Education Commons^™

Planning And Implementing A Successful Nsa-Nsf Gencyber Summer Cyber Academy, Bryson R. Payne, Tamirat Abegaz, Keith Antonia

KSU Proceedings on Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

The GenCyber program is jointly sponsored by the National Security Agency (NSA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) to help faculty and cybersecurity experts provide summer cybersecurity camp experiences for K-12 students and teachers. The main objective of the program is to attract, educate, and motivate a new generation of young men and women to help address the nationwide shortage of trained cybersecurity professionals. The curriculum is flexible and centers on ten cybersecurity first principles. Currently, GenCyber provides cyber camp options for three types of audiences: students, teachers, and a combination of both teachers and students. In 2016, over 120 …

A Framework For Problem-Based Learning: Teaching Mathematics With A Relational Problem-Based Pedagogy, Carmel Schettino

Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning

One recommendation for encouraging young women and other underrepresented students in their mathematical studies is to find instructional methods, such as problem-based learning (PBL), that allow them to feel included in the learning process. Using a more relationally centered pedagogy along with more inclusive instructional methods may be a way to foster an interest in studying mathematics in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. However, many mathematics teachers are at a loss in not only how to instruct with PBL methods but also how to create the environment that encourages optimal learning.

Facilitating Problem Framing In Project-Based Learning, Vanessa Svihla, Richard Reeve

Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning

While problem solving is a relatively well understood process, problem framing is less well understood, particularly with regard to supporting students to learn as they frame problems. Project-based learning classrooms are an ideal setting to investigate how teachers facilitate this process. Using participant observation, this study investigated how teachers supported students in taking ownership over the framing of problems in a charter school that serves students who have been underserved by traditional schooling. Data include audio/video records, field notes, interviews, and student work from a nineweek project. Interaction analysis was used to examine ownership and learning over time. Analysis suggests …

Galileo: Staying Afloat In The Digital Age, Pamela Y. Mccreless

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

According to the Pew Research Center, 94% of teachers surveyed indicated that their students are “very likely” to use Google or other search engines ahead of all other sources when doing research for assignments. Educators agree that students are drowning in information. Teachers and librarians alike have the mission to teach information literacy skills to enable students to stay afloat in the sea of information. These same students were reported to lack online search skills. Students should understand that not all search engines are alike nor can all search engine results be trusted 100% of the time. GALILEO - Georgia …

Hiv/Aids Prevention: Educating Future Generations, Carmella Williams

All Student Theses

The purpose of this study was to discover if implementing more educational interventions on HIV/AIDS would lead to lower incidents of HIV/AIDS among youth. A quantitative research design was used to determine the level of knowledge, perceptions, and attitudes of high school students in regard to HIV/AIDS. The targeted population were youth ages 14-18 years old, which are generally high school students who are at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. Participants in this study were students from Human Resources Development Institute’s Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program at Harper High School in Chicago, Illinois. The researcher administered questionnaires to the students at Harper …

Perceptions Of Fidelity And Adaptation In Evidence-Informed Interventions By Women Of Color Sexuality Health Educators, Sara C. Flowers

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Sexuality health educators (SHEs) adapt interventions to the participants’ needs in the dissemination and implementation of comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) programming. However, there is a lack of understanding of how, why and when SHEs make such adaptations. Success or failure of the transfer of prevention technology to practitioners occurs by determining community capacities and preparedness to adopt/adapt high-impact interventions to effectively manage implementation. Experts argue for evidence-informed interventions (EII), as opposed to evidence-based interventions (EBI), as the best way to incorporate research in applied settings. EBIs are solely guided by recommendations from current evidence, whereas EIIs recognize and incorporate the …

Access To Quality Teaching: Myths, Facts, And Potential Policy Solutions For The Future, Michael Hansen

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

Many believe the public schools serving the most affluent students have a monopoly on quality teaching, and schools in high-poverty areas perform poorly due to its lack. Yet a variety of research studies in recent years have challenged this myth. This research shows teacher quality varies much more within the same school than it does across schools, even looking across schools serving students from very different backgrounds. Access to quality teaching is not equal, though it is not nearly as formidable a challenge as previously believed. A variety of potential policy solutions will be presented to enhance the access of …

A Neocolonial Warp Of Outmoded Hierarchies, Curricula And Disciplinary Technologies In Trinidad’S Educational System, Hakim Mohandas Amani Williams

