Education Commons^™

Structuring Creativity: Successful Strategies For Using Creative Activities In The Classroom, Ellen West, Dannelle D. Stevens, Candyce Reynolds

Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

From the political to the environmental, the 21st century presents a dizzying array of challenges for current and future generations. Society needs people who have the confidence to explore unique ideas and the willingness to take risks in shaping and sharing those ideas. Where will we prepare and encourage people to be creative? Is it in our universities? How can faculty members help our students learn to envision new, unusual and, in fact, creative solutions to ensure a better life for all? The purpose of this chapter is twofold: first, to show how three faculty members from three different disciplines …

The Power Of Reflective Professional Development In Changing Elementary School Teachers' Instructional Practices, Carolina Christmann Cavedon

Dissertations and Theses

With the new goal of K-12 education being to prepare students to be college and career ready at the end of high school, education needs to start changing at the elementary school level. The literature suggests that teachers need reflective professional development (PD) to effectively teach to the new standards and to demonstrate change to their current instructional practices. This mixed-method multiple-case study investigated the impacts of a reflective professional development (PD) in changing elementary school teachers' instructional practices.

Teachers Instructional Portfolios (TIPs) were scored with a TIP rubric based on best practices in teaching mathematics problem-solving and science inquiry. …

Evaluation Of A High School Science Fair Program For Promoting Successful Inquiry-Based Learning, Julia Nykeah Betts

Dissertations and Theses

The success of inquiry-based learning (IBL) in supporting science literacy can be challenged when students encounter obstacles in the absence of proper support. This research is intended to evaluate the effectiveness of an Oregon public school district's regional science fair coaching program in promoting inquiry skills and positive attitudes toward science in participating high school students. The purpose of this study was to better understand students' perception of program support, obstacles or barriers faced by students, and potential benefits of IBL facilitated by the science fair program. Data included responses to informal and semi-structured interviews, an anonymous survey, a Skills …

Using Music-Related Concepts To Teach High School Math, Vytas Nagisetty

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this research was to test a strategy which uses music-related concepts to teach math. A quasi-experimental study of two high school remedial geometry sections was conducted during a review lesson of ratio, proportion, and cross multiplication. A pretest was given to both groups. Then, Group A received normal textbook instruction while Group B received the treatment, Get the Math in Music, which is an online activity involving proportional reasoning in a music-related context. Afterwards, a posttest was given to both groups. Pretest and posttest scores were used to compare gains in subject knowledge between the groups. Then …

How Do Youth And Adults At A Rural High School Conceptualize The Role Of Student? An Investigation Of The Student Role Identity Standard At The Intersection Of Student And Teacher Perspectives, Joseph M. Zenisek

Dissertations and Theses

Over the past decade, engaging student voice has emerged as an approach to increasing meaningful student involvement in schools towards meeting adolescents' developmental needs for agency, efficacy, and sense of belonging. Central to student voice work is the re-creation of student-teacher and student-organization relationships, generating student identity roles that are fundamentally different from the roles traditionally allocated to students. Conventional concepts of student roles by both adults and youth can act as barriers to increasing student voice. The goal of this study was to develop a better understanding of student role identity. Applying a critical ethnography approach in the context …

Does Voluntary Reading Matter? The Influences Of Voluntary Reading On Student Achievement, Maika J. Yeigh

Dissertations and Theses

Does voluntary reading matter? While there is much known about the benefits to children who engage in sustained silent reading, commercial reading programs implemented as a result of No Child Left Behind often displace time for children to silently read (NCLB, 2002). An increase in the amount of time children spend with a commercial reading program has meant a decrease in time provided for in-school voluntary reading during the elementary literacy block (Brenner & Hiebert, 2010). This quantitative study used the 2011 restricted-use National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) data to determine whether opportunities provided to children for in-school voluntary …

Keeping Equity In Mind: Strategies For Continuing Equity Work Once Formal Training Has Ended, Teri Lynn Tilley

Dissertations and Theses

Fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education, there remain large gaps in academic achievement between children of color and White students (Darling-Hammond, 2007). It is estimated that by 2050, the population of the United States will increase by 50%; 90% of which will be accounted for by minorities (Vanneman, Hamilton, Anderson, & Rahman, 2009). In less than 50 years, our citizenry will be comprised of "groups that are over represented among low achievers, and under represented among high achievers" (Ferguson, 2005, p. 4). Nationwide, districts are addressing the issue of the achievement gap through implementing formal equity professional development …

Exploring Reggio-Inspired Documentation: Lived Experiences Of Elementary Teachers And Children, Jenifer Marie Millan

Dissertations and Theses

In this interpretive phenomenological research study, making meaning of teachers and children's experiences of Reggio-inspired documentation takes center stage. Reggio-inspired documentation is a way of visually stabilizing and bringing meaning to experiences, ideas, thoughts and the daily interactions of children and adults (Bonilauri & Rubizzi, 2010; Filippini, Trancossi & Vecchi, 2009; Guidici et al, 2001; Rinaldi, 2006). Collecting research in The School of Inspiration elementary program brings to light the many experiences and possible meanings of Reggio-inspired documentation. The study's participants consist of 2 teachers, 45 children, and me, as a participant researcher, all developing the meaning over time.

