Impact Of Professional Development On Primary School Teachers' Practices And Student Engagement, Tracy Hartley Clark

Curriculum and Instruction (Ed.D.) Dissertations

Prioritizing student engagement in the classroom, where students want to learn more and be challenged, can lead to future success. This study investigated the effectiveness of providing teachers with professional development focusing on student engagement. The study utilized a mixed-method methodology that examined the effects of professional development on student engagement levels. The participants were 19 teachers who attended professional development at ABC Primary School. Descriptive statistics and paired t-tests were used to test the study's hypotheses. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected through observations before and after the professional development sessions. The data collected was used to determine whether …

Quality, Meaningful Educational Experiences: An Autobiographical Study Of Teaching And Learning Algebra 1, Marya Ray

Curriculum and Instruction (Ed.D.) Dissertations

This autobiographical study of teaching and learning Algebra 1 was developed to examine classroom experiences through the lens of the researcher and to explore the perceptions of teachers and students involved in the study. The goal was to identify the quality, meaningful educational experiences in the classroom which led to the development of algebraic thinking and self-efficacy among students who previously demonstrated a struggle to learn mathematics. The inspiration for this study was my personal experience as a student, as I also struggled to develop algebraic thinking as a high school student. The school district in which this study was …

How To Spark Bio Curiosity: An Innovative High School Biology Curriculum, Audrie Charles

Graduate Research Showcase

This project is a researched creative endeavor focused around the creation of an exemplary high school biology course. This presentation will showcase an original high school biology curriculum designed to ignite students’ innate curiosity and empower meaningful learning of core concepts like cell structure, genetics, evolution and ecology. Students revisit key ideas through a spiral curriculum that builds complexity, tackling open-ended problems and collaborating on hands-on inquiries like formulating hypotheses, designing experiments, collecting data and drawing evidence-based conclusions. Tangible projects allow students to demonstrate content knowledge in addition to critical thinking abilities like synthesizing concepts, evaluating claims and applying learning …

Engaging Every Student In American Government: A Vertical Learning Approach, Tatiana Schumacher

Graduate Research Showcase

This project is a research-based creative endeavor that aims to design an innovative high school course on American government. The course, titled “American Government: Thinking Classrooms,” has several unique and effective features. It promotes equity in the political science classroom by focusing on student assets, such as their cultural backgrounds, personal experiences, and interests. The course also incorporates social-emotional learning, helping students develop skills such as self-awareness, empathy, and collaboration. Culturally responsive teaching methods are utilized, connecting the content to the students’ lives, using diverse sources and perspectives, and fostering critical thinking. The course adopts Peter Liljedahl’s “building thinking classroom” …

The Thinking Classroom: High School Physics Reimagined, Donovan Baker

Graduate Research Showcase

This project is a research-based creative endeavor that reimagines high school physics education. It proposes “The Thinking Classroom: High School Physics Reimagined”, a novel course design that fosters equity, engagement, and learning in the physics classroom. The course design draws on various principles and practices, such as student assets, social-emotional learning, culturally responsive teaching, Peter Liljedahl’s “building thinking classroom” approach, project-based learning, formative feedback, brain-based learning, and AI personalization. The project shows how this course design can transform physics education and prepare students for the 21st century.

Advocacy For Music Education Programs, Katelyn Gibson

Graduate Research Showcase

The main focus of this research is to provide strategies for raising awareness and promoting support for elementary music programs. This literature review seeks to empower music educators with specific strategies for gaining support for music education in a society where budget cuts are vast and the demand for improved test scores on standardized exams favors the increased attention to be placed on core subjects alone. Music education is proven to have many lasting benefits outside of music education alone. Key elements for creating and maintaining a successful program include; collaboration efforts, communication with stakeholders, community performances, highlighting the integration …

Proactive Classroom Management In Elementary Music, Gregory Jacot

Graduate Research Showcase

The elementary music classroom is a different environment than the normal elementary classroom, and requires careful attention to classroom management. Rather than only focusing on reactive classroom management, teachers should consider using proactive strategies to enhance their teaching and the classroom experience. Building positive relationships with students, both in and out of the classroom, will make them more receptive to corrective actions if necessary, and building strong relationships with parents and guardians can help address individual challenges that may arise. Designing lessons with thought towards student interest, visuals, pacing, teacher proximity and participation, and physiological needs of students will help …

The Assessment Of The Program Theory And Processes Of Books For Keeps’ Literacy Mentoring Program, Allison Shaw

Graduate Research Showcase

The significance of reading proficiency is frequently emphasized by the time a student reaches the third grade. Third-grade reading proficiency serves as a crucial indicator of a student's potential success in high school and beyond, including college. Research indicates that a failure to attain grade-level reading proficiency by the third grade correlates with increased challenges in comprehending educational requirements and meeting the demands necessary for graduation.