Africana Studies Faculty Publications

I re-appropriate the image of a space-time warp and its notion of disorientation to argue that colonialism created a warp in Trinidad’s educational system. Through an analysis of school violence and the wider network of structural violence in which it is steeped, I focus on three outmoded aspects as evidence of this warp--hierarchies, curricula and disciplinary technologies--by using data (interviews, documents and observations) from a longitudinal case study at a secondary school in Trinidad. Colonialism was about exclusion, alienation, violence, control and order, and this functionalism persists today; I therefore contend that hierarchies, curricula and disciplinary technologies are all enforcers …

Hiring The Most Effective Teachers: An Examination Of Policy And Practice In Pennsylvania, Barbara Launi Powers

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Hiring the most effective teachers not only has an impact on America’s children, but on America’s economic future as well. For two decades, much research about the failings of America’s schools has been conducted. Since the advent of No Child Left Behind (2002), never has more focus been applied to teaching quality. Hiring the best teachers for our children leverages the single largest in-school influence on achievement. James Coleman, in his seminal work, The Coleman Report (1967), notes that a child’s home socio-economic status and race are more significant influences than any in-house school influence. Subsequent research on teacher quality …

A Collaborative Approach To Address Student Behavior And Academic Achievement Across Systems, Beverly Ngozi Okereke

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Academic achievement and in-classroom behaviors are two significant child outcomes that affect student success in school. According to Systems Theory, in order to truly understand the factors that affect these outcomes for children, one must look to the major systems that encapsulate the child (including their school and home environments). This project is a meta-analytic review that examined the effectiveness of measures representing each system in predicting child achievement and behavior: School-Wide Positive Behavior Supports (SWPBS) for the school as a system, level of parent involvement (high versus low) for the home system, and student motivation (intrinsic versus extrinsic) for …

Correlating English Language Learner Crct Scores On The Basis Of English Language Learner Access Scores, Nancy Mcneal

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to test the sociocultural theory that relates English language learner students’ scores on the Georgia Assessing Comprehension and Communication in English State to State (ACCESS) test to English language learner students’ scores on the Georgia Criterion Referenced Competency Test (CRCT). The assessments scored students in language use and proficiency in listening, speaking, reading, writing, English/language arts, math, science and social studies. Specifically, the study assessed the predictive power of student scores on the ACCESS test on the criterion variable of student scores on the Georgia CRCT. The participants in the study were …

Out-Of-Field Teaching In Australian Secondary Schools, Paul R. Weldon

Dr Paul Weldon

This report considers the extent to which Australian secondary school teachers are teaching subjects other than those in which they have specialised. It provides new data on the extent of out-of-field teaching overall and in a selection of subject areas, based on further analysis of the 2013 Staff in Australia’s Schools (SiAS) survey. In addition, the report uses new questions in the SiAS 2013 survey to assess the proportion of students affected by out-of-field teaching in selected subjects.

Discussion In Middle And High School Earth Science Classrooms And Its Impact On Students' Abilities To Construct Evidence-Based Arguments In Their Written Work, Rachel Martin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Middle and high school teachers who participate in the Maine Physical Sciences Partnership (MainePSP) noted persistent problems in their classrooms, including low levels of student engagement and gaps in how students use evidence. To address these problems, this study was designed in collaboration with MainePSP teachers in a design-based implementation research process as teachers aimed to better connect classroom discussion and written argumentation. Though scientific writing makes use of argumentation to support ideas, it is often the sharing of ideas that makes an argument stronger.

Two teachers collected data from their seventh and ninth grade Earth Science classrooms at schools …

Internationalizing Teacher Education: A Case Study Of A School Of Education, Florence Bromfield

Capstone Collection

Schools of Education across the US are some of the furthest behind in the race to internationalize departments across campuses in higher education. What does this mean for students in the K-12 classroom? The purpose of this case study is to explore the internationalization of teacher education within the context of a medium-sized state university in the South-East of the US. Working with the School of Education on this campus, qualitative interviews and surveys were administered to faculty and pre-service teachers to understand the extent of internationalization at the university, and the needs of the K-12 classroom. For this research, …

The Effects Of Community-Building On Achievement, Motivation, And Engagement In Undergraduate Mathematics, Hannak Keith

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

This 2 x 2 quasi-experimental study examined the effects of pedagogical method (i.e., direct instruction vs. 5E inquiry) and intentional community-building (i.e., absence or presence) on undergraduate student (N = 103) motivation, engagement, and achievement in mathematics. Conditions were randomly assigned to one of four different College Algebra classes with a one-time occurrence and taught by a trained expert teacher. Findings indicated that intentional community-building – regardless of pedagogical method – had the strongest effects on students’ motivation, engagement, and achievement. Although no differing pedagogical effects were discovered (most likely due to the one-time implementation of the lesson formats), …

Testing The Effects Of Professional Development On Elementary Pre-Service Teachers’ Beliefs About Mathematics Inquiry Instruction, Courtney Inabnitt

