Education Commons^™

Using Group Video Self-Modeling In The Classroom To Improve Transition Speeds With Elementary Students, Matthew T. Mcniff

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Video self-modeling has been proven to be an effective intervention for individuals with a variety of disabilities and behavioral issues. Very few studies have addressed the impact of video modeling on behaviors that are displayed by groups of students and no studies have tackled the issue of group behaviors with video self-modeling as an intervention. This study focused on analyzing the effects of video self-modeling on students in an elementary classroom in order to increase the speed at which the students lined up and transitioned. Further, the study addressed the question of whether the intervention had a differential impact on …

The Power Of Nature: Developing Prosocial Behavior Toward Nature And Peers Through Nature-Based Activities, Ibrahim H. Acar, Julia C. Torquati

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

An early childhood teacher nurtures children’s perspective taking and respect for another living thing. These interactions happen daily at the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center (SANC) Preschool in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Experiences like this promote children’s development of prosocial behavior, consistent with the Early Childhood Environmental Education Programs: Guidelines for Excellence (NAAEE 2010). This article examines the research question, How can teachers nurture the development of prosocial behavior for preschool-aged children through nature-based play and activities? To address this question, five researchers (including the second author) conducted 74 running record observations of children’s behavior and social interactions over the course of two …

Imagination: Active In Teaching And Learning, Christopher Cunningham

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This autoethnography tells the story of the author’s endeavor to examine my teaching during a sculpture lesson in three 2^nd grade art classes in a mid-western suburban Title I elementary school. I analyze my planning, teaching, reflecting through the lens of Stuart Richmond’s Characteristics of Imaginative Teaching as well as noted educational theorists’ conceptions of imagination and imaginative teaching and learning. These theorists include but are not limited to Maxine Greene, Kieran Egan, John Dewey, and The Lincoln Center Institute’s Capacities for Imaginative Learning. I conclude that imaginative teaching is an intentional act and that there is no …

Rural Nebraska Elementary Students' Aspirations To Attend Institutions Of Higher Education, Brock T. Rezny

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Numerous studies exist on college and career readiness in the middle and high school grades, but these studies often exclude the elementary grades. Even less research has been done regarding this topic in rural education. With more research indicating a need for college readiness beginning in elementary school, this study adds to the literature by seeing if rural elementary students in Nebraska have aspirations for continued education and who influences those aspirations. The sample population of this quantitative study were fourth graders in five rural schools in an athletic conference in Nebraska. The survey was created with collaboration from two …

The Study Of Pre-Service Teachers Participating In Candidate Learning Communities: A Mixed Methods Study, Barbara Sunderman

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of instructional skill and professional dispositions of pre-service teacher education candidates’ understanding of their own teaching skills. The research examined perceptions before and after the clinical experience while participating in a Candidate Learning Community. In this mixed-methods study, perceptions were quantitatively measured with a pre-survey and a post survey of 17 participants and qualitatively described by 11 participants in follow up interviews; each intensely studied teaching skill and professional pedagogy in coursework and cooperative classrooms.

The research revealed significant increase in personal perception of teaching skills and dispositions during the …

Vehicles On The Road To Reform, Julie Thomas, Sandra B. Cooper

DBER Speaker Series

Though elementary teacher educators introduce new, reform‐based strategies in science and mathematics methods courses, researchers wondered how novices negotiate reform strategies once they enter the elementary school culture. Given that the extent of parents’ and veteran teachers’ influence on novice teachers is largely unknown, this grounded theory study explored parents’ and teachers’ expectations of children’s optimal science and mathematics learning in the current era of reform. Data consisted of semi‐structured, open‐ended interviews with novice teachers (n=20), veteran teachers (n=9), and parents (n=28). Researchers followed three stages of coding procedures to develop a logic model connecting participants’ discrete designations of the …

Elementary Teacher Education Program- Vital Statistics, Guy Trainin, Mary Masur

Research and Evaluation in Education, Technology, Art, and Design

This inforgraphic presents data about the students in UNL's Elmentary Teacher Education Program based on data from Academic Year 2013-2014.

