Faculty Publications

Elaine Silva Mangiante, Ph.D.

Associate Professor | Education

Dr. Elaine Silva Mangiante is an associate professor in the Education Department specializing in elementary science, engineering design, and mathematics education. Her previous teaching experience at the elementary level includes serving as a science specialist and mathematics coordinator for which she received the state level Presidential Award for Excellence in Elementary Science Teaching. At the higher education level, she worked as a professional development specialist at Brown University’s Education Alliance providing teacher support in high poverty schools across the US. Here at Salve, her research areas include effective teaching practices for science and engineering design education in urban schools, elementary science pedagogy for critical thinking, elementary students’ negotiation of engineering design ideas, purposeful on-going mentoring, and teacher development from novice to expert.  

The Development of a Novice Elementary Teacher

Examining the Role of Undergraduate Research in Teacher Education

Elaine Silva Mangiante

Abstract:   This chapter presents the findings from a pre-service teacher’s (PST) self-study of her evolving understanding and enactment of skills for teaching over the course of her elementary teacher preparation program. This self-study was nested within a unique case study that examined the PST’s learning about student-centered, reform-based pedagogy through her experience as an undergraduate researcher with an engineering design project as well as from her methods course and student teaching experiences. The purpose of this study was to describe the PST’s development through the lens of the characteristics of an adult learner based on the Dreyfus and Dreyfus skill acquisition model (1986). The results provide insight into the PST’s growing awareness as well as potential tensions or ambiguity experienced in learning how to teach with fidelity to the expectations of current standards. The findings from this study also have possible implications for teacher educators to consider the role that research experience can play in helping PSTs learn about and implement educational reforms that benefit student learning.   

Citation

Mangiante, E.S., & Carpenter, E. (2021). The Development of a Novice Elementary Teacher: Examining the Role of Undergraduate Research in Teacher Education. In E.S. Mangiante & K. Peno (Eds.), Teaching and learning for adult skill acquisition: Applying the Dreyfus and Dreyfus Model in different fields (pp. 31-56).

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Salve Curriculum Library CRC Collection:   LC5225.L42 T42 2021

Decimals Learning

A pre-service teacher's decision-making for children with mathematical disabilities

Elaine Silva Mangiante

Abstract:   This case study examines an elementary pre-service teacher’s reflections and decisions during a decimal unit when working with three fourth-grade students with mathematical disabilities. The data was examined through the lens of the principles of Universal Design for Learning for equitable learning opportunities for all students. The results detail the misconceptions or common errors the pre-service teacher was able to identify in the students’ understanding of decimal concepts as well as the pedagogical decisions she made in response to the students’ thinking. The findings provide insight for elementary teacher educators not only of how one pre-service teacher was able to notice student conceptions, analyze their ideas, and then respond to their learning needs, but also of areas for which the pre-service teacher still struggled with her pedagogical decision-making.  

Citation

Mangiante, E. Silva. (2020). Decimals learning: A pre-service teacher’s decision-making for children with mathematical disabilities. The International Journal of Learning: Annual Review, 27(1), 37-49.

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Abstract Only:   DOI 10.18848/1447-9494/CGP/v27i01/37-49

Please fill out an Interlibrary Loan Request Form or contact a librarian to access this publication.

Identifying Pre-service Teachers’ Conceptions about the NGSS Practices Using a Curriculum Critique and Revision (CCR) Task

