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Curriculum and Instruction

University of South Carolina

Theses/Dissertations

Secondary

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Full-Text Articles in Education

What Are They Thinking?: A Qualitative Study Of Secondary Students’ Critical Thinking In Online Classes, Scott Allan Nolt Jul 2023

What Are They Thinking?: A Qualitative Study Of Secondary Students’ Critical Thinking In Online Classes, Scott Allan Nolt

Theses and Dissertations

This action research study emerged in response to students’ struggle to understand what critical thinking is and teachers’ corresponding struggle to develop students’ critical thinking skills. In my role as an instructional designer, I studied student and teacher reactions to interdisciplinary course design that used disciplinary inquiry, problem-posing, and concept-based online learning. The primarily qualitative study focused on students’ reflections across five different social studies and English courses, along with interview data from their teachers and post-course survey data. Exploring how students experience instruction designed to develop their critical thinking skills and how instruction in critical thinking impacts students’ critical …


A Mixed-Method Study Of The Effects Of A Self-Guided Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Audio Intervention On Teacher Stress In A Secondary School, Dylan Muzny Jul 2022

A Mixed-Method Study Of The Effects Of A Self-Guided Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Audio Intervention On Teacher Stress In A Secondary School, Dylan Muzny

Theses and Dissertations

Teachers have especially high levels of stress and this stress can have severe consequences for their health, their students and their district. This study used an action research, explanatory sequential mixed-methods approach to examine the effectiveness of a self-guided audio-based Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction intervention on reducing teacher stress. Teachers self-selected into experimental (n = 14) and control groups (n = 24), and took State Trait Anxiety Index pretest and posttest surveys. The experimental group also completed participation logs and were interviewed about their experience. The MBSR intervention was found to have a statistically significant reduction in teachers for both …


The Devil And Tom Robot: The Use Of Robotics To Impact Empathy In Secondary Students Of American Literature, Susan K. Porter-Voss Jul 2022

The Devil And Tom Robot: The Use Of Robotics To Impact Empathy In Secondary Students Of American Literature, Susan K. Porter-Voss

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this action research study was to evaluate the effect of a robotics-based intervention on empathy for students enrolled in secondary English and literature courses. Empathy, as a concept, is an integral component of reading comprehension and student motivation. A decline in reported individual levels of empathy among young adults can negatively influence longitudinal academic and career success. Robotics present a promising method in which to impact student learning in K-12 environments. Student manipulation of Wonder Workshop Cue robots in designed challenges was integrated within literature content standards for English III. The outlined study measured the impact of …


The Pósa Method: Students' Perceptions Of Hungarian Mathematics Pedagogy, Lauren Seidl Apr 2021

The Pósa Method: Students' Perceptions Of Hungarian Mathematics Pedagogy, Lauren Seidl

Senior Theses

This study examines the reactions and experiences of students who are educated under the Pósa method, a Hungarian mathematics pedagogy previously employed in mathematics camps designed for gifted students. The focus of this research was to analyze the experiences of students in a Pósa method class in Budapest, Hungary. The holistic approach of gathering historical, qualitative, and analytical data pursued answers to the subsequent three research questions that guided the study: What do the students at Petrik School think about the Pósa method? What do the students in the Pósa method class think about math? What do the students’ and …


Making Elearning Engaging: The Effect Of Technology Strategies On Student Engagement And Content Knowledge Development In A Secondary Mathematics Digital Classroom, Allison Knapp Jul 2020

Making Elearning Engaging: The Effect Of Technology Strategies On Student Engagement And Content Knowledge Development In A Secondary Mathematics Digital Classroom, Allison Knapp

Theses and Dissertations

This action research study employed a mixed-methods design to examine the effect of technology strategies on secondary students’ engagement and development of geometry content knowledge in an eLearning setting. Seeking to understand student preferences of the technology tools, this two-week study was conducted during a geometry unit on quadrilaterals and employed the following technology tools: student response systems (SRS), computer-assisted instruction (CAI), gamification, and teacher-made screencasts. Quantitative data was collected on student engagement, the usefulness of the technology, and student self-efficacy through a Likert-scale survey after each day of using technology. Qualitative data were collected through purposeful interviews with students …


English Language Learners And Home-Language Text Use In Secondary English Language Arts Classrooms, Nancy Stubbs Shaw Oct 2019

English Language Learners And Home-Language Text Use In Secondary English Language Arts Classrooms, Nancy Stubbs Shaw

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative phenomenological study dissertation provides an overview of a problem of practice: the disengagement of English language learners in the secondary English language arts classroom. The researcher would like to determine how secondary English language arts teachers effectively incorporate one well-researched, yet infrequently used intervention: the integration of home language texts to teach transferrable English language arts skills to English language learners. An overview of relevant literature about the topic is included and multiple research questions for further study are provided. An action research phenomenological study to address the research questions along with the findings from the implementation of …


The Impact Of Collaborative Strategic Reading On Students’ Comprehension Of Secondary Social Studies Texts, Kaitlyn Mathews Jan 2018

The Impact Of Collaborative Strategic Reading On Students’ Comprehension Of Secondary Social Studies Texts, Kaitlyn Mathews

Theses and Dissertations

This action research study evaluates the impact of the literacy intervention, Collaborative Strategic Reading (CSR), on students’ comprehension of social studies texts in secondary classrooms at a high school in East Tennessee, and their perceptions of the intervention as an activity for learning. The identified problem of practice this study sought to explore is whether explicit, collaborative literacy instruction would impact students’ comprehension of grade-level appropriate social studies texts, and to evaluate students’ responses to such literacy instruction. Pre- and post-tests assessing students’ comprehension of informational articles pertaining to eras of United States history, and semi-structured interviews with students, provided …