Education Commons^™

Changing Minds And Changing Practice: Barriers And Facilitators To The Use Of Methods Associated With Popular Musicianship, And Strategies Music Teachers Use To Navigate Them, Rhiannon Simpson

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The purpose of this study was to identify factors which impede or facilitate teacher initiated changes to practice, and the ways in which these factors were strategically navigated by secondary school music educators employing methods associated with popular music education [PME] and/or informal music pedagogy [IMP]. The research was framed using a theoretical framework informed by Bourdieu’s (2000) concept of ‘hysteresis’ and Schmidt’s (2020) concept of ‘policy knowhow’. This served to highlight the dialectic relationship between the beliefs, values, agency and dispositions of individuals, and the presence of complex policy networks across macro, meso, and micro levels.

The research utilised …

Lighting The Way Of The Learner: Towards A Social Virtue Epistemology In Aḥmad Al-Ṣaghīr’S The Faqīh’S Lantern, Amani Khelifa

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This thesis offers an original translation and analysis of a West African didactic poem in Islamic ethics and law, by the Mālikī-Ashʿarī Mauritanian scholar Aḥmad al-Ṣaghīr (d. 1272 AH/1856 CE) called The Faqīh’s Lantern (Miṣbāḥ al-Faqīh). In addition to the critical translation, I examine the poem thematically through the lens of social virtue epistemology. Chapter 1 sketches the background of the text and author, positioning the author historically as a product of a rich scholarly and pedagogical tradition while noting Mauritania’s contemporary place in the North American Muslim imagination. Chapter 2 is the translation of the text, making …

The Effects Of Song Use On Vocabulary Learning: Studies Of Distribution Of Practice, Modes Of Input, Retrieval, And The Input-Output-Input Sequence Of Exposure, Niousha Pavia

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This dissertation investigates the effects of the distribution of practice, modes of input, retrieval, and the input-output-input sequence of exposure on incidental vocabulary learning from songs. This thesis takes an integrated article format, organized into five chapters, including an introduction, articles one, two, and three, and a conclusion. The participants (N=225) across all three studies involved Thai students learning English as a foreign language (EFL) in Thailand. All three studies measured vocabulary learning gains by comparing participants' scores on the vocabulary knowledge tests used for pretests, immediate posttests, and two weeks delayed posttests. Study one partially replicated and …

Creative Common Worlding With Research Creation In Early Childhood Education, Sarah M. Hennessy

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Creative Common worlding with research-creation in early childhood education engages with provocations that disrupt dominant understandings of children and their relations with more-than-human and human others. Reconceptualizing alternatives through art, this dissertation contemplates the potent possibilities beyond human stewardship, underscores the influence of an uncommoning lens, and emphasizes the difficulties with humancentric notions of research. If, by disrupting how we understand ourselves and our role in place, we modify our actions and change our habits, then perhaps we can live differently and contribute differently to the planet. Through a common worlds framework together with research-creation, this dissertation considers climate education …

Weaving Child-Plastic Relations In The Ecuadorian Andes, Alexandra M. Berry

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In the small Andean town of Racar, Ecuador, plastics are deeply woven into land and culture. Within postqualitative framings, this dissertation puts into conversation research-creation and curriculum-making to invent pedagogical responses to plastics with children and early childhood educators at a local school named Santana. This pedagogical project interferes with prevailing Euro-western visions of the human in education that separate children in the Ecuadorian Andes from their relations with place and plastics. Together we think with material/conceptual contradictions and possibilities proposed through Andean weaving techniques as minor, but important, entry points to figuring the child within increasingly synthetic worlds in …

Learning Analytics For The Formative Assessment Of New Media Skills, Negar Shabihi

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Recent theories of education have shifted learning environments towards student-centred education. Also, the advancement of technology and the need for skilled individuals in different areas have led to the introduction of new media skills. Along with new pedagogies and content, these changes require new forms of assessment. However, assessment as the core of learning has not been modified as much as other educational aspects. Hence, much attention is required to develop assessment methods based on current educational requirements. To address this gap, we have implemented two data-driven systematic literature reviews to recognize the existing state of the field in the …

