Impacts of Noyce Teachers' Mind-Sets on Ways of Their Teaching and Student Learning Objective or Purpose

• In Event: 21.035 - What Is the Impact of Teacher Education? Research on the Effectiveness of Completers During Induction

Abstract

Purpose
• The purpose of this follow-up study was to investigate impacts of the mindsets of completers from the Noyce Scholarship Program on effectiveness of their teaching mathematics and science in schools and on student learning.

Theoretical Framework
The present study was based on the mindset theory developed by Carol Dweck (2006; 2010; Yeager & Dweck, 2012), who theorizes that individuals with the growth mindset would believe their learning ability to be malleable, while individuals with the fixed mindset would believe that their intelligence is fixed. The kinds of mindset will impact individuals’ learning outcomes, especially when the learning task is complex, challenging, and counterintuitive. According to this theory, teachers with different mindsets about teaching and learning will endorse different ways of teaching and have different expectations of their students; therefore, their mindsets will impact student learning (Hopfer & Pintrich, 1997).
Based on previous research, the following questions are proposed:
1. What kinds of the mindset do Noyce teachers demonstrate in their teaching?
2. To what extent do Noyce teachers’ mindsets relate to their ways of teaching?
3. How do their mindsets impact their student learning?

Methods
A mixed methods approach was adopted to investigate the questions qualitatively and quantitatively. Seven Noyce teachers were the focal participants in the study. The majority of the participants are from ethnic minority population: two Blacks, four Latinos, and one White. Four Noyce teachers teach mathematics, while three of them teach science.
Quantitative data were collected on Noyce teachers’ mindsets about teaching and learning by using the Epistemological Belief Questionnaire (EBQ) (Schommer, 1993; Author, 1995). With the qualitative approach, we observed the Noyce teachers’ ways of teaching by using the Lehman College Observation System (LCOS) (Lawrenz et al., 2002). Finally, the Annual Professional Performance Review (APPR) of the Noyce teachers by the New York City Department of Education was collected to provide partial but critical information to help understand the complex nature of their teaching effectiveness and student impact. These data will be analyzed in fall 2018.

Data Analysis
The preliminary analysis of Noyce teachers’ mindsets about teaching and learning will be conducted based on the data from the EBQ to establish whether a Noyce teacher has a growth or fixed mindset. Second, multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) will be conducted by using two sets of scores: a) Noyce teachers’ mindsets about knowledge, ability to learn, and teaching and b) their ways of teaching from the LCOS data on Noyce teachers’ instructional approaches to the delivery of new concepts or content, assessments, groupings, the kinds of cognitive skills required by learning tasks and assignments. The data collected on the seven focal participants will be analyzed qualitatively to validate these Noyce teachers’ ways of teaching. The APPR data will be analyzed by using multiple regression analyses to examine the predictability of the Noyce teachers’ mindsets on their students’ performance. Implications for further research and math and science instruction will be drawn from the results.

Authors

• Gaoyin Qian, Lehman College - CUNY

• Serigne Mbaye Gningue, Lehman College - CUNY