K-12 TEACHER PROFESSIONAL GROWTH FOR NATURE OF SCIENCE AND SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY: PROMOTING REFLECTION THROUGH EXEMPLARS by Jennifer C. Parrish A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctorate of Philosophy in Mathematics and Science Education Middle Tennessee State University August, 2017 Dissertation Committee: Dr. Grant Gardner, Chair Dr. Sarah Bleiler-Baxter Dr. Katherine Mangione Dr. Renee’ Schwartz Dr. Rebecca Seipelt-Thiemann This work is dedicated to my daughter Shannon. Do what you love. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation would not have been possible without the support and encouragement from my family. Eric, thank you for holding our lives together while I pursued this dream, and for your love, support, and editorial finesse. To my sweet Shannon, you have shown patience well beyond your young years waiting for me to finish this dissertation. Your notes of encouragement made difficult days much easier and I love you more than you can ever know. To my dad, Ed, thank you for instilling in me the work ethic necessary to accomplish anything I set my mind to. To my mom, Virginia, thank you for your unconditional love and support. Now both your daughters are doctors. To my sister Amy, you’ve always pushed me to do my very best and never settle for mediocrity. Our conversations and collaborations over the past four years have shaped who I am as a researcher and scholar. I hope our family dinner conversations will continue to annoy our spouses and children, especially Sam and Alyssa. I would like to thank my dissertation chair, Dr. Grant Gardner for his assistance in preparing this dissertation and the many opportunities he gave me to grow as a scholar during my time at MTSU, as well as my committee members, Dr. Katherine Mangione and Dr. Rebecca Seipelt-Thiemann, for their feedback and support of this work. I would also like to thank Dr. Sarah Bleiler-Baxter and Dr. Renee’ Schwartz, as this work was greatly enhanced by their careful thought and insight. I especially want to thank Dr. Steve Bartos for introducing me to NOS and continuing to mentor me from afar. I will always be grateful our paths crossed. iii This work was greatly improved by many conversations with peers and teachers I have worked with, especially Chris Willingham, Summer Talbert, Josh Reid, Amy Graefe, and Jeff Pair. I will always remember the white board conversations, heated (but mostly civil) arguments, and all that I learned from working with you. Lastly, I want to thank Dr. Cindi Smith-Walters and Dr. Angela Barlow for their Wonder Woman-like encouragement, and Dr. Gerry Saunders for almost two decades of guidance and mentorship. I have been fortunate to have been mentored by such extraordinary people. iv ABSTRACT Developing K-12 science teachers’ understandings of nature of science (NOS) and scientific inquiry (SI) continues to be a major goal of science education reform. There is consensus among science teacher educators that developing students’ NOS and SI understandings is vital to the development of a scientifically literate citizenry. However, two decades of research have shown that science teachers continue to hold views of NOS and SI incongruent with reform recommendations. The research presented here consists of two studies which examined the effectiveness of explicit and reflective (ER) interventions designed to promote teacher professional growth for NOS and SI. Following a brief introduction to the problem (Chapter 1), the dissertation begins with a comprehensive review of the results of ER interventions to promote K-12 teacher professional growth (Chapter 2). Next, a mixed- methods, quasi-experimental study design was used to compare the influence of ER NOS interventions on preservice elementary teachers’ conceptions of NOS and SI and their intentions to integrate NOS in their future classroom practice (Chapter 3). One course section received an ER NOS intervention using NOS standards documents (NOSSE ER Strategy) while the other group received an ER NOS intervention that incorporated ostensive exemplars (NOS Example Strategy). Participant reflection was assessed as they engaged in the interventions, and NOS and SI conceptions and intentions were compared pre and post intervention. Both interventions promoted teacher reflection on NOS and SI, but participants in the strategy group that incorporated ostensive exemplars exhibited more (d = 1.07) reflection, though these were not statistically significantly different. v Both interventions promoted positive changes in preservice teachers’ conceptions for NOS and SI. Participants in the NOS Example Strategy group perceived themselves as more ready to integrate NOS in their future classroom practice than participants in the NOSSE ER Strategy group. Study two (Chapter 4) examined how and to what extent using ostensive exemplars promoted teacher professional growth for NOS and SI for two high school biology teachers. Results indicated that the use of students’ exemplar responses promoted teacher reflection, resulting in positive changes for NOS and SI conceptions and intentions to integrate NOS in classroom instruction. The dissertation concludes with a short summary of the relevant results and their impact for future ER NOS interventions to target teacher professional growth (Chapter 5). vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... xii LIST OF TABLES .......................................................................................................... xvii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................. 1 Problem Statement .............................................................................................. 1 What are NOS and SI for Science Education?................................................ 1 Scientific Inquiry: Generating Scientific Knowledge ..................................... 2 Nature of Science: Characteristics of Scientific Knowledge .......................... 3 Professional Development of Teachers for Teaching NOS and SI ................. 3 Structure of Dissertation ..................................................................................... 6 CHAPTER TWO: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF EXPLICIT-REFLECTIVE INTERVENTIONS USED TO PROMOTE TEACHER PROFFESIONAL GROWTH FOR NOS AND SI .................................................................................. 9 Introduction ......................................................................................................... 9 A Brief History of Teacher Professional Growth for NOS and SI ............... 10 Goal of the Current Synthesis ....................................................................... 