Education Commons^™

Counter-Stories From Former Foster Youth: College Graduates Disrupting The Dominant Narrative, Amanda May Moon

Theses and Dissertations

In the past decade, research on children in foster care or adults with foster care backgrounds has begun to explore factors that contributed to successful trajectories. Little work has been done, however, on factors that can be controlled, such as resources and support offered by K-12 schools, or for K-12 schooling. In this qualitative study, I explored the beliefs and perceptions of former foster youth college graduates about the impact of K-12 experiences on their academic and life trajectories. After surveying and interviewing five former foster youth college graduates, I used narrative analysis to understand the impact of their K-12 …

My Journey Toward A Culturally Relevant Music Pedagogy, Adam Michael Steele

Theses and Dissertations

In this study I utilized critical autoethnography to examine my role as a White, male implementing Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (CRP) in an early childhood music classrooms. Five research questions were posed: (a) In what ways does White supremacy appear in an elementary music school curriculum? (b) What curricular transformations occur when I, as a White teacher, seek to make my curriculum more relevant to students of Color? (c) What dispositional transformations occur when I, as a White teacher, seek to make my music curriculum more relevant to students of Color? (d) What happens when students of Color engage in a …

Exploring Literary Responses To Culturally Relevant Texts Through An Asiancrit Lens: A Collective Case Study Of Chinese American Students In A Community-Based Book Club, Wenyu Guo

Theses and Dissertations

Building on AsianCrit, reader response theory, and critical literacy perspective, this dissertation study investigated how second-generation Chinese American students at age eight to twelve respond to culturally relevant texts which portray contemporary and historical Chinese American people’s lives and experiences in the United States. In addition, this study explored how these students negotiate their understanding of race, racism, and anti-Asian racism through associating with the stories, their everyday experiences, family traditions, and interactions with peers and researcher in a community-based book club. Specifically, this study examined how students of Chinese descent respond to xenophobia, discrimination, and racism towards Asian people, …

University Libraries Digital Preservation Framework, University Of South Carolina Libraries

University Libraries Policies and Reports

The Digital Preservation Policy Framework establishes the University of South Carolina (USC) Libraries as a trusted steward of its digital assets for future researchers and patrons. It guides strategic planning and supports collection development within the University Libraries, making explicit the Libraries’ commitment to preserving digital assets in its collections. The audience for the Framework includes USC faculty, staff, students, and patrons. The policies and procedures derived from this Framework are attainable, consistent, and actionable.

Examining The Influence Of Argument Driven Inquiry Instructional Approach On Female Students Of Color In Sixth Grade Science: Its Impact On Classroom Experience, Interest, And Self-Efficacy In Science, Written Argumentation Skills, And Scientific Voice, Paul Duggan

Theses and Dissertations

Four of the eight Engineering Standards in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS, 2013) focus on authentic science communication: “asking questions (science) and defining problems (engineering), analyzing and interpreting data, constructing explanations (for science) and designing solutions (for engineering), engaging in argument from evidence, obtaining, evaluating and communicating information” (Sampson et al., 2010, p. 218). Authentic science communication is supported in NGSS through cross-cutting concepts (Driver et al., 2000) that integrate the structure and function of science concepts together with communication strategies that include reading, writing, and peer critique. These cross-cutting concepts include reading strategies that focus on reading informational …

The Use Of Social Justice Socioscientific Issues In Secondary Biology Classes: An Action Research, Stephanie Marilyn Bailey

Theses and Dissertations

The U.S. Education system is founded on a Eurocentric focus of curriculum, and students of color are not achieving as high as white students on the National Assessment for Education Progress in science. This research aims to repay the education debt owed to students of color by decolonizing science curriculum through the implementation of lessons centered around socioscientific issues grounded in social justice. An action research study was implemented in which 9 ^th grade Biology students participated in three instructional units centered on social justice issues. Data was collected through surveys, focus group interviews, student work, and journal reflections from …

Impact Of The Resident Mentor Role On Student Worker Mental Health, Lauren Cartwright

Senior Theses

What do stress and burnout look like for RMs at a flagship university in the southeast during the early Covid-19 epidemic? How would the average student worker rate the RM role in terms of satisfaction, recommending the role to others, and weekly workload?