Icontact: The Digital Feedback Process In A University Setting, Kathleen M. Wilson, Laurie A. Friedrich

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

This practitioner research in the form of a case study examined the digital feedback process related to teacher growth in learning and instruction. Graduate students fulfilled course requirements utilizing iPad applications to generate assignments, coach undergraduate preservice teachers, and tutor low performing readers. Course instructors provided online written feedback on all written assignments. An analysis of data through the perspective of the formative process allowed four themes to emerge: (a) teacher learning through iContact, (b) immediate digital feedback and enduring learning, (c) creating an affinity space, and (d) transfer with a ripple effect.

What Is Equity? Ways Of Seeing, Christa Jackson, Cynthia Taylor, Kelley Buchheister

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Prospective teachers must be prepared for their role in providing equitable access for learning high quality mathematics. Therefore, it is imperative that mathematics teacher educators provide opportunities to develop an equity-centered orientation in teacher preparation courses. In this study, we begin to address this issue by identifying what prospective teachers attend to in a classroom vignette of an African American male student who is above grade level in mathematics and exhibits disruptive behavior during instruction. The results of the study indicate that while participants are beginning to attend to cultural influences, most responses are focused on classroom management strategies

Tech Edge Use Of New Literacies In Elementary Classrooms Today: A Partnership To Enhance Student Learning Through Teacher Preparation And Professional Development, Qizhen Deng, Laurie A Friedrich, Guy Trainin

Research and Evaluation in Education, Technology, Art, and Design

Tech EDGE has been able to capitalize on past funding to create significant impact across multiple public and private schools. Support from UNL’s resources have enabled us to operate far beyond the official end date so we can keep building on our successes and the energy the project provided for school change. We have trained hundreds of practicing and new teachers to integrate technology and while the work is not done it did a lot to boost the capacity in all the participating districts and teacher education programs. We would like to thank the Post Secondary Commission for the generous …

Tech Edge Student Rubric Grades 2-3, Laurie A. Friedrich, Guy Trainin

Research and Evaluation in Education, Technology, Art, and Design

This rubric can be used to evaluate formative and summative assessments of technology integrated products across the curriculum for grades 2-3.

Tech Edge Student Rubric K-1, Laurie A. Friedrich, Guy Trainin

Research and Evaluation in Education, Technology, Art, and Design

This rubric can be used to evaluate formative and summative assessments of technology integrated products across the curriculum for grades K-1.

Tech Edge Student Rubric Grades 4-5, Laurie A. Friedrich, Guy Trainin

Research and Evaluation in Education, Technology, Art, and Design

This rubric can be used to evaluate formative and summative assessments of technology integrated products across the curriculum for grades 4-5.

The Business Of Learning To Teach: A Critical Metaphor Analysis Of One Teacher’S Journey, Lauren Gatti, Theresa Catalano

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

This article analyzes the learning to teach process of one novice teacher, Rachael, enrolled in an Urban Teacher Residency (UTR) in Harbor City, United States. Building on Loh and Hu’s (2014) scholarship on neoliberalism and novice teachers, we employ Critical Metaphor Analysis (CMA) to make visible the ways in which Rachael contends with conflicting frames of learning to teach—TEACHING IS A JOURNEY vs. TEACHING IS A BUSINESS— within her program. Rachael encounters three primary obstacles: programmatic incompatibility, pedagogical paralysis, and, ultimately, programmatic abandonment. The discussion explores the potential consequences of learning to teach in neoliberal contexts.

Includes Supplementary appendices (Interview …

Pre‐Service Teachers’ Use Of Content Knowledge To Inform Formative Assessment Strategies In An Integrated Life Sciences Methods Course, Jaime Sabel, Cory Forbes

DBER Speaker Series

Pre‐service elementary teachers should learn essential science concepts, how to apply those concepts to practice in elementary science learning environments, and how to effectively connect students’ ideas to appropriate instructional strategies. In order to effectively engage students in scientific practices and connect students’ ideas about science to appropriate instructional strategies, teachers should learn to engage in high‐leverage instructional practices, such as formative assessment. However, teachers may not understand formative assessment or possess enough science content knowledge to effectively engage in related instructional practices. To address these needs, we developed an innovative course for elementary pre‐service teachers built upon two pillars—life …

New Literacies Integration By Student Teacher/Cooperating Teacher Dyads In Elementary Schools: A Collective Case Study, Laurie A. Friedrich

