ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I wish to express my sincere appreciation to my committee chair and mentor. Dr. Gerald Skoog. Dr. Skoog's expertise and guidance were invaluable to the completion of this dissertation. I greatly respect and admire Dr. Skoog as a person and as a professional, and I am very proud to have had the opportunity to work with him. I am thankful for the support and encouragement he gave me throughout my doctoral studies. I also appreciate the feedback and suggestions from my committee members. Dr. Julie Thomas and Dr. Sandra Cooper. Special thanks goes to Dr. Hansel Burley who assisted me with the statistical analyses. I appreciate his commitment to helping students. I want to thank Dr. Kent Rylander, my master's thesis chair, for encouraging me to pursue the doctoral degree in Curriculum and Instruction. Before making the decision to pursue this degree, I was advised by Ms. Susan Talkmitt. I appreciate Ms. Talkmitt's wisdom, as well as her positive outlook and enthusiasm for science education. Each of these individuals was instrumental in helping me obtain this degree. I could not have conducted this study without the assistance of the Texas Tec