This study focuses on the Books for Keeps Literacy Mentoring Program in Athens, Georgia, which is designed to cultivate supportive relationships between mentors and students, fostering enthusiasm for reading. The examination of the program …

Pre-Calculus: Thinking Deeply About Simple Things, Jacob Carter

Graduate Research Showcase

“Pre-Calculus: Thinking Deeply About Simple Things” is a research-based creative endeavor focused on designing a high-school pre-calculus course. This course aims to foster deep, meaningful thinking, as well as an appreciation of the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the math classroom. The course leverages students’ funds of knowledge to employ culturally responsive teaching methods to connect mathematical concepts to the students’ backgrounds, interests, and real-life situations. This course also integrates social-emotional learning to create an engaging and supportive learning environment for all students. By combining Peter Liljedahl’s “Building Thinking Classroom in Mathematics” approach with problem-based learning, the course …

The Overture! Then Is Here-And-Now: Hindsight Is Twenty, Twenty?, Elena Kydd

Music Therapy Theses

My existence and presence as a Black woman and graduate scholar in music therapy have allowed me to share my experience of racial trauma and oppression in the hallways of GCSU’s music therapy program. Autoethnography is the method I use to write my thesis on the relationships between Blackness, pedagogy, and music therapy. Thus, I perform an evocative autoethnographic study that allows me to share my personal experience of racial trauma and oppression within the culture of music therapy and to critique the larger social structures of whiteness that disenfranchise and dominate me and other Black student music therapists (SMTs). …

The Effectiveness Of A Social And Emotional Learning Intervention Program With Middle School Students In Central Georgia, Daymond Ray

Curriculum and Instruction (Ed.D.) Dissertations

Addressing students' social and emotional learning can lead to increased social and emotional functioning, improved classroom and school behavior, and increased academic performance. This study investigated the effectiveness of a social and emotional learning (SEL) intervention program in a middle school in central Georgia. The study utilized a mixed methodology and examined the effects of a semester long SEL intervention program called Second Step. The participants in the study consisted of 60 7th-grade students between 11 and 13 years of age who were enrolled in a health education course for the second semester at ABC Middle School. Descriptive statistics and …

Adults' Recollections And Reflections On The Impacts Of Grade Retention, April Dockery

Curriculum and Instruction (Ed.D.) Dissertations

This qualitative study chronicles the experiences of retention as told by adults who experienced retention. Through criterion sampling and snowball sampling, ten participants were identified and interviewed to learn more about their experiences with retention. Through one-on-one interviews, the researcher sought to examine what characterizes the experiences and responses of adults who were retained during their K-12 academic career. Their in-depth responses revealed participants’ perceptions of retention and the effects that it produced in their lives. This study humanized the data by allowing participants to tell an account of retention that coincides with past research. The findings of this study …

The Impact Of A Human Trafficking Educational Module On Nurse Practitioner Students Awareness, Knowledge, And Confidence In Responding To Human Trafficking, Casey Elliott

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Translational and Clinical Research Projects

Aim: The purpose of this study was to determine if a human trafficking education module increased master level nursing students’ awareness, knowledge, and confidence in responding to human trafficking (HT) victims. Background: HT in the United States and worldwide is a growing problem. Millions of men, women, and children are victims of HT each year. Victims of human trafficking are often vulnerable due to several factors, including emotional problems, social instability, and economic difficulties. Studies have found up to 88% of victims of HT are seen by a healthcare provider during their captivity. Improving the awareness, knowledge, and confidence of …

Case Study Of The Little Caterpillars Development Center, Soyun Park

Graduate Research Showcase

Music therapy is a clinical and evidence-based field in which a certified music therapist manipulates music in a therapeutic relationship to help a client reach healthcare or educational goals. In this case study of the Little Caterpillars Development Center, a student music therapist (SMT) performed music therapy on infants and emerging toddlers, while being supervised by a music therapy professor at GCSU. The CDC Developmental Milestones Checklist was used to assess the highest need of each population. For infants, the music therapy goal was to promote language development, measured by sticking out tongue, blowing raspberries, and saying “mama” or “dada.” …

Effect Of Leveled Literacy Intervention On Reading Comprehension Of Students With Specific Learning Disabilities​, Joni Talbert

Graduate Research Showcase

The Leveled Literacy Intervention System was designed by Fountas and Pinnell to address deficits in reading and comprehension. This intervention system consists of a 30-minute scripted lesson designed to address phonics/word work as well as comprehension skills to increase a student’s reading proficiency. The researcher will determine the effectiveness of the Leveled Literacy Intervention program in reading comprehension for students who have an eligibility of Specific Learning Disability. Presentation will include a description of a student with an eligibility of Specific Learning Disability in the academic area of reading. This research is a single-subject A-B design over a six-week period. …

