Graduation Year

2015

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Ph.D.

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Degree Granting Department

Science Education

Major Professor

Barbara S. Spector, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Norman Blake, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Arthur Shapiro, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Paschal Strong, Ph.D.

Keywords

literacy, differentiated instruction, instructional technology, depth of knowledge

Abstract

Three challenges in current secondary school science classrooms are (a) meaningful integration of technology, (b) integration of reading and writing in content courses, and (c) differentiation of instruction to meet individual student needs in courses. This is an exploratory study of an urban, high school marine science course in which a teacher added communication with her students via asynchronous online journals. This intervention was intended to enable the teacher to understand how students were constructing knowledge and their understanding of marine science topics. Data included journal postings from all students and the teacher throughout the semester, as well as the teacher's personal journal.

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