Education Commons^™

Programas De Ell Dentro Del Área De Fredericksburg, Va: Una Descripción Y Justificación Para Su Defensa, Natalie Buchanan

Student Research Submissions

El propósito de esta investigación es analizar y discutir los desafíos comunes que los estudiantes aprendiendo Inglés como segundo idioma (para aquí y delante ELL) experimentan en Virginia. Con el fin de lograr este objetivo, realizaré entrevistas a varios maestros de ELL en las Escuelas Públicas de la Ciudad de Fredericksburg para discutir los problemas y desafíos que estos programas experimentan. Con mis hallazgos espero abogar por la comprensión de estos temas y sugerir ideas para ayudar a desarrollar programas de ELL más eficientes para la población actual de K-12 de ELL del 10% en las escuelas públicas de Virginia …

Tools Of Oppression: The Virginia School System And The School To Prison Pipeline, Natalie Johnson-Abbott

Student Research Submissions

This paper examines the intersection of race, cultural expression, and disciplinary practices within the American education system, focusing on Virginia's school districts. Recent legislative efforts, such as the CROWN Act in Texas, have sought to address discriminatory practices related to cultural expression in schools. Legal actions, like the lawsuit against the Winner School District in South Dakota, have aimed to rectify disparities in disciplinary outcomes for Indigenous students. However, meaningful reform requires more than just legislative and legal interventions; it necessitates a fundamental shift in educational practices to promote inclusivity and cultural sensitivity. This includes diversifying school staff, implementing culturally …

Engaging Drama: Does Drama Increase Student Engagement In A Second-Grade History Class?, Jasmine Villanueva

Student Research Submissions

This research investigated how drama integration benefitted students’ academic achievement and their engagement in history. This study integrated drama and history in a second-grade class, by allowing students to create tableaus to present and share information. The study used pre and post assessments, an attitudes survey to measure students’ attitudes towards history before and after integration, and the researcher also recorded student engagement at the beginning and end of drama integration. This study showed significant improvement in student content knowledge through the use of tableaus, and inconclusive results as far as engagement and student attitudes were concerned.

Stories In Motion: Integrating Creative Dance In A Language Arts Classroom, Amira Akam

Student Research Submissions

As learning gaps have widened in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an increased need for research-based strategies to improve student academic achievement and engagement. This study explored the integration of creative dance as a form of storytelling in a kindergarten language arts classroom. Students were introduced to an element of dance and used it to create short dance phrases in a unit on retelling. Both qualitative and quantitative data was collected using pre/post tests and student interviews measuring students’ engagement and enjoyment. Students involved in this study showed significant growth in their ability to orally retell …

Covid-19'S Effects On Students' Educational Growth, Anna Chavez Maples

Student Research Submissions

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has affected the education system drastically and created many challenges for families as well as schools. When schools moved to online and virtual learning, many students began to fall behind in their education and the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) became harder for schools to meet. The following research explored the effects the pandemic caused in schools and how far behind students are today with their education and socialization. The results of this research will share ways to help today’s students catch up in their education so that they can reach their full potential.

Speaking To The Head And The Heart: Prioritizing Empathetic Communication In The Post-Covid Workplace, Kevin T. Caffrey

Administrative and Professional Faculty Research

As of August 2022, COVID-19 continues to affect our daily lives in physical, psychological, and financial ways. Many vulnerable individuals are struggling to adapt to returning to work and as a result, employee morale is at risk. In times of crises, empathy is needed in the workplace to support one another, but many leaders and employees may not have a firm grasp of the concept. This article seeks to define empathetic communication and explore the need for prioritizing empathy amid the current post-COVID-19 workplace. Through a literature review of empathy, psychological safety in the workplace, and crisis leadership, the author …

High-/Low-/No-Tech: Toward A Simplified, Practitioner-Centered Framework For Virtual Learning And Beyond, Janine S. Davis, Christy Irish, Melissa Wells, Kristina A. Peck, Courtney Clayton

Education Faculty Articles

This qualitative study explored the use of the terms high-, low-, and no-tech among pre-service teachers during a sudden shift to virtual instruction. Focus areas included how pre-service teachers and mentor teachers described the role and purpose of these varied levels of technology for their teaching in a virtual setting. The findings show that choices related to levels of technology use are nuanced and complicated and include a need for consideration of the context. We include a simplified framework to guide future instructional decisions for the integration of technology at various levels.

