Education Commons^™

Principals' Perceptions Of Brain-Based Learning, Tami Hudson Godman

Theses and Dissertations

The problem addressed by the study was a lack of research on principal’s perceptions of brain-based learning and the potential impact on classroom instruction. The purpose of this study was to determine the association between the principal’s perceptions of brain-based learning and instruction at their schools. The following research has been conducted using a qualitative paradigm. A case study involved a focus group of 12 principals and additional interviews with four of those principals. The qualitative data were thematically coded to provide information on patterns and practices within a variety of schools in the area. The findings offer the educational …

Examining The Relationship Between Beliefs And Perceived Experiences During Assistant Principal Preparation For The Role Of Principal, Tonya Holcomb Wallace

Theses and Dissertations

Principals have been expected to serve as managers and leaders of curriculum and instruction while facing intense accountability and had to be good communicators capable of building relationships within their school and with community stakeholders. School complexity increased challenges leaders faced, so educational leaders utilized research-based strategies to develop professional resilience and grow in the face of adversity. In preparation for school principalship, assistant principals needed to move beyond school operation and management roles to become a viable candidate for career advancement. Limited research exists describing the preparation of assistant principals for advancement. The purpose of this convergent mixed methods …

An Examination Of The Identification Of Student Veterans Within The University System Of Georgia To Assist In The Decision-Making Process To Better Serving Them, Stefane Dione Raulerson

Theses and Dissertations

Within the USG, no systematic approach exists regarding the identification of its student veterans. In support of the significant number of veterans living in Georgia and more of them utilizing VA educational benefits, the purpose of the research was to explore the various means in which USG institutions identify student veterans and use this information to make data-driven decisions as well as establish retention and graduation rates. The research included surveying and interviewing, following theoretical sampling. Interviews were conducted to obtain more comprehensive and detailed information on the survey results where participants indicated the identification of student veterans, use of …

The Relationship Between Mathematics Teachers’ Perceptions Of Student Motivation And Their Use Of Instructional Strategies For At-Risk Math Students, Kayla Morris Couch

Theses and Dissertations

Student motivation in mathematics education can be affected by many variables, especially for at-risk students. Existing information is limited regarding teacher perceptions of their own pedagogy, instructional strategies, and at-risk student motivation in the area of mathematics for middle school and high school students. The purpose of this study was to analyze middle school and high school mathematics teachers’ perceptions of their own pedagogy, instructional strategies, and at-risk students’ motivation in mathematics. Deci and Ryan’s self-determination theory was the theoretical framework used to guide the current study, which focuses on psychological and instinctive needs of individuals. An explanatory, sequential mixed …

Impacts Of Growing Technology On Students' Reading And Writing Skills, Jacquelyn Ogborn Corpuz

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Technology has radically changed the ways in which students and teachers function within the classroom. The use of mobile technologies, specifically laptop computers and internet use, has transformed teacher instruction along with student expectations. Given that students have a high exposure to technology in the classroom, especially at the middle school level, this senior capstone examines the impact of growing technology on their reading and writing skills through the use of literature review, teacher interviews and survey, interviews with principals and superintendents, and online teacher survey. The result findings reveal that there are several positive impacts of technology integration on …

The Digital Reading Experiences Of Middle School Readers: A Phenomenological Study, Laura A. Hayward

Theses and Dissertations

Reading digitally is part of the 21st century New Literacies, residing in the curriculum as a comprehension skill developed with print reading skills. Differences exist between purpose of digital reading and print reading, manifested in the association of digital reading as a mostly non-fiction genre, the immediacy to digital information and its relevance to a reader’s decision about the usefulness of the information. Contrastingly, print reading can be fiction or non-fiction with access to all the text. The differences suggest that learning focused on immediate evaluation, synthesis, and application of information while reading digitally should be taught in the context …

Cultural Clashes And Cultural Bridges: My Story In Afghanistan, Joe A. Hinojosa Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

Narrative inquiry and grounded theory are the methodology used to tell the story of the researcher’s experiences in Afghanistan. This entailed identifying and researching a process of storytelling and weaving experiences together into a coherent and meaningful whole. The narrative inquiry method is appropriate for this project because the critical sources of data consist of the researcher’s perceptions and experiences in Afghanistan, as reported in the form of narrative stories. This qualitative analysis focuses on examining and interpreting concrete pieces of evidence, formulating quantitative analysis along with sharing personal and professional experiences. To that end, external resources, including letters and …

Investigating The Use And Effectiveness Of The Istation Advanced Reading Program With Fourth-Grade At-Risk Struggling Readers, Andres Martinez

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of computer-based-instruction (CBI) and multimedia when used as an intervention with upper elementary students experiencing reading difficulties on the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) Reading Assessments. The researcher employed a quantitative, causal-comparative research design for this study. A Texas supplemental reading program, the Istation Advanced Reading Program, was used as a Response to Intervention (RTI) for those at-risk students of failing their Reading STAAR Test in the fourth grade and to sustain an effective reading program district-wide.