Effects Of American Sign Language On Communication For Students With Language Deficits, Haley Thigpen

Graduate Research Showcase

Effects of American Sign Language on Communication for Students with Language Deficits was conducted in a K-2 self-contained class at a primary school. This research was conducted in order to study the benefits of the use of American Sign Language (ASL) for students in order to communicate in the classroom setting. Ensuring that students with a language deficit have a form of communication in the classroom is key to making sure that they are getting the most out of their educational experience. Researchers have demonstrated the benefits of sign language including effective communication, speech and emotional development, lowered frustration levels, …

Help Me Help You: Impact Of Outreach On Recruitment And Client Engagement, Mary Brigid Harding, Abigail Mccabe

Graduate Research Showcase

The purpose of this research is to determine how much outreach is too much outreach when recruiting students to Georgia College Graduate Programs. Within the College of Business and Technology we track inquiries and applicants as well as tracking the outreach that is conducted within the office. The outreach tracking, being updated weekly, is intended to watch for potential impact on our conversion rates. The process being researched is that we will find the point at which outreach increasing conversion rates might plateau, and if ever it were to go down due to “too much” outreach. We will be tracking …

What Do Struggling Readers Think?, Janelle Butler, Emily Blankenship, Samuel Conway, Brittany Culbreath, Marine Foron-Leabeater, Michael Ferra, Damiale Johnson, Megan King, Kimberly Vinson, Leila Warren, Linda Bradley, Alexandra Berglund

Graduate Research Showcase

Research Question How do struggling readers identify their experiences with reading, both inside and outside of school?

Purpose In an era of high stakes testing and pressure for students to demonstrate academic achievement, particularly in reading, the state of Georgia has emphasized additional rigor over the past ten years. Data demonstrates that 36% of Georgia’s children read below grade level at the end of third grade (GADOE, 2022). A range of efforts to improve reading levels include the establishment of the Deal Center, Senate Dyslexia Bill (SB 48), and a state reading task force addressing teacher preparation for teaching reading. …

Can Close Reading Improve Skills And A Desire To Read? (Action Research Proposal), Whitney Moon

Graduate Research Showcase

“I have no idea what this paper is talking about, what does this word mean, do we have to read all of it?” I hear these phrases and questions repeatedly in my eighth-grade classroom from students that not only struggle reading but also to dig deeper and pull out the meaning of specific passages given to them. This school year I realized that students are being required to read less (for numerous reasons this action research will not cover) and when they are expected to complete a reading assignment; there is pushback, apathy and a lack of desire to …

Using Song To Teach Sight Words, Taylor Hagood Guin

Graduate Research Showcase

This research is about how a group of seven kindergarten classes used a short and straightforward song to recognize the following six common kindergarten sight words: on, off, up, us, no, & go. As a current music educator and former middle grades English teacher, I wanted to create an opportunity to establish cross-curricular connections in my music classroom. For this specific experiment, seven different classes, including General Education, Self-Contained Special Education, and English Language Learning classes, were selected. They were taught these six sight word songs through the “Sight Word Song.” I selected the sight words specifically because the students …

Impact Of A Puppet On Music Performance Anxiety In Elementary Students, Jessica Nohner

Graduate Research Showcase

Music Performance Anxiety (MPA) is a common problem among musicians and has been shown to impact young children. There are many factors that may contribute to student feelings of MPA including perfectionism. Music educators are in a unique position and have a responsibility to assist students with MPA. While some strategies have been used to help individuals cope with feelings of MPA, music educators do not have researched strategies available to them which are easily implemented in general music classrooms. In music therapy and psychology, puppets have been used in work with children. In this study I research the use …

Adapting An Hbcu-Inspired Framework For Black Student Success In U.S. Lis Education, Ana Ndumu, Shaundra Walker

Library Faculty Scholarship

This perspective essay explores Gasman & Arroyo’s (2014) HBCU-inspired framework for Black student success as a prism for re-envisioning LIS education. In response to calls for anti-hegemonic LIS education, the authors discuss a potential tool for Black student success and suggest its benefits to LIS education. The framework can introduce non-white, anti-racist educational practices to the work of educating the U.S. library workforce; it is relevant in light of ongoing racial and political strife in U.S. society.

