Education Commons^™

Program Evaluation Of The Strong Start Curriculum As A Selected Intervention For Early Elementary Students, Katherine A. Meyer

Doctoral Dissertations

Consistent with the need for implementation research and prevention programming for students in schools, the current study evaluated the implementation and outcomes of Strong Start, a social-emotional learning program, as a supplemental intervention for students in kindergarten through second grade at risk for developing emotional and behavioral problems. This intervention took place during the first year of a county-wide restructuring of mental health supports and was part of a multi-tiered system of supports provided in schools. A mixed method program evaluation was conducted to examine four areas of interest. First, the contextual factors related to program adoption were examined; …

Impacts Of The Game-Centered Approach On Cognitive Learning Of Game Play And Game Performance During 5-Week Of Spring Season With Intercollegiate Female Soccer Players, Kanae Haneishi

Doctoral Dissertations

Game-centered approaches have been increasingly recognized for their features and the impacts in coaching profession. Research with the game-centered approach is still underdeveloped in coaching sports and physical activities. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to describe the impacts of the game-centered approach on cognitive learning of game play and game performance during 5-week of spring season with intercollegiate female soccer players. Game performances at beginning, mid, and end of the season were examined through Game Performance Assessment Inventory (GPAI) with seventeen participants. Cognitive learning of game play was also assessed with instant recalls and practice journals with all …

Teachers’ Experiences Of Professional Development In (Post)Crisis Katanga Province, Southeastern Democratic Republic Of Congo: A Case Study Of Teacher Learning Circles, Paul St J Frisoli

Doctoral Dissertations

Teachers in (post)crisis contexts face an array of de-motivating factors such as insecurity, lack of pay, difficult working conditions, minimal leadership, and feeling undervalued (Johnson, 2006; OECD, 2009; Shriberg, 2007). To bolster their motivation and support their teaching, teachers in these settings need a forum where they feel valued as professionals (Asimeng-Boahene, 2003; Bennel & Akyeampong; Kirk & Winthrop, 2007). One model of teacher professional development (TPD) known as "Teacher Learning Circles"(TLCs) is currently being implemented in Katanga province in southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for early grade reading teachers. TLCs strive to help teachers adopt innovative teaching techniques …

Developing Spatial Reasoning Skills In General Chemistry Students, Deborah L. Carlisle

Doctoral Dissertations

The study of organic chemistry requires the understanding and use of spatial relationships, which can be challenging for many students. Prior research has shown that there is a need to develop students’ spatial reasoning skills. To that end, this study implemented guided activities designed to strengthen students’ spatial skills, with the aim of preparing students for organic chemistry and other future STEM courses. Students, taking the second semester of a two-semester general chemistry course, engaged in these activities. This study followed a quasi experimental design, in which the experimental (n = 209) and the control group (n = 212) were …

Perceptions Of Health Educators And Supervisors About Their Preparation In Alexandria, Egypt (How Well They Believe Their Training And Preparation Prepared Them To Work As Health Educators), Elshaymaa Ahmed

Master's Capstone Projects

Health educators have many responsibilities, including community education, assessment program development, evaluation, research, health policy and grant writing. Health educators in Egypt do not participate in all these activities, but they mostly do participate in essential activities such as community education. The health educators in Egypt get training and preparation on topics such as addiction, women’s health, chronic diseases, and the skills needed for teaching.

This study investigated the perceptions of health educators and their supervisors about how well they believe their training and preparation has prepared them to work with health clients in Alexandria, Egypt. The study includes interviews …

The Effects Of Tools Of The Mind On Math And Reading Scores In Kindergarten, Patricia Estrela Mackay

Open Access Dissertations

Although a limited body of research has supported the positive impact of the Tools of the Mind curriculum on the development of self-regulation, research supporting a direct relationship between Tools and academic achievement is extremely limited. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the Tools of the Mind curriculum implementation in improving math and reading scores in Kindergarten by comparing scores obtained before and after Tools. This study also seeks to investigate the effects of SES on student achievement. Finally, this study seeks to identify contributions and challenges perceived by teachers during implementation. Participants included 93 …

Teaching Strategies For Using Projected Images To Develop Conceptual Understanding: Exploring Discussion Practices In Computer Simulation And Static Image-Based Lessons, Norman Tinkham Price