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

In this study, a professional development (PD) seminar was designed and implemented with elementary pre-service teachers (n=20) enrolled in a mathematics content course at a small Midwestern university. The central focus of the PD was on bringing inquiry, specifically the 5E model, into mathematics instruction at the elementary level. The structure of the PD followed the 5E model format and participants learned about inquiry through inquiry. The study utilized a pre-post-test design and measured participants’ knowledge about the 5E model and beliefs about using inquiry in elementary mathematics instruction. Statistically significant growth from pre-test to post-test appears in …

“Do I Want To Die On That Hill?”: Perceptions Of Rural Appalachian English Teachers About Using Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, And Queer/Questioning Young Adult Literature In The Secondary English Classroom, Stacey Rochelle Reece

Doctoral Dissertations

Research from GLSEN has shown that rural, Southern schools are some of the most dangerous places to be for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning students. These students hear more disparaging language, face more bullying, have less resources for information, and are less likely to see positive representations of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) people in their school’s curriculum. Based on this research, I wanted to understand the perceptions of secondary English teachers in a small, Southern rural school district of using LGBTQ young adult literature (YAL) in the classroom.

Drawing on parts of Paulo Freire’s dialogic method …

The Effects Of Teachers’ Self-Efficacy & A Positive Learning Environment On Marginal Students In Mainstream High School Settings, Renée E. Thompson

All Theses And Dissertations

Research from data and anecdotal research from high school students informs us that many traditional high schools are not able to meet the academic, as well as the social and emotional needs of all students, particularly marginal students. The purpose of this research study was to determine how high schools may support marginal students in achieving success by the implementation of teacher self-efficacy and a positive classroom environment. In addition, the research will articulate the critical role of teachers and how their impact shapes the future of their students. The research questions posed will identify what interventions and strategies teachers …

Ireach Blended Learning Model And Reading Lexile Growth Of Freshmen In Maryville City Schools, Whitney Ann Schmidt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Maryville City School system has implemented the first year of the iReach blended learning model for which all students in the school district have access to either a laptop or an iPad to support their learning every day. The availability of research on the impact of iReach is limited because the blended learning instructional model is relatively new and has not yet been subjected to numerous research studies. The purpose of this ex post facto quasi-experimental quantitative study was to compare student reading Lexile growth data collected through the use of the Reading Comprehension Assessment before and after iReach …

Out-Of-Field Teaching In Australian Secondary Schools, Paul R. Weldon

Policy Insights

This report considers the extent to which Australian secondary school teachers are teaching subjects other than those in which they have specialised. It provides new data on the extent of out-of-field teaching overall and in a selection of subject areas, based on further analysis of the 2013 Staff in Australia’s Schools (SiAS) survey. In addition, the report uses new questions in the SiAS 2013 survey to assess the proportion of students affected by out-of-field teaching in selected subjects.

Effects Of Soil Erosion Barriers On Percent Cover And Sediment Size, Michael Perez

STAR Program Research Presentations

Ranching began on Santa Rosa Island in the 1840’s, introducing nonnative megafauna that put selective grazing pressures on endemic species. Dense groves of island oak (Q. tomentella) are aid in sediment deposition and retention. A current restoration effort, involved installing soil erosion barriers, known as wattles, to prevent sediment from being lost upslope and recruit plant growth whose root systems could further stabilize the slope. This experiment was designed to compare percent cover of vegetation growth in areas with and without soil erosion barriers. This was done using the line intercept method (n=42) on three meter transects, measuring …

Online Education: The Relationship Between The Perceptions Of Online High School Teachers Compared To Traditional Classroom Teachers Regarding The Visual Arts, Karen A. Fine

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The incorporation of the arts as an academic subject in the high school distance education delivery method is being reinvented as something new. Most of the current research is focused on college courses. Online high school curricula are most often placed in research studies as an afterthought. Perceptions of faculty members from high schools with traditional instructional delivery models as well as public online schools concerning online education as it relates to the arts in 5 different areas was the focus of this research; mentor, delivery method, satisfaction, student learning, and curriculum. Examining the perceptions of teachers gives a blueprint …

Designing Place-Sensitive Professional Development: A Critical Ethnography Of Teaching And Learning Argumentative Writing, Sarah N. Holland

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate the experiences of teachers participating in a two-year professional development program designed by the National Writing Project and funded by a U.S. Department of Education Investing in Innovation (i3) grant. Informed by New Literacy Studies’ ideological model of literacy as a Social practice and rural literacies’ notion of pedagogies of sustainability, this study employs critical ethnography and discourse analysis to analyze the discourse of teachers participating in the College-Ready Writers Program (CRWP) in order to understand how professional development might be adjusted to re-empower teachers. Data sources included field notes, interviews, lesson …

