Education Commons^™

Maintenance Of Cognitive Demand During Repeated Task Enactments Using A Teaching Practice That Builds On Student Thinking, Joshua M. Ruk

Dissertations

Maintaining high levels of cognitive demand during task enactments can improve student learning in classrooms. Influences such as teachers' beliefs about their students’ abilities, and the curriculum that a teacher uses can affect the factors that contribute to the maintenance of cognitive demand. My study adds to what we know about such influences by looking at how a teaching practice that builds on student thinking affects the factors that contribute to the maintenance of cognitive demand, by asking:

1. What does the maintenance of cognitive demand look like when teachers are attempting to attend to student thinking during task enactment?
2. How …

In An Era Of Soft Skills: Investigating Teamwork Skills In The Geosciences, Samuel Cornelius Nyarko

Dissertations

Geoscience employers have increasingly called for student competency in three sets of skills – technical, field and soft skills. One major soft skill identified by employers is teamwork, which is critical in laboratory and field-based activities. At the same time, educators seek to inculcate in students a stronger focus on the development of teamwork skills as they are useful for knowledge sharing and problem solving. This interconnected value of teamwork in both the workforce and academia means students’ preparation should include learning teamwork in the geoscience. However, before educators can design strategies that help students learn critical teamwork skills, we …

The Impact Of A K-8 Stem Program On Grades And Student Choice Of Stem And Advanced Mathematics And Science Coursework In High School, Astrid Rodrigues

Dissertations

The demands of today’s workforce call for schools to prepare their students to have problem-solving skills and be critical thinkers and collaborative colleagues. Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) learning has been known to cultivate, excite, and promote critical thinking and problem-solving skills in students from an early age.

This study explored the high school course selection of students who had participated in a compulsory Kindergarten to 8^th grade (K-8) STEM program, called Project Lead the Way (PLTW), while in middle school. Specifically, the study compared the number of STEM and advanced mathematics and science courses that students who …

The Relationship Between Number Of Instructional Minutes And Science And Mathematics Achievement In Elementary Schools, Gwendolyn Randolph

Dissertations

ABSTRACT

The Next Generation Science Standards and the Common Core Mathematics Standards were created to assist U.S.A. school districts in providing the rigorous instruction needed to equip all students for college and career readiness and citizenship. Many minority students in the U.S.A. specifically, those in disadvantaged communities are still showing deficits in mathematics and science. The relationship between the number of instructional minutes and science and mathematics achievement of fourth grade students on the Northwest Education Association (NWEA) assessment was explored. Research questions addressed the degree of mathematics and science integration in school programming, number of minutes allocated to science …

Barriers Teaching Environmental Justice Education, Jodi Devonshire

Dissertations

The idea of freedom in education has its roots in the social justice movements of the 1950s and 60s. Civil rights groups coalesced independently of other marginalized groups and movements of its time. While similar in nature, environmentalism and civil rights issues rarely crossed paths. As environmentalism made its way into science education and curriculum, social justice issues were restricted to historical perspectives in education. This research initially sought to create an understanding of purpose driven, social justice conscious, Environmental Education as it is related to marginalized learners and identify the barriers of creating and implementing culturally relevant environmental education …

Investigating The Relationship Between Departmental Support Structures, Self-Efficacy And Intention To Persist: An Examination Of Students' Experience In 19 Physics Graduate Programs Across The United States, Diana Sachmpazidi

Dissertations

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) graduate programs experience consistently high attrition rates. Moreover, persistent disparities exist in racial and gender representation. Women and People of Color are significantly underrepresented and have higher attrition rates than men and white and Asian American students. To date, little work is done to understand graduate student attrition or persistence. There is also a lack of information regarding the causes of demographic disparities in attrition. Most past studies in this context have focused on students' attributes, undergraduate preparation, and mentoring relationships. Moreover, student self-efficacy is a contributing factor for undergraduate student retention. Yet, there …

Academic And Demographic Patterns Of Students Placed In Early Algebra I Acceleration, Jill Smith

Dissertations

In the United States, there had been a push for Algebra for All in the early 1990’s in an effort to increase performance on international assessments and provide equity for low-income students and students of color. As the number of students in eighth grade Algebra I increased, a small number of students enrolled in seventh grade Algebra I also increased. The purpose of this quantitative study is to identify and evaluate demographic and academic patterns of students placed in this early acceleration at the middle school level looking at the continuation of acceleration, higher achievement, and an increase in the …

The Social Support Networks Of Students Who Identify As Black And Latino/A/X In Stem And Sbe Graduate Programs At Predominantly White Institutions, Kristi A. Tullis

Dissertations

Graduate students from historically underrepresented minority (URM) groups (those who identify as Black/African-American, Hispanic/Latino/a/x, Native American, Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders and/or Alaska Natives) encounter systemic and institutional hindrances to degree completion when enrolled in STEM doctoral programs at predominantly white institutions (Guiffrida & Douthit, 2010). Support networks have been identified as an important component for retention and success for graduate students from URM groups (Carlone & Johnson, 2007; Clewell, 1987; Johnson-Bailey, Valentine, Cervero, & Bowles, 2008; Joseph, 2012; Sweitzer, 2009). This study investigates the composition and structure of URM graduate students’ support networks, where their support comes from, in what capacity, …

The Impact Of The Advisor-Advisee Relationship Among Black And Latino/A/X Stem Graduate Students At Predominantly White Institutions, Tasia C. Bryson

Dissertations

An advisor is often the most central and powerful person influencing a student’s trajectory through graduate school (Barnes & Austin, 2009). This dissertation consisted of three articles that focused on the impact of the advisor-advisee relationship among Black and Latino/a/x students in STEM graduate programs at predominantly White institutions (PWIs) from the student perspective. Two frameworks were used to analyze data and guide the research: Black Feminist Thought (BFT) and Critical Race Theory (CRT). BFT was used to explore Black women’s experiences at Predominately White institutions as it provides an in-depth understanding of Black women’s perspectives. CRT was used when …

At The Top Of The Chart: A Composite Counterstory Of Black Students’ Mathematical Success, Joslyn N. Richardson

Dissertations

Mathematics as a discipline has ignored the experiences of African American students, making it difficult for them to develop strong mathematical identities and racial identities in relation to math. Black children and their academic achievements are often framed negatively, and underachievement and failure are often emphasized over their brilliance and resilience. This qualitative study adds to the limited body of knowledge by examining student perspectives and socialization factors that contribute to positive math identity and achievement in middle school students. Using a Critical Race Theory framework, data was collected through semi-structured interviews and math autobiographies that were structured around the …

Participation In Open Up Resources By Gender And Family Income Level On Mathematics Achievement Of Grades 7 And 8 Students, Timothy Brister

Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to determine the effects by gender and by family-income level between students using Open Up Resources (OUR) curriculum (a Problem-Based Learning [PBL] curriculum) versus traditional curriculum on mathematics achievement of Grades 7 and 8 students. A stratified random sample of 320 students from four Central and Southeast Arkansas schools (n = 160 for Grades 7 and 8, respectively) was drawn for this study. Data analysis involved the use of 2 x 2 factorial ANOVAs. The key findings of the study were that the mathematics achievement of Grade 8 students using OUR was significantly higher …