Education Commons^™

An Examination Of Early Childhood Teachers’ Perceptions Of Discussing Race With Children, Sarah Elizabeth Kubly

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study examines early childhood teachers’ perceptions and practices with regard to talking to young children about race. Through an online survey and an individual interview with two early childhood teachers, I uncovered three findings: a) teachers’ understandings of their students’ racial awareness, b) teachers’ current classroom practices regarding race, culture, ethnicity, and c) challenges teachers faced in talking about race with their students along with possible sources of support. Based on these findings, I concluded that teachers made the decision not to directly confront the issue of race with their students due to feelings of fear and discomfort. …

The (In)Visibility Of Race/Ism In Social Studies Education: Examining Teacher Educators’ Strategies For Addressing Issues Of Race/Ism With Preservice Teachers, Kelly R. Allen

Theses and Dissertations

Research highlights that the predominantly white P-12 teaching force in the United States is largely unprepared to teach an increasingly diverse student population about issues of race/ism. This unpreparedness is particularly pertinent in subjects like social studies that are based on understandings of culture and race. Thus, this study seeks to understand how social studies teacher preparation programs are preparing preservice social studies teachers to address and examine issues of race/ism in their practice. Drawing on critical discourse analysis and small stories research, this study utilizes interviews, focus groups, and content analysis of course syllabi to examine social studies teacher …

Understanding How A School District Implements Social Emotional Learning, Steve Plum

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to gain an understanding of how a school district implements Social Emotional Learning (SEL). Evidence suggests that SEL positively influences academic growth and achievement (Chernyshenko et al., 2018). Current efforts are focused on developing social emotional domains and measurable competencies that integrate developmental psychology, educational theory, and cultural relevance (Ross & Tolan, 2018). Despite the development of these frameworks, successful widespread implementation is limited in completeness of integration and sustained SEL integration in coursework throughout the school year. Therefore, a need exists for research on implementation practices related explicitly to SEL (Osher …

An Examination Of Teacher Beliefs About The Emphasis Of Sight Word Development In Early Literacy Instruction, Alyssa B. Galicia

Theses and Dissertations

In the following inquiry I discuss the beliefs educators have regarding the emphasis of sight words within their classroom. The findings of this qualitative study offer a perspective about the literacy development of students in kindergarten and first-grade classrooms. The data of this study was collected from a 45-minute individual interview. Documents with relevance were submitted by the teachers to bring further understanding to the discussion. The results of this study included 3 findings: a) fluency development was seen as an outcome of the development of more essential skills, b) there is more than one approach to instructing sight words, …

Investigation Into The Measurement Of Student Ability: Refinements, Improvements And Enhanced Understanding Of Factors That Influence Performance, David Schreurs

Theses and Dissertations

The following series of experiments were all designed and implemented with the goal of understanding and improving undergraduate students understanding of chemistry. In order to accurately access changes in student’s chemistry understanding, the first chapter focuses on how a student’s chemistry proficiency can be most effectively measured. This includes practical recommendations for the average instructor as well as advanced methods more appropriate for researchers who require highly precise scores. With a better understanding on how to measure student proficiency, the next step was working to improve student understanding through various types of feedback following assessments. On top of establishing a …

The Almost Perfect Scale In Medical Students: Model Confirmation, Measurement Invariance, And Differential Item Functioning By Gender, Elizabeth Hollenback Ellinas

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the factor structure of two common perfectionism scales – the Almost Perfect Scale – Revised (APS-R) and the Short Almost Perfect Scale (SAPS) - in medical students. It was found that both two-factor models hold for them, albeit marginally for the APS-R. Measurement invariance by gender showed that while configural invariance and metric invariance hold, scalar invariance does not, indicating that the means for men and women may not be meaningfully compared by using these scales. Additionally, several items exhibited differential item functioning, most of which are in the Discrepancy scale of the APS-R. Overall, the SAPS …

Understanding How Manufacturing Employees Learn About Safety, Melissa I. Bloch-Meier

