The Effects of Professional Development on Implementation of the 2010 Mississippi Science Framework on Teachers' Attitudes About Teaching Science in Elementary School

This study attempted to determine the effects of professional development on teachers' attitudes about teaching the 2010 Mississippi Science Framework in elementary school. Subjects were elementary teachers in grades three through eight. A sample size of 26 teachers was selected from two school districts; one was rural and the other was an urban school district. The selected participants were then randomly assigned to either the control or treatment group. Teachers in the treatment group met once a week for four weeks for at least 90 minutes per session that focused on improving knowledge and attitude toward science inquiry. The treatment group also participated in a teacher blog, classroom observations, as well as lesson plan feedback. The control group participated in the blog, classroom observations, as well as the lesson plan feedback but did not receive any face to face professional development sessions. Based on the philosophy of science inquiry, teachers were alloto choose topics they were interested in to try in their classrooms. Teachers were also alloto contact the researcher when any questions or troubles arose when preparing or teaching lessons. Data from the Revised Science Attitude Survey (Bitner, 1994, Thompson and Shrigley, 1986) was collected before and after the study and analyzed using the statistical test Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) as well as the qualitative data (blogs, lesson plans, and classroom observations) to help support the primary source of data. Based on the results of the statistical analysis of the data of this study for both types of data, it was concluded that professional development on inquiry did not result in fostering a more positive overall attitude toward teaching science.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ed.D. in Education

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Year dc:date.available

2011

Author dc:creator

• Carroll, Kimberly Lanette

Contributors dc:contributor

• Deborah Chessin
• Lori A. Wolff
• Virginia Moore

• Curriculum
• Inquiry
• Professional Development
• Stem
• Teacher Training
• Elementary Education

Repository record dc:identifier

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/76

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:egrove.olemiss.edu:etd-1075