Education Commons^™

Efficacy Meets Inquiry: Impact Of Lesson Study And Reflective Inquiry On The Development Of Novice Teacher Self-Efficacy, Taylor B. Hering

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Novice teachers often struggle to meet the demands of an expansive workload in their first years in the classroom. As reality sets in, district, school, parent, and communal needs often diminish the excitement of their first classroom, thus leading to low rates of teacher efficacy and early-career burnout. This is an educational dilemma because teacher vacancies are rising in schools such as Mockingbird High, a southeastern school with high poverty rates and varying racial demographics. This study aimed to determine if Lewis and Hurd’s (2011) lesson study model, an instructional intervention, influences novice teacher efficacy during the transitional period from …

A Narrative Inquiry Of Selected Women’S Career Pathways To State-Level Leadership In Agriculture, Timothy Keown

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In this study, I used a qualitative narrative inquiry to examine stories from three individually selected state-level agricultural sector women leaders as they described their career paths to leadership roles. This purpose of the study was to address the problem of a lack of practical understanding of women leaders’ experiences in pursuing, achieving, and keeping leadership roles within the agricultural industry. The existing literature shows that women are less likely to hold an agriculture leadership role in their career. To establish the research question, I used feminist educational theory. This theoretical framework and the associated epistemology of narrative inquiry served …

Genetics And Genomics Education Among Physician Assistants, Wesley Patterson

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This dissertation comprises five chapters to describe genetics and genomics education among physician assistant/associate (PA) students and practicing PAs. Chapter I introduces the gap in supply and demand of genetic services, the need for non-genetics healthcare providers to fill the gap, and the PA profession as a solution.

Chapter II is a rapid literature review that summarizes the available literature regarding genetics and genomics education for PAs. A paucity of literature exists to describe the current state of PA genetics-genomics education. The few studies retrieved describe content being taught in PA programs, the number of genetics-genomics contact hours PA students …

Chasing Polys: Interdisciplinary Affinity And Its Connection To Physics Identity, Tyler Scott

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This research is based on two motivations that merge by means of the frameworks of interdisciplinary affinity and physics identity. First, a goal of education is to develop interdisciplinary abilities in students' thinking and work. But an often ignored factor is students interests and beliefs about being interdisciplinary. Thus, this work develops and uses a framework called interdisciplinary affinity. It encompasses students interests in making connections across disciplines and their beliefs about their abilities to make those connections. The second motivation of this research is to better understand how to engage more students with physics. Physics identity describes how a …

Demonstrating Reflection: A Content Analysis Of Reflection That English Teacher Candidates Demonstrate In Writing, William Kerns

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This study is an analysis of the depth of reflection exhibited in written documents produced by English teacher candidates. Description and insights were drawn into the reflective thinking of the undergraduate teacher candidates in the context of teacher research essays that they produced. Reflection is widely viewed as enabling teacher candidates to make connections between actions and consequences as well as between theory and practice. Teacher education programs are encouraged by accreditation agencies to adopt a framework that helps teacher candidates to reflect on practice. However, there is no broadly accepted protocol in place for determining depth of reflection that …

The Leadership Experience Of Female Chief Admissions Officers: A Phenomenological Research Study, Krista Timney

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College admissions is a highly-competitive, business-oriented, and collaborative profession where women continue to be underrepresented in leadership positions. A study is needed of the barriers that have the potential to hinder the advancement of women in this unique and challenging field, as well as the opportunities and approaches to leadership that may lead to their success. The southeast region of the U.S. was chosen for this study because it is an area where women have been successful in advancing into leadership roles in admissions. The primary research question was: How do female chief admissions officers describe their lived leadership experiences? …