Date of Award
1-16-2025
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Educational Leadership, Ed.D.
First Advisor
Timberly Baker
Committee Members
Janet Vail; Jodi Elder
Call Number
LD 251 .A566d 2024 S94
Abstract
Parental perception of the importance of science education and parental perceptions and use of active learning and inquiry-based practices in the context of homeschool science education represent a clear gap in the existing literature. This quantitative survey research study was designed to discover, analyze, and quantify parents' perceptions of the importance of science education and the science education practices used in homeschools across West Michigan through a constructivist framework lens. Using a novel survey instrument specifically designed for this study, a pilot test and subsequent anonymous survey were administered using snowball sampling methodology to collect data to answer three research questions. Data analysis was conducted using MANOVA and Mann-Whitney analyses to identify relationships between variables and the effect sizes of these relationships. No statistically significant effect was found between parental perceptions of the importance of science education and the importance of active learning and inquiry-based practices. However, all study participants ranked active learning and inquiry-based practices as Important or Very Important for their children’s homeschool science educations. Parents’ perception of the importance of constructivist practices, represented by active learning and inquiry-based practices, had a statistically significant, moderate effect size or greater on the frequency of their use of these constructivist practices in their child’s homeschool science education. This study discovered that families who choose to homeschool in West Michigan place strong importance on a constructivist approach. K-12 educational leaders and non-formal education practitioners working with families who choose to homeschool should provide curricula or educational experiences that use a constructivist approach to best meet the educational values and priorities of the homeschool population. Future research with qualitative and mixed methods studies designed to identify specific practices and barriers to homeschool science education could further build an understanding of the phenomenon.
Rights Management
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Syers, Amanda, "Exploring Science Education Teaching Practices within the Homeschool Community of West Michigan" (2025). Student Theses and Dissertations. 1039.
https://arch.astate.edu/all-etd/1039
