Education Commons^™

Use Of Embark Database And An Active Learning Protocol In A High School Classroom, Landon Goodreau

Honors Theses

With advances in technology, personal genome sequencing has become more affordable than ever before. With this wealth of genetic information come new individualized approaches to medicine and pharmacology, along with moral, legal, and ethical issues to carefully consider. Yet studies suggest that most members of the general public do not have the genetic literacy required to understand the implications of genomic data. It is important that today’s students are able to grasp concepts relating to their own genome to make informed medical decisions in the future. Here I describe an active learning-based activity designed to enhance high school students’ understanding …

The Roundtable Of Scientific Communication: From Classroom To Course Creation, Back To Classroom And Beyond, Sean P. Hickey

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This research encompasses many aspects of chemical education research including curriculum and pedagogical changes to the freshman and sophomore courses. Curriculum changes included the addition of recitations to the general chemistry and organic chemistry lectures and the creation of four new classes, CHEM 1001, 1002, 3091, and 3092. The addition of recitations was not limited to but was focused on improving DFW rates for these courses.

CHEM 3091 and 3092 are chemistry internship and undergraduate teaching assistant classes. These courses were necessary to offer outside internship opportunities and training for undergraduate teaching assistants, respectively. CHEM 1001 and 1002 are chemistry …

A Study Of The Impact Of Small-Group And Whole-Group Discussion On The Critical Thinking Dispositions Of Community College English Composition Ii Students, Mechel M. Albano

Doctor of Education (Ed.D)

The area of critical thinking skills has been one of concern for many professionals working in the field of higher education (Nicholas & Raider-Roth, 2016; Shim & Walczak, 2012). The purpose of this study was to provide these professionals with sound pedagogical tools that can be used to assist college students in developing their critical thinking skills and dispositions. Using a sample of 34 English Composition II students from a community college in the Southeast, the researcher employed a pre-test/post-test comparison group design to compare the effects of small-group discussion of higher-order questions to the effects of whole-group discussion on …

Inclusive Teaching Strategies: An Evaluation Of Course Structure And Summative Assessment In Introductory Biology, Oluwaseun O. Agboola

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Several active learning strategies have been used when increasing the structure of a course as increasing course structure has been known to improve student learning in introductory STEM courses. Much has been studied on the value of frequent formative assessment; however, few studies have evaluated the effective modes of delivering summative assessment. This study examines the use of summative assessment as an inclusive teaching practice to improve first generation college student success in introductory biology and also uses faculty surveys to find out how instructors structure their introductory biology course and why they are structured that way. Final exams were …

The Effect Of The Engineering Design Process On The Critical Thinking Skills Of High School Students, Heather Ure

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the research reported here was to determine the impact learning the engineering design process (EDP) would have on the critical thinking skills of high school physics students. An EDP unit was conducted with 5 classes of high school physics students in grades 10-12 over 1 month. The EDP unit's curriculum allowed for the gradual release of responsibility as students became more familiar with the EDP and more consistent in using it. The six steps used in this EDP unit were Ask, Imagine, Plan, Create, Test, and Improve. The Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal was given as a pre- …

The Effect Of Inquiry-Based Learning In A Technical Classroom: The Impact On Student Learning And Attitude, Ian R. Hartman

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the effect of inquiry-based instruction in technical undergraduate education. Specifically, the effect was measured along two dimensions: 1) the effect on student learning and, 2) student attitude towards subject matter. The researcher designed an inquiry-based instructional approach to encourage interaction between teacher and students and to help students take more responsibility for their learning. Three technical undergraduate classes participated in the study. Each class was divided into experimental and control groups. For the experimental group, a twice-a-week traditional lecture was replaced with a once-a-week inquiry-based question and answer session. Students in the control group were taught as …

The Effects Of Experiential Learning: An Examination Of Three Styles Of Experiential Education Programs And Their Implications For Conventional Classrooms, Mary Pizarchik

Theses Digitization Project

Using methodologies of interviews and observation, this study focuses on three distinctive and successful kinds of experiential education: a summer arts program, an outdoor science program and a wilderness education program. The project applies insights from the programs to the central question of this thesis: How can experiential learning be utilized within the traditional classroom given the constraints of the No Child Left Behind Law and standardized teaching?