Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Education Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 15 of 15

Full-Text Articles in Education

The Convergence Of Negotiated Imaginative Play, Literacy Learning And Kindergarten Common Core English Language Arts Standards, Grace Salinas-Casper Dec 2019

The Convergence Of Negotiated Imaginative Play, Literacy Learning And Kindergarten Common Core English Language Arts Standards, Grace Salinas-Casper

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The implementation of strict academic requirements is replacing play as a previously widely accepted developmentally appropriate practice in kindergarten classrooms around the United States, resulting in an imbalance in cultivating the whole child. Research focused on the importance of play in children’s cognitive, linguistic, physical, moral, creative, emotional and artistic development exists. Couched in Vygotsky’s social development theory and the Reggio Emilia principle this ethnographic case study investigates how kindergarteners demonstrate literacy learning, practice and mastery of Common Core English Language Arts Standards (CC.ELA) through imaginative play in a negotiated environment. Research outcomes suggested that negotiated play appears to provide …


How Accurately Can Religious Educators Predict Student Achievement?, Kyle Lyons Dec 2019

How Accurately Can Religious Educators Predict Student Achievement?, Kyle Lyons

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Teachers make a variety of judgments as they teach. The accuracy of these judgments may influence instruction and student achievement. The present investigation examined (a) how accurately religious educators judge student learning, (b) what cues religious educators report using to judge student learning, and (c) how cue utilization affects the accuracy of judgments of student learning. The research in this study shows the accuracy of judgments for participating teachers is significantly lower than the average judgment accuracy reported in a recent review of teacher judgment literature (Südkamp et al., 2012). The cues participating teachers self-reported using for judging student learning …


Chinese Transnational Adolescents’ Responses To Multicultural Children’S Literature In Culture Circles, Yuwen Chen Dec 2019

Chinese Transnational Adolescents’ Responses To Multicultural Children’S Literature In Culture Circles, Yuwen Chen

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine how Chinese transnational adolescents (CTAs) negotiate their identity based on their cultural knowledge and experiences through book discussion in Freirean “culture circle” (Freire, 2000, p. 120). This study is an interpretivist qualitative study of community-based action research (Glesne, 2010). The participants were seven American-born Chinese, two current Chinese and Taiwanese, and one Chinese adopted adolescent. Within the culture circles, CTAs responded to seven selected multicultural children’s literature which represents Chinese immigrants’ stories in the United States. The topics of the books included (1) who am I, (2) relationships with extended family I, …


Modeling Potential Energy Of The Gaussian Gun, Leslie Atkins Elliott, André Bolliou, Hanna Irving, Douglas Jackson Nov 2019

Modeling Potential Energy Of The Gaussian Gun, Leslie Atkins Elliott, André Bolliou, Hanna Irving, Douglas Jackson

Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Gaussian gun is an arrangement of magnets and ball bearings (pictured in Fig. 1) such that—when the leftmost ball is released—the rightmost ball is ejected at high speeds. The device has been described in several articles on energy education. The sudden appearance of kinetic energy offers a productive context for considering a range of challenging ideas: the often-counterintuitive relationship between force and potential energy, the escape velocity for attractive forces, why energy is required to break bonds, and why energy is released when bonds form. Beyond these ideas, it is also useful for motivating the representation of a potential …


Designing Teacher Preparation Courses: Integrating Mobile Technology, Program Standards, And Course Outcomes, Serena Hicks, Devshikha Bose Nov 2019

Designing Teacher Preparation Courses: Integrating Mobile Technology, Program Standards, And Course Outcomes, Serena Hicks, Devshikha Bose

Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

This discussion paper demonstrates the need for applying backwards design principles to already-existing course syllabi in order to embed technology alongside pedagogy in teacher preparation programs. The problem is first addressed as a need to integrate technology in one secondary course based on lack of proficiency demonstrated on multiple measures. A design framework that was implemented is then explained, including a step-by-step process for aligning mobile technology applications to course standards and outcomes. Challenges to the process are explored, as well as supports available for duplicating this work in other contexts. The paper concludes with steps the instructor is now …


