Education Commons^™

Demystifying Preservice Teacher Reflective Thinking: A Systematic Literature Review, Joan Flora

Doctor of Education (EdD)

This systematic literature review responds to the need for research on clarity of what reflective thinking practice is and in determining the value of that practice for preservice teachers. While much has been written about preservice teacher reflective thinking, few studies have explored empirical research on the processes that inform and shape preservice teachers’ reflective practice. This study examines the existing literature to discern common themes in the diverse definitions of reflective thinking. This study also examines diverse frameworks that help teacher educators guide, analyze, assess, and measure the quality of preservice teacher reflective thinking. This study helps inform education …

A Conceptual Analysis And Variable Identification Study Of First-Language Attrition, Neil Edward Cantrall

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Children who grow up hearing and speaking one language and then begin learning another often experience first-language (L1) attrition. Existing research presents different theories regarding the process and the contributing factors of L1 attrition. However, the theories and factors are often dispersed throughout the literature with little coherent presentation. This makes it difficult for researchers and some practitioners to model L1 attrition with other variables properly. This study merged conceptual and content analysis through literature reviews to identify the relevant and essential variables that play a role in L1 attrition. I reviewed 54 textual sources which presented information or studies …

Literary Types: How Literature Helped Inspire Healing And Joy In My Classroom And Beyond, A Narrative, Donald R. Anderson

Doctor of Education (EdD)

This manuscript examines the role of bibliotherapy, specifically the utilization of literature in the form of books, to address and treat emotional and psychological distress. The document offers a concise historical overview of bibliotherapy, in addition to 29 chapters presenting contemporary accounts illustrating the successful application of bibliotherapy in the lives of both adolescents and adults. Extensive research supports the notion that bibliotherapy constitutes a rational and practical approach to assisting individuals of all ages, with a particular emphasis on adolescents, in overcoming emotional trauma and initiating the healing process. Specifically, a seminal study conducted in the Netherlands by Tijms, …

Impact Of Virtual Models On Students’ Multilevel Understanding Of An Organic Reaction, Eli Martin

Theses and Dissertations

As the number of STEM opportunities and the need for a scientifically literate society increases, educators in STEM fields require tools that help support these needs. Chemistry is one STEM content area that would benefit from exploring educational technology that supports conceptual understanding. An action research study was conducted to understand how students engage with the content and virtual representation to develop their understanding of a chemical reaction. This convergent mixed methods study looked at the effect of dynamic virtual molecular representation on students' ability to understand a reaction mechanism at the symbolic and subparticulate level by measuring content knowledge …

A Qualitative Study On Mental Health Resource Utilization Of Enlisted Airmen During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Hassahn Khali Wade

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative action research study examines the impact of COVID-19 on Airmen serving in the aircraft armament systems career field, while also studying the utilization of mental health resources among those same Airmen. Nine Airmen chose to participate in interviews, received an intervention in the form of a resource guide outlining mental health resources offered on-base, and received a second interview to measure any changes in attitude. Respondents found COVID-19 impacted their workload negatively, and adversely affected their personal lives. Culturally, there is an unenthusiastic viewpoint on mental health assistance, which leads many Airmen to suffer in silence and not …

Outliers To The Black Experience: Perceptions Of How Participation In Internships And Study Abroad Influences Black Students’ Development Of Career Readiness Competencies, Erica James Lake

Theses and Dissertations

Black students represent nearly 15% of the college student population, yet nationally only 6% of these students participate in internships and study abroad. Comparatively, White students represent approximately 52% of the college student population, and they represent over 70% of the students who participate in internships and study abroad. This is significant because internships and study abroad experiences can help students gain access to mentors and improve their retention and graduation rates. This study sought to determine if Black students believed they gained career readiness competencies during their experiences.

