Education Commons^™

Understanding The Student Perspective Of Teacher-Student Engagement In First-Year Studies Courses, Anton R. Reece

Doctoral Dissertations

Higher education institutions continue to seek high impact retention methods to address student attrition, particularly during the first year of college. First-year studies courses represent a major institutional intervention and retention resource designed to help higher education institutions meet the unique academic and social needs of students transitioning from high school to college. Teacher-student engagement is considered to be an essential part of student retention efforts. However, most of the research on teacher-student engagement has focused on pedagogical strategies and the teachers’ perspectives of engagement. What is lacking in the literature are studies of students’ perspectives of classroom engagement. This …

Comparing Their Stories: A Narrative Inquiry Of African American Women Of The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (1960-1966) And Contemporary Student Activists (2002-2012), Tracia Nikole Cloud

Doctoral Dissertations

This study is a collection of oral personal experience narratives from four self-identified Black female student activists – two from the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) (1960-1966) and two from the contemporary movement (2002-2012). I investigate general aspects of their experiences of being Black, female, students and activists within the context of their communities and educational institutions. My research questions are: 1) What were/are the cultural and historical factors that drove/drive each woman to activism? 2) How did/have women develop(ed) ways of knowing about self and community through activism and education? 3) How do Civil Rights activists (1960-1966) and contemporary …

Insights Into The Beliefs And Practices Of Preservice Elementary Mathematics Teacher Educators: A Naturalistic Inquiry, Linda Ann Arnold

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this naturalistic inquiry was to explore and analyze aspects of the reported beliefs and practices of a group of preservice elementary mathematics teacher educators. Until now, researchers have had little understanding of beliefs and practices of teachers in elementary mathematics methods classrooms, despite the fact that teacher educators’ beliefs and practices have profound effects on what happens in thousands of classrooms every day. The qualitative research in this study offered insights with the potential to inform higher educational practice in regard to the preparation of elementary mathematics teachers and mathematics teacher educators. Participants were six professors and …

African American Oral Histories Of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, Public Schools During The Early Days Of Desegregation, 1955 – 1967, Lorena B. Whipple

Doctoral Dissertations

Many traditional historical texts of the United States are missing the voiced presence of African Americans. Existing historical texts concerning desegregation in the South, and particularly in Tennessee, are missing African Americans’ experienced perspectives during racial desegregation in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The intention of this dissertation is to use oral history as a methodology to document the memories of seven African Americans who participated in the racial desegregation of Oak Ridge, Tennessee public schools. Critical race theory is the interpretive lens used to analyze the interviews. The oral historical accounts contained in this study suggest African Americans have a unique …

Decision Utility Of Productivity Indicators At The Campus Level, Ryan Sheffield Otto

Doctoral Dissertations

In today’s higher education environment, costs are increasing, tuition is increasing, subsidies are decreasing, student attrition is extensive, and global competition is increasing. These and other internal and external factors in higher education have created a mounting interest in productivity indicators, the ratio of outputs divided by inputs (Hanushek, 2007; Harris, 2010; Levin, 1993; Massy, 2011; Massy & Wilger, 1992; NCHEMS, 2010; Vedder, 2004). Leaders in higher education as well as external governing bodies are increasingly using productivity indicators to create systems of transparency and accountability. Despite the increased focus on productivity and productivity indicators, little has been done to …

Factors That Affect The Ability Of Novice Science Teachers To Teach For Nos Understanding, Bennett Alexander Adkinson

Doctoral Dissertations

Novice science teachers face a multitude of instructional, curricular, and institutional constraints that affect their classroom decisions. Emphases from their teacher training programs interact with and compete against the realities of professional teaching. This qualitative comparative case study attempts to look at the interactions of novice science teachers with the reform-based practice of nature of science (NOS) instruction. Teacher training programs teach their pre-service science teachers about NOS and try to emphasize the importance of NOS understanding on student scientific literacy, but little is known about how science teachers view and approach NOS once they are free from the constraints …

Martin Buber's For The Sake Of Heaven: Prophetic Education, Joseph Lee Hall

Doctoral Dissertations

The author proposes to examine the ontological and epistemological foundations of Martin Buber’s novel, For the Sake of Heaven, in this philosophical study. He purposes to use what he finds to address questions regarding the ways that educational communities often ignore the underlying ontological narratives that are important to communities. After describing Martin Buber’s idea of dialogical relations, the author explores dialogical relations as a current running through the novel. Using the model of the epistemic commentary, he describes the Hasidic community of the character known as the prophet in the novel. Themes of ontology and epistemology are developed. The …

