Digital Commons Network^™

Pursuing Culturally Responsive Math Teaching By Secondary Math Educators: A Professional Development Action Research Study, Emily Bell Redding

Theses and Dissertations

This action research study examines the use of professional development to build the self-efficacy of secondary math teachers in culturally responsive mathematics teaching (CRMT), with the hope to address achievement gaps of Black and Hispanic students. Seven math teachers from a school division in Southwest Virginia participated in a 9-week professional development that included virtual meetings to learn about CRMT, collaboration with colleagues, classroom applications, and self-reflection. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected throughout the 9 weeks in the forms of questionnaires, meeting transcripts, and reflection journals. The research study results found the professional development to build teacher self-efficacy, especially …

No Cap: Unlocking The Self-Concepts Of Students To Promote Limitless Identities, Walter Lee

South Carolina Association for Middle Level Education Journal

If students do not perceive themselves as capable, they will likely decline opportunities that threaten their self-beliefs. This requires educators to create redefining moments for students to experience struggle in a safe environment that ultimately encourages students to remove personal limitations. When teachers are critical about ways to respond to negative, limiting self-concepts, students may conquer breakthroughs in learning. In this article, I suggest that a change in self-concept represents a change in mindset, producing significant learning outcomes. To accomplish this, I will discuss self- concept, self-efficacy, and implications on teaching, using the CARE theory of self-concept development.

Preliminary Outcomes And Feasibility Of A Brief Online Teacher Training In Culturally Responsive Practices (Crp) To Reduce Disproportionate Discipline In Prek-3rd Grade Classrooms, Samantha Noelle Hartley

Theses and Dissertations

School discipline policies that rely on exclusionary discipline practices, such as office discipline referrals, suspensions, and expulsions, negatively and disproportionately impact racial minority students, beginning in preschool. Disproportionate discipline persists even when schools implement schoolwide interventions that reduce overall rates of exclusionary discipline, suggesting that schools must do more to address other likely causes of the discipline gap, including implicit racial bias, insufficient teacher training in classroom management, and a cultural mismatch between schools and minority students. There has been an increased call for teacher professional development in culturally responsive behavior management practices, but such interventions are often poorly evaluated …

Applying Health Stigma Framework To Examine The Mechanisms Of Hiv-Related Stigma On Clinical Outcomes, Chengbo Zeng

Theses and Dissertations

Background: HIV clinical outcomes including CD4 count, viral suppression, and health-related quality of life (HRQoL), are important indicators reflecting immunologic functioning, treatment efficacy, and overall health quality. However, due, in part, to HIV-related stigma, many people living with HIV (PLWH) experience suboptimal clinical outcomes. The Health Stigma Framework introduced the potentially distinct mechanisms underlying internalized, anticipated, enacted stigma and health outcomes through psycho-behavioral pathways. Based on this framework, this dissertation investigated the impacts and mechanisms of HIV-related stigma on clinical outcomes among PLWH in Guangxi, China from a longitudinal perspective. Methods: Data at baseline, 6-, 12-, 18- month follow-ups …

Why Do Tourists Accept Lodging Through Accommodation Sharing Platforms? Model Development And Model Comparison, Ge Zhu

Theses and Dissertations

The P2P accommodation sharing market has emerged as a disruptive innovation as it has exponentially expanded globally, even though this market is still emerging and has not been used by most people. This study investigates why tourists accept the sharing platforms and how to promote this service. A literature review on innovation adoption models was conducted to select a proper theoretical framework to investigate travelers’ motivation for using Airbnb. According to model-evaluation principles and literature analysis, this self-efficacy-based value adoption model (SVM) was selected, which is derived from social cognitive theory’s reciprocal determination. Based on the SVM, an extended SVM …

The Impact Of Plcs On Teacher Self-Efficacy, Paula Lynn Taylor

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the impact of a professional learning community on teacher self-efficacy at Elm Primary School in rural South Carolina. The literature suggests that PLCs are an amenable approach to improving individual teacher efficacy beliefs and classroom practices (Corcoran, 2007; Guskey, 2003). For this study, self-and collective efficacy were measured using Likert-scale surveys, semi-open ended interviews, participant journals, observation and field notes, and artifacts. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected, making this a mixed-methods study.

The results confirmed and expanded understandings about PLCs' impact on efficacy. Participants recognized goal setting, actions, and results as important qualities of collaboration …

Information Literacy Skills And College Students: A Mixed-Methods, Action Research Study Of Students’ Knowledge And Self-Efficacy For Applying Information Literacy Skills To Their Academic And Social Lives, Jade Geary

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this action research was to examine information literacy skills in undergraduate students. In particular, this research investigated students’ knowledge and self-efficacy of information literacy skills. Furthermore, this study explored students’ application of information literacy and how students apply information literacy skills to their academic and social lives. By developing a greater understanding of students’ knowledge, self-efficacy and the use of information literacy skills, it allows librarians to tailor information literacy instruction to fit students’ needs. The three research questions that guided this study were (1) What are undergraduate students’ knowledge of information literacy at the University of …

“When It’S Time To Come Together, We Come Together”: Reconceptualizing Theories Of Self-Efficacy For Health Information Practices Within Lgbtqia+ Communities, Alexander N. Vera, Travis L. Wagner, Vanessa L. Kitzie