Theses and Dissertations

While millions of workers are injured on the job every year (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2019), at least some of these injuries can be attributed to failure to use what was learned during safety training (Safety Partners LTD., 2014). By better understanding workers’ experiences, organizations may be better able to create more impactful safety training programs that will ultimately keep more workers safe. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of how manufacturing employees learn about safety. A review of research has shown that empirical studies related to manufacturing employee safety training can be modeled through …

Understanding The Potential Of Anticipation, Teaching, And Response To Struggle In The Learning Of Mathematics, Erin Gae Edgington

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative semi-structured interview study investigated how the opportunity to learn with productive struggle emerges in a teacher’s beliefs, anticipation, planning, teaching, and response to struggle in learning mathematics. In this study, the experiences of student struggle in the teaching and learning of fractions was investigated through the experiences of three fifth grade and one sixth grade teacher. The purpose was to understand how the phenomenon of productive struggle in learning mathematics was impacted by teachers anticipation, planning, teaching, and response to struggle. The central research question asked: What role does productive struggle play in the design and implementation of …

Working Toward “Achievement”: Key Considerations For Providing Access To Equitable Opportunities To Students With Disability Labels, Kyle William Resch

Theses and Dissertations

School personnel are accountable for the academic “achievement” of students with and without disability labels (Every Student Succeeds Act [ESSA], 2015). In Wisconsin, “achievement” is measured via performance on standardized academic assessments (Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction [DPI], 2019). The use of these assessments privileges White middle-class students without disability labels (Ladson-Billings, 2006). Outcomes have been used to shame schools’ so-called poor performance while ignoring other indicators of success such as instilling real-world problem-solving skills, building positive learning communities, using a critical lens, and engaging in social activism (Connor et al., 2019).Many students with disability labels now receive instruction in …

Hybridized Internships And Service-Learning: An Inquiry Into Student, Community, And Higher Education Partner Experiences In A Community-Based Internship Program, Ben Trager

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores a community-based internship (CBI) program, a hybridization of internship and service-learning practices. CBIs are becoming more common in higher education, but literature on the practice of integrating internships and service-learning is scarce. The purpose of this study is to develop an understanding of a CBI through an investigation of student, community partner, and university staff experiences and perceived outcomes of the program. Using participatory action research approaches and a thematic analysis of interviews and student course work, this qualitative study occurred in two phases and included 31 participants. The analysis employs frames of private vs public in …

Anxiety And Social Withdrawal Among Children: Associations With Emotion Awareness And Emotion Regulation Strategy Use At The Intra- And Interpersonal Levels, Janae Ellen Teer

Theses and Dissertations

Anxiety and social withdrawal are two frequently experienced internalizing conditions among children. These early-onset challenges are associated with numerous maladaptive outcomes in the academic, social, and psychological domains (Levitt & Merrill, 2009; Long, 2018; Sanchez et al., 2018; Shernoff et al., 2017). While identifying anxious and socially withdrawn children in the classroom is difficult as symptoms generally occur internally, distinguishing between the conditions is perhaps more challenging as the two are closely associated, oftentimes overlapping constructs (Barzeva et al., 2019; Rubin et al., 2009). Particularly, it is unclear whether anxiety and social withdrawal are similarly or differently associated with key …

Non-Negotiable: A Case Study Of Implementing Antiracist Education In Two Milwaukee Suburban K-12 School Districts, Jennifer Luken

Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

NON-NEGOTIABLE: A CASE STUDY OF IMPLEMENTING ANTIRACIST EDUCATION IN TWO MILWAUKEE SUBURBAN K-12 SCHOOL DISTRICTSby Jennifer Luken The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2021 Under the Supervision of Professor Marie Sandy, PhD

As a racial reckoning and civil unrest permeated 2020 and 2021, many were left asking: How did we get here? By and large, the American public seemed underprepared to understand the context under which these events unfolded. The ability to engage in a critical analysis of race and society oftentimes requires post-secondary education – or the experience of it first-hand – and is mostly lacking in K-12 schools. There …

The Role Of Emotionally-Supportive Teacher Beliefs And Behavior In Student Aggression, Bridget Garrity Brinckman