The Reading Intervention Program Making Connections Intervention And Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program Scores In One East Tennessee School District, Jami H. Corwin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the relationship between the reading intervention program Making Connections Intervention (MCI) and pre-intervention and post- intervention Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) reading scaled scores in one East Tennessee school district. Participants included 99 Tennessee students in grade levels six through nine who received reading intervention instruction through MCI and were frequently monitored following the requirements stipulated in the Tennessee Response to Instruction and Intervention (RTI2) Framework. This study assessed pre- and post-intervention data specific to gender, special education classification, Title I classification, and instructor classification through a series of t-tests. Findings …

High School Teachers’ Perceived Self-Efficacy In Teaching Literacy Across The Curriculum In Tennessee First Core Region 1 High Schools, Ashley N. Keys

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

At the high school level teachers are often departmentalized by their content area and do not teach subjects outside of their specialties. Common Core State Standards (CCSS) introduced literacy standards across the curriculum requiring reading and writing instruction in all courses. The adoption not only affected traditional literacy teachers but also science, math, social studies, and career and technical education teachers who may have had little or no training or experience in teaching literacy to adolescents. These teachers, because of little training or experience in teaching literacy, may feel unprepared for the CCSS literacy shifts or inadequate in delivering literacy …

The Relationship Of Formative Assessment To The Professional Development And Perspective Transformation Of Teachers, Kimberly K. Snyder

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

This study uses practitioner research to explore teacher perspectives about formative assessment. The researcher engaged in a four-month-long series of professional development sessions with one middle school and two high school English-Language Arts teachers from the Capital View School District. Understanding formative assessment as a process to monitor student learning and then customizing instruction based on the data gathered from the formative assessment is a complex skill in which teachers need practice and even coaching to become adroit. The sessions were intended to help early-career teachers better understand formative assessment and incorporate it as a strategy in their teaching praxis. …

Educational Technology And Innovation Capacity In Arkansas Public Schools, Allie Nicole Taylor

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

We all have high hopes for our educational system. As they stress the need for 21st century learning, governments recognize the importance of innovation and creativity in schools and invest resources to develop learning environments that foster these qualities. This thesis adapts Crosling, Nair, and Vaithilingam’s (2015) model to provide a framework for studying factors that contribute to a creative learning ecosystem (intellectual capital development, 21st century literacies, climate for innovation, and integrity of the system), the quality of the educational system, and the system’s innovation capacity. A survey of 126 Arkansas high school teachers, indicates that two variables, student’s …

A Statistically Significant Determination From Pretest To Posttest In Knowledge Of Electrophoresis Concepts, Parker Megehee Nelson

Dissertations

The statistical significance from pretest to posttest of 109 high students constructing an electrophoresis chamber or not was explored. The students tested were from six intact biology classrooms. Three classes were treatment groups and three were control groups. The three biology teachers each taught a control and treatment group classroom. Except for building the electrophoresis chamber, students in both groups received identical instruction and testing. Pre- and posttest data was examined by means of a content valid test constructed by the researcher and biology teachers. In order to examine the statistical significance from pretest to posttest in knowledge of electrophoresis …

Using Ibl In A History Of Mathematics Course: A Skeptic’S Success, Michael E. Matthews, Angela M. Hodge

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

A college professor, who is highly skeptical of change, but sensing a need for teaching in a more inspiring and engaging way, implements an inquiry-based learning (IBL) approach to teaching the history of mathematics. The first author (Matthews) worked with an experienced IBL colleague mentor (Hodge) on the course. Some student data was collected to document the effects of the class on the students. The approach taken for the course is described in detail including how the students of the course learned about and used IBL in key peer-to-peer teaching about historical mathematics (with a primary focus on the mathemat- …

An Investigation Of Multiliteracies Pedagogies In Language Teacher Education: A Mixed Methods Study, Adrienne Doucette-Vanthuyne

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Research into teacher preparedness within teacher education programs and its relationship to teacher attrition is an increasing area of interest in Canada and around the world. In Canada, on average, the estimated turnover for second language educators is approximately 30% in the first five years and 50% of these are within the first two years (Canadian Teacher’s Federation (CTF), 2004; Karsenti, Collin, Villeneuve, Dumouchel, & Roy, 2008; Siwatu, 2011; Swanson, 2012). The CTF (2004), French and Collins (2014), Karsenti et al. (2008) and Swanson (2012) have reported on several factors that influence language teacher attrition and retention: teacher preparedness, teacher …