13 Literature Search Process .................................................................................. 14 Inclusion Criteria .......................................................................................... 15 Teacher Professional Growth for NOS and SI .................................................. 16 Explicit and Reflective NOS Interventions................................................... 16 vii Discussion ......................................................................................................... 54 Personal Domain ........................................................................................... 55 Domain of Practice ....................................................................................... 56 Domain of Consequence ............................................................................... 57 Change Environment .................................................................................... 58 Future Research ............................................................................................ 58 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 61 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................. 63 APPENDICES .................................................................................................................. 75 APPENDIX 2.A: IMTPG Domain Variables ................................................... 76 CHAPTER THREE: USING EXPLICIT AND REFLECTIVE STRATEGIES IN A BIOLOGY COURSE TO DEVELOP PRE-SERVICE ELEMENTARY TEACHERS’ UNDERSTANDINGS OF NATURE OF SCIENCE AND SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY .......................................................................................... 77 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 77 A Framework for Teacher Professional Growth for NOS and SI ..................... 80 Personal Domain Factors .................................................................................. 83 Changing NOS & SI Conceptions ................................................................ 83 Changing Intentions to Implement NOS and SI Instruction ............................. 84 ER NOS Interventions ...................................................................................... 85 Intervention 1: NOS for Science Education (NOSSE) Guide ER Strategy .. 85 viii Intervention 2: NOS Example Strategy ........................................................ 87 Implementation and Use of Interventions ......................................................... 91 Purpose & Research Questions ......................................................................... 93 Methods............................................................................................................. 94 Participants .................................................................................................... 95 Context of the Study ..................................................................................... 95 Data Collection and Analysis............................................................................ 98 Reflection ...................................................................................................... 98 Results ............................................................................................................. 107 Reflection on NOS & SI ............................................................................. 107 Extent of PSET Reflection .......................................................................... 108 Types of Reflection ..................................................................................... 112 NOS & SI Conceptions ................................................................................... 120 Professional Growth for NOS and SI: Changes in PSET Knowledge ............ 121 Intentions to Integrate NOS ............................................................................ 131 Discussion ....................................................................................................... 140 Reflection on NOS and SI........................................................................... 141 NOS and SI Conceptions ............................................................................ 143 Intentions for Integrating NOS into Classroom Instruction ........................ 146 Limitations ...................................................................................................... 146 Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 147 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................... 149 ix APPENDICES ................................................................................................................ 159 APPENDIX 3.A: Intent to Integrate NOS Questionnaire ............................... 160 APPENDIX 3.B: Abridged VNOS, VOSI, & Vasi Survey Questions ........... 168 APPENDIX 3.C: NOSSE Guides & Prompts ................................................ 172 APPENDIX 3.D: Institutional Review Board Approval Letter ...................... 183 CHAPTER FOUR: USING STUDENTS’ EXEMPLAR RESPONSES FROM NOS SURVEY INSTRUMENTS TO PROMOTE IN-SERVICE BIOLOGY TEACHERS’ REFLECTION ON NATURE OF SCIENCE AND SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY ............................................................................................................... 184 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 184 Teacher’s NOS and SI Understandings ...................................................... 185 Assessing NOS and SI Understandings .......................................................... 186 Teacher Professional Growth for NOS and SI ................................................ 188 Change Mechanisms ................................................................................... 189 Study Goals and Rationale .............................................................................. 190 Research Question ...................................................................................... 190 NOSSE Exemplar Intervention ................................................................... 192 Learning by Ostention................................................................................. 193 Reflective Exemplars .................................................................................. 194 Development of Explicit NOSSE Guides ................................................... 196 An Explicit Reflective Strategy .................................................................. 200 Methods........................................................................................................... 202 x