Utilizing …

Leveraging Digital Technology In Social Studies Education, Sarah Elizabeth Lundy

Dissertations and Theses

Today's K-12 classrooms are increasingly comprised of students who accomplish much of their informal learning through digital media and technology. In response, a growing number of educators are considering how they might draw upon these informal learning experiences to support student engagement and learning in the classroom through technology. The purpose of this study is for social studies educators, school administrators, teacher educators and curriculum developers to understand more about the potentials and limitations of integrating technology such as a digital text. This research focuses on the differences in experiences using a digital text and a printed text from the …

Multi-Tiered Support Systems And Special Education Models For English Learners, Julie Esparza Brown

Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

This workshop provided participants with the opportunity to:

• Examine the unique factors in EL students’ background and make appropriate adjustments to instruction and interventions.
• Choose screening and progress monitoring tools with demonstrated reliability and validity for ELs.
• Make decisions on appropriate growth for each EL student in consideration of their unique contexts.
• Determine appropriate language of intervention in English‐only and all bilingual program models (early‐exit to dual language).
• Apply a framework for least biased assessment in Tier 3 that systematically considers the cultural loading and linguistic demand of assessments.

Teaching And Learning For Intercultural Sensitivity: A Cross-Cultural Examination Of American Domestic Students And Japanese Exchange Students, Yoko Hwang Sakurauchi

Dissertations and Theses

Global student mobility has become a dynamic force in American higher education. Integrating international students into diverse campus environments provides domestic as well as foreign students with enriched learning opportunities. However, a diverse campus climate itself will not make college students interculturally competent. Intentional curricular design is critical for overcoming issues such as resistance and reinforcement of stereotypes, but the research literature is extremely limited on effective pedagogical strategies for cultivating college students' intercultural sensitivity.

This paper explicates a research study to investigate college students' development of intercultural sensitivity through an intentional course design utilizing Kolb's (1984) learning styles cycle …

Project Nano: Will Allowing High School Students To Use Research Grade Scanning Electron Microscopes Increase Their Interest In Science?, Leslie Teneyck Smith

Dissertations and Theses

In this study, one AP Biology curriculum unit and one general Biology curriculum unit that included tabletop Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) technology provided by Project NANO, a grant-funded, collaborative initiative designed to integrate cutting-edge nanotechnology into high school classrooms were implemented at a public high school in rural Oregon. Nine students participated in the AP unit and 52 students participated in the general Biology unit. Each student completed an opinion-based pre and post survey to determine if using the SEM as a part of the curriculum unit had an impact on his or her interest in science or in nanoscience. …

"What Does This Graph Mean?" Formative Assessment With Science Inquiry To Improve Data Analysis, Andrea Dawn Leech

Dissertations and Theses

This study investigated the use of formative assessment to improve three specific data analysis skills within the context of a high school chemistry class: graph interpretation, pattern recognition, and making conclusions based on data. Students need to be able to collect data, analyze that data, and produce accurate scientific explanations (NRC, 2011) if they want to be ready for college and careers after high school. This mixed methods study, performed in a high school chemistry classroom, investigated the impact of the formative assessment process on data analysis skills that require higher order thinking. We hypothesized that the use of evaluative …

Reading L2 Russian: The Challenges Of The Russian-English Dictionary, William J. Comer

World Languages and Literatures Faculty Publications and Presentations

This descriptive study examines when and how students use Russian-English dictionaries while reading informational texts in Russian and what success they have with word lookup. The study uses introspective verbal protocols (i.e., think-alouds) to follow how readers construct meaning from two texts while reading them for a limited time first without a dictionary and then with access to a paper bilingual dictionary. Quantitative and qualitative data about readers’ language and dictionary skills are presented based on the readers’ think-aloud protocols for the dictionary portion of the reading sessions. The data reveal patterns of dictionary usage and problems in finding words …

An Investigation Into Instructional Support For Data Analysis In High School Science Inquiry, Anika Rae Baker-Lawrence

Dissertations and Theses

The implementation of scientific inquiry in the high school classroom has proven to be not only relevant and exploratory, but challenging and engaging as well. This style of curriculum design has been recognized as a primary means of achieving the goals and objectives set by the National Resource Council (NRC, 1996). While much research has shown that science inquiry helps students to gain understanding of content knowledge, little research has been conducted to assess gains in higher order thinking skills, specifically those related to data analysis (Anderson, 2002; Germann and Aram, 1996; Hofstein, Navon, Kipnis, and Mamlok-Naaman, 2005; Miner, Levy, …