Mandated To Move: Teacher Identified Barriers, Facilitators, And Recommendations To Implementing Daily Physical Activity, Lauren Martyn

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Ontario elementary school teachers are mandated to implement 20 minutes of physical activity into classroom instruction each day under the Ontario Daily Physical Activity policy but are experiencing barriers. Effective implementation is essential to school-aged children's daily physical activity recommendation and, ultimately, the physical, cognitive and emotional benefits that coincide. The present study engaged 13 teachers across Ontario who teach in elementary schools through small virtual focus groups. Discussion on the facilitators, barriers, and recommendations to incorporating physical activity in the classroom was explored through the social-cognitive and social-ecological frameworks. A thematic analysis revealed teachers most frequently identified barriers related …

The Use Of Reading Strategies In Second Language Adult Learners, Taninder Atwal

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The current study examined the use of reading strategies in connection to reading comprehension success. 38 graduate students, who did not consider English their first language participated in this study. The participants’ vocabulary knowledge, word reading fluency, decoding, and working memory were measured. Think-alouds captured strategy use and reading comprehension was assessed through questions about the text. Results indicate that vocabulary knowledge was correlated to reading comprehension success but word fluency, decoding and working memory were not. A factor analysis on strategy use revealed that three factors emerged to account for unique variance in reading comprehension performance. These factors were …

The Experiential Learning Connections Between University And Community: Recent Ontario Experience, Emmanuel Asafo-Adjei

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Experiential Learning (EL), including a range of pedagogical approaches such as co-ops and community service learning, connect the university and its external community. Universities are considering such approaches to meet a number of needs and priorities both on and off-campus. As it unfolds rapidly at the present time, EL becomes the connection between the university and the community beyond its gates, both locally and more extensively. However, university-community or so-called town-gown (TG) connections traditionally focus on research and/or science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). This thesis focuses on the teaching and learning connections, especially in Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences …

Promoting Mentally Healthy Classrooms: Evaluation Of Online Mental Health Literacy Instruction In Pre-Service Teacher Education, E. Robyn Masters

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

To better understand how to prepare large numbers of pre-service teachers for their role in creating and leading mentally healthy classrooms, this program evaluation explores outcomes related to an online mental health literacy course at a large central Canadian university. The course was delivered to 275 teacher education students simultaneously over 10-weeks and 20-hours of online instruction and professional reflection. Results indicated significant improvement in self-reported levels of mental health literacy, stigma toward mental illness, and self-efficacy for teaching students with diverse challenges. Qualitative reviews of participant feedback identified the most valuable aspects of the course and the ways in …

Development And Evaluation Of An Online University Readiness Course Furthered By Capturing The Lived Experience Of Students During This Transition: A Multi-Perspective Understanding Of The Transition To University, Cortney Hanna-Benson

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In the transition to university, students may hold expectations about university life: how their classes, friendships, and support networks would change in university. They may need to adjust their time management skills and study strategies to better suit the new self-directed learning environment, while grappling with psychosocial and emotional changes resulting from the new social and living environments. ‘University readiness’ provided the context and rationale for development of a pre-university online course, Leg UP: An Introduction to Health Across the Lifespan. This program was evaluated in a quasi-experimental study to assess its effectiveness at easing students’ transition to university …

An Interventionist Approach To Language Study Abroad: Exploring Metalinguistic Awareness In The Acquisition Of Spanish Through Digital Portfolio Documentation And Expert Mentorship, Meredith Mcgregor

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Language study abroad offers the possibility of acquiring a multitude of competencies, linguistic and otherwise. While historically study abroad research has emphasized linguistic gains in isolation, it has gradually moved towards a more sociocultural approach whereby individual factors and intercultural competencies are seen as integral to the process of acquiring knowledge of a language. With remaining gaps in the literature, and as new instruments emerge, so too do new opportunities for tracking and measuring learning outcomes in innovative ways. The present study, framed by the intervention hypothesis and sociocultural theory, utilizes the social media platform Google+ as a space to …

