Education Commons^™

Recommendations To Improve Active Learning Implementation At The National Security Space Institute In Colorado Springs, Colorado, Mark S. Mitchell

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this research study was to provide recommendations to university leaders to improve active learning implementation at the National Security Space Institute in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The problem is that 80% of the faculty at the National Security Space Institute faced a forced transition into active learning with no pre-evaluation, coordination, or effective training with the faculty. (NSSI, n.d.). A study conducted to identify and provide recommendations will help improve active learning implementation at the National Security Space Institute. This is an applied research study using both quantitative and qualitative approaches. This research study addresses the central question …

Integrating Montessori Curriculum With State Standards In A Public Montessori School, Brenda Green

Masters of Arts in Education Action Research Papers

This action research aimed to highlight the benefits of integrating the Montessori Math Curriculum with State Standards in an upper elementary classroom. The performance of the action research took place over six weeks at a public Montessori school. There were seventeen upper elementary participants. Documentation used in this action research was a tally sheet for observable use of Montessori math material, school weekly lesson plans, teacher observation and reflection notes, and student and parent Pre and Post Math Interest Surveys. All lessons were given daily during the morning hours according to the school master's schedule. Some positive effects of this …

Project-Based Learning: Teachers' Perceptions, Tricia Nail Haddad

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Project-based learning (PBL), a type of pedagogy, is helping students in today’s world stay motivated to learn. This hands-on, collaborative type of learning is seen as beneficial for students, but the problem is the lack of knowledge about teachers’ perceptions of PBL. This qualitative study discusses teachers’ perceptions of PBL through the challenges, benefits, teacher training, and school administration support. Twelve teachers from magnet schools within a public school district specializing in PBL were interviewed. The teachers ranged from first-year teachers to teachers with over 10 years of experience. Six educators also participated in a focus group. Study findings indicated …

Circlet Themed Resource List On Key Topics Relevant To Community Engaged Research And Learning, Catherine Bates, Sinead Mccann, Caroline Mcgowan

Books/Book chapters

This Themed Resource List was produced as part of the process of developing a postgraduate Continuing Professional Development (CPD) module for lecturers who wish to build, or enhance, Community Engaged Research and Learning (CERL) projects in the modules they teach, as part of the Higher Education curriculum. CERL (or service-learning, as it can be known) is a high-impact activity in Higher Education (Kuh, 2008), increasing student engagement and learning. CERL also supports community goals and makes teaching more interesting for lecturers. The module was designed to build capacity among lecturers for CERL, including developing relevant knowledge, skills, attitudes and values. …

The Impact Of Discourse On Math Learning In Upper Elementary, Dawn Anderson

Masters of Arts in Education Action Research Papers

Upper-elementary mathematics becomes increasingly complex, and the gap between fluency and ineptitude grows. Considering the importance of math competency, the educator must act to narrow this achievement gap. This six-week action research study examined the effect of the implementation of teaching and encouraging student application of differentiated discourse strategies on mathematical achievement and empowerment on twenty-two nine-to-twelve-year old suburban students. Qualitative and quantitative data analysis yielded three key themes: nominal growth in student achievement, a marked increase in mathematical modeling, and a considerable shift in perception of discourse responsibility, impacting student mindset, behavior, and participation. Findings suggest that student engagement …

Doctoral Capstone Experience In Academia And Policy Development: Nova Southeastern University, Melanie Mariani

Department of Occupational Therapy Entry-Level Capstone Projects

An exceptional amount of literature points to the benefits of hands-on learning experiences for students enrolled in healthcare programs (Coker, 2009; Doucet, 2012; Thomas et al., 2017 & Velde, 2009). Goals of my doctoral capstone experience (DCE) included: 1) Develop the foundational requirements for Nova Southeastern University (NSU) to increase hands-on experiential student learning and potentially develop an on-site clinic in the future, and 2) Create and deploy educational materials for the students in the class of 2022 to increase their hands-on learning while taking the course virtually. The results include the creation of three sets of clinical reasoning guides …

What To Make Of A Diminished Thing: Re-Envisioning Spirit And Relation In Environmental Education, Zoe Wadkins

Summit to Salish Sea: Inquiries and Essays

Traditional westernized systems of education reflect complex historical, social, and political forces that prioritize uniformity at expense of people’s multi-dimensionality. This paper details a returning to relation via education’s potential to entwine multiple perspectives in mutual understanding of lived experience. Education in this way becomes an interwoven tapestry and a means to speak across difference in mending, rather than in mutual deterioration. Enjoining personal storytelling with indigenous epistemology, the author pursues hope in reconfiguring the display of our educational tapestry.

