Education Commons^™

High School Biology Preparation: Do Students Feel They Have Been Adequately Prepared For Introductory College Biology?, Mara Neitzel

Empowering Research for Educators

The purpose of this study was to determine how well students are being prepared in high school for introductory college biology courses. Specifically, the objectives of the study are as follows: To gain a better understanding about how well students feel they have been prepared for college science classes based on their high school education, to gain insight on how college preparation in high school impacts students’ self-confidence, and to determine if the accessibility of advanced education courses is influenced by the size of a high school. A mixed methods survey was distributed to freshman in the fall semester of …

In Support Of The Tinker V. Des Moines Decision, Matthew Olson

Empowering Research for Educators

The following position outlines a case for the Tinker v. Des Moines decision, including a historical and modern perspective. With freedom of speech and protest being a regular part of the discussion about U.S. society and schools, now is a good time to look back.

Reimagining Education: Teaching And Learning In A Global Community, Lotta Larson

Educational Considerations

We can no longer debate if global awareness is essential. It is time to reimagine education and carefully consider how to prepare students and educators to thrive in a malleable world.

Unspoken Barriers: An Autoethnographic Study Of Frustration, Resistance And Resilience, Rose M. Wake

The Qualitative Report

Immigration, cultural capital, cultural hybridity are the contributing players within my autoethnographic research as a second-generation daughter of southern Italian migrants from the post war era. This autobiography of my lived experience identifies contributing influences of arrested development within my educational and life trajectory and explores theoretical frameworks as key comparative indicators for my thwarted stages of psychosocial development. My identity and role as a female is further explored within the construct of a determined and culturally hybrid adolescence in an effort to answer research questions of identity and role confusion. My narratives situate my life as a daughter, student, …

My Experience In Swaziland With Give Hope, Fight Poverty, Megan Kaser

Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement

Megan Kaser, a recent 2017 alum in the College of Health and Human Sciences at Purdue University, describes her experience with Give Hope, Fight Poverty (GHFP)—a nonprofit organization in Indianapolis, Indiana. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in physician assistant studies. GHFP’s mission is “to foster philanthropy domestically by designing service-learning programs that engage U.S. college students with rural communities in Swaziland, Africa, and work together to educate, empower, and lift orphaned and vulnerable children—particularly those living in child-headed households— out of poverty” (Give Hope, Fight Poverty, n.d.). By incorporating college students in the implementation of GHFP orphan education …

Modern-Day Slavery: Equipping The Next Generation For Social Change, Margaret Tienhaara

Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement

Margaret Tienhaara is a freshman at Purdue University in the College of Liberal Arts majoring in global studies and political science. Her dream is to promote education for impoverished children in underdeveloped nations. In this article, she describes her process of organizing a presentation about modern-day slavery for 100 eighth grade students from Tecumseh Junior High School. The goal was to challenge the students to consider a major such as Purdue’s Global Studies and learn about creating social change.

International Occupational Therapy Faculty Perceptions Regarding Doctoral Level Education, Bernadette Mineo, Beth Hathaway, Monali Kadkade

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

Over the past decade a debate has ensued in the US regarding the clinical doctorate in occupational therapy (OT) and whether to require a doctorate to become an occupational therapist. Little discussion has occurred regarding the potential implications on the global community of occupational therapists, and there have been no attempts to ascertain the views of international OT faculty and practitioners. This study surveyed international OT faculty regarding their perceived need for and value of graduate education, particularly at the doctoral level, for OT faculty and practitioners in their countries. Fifty-three OT faculty from WFOT approved programs in eight countries …

Getting Ahead And Getting By: Exploring Outcomes Of Youth Livelihoods Programs, Elisabeth E. Lefebvre, Acacia Nikoi, Richard Bamattre, Amina Jaafar, Emily Morris, David Chapman, Joan Dejaeghere

Education Faculty Publications

This report is a collaboration between the Mastercard Foundation and University of Minnesota that examines the livelihoods of youth aged 16–25 who participated in two Learn, Earn and Save programs in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. It documents their post-program trajectories and examines the role that gender, employment sectors, certification, engaging in mixed livelihoods, financial capital, and social networks have had on their lives. Data were collected from 130 youth over a five-year period through qualitative interviews as well as surveys and demographic data. That longitudinal, mixed methods approach allowed researchers to explore youth employment, learning, and well-being trajectories as they …