Archived data was collected from three South Texas Title I …

Identity Fluidity, Empowerment, And Engendered Poverty: Performing A Veteran-Latina-Online-Graduate Student, Maricela Burns

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this project is to use critical race theory and gendered discourse to shed light on engendered poverty, cultural capital and resilience in efforts to identify how the American educational system affects marginalized groups when the systems of power and privilege were not created for them. It is through a poignant narrative of one of these students (myself) in the educational system that I reflect, recollect, write and interweave my lived curriculum with what the literature says about ethnic experiences like mine. The efforts here serve to analyze the processes of constructing and building social and gender identity …

An Examination Of Professional Learning Community And Teacher Leadership Practices As Perceived By Educators In A District-Wide Plc, Melissa Castaneda

Theses and Dissertations

This quantitative research explored the correlational and causal analysis between professional learning community (PLC) and teacher leadership, as well as the demographic and capacity-building variables and dimensions of the PLCA-R and TLSS instruments as perceived by educators in an identified emergent district-wide PLC (Lopez, 2015) located in south Texas. The overarching question focused on examining the associations between professional learning communities (PLCs) and teacher leadership in South Central ISD (pseudonym).

The findings lend support to the notion that teacher leadership and PLCs are correlated concepts, and further establish that a healthy school culture embraces and empowers teachers by providing professional …

A Critical Bricoleur Assumes Positive Intent: Pablito's Problem, Paul Perez-Jimenez

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation serves to further critical theory research through bricolage autoethnography of a Latinx English teacher from the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. The bricolage functions to unify reflective constructs that expose an emancipatory catharsis and painful reacquaintance with individual and cultural identity. This project offers the concept of a happening as a construct embedded with the ongoing, reflective, and liberating critical consciousness process. Four happenings are offered and establish that the dichotomies of oppression and liberation, how they happened, are happening or may happen are not easily recognizable unless critical introspection is involved. The leading happening titled Pablito’s Problem …

No Habla Español: Are Monolingual Teachers Getting The Support They Need?, Natalie Correa

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

For this Capstone Project, the researchers investigated how monolingual teachers view the support and resources they received to teach English Language Learners (ELL) and what they thought could be done to improve their teaching effectiveness. An evidence based argument is offered that monolingual teachers were not being provided with effective support and resources. More specifically, three themes emerged from an analysis of the data obtained from interviews of monolingual teachers and administrators. Based on the emergent themes, an action was undertaken to help monolingual teachers better address the needs of ELLs. This is an important issue for monolingual teachers because …

Creating A Meaningful Experience: On Service Learning And Teacher Preparedness, Telia Krown, Nhat-Dzu T. Bui

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The focus of this Capstone project is on the effectiveness of service learning and its role in teacher preparedness. This is an important issue for Liberal sStudies students, professors, and the community because in the Integrated Teacher Education Program, service learning is treated as preparation for teaching, and it can be seen that way for Traditional Pathway students as well. It is argued that while service learning works towards an admirable goal, there are obstacles and design decisions that keep it from being fully effective in preparing Liberal Studies students in becoming teachers. The three primary stakeholder perspectives chosen were …

Benefits Of School Gardening On Low-Income Elementary School Students, Caitlynn Lange

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The increase in obesity rates in America’s youth could be a reflection of undernourished school lunches, a decrease in physical activity, and the lack of knowledge of health and nutrition. Children who come from a low-income family are more likely to be affected by these circumstances. School gardening may be a way of replacing those impacts. This senior capstone research project examines the benefits of school gardening on low-income elementary school students when implementing as part of the curriculum in schools.

