Educational Methods Commons^™

Analyzing The Linguistic Features Of Standardized Math Items: A Text Mining Approach, Magdalen A. Beiting-Parrish

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The following is a five-chapter dissertation surrounding the use of text mining techniques for better understanding the language of mathematics items from standardized tests to improve linguistic equity of these items to support assessment of English Language Learners.

Introduction: The dissertation begins with an overview of the problem that English Language Learners are likely not able to demonstrate their full mathematical ability due to the construct irrelevant variance caused by these items being written in English. This introduction also introduces the idea of text mining as a methodology for use in exploring this test design issue.

Article 1: This article …

A Queens Community Teacher Storytelling Project: A Qualitative Research Study Of Five Local Afro-Caribbean And Latina Public School Teachers And Community Teachers In New York City, José Alfredo Menjivar Ortéz

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation thesis examines the lived experiences, life stories, and storytelling of five Afro-Caribbean and Latina people, who are all local from the borough of Queens, alumni of New York City’s public schools, and since then, became their local public school teachers, classroom practitioners, and local community teachers. We refer to this specific and unique population of teachers as alumni-community teachers and to these and other similar stories as teacher life stories.

This qualitative research and study were conducted through a series of writing workshops and semi-structured interviews. The study’s main examination is preoccupied to understand how local teachers make …

Practical Leadership In Implementing Online Education Programs, Felix O. Quayson, Christopher Zirkle

Journal of Research Initiatives

The growing presence of online education can become a challenge for academic leaders and institutions to lead, manage, and explore in higher education. Online education can be complex when considering the social presence (Keast, 2022; Quayson, 2022), course development (Martin et al., 2019; Orlando, 2019), and economic outcomes (Burnett & Conley, 2013; Rubin, 2013; Seaman et al., 2019). However, unraveling the fundamentals of practical leadership can help educational leaders to facilitate, maintain, and implement online education programs. The study found published research studies that helped us to extricate the fundamentals of practical leadership in implementing online education programs in the …

Synchronous Distance Language Learning And Critical Visual Literacy Practices In Greek Primary Education, Marianthi Oikonomakou, Emmanouil Sofos, Argyro Kontogianni

Journal of Research Initiatives

Our research, focusing on critical literacy practices in education, demonstrates the outcome of a teaching scenario applied in 2021 in a primary school e-class learning environment with the aid of distant learning tools. Having taken for granted that: (a) covid-19 pandemic has initiated important changes regarding our understanding of language teaching and (b) the extend we expose ourselves to modern multimodal environments, our teaching intervention attempts at displaying how the use of visual grammar can contribute to the critical understanding and production of multimodal texts by junior pupils in the language teaching framework. In the light of the above, through …

Developing A K-12 School Leadership Plan, Marian E. Truehill

Journal of Research Initiatives

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to develop a K-12 School Leadership plan for public, private, and parochial educational institutions. The K-12 School Leadership plan will help principals, teachers, staff and students focus on how to accurately operate a successful school culture, climate, and improve academic performance at their educational institutions. I used a pseudonym JFK for the high school examined in this paper. Themes represented in this paper will include assessment of ineffective leadership style, assessment of school culture, climate and performance, school improvement areas, explanation of leadership style, most effective style to improve school performance, research-based leadership …

Trauma-Informed Practices For Test-Taking Anxiety At The Elementary Grade Level, Kate Campbell, Shalini Mathew

Journal of Research Initiatives

Test -Taking Anxiety (TTA) is a challenging experience for children of all ages. Childhood exposure to trauma and adverse experience has been increasing. Fortunately, trauma-informed practices, such as mindfulness activities have become more widespread in schools throughout the last few years. Existing school counseling literature offers limited perspectives on how school counselors can support elementary students for TTA. This conceptual article explores the effects of trauma-informed practices on elementary-age students' test anxiety and overall academic success in schools and offers implications for practice.