Smuggling In Creativity: My Process Of Creating Spaces In The Hierarchical School System Of The Republic Of Korea To Stash The Seeds Of Creative Thinking, Ray Symonds

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

I began the CCT program several years into a teaching career in South Korea. My goal at the time was to better understand creativity so as to better support my own students’ creative development. This synthesis discusses some of the challenges I faced in bring CCT into my own classroom and some of the ways I tried to implement what I learned through the program in my own classes. My role as a Guest English Teacher is explored in how it enabled me to use my classroom as a testing ground for CCT concepts. The application of these CCT concepts …

Incentives And Teacher Effort: Evidence From Lagos, Nigeria, Simileoluwa Adebajo

Master's Theses

According to recent research (Hattie, 2003), teachers contribute to around 30% of the overall variation in student achievement and success – more than any other influencing factor. This study seeks to understand how different types of incentives (monetary, near monetary and non-monetary incentives) influence the “effort” of public school teachers as perceived by the students in Lagos, Nigeria using a novel measurement tool – the teaching effectiveness survey – to measure the teachers’ outcomes. Using a randomized field experiment where students evaluate the changes in their teachers’ effort with a standard teaching effectiveness survey and differences in differences estimation, we …

Literacy Rates Analysis: An International Comparison, Macarena Arce

Economics Undergraduate Honors Theses

This paper attempts to provide a more complete reckoning of the economics of literacy rates around the world. It consists on a literature review about the economic benefits and costs of literacy rates and then it shows two econometrics models that attempt to predict literacy rates based on GDP, government expenditure, and several other independent variables.

A Battle Of Values Global Trends Of Nationalism And Cosmopolitanism In Education Paradigms, James Drennen

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This report explores the global political climate around the Spring of 2018 and how it has affected educational paradigms in Costa Rica, China, Finland, and Turkey.

Reducing The Constraints To School Access And Progress: Assessing The Effects Of A School Scholarship Program In Malawi, Stephen Hunsaker

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The study utilizes a causal-comparative research design to compare the educational experiences and outcomes of two student groups – those who did and those who did not receive a needs-based scholarship to attend secondary or tertiary school. We administered surveys to 89 scholarship recipients and 57 non-recipients in the Dowa, Kasungu and Lilongwe Districts of Malawi. Surveys included items to determine group differences across a range of short and medium-term outcomes, including: career aspirations, attendance rate, withdrawal rate, graduation rate, employment status, time unemployed since graduation, and employment quality (using the Tanzanian Standard Classification of Occupations). This study included students …

Factors Associated With Academic Performance Among Second-Year Undergraduate Occupational Therapy Students, Tore Bonsaksen, Brian J. Ellingham, Tove Carstensen

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

Background: Research into occupational therapy education and its outcomes for students is growing. More research is needed to determine the factors of importance for occupational therapy students’ academic outcomes. This study aimed to investigate factors associated with academic performance among second-year undergraduate occupational therapy students in Norway.

Methods: Occupational therapy students (n = 111) from two education programs completed questionnaires asking for sociodemographic, work-related, and education-related information. Hierarchical linear regression analysis was used to examine factors independently associated with the students’ academic performance.

Results: A higher age was associated with better average academic performance among the students, whereas having …

Education And Civil Conflict: The Negative Effects Of Intolerant Curricula In Kosovo, Pakistan, And Sudan, Nicholas A. Jaspers

Dissertations and Theses

Education has long been used as a tool for national identity formation and social cohesion. However, in diverse communities across the globe, the question must be asked: are educational institutions creating citizens with a narrow view of “us vs. them” or an identity built on multiculturalism and acceptance? Through past research, it is obvious that education has either acted as an instigator or mitigator of civil conflict, though to what extent is still largely unknown. In this thesis, I argue that both the extent and quality of education in a country can instigate or, at least, exacerbate the outbreak of …

Role Of The Commission On Higher Education In Promoting Quality Education, Cecilia F. Malolos, Tereso S. Tullao Jr

