Education Commons^™

Reviewing Or Retrieving: What Activity Best Promotes Long-Term Retention?, Paul D. Lindgren

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Research studies repeatedly emphasize the importance of vocabulary capabilities to a large variety of academic activities. This study compared a learning strategy that exclusively involved the visual review of vocabulary word-definition pairs to a strategy that, in addition, prompted participants to attempt free-recall retrieval of words to match specific definitions. This comparison attempted to identify which of the two strategies best produces longer-term attainment of vocabulary knowledge. A group of participants (N = 20) used a web-based system to take a pre-test over 21 relatively difficult SAT-review vocabulary words using a drag and drop graphical user interface. For each participant, …

Acuta Enews December 2012 Vol. 41, No. 12

ACUTA Newsletters

In this issue...

Strategic Planning & Tampa in January

ACUTA Is Looking for a Few Good Coordinators

Wi-Fi Goes Gigabit-802.11 ac

Info Links

Preparing the Workplace for "Deep Diversity"

Get Your Logos Here!

Webinar: Universal Service & Royalty Payments Due

Using Social Media to Connect

Thanks to Our 2012 Exhibitors

Number 10 on a List of 10 Hard Things IT Must Learn to Accepts

Welcome New Members

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Which Study Method Works Best? A Comparison Of Soar And Sq3r For Text Learning, Sarah C. Kasson

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

One hundred thirty-eight college students participated in a study comparing the SOAR (Select, Organize, Association, Regulate) and SQ3R (Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review) study systems to each other and to students’ preferred study methods. Though both systems have been researched independently, just one other study has compared these study systems to each other. College students were assigned randomly to one cell of a 2x2 factorial design (method: SOAR or SQ3R; material: supplement or no supplement) or to a preferred-study-method control group. Groups were trained in their respective system (SOAR, SQ3R, or control) and then given materials about educational measurement to …

Making Room For Formative Assessment Processes: A Multiple Case Study, Rob Mcentarffer

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This qualitative instrumental multiple case study (Stake, 2005) explored how teachers made room for formative assessment processes in their classrooms, and how thinking about assessment changed during those formative assessment experiences. Data were gathered from six teachers over three months and included teacher interviews, student interviews, participant-observation notes, videos of classroom experiences, and classroom artifacts. These data were analyzed using a category construction method (Merriam, 2009) that involved open coding, axial coding, and finally a cross-case analysis that grouped axial codes according to themes relating to the two research questions. Four case studies describe the process of co-created work with …

Transition To College: Nonacademic Factors That Influence Persistence For Underprepared Community College Students, Ann M. Paulson

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Community colleges provide access to higher education for a broad range of students. The majority require ‘remedial’ coursework in reading, writing and, especially, math. Most students who begin with this remedial coursework do not go on to earn a certificate or degree. Low levels of college graduation have high direct cost, adversely affect the U.S. economy and contribute to socioeconomic inequity.

The literature review shows that both academic and nonacademic factors influence both completion of remedial coursework and completion of first year in college. It introduces research on a variety of strategies for increasing completion and persistence for underprepared students. …

A Motivated Workforce: A Mixed Methods Study Of Worker Motivation At A Nebraska Manufacturing Company, Kevin Wesley

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The study of worker motivation and human motivation in general, has been the focus of psychologists, sociologists, behavioral scientists, and leadership theorists for more than a century. An understanding of the factors that motivate workers is critical not only to corporate executives who concentrate on the bottom line, but more importantly to the security of our nation as it relates to competing in the global market. The purpose of this mixed-methods study is to examine worker motivation in a Nebraska manufacturing company. A pragmatist worldview informs the convergent parallel design of this study, which consists of a qualitative strand using …

Being There: A Grounded-Theory Study Of Student Perceptions Of Instructor Presence In Online Classes, William G. Feeler

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of experienced individual online students at a community college in Texas in order to generate a substantive theory of community college student perceptions of online instructor presence. This qualitative study used Active Interviewing and followed a Straussian grounded-theory design to guide the collecting and coding of interview data in order to identify emerging categories and generate substantive theory. The researcher collected data through interviews with 16 online students, all of whom had taken at least four online courses at a community college.

A constant comparative analysis of the data generated …

Do Credit-Based Transfer Programs Have An Impact On Intellectual Development From Secondary Education To Post-Secondary Education?, James Uhlenkamp

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This descriptive, retrospective quantitative study identified the influence that credit-based transfer programs have on the intellectual development positions of college matriculates at a private, residential, church-affiliated master’s degree granting university in the Midwest. This determination presents a better success measure for credit-based transfer programs than the measures used in previous studies: academic momentum, persistence rate, college grade point average, and degree attainment. People transitioning through intellectual development positions gain critical thinking skills and adopt more of the habits of mind and of working that characterize a well-educated person.

