Education Commons^™

Attempting To Improve Standardized Test Results Using Study Islands' Web-Based Mastery Program , Paul J. Dube'

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

State standardized testing has always been a tool to measure a school’s performance and to help evaluate school curriculum. However, with the school of choice legislation in 1992, the MEAP test became a measuring stick to grade schools by and a major tool in attracting school of choice students. Now, declining enrollment and a state budget struggling to stay out of the red have made school of choice students more important than ever before. MEAP scores have become the deciding factor in some cases.

For the past five years, the Hancock Middle School staff has been working hard to improve …

Comparison Of The Effects Of Inquiry-Based Cooperative Learning And Demonstrations In Science Education , John Asiala

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

The reported research project involved studying how teaching science using demonstrations, inquiry-based cooperative learning groups, or a combination of the two methods affected sixth grade students’ understanding of air pressure and density. Three different groups of students were each taught the two units using different teaching methods. Group one learned about the topics through both demonstrations and inquirybased cooperative learning, whereas group two only viewed demonstrations, and group three only participated in inquiry-based learning in cooperative learning groups.

The study was designed to answer the following two questions:

1. Which teaching strategy works best for supporting student understanding of air …

Improving Learning By Connecting Chemistry Curriculum To Students' Experiences , Nicole N. Olszowy

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

The purpose of the study was to design, implement, and assess the effects of a teaching unit about fuel sources and chemical energy on students’ learning. The unit was designed to incorporate students’ experiences in a way that was aligned with the Michigan High School Content Expectations.

The study was completed with all of the students taking General Chemistry in a rural Michigan high school in the 2010-11 school year. There were 138 participants total. The participants were mostly Caucasian and the majority were in the 11th grade. Of these, 77 constituted the experimental group and were taught the unit. …

Effects Of Instructional Changes On Student Learning Of Electrochemistry In An Ib Chemistry Course , Deborah Corriveau

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

This study investigated the effectiveness of incorporating several new instructional strategies into an International Baccalaureate (IB) chemistry course in terms of how they supported high school seniors’ understanding of electrochemistry. The three new methods used were (a) providing opportunities for visualization of particle movement by student manipulation of physical models and interactive computer simulations, (b) explicitly addressing common misconceptions identified in the literature, and (c) teaching an algorithmic, step-wise approach for determining the products of an aqueous solution electrolysis. Changes in student understanding were assessed through test scores on both internally and externally administered exams over a two-year period. It …

Is Virtuality Close Enough To Reality? A Comparison Of The Effectiveness Of Simulations With Traditional Laboratory Activities In A High School Biology Class , Wendelien K. Benya

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Some schools do not have ideal access to laboratory space and supplies. Computer simulations of laboratory activities can be a cost-effective way of presenting experiences to students, but are those simulations as effective at supplementing content concepts? This study compared the use of traditional lab activities illustrating the principles of cell respiration and photosynthesis in an introductory high school biology class with virtual simulations of the same activities. Additionally student results were analyzed to assess if student conceptual understanding was affected by the complexity of the simulation. Although all student groups posted average gain increases between the pre and post-tests …

Occasional White Boarding : Examining The Effects Of Physics Students' Understanding Of Motion Graphs , Tony Schwaller

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

The Modeling method of teaching has demonstrated well--‐documented success in the improvement of student learning. The teacher/researcher in this study was introduced to Modeling through the use of a technique called White Boarding. Without formal training, the researcher began using the White Boarding technique for a limited number of laboratory experiences with his high school physics classes. The question that arose and was investigated in this study is “What specific aspects of the White Boarding process support student understanding?”

For the purposes of this study, the White Boarding process was broken down into three aspects – the Analysis of data …

Improving Sixth Grade Student Knowledge Of Ecology Using Fish Rearing And Release As A Real-World Context , Erich Ziegler

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

This research project measured the effects of real-world content in a science classroom by determining change (deep knowledge of life science content, including ecosystems from MDE – Grade Level Content Expectations) in a subset of students (6^th Grade Science) that may result from the addition of curriculum (real-world content of rearing trout in the classroom). Data showed large gains from the pre-test to post-test in students from both the experimental and control groups. The ecology unit with the implementation of real-world content [trout] was even more successful, and improved students’ deep knowledge of ecosystem content from Michigan’s Department …