Theses and Dissertations

Overt aggression is a pervasive problem in schools. In 2017 alone, the US Department of Education reported over 360,000 aggressive incidents. According to the General Aggression Model, emotion regulation plays a key role in aggression. Teachers play a role in student regulation through their supportive (e.g., expressive-encouragement) and unsupportive (e.g., punitive) responses to students. This study examined the role of the classroom teacher in student aggression. Teacher emotion-focused beliefs about both the reasons for aggression and the effectiveness of emotionally-supportive responses to aggression, were explored. Teacher likelihood of mental health referral for anger and fighting (i.e., an emotion and behavior …

Using Cost-Effectiveness Analysis To Select Mathematics Screening Measures In Middle School, Samuel Maurice

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the utility of using cost-effectiveness analysis to select universal mathematics screening measures in middle school. Participants (n=1586) were students in Grades 6, 7, and 8 at two suburban middle schools in Wisconsin. Screening data, including previous year criterion-measure (Wisconsin Forward Exam) scores, fall Measures of Academic Progress scores, and curriculum-based measurement scores were collected in the fall of 2016. Multiple imputation was used to account for missingness, and linear combinations of screening scores were created using receiver operator curve analyses. Costs were calculated based on published standards, the CostOut® Toolkit, and the experience of content experts. Results …

American Indian Culture And Secondary Science Curricula: Examining The Confluence Of Native Epistemologies And U.S. Public Education Science Standards, Molly Anne Wolk

Theses and Dissertations

Innate to the traditional science curricula taught under the auspices of United States public education are a Neoliberal axiology and Eurocentric epistemology (Howard & Kern, 2019) that do not meet the cultural needs of American Indian students (Cobern & Loving, 2001). It is inequitable that American Indian students do not see themselves and their cultures reflected in traditional public school science texts and curricula. At the confluence of often-undifferentiated science curricula and American Indian culture and language, there is a need for a responsiveness that benefits American Indian students. This present study illuminates the research question, “What is revealed about …

A Pulse On Language Equity In First-Grade Urban Classrooms, Deborah N. Kuether

Theses and Dissertations

Students of color are the majority in many U.S. urban public schools, yet U.S. education policy and practice continue to be centered largely on White, middle-class, monocultural, and monolingual norms of educational achievement (Alim & Paris, 2017). The purpose of this phenomenological study was to learn more about the teacher decision-making process and the extent to which first-grade mainstream teachers include culturally and linguistically sustaining practices during literacy instruction. Evidence using the foundations of the critically conscious teacher framework (Joseph & Evans, 2018) and of the role of language and culture as a medium in teaching and learning (de Jong …

An Examination Of Whether Grit, Belonging And Institutional Compassion Contribute To Emerging Adult Goal Pursuits And Reduce Pandemic-Related Stress, Cynthia A. M. Schmahl

Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACTAN EXAMINATION OF WHETHER GRIT, BELONGING AND INSTITUTIONAL COMPASSION CONTRIBUTE TO EMERGING ADULT GOAL PURSUITS AND REDUCE PANDEMIC-RELATED STRESS

by

Cynthia A. M. Schmahl

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, May 2021Under the Supervision of Professor Jacqueline Nguyen, Ph.D.

This dissertation examines the merits of grit and belonging for emerging adults’ collegiate goal pursuits and the influence of institutional compassion amid COVID-19 challenges and stress. Participants were traditional full-time, undergraduate students ages 18-24, recruited from a national sample using Qualtrics, an online survey tool (N = 258; 60% women; 47.31% White, 18.46% Black/African American, 17.31% Asian, 10.77% Hispanic/Latino/a/x). Participants completed a survey …

Learners’ Experiences Of Written Complexities Development Through Discussion Board Activities In Chinese As A Foreign Language Class, Xiaorong Wang

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative case study examines learners’ experiences in the development of written complexities during Discussion Board (DB) assignments in an Advanced university level Chinese class. Discussion Board was chosen as the avenue for written complexity development because it provides learners a supplementary space with additional time and opportunities for low anxiety writing. The data collection for this study came from two sources, DB posts and interviews. This study seeks to fill gap in the literature in two ways: one, this study proposes a measurement of written complexities that consists of propositional complexity, lexical sophistication and accuracy. Second, this study highlights …