An evaluation database developed for the target university’s first-year experience program provided …

Connecting Children To Nature: A Multiple Case Study Of Nature Center Preschools, Patti Ensel Bailie

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

Environmental degradation, childhood obesity, and aggression of youth are societal problems that appear unconnected. However, their cause (and possible solution) may be linked to a common experience – the amount and quality of time spent in the natural world. Environment based education, significant life experience research, and studies involving urban youth and green spaces have shown that children’s experiences in the natural world have a positive effect on their attitudes, behaviors, and environmental awareness. Nature center based preschools are one approach for connecting children and nature, but little is known about the quality and consistency of their practices. This study …

Teacher Education And Supporting Immigrant Students In The Standards-Based Education Era, Edmund T. Hamann

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

This commentary reflects on pre-service and in-service teachers' sense that teaching to standards and being responsive to immigrant newcomers are, if not incompatible, unlikely to be reconciled by peers or administration. It highlights that away from classroom leaders (e.g., superintendents) are positioned to challenge this unnecessary dichotomy in the interest of educational equity and success.

Exploring Technology Usage By School Counselors: A Mixed Methods Study, Nathan Grosshandler

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

School counseling is progressing from the tradition of responsive services to a proactive system linked to school mission (Dahir, 2009, p 4.). This paradigm shift within the profession has drastically increased the responsibility required of school counselors.

This study explored data drawn from a population of school counselors at Recognized American School Counselor Association (ASCA) Model Programs (RAMP). A multi-phase, sequential explanatory mixed methods design was used for this study. The study focused on nine specific technologies: website, e-mail, Internet, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, student database system, social networking platforms, and EZ Analyze. Mean scores, frequency distribution tables, …

Artist/Teacher: Toward A More Creative Curriculum, Matthew L. Auch Moedy

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

This thesis investigates the formation of my teaching identity. It seeks language for why I orient my teaching toward artistic thinking in my preparation and content. Features of artistic thinking discussed include students have personal interests, teachers need to expose and build on what students bring to class, artistic thinking is not linear and creativity invites the unexpected, play and creativity require both time and space and are best accomplished through situated freedom, process ought not be separated from product, making process visible and valuing process will make a positive difference in a student’s future. Vignettes from my teaching experiences …

Incorporating Latent Variable Outcomes In Value-Added Assessment: An Evaluation Of Univariate And Multivariate Measurement Model Structures, Leslie H. Shaw

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this study was to systematically evaluate the degree to which univariate and multivariate measurement model structures were related to value-added model parameters, teacher estimates, and rankings. Most value-added assessment methods use a single test score to estimate teacher effects, but reliance on a single test score assumes that scores are an error-free approximation of the latent construct of academic achievement. The unique contribution of this study was the systematic evaluation of both univariate and multivariate measurement model structures in a particular value-added model to examine the utility of incorporating latent variable approaches within a traditional value-added framework. …

Family Environment And School Environment As Predictors For Physical Aggression In Low-Income Children, Xiaoyu Li

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of the current study was to examine the unique and collective contributions of child’s own characteristics, their family environment and school environment to the development of child physical aggression at Grade 5. This study was based on Bronfenbrenner’s Process-Person-Context-Time model (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006). Children’s gender and their aggression at age 3 were included as person characteristics. Family environment (primary caregiver’s ethnicity, maternal education, home warmth, physical punishment, exposure to violence, family conflict, and parent-child dysfunctional interaction) and early child care experience measured by whether the child was in child care at both age 3 and age 4 …

The History And Impact Of A College‐Level Field‐Based Course On Learner And Community Development, David M. Harwood, Leilani Arthurs

DBER Speaker Series

Providing students with inquiry‐based learning experiences was a key recommendation made in the National Academies' 2007 report, Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future, and this presentation is about a model for providing such experiences to college‐level students through a field‐based geology course. GEOL 160 – Fundamentals of Geosciences in the Field was developed 10 years ago for undergraduate students preparing to be K‐12 science teachers. The goals of the course are to enhance undergraduate pre‐service science teachers’ (i) knowledge of geoscience and the nature of science, (ii) attitudes about science, and (iii) …

Improving Student Learning: Examining The Teacher Knowing-Doing Gap, Gary S. Nunnally

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Research literature is full of research-based instructional strategies that highly effective teachers utilize on a consistent and systematic basis. And, it is well known that in multiple fields there exists a gap between what people know and what they actually do, commonly referred to as the knowing-doing gap. This study sought to examine whether this same gap exists in the field of education. In other words, this study sought to describe what high school mathematics, science, English, and social studies teachers know about effective instructional strategies and what they actually do in their classrooms.