To answer these questions, I surveyed 51 Resident Mentors (RM) at the University of South Carolina (UofSC) in Spring, 2021 to gather information on their general backgrounds, workload, and overall satisfaction with the RM role. Results generally showed high workloads and stress levels. I argue that these findings may be reflective of role ambiguity and changes in …

Africanizing The Curriculum: African Diaspora Literacy Instruction In Elementary Classrooms, Jarvais Javon Jackson

Theses and Dissertations

Using a Critical Case Study design, this study examines the implementation of African Diaspora Literacy (ADL) in three elementary classrooms in order to understand successes, challenges, and student outcomes. African Diaspora Literacy (ADL) refers to becoming literate about African Diasporic peoples, histories, cultures, languages, epistemologies, cosmologies, and axiologies (King, 1992; Boutte et. al., 2017). Against the backdrop of worldwide and systemic anti-Black racism--the most dominant and virulent form of racism (Dumas & Ross, 2016), there is a need for instructional and curricular antidotes in K-12 schools and in the academy (Boutte et. al., 2017). African Diaspora Literacy offers a promising …

Secret To Success: A Survey Of The University Of South Carolina Student Success Center, Lilian Mitchell

Senior Theses

This paper seeks to survey the practices of the Student Success Center (SSC) at the University of South Carolina (USC) and show the effectiveness of those practices. Through the analysis of the history of student success in higher education, current literature on student success, and the 2020- 2021 Blueprint for the SSC at USC, it is clear that the SSC has developed a successful and effective method of guaranteeing student success on USC’s campus. At USC, the main focus is on Supplemental Instruction, Peer Tutoring, and Academic Coaching (a.k.a. Success Consultations). By setting goals and measuring the outcome of those …

Doctors & Diets: The Return Of Nutrition To American Medical Education, Luke Hollingsworth

Senior Theses

The purpose of this honors graduation thesis is to analyze the role of nutrition in the prevention, management, and treatment of chronic diseases and to argue that clinical nutrition should be reintegrated into American medical education as a high priority subject. The thesis begins with a historical review of clinical nutrition beginning in the fifth century B.C. with Hippocrates in Classical Greece and ending in 21st century America. Following the historical review, five of some of the most prevalent chronic diseases in America are examined through a nutritional lens. This thesis concludes with a discussion of the outlook of American …

The History Of Uofsc's Gibbes Green, Lydia M. Brandt, Samantha Clark, Morgan Edlin, Lauren N. Eleazer, Francis Hampton, Mason Joiner, Hannah Macdonald, Ellis Mcclure, Emmah M. Muema, Madeline Owens, Graciela D. Perez, Noah Safari, Anna Spaschak, Sarah Helen Vandevender, David Walls, Grant Wong, Christian Anderson

Faculty Publications

The following report is a culmination of papers from the Spring 2022 students of Dr. Christian Anderson’s Evolution of Higher Education and Dr. Lydia Brandt’s History of American Architecture courses. The report contains research conducted on the creation of Gibbes Green on the University of South Carolina’s campus. Gibbes Green was the first major expansion made by the university, and signifies an era of development and growth for both the school and Higher Education as a whole.

