Education Commons^™

Gateways To Lived Experiences: Analyzing Florida's B.E.S.T. Elementary Ela Standards To Create A Standards-Based Inventory List Of Multicultural K-2 Children's Literature, Elizabeth D. Rios

Honors Undergraduate Theses

All educators are responsible for making their students feel safe, capable, and seen in the classroom. One way this can be accomplished is by implementing culturally responsive pedagogy. Our students will come from many different backgrounds. One of the most vital ways students will feel seen is by having characters in the books they read that they can identify with and learn from. Therefore, teachers should put effort into including children's literature in their classrooms by choosing culturally diverse books that are also high-quality and align with state standards. There are many high-quality pieces of children's literature that include culturally …

An Exploration Of The Pedsacademy Internship's Influence On Aspiring Educators' Preparation To Teach Children With Chronic Illnesses, Karla A. Sanabria Matos

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The increased emergence of childhood chronic illnesses in the United States of America has created a need for educational support in this unique student population. Research trends have showcased how the child's emotional health and vacancies in legislation are some of the affecting factors when discussing the level of academic aid these children receive from the state. Some other factors that come into play when ensuring children with chronic illnesses are not excluded from receiving quality education are their learning environment, school reintegration process, and evaluating pre-existing hospital-school programs which are all themes covered in this narrative. Teacher preparation programs …

Surveying Educations Professionals To Explore How To Incorporate Trauma Education In Ucf's Teach Preparation Program, Jordan Doman

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Traumatic events do not discriminate based on economic status, race, culture, or age. This is true for the hundreds of thousands of students who walk into classrooms every day having experienced trauma. Our teachers are then challenged to support these students in a time when their ability to learn may be affected by trauma.

The goal of my thesis is to show the need to educate preservice teachers in the University of Central Florida's elementary education teacher preparation program about students experiencing trauma and how to best support these students. By analyzing existing literature and through interviews with professionals working …

Staffing Practices Of Elementary School Principals For Teachers In Primary Grades And Implications For The Prek-3rd Continuum, Laura Albers-Biddle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Principals are considered the educational leaders of their schools and face pressure to improve the quality of education across all levels and disciplines. Principals were interviewed to understand their beliefs, knowledge, and dispositions on staffing teachers in the primary grades. A purposive sample of elementary school principals was drawn from one mid-size suburban district in Florida. Data were analyzed using Bolman and Deal's four-frame organizational theory framework, Cohen's cognitive frame, and Boote's theory of professional discretion. The data strongly suggest that principals do not understand the foundations of early childhood practice. In addition, they do not understand the differences between …

Science Inquiry Kits And Teacher Preparedness To Teach Science As Inquiry In Elementary Classrooms, Angela Clayton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The National Science Education Standards (1996) indicate that science education should include inquiry instruction. Many teachers still struggle with how to implement inquiry in their classrooms and a lack of high quality inquiry-based instructional materials has been posited as a hindrance. The purpose of this qualitative study was to observe the instructional practices of three elementary teachers when using an inquiry-based science kit program in their fourth grade classrooms. Teacher practices and their attitudes towards their preparedness to teach science with the support of the curricular program were examined. Data were collected through pre/post survey comparisons, observations, and a focus …

Linking Place Value Concepts With Computational Practices In Third Grade, Terry Cuffel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In an attempt to examine student understanding of place value with third graders, I conducted action research with a small group of girls to determine if my use of instructional strategies would encourage the development of conceptual understanding of place value. Strategies that have been found to encourage conceptual development of place value, such as use of the candy factory, were incorporated into my instruction. Instructional strategies were adjusted as the study progressed to meet the needs of the students and the development of their understanding of place value. Student explanations of their use of strategies contributed to my interpretation …

Levels Of Line Graph Question Interpretation With Intermediate Elementary Students Of Varying Scientific And Mathematical Knowle, Stacy Keller

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined how intermediate elementary students' mathematics and science background knowledge affected their interpretation of line graphs and how their interpretations were affected by graph question levels. A purposive sample of 14 6th-grade students engaged in think aloud interviews (Ericsson & Simon, 1993) while completing an excerpted Test of Graphing in Science (TOGS) (McKenzie & Padilla, 1986). Hand gestures were video recorded. Student performance on the TOGS was assessed using an assessment rubric created from previously cited factors affecting students' graphing ability. Factors were categorized using Bertin's (1983) three graph question levels. The assessment rubric was validated by Padilla …

Listening To Student Voices: Fifth Graders' Perceptions Of Their Mathematics Learning Within The Context Of A Mathematics Reform, Elizabeth Hoffman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study explored fifth graders' perceptions of their mathematics learning within the context of a reform effort. Students' voices are the focus of this study due to the paucity of literature on student learning from the students' perspective (Erickson & Shultz, 1992), particularly the elementary student (Gentilucci, 2004). The participants of this study, who in the past have been given a variety of labels including "disadvantaged" or "at-risk," clearly articulated, even in nonstandard English, their perceptions of their mathematics learning. They passionately explained what helped them learn mathematics as well as what impeded their mathematics learning and were often …

Perceptions Of Teachers And Administrators Of The Organizational Supports For Inclusion Programs In Southwest Florida Elementary Schools, Brian Douglas Moore

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The success of exceptional student education, although dependent upon the teachers involved, is largely made possible both by the role the school principal performs and the organizational support provided by the school district. The primary purpose of this study was to identify the sources and components of organizational support required to implement the inclusion of students with disabilities into general education classrooms. The provision of resources by administrators, particularly the building principal, is an example of an organizational support that helps students with disabilities learn successfully in this setting. These resources include funding, special curricula, adaptive technology, organizational resources such …

A Profile Of The Literacy Practices Of K-5 Central Florida Teachers Of, Stephanie Cowern

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The problem of this study was to develop a literacy teaching profile of the 2004-2005 Teachers of the Year in Kindergarten through grade 5 in four central Florida school districts. Of primary interest was the extent to which these teachers indicated their use of exemplary literacy practices as defined using the domains and indicators of the National Exemplary Literacy Teacher Assessment (NELTA). The NELTA results were analyzed using frequencies and percentages. The results of the NELTA were also evaluated and discussed when total length of years teaching, and length of years at present grade level were considered. The data were …