Education Commons^™

Development And Assessment Of A Continuing Education Unit In Quantitative Literacy For High School Stem Teachers, Craig P. Mcclure

Numeracy

Influencing the teaching of quantitative literacy at all levels of education can be difficult due to the many demands placed on educators. In a continuing education course, public high school science teachers participated in a pilot study of a program on quantitative literacy, involving defining quantitative literacy, how it is beneficial to students, examples of quantitative literacy education, and how it may be supported in the science classroom. Surveys administered before and after the unit indicate an improvement in the teachers’ understanding of quantitative literacy, and a follow-up survey indicates that the unit impacted classroom practice. Results support the conclusion …

Asking Why: Analyzing Students' Explanations Of Organic Chemistry Reaction Mechanisms Using Lexical Analysis And Predictive Logistic Regression Models, Amber J. Dood

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In order to evaluate student understanding of chemical reactions and reaction mechanisms, it is necessary to ask students to construct written or oral explanations of mechanistic representations. Studies have shown that students can reproduce pictorial representations of organic chemistry mechanisms without understanding the meaning of the representations. Grading written assessments is time-consuming, which limits their use in large-lecture courses. To address this limitation, lexical analysis and logistic regression techniques can be used to develop models that predict human scoring for constructed-response items. In this dissertation, students’ responses to constructed-response items about what is happening and why in organic chemistry reaction …

The Effects Of Socioscientific Issues On Informal Reasoning And The Transference To Controversial Issues In A Social Studies Context, Thomas J. Dolan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if informal reasoning skills associated with socioscientific issues (SSI) transferred to controversial issues in a social studies context. The principal researcher developed three controversial issues derived from social studies education to create social studies context issues (SSCI). This acronym has been termed by the principal researcher, as controversial issues in social studies have not been evaluated beyond the social studies classroom. Twenty-one, fifth grade students participated in this three-month study, which featured three specific SSI units (A Need for Speed? – speed limit reduction, Roller Coaster Ban – preventing injuries to children, …

Development And Application Of Computational Models For Biochemical Systems, Fiona L. Kearns

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Chemistry is the study of matter and its transformations. Computational chemistry uses computer models to study chemistry in all its intricate complexity. In this thesis I hope to accessibly introduce fundamental concepts central for computational chemistry including quantum mechanics, molecular mechanics, and multiscale modeling. I then present several works which I have conducted throughout my graduate career employing many different computational methods. The investigations described here can be summarized as follows. Chapter 2.1 modeling proteins involved in crustacean molting, and identifying possible inhibitors to this molting. Chapter 2.2 modeling d-fructose bound to synthetic saccharide receptors with hopes of improving saccharide …

Pathways To Leadership: A Qualitative Study Of Women In Higher Education, Kymia Love Jackson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Women earn degrees at a higher rate than men, yet they are underrepresented in leadership positions in general and more specifically, in executive leadership positions in the areas of finance, operations, and administration (FOA) in higher education. This qualitative study explored the journeys of women in executive leadership positions in finance, operations, and administration at four-year, public colleges or universities. The research question that guided this study was: How do women describe their experiences of securing, transitioning into, and advancing within executive leadership positions in FOA in higher education? Document and content analysis, demographic questionnaire, observations, interviews, and reflection were …

Performance Based Funding And The Florida State University System: An Exploratory Analysis, Laura A. Hoffman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Higher education funding models based on performance have seen a resurgence over the last decade. These models, known as performance-based funding (PBF) 2.0, hold institutions accountable to outcome metrics such retention and graduation rates through the incentive of increased funding and the threat of funding cuts. This quantitative, exploratory study examined data from the Florida State University System (FLSUS) coincident to the years prior to and after the implementation of the Florida PBF policy. The primary purpose of the study was to examine what changes, if any, occurred regarding student access to or success within the FLSUS coincident to PBF …

Advancing Equity Amongst General Chemistry Students With Variable Preparations In Mathematics, Vanessa R. Ralph