Angelo King Institute for Economic and Business Studies (AKI)

Quality education is seen as an important contributor to the country’s economic development. The role of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) in promoting this quality education is embodied in its legal mandate. As a government agency mandated to ensure that the delivery of quality education is observed by schools of higher learning to ultimately attain the national development goals and improve the economic condition of the Philippines, CHED was given enough authorities to perform its bi-focal roles of being regulatory or developmental. Acknowledging the significance of accreditation in promoting quality education, quality assurance activities and the different accrediting bodies …

Global Citizenship And Education: The Multidimensional Impact Of A Study Abroad Bilingual Teaching Experience On University Students And Preservice Teachers, Haris N. Anwar

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The intent of this thesis is to study the diverse experiences of 13 University of Central Florida students who participated in the Bilingual Study Abroad Teaching Experience in Spain. The group included nine education students and four in other majors. The experiences of study abroad participants can help to better understand what future participants can look to gain from the program, and what the organizers of the program can potentially look to improve. The research involved was a qualitative study which sought to record the experiences of participants, and then interpret those experiences. The participants were asked to determine the …

Conversations On Critical Thinking: Can Critical Thinking Find Its Way Forward As The Skill Set And Mindset Of The Century?, Maura Sellars, Razia Fakir Mohammad, Linh Bui, John Fishetti, Sarfaroz Niyozov, Ruth Reynolds, Nisha Thapliyal, Yuling Smith, Nosheen Ali

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

The capacity to successfully, positively engage with the cognitive capacities of critical thinking has become the benchmark of employability for many diverse industries across the globe and is considered critical for the development of informed, decisive global citizenship. Despite this, education systems in several countries have developed policies and practices that limit the opportunities for students to authentically participate in the discussions, debates, and evaluative thinking that serve to develop the skill set and mindset of critical thinkers. This writing examines the status of critical thinking in four different contexts across the globe as reflected in educational policies and academic …

Empowering Refugees Through Self-Education, Ayanna Osborne

Master's Projects and Capstones

This project focuses on how to create easier access to education in refugee camps. This is discussed through the ideas of self-directed learning and cooperative learning. As well, the current need for education is explored. Several case studies are provided demonstrating that people without a formal education have successfully been able to seek information and teach themselves. As well, studies are discussed in which individuals have been shown to efficiently seek information and teach one another.

My website provided is still under construction as of 01/2018. It will be completed by the end of the year. Anyone is welcome to …

Introduction: Letters From Abroad, Linda Levine

Occasional Paper Series

An introduction to a series of essays by educators who reflect on their choices to live and work in other parts of the world. They offer a provocative range of personal and professional explanations for seeking out the strange and unknown.

The Globalized Classroom: Integrating Technology To Improve Communicative And Cultural Proficiency, Nicholas Frank

International ResearchScape Journal

The purpose of this project was to explore how the integration of technology affects students’ communicative and cultural proficiency in a second language when connecting two world language classrooms from across the globe. Through a series of weekly emails between partner schools, students practiced their interpretive reading and presentational writing skills while gaining knowledge of their partners’ cultures and colloquial language in a meaningful and individualized manner. The participants were U.S. high school students learning Spanish and Spanish high school students learning English. This created an authentic and organic environment for language acquisition, showing improvement in both communicative and cultural …

Cultivating Leaders Of Indiana: Global Collaborations And Local Impacts, Jennifer Sdunzik, Annagul Yaryyeva

Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement

“Cultivating Leaders of Indiana” was developed to establish connections between the Purdue student body and the Frankfort, Indiana, community. By engaging high school students in workshops that focused on local, national, and global identities, the goal of the project was to encourage students to appreciate their individuality and to motivate them to translate their skills into a global perspective. Moreover, workshops centering on themes such as culture, citizenship, media, and education were designed to empower project participants to embrace their sense of social value and responsibility, not only in their immediate communities, but also globally.