Examining The Systemic Effects Of Relational Trust And Network Trustworthiness On School Community: A Multi-Site Case Study Of Three Independent Schools, Stephanie Barnes Ogden

Doctoral Dissertations

Within the broader context of accountability imposed from beyond our schools, this mixed methods, multi-site case study investigated the development of relational trust and trustworthy relationships as internal accountability structures within three independent schools replicating responsible independence on the scale of the school as trustworthy freedom on the scale of the individual. Interviews, observations, artifacts, sociograms, and surveys were analyzed to identify teacher and administrator perceptions of structures supporting relational trust, accountability to community standards, and sustainable trust-based cultures. Survey data were also analyzed for corresponding evidence of organizational conditions associated with school improvement: teacher orientation to innovation, teacher commitment …

Understanding Contradictions In Teacher-Learner Identity, Digital Video, And Goal-Directed Activity In A Blended Graduate Reading Education Course, Jennifer K. Lubke

Doctoral Dissertations

More teachers are experiencing professional development within blended/virtual learning communities, which I consider a fruitful avenue for expansion of new literacies in K-12 classrooms. However, new literacies challenge traditional structures in education even as new rules of corporate-sponsored reform and high-stakes accountability serve to reinforce these structures. Within this context of contradictions, a cohort of teachers from a rural, remote county in the southeast United States participated in a blended learning environment in their final semester of graduate-level coursework in Reading Education. Some of the teacher-learners, whose own attitudes and motivations toward technology were as diverse as the tools themselves, …

A Multi-Case Study Of Teens Who Write Outside Of School For Their Own Purposes, Paula Jill Henderson

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to investigate the phenomenon of the teen writer as defined as one who answers readily to the label of writer and who reports writing regularly outside of school for his or her own purposes. The research questions guiding this work are: (1) What do these young people write on their own time and for their own purposes? and (2) Why do young writers choose to write and how do they value and understand their own writing practices? In this multi-case study, seven teenage participants were interviewed twice, invited into any of three focus groups …

Common Core 4th Grade Environmental Science Lesson Plans For California Teachers, Gillian Schoenfeld

Natural Resources Management and Environmental Sciences

This project and its analyses were conducted to assist California fourth grade elementary school teachers in adjusting to teaching Common Core standards and science curriculum in their classrooms. The project included the creation of lesson plans, which could be utilized throughout the state of California.

As the Common Core standards, California’s Next Generation Science Standards for K- 12, were just proposed in June of 2013, these lesson plans would help teachers update their lessons and provide them materials and concepts of how to do so. These lessons provide higher-order thinking for students, which is the whole concept of the new …

Annual Report Of Research And Creative Productions By Faculty And Staff, January To December, 2013, Research And Creative Productions Committee. Morehead State University.

Office of Research and Sponsored Programs Reports and Publications

Annual Report Of Research and Creative Productions by Faculty and Staff from January to December, 2013.

Effects Of Direct Instruction Versus Reading First On Reading Comprehension Of Students In Southwest Arkansas, Judith A. Jenkins

Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to add to the limited available research concerning the effectiveness of supplemental reading programs such as Reading First and Direct Instruction on reading achievement for students in elementary and middle grades. Particularly, in the first and third hypotheses, the independent variables were reading program (Direct Instruction versus Reading First) and ethnicity (Hispanic versus Non- Hispanic) on reading comprehension for third and eighth grade students. In the second and fourth hypotheses, the independent variables were reading program (Direct Instruction versus Reading First) and gender (male versus female) on reading comprehension for third and eighth students. …

Differentiating Instruction For Gifted Learners In The Regular Classroom: A Quick-Reference Guide For Teachers, Sarah E. White

Honors Theses

Today’s educators face the daunting challenge of presenting mandated curriculum content to a very diverse set of students. Furthermore, their success as an educator is often determined by the scores their students earn on standardized tests at the year’s end. Focus is therefore shifted to the struggling student population, and meanwhile, the advanced learners may be left to their own devices, at least as far as their education is concerned. While pullout programs are in place in some school districts, students usually spend the majority of their time in the regular education classroom, where their needs must be adequately met. …

Freshman Retention Project: 2012-13 Report, Mirela Blekic

University Studies Assessment Research

This report summarizes the results of 2012-2013 Freshmen Retention Project and presents retention rates for various student populations.

