Date of Award
Spring 2001
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Program/Concentration
Urban Services - Urban Education
Committee Director
Steve Tonelson
Committee Member
Linda Bol
Committee Member
M. L. Manning
Abstract
Studies conducted nationwide over the past several decades point consistently to the evidence that American school children lag behind several other countries in science scores. Problems arise from this dilemma, including the question of the ability of our youngsters to compete nationally and globally in the sciences as adults. Current research in this area of scores currently studies mostly mathematics. The few studies conducted concerning science mainly highlight students in other countries and neglects minorities and females regarding outcomes.
By contrast, this study investigated the effects of teacher types (also defined as teaching styles or classroom orientation) on student outcomes on two measures; the standardized Standards of Learning 8th grade science test for the state of Virginia, and the Higher-Order Skills test (Berube, 2001), which was a researcher-constricted comprehension measurement. Minority and gender interactions were analyzed as well. Teacher type was designated by using the Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (Taylor & Fraser, 1991). Participants included students from five large urban middle schools and thirteen middle school science teachers. Scores from the two measures were used to determine differences in student outcomes as they pertained to teacher type, gender and ethnicity.
Analysis indicated that students who were taught by teachers with more traditional and mixed teaching styles performed better on the Higher-Order Skills comprehension measurement, while teachers with constructivist teaching styles actually had the lowest scoring students. Also, the interaction of ethnicity and teacher type was significant, indicating that Higher-Order Skills scores were influenced by that interaction, with Caucasians scoring the highest when taught by teachers with mixed teaching styles.
Such findings could profit school administrators considering the interaction of student achievement and teaching styles on high-stakes testing environments. Suggestions are made for future studies concerning females and minorities in these same environments.
Rights
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DOI
10.25777/0abc-wf06
ISBN
9780493564975
Recommended Citation
Berube, Clair T..
"A Study of the Effects of Constructivist Based vs. Traditional Direct Instruction on 8th Grade Science Comprehension"
(2001). Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Dissertation, , Old Dominion University, DOI: 10.25777/0abc-wf06
https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/urbanservices_education_etds/12