Math Musicians: Exploring The Impact Of Content Integrated Pop Music On Students’ Attitudes And Engagement During Math Instruction, Megan Hook

Student Research Submissions

Traditional methods of math instruction have been consistently linked to students having negative feelings about math, as well as decreased motivation and engagement during math instruction. This study investigated how arts integration, specifically integrating pop music, impacted students’ attitudes about math and students’ motivation and engagement during math instruction in a fifth-grade classroom. This study was mixed methods, with quantitative data collected through an adapted version of a student dispositions survey to assess students’ attitudes, motivation, and engagement, and qualitative data collected through a short response question about how students feel music impacted their math experiences. Results indicated that the …

Coronavirus Disability Survey: Assessing The Impact Of Covid-19 On Young Adults With Disabilities, Hena Rashid

Student Research Submissions

This paper seeks to inform individuals of the importance of digital inclusivity, diminish the digital divide, and accessibility to technological services of college students who experience a form of disability. The United States has conducted minimal research on the digital disability rhetoric, promoted minimal disability-inclusive measures to protect the rights and well-being of college students, and minimal assistance to mitigate Coronavirus (COVID-19) impacts to this population subgroup. This subject can have a big impact on individuals who suffer from disability stigma, low accessibility issues, and who have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. Furthermore, this subject will benefit college students …

La Discapacidad En Los Sistemas De Educación En Bolivia Y Chile, Kree Pace

Student Research Submissions

The flawed approach to the education of disabled students is an issue that plagues countless countries across the globe, and those in Latin America are no different. Bolivia and Chile are two vastly different countries from a cultural and economic perspective. However, one issue that they have in common is the manner in which they attempt to teach disabled students. There are two major models of disability; social and medical. The social model teaches that disabilities are not inherently negative traits to have, and that those who have them should be supported by society. It also emphasizes that the organization …

How Rhythm Affects Prosody, Mckenzie Ward

Student Research Submissions

Music interventions and how they benefit reading fluency have been researched, but there is more to be done in discovering the benefits of rhythm and prosody. This quantitative research study looked at how rhythm-based interventions affect student prosody in a second-grade classroom. Data were gathered from a music experience survey, a prosody pre-assessment, and a prosody post-assessment. The music intervention in this study involved three rhythm-based interventions called “DeeDee games.” This research analyzed and compared the growth between the prosody pre-and post-assessments and the results between students with musical backgrounds and students without musical backgrounds. This study found insufficient evidence …

Effectiveness Of Virginia Teacher Preparation Programs, Christine Houchins

Student Research Submissions

The perspective of first-year teachers is valuable in identifying the ways in which preparation programs are successfully educating their student teachers. This qualitative study investigates the effectiveness of university-based teacher preparation programs accredited by the Commonwealth of Virginia. Specifically, this study is attempting to gain a better understanding of how the knowledge and skills of novice teachers were efficiently developed in the areas of differentiation, multiculturalism, classroom management, and content knowledge as well as how mentorship through field experience contributes to their growth. To answer the research question, seven interviews were analyzed from in-state, first-year teachers that recently graduated from …

How Social Media’S Rhetoric Shapes The Social Identity Of Online Groups: Forming, Confirming And Reinforcing And The Algorithmic Role, Crystal Rose

Student Research Submissions

The world has become integrated with technology at a rapid rate. The rhetoric of online platforms, due to technology integration, allows people to connect, converse, and meet others who have common character traits. Eyman (2015) defines rhetoric as an action that intends to persuade and form meaning. These platforms are referred to as "social media," which are online networks made by people who use rhetoric to form, confirm, and reinforce the connections of platform users with common character traits: Hobbies, thoughts, race, gender, or religion. These common character traits make up one's social identity. This study details the findings of …

Mathematics Value Research, Diane Lamoy

Student Research Submissions

Recent research shows how significant experiential learning can be to teaching the critical application of math to real-world problems. However, there is still a lack of research regarding experiential learning and its application to real-world problems regarding the concept of value. Concepts such as value are necessary for money management to help people maximize their purchase of goods and services. Currently, math classrooms teach procedural problem-solving, which may leave students unable to apply math critically to value-related math problems. This research examined critical thinking skills through completion of a real-world question about value before and after an experiential learning activity …

Thinking Outside The [Text] Box: The Effects Of Multimodal Literacy Instruction On Middle School Social Studies Students’ Content Comprehension And Analytical Skills, Glynnis C. Farleigh

Student Research Submissions

This action research study examines the effects of multimodal literacy instruction on seventh grade social studies students’ content comprehension and analytical skills. Multimodal instruction refers to any instruction that combines two or more modes of communication, and in this case, refers to a blend of discipline-specific, media, and digital literacy instruction. Over the course of three content units, I implemented three multimodal literacy instruction workshops. Prior to the start of each workshop, participating students completed a self-generated pre-test that measured their content comprehension and analytical skills. Following the completion of each workshop, participating students then completed a self-generated post-test that …

