Teacher Immediacy in a Secondary Science Classroom

Submission Type

Event

Expected Graduation Date

2013

Location

Lower Level, Ames Library, Illinois Wesleyan University

Start Date

4-20-2013 9:00 AM

End Date

4-20-2013 10:00 AM

Disciplines

Education

Abstract

Teacher Immediacy describes a set of skills for, or an attitude towards, reducing the perceived distance between students and instructors. This perceived distance is important both in the interactions between students and the instructors and the interaction between the students and the content area. Utilizing teacher immediacy within the classroom is important across all content areas, but it is especially important in science classrooms. Unlike other subjects, students usually enter a science classroom with almost no previous knowledge of the content. This causes an immediate divide between student and instructor due to the vastly disparate level of comfort with the subject. The purpose of my research was to look at how utilizing these skills in the classroom can improve student performance and engagement in a physics classroom. I spent time as a pre-service teacher in a local high school doing personal research as well as looking at the results and ruminations of previous researchers within the topic. Looking forward I would like to try out these skills in my own classroom with a larger sample group to more accurately represent trends between specific skills and the students’ performance and engagement within the classroom.

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Apr 20th, 9:00 AM Apr 20th, 10:00 AM

Teacher Immediacy in a Secondary Science Classroom

Lower Level, Ames Library, Illinois Wesleyan University

Teacher Immediacy describes a set of skills for, or an attitude towards, reducing the perceived distance between students and instructors. This perceived distance is important both in the interactions between students and the instructors and the interaction between the students and the content area. Utilizing teacher immediacy within the classroom is important across all content areas, but it is especially important in science classrooms. Unlike other subjects, students usually enter a science classroom with almost no previous knowledge of the content. This causes an immediate divide between student and instructor due to the vastly disparate level of comfort with the subject. The purpose of my research was to look at how utilizing these skills in the classroom can improve student performance and engagement in a physics classroom. I spent time as a pre-service teacher in a local high school doing personal research as well as looking at the results and ruminations of previous researchers within the topic. Looking forward I would like to try out these skills in my own classroom with a larger sample group to more accurately represent trends between specific skills and the students’ performance and engagement within the classroom.