How Does Student Understanding Of A Concept Change Throughout A Unit Of Instruction? Support Toward The Theory Of Learning Progressions, Brian Jay Dyer

Dissertations and Theses

This study documented the changes in understanding a class of eighth grade high school-level biology students experienced through a biology unit introducing genetics. Learning profiles for 55 students were created using concept maps and interviews as qualitative and quantitative instruments. The study provides additional support to the theory of learning progressions called for by experts in the field. The students' learning profiles were assessed to determine the alignment with a researcher-developed learning profile. The researcher-developed learning profile incorporated the learning progressions published in the Next Generation Science Standards, as well as current research in learning progressions for 5-10th grade students …

Science Journals In The Garden: Developing The Skill Of Observation In Elementary Age Students, Karinsa Michelle Kelly

Dissertations and Theses

The ability to make and record scientific observations is critical in order for students to engage in successful inquiry, and provides a sturdy foundation for children to develop higher order cognitive processes. Nevertheless, observation is taken for granted in the elementary classroom. This study explores how linking school garden experience with the use of science journals can support this skill. Students participated in a month-long unit in which they practiced their observation skills in the garden and recorded those observations in a science journal. Students' observational skills were assessed using pre- and post-assessments, student journals, and student interviews using three …

Response To Intervention For English Learners: Big Ideas And Myth Busters, Julie Esparza Brown

Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

This presentation focuses on the key features of response to intervention (RTI)

Increasing Evidence Based Reasoning In An 8th Grade Classroom Through Explicit Instruction, Erol Chandler

Dissertations and Theses

This study investigates the effectiveness of an instructional strategy that uses students' prior understanding of informal evidence based reasoning (EBR) to build an understanding of scientific EBR. A pre and post instructional strategy survey revealed that students' understanding of EBR increased over the length of the study. Data collected from pre and post instructional discussions also showed increases in the amount of EBR students used.

Grouped To Achieve: Are There Benefits To Assigning Students To Heterogeneous Cooperative Learning Groups Based On Pre-Test Scores?, Arman Karl Werth

Dissertations and Theses

Cooperative learning has been one of the most widely used instructional practices around the world since the early 1980's. Small learning groups have been in existence since the beginning of the human race. These groups have grown in their variance and complexity overtime. Classrooms are getting more diverse every year and instructors need a way to take advantage of this diversity to improve learning. The purpose of this study was to see if heterogeneous cooperative learning groups based on student achievement can be used as a differentiated instructional strategy to increase students' ability to demonstrate knowledge of science concepts and …

Impact Of Teachers' Planned Questions On Opportunities For Students To Reason Mathematically In Whole-Class Discussions Around Mathematical Problem-Solving Tasks, Sarah Elizabeth Enoch

Dissertations and Theses

While professional developers have been encouraging teachers to plan for discourse around problem solving tasks as a way to orchestrate mathematically productive discourse (Stein, Engle, Smith, & Hughes, 2008; Stein, Smith, Henningsen, & Silver, 2009) no research has been conducted explicitly examining the relationship between the plans that teachers make for orchestrating discourse around problem solving tasks and the outcomes of implementation of those plans. This research study is intended to open the door to research on planning for discourse around problem solving tasks.

This research study analyzes how 12 middle school mathematics teachers participating in the Mathematics Problem Solving …

Lighting The Fire: How Peer-Mentoring Helps Adult Learners Increase Their Interest In Stem Careers: A Case Study At The Community College Level, Patricia Marie Deturk

Dissertations and Theses

In the U.S., about 7,000 high school students drop out each school day, representing a loss of talent and ability. Concurrently, there are a decreasing number of enrolled students taking science-related courses at the high school and college levels. Adults, who return to obtain their General Educational Development (GED) certification, are an untapped resource that could be steered toward STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) careers. In this case study, 15 GED students were shown a STEM video, and then peer mentored by 8 CLA (Clinical Laboratory Assistant) students, in a student-centered laboratory experience. Individual interviews of the GED students …

Learning To Adapt: Online Social Science Instruction In Higher Education, Patrick Steven Smith

Dissertations and Theses

Online learning is a rapidly growing phenomenon in post-secondary education. Institutions of higher learning have embraced online learning for its perceived merits, but without the consideration of how instructors deal with this different learning medium. Little is known of the extent to which different disciplines are suited to the online medium; this is pertinent to disciplines that rely on spontaneous in-person discussion. Furthermore, as colleges continue to invest heavily in online learning, instructors who only possess face-to-face teaching experience may begin teaching online. This poses a pedagogical challenge for instructors who are unfamiliar with the medium. This qualitative, in-depth interview …