An Exploration Of Supports For Increasing Classroom Physical Activity Within Elementary Schools, Hannah G. Calvert, Julianne A. Wenner, Lindsey Turner Sep 2019

An Exploration Of Supports For Increasing Classroom Physical Activity Within Elementary Schools, Hannah G. Calvert, Julianne A. Wenner, Lindsey Turner

Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Classroom-based physical activity (CBPA) can significantly benefit students’ health and educational outcomes, but many teachers do not utilize CBPA. This study examined teachers’ perceptions about the value and impact of several approaches to support CBPA implementation, and teachers’ weekly self-reported CBPA use. Interviews were conducted with 35 classroom teachers (including those using and not using CBPA) at two public elementary schools, and CBPA tracking logs were collected on a weekly basis. Interview transcripts were interpreted through key domains within implementation science. On average, teachers reported using one activity every other day. Interview data revealed that utilizing professional collaboration time for …


The Influence Of Tape Diagrams And Bar Models On Middle School Students' Proportional Reasoning, Katie Paulding Aug 2019

The Influence Of Tape Diagrams And Bar Models On Middle School Students' Proportional Reasoning, Katie Paulding

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Proportional reasoning is an integral component of adolescent mathematical cognitive development and a foundational concept for students to understand in order to be successful in higher level mathematics and science courses. Yet research indicates students struggle to proportionally reason. Task features of proportional reasoning problems are known to influence student cognition and success in problem solving, including familiarity with problem context, problem type, numerical content, and mode of task representation. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of two iconic representations (tape diagrams and bar models) and three ratio relationships (6:3, 8:2, and 5:2) on student cognition …


Voices Of Our Students: Using Evidence-Based Methods To Inform A Multidisciplinary Engineering Program Design, Vicki Stieha, Noah Salzman, Amy J. Moll Jun 2019

Voices Of Our Students: Using Evidence-Based Methods To Inform A Multidisciplinary Engineering Program Design, Vicki Stieha, Noah Salzman, Amy J. Moll

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Listening carefully to our students and integrating the variables that matter to them is a step that we can take to increase the number of women and underrepresented minority graduates in engineering. This paper shares an evaluative case study as we report findings from data gathering tools guiding our continuous improvement process. The findings illuminate students’ perceptions of their engineering design course and curriculum. We conclude by discussing the pedagogical decisions the teaching team is making as a result of listening to our students’ voices.


Engineering Design In Scientific Inquiry, Leslie Atkins Elliott Jun 2019

Engineering Design In Scientific Inquiry, Leslie Atkins Elliott

Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Engineering Design in Scientific Inquiry (EDISIn) Project addresses the engineering preparation of secondary science teachers by embedding engineering design into a science course for single-subject STEM education majors (future secondary teachers), and developing a sequence of lesson plans and annotated video for faculty who seek to embed engineering design in their science courses. While undergraduate laboratories are rich with designed experimental apparatus, it is rare that students themselves play a role in designing and producing artifacts in the service of scientific inquiry. Our expectation is that (1) existing science courses offer opportunities for students to engage meaningfully with engineering …


Service-Learning In An Introductory Environmental Science Course: How Participation Impacts Course Content Knowledge And Agency, Mari Rice May 2019

Service-Learning In An Introductory Environmental Science Course: How Participation Impacts Course Content Knowledge And Agency, Mari Rice

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Service-learning (SL) is a high-impact pedagogical strategy that has been shown to have both cognitive and affective benefits for students and has the potential to engage and involve a more demographically diverse spectrum of students into the field of STEM. However, research on the impacts of SL in STEM courses is limited, and therefore there is a great need to identify the specific outcomes linked to participation. In addition, faculty from STEM fields have been hesitant to incorporate SL into their curriculum due to perceptions that it lacks academic rigor. This purpose of this mixed-methods case study was to examine …


Scaling Professional Development For Mathematics Teacher Educators, Michele B. Carney, Jonathan L. Brendefur, Gwyneth Hughes, Keith Thiede, Angela R. Crawford, Dan Jesse, Brandie Ward Smith Apr 2019