Women's Education: An International Perspective, Nneka B. Dean

Honors College Theses

The purpose of this study is to dissect a topic that is heavily discussed around the world: women’s education and the many diverse ways in which it is practiced. One of the reasons women’s education is such a highly-debated topic is because there are still many differences in how people believe it should be accomplished while other places do not see the advantage or purpose of educating women. There are many countries with male dominated enrollment because of the women’s traditionally-held gender role of staying at home or because the family’s socioeconomic status. This study compared the experiences of women’s …

Searching For Ourselves: African Cultural Representation In Children’S Books In The United States, And Implications For Educational Achievement, Lulama Moyo

Sustainability and Social Justice

Using documentary and discourse analysis of children’s literature I explore the extent to which there is a multicultural gap in children’s literature to reveal the prevailing challenges of the colonized and Eurocentric values embedded in the contemporary education system that supports the monocultural socialization of young children in their early formative years. I translate my research through examining four thematic ways on how the multicultural gap is manifested which are subject matter, the lack of African writers, degree of complexity of diasporic experiences, and confronting whiteness. By focusing more specifically on the gap in African diasporic children literature, I review …

An Investigation Into The Teaching Of International Public Relations To Undergraduates, Matthew Wisla

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Currently, most U.S. multinational companies increasingly rely on international markets for revenue and growth. Public relations professionals, whether they are on assignment in a foreign land or based in the U.S. as part of an international team, must possess the skills to communicate effectively with target audiences from other cultures. The purpose of this study is to better understand the international qualifications and background of instructors teaching international public relations to U.S. undergraduates. This study is based on data collected through telephone interviews with select academic thought leaders in the field of teaching international public relations, and a broad email …

No Lost Generations: Refugee Children And Their Human Right To Education, From The Holocaust To The Syrian Civil War, Jessica Warner

MAIS Projects and Theses

International law protects the right to education for refugee children, as is stated in multiple treaties and documents, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (1951), the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (1966), and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1990). The purpose of this research is to highlight the historical development of education for refugee children, through programs led by Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs), as well as to emphasize the importance of education as part of current humanitarian interventions. This thesis examines a past example …

Education In Haiti And The Caribbean: A Literature Review, Rebekah Rose

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

How we educate our youth is something that is constantly changed and altered in order to achieve greatness. Throughout the Caribbean there are countries with significantly lower educational "greatness", leading to significantly high poverty and illiteracy rates. This literature review seeks to compare and contrast three countries in the Caribbean -- Haiti, Jamaica, and the Dominican Republic -- and analyze how they educate their youth both with and without disabilities. It is found that Haiti is both the poorest, and has the least educated population. Haiti also has the fewest number of government funded and regulated schools (Dupoux, Wolman, & …

Mathematics And Music: A Search For Correlation, Isaac Sarver

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Several studies have been conducted, which have shown connections between content in music and mathematics. Concepts such as fractions, ratios, etc. are mathematical concepts that also can be found or expressed through music. Although these connections have been made, they primarily address connections within the subject matter of music and math. This study attempts to find a correlation between a high school student participating in a school sponsored music program and receiving a higher average math grade. In the study, two school districts provided anonymous student math score data, while also showing which students participated in a music program. From …

Stem Education Discrepancy In The United States And Singapore, Elizabeth K. Worsham, Aaron Clevenger, Kelly A. Whealan-George

Beyond: Undergraduate Research Journal

One of the hottest topics over the past several years has been science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education. The United States is lagging behind in the STEM education rankings as compared to its counterparts in Europe and Asia, including Singapore, ranked second overall in math and science based on the Program of International Student Assessment. Even as such a small country, Singapore has one of the best education systems in the world, one of the busiest ports, and is a leader in the science and technology market. One factor of this is the family life and the culture that …

The Cultural Contours Of Democracy: Indigenous Epistemologies Informing South African Citizenship, Patricia K. Kubow, Mina Min

Democracy and Education

Drawing upon the African concept of ubuntu, this article examines the epistemic orientations toward individual-society relations that inform democratic citizenship and identity in South Africa. Findings from focus group interviews conducted with 50 Xhosa teachers from all seven primary and intermediate schools in a township outside Cape Town depict the cultural contours of democracy and how the teachers reaffirm and question the dominant Western-oriented democratic narrative. Through ubuntu, defined as the virtue of being human premised upon respect, the Xhosa teachers interrupt the prevailing rights-and-responsibilities discourse to interpose a conception of democracy based on rights, responsibilities, and respect. …