Escapando Las Trampas: Teacher Preparation For Mexicanas, Monica Medrano

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Developing Maestras face and overcome linguistic, academic and cultural forms of gatekeeping while trying to navigate through our current education system. For this Capstone Project, the impact that gatekeeping has on developing Maestras and how it affects their academic and professional aspirations was investigated. This is an important issue for developing Maestras, the University of Gringolandia as well as for the education system of Nepantla county. The success of developing Maestras Mexicanas closes the racial gap and directly impacts the student success rate within Nepantla county. The literature and data results analysis indicate that the gatekeeping practices that keep Mexicanas …

The Pedagogical Impact Of Secondary Science Teacher Efficacy On Blended Learning Implementation: A Phenomenological Study, Allison Willemin

CUP Ed.D. Dissertations

As new pedagogical approaches, such as blended learning, are implemented in classrooms, it is important to properly prepare the teachers to ensure fidelity of implementation. The descriptive phenomenological study examined the influence of secondary science teacher efficacy on overcoming obstacles and sustaining the Blended Learning pedagogical approach at a high school in the southern United States. Using purposeful sampling based on specific criteria nine teachers were selected to participate in the study. Through two interviews and a focus group, the researcher collected data based on the participants’ shared experience of implementing the flipped classroom instructional model. The data was themed …

Experiences Of Early Childhood Educators Working With Teaching Strategies Gold®: A Narrative Inquiry, Sarah Kathryn Guyon

Dissertations and Theses

Research regarding the effects of positive early childhood experiences on long term learning and success is drawing more attention to early childhood education programs than ever before. Promises on the federal and state level of better pay for early childhood educators and "high quality" publicly funded early childhood education programs is an exciting and long-awaited vision by both families and early childhood educators. However, with federal and state funding comes the need for justification of those funds through different measurement structures. One of the widely used measurement structures is the Teaching Strategies GOLD® preformatted, portfolio style assessment system. Teaching Strategies …

Culturally Responsive Classroom Management Techniques And Former Riverside County And San Bernardino County Teachers Of The Year: A Phenomenological Study, Brian Redmond

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study was to determine what former County Teachers of the Year understand and describe as the methods they use for culturally responsive classroom management with respect to Brown’s Five Culturally Responsive Factors (developing personal relationships, creating caring learning communities, establishing a business-like learning environment, establishing congruent communication processes and, teaching with assertiveness and clearly stating expectations).

Methodology: This qualitative study used a phenomenological design to discover what former County Teachers of the Year do to identify and describe as the methods they use for culturally responsive classroom management with respect to Brown’s Five Culturally …

Using The Linguistic Experiences Of Youth And Their Families As Curriculum: The Language Box Project, Molly A. Perara-Lunde Ms.

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

This qualitative curricular case study investigated the implementation of a project called the Language Box in a seventh grade Humanities classroom in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I worked with the classroom teacher to design the Language Box project, which focused on the language use practices of the students and their families. We designed the project with the goal of addressing issues of home language loss, bilingualism, and English language acquisition. The students in the classroom were almost exclusively Hispanic, many came from low income families and some were undocumented. Each student acted as a researcher, investigating the language use practices in …

Introduction Of E-Learning: Assessment And Its Impact On The Fijian Seafarers, Mohammed Taslim

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Case For Joy In Learning: Teacher And Students' Perceptions Of Flow Experiences In Upper Elementary Classrooms, Rhonda Stern

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation focused on intrinsic motivation in elementary schooling, with Csikszentmihalyi’s flow theory and the conditions and dimensions leading to optimal learning, serving as the theoretical framework. This qualitative case study investigated: 1.) How do teachers create flow-producing learning experiences for upper elementary students and 2.) How do upper elementary students experience flow in their daily school lives. Fieldwork included observation, collection of work product, and interviews of thirteen students and two exemplary teachers. Students were also asked to take digital photos of artifacts or spaces that related to their learning, and that they were proud of or found exciting. …

Professional Competency Development Utilizing Emotional Intelligence In Medical Programs, Christopher Carlin

All Theses And Dissertations

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to examine the perceptions of physician assistant faculty about emotional intelligence. The study sought to determine PA educators’ familiarity with EI as a construct and to elicit perceived barriers in implementing EI within PA educational programs. The data were collected from a both a focus group of physician assistant faculty was convened from a university in New England and an online cross-sectional survey of randomized physician assistant faculty throughout the United States. The quantitative portion of the research investigated the perceptions faculty held about emotional intelligence. Additionally, the survey asked participants to …

Building The Nest: How Native English Speaking Teachers (Nests) In The Tefl Field Develop Intercultural Competence, Emily S. Kraus

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

The role of an English foreign language teacher requires expertise in the English language and pedagogical skills to make the learning process approachable for a variety of students. There are certain characteristics that make a person ostensibly suitable for the role such as patience, intelligence, trustworthiness and creativity. However, the development of teachers is often shaped by their certification preparation, experiences in the field of education and the lessons they learn from their students. The purpose of this qualitative case study is to examine how native English speaking teachers (NESTs) in Costa Rica teaching English as a foreign language develop …

Exploring The Impact Of Using Storybird On 10th Grade Efl Students’ Writing Narrative Skills In United Arab Emirates, Reda Ahmed Mahmoud Mustafa

