Education Commons^™

Factors Affecting Technology Integration For Teachers At K-12, Adult Education, And Higher Education Institutions Since Virtual Learning Due To Covid-19, Christina Thompson, Stephanie Collins, Lisa Hollins

Dissertations

This quantitative study investigates instructors' perceptions of the factors influencing technology integration in their instruction, spanning the years 2019-2023, encompassing the transition from virtual to in-person learning after COVID-19. It examines technology integration barriers and supports experienced by instructors in the Midwestern United States, namely Missouri, during this period. Additionally, it explores how the virtual learning experience during the pandemic has influenced instructors' self-perceptions of their digital competence. The study encompasses three education sectors: K-12, adult education, and higher education, providing a unique multi-sector perspective. By delving into the post-COVID-19 educational environment, this research aims to offer valuable insights. The …

The Permanence Of Racism In Tennessee Public Schools, Jarral Yokley

Dissertations

The qualitative case study exposed the permanence of racism beginning in the antebellum public schools of Nashville and continued in the current actions in the Tennessee legislature with the expulsion of two Black male legislators. Critical race theory is used as the main descriptor for the actions of White politicians and legislators in Tennessee who continue the oppressive treatment of Black people in the state of Tennessee.

White members of the Tennessee legislature have attempted to strategically continue white supremacy in their decision to display a depiction of one of the most deplorable, racists in the history of the state …

Investigating Relationships Between Muslim High School Students’ School Belonging And Career Decision-Making, Nour Alhiyari

Dissertations

Muslim Americans have been subjected to systemic oppression and unjust experiences, such as discrimination, racism, hate crimes, and stereotypes, for generations in the United States. Although ample research has investigated relationships between systemic oppression in society and its impacts on marginalized students in public school environments, little research has directly investigated Muslim students' school experiences. Additionally, studies and scholarship have explored the long-term impacts of systemic oppression on marginalized groups to develop a comprehensive understanding of minority groups’ experiences in the United States. This study investigated Muslim students’ experiences in public high schools regarding their sense of belonging and other …

U.S. Military Veterans Transition To Two Midwest Universities: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Moral Injury, And Academic Outcomes, Malychanh T. Bartlett

Dissertations

Abstract

Objective: To examine the association between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and moral injury (MI) and the extrinsic factors of the degree of negative patterns of healthy behaviors and negative experiences in an academic setting, the moderating effects of social support on PTSD and MI symptomatology, and the perception of academic success and positive perception of academic experience. Additionally, to examine the mediating effect of intrinsic factors (perceived academic experience) on academic outcomes objectively and subjectively.

Background: Student veterans as non-traditional students face challenges transitioning to the academic environment. Some have underlying mental and psychological complications of PTSD and MI, …

Student Retention Through Decision Making And Withdrawal: The Importance Of Course Scheduling In Higher Education, Danielle Faucett

Dissertations

Student retention is a fundamental issue in higher education, with student decision-making and withdrawal at the forefront of examining that issue. Previous research has shown that personal factors are not easily addressed, but institutional factors, such as the course scheduling process, can be modified. This research study examined how the course schedule can influence degree-seeking students at a state-funded, 4-year institution by exploring the correlation between class standing and the importance of how courses are scheduled, the correlation between class standing and the ability to register for a required course, and what factors predict a student’s decision to withdraw from …

Cumulative Advantage And Student Performance In General Chemistry: An Empirical Study At A Midwest Tier 1 University (2016-2019), Nicole Barvian

Dissertations

General chemistry (GC) plays a crucial role in the academic and career outcomes of students interested in postsecondary science, engineering and medicine. As a whole, chemistry education research literature has reported student attrition rates averaging from 25% to 35% for nearly a century. Student attrition rates can be attributed to a number of factors, including high school preparation (e.g. Tai et al. 2006), opportunity to learn (Carroll, 1989) and accumulated time and practice in a domain (e.g. Ericsson et al. 1993). The factors, in turn, are affected by mechanisms of social stratification, in particular, the social mechanism of cumulative advantage …