Experiences In Adventist Colleges And Universities: An International Perspective, Jimmy Kijai, Vinita Sauder, Robert Weaver

Faculty Publications

This qualitative study identified the learning needs of students in the multicultural classroom. The study utilized a semi-structured interview guide and data were gathered through focus group interviews of six ethnic groups, namely: Asian, Black, Filipino, Filipino-American, Hispanic, and White. Each group was comprised of eight to twelve members purposefully sampled from the student population of one multicultural university in the Philippines for the collegiate year 2012-2013. The themes that emerged from the Qualitative Data Analysis of interview transcripts showed that learning needs in the multicultural classroom are culturally responsive teaching, teacher immediacy behaviors, differentiated instruction, and teacher language competence …

D.A.R.E. Day! Implementing Evidence-Based Drug Education In An Adventist Educational Setting, Harvey J. Burnett Jr.

Faculty Publications

Since 1983, the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) program has become one of the most popular and widely used school-based prevention programs to help empower youth to make responsible choices about drug use as well as to deal with violent behaviors such as bullying. Because young people in both Adventist and non-Adventist circles are often exposed to drugs through their peers, the media, or family members, incorporating programs like D.A.R.E. within the Seventh-day Adventist educational environment can provide a vital tool in equipping our young people to make responsible and safe choices about drugs.

Protecting Youth From Health Risk Behaviors, Alina Baltazar, Kathryn Conopio, Jacqueline Moreno, Larry Ulery, Gary L. Hopkins

Faculty Publications

Between the ages of 13 and 25, youth go through major psychosocial changes—forming their own identity, becoming independent of their parents, establishing intimate friendships and relationships, struggling with academic goals, and eventually starting a career and even a family. During this time, they can experience difficulties adjusting to these changes and the stresses that ac - company them, and as a result, make behavioral choices that are dangerous and even life destroying. To avoid destructive choices, young people need support from significant others throughout this stage of their lives. What can educators, parents, and church and community leaders do to …

Spring 2014 New Writing Series, English Department

Cultural Affairs Distinguished Lecture Series

The spring 2014 line-up will feature seven writers-four poets, two fiction writers, and a playwright-in CA/DlS-supported events. As the brief biographies appended to this letter demonstrate, the writers we propose to bring to campus represent a wide range of literary activity and achievement. We are focusing on the art of translation this spring and are proud to include writers in several genres (including our first playwright in some time) who, in addition to doing their own work, have also brought works from German, Italian, Polish, and Spanish to the attention of American readers. A secondary focus of our programming-carried over …

Spring History Symposia, History Department

Cultural Affairs Distinguished Lecture Series

The HistoryDeparhnent Sym.posium oomrnittee has planned an ambitious and exciting prograrn for ow Spring 2014 series and are seeking moneyto assist us in o-ringing four well-known historians to campus to speak on, "Empire, Politics, and Community: Negotiating Paths of Resist¿nce." In this time of political deadlocÇ when so many sriticat issues are at stakg it is important to provide out students and the community at large wíth examples from the past that show how those who have been marginalized have asserted their right to exist with dignit

Annual Spring Dance Concert Spring 2014, School Of Performing Arts

Cultural Affairs Distinguished Lecture Series

Dance classes are extremely popular with students and enrollments and attendance have gone up, Consequently, there are always waiting lists for students to enroll in classes, particularly beginning classes, as well as lines in the lobby at the performances. This is due to the efforts of our professional faculty and staff who make dance at UM a significant learning experience that rounds out a student's education. Dance classes culminate in actual dance concert performances that feature jazz,ballet, tap, modem, hip hop, and international themes. The dance program has evolved from a works-in-progress presentation in Minsky Recital Hall in the Fall …

In And Out Of Place: Finding Homes In Franco America, Franco American Centre

Cultural Affairs Distinguished Lecture Series

"In and Out of Place: Finding Home in Franco America" is a symposium organized by the Franco American programs and sponsored by the University of Maine Humanities Initiative. This symposium will take place on April 25, 26, and27,2014. This symposium will explore the significance of "place" to Franco American scholarly and creative works. Scholars, artists, and thinkers from around the northeastem United States and Canada will come together in conversation on cultural identity in public and private spaces, to consider how "place" bears on the definitions of our cultural selves and the inquiries that aim to understand them. Participants will …

Spring 2014 Visiting Researchers And Artists Series, Department Of New Media And Intermedia Mfa Program