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Reducing the inequities propagating the lack of representation in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) careers has become a national imperative made increasingly complex given the inequitable preparations in science and mathematics students experience before college. A common institutional-level approach to promoting equity is the use of math and science prerequisites to prepare students who seek to enroll in lower-level STEM coursework. However, the literature does not support the efficacy of this approach, finding no substantive improvement to student performance despite considerable financial and time costs to students, instructors, and universities alike. Set in first-semester General Chemistry courses taken early …

An Exploration Of Teachers’ Use Of Culturally Responsive Pedagogy, Ethic Of Care, And Reflectivity, Johan Von Ancken

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A variety of educational reform literature discusses the “ethic of care” and “building relationships,” along with culturally relevant/responsive pedagogy (Gorski, 2013; Guajardo, M., Guajardo F., & Casaperalta, 2008; Ladson-Billings, 1992, 1995). In addition, “Appreciative Organizing in Education (AOE)” (Barrett & Fry, 2008; Burello, Beitz, & Mann, 2015; Cooperrider, Whitney, & Stavros, 2008) with its emphasis on strengths-based analysis of organizational change shaped my perception that a “Culture of Care” in our schools and with our teachers, administrators, and most importantly students, is necessary.

The notion of “culturally appropriate” (Au & Jordan, 1981, p. 139) pedagogy began over 35 years ago …

Male And Female Students’ Persistence In Stem Fields In Community Colleges: A Secondary Analysis Of Nces Bps:12/14 Data, Ying Hu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Today, economic growth, technology advancement, and daily life are all driven by science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). American colleges and universities need to produce more STEM graduates in order to meet rapid job growth. The purpose of this study was to determine the significant factors that influence the persistence of STEM students in community colleges. The research described the characteristics of STEM students who persisted and of those who did not in STEM, as well as the different characteristics between male and female students. It also investigated student and institutional factors that influenced STEM students’ persistence. Furthermore, the study …

Adolescent Asthma And School Disparities: An Ecological Perspective Of Students And Stakeholders, Tali Schneider

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Asthma is a chronic condition that mainly affects adolescents. Recent reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicate a gradual increase in rates of lifetime asthma among adolescents from 17.1% in 2005 to 22.8% in 2015. Currently, one in ten adolescents nation-wide experience active asthma; similar trends are seen in the state of Florida (Florida Asthma Program, 2013; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Prevention, 2015). As a chronic, lifelong condition, asthma can be life-threatening if not properly controlled. When exacerbated, attacks of asthma constrict airways, leading to restrained breathing, wheezing, coughing and chest pain (Parulekar, Alobaidy, …

Gabbing While Gaming: Commandeering Commercial, Off-The-Shelf (Cots) Video Games To Structure Student-Centered Social Studies Discussion, Joshua M. Patterson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Amidst the current cultural backdrop of debilitating digital addiction and malicious misinformation campaigns, secondary social studies instructors require every possible tool to engage students stuck in the haze of simulated reality. While nationwide mastery of the subject area is wedged between failure (National Assessment of Educational Progress, 2020) and apathy, three-dimensional, entertainment-driven simulations are progressing at an exponential rate of adolescent adoption and historical accuracy. In this phenomenological case study, I capitalize on pupils’ preference for virtual integration by outlining a pedagogical approach that harnesses the trinity of content knowledge, discursive prowess, and video game aptitude. Video game titles were …

Effects Of Learning A Second Language On English Academic And Low-Frequency Vocabulary Acquisition And Metalinguistic Knowledge, Hayriye Karliova

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study compared the possible effects of learning a language from the Italic branch of the Indo-European language family as a second language (L2), namely Latin and Spanish, on English academic and low-frequency vocabulary acquisition and metalinguistic knowledge of native English speaker (NES) undergraduates in their first language (L1), English.

