing: 1) students learn science by generating and validating knowledge, 2) teaching science is not about repetitive memorization, 3) knowledge is revisable and evolving rather than fixed and absolute, 4) students control their learning with ownership of knowledge. It was also found that the first subdomain of EO continuously grew over time, suggesting that this subdomain was a primary contributor to the growth of teachers’ EO. The findings from two studies indicate that learning epistemic tools may positively influence teachers’ epistemic orientation.
- Academic Unit
- Teaching and Learning
- Record Identifier
- 9984424792002771
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