Education Commons^™

Rising Above The Stigma: Developing Young Leaders Through Peer Mentoring, Shawn Miller

Graduate Research Papers

Permanence is ideally the ultimate goal of the child welfare system, however it is unrealistic to believe that every young adult transitioning out of care will not only find a permanent home, but have had the opportunity to build the social capital needed for a successful transition in today’s society (Scannapieco, Smith, Blakeney-Strong, 2015).

The Influence Of Book Club Conversations On Reluctant Or Struggling Readers, Jadee Jo Gloede

Graduate Research Papers

This qualitative case study reports the TL impact on reluctant readers’ sustained engagement in conversations about reading, and the impact the participation in the book club has on a student’s motivation to read. This study from a small, rural area in Northwest Iowa consisted of six fourth grade students and their teacher librarian who met in a book club over a four week time period during summer school. The students were taught different reading roles and utilized them throughout the discussion of the book. The researcher discovered five main themes in response to the research questions. Theme one is Diverse …

A Preferred Vision For Administering Elementary Schools : A Reflective Essay, Brenda M. Boleyn

Graduate Research Papers

Throughout my life I have tried to engage myself in activities that were opportunities for me to "make a difference." Whether it be involvement in community clean-up projects or parks and recreation programs for children, my intentions were always to use my time to do good for a cause or another person. I carried this belief with me into college while I was in search of what I wanted to become "when I grew up." I looked in several directions on the basis of some fundamental goals I had for myself. First, I knew I wanted to be in a …

Human Impact On The Environment: A Middle School Project Based Learning Unit Development, Shannon Power

Graduate Research Papers

I chose to focus my creative component on the development and implementation of a Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) aligned earth science unit for an 8th grade science course taught using Project Based Learning (PBL) and graded using Standards Referenced Grading (SRG) philosophies and a proficiency scale. The unit focused on the Performance Expectation MS-ESS3-3: Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment (NGSS, 2013e). This standard includes the Science and Engineering Practice (SEP) of constructing explanations and designing solutions, a Cross Cutting Concept (CCC) of cause and effect, and a …

Abracadabra: Combatting Nonprofit Turnover When Your Staff Perform The Disappearing Act, Averi Gabrielle Jones

Graduate Research Papers

As one of America’s top employers, the nonprofit sector is filled with outlets for individuals to blossom in creativity and innovation, while allowing them to be connected to a cause they are passionate about advocating for. However, more and more nonprofit organizations are faced with a frightening disappearing act amongst their staff. With this readily growing rate of high employee turnover, it is more vital than ever for employers to build workforce environments that inspire dedication and longevity amongst staff. This study is focused on pinpointing sources for poor employee retention and differentiating the role that these sources play amongst …

Enhancing Scientific Literacy Through Attention To Argumentation As A Disciplinary Literacy Practice, Whitney Mcwilliams

Graduate Research Papers

This project is partly driven by Science Writing Heuristic as writing to learn is part of a larger objective to help students develop literacy. While research on the SWH examines its own effectiveness through the lens of literacy, it only looked at its impact on science content knowledge. This project will examine five assessment tasks structured around the practice of argumentation. Data collected will measure use and inclusion of phenomena, three dimensional learning, and alignment to Performance Expectations. The content of the performance expectations center around two standards focused on electromagnetic radiation’s effect on matter and technological devices used to …

The Process For Nonprofits And Foundations To Engage In Productive Partnerships, Anna Mccutcheon

Graduate Research Papers

Nonprofits and foundations are encouraged to work together, seamlessly, by their constituents, peers, and even each other, but forming a collaborative partnership is not solely determined by preference or opinion (Le et al, 2018). Both foundations and nonprofits face multiple challenges when pursuing on-going, productive relationships with each other. Specifically, expectations that arise before, during, and after the grant proposal process, inconsistency with program performance and measurement expectations, and a lack of candid transparency that prohibits mutual lines of communication between these two entities.

Teaching Race Through Multicultural Children's Literature, Kaley Bailey, Maiya Duthoo-Wolpert

Graduate Research Papers

There is considerable confusion in today’s society when it comes to talking about race. In result to this, race talk in schools can be overseen with challenges, leading to problematic conversations, disconnection, and ultimately student disengagement. This study is used by two Elementary educators one an Asian, the other a Caucasian - found in the Midwest, showing how teachers can break that uncomfortable barrier of the topic about race and navigate conversations through multicultural children’s literature books. The study demonstrated how to choose the most effective multicultural children’s literature to share to a classroom of students and how beneficial it …

Effects Of Stepwise Guided Inquiry On Students' Attitudes And Depth Of Knowledge From Written Lab Reflections In High School Chemistry, Melissa Rae Campbell Johnson

Graduate Research Papers

Many teachers find it challenging to embed guided inquiry into high school chemistry courses. Although guided inquiry provides excellent opportunities for students to engage in data analysis, misconceptions and loss of class time are teacher stated problems with guided inquiry. A stepwise inquiry project can slowly introduce students to the inquiry process of data analysis in high school chemistry.