An Investigation Into Teacher Support Of Science Explanation In High School Science Inquiry Units, Rebecca Sue Hoffenberg

Dissertations and Theses

The Framework for K-12 Science Education, the foundation for the Next Generation Science Standards, identifies scientific explanation as one of the eight practices "essential for learning science." In order to design professional development to help teachers implement these new standards, we need to assess students' current skill level in explanation construction, characterize current teacher practice surrounding it, and identify best practices for supporting students in explanation construction. This multiple-case study investigated teacher practice in eight high school science inquiry units in the Portland metro area and the scientific explanations the students produced in their work samples.

Teacher Instructional Portfolios (TIPs) …

The Use Of Music As A Pedagogical Tool In Higher Education Sociology Courses: Faculty Member Perspectives And Potential Barriers, Jerry C.L. Loveless

Dissertations and Theses

Previous research has identified student engagement as an important antecedent to student learning in higher education. Although student engagement is viewed as important for learning, a significant number of college students still report frequently feeling bored in their courses. The use of music as a pedagogical tool is believed to be beneficial for promoting student engagement and student learning in higher education sociology courses, yet it has been suggested that sociology faculty members do not commonly incorporate the technique into their courses. The purpose of this comparative interview study is to explore higher education sociology faculty members' understandings of the …

Seeing Crucibles: Legitimizing Spiritual Development In The Middle Grades Through Critical Historiography, Audrey Lingley

Dissertations and Theses

Advocates of middle grades reform in the United States argue that curriculum and instruction, as well as leadership, organization, and community relationships, should be informed by knowledge of the developmental characteristics of 10 to 15 year-olds within physical, social, emotional, psychological, cognitive, and moral domains. Noticeably absent from their conception of human development are spiritual developmental characteristics of young adolescents.

This interdisciplinary research was a critical constructivist (Kincheloe, 2008) inquiry of the following question: What is the educational relevance of spiritual development in middle grades education? To study this question, critical historiographical research methods (Villaverde, Kincheloe, & Helyar, 2006) were …

Teaching Through Interactions: Testing A Developmental Framework Of Teacher Effectiveness In Over 4,000 Classrooms, Bridget K. Hamre, Robert C. Pianta, Jason T. Downer, Jamie Decoster, Andrew J. Mashburn, Stephanie M. Jones, Joshua L. Brown, Elise Cappella, Marc Atkins, Susan E. Rivers, Marc A, Brackett, Aki Hamagami

Psychology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Validating frameworks for understanding classroom processes that contribute to student learning and development is important to advance the scientific study of teaching. This article presents one such framework, Teaching through Interactions, which posits that teacher-student interactions are a central driver for student learning and organizes teacher-student interactions into three major domains. Results provide evidence that across 4,341 preschool to elementary classrooms (1) teacher-student classroom interactions comprise distinct emotional, organizational, and instructional domains; (2) the three-domain latent structure is a better fit to observational data than alternative one- and two-domain models of teacher-student classroom interactions; and (3) the three-domain structure is …

A Case Study Of After-School Activities In One School That Is Making Progress In Closing The Achievement Gap, Susan Robin Shugerman

Dissertations and Theses

Closing the achievement gap has been a national conversation for several decades and a priority for educators and researchers. By looking closely at one school which is showing exceptional success with closing the achievement gap for low income students and English language learners, this study seeks to understand how school personnel and parents view after-school activities and ways in which those activities may be impacting students who are making significant gains in spite of the achievement gap. After-school activities have been shown to bring many positive outcomes for students. That said, there is much that we do not yet know …

The Story And Song Centered Pedagogy: Teaching Empathy In The Classroom, Parfait Adegboyé Bassalé

Student Research Symposium

This presentation was given as part of the Panel Presentation Studies in Education at Portland State University's Research Symposium. The Story and Song Centered Pedagogy (SSCP) is an educational framework that uses songs, stories and reflective questioning to increase empathy with an audience. In a preliminary study conducted with high school students, I tested the prediction that being exposed to the SSCP would increase empathy. I focused on the Emotional Concern (EC) and Perspective Taking (PT) subscales of the renowned empathy measurement tool: the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI). Subjects self-reported their answers to the IRI before and after undergoing the …

School Learning Gardens As Multicultural Hubs For Sustainability: Psu-Pps Food Systems Partnerships In Outer Southeast Portland, Dilafruz R. Williams, Sybil Schantz Kelley, Leslie Blanchard, Brooke Hieserich, Jon Zintel

Educational Leadership and Policy Faculty Publications and Presentations

This presentation focuses on how garden-based learning can have a positive effect on children.