Addressing Digital Technologies Needed For Students In K-12 Schools, Tiffany Tueros

Student Research Submissions

This research aimed to learn more about how K-12 schools have addressed the needs of all students in their school districts equally as it relates to access for appropriate technology for distance learning. The intended research was conducted through Qualtrics, an online survey software, which was dispersed through social media sites to reach broad and diverse pool of participants within this study’s target audience, to include parents, teachers, and administrations in a K-12 school system. Participants who clicked on the link to the survey were given an informed consent notice, including an explanation of how distance learning and equitable access …

Lessons From The Pivot: Higher Education's Response To The Pandemic, Janine S. Davis, Christy Irish, Ellen Watson, Rosemary Huff Arneson, Jennifer D. Walker, Tracey S. Hodges, Olivia Murphy, Lee Skallerup Bessette, Et Al.

Education Faculty Books

This text includes chapters from instructional designers, university faculty and staff, and undergraduate and graduate students, and the text has been divided into three sections to reflect these varied perspectives. Each section begins with research-based perspectives, but also contains more personal narratives at the end. While the context of most of the chapters is the United States, there are also chapters with a Canadian context. It is also important to note that, as of the first half of 2021, the pandemic rages on, and mentions of COVID-19 in the following chapters will be reflective of the state of affairs in …

Supporting Advocacy, Deliberation, And Civic Learning In The Classroom, Leslie Martin, P. Anand Rao, Adrienne Brovero, Gonzalo Campos-Dintrans, Steve Greenlaw, Pamela R. Grothe, Jason Hayob-Matzke, Jodie Hayob-Matzke, Christine Henry, Joseph Romero, Andrea Livi Smith

Interdisciplinary

We live, teach and learn in complicated times. As faculty in higher education, we have the opportunity to help uphold the civic purpose of higher education. We are accustomed to helping students navigate academic information, and to equipping them for more standard academic tasks. Through thoughtful course design, we can also help our students become better consumers and evaluators of less traditionally academic information: from critically interpreting what they read and see in the news media, to engaging the arguments of their friends, peers and family members. Further, we can challenge our students to use these evaluative skills to engage …

Lessons From The Pivot: Higher Education's Response To The Pandemic, Janine S. Davis, Christy Irish

Education Faculty Articles

The intensity of major events often leads us to remember minute details of where we were and what we were doing when they occurred: what we wore as we watched the towers fall on September 11, 2001; the faces of our classmates when the space shuttle Challenger exploded on January 28, 1986; the smell in the air when we lived through a major earthquake, fire, or other personal tragedy. Similarly, faculty, staff, and students will remember the series of moments that led to the closure of their schools and universities as the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic spread throughout the world--the timeline …

Creating Variety In The Classroom: Using New Ways To Keep Students Engaged In Reading, Amber Snyder

Student Research Submissions

Research shows that, there is has been a dramatic drop in how much students are reading as they move up in grade levels. The goal of this research is to find ways that teachers can provide variety for reading material in classrooms and strategies to promote student interest in reading. A survey of English teachers was conducted in order to understand teachers’ perspectives of strategies to engage students in reading. The survey also explored reasons why some teachers have been unable to use strategies that can provide variety in reading material to engage their students. This research provides tools and …

Effective Ell Instruction And The Siop Model: A Comparative Analysis, Rachel Crow

Student Research Submissions

Although English language learners (ELL) constitute the fastest growing segment of the U.S. student population, the majority of teachers are not prepared to meet the instructional needs of students learning English as a second language. The Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) model has been a popular way of delivering ELL content instruction. I will be drawing comparisons and determining differences between the SIOP instructional model and what current research identifies as effective ELL instruction. The goal of this research is to identify possible benefits or drawbacks to using the SIOP model to teach academic language to English Language Learners, as …

Herstory: An Analysis Of The Representation Of Women In Middle Grades U.S. History Textbooks, Crystal Rayle

Student Research Submissions

Research has demonstrated state standards, which often marginalize, stereotype, or exclude women, influence textbook content. Stereotypical and superficial representations of women can trivialize their importance to history, undermine student self-esteem and self-image, and diminish student interest in history. This study identified how women are represented in middle grades history textbooks. A qualitative content analysis of two middle grades United States history textbooks was conducted to identify how women have been included and represented within the textbooks. The findings show the women and women’s history included in the textbooks are largely derived from state standards. Ultimately, the textbooks used in the …

Identifying Music Interventions To Support Students With Adhd In The Classroom, Mandy Frantz