Accommodations For Underserved Students In Music Education, William M. Refuss

The Corinthian

This research examines socioeconomic status and its relation to accommodating students with special needs where access to specific technologies and equipment is limited. For students who need costly accommodations where socioeconomic status affects access, other methods of accommodation need to be found. This paper focuses on the specific goals in a music education classroom and how students with disabilities struggle to achieve such goals without accommodations, as well as examining different personnel and technologies in which access is limited when examining the financial impact. Such accommodations include music therapists assigned to the school, inclusion classrooms, modified instruments, and other technologies …

Inside The Music Classroom: Deaf Students, Robyn S. Meeks

The Corinthian

Many students in the music classroom have normal hearing, but we do see some classrooms that have students who are deaf either sing or perform. Many deaf students use cochlear implants for their daily lives, but some do not use cochlear implants and still do well in the music classroom. There are many students who think that family involvement is important to those with cochlear implants. The parents should be aware of that the sound quality from a student who uses CI is not the same as a student who has normal hearing. Single-Sided deafness is one of the types …

Literature Review: Student Interest And Motivation In Recorder Studies, David Russell Dingess Ii

The Corinthian

In my experience as a recorder student in 2001-2002, I noticed that recorder learning came quickly to me, but I was slowed down in the group setting by a few classmates who needed that extra attention. This led me to wonder how far into our recorder playing book we would have gotten without the few students who needed that extra time. I eventually disregarded the recorder and looked forward to the excitement and potential of a middle school band instrument. Later as a music education undergraduate college student, I learned about Alexander Technique and the benefits of learning to create …

Assessing College Students’ Perceived Risk For Developing Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, Carletta Weatherspoon

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Translational and Clinical Research Projects

This study assesses the effectiveness of an evidence-based educational intervention affecting the perception of the risk for developing type 2 diabetes (T2DM) in college students and examined relationships between demographic factors and perception of risk for T2DM. Seventy-seven students from the Georgia College Association of Nursing Students (GCANS) and the Personal Health and Fitness Class participated. Of these, 43 participants completed the post-educational email survey. Instruments measured demographic characteristics, perception of risk for developing diabetes, and diabetes risk. The Risk Perception Survey for Developing Diabetes (RPS-DD) assessed students’ perception of risk at baseline and one week post intervention. There was …

Nsc Role-Playing Simulations: Student Perspectives, Bentley Earnest

Georgia College Student Research Events

GC Student Research Conference Abstract: NSC Role-Playing Simulations: Student Perspectives Statement of Purpose: This will be an oral presentation accompanied by a powerpoint. The purpose of this project is to examine how Kuh and O’Donnell’s (2013) Eight “Key Elements' of High Impact Practices influence simulation based courses. Research Context: We are examining how applying Kuh and O’Donnell’s (2013) Eight “Key Elements” of High-Impact Practices to four National Security Council simulations conducted in Spring 2019 impacted student perspective, as well as assessing (from both faculty and student perspectives) how successful the simulations were in terms of these key elements. Our presentation …

Increasing Knowledge And Self-Efficacy In Nurses Orienting To Cardiovascular Surgery Using A New Periop 202 Program, David Reinhart

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Translational and Clinical Research Projects

The operating room theater can be intimidating for new nurses, thus leading to a shortage of nurses who are comfortable working in this environment. Evidence supports that 50% of perioperative nurses in 2017 were between the age of 50 and 59. Additionally, no formal didactic courses are being offered in undergraduate programs and the challenging environment related directly to the future shortage of perioperative nurses. This negatively impacts the number of trained perioperative cardiovascular nurses. The project proposed a new didactic educational Perioperative (Periop) 202 program that aimed to increase nurses’ self-efficacy to function on the cardiovascular operating room (CVOR) …

The Development, Implementation, And Evaluation Of A Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Training Program, Shantee Henry

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Translational and Clinical Research Projects

Sexual assault is a growing concern in the United States. Appropriate care of its survivors is essential to controlling the short and long-term effects of this trauma. A sexual assault nurse examiner (SANE) is a registered nurse that acquires additional training specializing in the comprehensive care of sexual assault survivors. Research indicates that there are not enough SANEs to provide coverage for the increasing number of sexual assaults, especially in rural areas. To increase the number of certified SANEs in rural areas, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. government provided funds through a grant that was …

Supercavitation Capabilities On A Submarine, Adam Vu

Georgia College Student Research Events

Submarines have shaped the way wars have been fought and have been influential in our understanding of fluid dynamics. In the past, supercavitation has been implemented to an idea that has been used to significantly increase the velocity of torpedoes in Chinese and Russian submarines. An example of this is the Russian VA-111 Shkval torpedo. The idea being that if your torpedo is expelling a gas out of the nose cone region, creating a boundary layer between the water and the torpedo, the torpedo will be facing much less resistance relative to when it was traveling in water alone. This …