Education Commons^™

Fostering Creativity: Ontario Teachers’ Perceptions, Strategies, And Experiences, Catharine M. Dishke Hondzel

Catharine Dishke Hondzel

This study provides a broad overview of perceptions elementary school teachers hold regarding creativity, the strategies those teachers use to foster creative thinking and behaviour in their students, and the environmental challenges and opportunities they navigate when striving to develop 21st century skills in students. Earlier research examining teachers’ perceptions and creativity-fostering behaviours have typically asked teachers to describe their classroom practices, or self-report their perceptions regarding creative children or children’s creative actions. Using a mixed-methods approach, in this study 22 Grade 5-7 teachers working in Ontario completed an online questionnaire which measured their creativity-fostering behaviours. Following the survey, 12 …

Educational Outcomes From The Openorbiter Small Spacecraft Development Program, Jeremy Straub

Jeremy Straub

The OpenOrbiter program [1] is developing a low-cost framework for the creation of space-craft by researchers and educators worldwide [8]. In addition to the technical objectives, ed-ucational assessment [2, 3] has also been a key focus. Students working on development of the spacecraft [4] were asked what types of benefits they sought from their participation [5]. The assessment of the attainment of these benefits is ongoing, in conjunction with continued development in pursuit of the crea-tion of a set of designs that can be used to build a spacecraft with a cost of under $5,000 [13] .

Openorbiter Combined Software Work Breakdown Structure, Jeremy Straub, Timothy Whitney, Tyler Leben, Kelton Karboviak, Zach Maguire, Christoffer Korvald, Scott Kerlin

Jeremy Straub

As part of CSCI 297, students created work breakdown structures for different areas of the OpenOrbiter project’s software groups. In CSCI 207, they learned about all aspects of project management via experiential learning. They acted as project management ‘consultants’ to the OpenOrbiter software teams. To facilitate the creation of the work breakdown structures, they interviewed team leads, attended team meetings and discussed current progress and needs with members of the teams. In some cases, they collected additional information from reference sources and/or spoke with other teams which would be the ‘customer’ of a particular area of the software system. These …

A "Fundamental Theory" Of Education Grounded In Ontology? A Phenomenological Rejoinder, James Magrini

James M Magrini

No abstract provided.

A Proposed Learner-Centered Mechatronics Engineering Instructional Program, Patrick N. Currier, Richard Goff, Janis Terpenny

Patrick N. Currier

This paper examines the need and requirements for a mechatronics degree program. The results of a survey of the few existing programs in this field are provided. Then, using a case study example for Virginia Tech, a proposed mechatronics curriculum based on a learner-centered paradigm is described. The curriculum combines existing courses in mechanical, electrical, and computer engineering with new, hands-on courses to provide students with a chance to practice and explore the subject matter in ways consistent with the demands of both industry and accreditation. This program, if implemented, could provide a university with a unique offering to attract …

Mathematicians Playing A Role In Math Education: What We Learned At The Ime/Mime Workshop, Anna Bargagliotti, Rama Chidambaram, Gizem Karaali

Anna Bargagliotti

In Hollywood, some actors are regularly cast as mean, others as sweet and endearing, and some typically play innocent big-eyed youths who inevitably succeed after awakening to the particular facts of life that their producer wants them to awaken to. It is unusual and difficult for actors to cross the bridge between different types on a regular basis. However, there are always exceptions to the rule. In the seemingly unrelated world of academics, mathematics faculty may find themselves playing different roles. People with different skills and interests strive to balance their careers in ways that will be uniquely fulfilling to …

Confusing Achievement With Aptitude, Dave Powell

Dave Powell

My wife and I read and reread the words several times, allowing them to sink in. "Being in an academic class would cause him harm," the principal wrote about our son, "as the rigor would be too great." The report continued, "He would be the lowest-ability student in the class and by a large margin." It is a day you don't soon forget when the principal of your son's school tells you—in an email, no less—that your child simply is not capable of managing academic work. [excerpt]

First Generation And Non-First Generation Pre-College Students' Expectations And Perceptions About Attending College, Terence Hicks

Terence Hicks, Ph.D., Ed.D.

No abstract provided.

