Education Commons^™

Breaking Out From Tradition: Redesign Of Large Physiology Lecture Increases Engagement, Inclusion, And Student Outcomes, Jordyn Dickey, John Redden, Kristen Kimball

Honors Scholar Theses

The human digestive system is a diverse network of cells, tissues, and organs that is regulated by intrinsic (e.g. nervous and endocrine systems) and extrinsic factors (e.g. secretions, pH, and the microbiome). Given the volume of content and the dense physiology involved, this system is difficult for instructors to teach and equally challenging for students to understand. This is especially true in our two-semester Human Anatomy and Physiology course for pre-health students at the University of Connecticut. In the Spring 2017 semester, we developed and implemented an active learning based approach when teaching the histology and regulation of gastric secretions …

Preservice Teachers' Referral Of Students For Special Education, Annie Maclachlan

Honors Scholar Theses

The purpose of this study was to understand which students teachers nominate for special education services, and what student qualities influence the nomination. Specifically, in this study, we investigated whether a student’s ethnicity and classroom behavior influence his or her nomination for special education. We created six profiles in which we varied ethnic names and classroom behaviors, and asked juniors and seniors in a selected teacher preparation program to evaluate the profile they were given. They were then asked to indicate whether or not they would refer their given hypothetical student for special education services, and to provide justification for …

Self-Perceived Success Of First-Generation College-Going Latinx Students, Sarah Mongillo

Honors Scholar Theses

This exploratory study aims to address the unique experiences of Latinx first-generation college-going students during their undergraduate careers. Literature has emphasized the obstacles Latinx students face during admission phase to college; this research examines the experiences of students attending a predominantly white institution (PWI) in the northeast. Latinx individuals are the most underrepresented ethnic group on college campuses, and those whose parents lack knowledge of the US education system must overcome additional struggles. Through qualitative data analysis of 20 undergraduate students’ survey responses, this study finds that first-generation college-going Latinx students feel isolated in their college experience and prioritize non-traditional …

Pilot Test Of Communication With A ‘Rapid Fire’ Technique, Desiree A. Díaz, Candace Pettigrew, Christine Dileone, Meredith Dodge, Deborah Shelton

Journal for Evidence-based Practice in Correctional Health

Abstract

An innovative communication training technique, ‘Rapid Fire’, was created to enhance communication and was incorporated into the debrief component of a simulation designed for correctional nurses to promote learning and engagement. The term ‘Rapid Fire’ was used to expose the critical time element that appears in the first five minutes of many crisis situations, where a quick relay of information and problem solving is essential; such as in a cardiac arrest or other rapidly deteriorating patient situations. This technique consists of a five-minute session prior to the structured debrief. During the ‘Rapid Fire’ portion of the debrief, all learners …

A Study Of Parent Perceptions Of Advanced Academic Potential In The Early Grades, Jennifer L. O'Brien

Honors Scholar Theses

Parents are key stakeholders in children’s education; this project, which is part of a larger study about early identification of high potential, focused on parent awareness of the behaviors that indicate high potential and the kinds of resources that would support developing academic potential in the early grades (grades K-2). This project consisted of an online parent survey and a parent workshop with a card sort component in which parents indicated what kinds of resources would be priorities. The study took place in three school districts with large populations of families from low-income backgrounds. A total of 38 parents completed …

Racismo Y Lenguaje, Michele Back, Virgina Zavala

Faculty Published Works

Este libro busca contribuir al estudio de los procesos de racialización y de la construcción discursiva de nuevas identidades en el Perú contemporáneo. En lugar de abordar el racismo desde una dimensión cognitiva, se interesa por el rol que las prácticas lingüísticas cumplen en su constitución. Las diez contribuciones que integran este volumen examinan los discursos y las prácticas del racismo en ámbitos diversos y discuten las sutiles formas en las que se construye a un «otro» desde un criterio aparentemente no racial, pero bajo retóricas raciales de modo subyacente. Todos los artículos abordan la forma en que la raza …

Sharing A Successful Practice: A Life-Enhancing And Life-Saving Approach To Health Education, Joanne M. Crossman

NERA Conference Proceedings 2016

No abstract provided.

Wrack Lines Spring/Summer 2016, Margaret (Peg) A. Van_Patten Ms.

Wrack Lines

This is the entire Spring/Summer issue of Wrack Lines Magazine, which has a shellfish theme and a Connecticut focus. 24 pages.