The Impact Of A Smartlab Implementation On Rural Schools In North Dakota, Tonya M. Greywind

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

This mixed methods quasi-experimental phenomenological study investigated the impact that a SmartLab® implementation had on four rural schools in the state of North Dakota. This study featured semi structured interview questions for facilitators, semi-structured focus group questions for students, and a digital literacy pre and post assessment (DLA) that was administered to students. This study looked at student learning in terms of twenty-first century skills, teacher and student perspectives in terms of student learning as well as teacher perspectives on the impact of the SmartLab® on their own teaching methods.

Two facilitators from two of the four schools were interviewed …

Developmental Achievement Versus Standardized Growth: Common Curricula & The Not So Common Student, Robert J. Howman, Corey Livieri

Essays in Education

Challenged is the presumed value of standardization in public education, especially the notion that student achievement is synonymous with performance on summative criteria insensitive to the unique characteristics of every child. This research was initially conducted during the 2010-11 regular academic year. It has since been replicated with similar results.

The overarching question driving the study: “How do educators effectively meet the individual needs of highly diverse students in this era of standardization?” In other words, how do we maintain the human element of teaching, which is so critical for positive child and adolescent development?

Examined are two team-taught 10 …

The Use Of Constructivism In Agricultural And Physical Education, Brittani Oyster, Jesse Bobbit

Empowering Research for Educators

No abstract provided.

Instructional Scaffolding Of The Acrl Framework For Information Literacy For Developmental Learners., Fabio Montella

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

Information literacy has become a necessary set of abilities for community college students to possess in this age of digital distribution. The plethora of information that is generated at an almost instantaneous rate has brought about the need for an information-literate student body with the ability to both decipher and utilize viable and valid information. However, the attainment of such abilities requires the comprehension of information literacy core concepts. These concepts, while instrumental, may be difficult to grasp without a foundation of practical familiarity, especially for students in developmental education courses.

In this presentation, Fabio Montella, Assistant Professor of Library …

Technology As Enabler Of Learner Autonomy And Authentic Learning In Chinese Language Acquisition: A Case Study In Higher Education, Mario Valdebenito, Yalin Chen

East Asian Languages & Cultures: Faculty Publications

Based on the Constructivist approach, meaningful learning only occurs when learners have agency to construct meaning through social interactions. The ability to self-direct, communicate, collaborate, and transfer learning to real-life situations are crucial skills for the 21st century. These skills allow new generations to adapt to this new information era in any field and/or disciplines they pursue; foreign language acquisition is not an exception. In this article, the authors argue that language learning can help learners cultivate such abilities with the aid of a holistic curriculum design and the effective use of technology. The authors also explore how using tools, …

What Can A Studio Approach To Teaching Tell Us About The Academic And Social Learning Of Middle School Students? An Exploration Of Student Understanding Of How Making Art Supports Their Academic And Social Learning., Maureen Creegan- Quinquis, Maureen A. Creegan-Quinquis

Educational Studies Dissertations

This study explores the types of social and academic learning typically overlooked in public school education. Art-based approaches to academic learning have been labeled as“fluff.” Education policymakers hold a biased view of the arts. When asked to consider art as a viable epistemology, cognition theorists have dismissed art as irrational. These biased views have contributed to the marginalization of the field of art education. The purpose of this study was to question this bias through an art-based studio approach to research. The goal was to explore how middle school students understand the role of visual arts in their own academic …

La Reseña Como Estrategia De Enseñanza De La Escritura En Español En Estudiantes De Grado Sexto De La I.E.D Domingo Savio Del Municipio De Guasca, Cundinamarca, Sandra Liliana Ávila Martín, Maritza Córdoba Gutiérrez, Edith Rocío Vásquez Vargas

Maestría en Didáctica de las Lenguas

El estudio se enfocó en el diseño de una propuesta de intervención pedagógica que, mediante la reseña como estrategia de enseñanza, permitió fomentar los procesos de aprendizaje de la escritura argumentativa en estudiantes de grado sexto de la IED Domingo Savio de Guasca, Cundinamarca. Para ello, se caracterizaron las necesidades formativas, los alcances y limitaciones de la propuesta; así como también las implicaciones pedagógicas derivadas de su implementación. Así, se asumió un proceso de investigación acción que implicó un diseño instruccional (ADDIE) y la recolección de datos mediante encuestas y pruebas diagnóstico a estudiantes, y con entrevistas a docentes y …

