Teacher education researchers have argued that teacher candidates must learn to attend to ...

350 Pages·2015·1.85 MB·English

ABSTRACT

Title of Document: LEARNING TO ELICIT, INTERPRET, AND
RESPOND TO STUDENTS’ HISTORICAL
THINKING: A CASE STUDY OF FOUR
TEACHER CANDIDATES.

Michael A. Neel, Doctor of Philosophy, 2015

Directed By: Dr. David Imig, Professor of Practice, College of
Education, Department of Teaching and
Learning, Policy and Leadership;
Dr. Linda Valli, Professor, College of Education,
Department of Teaching and Learning, Policy
and Leadership

Teacher education researchers have argued that teacher candidates must
learn to attend to students’ disciplinary thinking if they are to improve student
learning. In history education, such attention must focus on student thinking
about evidence because interpretation of evidence is at the heart of historical
discourse. This study explores how four teacher candidates who had learned to
attend to students’ historical thinking in a social studies methods course
engaged in the practice of eliciting, interpreting, and responding to that
thinking during their internships.
Data collected over a nine-month period included observations of
candidates in their methods courses, a pretest administered before the methods
course, observation of at least four lessons per candidate in the internship,
interviews with teachers after each observed lesson, and analysis of methods
coursework. Case study analyses indicated that two of the candidates elicited,
interpreted and responded to students’ historical thinking while another did
not, and a fourth did so only under certain conditions. The cross-case analysis
showed that although all of the candidates used methods course tools in the
internship, some were unable to use these tools to elicit students’ historical
thinking.
While three of the four candidates noticed historical thinking and
considered that thinking in determining an instructional response, what
candidates noticed was limited to the scope of their instructional objectives.
Only one candidate consistently responded to student thinking in evaluative
ways, and all four struggled to deliver responses that maintained a focus on
student reasoning. Instead, candidates preferred to demonstrate their own
reasoning, either by building on a student idea or simply as a means to make a
point not directly related to a student idea.
This study highlights the interconnected nature of eliciting, interpreting,
and responding to student thinking and offers insight into how teacher
educators can facilitate attention to student historical thinking. It also points to
factors that are important for the development of this ability including
candidate disciplinary knowledge and the social contexts of learning.
Furthermore, this study provides a framework and analytical tools that can
enable future researchers to examine this phenomenon more deeply.
LEARNING TO ELICIT, INTERPRET, AND RESPOND TO STUDENTS’
HISTORICAL THINKING: A CASE STUDY OF FOUR TEACHER
CANDIDATES

By

Michael A. Neel

Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the
University of Maryland, College Park, in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
2015

Advisory Committee:
David Imig, Professor of the Practice (Co-chair)
Linda Valli, Professor (Co-chair)
Daniel Chazan, Professor
Susan De La Paz, Associate Professor
Daniel Levin, Clinical Assistant Professor
John O’Flahaven, Associate Professor
© Copyright by
Michael A. Neel
2015
For Greg Morrow, John Wells, and Ross Brummett,
who believed in me before I ever believed in myself.
ii
Acknowledgements
This project was made possible through years of support from numerous
people that I am grateful to have as part of my life. I want to recognize the
tremendous contributions of my wife and life partner, Mary Lauren. I count every day
we spend together as a gift. I am grateful for the constant mentorship and friendship
of David Imig. I am equally thankful for Linda Valli, who showed me with her life
what it means to be both teacher and scholar. I appreciate the efforts of my committee
members who went above and beyond in their support of my development as a
scholar. Thank you also to Catherine McCall for her incredible generosity and to the
13 teacher candidates who shared their learning experiences with me.
The foundations of this study are grounded firmly in the work of Susan De La
Paz, Chauncey Monte-Sano, Dan Levin, and others who should be credited with the
successes of this work but bear no responsibility for its shortcomings. Thank you also
to Betty Malen, who gave so much of her time and energy to supporting my work. I
am grateful to Kim Ehrman and Dana Grosser-Clarkson, who read almost every word
of this dissertation and to Amanda Stefanski, who checked each APA reference. I
owe an immeasurable debt to my fellow graduate students, for their generosity to me
over these years. In particular, I am thankful for those listed above and for Megan
Callow.
In addition to these individuals, I am thankful for my sisters, Anne Garland
and Tanory, who model for me what it means to pursue a life worth having. Also, I
am grateful that Eliza was willing to share her Dad with this project for twenty
months. To these and others, I say “thank you” and for you I give thanks!
iii
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
 ...............................................................................................................
 iv