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Situated in Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) and collaborative inquiry, this collective case study examines new literacies integration by student teacher/cooperating teacher (ST/CT) dyads supported by a coach in elementary schools. The study took place at a large Midwestern public school district where many STs from a large Midwestern public university complete their student teaching experience. Through detailed vignettes of five ST/CT dyads, this study provides an explicit view of varieties of dyad collaboration when a new literacies emphasis is included in the student teaching semester. Research questions prompt the examination of dyad new literacies integration through (a) enacting professional …

Bringing Literacy Home: Latino Families Supporting Children's Literacy Learning, Stephanie Wessels, Guy Trainin

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

DUAL LANGUAGE LEARNERS (DLLS) are part of the educational landscape across the United States. Public school enrollment of dual language learners increased by 51 percent from 1997 to 2008 (NCELA 2011). At the same time, students who are DLLs meet the same academic standards as English-only students after an adjustment period (Goldenberg 2008). The challenge for our schools and communities is educating all students while helping DLLs close the gap in language and cultural understanding so they can succeed in the American educational system. Research suggests that working to close the achievement gap during regular school hours only is not …

Elementary School Teachers' Interpretation And Promotion Of Creativity In The Learning Of Mathematics: A Grounded Theory Study, Yinjing Shen

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Creativity is important for young children learning mathematics. Comparing the investment theory of creativity and national standards and principles for early mathematics shows that doing mathematics is more than applying rules and procedures; rather, learning mathematics takes a lot of creativity. However, much literature claimed that creativity for young children in the learning of mathematics was not adequately supported by teachers in the classroom due to teachers’ poor college preparation in mathematics content knowledge, teachers’ negativity towards creative students, teachers’ occupational pressure, low quality curriculum, and the like. The purpose of this grounded theory study was to generate a model …

Students’ Perceptions Of Academic Self-Efficacy And Self-Regulation While Learning In A 1:1 Laptop Environment, Joan M. Carraher

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

1:1 Laptop initiatives continue to grow throughout Nebraska schools. There are many questions regarding their effectiveness in improving student learning, justifications for expenses, and the process to guide such an initiative.

The purpose of this case study was to explore students’ perceptions of academic self-efficacy and self-regulation while learning in a 1:1 district where students in grades 7 through 12 have 24/7 access to a school-issued laptop. Students in their first (8^th grade) and third-year (10^th grade) of learning in a 1:1 environment at a Nebraska school district participated in this study. Data was collected from an online …

Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge In Teacher Preparation: Impact Of Coaching Professional Development And Mobile Devices, Guy Trainin, Laurie A. Friedrich

Research and Evaluation in Education, Technology, Art, and Design

This presentation explores the process of change for a teacher preparation program as it attempted to teach pre-service teachers how to integrate new technologies into instruction in elementary schools. The aim was to impact the instruction of preservice and inservice teachers in a way that would reach their current students. This study shows that it is possible to significantly increase the technological pedagogical content knowledge of pre-service teachers. This positive result is a clear indication that the approach of improving the quality of technology integration in Teacher Education, hand in hand with changes in technology integration in schools, had a …

Preparation For Practice: Elementary Preservice Teachers Learning And Using Scientific Classroom Discourse Community Instructional Strategies, Elizabeth Lewis, Oxana Dema, Dena Harshbarger

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Despite historical national efforts to improve elementary science education, science instruction continues to be marginalized, varying by state. This study was designed to address the ongoing challenge of educating elementary preservice teachers (PSTs) to teach science. Elementary PSTs are one of the science education community's major links to schools and science education reform. However, they often lack a strong background in science, knowledge of effective science teaching strategies, and consequently have low confidence and self-efficacy. This investigation explored the initial learning of elementary PSTs using an interdisciplinary model of a scientific classroom discourse community during a science methods course. Findings …

Planning And Enacting Mathematical Tasks Of High Cognitive Demand In The Primary Classroom, Kelly Georgius

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study offers an examination of two primary-grades teachers as they learn to transfer knowledge from professional development into their classrooms. I engaged in planning sessions with each teacher to help plan tasks of high cognitive demand, including anticipating and planning for classroom discourse that would occur around the task. A detailed description of the planning and teaching that took place during the study provides information about how a teacher can learn and what a teacher learns to consider in order to plan and implement meaningful mathematical lessons. This design experiment describes the work of two teachers who participated in …

Drawing Their Way Into Writing: Culturally And Linguistically Diverse Students Finding Voice Through Mini-Novelas, Stephanie Wessels, Socorro G. Herrera,