Allied Health Faculty Members’ Perspective On Interprofessional Collaborative Practice: A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Study, Prajakta Khare-Ranade, Margaret Newsham Beckley, Mary Geders Falcetti

Dissertations

A framework for interprofessional collaborative practice (IPCP) was developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) (WHO, 2010) in response to the need to address the complicated conditions that exist in today’s health systems. Much of the focus of today’s health service delivery is predicated on the social determinants of health (Barzansky et al., 2019), which refer to the environmental conditions associated with where people are born, live, go to school, work, play, age, and worship that have an impact on health, function, quality of life, and risks (Healthy People 2030, n.d.). IPCP is thought to be the only approach effective …

Implementation Of An Educational Teach-Back Program For Patients With Hypertension, Lakesha Hill

Dissertations

Implementation of an Educational Teach-back Program for Patients with Hypertension

Abstract

Problem: To improve health literacy and provide adequate health care to patients and their family, clear and effective dialogue is essential. The teach-back method is a technique utilized to confirm a patient’s level of understanding of care instructions done by relaying patient directions, and then confirming the patient understands by asking the patient to reiterate those directions. The purpose of this quality improvement project was to assess the effectiveness of using the teach-back method by health care professionals with their patients who have a diagnosis of hypertension or high …

(Post)Modern Asymmetry: Calibrating The Adult Education Philosophy And Practices Of Faculty Teaching Interdisciplinary Studies In The Community College, Jeremy Dennis

Dissertations

In adult education, the term interdisciplinarity is often treated as an agent for transforming teaching, learning, and research. This appreciation of the concept proliferates despite the fact that its actualization often supports competing interpretations and practices. Many adult educators are unaware of the distinctions made among instrumental, conceptual, and critical interdisciplinarity and the philosophical traditions employed to legitimate their different trajectories. To address these concerns and others, scholars such as Lattuca (2001) have advanced a postmodern conceptualization of interdisciplinarity and introduced a supporting theoretical framework to clarify its character and modes of operation. However, she omitted community college faculty from …

The Impact Of Collaboration, Problem Solving, And Creativity On Computer Programming Education For Middle School Girls, Amanda Meek

Dissertations

Despite high scores and abilities, girls lose interest in science and math throughout middle school. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, jobs in the computer science research field will grow 19% by 2026; however, only 18% of the bachelor’s degrees in computer science are earned by women in the United States (ComputerScience.org, 2021). New technology and inventions are being created without the benefit of more diverse perspectives and input from females. There is a need to engage girls and maintain their interest throughout middle school and beyond. Additional research needs to be conducted about the impact and best practices …

Evaluating Middle School English Language Learners’ Science And Literacy Proficiency, Yasemin Ozkaya

Dissertations

The academic success and English proficiency of ELL students are receiving more attention as a result of the growing number of ELL students and the demand for accountability and assessment in education. It is widely accepted that ELL students struggle on state standardized tests because they lack the cognitive academic language abilities needed to succeed on extensive subject evaluations (Thakkar, 2013). According to Abedi and Dietel, ELLs' academic performance lags behind that of other segments of population, and the attainment gap reduces only slightly over time (2004).

The NWEA archival data of 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students who attended …

Primed For Sport Coaching: A Mixed-Methods Pilot Study Of A Six-Week Intervention, Pete S. Paciorek

Dissertations

This six-week pilot study was conducted using grounded theory from “What Works in Character Education” (Berkowitz & Bier, 2014) and specifically the “PRIMED for Character Education” framework (Berkowitz, 2021) applied to 11 high school sport coaches. The three key ideas of focus were on whether the PRIMED framework could increase the coach-participants’ commitment to character education, self-efficacy as character educators, and self-identification as Servant Leaders in an effort to “nurture the flourishing of human goodness” (Berkowitz, 2021) of our youth and, in this case, specifically, high school student-athletes.