Supporting A Statewide Policy Consideration: Virtual Advancing Educational Leadership Training, Hamada Elfarargy, Beverly J. Irby, Nahed Abdelrahman, Gwendolyn Carol Webb, Angela Abney, Susan Holley, Elsa Villarreal, Carl Fahrenwald

Faculty Publications

COVID-19 pandemic was and continues to be a shock and a challenge to the entire world. This health and safety challenge found its way into the world of higher education, even in programs that were already delivered in online environments. In this study, we examined the perceptions of 79 developing principals enrolled in a Master of Education Degree program in Educational Administration at Texas A&M University in the United States as they processed the efficacy of a virtual professional development (VPD) leadership for a state certificate in Advancing Educational Leadership (AEL). The state agency has required AEL as a 3-day …

Circlet Guide For Facilitators: Learning Circles For Community Engaged Research And Learning, Réka Matolay, Márta Frigyik, Catherine Bates, Amalia Susana Creus, Judit Gaspar, Nadja Gmelch, Sinead Mccann, Caroline Mcgowan, Emma Mckenna, Linde Moriau, Soledad Morales Pérez, Andrea Toarniczky, Brecht Van Der Schueren

Books/Book chapters

This facilitators’ guide contains rich resources that readers can use to organize Learning Circles to support lecturers to build community engaged research and learning (CERL) into their teaching. In this guide we introduce how consortium partners in the CIRCLET project designed and facilitated their local Learning Circles for Community Engaged Research and Learning (CERL) as well as International Learning Circles across the five partner universities.

Learning Circles aim to support educators to reflect on and reimagine their courses and modules to embed CERL through peer learning and with the contribution of experts, stakeholders. In this guide we provide resources to …

Navigating The Virtual Landscape: Implementing A Pedagogical Framework In A Virtual Summer Engineering Course To Enhance Students' Academic Development, Eleazar Marquez, Samuel Garcia

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

In this evidence-based practice paper, the recently established CIRE educational model was incorporated, and modified, to establish an alternative pedagogical framework for a virtual, fast-paced summer engineering course in a private university in Texas. Transitioning to fully online courses in the wake of COVID-19 required a rapid modification of traditional pedagogical methods to overcome challenges such as the lack of academic resources and established campus practices, while simultaneously ensuring the academic and social development of students. In this regard, a pedagogical framework known as the CIRE model – which is the acronym for Communication, Initiation, Reduction, and Extension – was …

Disruptive Momentum: The Value Of Implementing Best Practices In Health Research Postdoctoral Mentorship, Kelley Arredondo, Hilary N. Touchett, Nipa Kamdar, Natalie Hundt, Jennifer L. Bryan

Health Behavior Research

COVID-19 called attention to the challenges postdoctoral fellows in health research face when they have times of prolonged disruption or changes in work conditions; this disruption revealed key insights on how mentors, fellows, and their institutions can work together to ensure training continuity. To prepare strong scientists, postdoctoral fellowships need mentoring, training, and networking opportunities to enhance fellows’ professional and skill development. In this article we outline potential solutions to minimize the impact of disruptions while promoting adaptable postdoctoral fellowship experiences by addressing how mentors and fellows alike can intervene on three key aspects of fellowships in health research: mentorship, …

Could The Inclusion Of Certain Building Information And Modelling Aspects Into The Leaving Certificate Engineering Syllabus, Aid The Transition Of Students Into Third Level Education, When Choosing A Course Within The Construction Industry, Joseph Boyle, Deborah M. Brennan

Capstone Reports

The paper investigates the effects of implementing several Building Information and Modelling (BIM) aspects into the Leaving Certificate Engineering Syllabus and examines the impact this has on students choosing third level Architectural Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry courses with the desire of improving the shortage in the sector. The method and content of the study was based on academic research on second level education in other European countries through the lens of a Literature Review. A sixteen-week pilot program was trialed with over one hundred students at Senior Cycle. The outcomes of the study were critically evaluated through stakeholder interviews …

Supporting Growth Mindset In The Post-Covid Classroom: A Case For Skills-Tracking And Goal-Achievement Strategies, Garrett T. Van Curen

New Jersey English Journal

The following essay explores the importance of student skills-tracking and goal-setting in the secondary English language arts classroom as students continue to adapt to in-person instruction following COVID-19 lockdowns and remote/hybrid instruction. The essay explores goal-setting and skills-tracking from the standpoint of growth-mindset and SEL.

An Argument For Simplicity: Have Learning Systems Become Too Complicated?, William A. Mesce

New Jersey English Journal

COVID has made higher education institutions more reliant on remote learning platforms, but there is little standardization between institutions, and some of these systems may be unnecessarily complex. This article argues for asking not what such systems could do, but what educators and students need them to do.