Women In Stem Fellowship: An Intersectional And Interdisciplinary Approach To Advancing Inclusion In The Sciences, Ina C. Seethaler, Gabriela Perez-Alvarado

Journal of the South Carolina Academy of Science

At our university, women-identified individuals make up 23% of students in STEM fields; less than 15% of them graduate with a STEM degree. Nationally, more than 40% of women who enter a STEM job leave it within fewer than ten years. Gendered issues within STEM industries have been identified, yet we are far from equal opportunities for all genders. In 2018, we—the director of Women’s and Gender Studies (WGS) with colleagues in Math, Computing Sciences, and Chemistry—received a $45,000 grant to create a “Women in STEM Fellowship.” The inclusion of WGS made the fellowship interdisciplinary, intersectional, and informed our decision-making …

Planning And Teaching For Student Learning In Mathematics: How Graduate Student Instructors Develop And Implement Instruction, Jennifer S. Crooks-Monastra

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore undergraduate mathematics teaching from the perspective of a graduate student serving as a first-time precalculus instructor of record. A multiple case study was designed to follow three mathematics graduate student instructors (MGSIs) through one semester of teaching to understand their goals for student learning, efforts to achieve these goals, influences on planning, and to identify challenges they encountered. For each MGSI, data collection included four interviews, three observations of teaching, weekly journal entries, and written assignments from a pedagogy course. A focus group, field notes from the pedagogy course, audio from mentor …

#Blackfemaleteachersmatter: The Experiences Of Three African American Female Teachers Who Left The Classroom During Their Induction Years, Ashlye Victoria Wilkerson

Theses and Dissertations

This study captured the lived experiences of three African American, female classroom teachers who left the profession within three years of beginning their careers. The main goal that led this research was to center the perspectives of African American women in the conversation about teacher retention, turnover, and attrition percentages that plague the field of education. The primary questions that guided this study were: (1) “What can be learned from the life stories of former African American female teachers who left the teaching profession from South Carolina public classrooms during their induction years?”, (2) “What do their life stories reveal …

Teacher Perceptions Of Practices That Enculturate Data-Driven Decision-Making, Nevermind Everlasting Chigoba

Theses and Dissertations

Classroom teachers in PK-12 grades in the U.S.A. are under immense pressure to use data from internal and external sources in order to make decisions expected to transform their instructional practice to hopefully meet the adequate yearly progress demanded by accountability policies. This exploratory case study was conducted on a midsized school district in the Midlands region of South Carolina. The study sought to explore what student data forms the district teachers had access to, and how they used those data in making instructional and other student-level decisions. The study also explored the teachers’ perceptions on their attitudes towards data, …

How Can I Help? Investigating The Role Of Social Supports In Academic Resilience For Undergraduate Students, Grace M. Lady

Senior Theses

Academic resilience refers to a student’s ability to emotionally and cognitively adapt to academic adversity, including transitions to new experiences like college. This ability to bounce back is an important characteristic for academic success (Robbins et al., 2018; Hodge et al., 2017). Within the literature, there is a need to understand more interpersonal influences, such as social support, on resilience. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate what social support students rely on and how students use social support through times of academic difficulty, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic and the transition to college. Undergraduate students (N = 189) completed a …

Legal Research & Writing: An Undergraduate Pre-Law Course Design, Rachel Kathleen Strieber

Senior Theses

The purpose of this project-based thesis is to develop an undergraduate pre-law course that teaches legal research and writing (LRW) and to design its respective description, topics, reading materials, sample syllabus document, and a sample lesson plan. The research portion of this thesis will study the pedagogy of LRW and the connection between LRW skills and the students’ success in law school and careers in law. Preparing students to excel in LRW skills prior to law school through the proposed undergraduate pre-law LRW course will yield a stronger performance in a first-year law LRW course to follow and amplify students’ …

Sculpting Organs: An Arts-Based Educational Activity For Anatomy Learning, Annika Gupta

Senior Theses

As an integral component of healthcare, a comprehensive understanding of anatomy is necessary for accurate clinical diagnoses and medical procedures. Beginning in undergraduate classrooms (premedical), there is a need to explore new ways of teaching and learning anatomy to train healthcare professionals. Traditional methods of attending a lecture and reading a textbook may not be the most effective method to learn about anatomical structures—or to engage learners. However, recent studies have reported promising results in the use of arts-based approaches to enhance anatomy learning. Of these, clay sculpting can provide an opportunity for students to participate in an active and …