List of Tables
 .......................................................................................................................
 vi

List of Figures
 ....................................................................................................................
 vii

Chapter 1: Introduction
 ....................................................................................................
 1

Background
 of
 the
 Study
 ..........................................................................................................
 2

Problem
 and
 Purpose
 ...............................................................................................................
 4

Conceptual
 Framework
 ............................................................................................................
 5

Research
 Questions
 ...................................................................................................................
 7

Significance
 ..................................................................................................................................
 8

Definition
 of
 Terms
 ....................................................................................................................
 9

Organization
 of
 the
 Study
 ........................................................................................................
 9

Chapter 2: Literature Review
 .......................................................................................
 11

Introduction
 ..............................................................................................................................
 11

Teacher
 Education
 and
 Core
 Practices
 ............................................................................
 11

This
 Study’s
 Core
 Practice
 ....................................................................................................
 23

Thinking
 about
 Evidence
 in
 History
 .................................................................................
 37

Eliciting Student Thinking About Evidence
 ..................................................................................
 44

Chapter 3: Research Design and Methods
 .................................................................
 48

Approach
 to
 Case
 Study
 .........................................................................................................
 48

Context
 ........................................................................................................................................
 49

Research
 Design
 ......................................................................................................................
 55

Data
 Collection
 .........................................................................................................................
 56

Data
 Analysis
 ............................................................................................................................
 63

Issues
 of
 Validity
 and
 Generalization
 ...............................................................................
 71

Chapter
 4:
 The
 Social
 Studies
 Methods
 Course
 .............................................................
 74

Planning
 the
 Course
 ...............................................................................................................
 74

What teaching practices did we select?
 ...........................................................................................
 76

How did we articulate the practices?
 ...............................................................................................
 77

Scaffolding
 the
 Practices
 .......................................................................................................
 77

The
 Instructional
 Cycle
 .........................................................................................................
 82

Cycle 1: Designing and Using Assessment
 ...................................................................................
 83

Cycle 2: Leading a text-based discussion IA
 ................................................................................
 87

Cycle 3: Scaffolding Argumentative Writing IA
 .........................................................................
 91

Building
 the
 Plane
 while
 Flying
 ..........................................................................................
 94

Chapter 5: Sally
 ................................................................................................................
 96

Context
 ........................................................................................................................................
 97

Eliciting,
 Interpreting,
 and
 Responding
 ..........................................................................
 99

Summary
 of
 Key
 Findings
 ...................................................................................................
 127

Chapter 6: Gabby
 ..........................................................................................................
 129

Context
 ......................................................................................................................................
 130

Eliciting,
 Interpreting,
 and
 Responding
 ........................................................................
 132

Summary
 of
 Findings
 ...........................................................................................................
 170

Chapter 7: Kendra
 .........................................................................................................
 171

iv
Context
 ......................................................................................................................................
 172

Eliciting,
 Interpreting,
 and
 Responding
 ........................................................................
 174

Summary
 of
 Findings
 ...........................................................................................................
 214

Chapter 8: Craig
 ............................................................................................................
 216

Context
 ......................................................................................................................................
 218

Eliciting,
 Interpreting,
 and
 Responding
 ........................................................................
 219

Summary
 of
 Findings
 ...........................................................................................................
 261

Chapter 9: Cross-case Analysis and Conclusions
 ...................................................
 263

Cross-­‐case
 Analysis
 ...............................................................................................................
 263

Cross-case Interpreting
 ......................................................................................................................
 272

Responding
 ............................................................................................................................................
 277

Conclusions
 and
 Implications
 ...........................................................................................
 281

Concluding
 remarks
 .............................................................................................................
 293

Bibliography
 ....................................................................................................................
 317

v
List of Tables

Table 3.1: Case Selection 2X2……………………………………………54

Table 3.2: Link between data and research questions…………………….57

Table 3.3: Eliciting historical reasoning codes……………..……………..66

Table 3.4: Responsiveness Coding Categories….……..………………….70
vi