Flipping The Flipped: The Co-Creational Classroom, Vuk Uskoković

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

The flip teaching model is being increasingly adopted by higher education institutions as an active learning alternative to traditional lecturing. However, the flip model shares a number of critical premises with the classical didactics. The further flips of the flip are thus advocated and the fear of returning the method to its initial state, prior to the flip, via such flips of the flipped dispelled. Proposed here is a seminal variation to the flip model based on the active involvement of students in searching, finding, selecting, and assembling knowledge from various literature sources into the learning material for the entire …

Delivering Design Fundamentals Using Relevant Learning Theories In The Delivery Of An Interior Design Project At Third Level, Tracey Dalton

Articles

This is a reflection on teaching practice, focussing on design process in a BA Honours in Design – Interior and Furniture, in Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT). An intrinsic case study approach (Stake 1995) was taken for this research, which focussed on the use of the learning theories in the delivery of an undergraduate interior design project brief. A third year commercial office design project has been used to assess teaching and learning styles. This article will show that, in terms of delivery, in a typical third level interior design project in DIT, the process incorporates all of the learning …

A Wood Comes Toward Dunsinane: The Synthesis Of Traditional And Constructivist Methodologies, Randall L. Kaplan

Language Arts Journal of Michigan

Education professionals now favor Constructivist and project-based strategies for learning over Traditional methods, which include such frowned upon practices as rote memorization and recitation. The Constructivist approach is being taken to its natural apex by educators like Larry Rosenstock who have created Constructivist utopias such as High Tech High in San Diego, the school put under the microscope in the 2015 documentary film Most Likely to Succeed. Project-based, experiential units of study are effective, exciting, and edifying for both students and teachers. They promise to prepare students for the type of world they will inhabit, a world whose economy …

In-Class Versus At-Home Quizzes: Which Is Better? A Flipped Learning Study In A Two-Site Synchronously-Broadcast Organic Chemistry Course, Michael A. Christensen, Alyssia M. Lambert, Louis S. Nadelson, Kami M. Dupree, Trish A. Kingsford

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications

We recently shared our design of a two-semester flipped organic chemistry course, in which we gave students in-class quizzes to incentivize attendance and watching the lecture videos in advance. With a second iteration, we planned to make the video-watching experience more engaging. We accordingly hypothesized that if students completed short at-home quizzes while watching the videos, then attentiveness, engagement, and learning would increase. We tested this with a later section of the course, dividing the material into 13 units. For units 1-6, we gave in-class quizzes; for 7-13, quizzes were at home. Although units 1-6 and 7-13 covered different material, …

A Phenomenological Study Of Employers' Perceptions Of Heating, Ventilation, And Air Conditioning (Hvac) Graduates, Howard Hendren

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

In the state of Kansas, career technical education (CTE) has undergone major changes. The Kansas Board of Regents, the Technical Education Authority, and business and industry joined together to align Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) programs to make a comprehensive program beneficial to students, graduates, and business and industry. CTE provides students and adults with technical skills, knowledge, and training. Post-secondary education is designed to instruct students concerning careers, career readiness, and the 21st century workplace. The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to understand and describe employers’ perceptions of HVAC graduates. Through the use of a survey, …

Peer Tutoring Of Junior Nursing Students: Student Experiences And Perceptions Of Self-Efficacy And Benefit, Mary Clarke

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological study is to understand the experiences of peer tutoring in junior-level nursing students, as well as the perceptions of increased self-efficacy and overall benefit to student learning. The proposed study included 10 nursing students enrolled in the residential Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program at a large private university in the Southeast United States. The theoretical framework guiding this study included both developmental constructivism (Piaget, 1953) and social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1994), as they work in a reciprocal relationship within a conceptual framework. Knowledge is constructed, and as students learn concepts from experiences, they …

Technology As A Tool For Collaboration, Understanding & Engagement, Kai Johnson

Occasional Paper Series

The author incorporates multimodal online inquiry to deepen the thinking of children in his elementary classroom. When he sees how engaged his students are in their work, he realizes that this is a true picture of constructivist learning.

Front Matter And Editors' Notes, Helen Freidus, Mollie Welsh Kruger, Steven Goss

Occasional Paper Series

Cover page, table of contents, editors' notes.