Health Behavior Patterns Among First-Year And Non-First-Year College Students Attending A North Carolina Historically Black University, Dixie Dennis, Terence Hicks

Terence Hicks, Ph.D., Ed.D.

The major purpose of this study was to conduct a baseline investigation of self-rated health behavior and quality of life among first-year and non-first-year college students. The authors used a quality of life questionnaire that was designed to gauge college students' health status, lifestyle, mental health, and living conditions. Results from this study indicated that there were significant differences among health behavior patterns between first-year and non-first-year college students. Most importantly, this study provides compelling information regarding the physical and psychological health behaviors among a mostly African American student population who attended a historically Black university in North Carolina. Implications …

Assessing The Academic, Personal And Social Experiences Of Pre-College Students, Terence Hicks

Terence Hicks, Ph.D., Ed.D.

This study examined the before-and-after effects of transitional summer programs at the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore, on pre-college students' perceptions, expectations, emotions, and knowledge about college. The study focused on academic, personal and social experiences, and how these changed throughout the course of the summer program. The participants (n=197) of this study were traditional, first-time, full-time pre-college students. The participants attended one of two six-week summer programs, the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Program (LSAMP) or the Preparation and Adjustment for College Entrance Program (PACE). This study used a pre- and post-test, two-group comparison design with a quantitative component …

A Lecture From The Children Of The "Lost Generation" Of Students From Prince Edward County, Virginia, Terence Hicks

Terence Hicks, Ph.D., Ed.D.

A chapter extracted from: The Educational Lockout of African Americans in Prince Edward County, Virginia (1959-1964) : personal accounts and reflections

Assessing The Effects Of Parental Involvement On First-Generation And Second-Generation College Students, Terence Hicks

Terence Hicks, Ph.D., Ed.D.

Few researchers have studied the effects that parental influence has on first-generation and second-generation college students. This lack of empirical knowledge prompted this investigation on the effectiveness of parental involvement on first- and second-generation college student performance. A recent review of literature reveals that researchers have used different definitions of the "first-generation" concept (Bean&Metzner. 1985; Billson&Terry. 1982). Bean and Metzner (1985) examined the research on the correlation between parental education and the first-generation college student's persistence and reported that other researchers found equivocal results when examining this relationship. Billson and Terry (1987) argued, however, that the analysis performed by Bean …

Advising The First-Generation College Student: Effective Retention Tools For Colleges And Universities, Terence Hicks

Terence Hicks, Ph.D., Ed.D.

No abstract provided.

Academic Characteristics Among First-Generation And Non-First-Generation College Students, Catrina G. Murphy, Terence Hicks

Terence Hicks, Ph.D., Ed.D.

The present study involved a sample (n = 203) of college students and investigated the differences in academic expectations of first-generation and non-first-generation undergraduates who attended a doctoral-granting public four-year historically Black university on the eastern shore of Maryland. There were 133 first-generation and 70 non-first-generation students. This study focused on the expressed needs of first-generation and non-first-generation college students to determine whether differences exist in academic expectations. In addition, this study sought to lead to an increase in the understanding of the academic expectations shared by first-year first-generation and non-first-generation college students. This study used an ex post facto …

A Profile Of Choice/Responsibleness And Goal-Seeking Attitudes Among First-Generation And Non-First-Generation College Students, Terence Hicks

Terence Hicks, Ph.D., Ed.D.

No abstract provided.

Correlates Of Alcohol Consumption, Drug Usage, Sexual Behaviors, And Knowledge About Hiv/Aids Infection Among Traditional College Students, Terence Hicks, Juanita Ashby-Bey, Leontye Lewis, Johnny Harpe, Francis Keane

Terence Hicks, Ph.D., Ed.D.

This study evaluated the correlates of alcohol consumption, drug use, sexual behaviors, and knowledge about HIVPIDS infection among traditional college students attending a university in North Carolina. A Health Behaviors, Self-Rated Health and Quality of Life (QOL) questionnaire was administered to 447 university students. The participants in this study were all identified as traditional college students between the ages of 18 and 23, most of whom were first-year African American students. Results from this study determined significant relationships between alcohol consumption, drug use, protective behaviors, and having sexual intercourse among traditional college students. Most importantly, this study documented statistically significant …

Multicultural Citizenship Education In Indonesia: The Case Of A Chinese Christian School, Chang Yau Hoon

Chang Yau HOON

No abstract provided.