Underrepresentation Of Minorities In Gifted And Talented Programs: A Content Analysis Of Five District Program Plans, Jessica Stargardter

Honors Scholar Theses

Many educators and researchers recognize the issue of underrepresented minority groups in gifted and talented education programs. Since the landmark Supreme Court case Brown vs Board of Education in 1954, policies, laws, and standards have been attempting to establish equity in educational programs. This content analysis explores how select districts in the metropolitan region of Colorado align with the NAGC’s standard 2. The research showed that the majority of these districts followed NAGC’s standard 2, but the underrepresentation of minority groups within the metropolitan region of Colorado continued. National, state, and local districts need to do more to promote equity …

Literacy Across Disciplines: An Investigation Of Text Used In Content-Specific Classrooms, Pam Mcdonald

Honors Scholar Theses

This pilot study focused on literacy in secondary settings, where classes are content-specific and organized into varying levels. Teacher views on literacy instruction as well as the types of texts used across the disciplines and course levels were explored. The following research questions guided the study: 1) Do early high school teachers view their class’ reading tasks as more discipline- or content-focused? 2) Does the complexity of the texts assigned in early high school vary across the various course levels? 3) Does the complexity of the texts assigned in early high school vary across the disciplines? 4) Does the authenticity …

Life History Theory And School-Age Pregnancy: Review And Application, Anna Rozman

Honors Scholar Theses

The United States currently holds one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in the developed world, but many Americans, including policy makers, view adolescent childbearing as a societal problem that stems from negligence, promiscuity, and poor decision making. This project seeks to frame the institution of school-age motherhood through the lens of Life History Theory, which posits that early reproduction is an adaptation in the face of harsh conditions and high extrinsic mortality rates. This assertion is supported by evidence that adolescent childbearing has been the norm for most of human history, and continues to be practiced in natural fertility …

Green Chemistry As A Tool For Understanding The Toxic Substances Control Act: A Lecture Module For Undergraduate Students, Molly R. Blessing

Honors Scholar Theses

The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) is the central form of chemical regulation existent in the United States today, yet scientists are often unaware or uncertain of its provisions. Violations of TSCA by unknowing chemists set industry and government unnecessarily at odds. A lecture on TSCA was developed for undergraduate students that uses the concept of green chemistry to promote interest and incentivize learning. Green chemistry methods are cleaner and less wasteful than traditional chemical ones, and many companies using them are at the forefront of technological innovation. The lecture explains both green chemistry and TSCA, includes company case studies, …

Self-Talk+ And Strategic Teacher Moves Aimed At Cognitive Advancement In Linguistically Diverse Elementary Mathematics Classrooms, Bailey M. Muchin

Honors Scholar Theses

This study’s objective was to determine the purposes of self-talk and related forms of talk (self-talk+) in linguistically diverse elementary mathematics classrooms, teacher moves that are often associated with self-talk+, and the relationship between self-talk+ and strategic teacher moves. This study analyzed transcripts, audio recordings, and video recordings from several elementary mathematics classrooms in dual language programs in order to determine the relationship among self-talk+ and strategic teacher moves. This study specifically focused on the purposes of self-talk+ that contributed to, or had the potential to impact, student cognitive advancement. The results of data analysis were mapped in order …

Use Of Phonetics In The Beginner French Classroom: An Analysis Of Textbooks, Melissa B. Scarbrough

Honors Scholar Theses

Textbooks are a common resource for teachers in a variety of content areas, as such it is important that teachers know whether or not textbooks are aligned to standards and current research. This study investigates if common textbooks, reported to be in use in schools across Connecticut, are aligned to recent second language acquisition and French linguistics studies.

Evaluation Of Gifted Education Using A-F School Grading Accountability Systems, Daniel R. Arndt

Honors Scholar Theses

A recent trend in accountability systems in the United States has been grading schools on an A-F scale. Some of the evaluation components included in these systems are standardized test proficiency rates and student growth measures. Traditionally, these systems have not emphasized accountability for gifted education programming or services. The accountability systems of the sixteen states in the U.S. under these A-F systems were analyzed for indicators that involve gifted education, which does not yet have a federal mandate or centralized decision-making. The frequency of evaluation components were compared at the high school and elementary school levels. The only gifted …

Questioning Patterns During Discussions In Collaborative Groups In Socioeconomically Diverse High Schools, Rosa Aghekyan

NERA Conference Proceedings 2014

The use of higher level questioning is known to promote problem solving. However, the research on questioning patterns is mostly restricted to elementary and middle schools. Not enough is known about questioning patterns employed by students during group discussions in socioeconomically diverse high schools. This study’s goals were to record the questioning patterns used during group discussions and find out how often students utilize higher level thinking questions. The research showed significant increase in the percentage of higher level questions utilized by the experimental group pre-test and post-test: 85% in Day 4 compared to 65% in Day 1.