Using Constructivism As An Alternative To Teacher-Centered Instruction, Jacquelyn W. Jensen, Helyne I. Frederick

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Constructivism is the idea that learners “actively try to organize and make sense” of information (Ormrod, 2012, p. 154). To do so, students “must individually discover and transform complex information” (Slavin, 2012, p. 218). Students compare new information with what they already know, and revise their understanding. Active learning is a focus of the constructivist classroom, so the instruction is most often student-centered. Students construct their knowledge instead of soaking up or only record information (Eggen & Kauchak, 2013). This means that teachers help students to make sense of new information rather than merely lecturing or controlling all of the …

A Phenomenological Study Examining The Experiences Of High School Graduates Who Participated In A Career And Technical Education Program Of Study, Camille Goins

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs are designed to help prepare students to become effective workers by equipping them with college and career readiness skills needed for the 21st century workplace. Students who participate in a CTE Program of Study (POS) have the potential for greater success during and after high school because they have achieved academic success in meeting the college and career readiness targets that lead to success in post-secondary and career training. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe the experiences of graduates from one high school in the southwest region of North Carolina who …

Pim Pedagogy: Toward A Loosely Unified Model For Teaching And Studying Comics And Graphic Novels, James B. Carter

SANE journal: Sequential Art Narrative in Education

The article debuts and explains "PIM" pedagogy, a construct for teaching comics at the secondary- and post-secondary levels and for deep reading/studying comics. The PIM model for considering comics is actually based in major precepts of education studies, namely constructivist foundations of learning, and loosely unifies constructs inherent therein with other available frames and frameworks for studying comics. As such, the article fills a dire need in the scholarly literature on comics pedagogy and paves a way for those who seek to teach comics courses in the future but who need direction and for those who seek to study/read comics …

Not In Any Textbook: Contextualizing Learning For Elementary Students Using Experiential Simulations, Alicia Jane Mckinney

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated how the AmeriTowne program supported learning and incorporated 21st century knowledge and skills development for fifth graders through the use of an experiential simulation. Relatively few studies examine simulated learning generally, and this study is one of few that provides insight into AmeriTowne's unique approach by describing, interpreting, and appraising the intentions, operations and benefits of the program's Day in Towne simulation.

Five questions guided this study. 1) What are the intentions of the AmeriTowne program? 2) What conditions does the Young AmeriTowne program's Day in Towne simulation provide for educational experience? 3) Which aspects of the …

Towards A Shared Understanding Of Emerging Technologies: Experiences In A Collaborative Research Project In South Africa, Daniela Gachago, Eunice Ivala, Judy Backhouse, Jan Petrus Bosman, Vivienne Bozalek, Dick Ng’Ambi

The African Journal of Information Systems

While the practice of using educational technologies in Higher Education is increasingly common among educators, there is a paucity of research on innovative uses of emerging technologies to transform teaching and learning. This paper draws on data collected as part of a larger study aimed at investigating emerging technologies and their use in South African Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to improve teaching and learning. The research employed a mixed method research design, using both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods—quantitative data from a survey of 262 respondents from 22 public HEIs in South Africa and qualitative data gathered from 16 …

Definitions And Uses: Case Study Of Teachers Implementing Project-Based Learning, Suha R. Tamim, Michael M. Grant

Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning

The purpose of this descriptive study was to explore inservice teachers’ definitions of project based learning (PjBL) and their accounts on the meaning of their PjBL implementations. A purposive sample of six teachers from grades four through twelve in public and private schools participated. Three themes evolved from inductive analysis: (1) teachers define PjBL through its perceived advantages on learning, (2) teachers vary in their use of PjBL over the continuum of the learning process, and (3) teachers adopt student-centered approaches in PjBL. Interpretations and implications of the findings are also presented.

Beyond Beliefs: Teachers Adapting Problem-Based Learning To Preexisting Systems Of Practice, John L. Pecore

Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning

Problem-based learning (PBL) is a constructivist method of instruction aligned with the science educational reform movement to increase scientific literacy for all Americans. As such, PBL instruction is an increasingly popular topic for professional development workshops offered to teachers in secondary learning environments. This research presents a case study of four teachers’ alignment of classroom practice with constructivist principles after participating in a one-week PBL workshop. Teachers assimilated PBL instruction into their current system of teaching; therefore, despite congruent beliefs, those teachers without a constructivist system of practice taught the PBL method with less alignment to constructivist principles. This discrepancy …

Does Problem Based Learning Deliver The Goods?, Stephen Benson

Research outputs 2011

Much of university teaching is grounded in a traditional or semi-traditional mode, that is it is lecturer centric and at least partly didactic. There are numerous reasons for this which include: a reluctance to change on the part of academics; the changing nature of the student demographic; an increasing emphasis on “education as a service”; risk averse behavior on the part of academics, academic managers fearing adverse student feedback and the financial imperatives which require the maximization of student progress and retention. It has been argued that “safe”, traditional approaches to pedagogy do not prepare students for the world of …