Tejaswini Dalvi, Elaine Silva Mangiante, and Kristen Wendell

Abstract:   The Next Generation Science Standards articulate a new vision for K-12 science learning that engages students in disciplinary practices to encourage deeper participation in and understandings of science and engineering. Teacher educators have a major responsibility in helping pre-service teachers (PSTs) develop knowledge of these practices and ways to engage students in the practices. The words comprising the NGSS practices convey specialized disciplinary meanings. Yet, most PSTs have common sense interpretations of these words, which influence their understanding of the practices from a disciplinary perspective and further influence the way they implement these practices in classrooms. This study reports on conceptions of the NGSS practices that elementary PSTs exhibit during a Curriculum Critique and Revision (CCR) task in a methods course at two different university teacher education programs. Using the CCR, PSTs analyzed the presence or absence of NGSS practices within a lesson from a science curriculum guide. Qualitative thematic analysis of the PSTs' responses revealed a wide range of interpretations of the practices. We share these PST conceptions and present findings that may enable teacher educators to better understand PSTs' views of the practices. We provide conclusions about the strengths and weaknesses in PST's understandings for each of the NGSS practices and suggest possible implications for the community of teacher educators.  

Citation

Dalvi, T., Mangiante, E. Silva., & Wendell, K. (2020).  Identifying pre-service teachers’ conceptions about the NGSS practices using a Curriculum Critique and Revision (CCR) task. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 32(2), 123-147. DOI:10.1080/1046560X.2020.1791465  

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Abstract Only:   DOI 10.1080/1046560X.2020.1791465

Please fill out an Interlibrary Loan Request Form or contact a librarian to access this publication.

Supporting Elementary Teachers’ Collective Inquiry into the "E" in STEM

Examining Students' Engineering Design Work

Elaine Silva Mangiante and Kaitlin A. Gabriele-Black

Abstract:   In the USA context of the Next Generation Science Standards, elementary teachers face challenges in implementing engineering practices in their teaching due their lack of experience and training in engineering design. The paper reports about a multiple case study that examined one professional development approach to improve teachers’ understanding and implementation of the STEM discipline of engineering. Two teams of elementary teachers analyzed their students’ written work and assessments during facilitated professional learning community sessions with a science/engineering education researcher after their first implementation of an engineering design unit. The results indicated that the teachers noticed students’ understandings and misconceptions about the work of engineers, the disciplinary language for a specific engineering unit, the operational mechanism of a design, and engineering epistemic practices (i.e., envisioning design proposals, making evidence-based decisions, evaluating solutions based on criteria). From this collaborative, focused analysis of student work for the engineering challenge, the teacher teams constructed their understanding of students’ thinking and generated recommendations for pedagogical changes in their own STEM teaching practice for engineering design. The findings from this study have implications for forms of professional development that sustain teacher learning about the STEM discipline of engineering design. 

Citation

Mangiante, E. Silva, & Gabriele-Black, K. (2020). Supporting elementary teachers’ collective inquiry into the “E” in STEM:  Examining students’ engineering design work.  Science and Education, 29, 1007-1034. DOI: 10.1007/s11191-020-00123-9

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Abstract Only:   DOI 10.1007/s11191-020-00123-9

Please fill out an Interlibrary Loan Request Form or contact a librarian to access this publication.

Teaching and Learning for Adult Skill Acquisition

Applying the Dreyfus and Dreyfus Model in Different Fields

Edited by Elaine Silva Mangiante, Kathy Peno, and Jane Northup

Summary:   The book, Teaching and Learning for Adult skill Acquisition: Applying the Dreyfus and Dreyfus Model in Different Fields, will fill a unique niche in the field of adult, higher, and workforce education and offer a current volume for scholars and practitioners based on both empirical studies and practice-based research on adult skill acquisition and development. Dreyfus and Dreyfus (1980, 1988, 2004) developed the novice to expert model of skill acquisition that illustrates growth over the course of a person's career in a particular domain. The skill model highlights a learner's movement across six levels of skill development: novice, advanced beginner, competent, proficient, expert, and mastery. This book will present examples of the application of the Dreyfus and Dreyfus model in different fields (i.e., health care, education, law enforcement, business, serious gaming, military, ethics training, etc.) providing insight into how practitioners can develop their skills in their particular domains and how educators can promote this development. This collection will be appropriate for a wide variety of professors, researchers, practitioners, and students in the field of adult, higher, and workforce education.  