A Mixed Methods Study: The Impact Of Self-Regulated Learning On L2 Writing And Strategy Use, Mohammed Almazloum

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This convergent mixed methods study aimed to find out how a self-regulated learning (SRL) instructional intervention could impact the Palestinian students’ second language (L2) writing and strategy use. L2 writers face common writing challenges, including but not limited to a lack of competences, effective writing approach, proactive planning, motivation, and self-efficacy (Hammad, 2016). Helping the students to overcome their challenges, improve their L2 writing, and become self-regulated writers was an expected outcome of the study. The study was informed by the social cognitive theory of SRL that views successful writers as proactive and self-regulated learners. In the quantitative part, a …

How Do Teachers Challenge Neoliberalism Through Critical Pedagogy Within And Outside Of The Classroom?, Rezvan Shahsavari-Googhari

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis uses the qualitative case study approach to investigate current strategies and skills four Ontario public secondary school teachers apply both within and outside of the classroom to enhance students’ critical consciousness. The focus is on teachers’ pedagogical work in the era of neoliberal restructuring in order to provide a rich account of how neoliberalism challenges and affects their teaching. Existing literature shows a crisis of identity and political agency among youth in many Western societies, characterized by individuals’ inability to think critically about social, political and economic issues, which is rooted in neoliberal education reforms. Adopting a critical …

Math Stories In Elementary Mathematics Education In China And North America, Bingqing Xu

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In our information- and technology-based society, mathematics education plays an increasingly important role in current world economic development. As the world biggest economies,ChinaandNorth Americahave accelerated the reform of mathematics education in recent years. One of the phenomena is that children’s literature has attracted great attention in the improvement of mathematics instruction and students’ learning for early childhood education. However, research conducted on math literature and the comparison of math literature inChinaand North America is limited, which points the necessity to consider the similarities and differences of math literature inChinaandNorth America. By comparing and contrasting the math stories in China and …

The Effect Of Speech-To-Text Software On Learning A New Writing Strategy, Katrina N. Haug

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Handwriting and spelling present elementary students with significant sources of load on working memory as the various writing processes compete for cognitive resources (Kellogg, Whiteford, Turner, Cahill & Mertens, 2013). Several studies have shown that speech-to-text (STT) software can improve students' writing on a specific text (Higgins & Raskind, 1997; MacArthur & Cavalier, 2004; Quinlan, 2004); however, the question of whether STT can be used to teach writing strategies has been neglected. This pretest-post-test between groups study experimentally tested the effects of composition modality on learning a persuasive writing strategy. First, all students (N=45) completed a pretest of persuasive writing. …

Sensory-Based Arts Education And Engagement In The Junior Classroom: Exploring Multiple Ways Of Knowing And Meaning, Tracy Thomson

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This small-scale, qualitative, exploratory case study investigated the effectiveness of holistic arts approaches in a junior classroom setting. Specifically it sought to elucidate how sensory-based arts pedagogical strategies contribute to grade six students’ engagement during arts and integrated learning experiences. The study examined individual and collective responses to sensory-based arts learning in an Ontario public elementary school classroom. Through case study methodologies, observation, interviews, writing, and art samples, the study explored how students made authentic connections between their sense awareness, their arts processes and their learning. Drawing upon educational theorists such as Eisner and Dewey, the study attended to how …

Three Models For Educating For Empathy And Humanization Through Values Dialogue In Secondary School Classes, Adam J. Hill

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This thesis develops educable constructs of empathy and of humanization as well as a theory, a praxis, educational models, and measuring instruments of values dialogue that hypothetically can be used to foster and to measure changes in empathic and humanizing capacities among secondary school students. The theory and the praxis of values dialogue utilize a sample of Western epistemological philosophy, as well as some of the research and literature of the field of dialogic inquiry. This study then assembles educable constructs of empathy and of humanization by reviewing related research and scholarship. The empathy constructs consist of emotional literacy and …