Exploring The Division Algorithm In Euclidean Domains With Exploding Dots, Nicholas Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

We will give an overview of the representation of place value and arithmetic known as Exploding Dots and use this idea to explore the division algorithm. It is well-known that the ring of integers, the ring of polynomials, and the ring of Gaussian integers are all examples of Euclidean domains and therefore possess a division algorithm. Exploding Dots beautifully illustrates how one can perform division in any base and how this naturally leads us to division of polynomials. We will show how this same idea of having a “base machine” can be used to perform division in the Gaussian integers. …

Evidence-Based Practice Or Practice-Based Evidence? A Qualitative Examination Of School Psychologists’ Implementation Of Trauma-Informed Interventions, Abigail Lopez

Theses and Dissertations

Children who experience traumatizing life events are reported to be at greater risk for behavioral and emotional impairments that can diminish school performance. To address this, school psychologists can implement trauma-informed evidence-based interventions (TI EBIs), or treatments with an empirical basis that support the unique psychosocial needs of traumatized children in schools. However, a research-to-practice gap is described as negatively impacting school psychologists’ implementation of empirically-based direct intervention services. The present study aimed to examine the TI EBI implementation experiences of 16 novice school psychologists with regard to the distinct barriers and facilitators experienced within the in vivo school context, …

Latinos Raising Academically Gifted Middle School Students: Parental Academic Socialization And Consejos, Martha Aracely Lopez

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative research study sought to understand how Latino parents use parental academic socialization (Hill & Tyson, 2009) and consejos (Delgado-Gaitán, 1994; Alfaro et al., 2014) as forms of home-based parental involvement to converse about education. A phenomenology approach was used to research and analyze data to describe the lived experiences of Latino parents raising academically gifted children middle schoolers while engaging in academic discourse. This study used semi-structured interviews with sixteen Latino participants who were US-born (n=7) and Mexico-born (n=9) from a large urban school district in a Midwestern city. The following major themes emerged: 1) parental academic socialization, …

Examining Virtual Mathematics Instruction: A Comparative Case Study Of In-Service Elementary Teachers With Mathematics Anxiety And Mathematics Teaching Self-Efficacy, Telashay Swope-Farr

Theses and Dissertations

Mathematics Anxiety (MA) and Mathematics Teaching Self-Efficacy (MTSE) have been reported as factors related to teachers’ mathematics instruction. This study investigated MA and MTSE in in-service elementary teachers’ virtual mathematics instruction. A comparative case study design was used to understand the relationship between MA, MTSE, and their virtual mathematics instructional practices. Two in-service elementary teachers from an urban public charter school district in a large metropolitan city in the Midwest participated. I employed qualitative methods to examine the results from the Abbreviated Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale (AMAS), an adapted version of a researcher-developed instrument called the Mathematics Teaching and Mathematics …

Complexity Of Gamification, Kompalli V M Jwala Seethal Chandra

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis introduces ideas for determining the Complexity of Gamifying the learning of a task/skill. We have taken three different tasks: Learning of L2 Languages (Non-mother-tongue languages), Learning about Food preparation and Learning of Physical exercises and applied our ideas to identify the complexity of gamifying them. To further supplement our idea, we have taken few existing popular gamified tasks by 3rd party companies and addressed the complexity of making them, using our ideas, and how adding new features to them, will increase the complexity. In summary, our work presented in this thesis is useful in practice for estimating a …

The Contributing Factors To Student Nurse Medication Administration Errors And Near Misses In The Clinical Setting As Identified By Clinical Instructors, Kristen M. Selig

Theses and Dissertations

The report, To Err is Human, by the Institutes of Medicine (IOM, 2000) brought attention to medication safety in the United States healthcare system. While advances have been made in patient safety, including electronic medication dispensing systems, electronic medication administration records, and scanning systems, it is estimated that 7,000 to 9,000 people die each year due to medication errors (Tariq et al., 2019). The medication administration process involves steps from prescribing to administration. However, nurses administering the medications are the final check point. James Reasons’ Swiss Cheese Model of Accident Causation illustrates the role that systems play in medical errors. …