Exploring Neurocognitive Processes That Underlie Reading Performance In Children: A Foundational Study, Ayan Mitra

Theses and Dissertations

With advancement in brain research, neuroscience researchers have collectively informed our understanding of reading-related processes. Despite an extensive body of literature, many educators are not aware of specific neuroimaging findings related to phonological processing and word reading. Therefore, the study builds on this body of research by exploring the connection between the brain and reading scores. Quantitative EEG and standardized academic achievement analyses were performed on 60 school-aged children. Intrahemispheric coherence analysis at rest were conducted across the sample of participants and several coherence networks were extracted and compared to standardized reading achievement scores. Specifically, networks that included Brodmann area …

Integrated Techniques To Increase Systems Thinking For Sustainability Education Of High School Science Students Using Educational Design Research, Nora Kathryn Weatherhead

Theses and Dissertations

This study used a design research framework to teach secondary high school science students about environmental sustainability. A high school teacher and researcher collaborated to design a two week environmental science unit to help students make sense of complex environmental sustainability issues. This dissertation study sought to answer the following research questions: Using Design Research and various instructional tools, how do students develop an understanding of systems thinking and relate it to environmental sustainability; How does analyzing personal and classroom data on paper or plastic usage and recycling influence high school science students’ understanding of global environmental sustainability issues through …

The Rise And Fall Of South Carolina College, Robert D. Cathcart Iii

Senior Theses

Through a thorough examination of the underpinnings of Classical education, as well as the history of South Carolina College, it is clear that the classical system is superior to the later University system imposed upon the College during the Reconstruction period. Classical education began in the Greek philosophic schools, such as the Academy and the Lyceum, and was intended to enrich the soul of its students, as well as to equip them for leadership in the future. But the most important aspect of this education was its universality. It is highly ironic that the original concept of the University …

A Narrative Inquiry Into The Lived Experiences Of Early Childhood Teachers Who Implemented Garden-Based Learning, Jamison Keith Browder

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this narrative study was to investigate the lived experiences of early childhood teachers working in preschool settings who have implemented gardenbased learning for more than one year. The seven preschool teachers who agreed to participate in the study were asked to describe significant life experiences that influenced them to implement gardening into their curriculum. Additionally, the teachers were asked to describe the bridges and barriers to implementing garden-based learning and how school gardening has impacted their students’ learning and development. The data collection process included semi-structured interviews and teacher journal entries over a two-month period. The interviews …

The Continuum Of Support For Building Intimacy Knowledge In College For Students With Intellectual And Developmental Disability, Chelsea Vanhorn Stinnett

Theses and Dissertations

Adults with intellectual disability report the same relational and sexual intimacy needs as those without disability, yet experience barriers in accessing intimacy education and engaging in intimacy. Postsecondary education (PSE) programs for students with intellectual disability allow for college students to experience a higher level of autonomy in choice-making they may not have experienced in their family home. The Continuum of Support for Intimacy Knowledge in College Survey (CoSIK-C) was used to examine how PSE programs support college students in building their intimacy knowledge, intimacy education professional development opportunities for PSE staff members, and staff perceptions on factors that could …

Identifying Prevalent Mathematical Pathways To Engineering In South Carolina, Eliza Gallagher, Christy Brown, D. Andrew Brown, Kristin Kelly Frady, Patrick Bass, Michael A. Matthews, Thomas T. Peters, Robert J. Rabb, Ikhalfani Solan, Ronald W. Welch, Anand K. Gramopadhye

Faculty Publications

National data indicate that initial mathematics course placement in college is a strong predictor of persistence to degree in engineering, with students placed in calculus persisting at nearly twice the rate of those placed below calculus. Within the state of South Carolina, approximately 95% of engineering-intending students who initially place below calculus are from in-state. In order to make systemic change, we are first analyzing system-wide data to identify prevalent educational pathways within the state, and the mathematical milestones along those pathways taken by students in engineering and engineering-related fields. This paper reports preliminary analysis of that data to understand …