Open Access Dissertations

The availability and sophistication of visual display images, such as simulations, for use in science classrooms has increased exponentially however, it can be difficult for teachers to use these images to encourage and engage active student thinking. There is a need to describe flexible discussion strategies that use visual media to engage active thinking. This mixed methods study analyzes teacher behavior in lessons using visual media about the particulate model of matter that were taught by three experienced middle school teachers. Each teacher taught one half of their students with lessons using static overheads and taught the other half with …

The Open Education Initiative At Umass Amherst: Taking A Bite Out Of High-Cost Textbooks, Marilyn S. Billings, Sarah C. Hutton

Marilyn S. Billings

This presentation highlights the successful Open Education Initiative begun at UMass Amherst in the spring of 2011. This initiative is co-funded by the Provost's Office and the University Libraries and is leveraged by a strong partnership among the University Libraries, Center for Teaching and Faculty Development, and OIT's Academic Computing, key elements of its success.

A Comparative Analysis Of The Effectiveness Of Teacher Support Approaches In Afghanistan, Noorullah Noori

Master's Capstone Projects

This research explores the effectiveness of three teacher professional development (TPD) approaches in the context of Afghanistan: 2-year in-service teacher education; short-term (ad-hoc) teacher training; and teacher learning circles (TLC). In this research, I compare these three models, their impact on improving teacher quality and subsequently student outcome. I applied the mix-methods approach by using three different research tools: classroom observations, self-administered questionnaires, and semi-structured interviews. I also reviewed student performance records over four semesters; from 2010 to 2011. Despite many challenges, the results show three core strengths of each of these models: the 2-year in-service teacher …

Mainstreaming Climate In The Classroom: Teaching Climate Change Planning, Elisabeth M. Hamin, Daniel J. Marcucci

Elisabeth M. Hamin

Climate change planning, both mitigation (reducing greenhouse gasses) and adaptation (designing built environments for changed climate conditions), is an area of emerging importance in both planning practice and education. This research examines the uptake of climate issues in planning education programs primarily in the U.S., and compares course content to leading climate change planning practice and research concepts. Studio and seminar courses are emerging in a variety of universities, and are addressing many of the key research concepts for mitigation and adaptation. Beyond stand-alone classes, the article argues the need to mainstream climate considerations in core planning curricula. Modeling this …

Recognizing Culture In Experiential Education: An Analysis And Framework For Practitioners, Valerie J. Kurka

Master's Capstone Projects

Experiential education is an intentional educational process that relies on experiential learning theory. This paper categorizes common features of experiential education and analyzes them with a cultural framework. Common features of experiential education include individual development, student-centered teaching, individual challenge and learning, challenge-by-choice, “emotional safety”, and reflection/processing activities. The features of experiential education that I have analyzed have basic cultural assumptions of high individuality, low power distance, low uncertainty avoidance, high achievement, emphasis on internal control, and possible interaction with ascriptive dispositions and masculine characteristics. These assumptions may have implications for practitioners practicing cross-culturally. In an increasingly global world and …

Contemplative Education: How Contemplative Practices Can Support And Improve Education, Judith Johannes

Master's Capstone Projects

The purpose of this study is to explore how contemplative education can have a viable role in education. In the first part of this thesis I will share my own personal experience with contemplative practices and how they led to my personal growth and transformation.

The second part will give some brief insights about the benefits the ancient wisdom traditions Hinduism and Buddhism attributed to contemplative practices. They claim that those practices help to reach a state of expanded awareness and stillness of the mind. Contemplative practices such as mindfulness, which is a Buddhist meditation technique, were used to better …

Environmental Design Research And The Design Of Urban Open Space: A Study Of Current Practice In Landscape Architecture, Jennifer Masters

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

A large and growing body of research exists on how the design of the environment can positively or negatively affect people’s health and well-being, as well as influence their behavior. Researchers in this field, known as “environmental design research,” have long acknowledged the challenge of translating their findings into formats that are accepted and used by practitioners. This study explores how environmental design research on urban open space and the practice-oriented translations of it are used by landscape architects who have been recognized in the profession for their designs of parks, plazas, and streets in urban areas. Through interviews with …

Getting Closer: The Librarian, The Curriculum And The Office Of Sustainability, Madeleine K. Charney