What Is Writing In Undergraduate Anthropology? An Activity Theory Analysis, Boba M. Samuels

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How students learn to write in the disciplines is a question of ongoing concern in writing studies, with practical implications for academia. This case study used ethnographic methods to explore undergraduate writing in two upper year anthropology courses at a Canadian university over one term (four months). Student and professor interviews, classroom field notes, surveys, and students’ final papers were analysed using a framework drawn from activity theory and informed by genre theory. Four themes emerged from the data: anthropology as school; the familiar vs. unfamiliar; reading; and hidden rhetoric. Findings suggest students approach disciplinary work primarily as students rather …

A Transpositive Approach To Therapy With Transgender Clients: An Exploration Of Therapists' Subjective Experiences, Ronnie M. Ali

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The longstanding tradition of pathologizing and erasing transgender individuals in psychology has the potential to enter into therapy with transgender clients in insidious and destructive ways. To address this polemic, clinicians have articulated a transpositive approach to working with transgender clients that fosters the client’s right to self-determination. The present study explores the subjective experiences of three therapists working with transgender clients in order to learn how transpositivity materializes in their practices. Utilizing a case study methodology, and cross-case analysis, the study demonstrates that these therapists engaged in self-directed learning and advocacy, demonstrated flexibility in their approach, and were open …

The Public School Washroom As Heterotopia: Gendered Spatiality And Subjectification, Jennifer C. Ingrey

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This dissertation investigates how secondary school students understand their own gendered subjectivity and the discursive and material processes that contribute to it through visual artifacts (photovoice projects) the students created of school washroom spaces. Drawing primarily on Foucault’s analytics of disciplinary space and the heterotopia (Foucault & Miskowiec, 1986), I view the washroom space as producing and perpetuating gendered power relations that invert, suspect, or neutralize those existing in exterior spaces. Deploying both a Foucauldian and Butlerian analytics, these visual student responses are framed as confessional, queering or (de)subjugating (Stryker, 2006) and cartographic products, and hence, understood in terms of …

Interprofessional Socialization And Dual Identity Development Amongst Cross-Disciplinary Students, Hossein Khalili

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The purpose of this study was to develop and test an interprofessional socialization (IPS) framework through assessing the impact of an IPS-based interprofessional education program on interprofessional socialization and dual identity development among health professional students. Although health professional educational programs have been successful in equipping graduates with skills, knowledge and professionalism, the emphasis on specialization and profession-specific education has enhanced the development of a uniprofessional identity, which has been found to be a major barrier towards Interprofessional Person-Centered Collaborative Practice (IPCPCP). Despite the growing acknowledgment of IPS in the current IPE and collaborative practice literature, there is a lack …

A Case Study Mapping Literacy Learning Opportunities And Identity Construction Among African Immigrant Youth In A Canadian Secondary School, Wambui J. Gichuru

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Studies with immigrant and refugee youth highlight challenges, school failure and early push-out rates (Anisef, 2008; James, 2012; Roessingh, 2010). There is limited research about how immigrant students especially from continental Africa negotiate their identity at school for positive outcomes. The goal of this qualitative case study was to explore literacy learning opportunities afforded by the school for African youth who were learning to become literate in English as an additional language in a Canadian secondary school and the implications for the students’ communicative and identity options.

The study utilized ethnographic tools, i.e., interview, classroom observation, mapping literacy activities and …

"Sit-Still And Shut-Up": The Construction Of Childhood And Classroom Management Pedagogies In A Preservice Education Textbook, Marlene P. Frederick

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This study addresses the limitations and restrictions of approaches to classroom management that are promoted in one particular textbook that is used in Teacher Education faculties in Canada. It contributes to building an understanding of the role of textbooks in endorsing certain truth and knowledge claims about childhood and classroom management. The thesis is informed theoretically by Foucault (1977-1982), Gee (2001) and poststructuralists such as Weedon (1999). Through undertaking a discourse analysis informed by the work of Gee and Foucault, I conduct a single case study of one particular textbook to highlight the particular role of educational psychology as ‘a …