Co-Teaching Partnerships For Excellence In The Age Of Accountability: A Preliminary Study Of The Effects Of Co-Teaching In Student Teaching, Jeanne Delcolle, Claudine Keenan

NERA Conference Proceedings 2014

Accountability measures for educators have made districts reluctant to accept teacher candidates for clinical experience in a traditional take-over model. Difficulty placing teacher candidates prompted Richard Stockton College to research innovative student teaching models to strengthen clinical partnerships with P-12 districts. Studies of co-teaching in student teaching from St. Cloud State University showed a model that provided many benefits to the teacher candidate and cooperating teacher, as well as notable gains in student achievement. That research inspired this pilot study, whichidentified co-teaching strengths in professionalism, teaching time, student learning, and cooperating teacher growth, with implications for strengthening future research.

The Use Of Collaborative Assignments To Enhance Experiential Learning In Community College Health Education Courses, Andrea S. Salis, Tony Monahan, Daniel Armstrong

NERA Conference Proceedings 2014

Experiential learning is a critical part of health education courses. It provides opportunities for students to connect their classroom learning to outside experiences to achieve a better understanding of various issues and concepts. Through experiential learning, students can analyze, evaluate and document outside experiences in relation to their coursework. This study investigated the significance of collaborative assignments in experiential learning using the high impact practice, global and diversity learning. The results of this study demonstrate higher scores on analytical reasoning and connections to coursework when experiential learning includes a collaborative assignment.

Team Teaching Buddies: Student Teaching In The Era Of Edtpa, Barbara Rosenfeld

NERA Conference Proceedings 2014

Student teachers are typically placed in a classroom with a single mentor teacher. Although there have been many changes in education within the past decades, including new teacher certification requirements, there has been little modification in this student teaching structure. It is time to review student teaching programs to find the best way to insure that student teacher candidates have an optimal experience. This study examines a buddy approach wherein two student teachers work as a team in a classroom with a single mentor teacher to determine if this is a useful paradigm for helping students through the certification process.

The Effects Of Reading Mode On Recall And Comprehension, Anne M. Niccoli

NERA Conference Proceedings 2014

This study explored students' differences in reading comprehension between digital and paper reading modes. This quasi-experiment consisted of adult students enrolled in military leadership courses. Each randomly selected group read the same leadership article, either digital or paper. Students completed an assessment to determine differences in recall accuracy and comprehension between digital and paper readers. While there were no significant differences in group means of recall between reading versions, a persistent pattern in differences of score ranges and frequencies was evident for recall accuracy and comprehension. The implications and considerations of individual differences in score frequencies are discussed.

Pre-Service And In-Service Teachers’ Rubric Assessments Of Mathematical Problem Solving, Grant Kuehl, Kimberly Sofronas, Abigail Lau

NERA Conference Proceedings 2014

This paper will report findings from a study designed to explore pre-service and in-service teachers’ rubric assessments of 4^th-grade student mathematics work samples. Pre-service and in-service elementary school teachers were recruited to participate in this survey-based research which included three hypotheses: (a) in-service teachers would report greater confidence levels using rubrics and exhibit better attitudes toward assessment than pre-service teachers, (b) in-service teachers would be more reliable in their rubric scores than pre-service teachers, and (c) in-service teachers would identify greater differences than pre-service teachers in their evaluations of the work samples. Descriptive statistics, t-tests, and qualitative methods …

Assessment Of Community College Students’ Analytical Reasoning Skills And Engagement In Deep Learning, Andreas Salis, Victor Fichera, Ian Beckford

NERA Conference Proceedings 2015

This study investigates the effectiveness of implementing High Impact Practices (HIPs) across the disciplines to determine the level at which community college students perceive they are engaging in deep learning activities and demonstrate analytical reasoning skills. The results show that HIP courses more extensively required/encouraged: working on projects with others; synthesizing information from multiple sources; considering the perspectives from peoples of other backgrounds and cultures and expressed greater degrees of connectivity to their college, especially those experiencing multiple HIPs. Students in HIP courses did not demonstrate higher levels of analytical reasoning skills as compared to non-HIP courses.

Socially Mediated Mathematical Strategies In A Dynamic Multi-Touch Geometry Environment, Stephen Hegedus, Yenny Otálora

NERA Conference Proceedings 2015

We examine how young children work together in small groups using interactive multimodal technologies that integrate dynamic geometry software with multi-touch interfaces in order to understand a fundamental scientific idea ofcovariation. The study aims to investigate how 4th-grade children co-construct mathematical strategies for solving an Etchasketch-like activity using the Geometer’ Sketchpad® and the iPad.