Madeleine K. Charney

As teachers of critical thinking and sound reasoning, academic librarians play a vital role in supporting sustainability across the curriculum. Seasoned consolidators and distributors of information, librarians also bring a unique voice to sustainability councils and committees. The forging of partnerships between the Library and the Office of Sustainability holds great potential for strengthening the surge of sustainability in higher education. This presentation centers on survey and interview responses from librarians who are instrumental in shaping sustainability on their campuses. Article here: http://works.bepress.com/charney_madeleine/69/

Subversive Representations Of Education In Francophone Novels Of The Colonial Maghreb, Whitney Bevill

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Much work exploring alterity and hybridity in the Maghreb ignores representations of education which confront seminal formative experiences, specifically education. French colonial education was problematic because it granted access to the colonizer’s culture, yet it also created a rupture in self-identity for Maghrebi students. In this thesis, I interrogate the literary representations of sites and sources of education by analyzing how these representations discuss the tension between formal French education and informal Maghrebi education.

My thesis begins with a historical overview of colonial education in the Maghreb. I then discuss literary methods of negotiating identity, contrasting Arab and Western autobiography …

International Study Tours And The Development Of Sociocultural Consciousness In K-12 Teachers, Raymond Yu-Kuang Young

Open Access Dissertations

This research study examined the long-term effects of a professional development study tour to Southeast Asia that took place in 2001. Participants included ten public school teachers from Western Massachusetts, which has a significant population of people of Vietnamese and Cambodian descent. Funded by a Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad grant, the purpose of the study tour was to increase teacher awareness, knowledge and understanding of contemporary Southeast Asia so that they could more effectively address the educational needs of students representing diverse cultural backgrounds, particularly immigrant and refugee youth, through the development of culturally relevant curricula and lesson plans. From …

“We Lost Our Culture With Civilization” – A Critical Analysis Of The Internalization Of The Development Discourse Vis-À-Vis Systems Of Knowledge In Senegal, Karla Giuliano Sarr

Master's Capstone Projects

Critical analysis of the complex interplay between development ideals and local conceptualizations of knowledge forms and education methods are essential if we are to promote holistic, responsive, and culturally appropriate development efforts. Since the end of World War II, and the independence movements that greatly changed geopolitics in the 1960s and 1970s, development prevails as the dominant paradigm in current relations between countries of the North and South (Escobar, 1995; Rahnema & Bawtree, 1997). Development, intrinsically linked with neo-liberal policies and globalization (Peet, 1999), defines not only how Northerners perceive the South, but also, how Southerners perceive themselves, their ways …

Students’ Perceptions Of Effectiveness Of Hospitality Curricula And Their Preparedness, Imran Rahman

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Curriculum assessment has been an important tool in measuring the effectiveness of the curriculum to evaluate student learning and preparedness. This study develops a conceptual framework, based on course offerings and descriptions of the Hospitality and Tourism Management Program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, to evaluate how the curriculum contributes to students’ preparedness for their future career. Using an online field survey, this study examines the skills that contribute to students’ preparedness. Besides putting forward the strengths and weaknesses of the program, and identifying the significant skill areas that contribute significantly to students’ preparedness, findings of this study indicate …

A Unilateral Grading Contract To Improve Learning And Teaching, Peter Elbow

English Department Faculty Publication Series

Contract grading has achieved some prominence in our field as a practice associated with critical pedagogy. In this context, we describe a hybrid grading contract where students earn a course grade of B based not on our evaluation of their writing quality but solely on their completion of the specified activities. The contract lists activities we’ve found most reliable in producing B-quality writing over fourteen weeks. Higher grades are awarded to students who produce exemplary portfolios. Thus we freely give students lots of evaluative feedback on their writing, but students can count on a course grade of B if they …

Implementing Change In Instructional Delivery Of Classroom Curriculum: A Phenomenological Case Study Of Classroom Teachers Implementing A Problem-Based Learning Approach In The Classroom, Maura Anne Hart

Open Access Dissertations

This qualitative research study examines the holistic experience of secondary classroom teachers who are changing their predominant instructional technique from a mostly traditional teaching method to a student-centered, problem-based approach to curriculum delivery. Using field notes, interviews, focus groups, observations of classrooms and faculty meetings and related document study in conjunction with, and as driven by, simultaneous analysis, the researcher inquired about the nature of implementing change in instructional delivery and those influences that both help and hinder the process. Data revealed four categories with related findings: practices of changing instructional delivery, a teacher focus on students, elements of working …

