Education Commons^™

Use Of Metaconceptual Scaffolding In The Science Classroom To Promote Conceptual Change, Erin Duez

Education Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to analyze the effects of providing metaconceptual awareness questions on the conceptual change and metaconceptual awareness of students in the chemistry classroom. This quasi-experimental study with a repeated-measures design analyzed the effects of providing metaconceptual awareness questions on the conceptual change and metaconceptual awareness of high school chemistry students. The intervention consisted of providing metaconceptual awareness questions nine times to the experimental group over a three-week period. The chemistry conceptual knowledge of both groups was assessed three times: pretest, posttest, and a delayed retention test. The metaconceptual awareness of the students was assessed twice …

An Assessment Of Integrating Authentic Research In Undergraduate Science Curricula, Daihong Chen

Education Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of integrating original research projects in undergraduate science curricula on student learning outcomes. Integrating original research projects in undergraduate science curricula has been promoted as an effective approach to involving large group of students in authentic scientific inquiry. The study defines course-based undergraduate authentic research experiences or authentic scientific inquiry based on situated learning, and conducted a systematic literature review of the impact of undergraduate research experiences in science related disciplines. Based on an extensive literature review, a unique survey entitled Student Science Learning Gains (SSLG) was developed and validated …

Reflective Assessment, Feedback And Academic Achievement In High School Mathematics, Nalline S. Baliram

Education Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of metacognitive strategies and content-specific feedback on student achievement in high school mathematics. Participants in the study consisted of a convenience sample of honors geometry students in grades 9 and 10 in a private high school located in Daytona Beach, Florida. Beyond answering the specific research questions raised in the study, an additional aim was to contribute to the growing body of knowledge pertaining to effective ways to use metacognitive instruction and provide effective content-specific feedback to improve student achievement and learning.

A quasi-experimental, nonequivalent control-group design with repeated-measures was …

A Meta-Analysis Of Middle School Science Engagement, Leanna B. Aker

Education Dissertations

Researchers and educational practitioners have long been concerned with declines in science engagement reported by students as they transition into the middle school setting. Though the operationalization of engagement is still nascent, an emerging consensus on a three-faceted model of student engagement has recently emerged in the research literature (Fredricks, Blumenfeld, & Paris, 2004). Thus, a synthesis of existing primary research of early adolescents’ science engagement under this emerging conceptualization was warranted. The results of this meta-analysis indicate that instructional methods, class characteristics and competence predictors had the strongest relationship with self-reported science engagement in early adolescence. These predictors also …

The Effects Of Metacognitive Writing On Student Achievement In Advanced Placement Calculus, Lindsay M. O'Neal

Education Dissertations

Grounded in metacognitive theory (Flavell, 1976) and historical foundations that reach back as far as the writings of Plato (1973), the last few decades have seen an increase in research regarding the impact of metacognitive practice on student learning, often through the use of reflective writing. Studies have focused on a range of aspects, from how to measure metacognition to the effect metacognitive practice has on the academic achievement of students in a variety of subject areas. Specifically with regard to mathematics, researchers have studied the impact of reflective strategies on primary, secondary, and university level students.

The purpose of …