The study sought to attain two objectives: first, it aimed to discover the effects of learning Latin and Spanish as L2s with respect to the vocabulary acquisition of NES undergraduates; second, it aimed to detect the effects these L2s in terms of metalinguistic awareness. In both cases, the focus was …

Parts Of The Whole: The Having Of Wonderful Ideas: Eleanor Duckworth Introduces Us To Piaget, Dorothy Wallace

Numeracy

The small book of essays by Eleanor Duckworth has been a staple of teacher education for decades, serving as a bridge between Piaget’s observations of infants and the needs of the classroom. As her examples tend to be of young children, we consider more general ideas in the context of older grades and higher education. Several of her insights are discussed with an eye to application in the field of quantitative education, highlighting the need to integrate issues of pedagogy with those of content.

Planting Seeds Of Numeracy: Supporting Quantitative Literacy In Young Children, Jennifer Ward, Victoria J. Damjanovic

Numeracy

This paper aims to present how quantitative literacy was made a focus in a preschool classroom of three- and four-year-old children. With a focus on examining two areas of quantitative literacy, number knowledge and counting (Jordan, Kaplan, and Locuniak 2007) we seek to explore how educators, within an early childhood setting, used a project approach (Katz, Chard, and Kogan, 2014) and inquiry-based practices to build and extend upon the emerging competencies of the children. Utilizing narrative inquiry (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000), we draw from planning meeting notes, lesson plans, and lesson artifacts to construct a story that chronicles the journey …

Effects Of Quantitative Literacy On Healthcare Decision-Making: An Aural Context, Robert G. Root, Sonia Bhala

Numeracy

We propose a relationship between sensory modality, numerical formatting, and performance on a survey simulating healthcare decision-making. We examine the current literature on aural health literacy, and specifically aural literacy coupled with health numeracy. We then create a survey instrument called the Bhala test for this purpose and demonstrate that it is moderately internally consistent and provides results that correlate with the NUMi assessment, a widely accepted measure of health numeracy. The quantitative information provided in the Bhala test has two treatments, percentage and natural frequency formats, in an effort to determine which format is easier for subjects to use …

Education Reforms For Inclusion? Interrogating Policy-Practice Disjunctions In Early Childhood Education In Bulgaria, Veselina Lambrev, Anna Kirova, Larry Prochner

Teaching and Learning Faculty Publications

This article examines how early childhood educators, as policy implementers, perceive reforms in Bulgaria’s education system that occurred between 2008 and 2018. Both Roma and non-Roma educators participated in this project that compares perceptions of Bulgarian teachers in public schools and Roma educators in informal educational settings operated by NGOs and religious institutions. Applying intersectionality as a framework, the study draws from anti-Romaism as a particular form of racism that militates against the inclusion of Roma to examine whether and to what extent discourses of minoritized and racialised children are evident in the views held by the Bulgarian educators, resulting, …

Fostering Preservice And In-Service Ela Teachers’ Digital Practices For Addressing Climate Change, Richard Beach, George Boggs, Jill Castek, James Damico, Alexandra Panos, Renee Spellman, Nance Wilson

Teaching and Learning Faculty Publications

This report presents research on preservice (PST) and in-service teachers acquiring digital practices for addressing climate change related to knowing how to employ digital practices for studying visual representations of climate change and engaging students in critiquing online information about climate change. Study 1 examined PSTs understanding of climate change through participation in visiting a laboratory involving scientific study of ecological systems to interact with scientists, collect digital artifacts, and create a virtual field trip using these artifacts for instructional purposes. Study 2 involved PSTs and in-service teachers responding critically to the NASA Climate Change website, identifying digital literacies their …

Race(Ing) Towards Legal Literacy For (Im)Migration Amidst Covid-19, Patriann Smith, S. Joel Warrican

Teaching and Learning Faculty Publications

Historically and contemporarily, immigration laws have disproportionately affected immigrant faculty and students of color because they often inadvertently function as racial policy. (Critical) legal literacy enacted via a bottom-up approach can help to address such laws. Higher education institutions, organizations, labor unions and associations are uniquely positioned to use critical legal literacy as a tool of advocacy for immigrant faculty and students of color amidst the adverse effects of COVID-19.