Recent Research In Community Disaster Education And Its Implications For Emergency Management, Neil Dufty

Neil Dufty

Community disaster education is an integral component of emergency management around the world. Its main goal is to promote public safety and, to a lesser extent, reduce disaster damages. However, there has been relatively little research into the appropriateness and effectiveness of the community disaster education programs and learning activities, including those provided by emergency agencies. This is due largely to the general lack of evaluation of these programs, the difficulty in isolating education as a causal factor in aspects of disaster management performance, and disaster education not being embraced strongly by the academic field of education. Compounding this situation …

Hospitality Management Graduates' Perceptions Of Career Factor Importance And Career Factor Experience And The Relation With Turnover Intentions, Eric A. Brown

Eric A. Brown

Previous researchers have shown hospitality management students have different expectations than experiences in a career in the hospitality industry. The purpose of this research was to determine the importance and experiences of career factors of hospitality management graduates and how they relate to turnover intentions. In particular, differences between those that stayed in the hospitality and those that left the hospitality industry were examined. Web-based questionnaires were distributed to hospitality management graduates from different four-year institutions. These questionnaires were designed to measure the perception of experience and perceptions of importance of 20 factors that could influence a hospitality management graduate's …

The Immortal Spirit Of Harriet Tubman: Scholarly Reconceptualization Of Human Trafficking And Slavery, Donna M. Hughes Dr.

Donna M. Hughes

I propose a presentation in which I will describe my personal and professional experiences developing and teaching university level courses on human trafficking, including both sex trafficking and forced labor.

Although I have read about historic slavery all my life, my research, writing, and teaching has focused on contemporary human trafficking, particularly sex trafficking. Seven years ago, I developed and started teaching a course on sex trafficking and a course on human trafficking, which included forced labor. I have taught these courses every year since 2006.

For some time, I did not include historic slavery in the curriculum. My research …

Lowering Educational Standards To Meet The Needs Of The Students: The Exploratory Study Of Brown V. Board Of Education, Valencia Tamir Johnson Dr.

Dr. Valencia T Johnson, PhD, EdD, Hon. D.Div, LLM, MS, BS

As the Bible according to Luke 12:48 “For everyone to whom much is given, of him shall much is required”. In recent years, educational institutions started to decrease their educational requirements and standards to meet the needs of the students, instead of meeting the expectations of the students learning ability. In most colleges and universities “D’s” are acceptable grades for students to progress to the next level. What intrigues me about the level of expectations in educational standards is that many parents and educators and government officials condone these types of minimal levels of expectations that the institutions have done …

The Dialectics Of Staff Unionism And University Management; Critical Discourse For Effective Educational Service Delivery, Olukunle Saheed Oludeyi, Adebayo Olatunde Akinsanya

Olukunle Saheed, OLUDEYI

This paper was poised by the lingering lamentations about the acute fall in standard of education and rapid knowledge declination among Nigerians today. The problem has become so intense that Nigerian ivory towers are now accused of producing ill-prepared and unemployable graduates who seriously lack the skills and competencies needed to positively assist the nation in its quest for growth and development. Unfortunately apart from poor university management, suspicious and insincere, if not selfish relationship between leadership of staff unions and leadership of university management is another factor impeding adequate and effective educational service delivery in Nigeria today. With pluralist …

A Curriculum-Integrated Small Spacecraft Program For Interdisciplinary Education, Jeremy Straub, Anders Nervold, Josh Berk

Jeremy Straub

Space generates inspiration, aspiration, and passion in many students, traits that are often lacking in the traditional college classroom. By utilizing a meaningful space project with a tangible product, which serves a valuable purpose in the curriculum, instructors can generate passion in their students with regards to the topics being explored. Additionally, it can fuel interest in aerospace science and commerce, guiding more students towards valuable STEM degrees and job opportunities, which can lead to future growth and fresh blood in the aging aerospace employee pool.

