Education Commons^™

Middle And High School Experiences That Lead First-Generation College Students To Select A Stem Major, James A. Byrum

Theses and Dissertations

Careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields are increasing but the number of qualified individuals to fill these positions are not meeting the demand. One way to increase the number of qualified STEM employees is to garner the interest of students from underrepresented groups in the STEM fields. One of these underrepresented groups are first generation college students (FGCS). Understanding what experiences led FGCS to pursue a degree in a STEM field may help attract more students to STEM and help meet the demand of filling future STEM jobs.

In this study, FGCS in the Opportunity Scholars Program …

The Implementation And Impact Of The Leveled Literacy Intervention System On Middle School Students In Special Education, Krystin Mccormick Williams

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this mixed-methods action research study was to determine the effects of a direct, individualized, and intensive reading intervention on middle school students with identified learning disabilities in the area of reading. The Leveled Literacy Intervention System was used as the reading intervention in this study. Oral reading fluency and reading comprehension skills were measured, as well as the student participants’ attitude toward reading. Data collection methods included LLI system assessments, district level benchmark reading assessments, and student questionnaires. The teacher-researcher analyzed the data and determined the 18-week LLI intervention had positive impacts on the student participants’ oral …

Latinos Raising Academically Gifted Middle School Students: Parental Academic Socialization And Consejos, Martha Aracely Lopez

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative research study sought to understand how Latino parents use parental academic socialization (Hill & Tyson, 2009) and consejos (Delgado-Gaitán, 1994; Alfaro et al., 2014) as forms of home-based parental involvement to converse about education. A phenomenology approach was used to research and analyze data to describe the lived experiences of Latino parents raising academically gifted children middle schoolers while engaging in academic discourse. This study used semi-structured interviews with sixteen Latino participants who were US-born (n=7) and Mexico-born (n=9) from a large urban school district in a Midwestern city. The following major themes emerged: 1) parental academic socialization, …

Nurturing Creative Problem Solving In Social Sciences In Middle School Students, Michele Gaglione

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this non-experimental research study was three-fold: (1) to investigate the relationships among the attributes of creative problem solving ability (divergent thinking, convergent thinking, motivation, general knowledge and skills, and environment) and their relationships in the humanities (specifically those that took enrichment classes in that area), (2) to explore if there were group differences in Creative Problem Solving (CPS) attributes between students that had a high or low perception of class activities as measured by the My Class Activities (MCA) survey, and (3) to explore whether specific components of learning environment were impacted by certain enrichment classes. The …

Teacher Perception Of Preparedness For Teaching Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder In Mainstream Classrooms, Cynthia Diann Edwards

Theses and Dissertations

The research problem for the current study was that many general education teachers feel unprepared to teach students with ASD in their general education classrooms. The purpose of this quantitative study was to describe teachers’ perceptions of their preparedness for teaching students with ASD in mainstream elementary classrooms. Three research questions guided the study, focusing on perceived levels of preparedness of knowledge and skills in the areas of (a) instructional content and practice, (b) planning and managing the teaching and learning environment, and (c) managing student behavior and social interaction skills. A quantitative method with a survey design was used. …

Blended Learning Transitioning To Virtual Learning: Middle School Teacher Perspectives, Jennifer Louise Henry

Theses and Dissertations

This study addressed specific factors that influenced the success of blending learning as it transitioned to virtual learning from the perspectives of middle school teachers. The purpose of the qualitative case study was to determine the challenges of blended and virtual learning from a teacher’s perspective and the positive outcomes of the integration of blended and virtual learning.

The researcher focused on the transition to virtual teaching during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic of 2020 and how blended learning impacted this transition to virtual teaching. The study included middle school teachers from various disciplines who taught at the middle school level. …