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Writing can be a difficult task for many students in today’s classrooms; however, for students who are culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD), writing can be especially difficult. These students often are in the process of developing their facility with the English language, and they possess cultural backgrounds that differ from those of many of their peers and teachers. In addition to these challenges, they face the typical difficulties of selecting ideas to write about for their stories. One way to tap into the cultural backgrounds of Spanish-speaking CLD students is through the use of a strategy called the mini-novela. A …

Finding The Connections Between Art And Teaching: A Case Study, Tareq Daher, Stephanie A Baer

The Nebraska Educator: A Student-Led Journal

Finding the connection between art and teaching can be a difficult task for pre-service teachers who do not have a background in the arts. This qualitative case study explores the journey of a group of pre-service elementary teachers in an art methods course considering what it means to teach and to be an artist. The way in which these students defined the arts and teaching changed over the course of the semester and found connective threads, productively tying together the work of teaching and the creative process. Findings from pre-service teacher course work indicated three important themes: connections between art …

Tech Edge, Use Of New Literacies In Elementary Classrooms Today: A Partnership To Enhance Student Learning Through Teacher Preparation And Professional Development, Guy Trainin, Laurie A. Friedrich, Qizhen Deng

Research and Evaluation in Education, Technology, Art, and Design

This report outlines the impact of Tech EDGE a Teacher Quality Grant aimed at improving teacher's ability to integrate technology.

Temperament In Early Childhood And Peer Interactions In Third Grade: The Role Of Teacher–Child Relationships In Early Elementary Grades, Kathleen Moritz Rudasill, Kate Niehaus, Eric S. Buhs, Jamie M. White

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Children’s interactions with peers in early childhood have been consistently linked to their academic and social outcomes. Although both child and classroom characteristics have been implicated as contributors to children’s success, there has been scant research linking child temperament, teacher–child relationship quality, and peer interactions in the same study. The purpose of this study is to examine children’s early temperament, rated at preschool age, as a predictor of interactions with peers (i.e., aggression, relational aggression, victimization, and prosociality) in third grade while considering teacher–child relationship quality in kindergarten through second grades as a moderator and mediator of this association. The …

Theory Guided Professional Development In Early Childhood Science Education, Soo-Young Hong, Julia C. Torquati, Victoria J. Molfese

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

The importance of early and developmentally appropriate science education is increasingly recognized. Consequently, creation of common guidelines and standards in early childhood science education has begun (National Research Council (NRC), 2012), and researchers, practitioners, and policy makers have shown great interest in aligning professional development with the new guidelines and standard. There are some important issues that need to be addressed in order to successfully implement guidelines and make progress toward accomplishing standards. Early childhood teachers have expressed a lack of confidence in teaching science and nature (Torquati, Cutler, Gilkerson, & Sarver, in press) and have limited science and pedagogical …

The Development Of A Model Of Culturally Responsive Science And Mathematics Teaching, Cecilia M. Hernandez, Amanda Morales, Gail Shroyer

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

This qualitative theoretical study was conducted in response to the current need for an inclusive and comprehensive model to guide the preparation and assessment of teacher candidates for culturally responsive teaching. The process of developing a model of culturally responsive teaching involved three steps: a comprehensive review of the literature; a synthesis of the literature into thematic categories to capture the dispositions and behaviors of culturally responsive teaching; and the piloting of these thematic categories with teacher candidates to validate the usefulness of the categories and to generate specific exemplars of behavior to represent each category. The model of culturally …

Excellent Teaching: A Collective Case Study Of Outstanding Elementary Mathematics Teachers' Teaching Of Mathematics, Michael J. Gay

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This qualitative collective case study explored the mathematical teaching of three excellent elementary teachers who were nominated by experts in mathematics and mathematics educational organizations, agencies and universities. I examined what excellent elementary mathematics teachers know and do in their practice of teaching. The study depicts detailed verbatim interactions between the teachers and students during actual teaching episodes to give the reader naturalistic examples of the explanation patterns and questioning strategies that these excellent teachers used to further students’ understandings of mathematical concepts and procedures. Analyses of the pedagogical strategies, including the interactive exploratory problem solving format these teachers used, …

Kit And Dick Schmoker Reading Center- By The Numbers, Guy Trainin, Amanda Hall, Britney Tonniges

Research and Evaluation in Education, Technology, Art, and Design

This is an infographic showing the activity at the UNL Reading Center since it's inception.