With millions of youth involved in sport in North America and across …

Comparison Between The Effectiveness Of Mysci And Openscied Curricula On The Achievement And Attitudes Of Eighth Grade Science Students, Nicole Vick, Nina Blanton

Dissertations

Educators have struggled with maintaining student engagement in science, especially as students transition from primary to middle school and upper grades (Vedder-Weiss & Fortus, 2012). A recent push in science education has been the adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), released in 2013, whose development was guided by A K-12 Framework for Science Education (NGSS Lead States, 2013). As a result, more educators have been incorporating curricula that require students to ascertain disciplinary core ideas using lenses of cross cutting concepts while engaged in science and engineering practices; the three dimensions of NGSS performance expectations (PE) also …

The Impact Of A Culturally Responsive Approach In Science Education On Kindergarten Students, Monique Hite-Patterson

Dissertations

Classrooms today are more ethnically and linguistically diverse. Unfortunately, students of color demonstrate a history of marginalized educational inequities (Williamson et al., 2007). These marginalized educational inequities impact academic achievement across all content areas especially literacy, math, and science. To improve the academic performance of students who are culturally, racially, ethnically, and linguistically diverse, methods of instruction and pedagogy that better facilitate learning among diverse student populations must be instituted (Ladson-Billings, 2005). A mixed methods study was conducted in response to the need to examine the impact of using culturally responsive strategies on kindergarten student’s attitudes towards science and their …

Counter Narratives: A Phenomenological Study Of Inner-City Catholic School Teachers, Staci Wadlington

Dissertations

Educational experiences of children can have positive or negative impacts on their future. This study used a method, counter-narratives, identified by Critical Race theorists to document the shared experiences of inner-city Catholic school educators during one of the most important time periods of education in our country, post Brown v Board of Education (1954). Using a qualitative and phenomenological approach, the researcher interviewed educators from an inner-city Catholic school to investigate their experiences during the post-restructuring phase, which essentially segregated a select group of schools from the larger archdiocese school system. These targeted schools were renamed, provided an alternate governing …

You Can Get There From Here: A Phenomenological Study Of Help-Seeking Behavior And Experiences Of Student Military Veterans In Community College, Donivan Foster

Dissertations

This phenomenological study described the experiences of student military veterans in a community college with physical and psychological health needs. Each participant enrolled in the community college by utilizing the benefits of the post-9/11 GI Bill and transitioned from active duty to civilian life. More than 40,000 programs in the United States are designed to assist veterans transitioning to civilian life (Carter, 2013). Further, the health needs and transition experiences of military veterans have been well-documented. Numerous programs seek to reduce barriers; however, many veterans experience challenges when using the programs or services (Perkins et al., 2019; Aronson et al., …

Homegrown: Pastor Advocacy For Victims Of Sex Trafficking, Julie Heifner

Dissertations

Human trafficking consists of both sex trafficking (ST) and labor trafficking (LT) and is a growing problem for the United States. The Federal Human Trafficking Report (2019), states that Missouri is ranked ninth in the country for active criminal human trafficking cases. This issue is particularly prevalent in our churches because churches serve vulnerable populations and predators may be drawn to churches. Religious academic literature about pastor advocacy for victims of ST is lacking, while popular news sources reference case after case where pastors are the predators. This study consisted of nine Christian pastors who currently served in a pastoral …

Activities Of The Mind And Soul: Eudaimonia, Identity, And Implicit Theories Of Giftedness In Secondary Gifted Students, Megan Roegner

Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the experience of secondary gifted students, more specifically their implicit theories of giftedness, how they incorporate giftedness into their sense of identity, and their eudaimonic development. The following four research questions guided the study: (a) What do the narratives of secondary gifted students reveal about their eudaimonic well-being? (b) What do the narratives of secondary gifted students reveal about their implicit theories of giftedness? (c) What do the narratives of secondary gifted students reveal about the extent to which giftedness is a part of their identities? (d) What are the relationships …

K-12 Teachers’ Retention Of Arts Integrated Professional Development, Roxane Mcwilliams

Dissertations

Arts integration is an interdisciplinary teaching model in which the arts become a conduit for the contextualization and understanding of non-arts content. Research has shown this approach increases academic engagement and content retention (Rinne et al., 2011). The use of arts integration also provides gains for teachers. Teachers perceive their practice more innovative and better able to reach the needs of diverse learners (Bellisario & Donovan, 2012). For the benefits of arts integrated learning to be achieved, teachers must acquire the knowledge and techniques of this teaching model. This requires knowledge in both arts content as well as the pedagogical …

A Middle-Class Mother's Journey On Navigating The Educational System: The Impact Of Critical Race Theory, Intersectionality, And Class In Schools, Amy A. Hunter

Dissertations

This is a qualitative autoethnographic study of a Black mother in the Midwest region as she navigates the educational system for her children. This is a research document that informs the reader of the impact of racism and the intersectional identity of race, gender, and motherhood. The importance of intersectionality is highlighted in this research, and so it is that the mother is middle-class to articulate that poverty, access to resources, or the educational attainment of the mother are not necessarily mitigating factors for the treatment she receives within the educational setting. Moreover, is serves as a guide for other …

The Impact Of Covid-19 Pandemic On What Teachers Want From A Principal To Be Successful: A Study On Teacher Perception, Erika Niles, Kristen Pelster

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if COVID-19 has shifted what teachers perceive they want from a principal. In addition, the researchers sought to find what post-COVID-19 teachers want from a principal for them to succeed. Success is defined as feeling supported emotionally, having the proper resources, and maintaining a desire to stay in the profession.

Researchers used a concurrent mixed-methods design to collect data. Because data were not collected before the pandemic, researchers used a retrospective design to gather pre-COVID-19 data. The survey instrument had nineteen pairs of Likert-based questions, aligned with 19 qualities that are historically …

The Effect Of Student Perception Of Parent Involvement And Socioeconomic Status On Academic Intrinsic Motivation, Pallavi Aggarwal, Taylor Lawson Smith

Dissertations

Many teachers struggle to help students become intrinsically motivated in their school work. Research has shown that students who are intrinsically motivated tend to have higher academic achievement than students who are not (Mendoza, 2012). There are many factors that contribute to students’ intrinsic motivation. Building on existing research, the relationship between perceived parental involvement and students’ intrinsic motivation, as well as the relationship of perceived socioeconomic status and intrinsic motivation was investigated. A mixed methods research approach was used to determine a) the relationship between perceived parent involvement and students’ intrinsic motivation, b) the relationship between perceived socioeconomic status …

Impacting African American Student Achievement In The Middle School Stem Classroom By Teaching Mathematics Through Arts Integration And Design Thinking, Robert Lippert, Tjuannia R. Seals

Dissertations

Middle school is a transitional period in which many students experience content-specific teachers, travel between classrooms, and explore extracurricular activity options for the first time. Historically, African American middle school students have not fared well in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) on standardized assessments, performing significantly below their Caucasian counterparts in mathematics and science. From the beginning of their academic careers, a lack of access to quality teachers, excessive use of direct instruction strategies, and a lack of resources in their school communities, contribute to their overall apathy towards the subject matter and factor into their underperformance. As a …

The Impact Of Using Relevant Context On Student Comprehension And Attitude In A Collegiate Introductory Statistics Unit On Probability, Ryan F. Rzeszutko, Jennifer L. Petrie, Dwayne T. James

Dissertations

The typical collegiate introductory statistics course poses significant challenges for students. Many do not fully comprehend key course skills, and it is common for students to exit the class with a neutral or negative attitude toward statistics. To measure the impact of using relevant contextual examples as an instructional strategy during a probability unit, in-class activities were designed to align with areas of interest for participants as identified by a student interest inventory. It was hypothesized that the use of relevant context would create a significant difference in the comprehension or attitude of students enrolled in an introductory statistics course …

Mentoring: The Factors That Contribute To Persistence To Graduation For African American Males In Predominantly White Institutions In Missouri, Paula Miller

Dissertations

Due to several decisions by the United States Supreme Court in the 19^th and 20^th centuries, African Americans were granted access to PWI’s of higher education. However, African Americans still face challenges in obtaining post-secondary education. For example, in 2019 – 2020, according to the National Center for Educational Statistics (2021), 13.1% of African Americans graduated with master’s degrees. Additionally, in 2020, 19% of African Americans attained a post-secondary degree in Missouri (Towncharts.com, 2021).

Despite access, the number of African Americans obtaining degrees remains low. And, when the lens is focused on African American males, the numbers are …

Working For Justice: A Black Educators Journey Of Supporting Black Males In An Urban School District, Carey Cunningham

Dissertations

Abstract

This autoethnographic dissertation focuses on my journey as a Black male educator and administrator working in an urban school district. I highlight some of my accomplishments and challenges in dedicating my life to the field of education in the same urban school district that I attended from kindergarten to twelfth grade. This dissertation points out how my journey allowed me to support students, mainly Black boys, who faced challenges in a school district that I know very well. I have increased my, and hopefully others, understanding of the challenges Black male students and Black male administrators face in an …

Applying Retrieval Practice In Climate Change Education: How Retrieval-Based Learning May Enhance High School Students’ Conceptual Understanding On Climate Change Topics, Mengyu Wang

Dissertations

This dissertation explored ways to apply retrieval practice strategy on climate change learning at the high school level. Three studies presented that retrieval practice could be used broadly on different topics of climate change and in different learning scenarios. The first study focused on the effect of question placement on learning when students studied sea level rise from an educational video lecture. The results suggested that applying retrieval practice in a style of embedded short-answer questions in videos has clear advantage over restudying the video lecture in both immediate and delayed tests, but no difference in students' performance was found …

Where Are The Black Teachers? There Should Be More To Make It Even, Harolyn Harris

Dissertations

For years, Black teachers lived and worked in the communities that they served. I was one of those teachers who lived and worked in my community, but I noticed that there were not many of us. As a Black woman, mother and teacher, I was fully aware of the numbers of Black teachers declining. I wanted to know why.

In this study, I utilized my experience as a Black student, a Black teacher, and a Black administrator to reflect my feelings. I used Critical Race Theory as the theoretical lens on my stories using autoethnography as the research method. I …

An Exploratory Multiple Case Study Of Discipline Practices In A Major Metropolitan Public School District: A Look Into The School To Prison Pipeline, Neil French, Kristin Calvert-French, Phyllis Jackson, Erin King

Dissertations

The school to prison pipeline is a phenomenon fed by exclusionary discipline practices that increase the likelihood that a student will have an interaction with the juvenile or criminal justice system at some time in their life; this phenomenon disproportionately affects Black students. Understanding the problem is key to slowing down the school to prison pipeline. This study of a school district in Missouri explores questions about how interpersonal relationships, implicit bias awareness, and school policies influence the learning environment, and how those factors relate to school discipline, which ultimately can lead to the school to prison pipeline. Drawing data …

Long-Term English Learners In Middle School: Perspectives On Growth In Language Acquisition And Academic Learning, Barbara Doerfler

Dissertations

Middle schools in the United States today have a large population of English learners (ELs), and many of them have been educationally labeled as long-term English learners (LTELs). In some middle schools, over half of the ELs in seventh and eighth grades meet the criteria for classification as LTELs. This is especially concerning as these students will shortly be moving on to high school with limited English proficiency, which will continue to affect their academic performance and may limit their choices in higher education and career paths. This study explored the educational experience of LTELs in middle school by seeking …