Part II, Chapter 1 | The Development of a Novice Elementary Teacher: Examining the Role of Undergraduate Research in Teacher Education

Elaine Silva Mangiante and Elizabeth Carpenter

Citation

Mangiante, E. Silva, & Peno, K. (2021).  Teaching and learning for adult skill acquisition: Applying the Dreyfus and Dreyfus model in different fields. Charlotte, NC:  Information Age Publishing.  

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McKillop Library CRC Collection:   LC5225.L42 T42 2021

Transformative Learning in Healthcare and Helping Professions Education

Building Resilient Professional Identities

Edited by Teresa J. Carter, Carrie J. Boden, and Kathy Peno

Chapter 8 | Case Study of a Science Teacher’s Professional Identity Development Across a Career

Elaine Silva Mangiante

Abstract:   This chapter describes findings from a case study of a sixth-grade science teacher’s perceptions of her professional identity development over the course of her career. Ms. Garvey (pseudonym) began as a novice teacher with no experience or training in science education; however, during her career she took responsibility for her transformative learning and became an expert teacher and district leader in science and sustainability education. This narrative outlines Ms. Garvey’s characteristics and activities at each stage from novice to expert. In addition, the results pinpoint key factors that influenced her professional identity development and that transformed her view of herself and her teaching as a didactic, textbook-guided instructor to an empowered educator who created student-centered, real-world, inquiry-based learning opportunities aligned with the current reform-based vision for science education. 

APA Citation

Mangiante, E. Silva. (2019). Case study of a sixth-grade science teacher’s professional identity development across a career. In T. J. Carter, C. J Boden, & K. Peno (Eds.), Transformative learning in healthcare and helping professions education: Building resilient professional identities (pp. 153-174). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

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eBook:   Click here to access through EBSCOhost

Pre-service teachers’ perceptions of norms of interaction for fourth-grade students’ engineering design problem-solving

Elaine Silva Mangiante and Adam Moore

Abstract:   This study examined elementary pre-service teachers’ (PSTs) perceptions about norms of interaction to emphasize with fourth-grade students as they worked in teams to solve an engineering design challenge. From analysis of PSTs’ lesson reflections and post-unit interviews, the findings revealed a range of PSTs’ conceptions for seven social norms of interaction and indicated PSTs’ emphases on norms promoting students’ individual contributions versus norms encouraging collective efforts in solving the engineering problem. The results suggest focus areas for teacher educators in preparing PSTs to promote social norms for collaborative engineering design problem-solving.

APA Citation

Mangiante, E. Silva, & Moore, A. (2019). Pre-service teachers’ perceptions of norms of interaction for fourth-grade students’ engineering design problem-solving. Journal of Classroom Interaction, 54(2), 57-73.

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McKillop Library EBSCOhost Database:   Accession Number 142244397

Planning for reform-based science

Case studies of two urban elementary teachers

Elaine Silva Mangiante

Abstract:   The intent of national efforts to frame science education standards is to promote students’ development of scientific practices and conceptual understanding for their future role as scientifically literate citizens (NRC 2012). A guiding principle of science education reform is that all students receive equitable opportunities to engage in rigorous science learning. Yet, implementation of science education reform depends on teachers’ instructional decisions. The purpose of this qualitative research was to study two white, fourth grade teachers from high-poverty urban schools, who were identified as transforming their science teaching and to investigate how their beliefs, knowledge bases, and resources shaped their planning for reform-based science. The results provided specific insights into factors that impacted their planning in high-poverty urban schools and indicated considerations for those in similar contexts to promote teachers’ planning for equitable science learning opportunities by all students.

APA Citation

Mangiante, E. Silva. (2018).  Planning for reform-based science:  Case studies of two urban elementary teachers. Research in Science Education, 48(1).

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Open Access:   DOI 10.1007/s11165-016-9566-2