This stepwise inquiry project examined three different inquiry labs designed around the anchoring phenomenon, “ Which toothpaste protects our teeth the best?”Each lab progressed in inquiry level. Lab one was written at inquiry level one,confirmation. The second lab was written at …

Accuracy Of Self-Assessment In A Ninth Grade Earth Science Classroom, Alyssa Jacobson

Graduate Research Papers

Student engagement is a constant struggle teachers and schools work to address. Students who are not engaged are more likely to drop out of school and participate in risky behaviors that negatively impact themselves and society as a whole. As a means to combat student disengagement, school districts have begun to implement The New Art and Science of Teaching, a framework meant to engage students by involving them in the learning process through self-assessment.

The purpose of this study is to determine how accurately high school aged students can self-assess and how students make decisions when they self-assess. To …

Analysis Of Assessments On Secondary Students' Development And Interpretation Of Models, Alaina L. Appley

Graduate Research Papers

As districts are making the shift to three-dimensional learning the development of a coherent set of high-quality task-based assessments has been a challenge. For this research I collected and analyzed twelve of my district's assessments over the scientific skill of modeling from grades seven through 12. The analysis involved two tools developed by NGSS and Achieve.org to determine the extent to which the assessments ask students to perform tasks that are driven by phenomena and use the three-dimensional in service of sense-making, the Task Screener and the Framework to Evaluate Cognitive Complexity in Science Assessments. The findings support what …

Immediate Vs. Deferred Feedback During Formative Assessments In A 9th Grade Physical Science Course, Jordan Sonntag

Graduate Research Papers

For educators, feedback has become a very important part of the teaching practice that is taught in both teacher education programs and building-level professional development. While many studies have been done on feedback itself, there is much less research on the effectiveness of certain types of feedback used within a Learning Management System (LMS). The goal of this experiment is to determine if there is any difference on summative assessment scores based on the use of different types of feedback on formative assessments using an LMS.

An LMS is a program that allows the educator to create step by step …

Inspiring Students To Take Action In Order To Make Positive Change Through The Integration Of Social Studies Themes In Children's Literature, Morgan Ives, Taylor Marsho, Ashtyn Riley, Deidra Rudd

Graduate Research Papers

This study explores the use of children literature to teach social studies concepts within literacy instruction. Fifty-eight kindergarteners and twenty seventh graders, attending four different rural elementary schools, are the participants in this study. All four schools included in the study were racially and ethnically homogeneous, with a majority of the students being White. The study focuses on the effects of limited social studies instruction within all schools and how social studies can be integrated within a literacy time block. The kindergarten general education teachers and the seventh grade English Language Arts teacher provided all of the instruction. The results …

Impact Of Inquiry Science Courses On Preservice Elementary Students' Ideas On Science, Lance Charles Baetsle

Graduate Research Papers

This study examines how students' scientific ideas compare between students who have taken different numbers of general science and inquiry science courses at a midwestern university. The purpose of this study is to gain perspective and to inform current teaching practices based on how preservice elementary education teachers view scientific ideas after taking a different number of inquiry science courses. Students in a science inquiry course completed a science survey (Appendix B) of science and non-science questions and were asked to explain their reasoning. A scoring rubric (Wilson et al., 2010) was used to apply a score for correct and …

Examining The Impact A Teacher Librarian Has On Students' Self-Selection Strategies, Stefanie Throndson

Graduate Research Papers

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the impact a Teacher Librarian has on students’ self-selection strategies and the broader impact on a culture of reading in a school building. Data was collected from 263 students in middle school (grades 5-8) resulting in 1322 reponses over eight weeks. Research Question 1 asked, What appeal strategies do students use when selecting an independent reading book? “You liked the author or it is in a series” was the number one book selection approach used with 21.6% of the responses indicating this approach when selecting a book. The least helpful book …

Autoethnography On Teaching During A Pandemic, Kelsey Ufford

Graduate Research Papers

The purpose of this paper is to analyze how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted and changed teaching strategies in a young adolescent science classroom and how the pandemic changed personal ideas around online learning. Prior research shows how online learning can be implemented successfully in collegiate classrooms, but it is rare to find research that shows how to successfully implement online learning in a young adolescent classroom. This point of view is from a rural, Iowa middle school standpoint and data was collected through the use of personal journals, emails, and a timeline from March 2020 and May 2020. After the …

Data-Driven Decision Making In Nonprofit Organizations, Amanda Kline

Graduate Research Papers

In recent decades the nonprofit sector has come under significant scrutiny from funders, clients, and the general public. This has led to a focus on programmatic and organizational outcomes data gathering and reporting aimed at increasing accountability throughout the sector. This study analyzes the literature on how nonprofit organizations use this data to drive strategy and decision making. The three specific area reviewed are strategic fundraising, mission drift avoidance, and limitations and obstacles organizations encounter regarding data gathering and analysis usage in the decision making process. Implications and recommendations for nonprofit professional are also discussed.