Effectiveness Of The Socratic Method: A Comparative Analysis Of The Historical And Modern Invocations Of An Educational Method, Amanda J. Grondin

Senior Theses

This senior thesis evaluates the Socratic method by comparing its original form, used by Socrates with students such as Meno, to its modern invocations in institutions such as law or medical school. In order to gauge the actual efficacy of the Socratic method in teaching logicality, which is the primary goal of Socratic dialogues, a pilot study was run. The results and implications of this study are embedded in the central portion of the thesis. The study found a statistically significant correlation between the amount of Socratic instruction a student had and that student's performance on a syllogistic reasoning task. …

Interactive Whiteboard Impact On Algebra Teachers’ Implementation Of Selected Mathematics Teaching Practices, James Dry Hartman Iii

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the use of the interactive white board (IWB) and the impact the technology had on mathematics teaching practices for algebra teachers. The study used the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) model as the conceptual framework for the investigation, collection, and analysis of data. Teachers were interviewed to obtain teacher level of IWB use, and the Mathematics Classroom Observation Protocol for Practices (MCOP2) was used to obtain data for effective mathematics teaching practices. Observations of teachers were analyzed in order to answer the research question: How does the use of an Interactive White Board impact an algebra teachers’ …

Practices, Beliefs, And Perceptions Of Effective Science Teachers In Elementary Schools Serving Low Socioeconomic Communities, Edwin Wheeler Emmer

Theses and Dissertations

Students who come from low socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds are more likely to manifest a science achievement gap when compared to their high SES peers as a result of the myriad of factors that have the potential to influence student performance, including limited access to resources, fewer life experiences, health care concerns, fewer extracurricular opportunities, etc. (Crook & Evans, 2014; Duke, 2000; Ladd, 2012; Sirin, 2005). This achievement gap can be exacerbated in the elementary setting where many teachers do not feel comfortable teaching science as a result of a lack of science content knowledge and limited experience teaching inquiry-based …

Impact Of A Practicum In Education Course Designed To Recruit Stem Majors Into A Teacher Education Program, Rebecca A. Spencer

Theses and Dissertations

Research suggests that the most efficient way of improving students’ performance, in mathematics and science, is by recruiting and retaining highly qualified mathematics and science teachers. This study augments the body of research aimed at the recruitment of STEM majors to the field of education. The purpose of this study was to determine how a practicum course, developed to recruit freshman and sophomore STEM majors into a teacher preparation program, impacted participants' perceptions of teaching as a profession. The impact of this course, which utilized a reflective cycle framework for evaluating participants’ reflections as the foundation of the program, was …

Empirical Reflections On Women Students In Usa Nonprofit Academic Programs And Realizations About Ideological Influence, Norman A. Dolch

Journal of Ideology

This research reports on the beliefs of a select sample of women and men faculty across the USA regarding women in nonprofit organization academic programs. The main differences were on professional orientation among graduate students, difficulty with quantitative oriented courses, and portrayal of women in coursework. To eliminate these differences, beliefs (ideologies) among faculty and students need to be altered. Sanberg’s book Lean In is especially informative about changing beliefs about career orientation for both men and women to what she calls a belief in sustainable and fulfilling positions. Another valuable resource for faculty concerned about these issues is Creating …

Meeting The Needs Of Middle Grades Social Studies Students With Language Based Learning Disabilities: An Analysis Of Students’ And Teachers’ Perspectives, Monica J. Hacker Hadwin

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the consistency with which middle level social studies and special education teachers and administrators assist, educate, and guide middle level social studies students with language-based learning disabilities. The study was an inquiry into the students’, teachers’, and administrator’s literacy beliefs and practices and it examined the coherence and congruence among these beliefs and practices.

Conducted as an action research study, it examined the extent of the alignment using data collected from five teachers, six students and one administrator by means of interviews, focus groups, photographs, journal entries, and inventories. The data from …