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Browsing by Author "Ogodo, Justina Anietem"

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    Examining the Impact of Physics Focused Professional Development on Advanced Placement Teachers: A Comparative Case Study
    (2016) Ogodo, Justina Anietem
    This case study will examine the impact of additional physics focused professional development on advanced placement teachers in a southeastern state. There is a critical need to improve the quality of in-service teachers due to the large population of under-qualified physics teachers in the classroom. The need is even greater for the advanced placement physics teacher because of the level of rigor involved in the curriculum. Twelve participants (N = 12) will be purposefully selected from local high schools in the state. Six participants that experienced additional physics-focused professional development will be compared with the other six teachers with little or no additional in-service professional development experiences. Quantitative and qualitative data will be generated from teacher surveys, classroom observation, teacher interviews, and document analysis. The findings may add to existing knowledge on: 1) the need for effective content focused professional development; 2) improving teacher quality by enhancing their content knowledge competence and pedagogical skills; and 3) improving the teaching and learning of physics with the goal of ultimately improving students’ learning outcomes. Advancing physics education in America depends on improving the quality, performance, and effectiveness of teachers.
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    Examining the influence of physics focused professional development on advanced placement physics teachers
    (University of Alabama Libraries, 2017) Ogodo, Justina Anietem; Sunal, Dennis W.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
    There is a critical need to improve the pedagogical content knowledge of in-service physics teachers because of the large population of under-qualified teachers in the physics classroom. The need is even greater for the advanced placement (AP) physics teacher because of the level of rigor involved in the AP curriculum. This case study examined how participating in additional physics focused professional development influenced the instructional practice of AP physics teachers in a southeastern state of the United States. Fourteen AP teachers who received College Board training were purposefully selected from high schools in the state. From this population, seven teachers who experienced additional physics-focused professional development beyond the College Board training (APD) were compared with the other seven teachers with little or no additional in-service physics focused training (NAPD). The analysis of the quantitative data from the classroom observation indicated that there was a large treatment effect difference between the APD teachers and the NAPD teachers. The qualitative data from teacher interviews, surveys, and questionnaires was thematically analyzed and the result indicated that the APD teachers increased their PCK level after the intervention. In addition, the study found that although contextual factors influenced the type of instruction used by the teachers, these factors were more teacher-based than context-based. Due to the small sample population, the findings from this study represents initial empirical evidence of the influence of the intervention on the instructional practice of the AP physics teachers.