Student Publications

This chapter addresses the shortcomings of current self-efficacy models describing the health information practices of LGBTQIA+ communities. Informed by semi-structured interviews with 30 LGBTQIA+ community leaders from South Carolina, findings demonstrate how their self-efficacy operates beyond HIV/AIDS research while complicating traditional models that isolate an individual’s health information practices from their abundant communal experiences. Findings also suggest that participants engage with health information and resources in ways deemed unhealthy or harmful by healthcare providers. However, such practices are nuanced, and participants carefully navigate them, balancing concerns for community safety and well-being over traditional engagements with healthcare infrastructures. These findings have …

Objective Church Environment Audits And Attendee Perceptions Of Healthy Eating And Physical Activity Supports Within The Church Setting, Marilyn E. Wende, Andrew T. Kaczynski, John A. Bernhart, Caroline G. Dunn, Sarah Wilcox

Faculty Publications

Interventions in faith-based settings are increasingly popular, due to their effectiveness for improving attendee health outcomes and behaviors. Little past research has examined the important role of the church environment in individual-level outcomes using objective environmental audits. This study examined associations between the objectively measured physical church environment and attendees’ perceptions of physical activity (PA) and healthy eating (HE) supports within the church environment, self-efficacy for PA and HE, and self-reported PA and HE behaviors. Data were collected via church audits and church attendee surveys in 54 churches in a rural, medically underserved county in South Carolina. Multi-level regression was …

The Quest To Improve Literacy Achievement: A Teacher-Developed Literacy Unit Incorporating A Hybrid-Instructional Approach, Dina L. Crislip

Theses and Dissertations

This Dissertation in Practice (DiP) utilizes action research methods to answer a research question that focuses on teachers being empowered to make personal choices when delivering best practices to positively impact student achievement within PAWS Elementary School. Chapter One provides the rationale behind the origin of the presented research, in which the Problem of Practice poses the question of how personal decision-making by teachers is an integral attribute to the success and achievement of all learners within the public-school setting. This acknowledgment of the problem of practice was the impetus to the proposed research question: How does the teacher's personal …

Feminist-Infused Participatory Action Research To Promote Female Students’ Self- Efficacy In Mathematics, Nicole Hreno

Theses and Dissertations

Prompted by the manifestations of decreased levels of mathematical self-efficacy among the female students in my district, the purpose of this study was to investigate the source of self-efficacy development that was most influential among our female students and engage in praxis to combat these gender inequities. Grounded in critical feminist theory, I engaged six teacher-researchers in participatory action research through qualitative methodologies. Using questionnaires to examine the worldviews of our female students, the emergent study was guided by these voices which were previously silenced. The interventions employed were a direct result of the females’ expressed mathematical experiences, leading us …

Bringing Culture Into The Classroom: The Impact Of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy On Student Engagement And Self-Efficacy In Social Studies, Siddeeqah K. Cruse

Theses and Dissertations

The presence of the achievement gap has plagued our education system for decades. One of the most astonishing trends has resulted in the racial achievement gap as White students drastically outperform minority groups with African American males being the most affected population. Educators have studied and implemented Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (CRP) to increase the achievement of African American males. CRP contends that all students are capable of learning and should be held to high expectations while using students’ culture and interests to drive instruction. This action research study examines the impact of culturally relevant teaching on the self-efficacy and engagement …

The Impact Of Intelligent Tutoring Software On Geometry Students, Simela Oueini

Theses and Dissertations

This purpose of this paper is to deepen the understanding for a problem of practice in the mathematics educators’ classroom of low retention of information thus leading to poor mathematics achievement. The identification of the problem of practice led to a development of a research focus examining the effects of using intelligent tutoring software in the mathematics classroom and the impact it has on mathematics achievement, student motivation as it relates to self-efficacy, student engagement and attitudes towards mathematics. Using a convergent mixed methods approach (Creswell, 2012), this paper elaborates on the research questions addressing “What effects does the integration …

An Exploration Of Academic Librarian Self-Efficacy In The Teaching Role: A Canadian Perspective, Kari D. Weaver

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to examine the impact of short professional development interventions, covering core concepts in teaching and learning, on the self- efficacy of academic librarians in the teaching role. The participants in this study were six academic librarians at a large, research-intensive university in Canada for whom instructional work was a requirement of their position.

To examine librarian self-efficacy in the teaching role, the participants completed a standard self-efficacy questionnaire and a semi-structured interview prior to participating in the professional development interventions. The topics covered for professional development included learning theory, lesson planning, classroom management, and …

Teaching Goal Setting Strategies In A Title I Elementary School; An Action Research Study, Susan Ridgeway Nunamaker

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative action research study is to explore the impact of goal setting on the learning process of fifth-grade students in a Title I school. The subjects of this research study are 17 fifth-grade student-participants along with their homeroom teacher-participant. A goal setting unit was designed specifically for this action research study to enable student-participants to experience setting mastery goals and to develop an academic engagement practice through goal setting; thus empowering them for future learning. Semi-structured student interviews, student data journals in the form of goal setting forms, and an open-ended interview with the teacher-participant provide …

Do Discipline Style And Parenting Self-Efficacy Interact To Predict Observed Child Behavior? Outcomes From A Representative Sample Of Mothers With Young Chilren, Emily Noel Neger

Theses and Dissertations

Both parenting style and parents’ sense of their own parenting self-efficacy (PSE) have been found to predict child behavior outcomes in young children. Parents who engage in lax or overreactive parenting practices or who lack confidence in their parenting abilities are more likely to have children who display disruptive and noncompliant behavior. Until now, very little research has examined whether an interaction exits between these two constructs in predicting child behavior outcomes. The current study looked to fill this gap and assess whether a significant moderation relationship exists between parents’ parenting style and PSE in predicting observed child behavior. A …