Black Women Family Childcare Providers’ Roles As Community Mothers During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Crystasany R. Turner

Theses and Dissertations

BLACK WOMEN FAMILY CHILDCARE PROVIDERS’ ROLES ASCOMMUNITY MOTHERS DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Black women family childcare providers have withstood and adapted to numerous socioeconomic and political challenges and have remained a source of stability and connection within the Black community. This study is situated in the midst of the social disruption resulting from a pandemic that deeply impacted the landscape of early care and education. The purpose of this study was twofold: first, to describe the cultural knowledge of Black women early childhood educators as they reacted and organized to support young learners and their families in conditions of hardship, …

Arts Integration And Teacher Collaboration In An Unprecedented Era Of Online Learning, Natalie Hahn

Theses and Dissertations

The unexpected halt of in-person teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic added another layer to an already sizeable and imperative gap in research on arts integrated teacher collaboration. Research shows that teacher collaboration is essential to effective arts integration and can have powerful, positive outcomes for students and teachers (Burnaford et al., 2007; Burton et al., 1999; Carney et al., 2016; Duma & Silverstein, 2014; Lynch, 2007; Snyder et al., 2014; Upitis et al., 1999; Vitulli et al., 2013), but less is understood about the characteristics of and teacher experiences with collaboration in arts integrated environments. The reconceptualization of …

Unmet Medical Home Needs And Educational Services Access In Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Sabrin Rizk

Theses and Dissertations

One in 54 children is diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the U.S. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is a primary care model defined as accessible, continuous, comprehensive, family-centered, coordinated, compassionate, and culturally-effective care for children with ASD, jointly with educational services. Children with ASD use educational services for cognitive, social, and behavioral needs. Educational services include early intervention (EI) through EI plans or school services under special education plans in public schools. Linking health and educational services reduces fragmented care and collaboratively addresses the needs of children with ASD. Although the AAP has asserted efforts to …

Novel Approach In Measuring Training Effectiveness, Thomas Samuel

Theses and Dissertations

NOVEL APPROACH IN MEASURING TRAINING EFFECTIVENESS

by

Thomas Samuel

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2020

Under the Supervision of Dr. Naira Campbell-Kyureghyan

Conducting training for employees is a popular method, in industry, to increase awareness and competencies of individuals that helps start the journey towards a change in performance. Globally, fiscal investments in the order of hundreds of billions of dollars annually are made by organizations and governments to train employees in various concepts. Of the various types of training programs, safety related training is specifically important as it increases awareness of the work risks to employees and plays a critical …

Adult Students’ Perceptions Of Tutoring As An Academic Support Tool, Jennifer Filz

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study examined adult student perceptions of academic support services at an urban-service research university in the Midwest. While adult students often return to school to start or finish their degrees, the six-year graduation rate for students who enter college over the age of 20 is 12% less than those who enroll in college before the age of 20. Adults face situational, institutional, and dispositional barriers to graduation. This qualitative research study examined the perceptions of tutoring as an academic support tool of 13 adult students. Using Cultural Historical Activity as a theoretical framework, three major themes emerged from …

A Mixed Methods Evaluation Of An Intersectional Bystander Program Against Sexual Violence Using The Integrated Model Of Behavioral Prediction Within A Cluster Randomized Control Trial, Rose Hennessy

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Sexual violence is a critical public health problem that is particularly salient on college campuses. Bystander intervention is a prevention approach that teaches students who are not directly affected by a situation to take action to help others. Research is needed to understand the relationship between bystander training and changes in behavior to intervene against sexual violence, racism, and unhealthy alcohol outcomes.

Methods: A cluster randomized waitlist control trial was used to evaluate the bystander program Our School TAKES ACTION. Upper-level undergraduate students were randomized by housing floor from buildings of a private, midwestern university. Data was collected in …