Cultural Affairs Distinguished Lecture Series

The New Media Department and Intermedia MFA Program are requesting funds to help support a spring lecture series. The following visiting researchers and artists will share their expertise in the following areas: an evening lecture with a question and answer period to follow, classroom visits, direct one-on-one student meetings and/or critiques and performances or other public presentations. The following artists have been selected because of the quality and engaging nature of their work. The artists' desire to interact with the students in a learning environment and to engender excitement about the arts on campus was another qualiffing factor in their …

Performance, Metamorphoses, By Mary Zimmerman, School Of Performing Arts

Cultural Affairs Distinguished Lecture Series

Metamarphosis is play by director þlay wright Mary Zimmernan that is based on Ovid's poem Metamorphoses. It describes the history of the world from its creation to the deification of Julius Caesar. "Of the many stories told in Zimmerman's Metamorphoses, only the introductory "Cosmogony" and the tale of Phaeton are from the first half of Ovid's Metamorphoses. The story of Eros and Psyche ls not a part of Ovids Metamorphoses; it is from Lucius Apuleius' novel Metamorphoses - also called The Golden ls.s-and was included in Zimmerman's Metamorphoses because, as Zimmerman said in an interview with Bill Moyers of PBS …

John M. Rezendes Visiting Scholar In Ethics 2014, The Honors College

Cultural Affairs Distinguished Lecture Series

The Honors College seeks partial funding to invite noted author Mary Doria Russell to serve as the John M. Rezendes Visiting Scholar in Ethics and to present a lecture entitled, The Age of Discovery from Spain to Space, on April 16,2014, exact time to be determined. The venue will most likely be Minksy Recital Hall. Russell is the author of several novels including The Sparrow, which was selected as the 2013 Honors College Read. With the visit of Dr. Russell, the College is able combine the traditions of the Rezendes Ethics Lecture and that of inviting the author of the …

Artist Lecture With Colin Blakeley, Department Of Art

Cultural Affairs Distinguished Lecture Series

Title: Thursday Evening Guest Lecture with Colin Blakely Photographer; Thursday Feb 6th' 6-7:00 Lord 100 And Title: Friday Artist Workshop Series with Colin Blakely : Tips and Techniques in Digital Collage; Friday Feb 7th, l-2:00 Lord rm 311 Both events are free and open to the public. An e-poster will be sent out and flyers will be posted in and around campus. The posters will give the titles, dates, times and locations of each event.

2014 International Dance Festival, International Student Association

Cultural Affairs Distinguished Lecture Series

The International Dance Festival (IDF) is a popular event that highlights the University of Maine's global diversity, and provides both domestic and international students with an opportunity to teach, learn and share with one another through the art of dance.

IDF began in 2005 as a small group of students wishing to share traditional dances with the campus community. The students performed in Minsky Hall to an audience of 150. Ten years later the IDF is a highly anticipated community event drawing over 1500 audience members to two free shows held at the Collins Center for the Arts. Student participation …

Lecture By Dr. David Pariser, Department Of Art

Cultural Affairs Distinguished Lecture Series

Dr. David Pariser has agreed to present his current research on children's graphic development, specifically using artifacts and interviews gathered from Jaime Wyeth, with respect to juvenilia from Pablo Picasso, Paul Klee and Toulouse-Lautrec. Dr. Pariser is one of the few scholars publishing in English on aspects of giftedness in the visual arts and in children's graphic development. (See attached expanded proposal). Dr. Pariser has agreed to spend two days at the University of Maine, deliver a public lecture and be video-taped for use as part of the alumni outreach, donor, and promotional materials. He has also agreed to make …

Minerva 2013, The Honors College

Minerva

This issue of Minerva includes an article on the opening of Charlie's Terrace in honor of former Honors Dean, Charlie Slavin; a discussion on community engagement in the Honors curriculum and community; an article on the student recipients of the Rezendes Travel Scholarship; and several articles catching up with Honors alumni.

The Effects Of Standards-Based Grading On Student Performance In Algebra 2, Rachel Beth Rosales

Dissertations

The use of standards-based grading in American public schools is increasing, offering students, parents, and teachers a new way of measuring and communicating about student achievement and performance. Parents indicate an appreciation for this method of grading, and students at the elementary grades (K-6) have improved standardized test scores in reading and math as a result of its implementation. This study seeks to determine whether standards-based grading has the same effect on students at the high school level (grades 9-12) by comparing end-of-course test scores and posttest scores of Algebra 2 students enrolled in a standards-based graded classroom with to …