Scaling Professional Development For Mathematics Teacher Educators, Michele B. Carney, Jonathan L. Brendefur, Gwyneth Hughes, Keith Thiede, Angela R. Crawford, Dan Jesse, Brandie Ward Smith

Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

There have been multiple calls (Adler, Ball, Krainer, Lin, & Novotna, 2005; Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences, 2012; Kilpatrick, Swafford, & Findell, 2001) and extensive evidence (Hiebert, 2003; Lemke et al., 2004; National Math Panel, 2008; OECD, 2010) regarding the need to change K-12 mathematics education from procedural and memorization-driven to more conceptual and application-based. Professional development is viewed as an important mechanism to influence these changes in instructional practices (Fennema et al., 1996; Franke, Carpenter, Levi, & Fennema, 2001; Swafford, Jones, & Thornton, 1997) and student outcomes (Jacobs, Franke, Carpenter, Levi, & Battey, 2007). However, professional development is …


Building Capacity In Teacher Preparation With Practitioner Inquiry: A Self-Study Of Teacher Educators’ Clinical Feedback Practices, Sherry Dismuke, Esther A. Enright, Julianne A. Wenner Jan 2019

Building Capacity In Teacher Preparation With Practitioner Inquiry: A Self-Study Of Teacher Educators’ Clinical Feedback Practices, Sherry Dismuke, Esther A. Enright, Julianne A. Wenner

Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

This collaborative self-study of teacher educators’ feedback practices argues for an intentional process for teacher educators to develop an inquiry stance toward our own teaching. Data sources include formative observation forms, evaluations, observation notes, debriefings, surveys, researcher journals, and layered memos. Findings define influences and shared patterns of practice. Our professional learning from this self-study built our capacity as teacher educators by informing our development of an inquiry feedback cycle rooted in representations, approximations, and decomposition of practice (Grossman et al., 2009) to intentionally model and scaffold the development of an inquiry stance toward practice in our teacher candidates.


Gi: The Guided Inquiry, Regina (Gina) F. Frey, Susan E. Shadle Jan 2019

Gi: The Guided Inquiry, Regina (Gina) F. Frey, Susan E. Shadle

CTL Teaching Gallery

As described in chapter 1, the POGIL pedagogy is an integrated combination of intentionally designed guided-inquiry activities and a focus on process skills involving the active engagement of student teams that are facilitated by an instructor. POGIL activities are structured according to the learning cycle (described in Chapter 1). The activities of a POGIL classroom frame the thinking that students will do during class. The students in constructing ideas and mastering material (Bodner, 1986; Driver, Asoko, Leach, Scott, & Mortimer, 1994). Because this approach is different from the kind of classroom that most teachers experienced as students, many do not …


Creating Connection Through Intercultural Dialogue Partners, Tasha Souza Jan 2019

Creating Connection Through Intercultural Dialogue Partners, Tasha Souza

CTL Teaching Gallery

The Intercultural Dialogue Partner (IDP) program has been a part of my Intercultural Communication course at two institutions across the last 8 years. While the program has evolved over time, the current version at a college campus in the western United States will be described. The IDP program is the service-learning component of an undergraduate course for about 30 mostly Communication majors. The primary goal of the course is for students to gain an appreciation of intercultural communication and to be able to engage in mindful dialogue across difference. My hope is that the class gives students the skills, knowledge, …


Comparison Of Two Approaches To Interpretive Use Arguments, Michele Carney, Angela Crawford, Carl Siebert, Rich Osguthorpe, Keith Thiede Jan 2019

Comparison Of Two Approaches To Interpretive Use Arguments, Michele Carney, Angela Crawford, Carl Siebert, Rich Osguthorpe, Keith Thiede

Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (AERA, APA, & NCME, 2014) recommend an argument-based approach to validation that involves a clear statement of the intended interpretation and use of test scores, the identification of the underlying assumptions and inferences in that statement—termed the interpretation/use argument, and gathering of evidence to support or refute the assumptions and inferences. We present two approaches to articulating the assumptions and inferences that underlie a score interpretation and use statement, also termed the interpretation/use argument (Kane, 2016). One approach uses the five sources of validity evidence in the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing …