Education Commons^™

The Effect Of Design Teams On Preservice Teachers' Technology Integration, Laurene Johnson

Instructional Design, Development and Evaluation - Dissertations

This study examined the effect of a specific instructional approach called design teams on preservice teachers' attitudes toward technology, their technology skills, and their Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK). In a design teams approach, participants work in collaborative teams to design solutions to solve real-world problems. This quasi-experimental study explored the efficacy of an educational technology course implemented with a design teams approach compared to the same course that utilized a standard instructional approach. The sample included 53 preservice teachers from one university majoring in either Early Childhood Inclusive or Elementary Inclusive Education. Preservice teachers in the treatment condition worked …

Whole-School Inclusive Reform: "It's What's Best For Kids”, Nicole M. Declouette

Teaching and Leadership - Dissertations

This qualitative case study investigates a school and university inclusive reform project, called the All Means All Project, and how it is understood and experienced by teachers and administrators at Kennedy School, a K-8 school in the northeast United States. The All Means All Project began when two university professors called into question the practice of placing students with disabilities in segregated special classrooms. Their goal was to create a collaborative, multi-dimensional approach to providing all students with access to rigorous academic instruction and promoting a sense of belonging through students' full-time membership in general education classrooms. This reform was …

Investigating Elementary Principals' Science Beliefs And Knowledge And Its Relationship To Students' Science Outcomes, Uzma Zafar Khan

Teaching and Leadership - Dissertations

The aim of this quantitative study was to investigate elementary principals' beliefs about reformed science teaching and learning, science subject matter knowledge, and how these factors relate to fourth grade students' superior science outcomes. Online survey methodology was used for data collection and included a demographic questionnaire and two survey instruments: the K-4 Physical Science Misconceptions Oriented Science Assessment Resources for Teachers (MOSART) and the Beliefs About Reformed Science Teaching and Learning (BARSTL). Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was used to assess the separate and collective contributions of background variables such as principals' personal and school characteristics, principals' science teaching and …

Unlocking Students' Perspectives Of Leadership, Jonathan Damiani

Teaching and Leadership - Dissertations

The need for principals to have the time and tools to focus on instruction and student learning has continued to intensify. At the same time, the incongruence between what principals want to do instructionally and have time to do, creates dire consequences for school leaders and their work in making a difference in schools regarding staff and student improvement.

This study examines whether and how principals take their lead from students, and use student voice, to create more responsive schools, and more responsible models of leadership. In order to describe and explain whether and how principals have used students' perspectives …

The Impact Of Standards-Based Reform On Special Education: An Exploration Of Westvale Elementary School, Jessica Kim Bacon

Teaching and Leadership - Dissertations

A critical, interpretivist, qualitative study, this project examines how standards-based reform impacts special education at an urban school, called Westvale Elementary School. The school was labeled a Persistently Low Achieving school under the No Child Left Behind Act and was thus required to undergo a "transformation" process. The demographics of the school at the time of the study were: over 95% free and reduced lunch, 40% Limited English Proficiency, and over 20% students with disabilities. The racial makeup of the school is: 50% Hispanic or Latino, 35% Black or African American, and 10% white. My methodological approach drew primarily upon …

An Examination Of Acculturative Stress, Perceived Social Support And Depression Among Chinese International Students, Yue Zhang

Child and Family Studies - Theses

Cross-cultural living can be exciting but also challenging, as it may be accompanied by stress due to constant adaption to a series of continual changes. In addition to adjusting to a new physical environment, individuals must also make psychological adjustments. This study explored Chinese international students' acculturation processes through an examination of the association between acculturative stress, students' perceived social support and symptoms of depression. The study applied the modified conceptual framework from the acculturation model and the stress and coping theory to assess how students' acculturation experience affected their psychological well-being. Also, other contextual factors associated with this acculturation …

From Practice To Theory: An Exploratory Research Study Of The Relevance Of Museum Studies Curriculum To Museum Professionals, Redell Renetta Hearn

Dissertations - Open Access

This exploratory study provides a comprehensive description of the museum profession and focuses particularly on museum studies curriculum. The purpose of this research is to investigate museum studies curriculum and its relevance to the museum profession in order to determine whether or not museum studies curriculum is capable of providing the foundation of a standard academic discipline for museum professionals. A survey of museum professionals assessed their attitudes about museum studies curriculum and the extent to which museum studies curriculum "matters" to continuing education for current museum professionals and as an academic discipline for prospective museum professionals.

The Effect Of Participation In Syracuse University Project Advance And Advanced Placement On Persistence And Performance At A Four-Year Private University, Kalpana Srinivas

Instructional Design, Development and Evaluation - Dissertations

Concurrent enrollment programs (CEPs) are an important source of academic preparation for high school students. Along with Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate, CEPs allow students to challenge themselves in high school and prepare for the rigor of college. Many researchers and practitioners have claimed that, when high school students participate in such programs, they become more successful in college, having better retention rates and better grades. Based upon their knowledge about the many students who have participated in CEPs, Marshal and Andrews (2002) note that "there is scarcity of research on dual credit aka concurrent enrollment programs." The claims for …

Mechanisms Of Transfer: Modeling Motivational And Self-Regulatory Processes That Promote Transfer Of Learning, John A. Gonzalez

Instructional Design, Development and Evaluation - Dissertations

A critical goal of many school and training interventions is to provide learners with the strategies and foundational knowledge that will allow them to tackle novel problems encountered under circumstances different than the learning situations. This is also quite often referred to as the ability to transfer learning. Theories of transfer posit that providing learners with ways to make connections between learning experiences and possible transfer tasks, accumulating domain and strategic and knowledge, and encouraging diverse abstractions of concepts might help promote transfer to new situations. Notably missing among these theories is the role various motivational tendencies play in helping …

"Evo In The News": A Pedagogical Tool To Enhance Students' Perceptions Of The Relevance Of Evolutionary Biology, Lynn M. Infanti

Science Teaching - Dissertations

This investigation evaluated the effects of the use of the pedagogical tool "Evo in the News" on the attitudes toward and knowledge of biological evolution in a sample of undergraduate non-major biology students at a large, private research university. In addition, this study looked at the initial attitudes of the students and their knowledge of evolution before beginning a second semester introductory biology course. Both the initial attitudes and knowledge of the students and the gains in positive attitudes and knowledge were measured using the Evolutionary Attitudes and Literacy Survey (EALS). The goal of the research was to analyze potential …

Child Care Center Directors' Perceptions Of Continuity Of Care: A Qualitative Investigation, Desalyn De-Souza

Child and Family Studies - Dissertations

Continuity of care, keeping a primary caregiver and children together throughout the first three years of the infant/toddler period or for the time that the child is enrolled in child care, is assumed to influence infant and toddler development positively. However, strong empirical support is lacking along with wide variation of implementation among early childhood programs. Employing a qualitative design, this study investigated child care center directors' perceptions of continuity of care as a quality indicator and best practice in early care and education programs. Twenty-one child care center directors were interviewed using a list of open-ended questions gauging knowledge …

Learning Disabilities And The Virtual College Campus: A Grounded Theory Of Accessibility, Nancy Lee Hollins

Instructional Design, Development and Evaluation - Dissertations

Two trends currently impacting higher education intersect in this study: (1) students with learning disabilities are enrolling in colleges and universities in increasing numbers, and (2) colleges and universities are increasingly relying on the web to provide services to students. This reliance on the "virtual campus" comes without apparent consideration of accessibility issues that may be experienced by students with learning disabilities. This study explored the experiences of 16 college students, self-identified as having learning disabilities, as they interacted with the virtual campus of one college.

Consistent with the social model of disability, this study initially focused on the features …

Learning Through Games: Essential Features Of An Educational Game, Kannan Amr

Instructional Design, Development and Evaluation - Dissertations

This study investigated the following research questions: (1) Do instructional games augment learning? (2) What is the impact of the challenge and fantasy features in instructional games on learning? For the purpose of this study, a game called "Humatan" was designed to teach human anatomy to high school students based on the Baltimore County Public Schools curriculum. Four different versions of the Humatan game were created:

1. A game with only the challenge feature turned on

2. A game with only the fantasy feature turned on

3. A game with both the challenge and fantasy features turned on

4. A …

The Impact Of Curricular Learning Communities On Furthering The Engagement And Persistence Of Academically Underprepared Students At Community Colleges, Joshua Grant Mcintosh

Higher Education - Dissertations

This study examined the impact of basic skills curricular learning communities on academically underprepared community college students to determine if participation in such programs significantly contributed to student persistence from year one to year two. The conceptual framework that informed this study was Tinto's (1993) longitudinal model of student departure. In addition, the research on student engagement (Kuh, 2003b) served as a backdrop for considering how the basic skills curricular learning community programs may have influenced students' perceptions of their institution (support and encouragement) and their experiences (preparation, engagement with instructors, engagement with classmates, and feedback) and, in turn, contributed …

Peer Led Team Learning In Introductory Biology: Effects On Critical Thinking Skills, Julia J. Snyder

Science Teaching - Dissertations

This study evaluated the potential effects of the Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) instructional model on undergraduate, biology peer leaders' critical thinking skills. This investigation also explored peer leaders' perceptions of their critical thinking skills. A quasi-experimental pre-test/post-test with control group design was used to determine critical thinking gains in PLTL/non-PLTL groups.

Critical thinking was assessed using the California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST) among participants who had previously completed and been successful in the second semester of a two-semester introductory biology course sequence. Qualitative data from open-ended questionnaires confirmed that factors thought to improve critical thinking skills such as interaction …

Lightning In A Bottle: A History Of The Syracuse Writing Program, 1986-1996, Laura J. Davies

Writing Program – Dissertations

Lightning in a Bottle: A History of the Syracuse Writing Program, 1986-1996, is directed by Louise Wetherbee Phelps and Collin Gifford Brooke. This historical study of the Syracuse Writing Program's administrative structures for contingent faculty focuses on professional development and evaluation systems for the Writing Program's part-time writing instructors. The study draws on archival methodology, using saved administrative documents from the Syracuse Writing Program and retrospective interviews of past members of the Syracuse University Writing Program. This history is influenced and contextualized through scholarship on contingent faculty labor, writing program administration, and the establishment of stand-alone writing programs. The goal …

Racing Discourses: Constructions And Negotiations Students Make About Race, Paul M. Buckley

Cultural Foundations of Education - Dissertations & Theses

This dissertation presents a longitudinal ethnographic study about race and how college students construct and negotiate its meaning. The study utilizes multiple qualitative methods such as participant observation, unstructured interviews and focus groups. Rather than race identity or racism, the discourses of race and how they are produced or adopted by students on a university campus are central to this work. Drawing from Critical Race Theory, Critical Whiteness Studies, and other race theories, I present qualitative analyses about race, which demonstrate how racism is cloaked and persists in colorblind discourse and the race talk of educated young people. This work …

Chinese American Women, Identity And Education: A Qualitative Study, Qing Li

Cultural Foundations of Education - Dissertations & Theses

This qualitative study explores how Chinese American women, as American-born children of new Chinese immigrants, have perceived and interpreted who they are, and how they become who they are while adapting to American society and negotiating with the interplay of race, ethnicity, class, and gender. Drawing on in-depth interviews with twenty-seven Chinese American women from two universities located on the East Coast, I argue that their segmented assimilation processes involving ongoing negotiations between maintaining ties with their ethnic and cultural backgrounds and selective integration into the mainstream of the society, which, to some extent, are subject to and predetermined by …

Learning Lessons And Being Schooled: The Relational Lessons Of Young Women In An Alternative High School, Michelle Renee Maher

Cultural Foundations of Education - Dissertations & Theses

This dissertation is a qualitative investigation of 12 female high school graduates who had previously dropped out or were pushed out of public high school and who attended and graduated from "Conservation High School" (CHS), located in the Pacific Northwest. CHS is an alternative high school organized around an environmental conservation theme. In this study, participants describe how their relationships with peers and teachers in each school affected their commitment to finish school. I analyze participants' awareness of how power dynamics were communicated to students through social organization, school practices, meaning making systems, constructions of identity, and others' behavior. The …

High School Teachers' Use Of Graphing Calculators When Teaching Linear And Quadratic Functions: Professed Beliefs And Observed Practice, Levi Molenje

Teaching and Leadership - Dissertations

This study was designed to explore secondary mathematics teachers' beliefs about graphing calculators, their practices with the graphing calculators when teaching linear and quadratic functions, and the relationship between the teachers' beliefs and their practices. The study was conducted in two phases. In the first phase, 81 teachers responded to a questionnaire about their beliefs regarding the use of graphing calculators in the teaching and learning of linear and quadratic functions. Six of these teachers then participated in the second phase involving task-based interviews and classroom observations.

A major finding from the survey was a possible link between teachers' frequency …

"Roadblocks, Stop Signs": Health Literacy, Education And Communication At A Free Medical Clinic, Sally Jane Huntington

Teaching and Leadership - Dissertations

This qualitative study, which takes place in a free medical clinic for low-income and uninsured patients, addresses the patients' health literacy and access to health information inside and outside of the clinic setting, as well as the strategies clinic providers use to effectively communicate health information. This study is based on participant observation in an urban clinic in the Northeast, interviews of 22 patients and 20 health-care providers, and direct observation of the patient/provider communication in nine instances. In the clinic, the providers serve as educators for vulnerable, stressed patients, who are adult learners. The patients were interviewed in order …

Engineering A Place For Women: A Study Of How Departmental Climate Influences The Career Satisfaction Of Female Mechanical Engineering Faculty Members, Monica J. Young

Teaching and Leadership - Dissertations

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to better understand how female mechanical engineering faculty members' career experiences in academia affect their satisfaction. Specifically, the research considered differences in satisfaction reported by female and male mechanical engineering faculty members in terms of: a) departmental climate, b) nature of work, c) resource allocations, d) departmental policies/practices, and e) overall satisfaction. The study compared the levels of satisfaction reported in survey data collected from 2005-2010 with interview data collected from a subset of the survey population. The survey sample included 237 mechanical engineering faculty members who responded to an online survey developed …

An Investigation Of Racial And/Or Ethnic Minority Teacher Candidates' Strengths Awareness And Utilization, Hui Chen

Teaching and Leadership - Dissertations

There is a consensus among researchers that teachers from diverse linguistic, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds contribute to American education (Dee, 2004; Easton-Brooks, Lewis, & Yang, 2010; Irvine, 2003; Irvine & Fenwick, 2011; Ladson-Billings, 2005; Lu, 2005; Talbert-Johnson, 2001). There is also a call for teacher educators to recognize what racial and/or ethnic minority teacher candidates bring to the teaching profession (Galindo & Olguin, 1996; Kohli, 2009; Lu, 2005; Montecinos, 2004; Oling Ottoo, 2005). Yet our knowledge about how this unique group of prospective teachers interprets and works with their own strengths is very limited. It is necessary to explore the …

Understanding The Art Of Thought: Defining, Rethinking, And Applying Creative Methods And Practices, Peter Depasquale

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Creativity, an already elusive term, has further transformed into a conceptual quagmire of numerous open and closed definitions during the course of the past two decades. Although creativity lacks a concrete identification, our society continues to find answers to socially and economically based problems through means labeled as creative thinking. This suggests that creativity is structurally linked to discussions on innovation—which in its exclusivity yields some positive outcomes—but negates further definitions or explorations of the word.

This thesis compiles a variety of resources from a range of fields related to the subject of creativity to offer a …