Let’S Play! The Power Of Play As A Teaching Tool In The Elementary And Early Childhood Classroom, Jessica Moore

Honors Program Theses and Projects

What play-based learning looks like depends on the subject it is being used in. Overall, it involves hands-on activities and children learning through these activities. These activities can be used to teach/introduce the lesson, or they can be used as a reinforcement. In science, it might be experimenting with cardboard and cars to understand ramps. For math, it might be using manipulatives to learn about shapes. In social studies it could be putting on a puppet show, while in English it might be playing Ispy to find words that begin with the letter p. Three research questions were created to …

The Effects Of Critical Literacy Theory On Listening Comprehension And Student Engagement, Jay Girvan

Honors Program Theses and Projects

The purpose of conducting this study is to better understand and assess the current critical literacy practices of classroom teachers and to gain a better understanding of how well these strategies increase engagement and reading comprehension of texts, especially those that address social justice issues. As outlined by the principles of critical literacy theory, teachers are encouraged to help readers understand the author’s intent. By comparing read-alouds not using critical literacy strategies and others with the preferred approach, researchers will be able to examine the differences in both student engagement and listening comprehension. Alongside anecdotal records and post reading comprehension …

Utilizing Counter Narratives To Develop Culturally Sustaining, Critically Conscious Preservice Teacher Practitioners, David Wolff

Essays in Education

The content areas that get most attention in an elementary classroom include mathematics and English/Language Arts (ELA), and little time is devoted to other content areas like social studies. Preservice elementary teachers can learn to maximize instructional time by integrating social studies content in the ELA block. Using counternarratives, preservice teachers can learn to use children’s literature to teach multiple perspectives to the dominant narrative in the textbooks. This article shares strategies to present counternarratives and examples of children’s literature that can be used in an elementary classroom.

Making The Connection Explicit: Service Learning, The Sdgs, And The University’S Third Mission, Chloe Bissell

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Service learning (or community engaged learning) is a rapidly growing form of experiential education that results in mutually beneficial partnerships between students, institutions and local communities. SL (or CEL) is well-developed at European universities, and a variety of networks exist to further SL as a pedagogy. We examined how a range of universities consider SL a part of their institutional missions, and if explicit connections were made between SL and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (a universal framework of 17 goals to achieve by 2030) and the university’s third mission (an orientation toward the public good). This study will …

Mathspark: Sparking Student Curiosity Through Hands-On, Inquiry-Based Mathematics Explorations Inspired By Funds Of Knowledge, Katrina Baha, Kaliyah Clyde, Mikaela Morris, Perla Myers Phd, Amanda Ruiz Phd

Research Month

Abstract: Much of the existing research focuses on the questions teachers ask students, but there is very little information about the questions students ask. The main purpose of this research was to explore ways to engage students in asking their own questions in the learning of mathematics, and to create a scale to help educators categorize the types of questions students ask. We created and used inquiry-based, funds of knowledge-rich lessons with productive struggle opportunities to promote curiosity (Calleja, 2016) and elicit student questions to develop and test our question categorization scale.

Circlet Themed Resource List On Key Topics Relevant To Community Engaged Research And Learning, Catherine Bates, Sinead Mccann, Caroline Mcgowan

Books/Book chapters

This Themed Resource List was produced as part of the process of developing a postgraduate Continuing Professional Development (CPD) module for lecturers who wish to build, or enhance, Community Engaged Research and Learning (CERL) projects in the modules they teach, as part of the Higher Education curriculum. CERL (or service-learning, as it can be known) is a high-impact activity in Higher Education (Kuh, 2008), increasing student engagement and learning. CERL also supports community goals and makes teaching more interesting for lecturers. The module was designed to build capacity among lecturers for CERL, including developing relevant knowledge, skills, attitudes and values. …

Virtual Instruction During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Katie B. Kelley

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

Student motivation and the impacts of the school environment on it have been heavily researched. However, motivation during the COVID-19 pandemic has not been studied in detail due to the recency of events. To understand how the pandemic impacted student motivation, this study applied the Self-Determination Theory (SDT) in understanding how motivation functions through three pieces: autonomy, competence, and relatedness (Deci & Ryan, 1985). This current study examines students’ perceived motivation in virtual and hybrid instruction during a pandemic from students’ perspectives. It used surveys from a similar study with the addition of qualitative questions about instructional strategies (Edwards, 2009). …