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Learning from Text: Examining Teacher Thinking and Practice In Learning from Text: Examining Teacher Thinking and Practice in AP Environmental Science Sara Nachtigal A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Washington 2016 Reading Committee: Sheila Valencia, Chair Susan B. Nolen Kenneth Zeichner Program Authorized to Offer Degree: College of Education © Copyright 2016 Sara Nachtigal University of Washington Abstract Learning from Text: Examining Teacher Thinking and Practice in AP Environmental Science Sara Nachtigal Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Professor Sheila Valencia College of Education The ability to read and make sense of sophisticated subject-matter texts is an essential educational standard for navigating the twenty-first century. Although new standards emphasize critical reading and interpretation skills (CCSS, 2010; NGSS, 2013), students are rarely supported to learn from text in secondary classrooms (Greenleaf & Valencia, in press; Moje, Stockdill, Kim, & Kim, 2011). In science education, an emphasis on inquiry- and project-based learning tends to focus on building content knowledge with little attention to texts (Osborne, 2002). Research suggests teachers have little experience supporting text-based learning (Greenleaf et al., 2011). The purpose of this qualitative, comparative case study was to understand how teachers worked with texts in an AP Environmental Science course that had been redesigned to support text-based learning. This study was situated in a project-based learning approach developed to support students in under-resourced urban schools (Parker et al., 2011); previous findings indicated teachers in the course had previously worked around text with lectures and labs. In response, the course was redesigned with educative curriculum and aligned professional development. Guided by a conceptual framework based on the Interconnected Model of Professional Growth (Clarke & Hollingsworth, 2002), this study focused on four AP Environmental Science teachers during the first half of the 2014-2015 school year. Two teachers had previous experience with the project-based curriculum; two did not. Data sources included three interviews per teacher, classroom observations, and formal and informal professional development. Findings from this study show that when teachers were grounded in the interactive nature of support for text-based learning and in the curricular approach of the APES course, they not only encouraged content learning from text in their classrooms, but also provided adaptive and responsive support for students. As teachers changed their practice to incorporate learning from text, subsequent shifts in their beliefs and goals were evident. Teachers drew on professional development and the educative curriculum for support; however, more support was needed to encourage professional reflection on practice, including how teachers facilitate student thinking in discussions about content and texts. TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures ................................................................................................................................ ix List of Tables .................................................................................................................................. x Chapter 1. Introduction & Framing Literature ................................................................................ 1 1.1 Purpose of the Study .......................................................................................................... 2 1.2 Learning from Text ............................................................................................................ 7 1.3 Teacher Learning ............................................................................................................. 12 Chapter 2. Conceptual Framework ............................................................................................... 17 2.1 The Interconnected Model of Professional Growth ......................................................... 21 2.2 A Teacher’s World: Four Change Domains .................................................................... 21 2.3 Enaction ........................................................................................................................... 26 2.4 Reflection ......................................................................................................................... 28 2.5 Identifying Teacher Learning with the Interconnected Model ........................................ 30 Chapter 3. Methods & Analysis .................................................................................................... 33 3.1 Research Methods ............................................................................................................ 33 3.2 Participants ....................................................................................................................... 35 3.3 Participant Profiles ........................................................................................................... 38 3.4 Data Sources and Coding ................................................................................................. 44 3.4.1 Professional Development Opportunities ................................................................. 45 3.4.2 Class Observations .................................................................................................... 49 3.4.3 Selection of focal lessons .......................................................................................... 52 v 3.4.4 Teacher Interviews .................................................................................................... 54 3.4.5 The PBL-APES Curriculum ..................................................................................... 56 3.1 Analytic Methods ............................................................................................................. 64 3.2 Situating this Study in the KIA Research ........................................................................ 68 Chapter 4. Findings: Durable Teacher Beliefs & Practices .......................................................... 71 4.1 Orienting Students to Learning from Text ....................................................................... 73 4.1.1 Making sense of “go slow to go fast” ....................................................................... 74 4.1.2 Absence of an Orientation to Text-based Learning .................................................. 86 4.2 Reading Purposes Mattered: Differences Between Experienced and New Teachers ...... 99 4.2.1 Beliefs and curricular knowledge support purposes ............................................... 100 4.2.2 Unclear Purposes Lead to Confusion ...................................................................... 103 Chapter 5. Findings: Shifting Beliefs & Practices ...................................................................... 110 5.1 The Variability of Adaptations for Accountability ........................................................ 110 5.1.1 More in-class learning- from-text opportunities ..................................................... 112 5.1.2 Application opportunities held students more accountable for learning ................. 115 5.1.3 Recall tasks limit mediated learning from text ....................................................... 117 5.2 Metacognitive Annotation Strategies: Fading, Fading, Gone? ...................................... 120 5.2.1 Where did the annotation strategies go? ................................................................. 123 5.2.2 Did anything take the place of annotation strategies? ............................................. 127 5.2.3 What, if anything, did teachers learn about strategic reading? ............................... 130 Chapter 6. Findings: Influences from The External Domain ...................................................... 133 6.1 Curricular influences on teacher learning ...................................................................... 133 vi 6.1.1 Experienced teachers view supports as educative ................................................... 134 6.1.2 New teachers focus on procedural supports ............................................................ 139 6.1.3 Insufficient curricular support for facilitating discussion ....................................... 143 6.1.4 Preparing to teach with texts: Teachers get ready ................................................... 158 6.2 The role of professional learning opportunities ............................................................. 163 6.2.1 Professional Development: The Summer Institute ................................................. 164 6.2.2 Collaborative team meetings ................................................................................... 168 6.2.3 Support for text-based learning ............................................................................... 171 6.2.4 Sharing resources .................................................................................................... 173 Chapter 7. Discussion ................................................................................................................. 176 7.1 What Can We Learn From Teachers’ Experiences with Learning from Text? ............. 176 7.2 An Analytical Focus on Enaction & Reflection ............................................................ 178 7.3 Key Influencing Factors ................................................................................................
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