Theses

Integrating technology in the classroom is essential to develop students from this generation’s learning skills. Based on previous studies, using a collaborative digital platform to enhance writing skills within the EFL context has been advantageous to students. All in all, this study attempts to explore the impact of using Story Bird (a digital platform) on the students’ narrative writing skills and specific sequencing of events and dialogue writing. This is done by performing a pre-test and post-test design on a control and experimental ESL 10th-grade students’ group. This study would serve as a baseline for further studies and an action …

The Impact Of Dynamic Written Corrective Feedback On Arab Efl Intermediate Students’ Writing Accuracy, Esraa Abdulrahman Alyousef

Theses

This thesis is concerned with finding the impact of applying dynamic written corrective feedback (DWCF) on Arab intermediate EFL learners’ writing accuracy. The current study focuses on the writing components of content, organization, grammar, vocabulary, and mechanics. The main objective of this thesis is to examine how DWCF can affect intermediate EFL learners’ writing accuracy. The research included 38 grade eight learners as participants of the study. Both quantitative and qualitative research methods were used. The quantitative data was collected via the use of pre-post test research instruments while the survey research instrument gathered the qualitative data. The study found …

Teacher Professional Learning In Multiliteracies Pedagogy: Exploring The Lived Curriculum Of Preservice And In-Service Educators, Joelle Nagle

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The purpose of this exploratory case study is to examine the lived curriculum (Aoki, 1993) of preservice teachers enrolled in a Bachelor of Education language arts course and in-service teachers enrolled in an online graduate program, both with a focus on multiliteracies pedagogy. Through this study, the rationale is to understand how these formal professional learning experiences shape teachers’ perceptions of their literacy pedagogy. Specifically, the aim is to gain insight into how to promote multiliteracies pedagogy in preservice and in-service professional learning. This dissertation research builds upon two qualitative exploratory case studies (Stake, 2010; Yin, 2012) rooted in a …

African Centered Education, The Maji Shujaa Online Academy: A Descriptive Case Study, Beverly Jackson

Dissertations

The purpose of this descriptive case study framed by African centered theory, is to advance the knowledge about the online African centered educational programming, Maji Shujaa Academy. The researcher is the Chief Executive Officer( CEO) and lead teacher/lead developer of online educational media for the Academy. Considerable private African-centered educators with enterprenueural spirit have advanced and created online African centered global educational programming for the students of Africa and African Diaspora population groups today. Yet the available literature is shallow with regard to the workings of online African centered educational programming. This study explores in which the online Academy makes …

The Value Of Interactive Multimodal Online Higher Education Classrooms: Examining The Impact Of Interactive Multimedia-Based Instructional Design (Imbid), Andrea Munro

Dissertations

Purpose: Despite their affordability and convenience, online courses have higher student failure and dropout rates than ground based-courses. The purpose of this quantitative causal-comparative single-case study was to determine if there is a difference between interactive, multimedia-based online instruction and traditional text-based online instruction as it relates to the level of student performance, engagement, and satisfaction in higher education.

Methodology: This quantitative research design used inferential statistics to analyze the research questions. The researcher selected 13 text-based courses that were redesigned to become interactive, multimedia-based courses. Archival student performance, engagement, and satisfaction data was abstracted from both the text-based and …

Roma Girls Expressing Identity, Aspirations, And Voice Through Participatory Arts-Based Research, Crista Kaye Banks

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The methods by which Roma girls are studied and represented, do not account for their individual expressions of identity, aspirations or voice. Experiences and voices of Roma girls have rarely been seen or heard and have been consistently defined and represented by non-Roma individuals throughout history and within academia, which has perpetuated stereotypes. Interpretations of the image and lives of the Romani are permeated with misperceptions, myths, and assumptions based on stereotypical definitions.

This study uses the arts-based method of mixed media collage with Roma girls in London, England, to understand their expressions of identity, aspirations, and voice. This arts-based, …

Explicit Inclusion Of Fun In Instruction As A Catalyst For Academic Success, Kimberly Tyskiewicz

CUP Ed.D. Dissertations

Low graduation rates, rising drop-out rates, and increasing apathy and disengagement in learning has prompted the need for new strategies and interventions in education. This case study provides an analysis of the perceptions of high school teachers related to the impact of the explicit, intentional inclusion of fun in direct instruction. The participants included approximately 20% of the faculty in a semirural high school of approximately 1,325 students. The case study involved individual interviews with half of the participants and the other half participating in a focus group conversation. Six participants in each group were observed. All comments and concepts …