Final Report, Center For International Education

Learning Initiatives for Rural Education

Since August 2007, the Learning Initiatives for Rural Education (LIRE) project in Senegal and The Gambia has strengthened educators' capacity to deliver and support quality multi-grade (MG) education in rural areas with low population densities. In a truly collaborative approach, the LIRE project worked with 20 demonstration schools (13 in Senegal and 7 in The Gambia) to develop a teacher training manual and teachers' guide that was locally appropriate and in keeping with the curricula of each country. The LIRE team was truly international, with team members in Senegal, The Gambia and in the United States. The team met regularly …

Civics And Citizenship Education In Schools In Afghanistan, Mohammad Tariq Habibyar

Master's Capstone Projects

This thesis focuses on the status of civics and citizenship education in schools in Afghanistan. My purpose for this study was (a) to understand what is taught about civics education in classrooms, (b) what concepts of civics education are addressed in the national curriculum and the text books, and (c) what role civics education plays in Afghan schools to produce productive citizens. My assumption is that schools have direct impact on civics understanding of the students and how they use their civics knowledge in everyday life. Civics education raises students’ political, governance, and social awareness and informs them about their …

Research On Undergraduate Mathematics Education In Afghanistan: How Students Understand And Learn The Concept Of “Function”, Ahmad Khalid Mowahed

Master's Capstone Projects

The purpose of this study was to explore undergraduate students’ conception of the concept of function in the education faculty of Balkh University, Afghanistan. In particular, the focus was to see what difficulties they had in learning the concept and to determine those factors that impeded/facilitated the learning of the concept in the curriculum. The research methodology was an exploratory approach where both qualitative and quantitative methods were used to analyze the data. The theoretical basis for the study was David Tall’s theory which focuses on understanding one’s knowledge and learning. David Tall’s theory was used to analyze qualitative data …

The Effects Of English Teaching Methods Course Of The English Department Of Kabul Education University On Secondary School English Teachers, Ali Hikmat

Master's Capstone Projects

No abstract provided.

Reading Questions In Large Lecture Courses., E. Offerdahl, T. Baldwin, L. Elfring, Elizabeth Vierling, M. Ziegler

Elizabeth Vierling

As an alternative to reading quizzes, a team of biochemistry instructors implemented student reading questions (Henderson and Rosenthal 2006) as a new instructional strategy within their large-enrollment biochemistry courses. Unexpected positive outcomes of this instructional method were realized, as well as limitations of the method within this setting. Outcomes and limitations of the reading-question strategy as well as suggestions for their more efficient implementation are discussed. (Contains 2 figures.)

Bridging: Overview Of The Curriculum, Center For International Education School Of Education University Of Massachusetts, Amherst

Learning for Life

Learning for Life Bridging Program is a health-based literacy program designed for rural women to strengthen their literacy skills and improve their chances for entering community midwife training. The curriculum of the Bridging program provides instructional materials for classes in the four subject areas of Health, Language, Math and Communications and Analytical Skills.

Bridging: Facilitator Guide, Center For International Education School Of Education University Of Massachusetts, Amherst

Learning for Life

Learning for Life is a health-focused accelerated adult literacy and learning initiative to prepare women and older girls in rural areas of 12 provinces1 for Community Health Worker and Community Midwifery training. Learning for Life (LfL) was established in December 2004 in Kabul and Herat provinces. LfL will expand to over 7800 women in 12 provinces by summer 2005. Two tiers of classes are available to women: 1) the Foundations Program, multi-grade classes covering reading, writing and numeracy skills at the 1st through 6th grade levels to prepare women for CHW training or train current CHWs and 2) a Bridging …

Bridging: Mathematics Learner Book Milestones 1-8, Center For International Education School Of Education University Of Massachusetts, Amherst

Learning for Life

No abstract provided.

Bridging: Mathematics Faciliator Book Milestones 1-12, Center For International Education School Of Education University Of Massachusetts, Amherst

Learning for Life

This document is for use by the Facilitators, those who will be guiding learners. It contains Milestones and Activities for one subject area.

- Curriculum Chart

- Milestones (MS)

- Instructional Activities

- Evaluation Activities

- Learner Books

Bridging: Language Learner Book Milestones 1-7, Center For International Education School Of Education University Of Massachusetts, Amherst

Learning for Life

No abstract provided.