Interdisciplinary Collaboration To Develop Intercultural Competence By Integrating Math, Languages, And Social Studies, Fabiana Cardetti, Manuela Wagner, Michael Bryam

NERA Conference Proceedings 2015

We share and engage participants in a discussion of the results of collaborative interdisciplinary work to create interdisciplinary (mathematics, world languages, social studies) curriculum units integrating intercultural competence and social justice for 6th grade. We present initial results of the analysis into the essence of the collaboration along with challenges.

Using Behavior Change Plans To Make Wellness An Informed Priority: Health Education Meets General Education, Joanne M. Crossman

NERA Conference Proceedings 2015

Students advanced health education and general education skills through a multi-phased behavior change plan project. Predominantly selecting nutrition or fitness as focus areas for improvement, 145 students set SMART goals, reported BCP progress, perceived obstacles, and behaviors important toward goal attainment, illuminating their importance in successfully teaching/managing health behavior change. One-group posttest-only design included quantitative analysis of reported BCP success. Qualitative evaluation of students’ reports were distilled into common themes. Seven behaviors were found important to goal attainment, physical/psychological/financial benefits were reported, correlations to the study site’s core values were reported, and final reflections indicated students would use BCP processes …

Signing Exact English: Providing A Complete Model Of English For Literacy Growth, Deborah Stryker, Diane Nielsen, Barbara Luetke

NERA Conference Proceedings 2015

Signing Exact English, SEE, is an invented sign system created in the early 1970s by Gerilee Gustason, a deaf university professor and researcher, and Esther Zawolkow, a child of deaf adults (1993). In a rationale for the development of SEE, Nielsen, Luetke, McClean and Stryker (2015) explained that many morphological aspects, like word endings, are not visible in speech and are difficult to speechread. For example, words such as interest, interesting, interests, and interested are nearly impossible to distinguish using speechreading alone and some involve hard-to-hear sounds which make these important, audibly-insalient, elements of English difficult for D/HH children …

Evaluation Of R Package Ltm With Irt Dichotomous Models, Fusun Sahin, Kimberly Colvin

NERA Conference Proceedings 2015

There are many software packages that estimate item response theory parameters and examinee abilities. This study evaluates the accuracy of the item parameter and ability estimates generated by the open-source R package ltm. In this simulation study, item and ability estimates were compared to the true parameters under six conditions that differed in the numbers of items and examinees. After looking at the resulting bias, mean absolute deviation, and root mean square error, we concluded that item parameter and ability estimates from ltmwere estimated reasonably accurately with results similar to previous studies of established commercial software.

Transparent Problem-Based Learning Across The Disciplines In The Community College Context: Issues And Impacts, Franca Ferarri, Andreas Salis, Kostas Stroumbakis, Amy Traver, Tanya Zhelecheva

NERA Conference Proceedings 2015

Research reveals that students benefit from high-impact practices (HIPs), transparent teaching-learning methods, and problem-based curricula. These benefits appear to be particularly profound for traditionally underserved students. This study uses pre-post survey and rubric-based assessment methods to examine the use of HIPs, transparent teaching-learning methods, and problem-based curricula in tandem and across the disciplines to support traditionally underserved students’ academic engagement and performance in the community college context. Findings related to faculty implementation, students’ perceptions of transparency, and students’ development of problem-solving skills are discussed.

Dialogic Discourse In Linguistically Diverse Elementary Mathematics Classes: Lessons Learned From Dual Language Classrooms, Mary Truxaw

NERA Conference Proceedings 2015

This research investigated discourse in linguistically diverse elementary mathematics classrooms on a continuum from univocal (transmitting meaning) to dialogic (dialogue to construct meaning). Although analysis revealed predominantly univocal discourse in these classrooms, it also uncovered verbal moves and promising practices for supporting English learners with dialogic discourse and mathematical understanding.

A Sixth Of The Nation: Large City Reading Scores Will Improve Only Slightly By 2021, Stuart Smith

NERA Conference Proceedings 2015

The first objective of this study was to determine the correlation between the percentages of fourth-grade students eligible for free lunch and fourth-grade NAEP reading scores for 21 Trial Urban Assessment Districts (TUDA). For the 2011 assessment year, the correlation was -0.79. For the 2013 year, the correlation (percentage of free lunch and reading scores) was higher, -0.87.

The second objective was to determine the correlation between a second predictor variable - mean household income - and fourth-grade NAEP reading scores for 21 TUDA districts tested in 2013. The correlation was moderately high, 0.70.