The researcher reviewed studies, books, journal …

General Education In Health Science-Focused Institutions: An Explanatory Mixed Methods Study, Peggy K. Rosario

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this study was to describe the structure of general education curricula at baccalaureate colleges of health science in relationship to Bergquist’s Career-Based Model of curriculum. Using an explanatory sequential mixed methods approach, the model was tested by examining whether the curricula were both prescriptive and specific. First, the researcher analyzed how prescriptive the general education curricula at 38 colleges of health science were by evaluating the institutions’ catalogs and websites. In the qualitative phase, the researcher interviewed general education leaders at six of the colleges to confirm the quantitative data and obtain information about how specific the …

Nanoscience Outreach, Stephen Ducharme

DBER Speaker Series

Informal science education is an important and rewarding activity for scientist and scientists‐in‐training. We are fortunate at the University of Nebraska to have over 90 of faculty research group working with materials and nanoscience, and involving hundreds of students, post‐docs, and visitors. Some of us have banded together to develop an extensive nanoscience outreach effort that reaches nearly every corner of our community, with activities in a wide range of venues – in the schools, at the mall, at summer camps, with civic groups, at Science Cafés, at the Big Red Road Show, and many others – wherever you might …

Insects As Teaching Tools, Doug Golick

DBER Speaker Series

In this talk I will present on projects in which insects were used as instructional tools. This presentation will give an overview of how insects can be used for teaching with a variety of student age groups and how inquiry instruction can be promoted with insects. I will present overviews of 3 projects including Bumble Boosters, Bugs in the Classroom, and Web‐based insects identification tools. Bumble Boosters created a community of researchers that studied bumble distribution and abundance and artificial nesting domicile preferences. Forty Nebraska high schools were involved in this project.

Bumble Boosters’ teaching objectives were to raise public …

Acuta Enews November 2012 Vol. 41, No. 11

ACUTA Newsletters

In this issue...

Hurricane Sandy Arrives on Campus

Hurricanes, Seminar & Toy Phones

Webinar: The Future of Emergency Communication in Higher Ed

Getting Ready for HD Voice

ACUTA Member Benefit: Free Corporate Webinar Webpage

Every Desk a Drafting Table: The Power of a Design Mindset

Info Links

Fall 2012 Seminar Exhibitors and Sponsors

Board Report

Bring 8 Fall Seminar Exhibitors and Sponsors

Welcome New Members

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The Teaching Of Happiness In Mainland China: In Light Of Aristotle And Marx, Zhaojun Xu

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In this dissertation, the teaching of happiness through morality courses in Mainland China is explored. The exploration centers on three questions: 1) What should be taught to students in terms of happiness? 2) Should schools focus on the cultivation of voluntary virtue or habituation of virtuous actions? And 3) what is the relation between happiness and achievement and/or sacrifice of self-interest? Based on both Aristotle’s and Marx’s views on these questions, the author argues that a comprehensive rather than a “correct” understanding of happiness should be taught to the students. Also, the author suggests that the goal of habituating students …

Excellent Teaching: A Collective Case Study Of Outstanding Elementary Mathematics Teachers' Teaching Of Mathematics, Michael J. Gay

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This qualitative collective case study explored the mathematical teaching of three excellent elementary teachers who were nominated by experts in mathematics and mathematics educational organizations, agencies and universities. I examined what excellent elementary mathematics teachers know and do in their practice of teaching. The study depicts detailed verbatim interactions between the teachers and students during actual teaching episodes to give the reader naturalistic examples of the explanation patterns and questioning strategies that these excellent teachers used to further students’ understandings of mathematical concepts and procedures. Analyses of the pedagogical strategies, including the interactive exploratory problem solving format these teachers used, …

Nebraska Public School Administrators’ Perceptions Of Preschool Education, Jacqueline M. Florendo

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this research study was to examine Nebraska public school administrators’ perceptions about Pre-K and its impact on student achievement for at-risk children. The research study provided information on factors that influence school administrators’ decisions to provide Pre-K programs. Demographic data was gathered from each participant so common group data, such as rural and non-rural disaggregated data, could be used to better analyze results and identify restrictions to implementation of Pre-K programs in schools and school districts.