Student Research Submissions

Educators across the country are struggling to effectively manage disruptive behaviors associated with students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) while creating a productive learning environment. When classroom and music teachers work with special education teachers to understand the behaviors associated with ADHD and incorporate facets of music education and therapy proven beneficial to students with ADHD into their lesson plans, they should see a decrease in undesired behaviors as well as an increase in student engagement. The goal of this research is to determine how ADHD affects students’ learning and the classroom environment, examine studies which demonstrate the benefits …

Writing And Implementing An Open Textbook In World Regional Geography: A Case Study, Caitlin Finlayson

Geography Articles

As the rising cost of college textbooks has outpaced both inflation and increases in tuition fees, this expense has created a significant barrier to student learning. Some instructors have adopted or created open educational resources, meaning materials which are freely and openly available. While the most obvious benefit of open course content might be cost savings, the fact that these materials can be freely adapted and changed can have substantial impact on the learning experience itself and enable an instructor to completely change the structure and outcomes of a course. This paper provides a case study on writing an open …

Small Rural High Schools And College Completion, John Martin

Student Research Submissions

Students in small rural high schools are an overlooked group of students in this country. The push for students to go to college seems to be common across the United States; however, that might not be the case for every group of students. Small rural high school students are a unique set of students when it comes to college because it is not always considered the biggest priority for these sets of households. The smaller rural high schools are majority filled with students of lower socioeconomic status (Hardre, & Reeve, 2003; Meendering, Kranz, Shafrath, & McCrmack, 2016). A lot of …

Academic Achievement In Flipped Classrooms, Ernest Quintana

Student Research Submissions

Since the inception of the flipped classroom model, the teaching pedagogy has become increasingly popular in both K-12 and collegiate classrooms. In a traditional classroom model, students become familiar in class with lectures and complete additional practice work at home in order to iron out any misunderstandings of the material. The flipped classroom model reverses roles with students becoming initially familiar with the class materials at home and then engaging in further practice in class with the teacher and fellow students.

Although this teaching method is still in its infancy, the results so far reveal the flipped classroom model significantly …

Mathematics Teacher Developers’ Views Of A Demonstration Class, Ginger Rhodes, Allyson Hallman-Thrasher, Kyle T. Schultz

Education Faculty Articles

This article examines the professional vision of mathematics teacher developers during a professional development experience that featured observations of a content course for elementary teachers. The researchers examined whether these mathematics teacher developers viewed the demonstration class as an analysis class, a site for reflection and analysis, or a model class, an example of teaching to be emulated. Results indicated participants could hold either view and, in some cases, both. Each view provided opportunities for professional growth, but particular aspects of the experience promoted an analysis class view.

Promoting Interdisciplinarity: Its Purpose And Practice In Arts Programming, Shannon Farrow Mcneely, Denise Gillman, Danielle Hartman

English, Linguistics, and Communication (Legacy)

Each discipline provides education and society with a unique perspective of the world, yet independently, disciplines can only go so far when attempting to address our greatest challenges. To go beyond the limits of the discipline, one must employ interdisciplinary approaches, which include being driven by complex questions, seeking collaboration from multiple disciplines, and integrating their understandings by finding common ground. The arts create an amazing opportunity for interdisciplinary exploration and development with other disciplines which benefits arts leaders and educators, students and departments in higher education, and the local community. This article seeks to explore interdisciplinarity and its benefits …

Critical Coaching: Approaching Literacy Coaching Through A Critical Lens, Melissa Wells

Education Faculty Articles

Based in critical theory, this qualitative case study explored how a new genre of literacy coaching, called critical coaching, developed and what outcomes it produced. The researcher (a literacy coach) built a critical coaching partnership with an early childhood teacher, and two findings emerged: (1) self-reflection occurred through defining educators’ identities as cultural beings, as well as by naming and challenging assumptions; and (2) taking action occurred through critical networks, advocacy in public spaces, and planning culturally relevant pedagogy. Implications include seven essential conditions for building critical coaching partnerships.

Engaging Students In The Practice Of Statistics Through Undergraduate Research, Debra L. Hydorn

Mathematics

As statisticians, we engage in a variety of activities, some of which are regularly integrated into our undergraduate courses. However, the individual courses that comprise a mathematics or statistics degree program might not provide students with experiences in the broader range of activities that define the practice of statistics. To remedy this situation, faculty can consider developing and mentoring undergraduate research projects. This article briefly discusses the skills that comprise statistical practice along with some course and program options for helping students to develop these skills. Then, types of undergraduate research projects in statistics are described to help faculty generate …