OpenOrbiter is a student-run research project at the University of North Dakota that can …

The Verdict And Response, Edward Earl Bell

Edward Earl Bell

The murdering of black boys is not foreign. Prior to Zimmerman, black boys were murdered in streets from coast to coast. “We” were somewhat silent calling for a global ending of these deaths. The Zimmerman verdict seems to have produced clamor not only in the black community but also in communities across the globe.

Towards A Learning For Disaster Resilience Approach: Exploring Content And Process, Neil Dufty

Neil Dufty

This paper is a first attempt to scope the possible content and learning processes that could be used in a holistic Learning for Disaster Resilience (LfDR) approach as a possible improvement to current disaster education, communications and engagement practices. The research found that LfDR should not only cover public safety aspects, but also learning about the community itself, including how to reduce its vulnerabilities and strengthen resilience. In relation to learning process, a review of learning theory found four broad learning theory groups - behavioural, cognitive, affective, social – that have relevance to LfDR. The research identified a range of …

An Online Mentoring Practicum In Physical And Health Education Teacher Preparation: Preliminary Findings And Future Directions, Douglas Hearne, Lori Lockyer, Gregg S. Rowland, John W. Patterson

Professor Lori Lockyer

An important aspect of any professional education is the opportunity for students to engage in meaningful practical experiences. In pre-service teacher education, this vital practicum component has undergone challenges in recent years due to increasing student numbers (due to the increasing demand for new teachers) and limited resources in university and school sectors. As a result, new innovations to enhance the practical component of this professional degree have been sought. This paper highlights preliminary findings of one aspect of a larger study that used asynchronous Web-based communication tools to facilitate mentoring and peer support through the practice teaching experience. Analysis …

A Technology-Enhanced Multiliteracies Learning Design For Geography Education, Lori Lockyer, Barry Harper

Professor Lori Lockyer

Educators are being challenged to prepare students to effectively participate in our increasingly globalised society. Contemporary views of pedagogy suggest supporting learners by providing scaffolds for their engagement in real world tasks - tasks that provide opportunities to both explore and apply their learning through multi-modal expressions' within their diverse contexts. This article describes a project that draws upon the emerging views of multiliteracies in the design of a K-12 education excursion program. The multiliteracies learning design developed for .the program is applied to specific discipline-focused learning objectives and implemented within a technology-enhanced environment, which provides learners with access to …

Reusable Learning Designs In University Education, Susan J. Bennett, Shirley Agostinho, Lori Lockyer

Professor Lori Lockyer

This paper discusses the application of reusable learning designs as a support mechanism to guide teachers in designing learning experiences for students. Learning designs, which describe a sequence of learning activities, together with the necessary resources and supports, can serve as a framework which a teacher can then adapt to suit the needs of his or her students. The paper draws on an ongoing study of university teachers using learning designs to design their subjects to highlight reusability issues and outline what further research is necessary.

Health Education In A Web-Based Learning Environment - Learners' Perceptions., Lori Lockyer, Barry Harper, John W. Patterson

Professor Lori Lockyer

The increasing utilization of the World Wide Web in higher education allows instructors to re examine pedagogical strategies and explore ways of taking advantage of the Web's potential to provide for learning experiences that go beyond that possible in the traditional classroom environment. Assumptions on how this enhances the learning experience for students require examination. This paper discusses a study which examines, among other issues, student perceptions of the learning experience when asynchronous, Web-based, collaborative tutorial activities are utilized within an undergraduate health education subject. Analysis of the study data demonstrates that students' perceptions of the effectiveness of the Web-based …

The Development Of An On-Line Learning Community Of Physical And Health Education Professionals, Lori Lockyer, Gregg S. Rowland, John W. Patterson

Professor Lori Lockyer

While ad hoc, course-specific projects have allowed early adopters to explore possible innovations in the use of information and communication technologies in facilitating flexible learning situations, educational institutions are now exploring more integrated strategies to such developments. This paper describes the development of one such strategy that attempts to foster a community-wide approach for a group of professionals coming to terms with the most effective way to utilise technologies -- physical and health educators. The Faculty of Education at University of Wollongong is developing an on-line learning community to facilitate the pre-service education and continuing professional development of students, faculty …