An explanatory, sequential, mixed methods study was conducted during the spring and summer of 2012. The study initially gathered data using …

The Philosopher's Stone: How Basic Skills Programs Fare In Troubled Financial Times, Thomas P. Ray

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This mixed methods study examined the relative position of basic skills programs with transfer and career technical programs in a large suburban community college in California during the three-year period of budget reductions from 2009-2010 through 2011-2012. The budget line dedicated to part-time or non-contract instruction was analyzed along with supporting documents such as planning committee minutes and program review data. Knowledge of the budget data and the reduction strategies employed helped to establish a picture of the state of basic skills and the institution’s disposition toward them. The budget data proved to be an inadequate tool to measure investment …

Gaining Insight Into Hispanic Students’ Postsecondary Plans, Neel A. Brown

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

While the growth of the Hispanic population in the United States is outpacing other ethnicities, college enrollment and graduation rates of Hispanic students continue to lag behind other groups. This longitudinal, qualitative case study explored when, how, and why a sample of Hispanic high school seniors at a large high school in North Central Texas made decisions regarding their postsecondary educational and career choices.

The foundation of this research relied on a series of 39 individual interviews with 13 Hispanic high school students over the course of their 2012 senior year. Analysis of the data uncovered themes regarding family influence, …

Investigating Post-Graduate Athletic Training Education Student Perceptions Following A Purposefully-Implemented Peer-Assisted Learning Pedagogy, Dana K. Bates

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate graduates’ perceptions of a purposefully-implemented Peer-Assisted Learning (PAL) pedagogy in their undergraduate athletic training education and the impact of that experience in their first job post-graduation. This was the first research in athletic training education that investigated how PAL impacted the students once they were practicing as athletic trainers. Previous research had investigated prevalence, benefits and athletic training student preference for PAL, however, no research had researched its impact on the graduate. Through one-on-one phone interviews with thirteen 2010 and 2011 graduates the researched aimed to investigate through the graduates perceptions …

Students And Institutions Protecting Whiteness As Property: A Critical Race Theory Analysis Of Student Affairs Preparation, Stephanie Bondi

Department of Educational Administration: Faculty Publications

This study is based on interviews with White students graduating from a student affairs preparation program as well as a literature review of whiteness in education. Applying critical race theory, the author examined the ways that students and institutions protected whiteness. Institutions and those within them concerned with equity must have awareness of whiteness and rework curriculum, pedagogy, polices, and practices to fracture educational hegemony of whiteness.

The goal of this study was to examine the ways that White students enrolled in a student affairs master’s program in a predominantly White institution engaged with race and racism and to locate …

Hexapod Herald - Vol. 24, No. 5, November 2012

Hexapod Herald and Other Entomology Department Newsletters

Contents: Welcome -- Congratulations -- Grants -- Publications -- Faculty News - Meet an Off Campus Student -- Student News -- Calendar of Events

The National Academy Of Sciences Workshop On Assessments In Science Courses, Leilani Arthurs

DBER Speaker Series

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), which have undergone the first stage of public review and are currently under development, address not only content knowledge but also scientific skills. As such, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Committee on Developing Assessments of Science Proficiency in K‐12 envisions the NGSS motivating change in the way that science is taught in the United States. A critical part of science instruction as it is envisioned with the NGSS involves using assessments. This DBER presentation will report on the latest NAS views regarding science proficiency assessments, as they were shared at all‐day workshop on …

Journal Of The National Collegiate Honors Council, Volume 13, Number 2, Fall/Winter 2012 (Complete Isue)

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Honors Around the Globe: Countries and Contributors

Australia—Deirdre Barron and Margaret Zeegers

Brazil—Eunice M. L. Soriano de Alencar, Aderson Luiz Costa Jr., and Denise de Souza Fleith

Chile—Frederick J. Conway, Carlos Alberto Cioce Sampaio, and Juan Carlos Skewes

China—Ikuo Kitagaki and Donglin Li

Mexico—Mohammad Ayub Khan and Ruben Morales-Menendez

Netherlands—Vladimir Bartelds, Johannes Boonstra, Trijntje van Dijk, Lyndsay Drayer, Pierre Van Eijl, Stan van Ginkel, Bouke van Gorp, Nelleke de Jong, G. Johan Offringa, Anton Peeters, Albert Pilot, Karin Scager, Ron Weerheijm, Jeske Weerheijm, Fred Wiegant, Marca V. C. Wolfensberger, and John Zubizarreta

Qatar—Byrad …