Education Commons^™

For The Love Of Teaching: Pre-Service Teachers’ Experience Of Moral Education, Anne Marie Foley Ruiz

Doctoral Dissertations

Moral aspects of teaching arise each and every day, yet we lack information about how prepared teachers feel about this critical aspect of teaching. This multi-case study explores perceptions of five pre-service teachers in an elementary teacher education program in Western Massachusetts. A series of interviews explore their histories prior to the program and their experiences in the program as related to the pre-service teachers’ orientations to the moral work of teaching. Research questions address the awareness and self-efficacy of student teachers in implementing the moral aspects of teaching. Using Thematic Analysis (Braun & Clark, 2006), this study explores beliefs …

The Effect Of Familiarity On Learning With Video Clips Containing Seductive Details, Jonah Lee Ruddy

Doctoral Dissertations

Seductive information included in educational lessons can arouse students’ emotional and situational interest. However, research on seductive details across instructional modalities shows both helpful and harmful effects on learning. The seductive details effect describes the negative influence of interesting, but irrelevant, information on achieving learning goals. Results from studies of videos with relevant and seductive details in multimedia lessons are inconclusive. Prior knowledge of target information has been shown to moderate the seductive details effect. In this study, the moderating effect of prior exposure to, or familiarity with, seductive, rather than target, information was explored using a multifactorial design. The …

Effect Of Mindfulness Training On Interpretation Exam Performance In Graduate Students In Interpreting, Julie E. Johnson

Doctoral Dissertations

Many graduate interpreting students struggle because the real-time, interactive nature of interpreting dictates that they be able to regulate their attention across different parallel cognitive activities and manage the inherent stress and unpredictability of the task. Within the framework of Cognitive Load Theory, this mixed-methods study explored the effect of short-term mindfulness training on consecutive interpreting exam performance using a quasi-experimental repeated-measures design. It also examined the relationships among mindfulness, stress, aspects of attention, and interpreting exam performance. The sample included 67 students (age M = 26.9 years; 82% female) across seven language programs (Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Russian, …

The Effect Of More And Less Relevant Details And Teacher Voice On Student Retention And Problem-Solving Transfer In Teacher-Created Multimedia, Colette Roche

Doctoral Dissertations

Many teachers create multimedia resources for their students, but most are uncertain as to what factors to consider regarding the design of multimedia instructional materials. Prior research identified instructional design principles for multimedia including the coherence principle and voice principle.

The purpose of this study was to test the coherence principle in a realistic setting using a heterogeneous group of ninth grade students in a humanities course to determine the effect of seductive details on retention and problem-solving transfer. To extend understanding of the voice principle, this study examined the effect of the teacher’s voice on student learning as measured …

The Relationship Between Demands And Resources And Teacher Burnout: A Fifteen-Year Meta-Analysis, Tammy Marie Stewart

Doctoral Dissertations

This meta-analysis explored the phenomenon of teacher burnout— the biggest contributor to teacher attrition (Owens, 2013; Unterbrink, 2014; Yu, 2015). The focus of this study was to use meta-analytical procedures to explore the relationship between burnout dimensions (i.e., emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and feelings of personal accomplishment) and specific demand and resource correlates. Demand correlates included work overload, role conflict, role ambiguity, and student misbehavior. Resource correlates included peer support, supervisory support, and decision-making. This meta-analytical research method encompassed fifteen years of published and unpublished studies from January 2000 through January 2015. A total of 116 studies met the following inclusion …

Developing Spatial Reasoning Skills In General Chemistry Students, Deborah L. Carlisle

Doctoral Dissertations

The study of organic chemistry requires the understanding and use of spatial relationships, which can be challenging for many students. Prior research has shown that there is a need to develop students’ spatial reasoning skills. To that end, this study implemented guided activities designed to strengthen students’ spatial skills, with the aim of preparing students for organic chemistry and other future STEM courses. Students, taking the second semester of a two-semester general chemistry course, engaged in these activities. This study followed a quasi experimental design, in which the experimental (n = 209) and the control group (n = 212) were …

The Application Of Information Integration Theory To Standard Setting: Setting Cut Scores Using Cognitive Theory, Christopher C. Foster

Doctoral Dissertations

Information integration theory (IIT) is a cognitive psychology theory that is primarily concerned with understanding rater judgments and deriving quantitative values from rater expertise. Since standard setting is a process by which subject matter experts are asked to make expert judgment about test content, it is an ideal context for the application of information integration theory. Information integration theory (IIT) was proposed by Norman H. Anderson, a cognitive psychologist. It is a cognitive theory that is primarily concerned with how an individual integrates information from two or more stimuli to derive a quantitative value. The theory focuses on evaluating the …

The Comparative Effects Of Visual-Only Instruction Versus Modality Principle Instruction On Algebraic Problem Accuracy And Perceived Mental Effort At Varying Levels Of Task Complexity For Undergraduate Nursing Students, Kristina V. Mattis

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of two instructional formats on math accuracy and perceived mental effort during a series of math problems that varied in levels of complexity. The multimedia instruction results were compared against a traditional form of instruction using visual-only teaching materials.

Few studies examine the impact of instructional design on learning outcomes math instruction within nursing with a lack of research describing how math is taught to nursing students other than traditional lecture or textbook. Nursing students demonstrate low performance rates on math problems that involve mixed numbers that also tend to …

Examining The Relationship Between Fact Learning And Higher Order Learning Via Retrieval Practice, Pooja Kay Agarwal '01

Doctoral Dissertations

The development of higher order skills is a desired outcome of education. Some believe that higher order learning can be improved directly, whereas others argue that higher order learning can be improved via the enhancement of factual or conceptual knowledge. The relationship between fact and higher order learning is often speculated, but empirically unknown.

This project examines whether retrieval practice via quizzing, a strategy typically used to enhance fact learning, can be used as a strategy to improve higher order skills in both laboratory and applied settings. In the current study, higher order skills were considered to comprise the understand, …