This qualitative study included interviews, observations and photos from Black seniors …

Just Choices? Judicial Selection, Ideology, And Partisanship In The Ohio Supreme Court, Margo D'Agostino

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects

This thesis joins the conversation on judicial selection and impacts on judicial ideology. This is a multifaceted question that engages with the history of judicial selection, differences between states, growing polarization and partisanship, and an influx in campaign spending that can all influence Justices’ behavior while on the bench. While other theorists have used more quantitative or statistical analytics, more research is still needed on the nuanced and qualitative questions surrounding the judiciary in the United States, especially on the state level. I look at three Ohio Supreme Court Justices—Maureen O’Connor, Jennifer Brunner, and Sharon Kennedy—and decisions they have penned …

How Can Udl Be Used To Increase Equity And Access At An Abe Site?, Karen Cook

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) has been shown to reduce barriers through all levels of education. Similarly, there is research showing the effectiveness of UDL to increase equity and inclusion. Given the diverse population of Adult Basic Education (ABE) and the overrepresentation of students with a learning disability, UDL makes sense as a curriculum shift. The professional development project was designed to give ABE teachers tools for implementing UDL that can be used in various classroom settings, regardless of course level or area of study, so that there can be consistency across all classes at an ABE site rather than …

Teaching Trauma-Informed Pedagogy And Critical Literacy In A Middle School Language Arts Classroom, Katherine Chambers

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Trauma is an innate human experience. People from every walk of life can experience trauma at any time, in a variety of ways. The awareness of trauma is seeping into the forefront of our society. In particular, education has seen trauma in varying ways. Many educators are tasked with navigating trauma’s tricky waters. This capstone explores the possibility of how trauma-informed pedagogy and critical literacy impact student engagement in a middle school language arts classroom? Much of the literature reviewed in this capstone examines trauma’s complexities, trauma’s manifestation in schools and suggests several strategies that can be implemented to impact …

Equitable And Inclusive Dance Assessment Resources, Christie Owens

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

This capstone inquires, how can the Minnesota K-12 Dance Standards (revised 2018) lay a practical framework for dance educators to create equitable and inclusive assessments for student success? A dance teacher addresses the need to expand how standards and success are defined in educational dance, noting circumstances where students of dance outside the dominant culture in the United States experience fewer feelings of inclusion and success when dance standards, curriculum, and assessment do not encompass what success looks like for them given their historical and cultural identities, hindering student ability to become self-actualized and wholistically educated artists. Through a review …

Multisensory Literacy Instruction: Efficacy For Struggling Multilingual Learners, Stephanie Sowma

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

By the year 2025, approximately 25% of U.S. public school students will be multilingual learners. However, many mainstream teachers have not received any development in supporting this particular group of students. This capstone explores best literacy practices for multilingual learners, multisensory learning, and teacher professional development to answer the focus question: how can multisensory instruction be utilized to add engagement and rigor in order to improve the literacy skills of multilingual learners between 5 - 8 years old who score between a 1.0 - 2.9 on the WIDA Access Assessment and are struggling with basic reading skills? Multisensory literacy instruction …

Effective Strategies For Integrating Pronunciation Instruction With A Focus On Intelligibility And Comprehensibility For Adult Esl Students, Ashley Carrel

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The guiding question for this project was: What are some effective strategies for integrating pronunciation instruction in an adult ESL course with the focus being on intelligibility and comprehensibility? This question is guided by personal and professional experiences that are shared in the first chapter. The literature review examines the stigma of accented speech of non-native speakers and the factors that influence their pronunciation production. The intelligibility approach to pronunciation instruction has been proven to be a more realistic and ethical approach as compared to the nativeness principle. The research studied showed that adult ESL teachers often feel ill equipped …

Implementing Authentic Literacy Centers In A Kindergarten Classroom, Isabella Haeger

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Cultivating a literacy-rich and engaging classroom community from the beginning of the kindergarten year is an important step to provide students with a positive experience with learning. Authentic literacy centers are a way for primary learners to interact with targeted literacy skills in a meaningful way. Teachers can plan intentional reading, writing, word work, and listening skills that are differentiated and hands-on. This capstone evaluates the question: What are the most impactful ways to establish authentic and engaging literacy work stations for kindergarten students that promote voice and choice? The summarizing website showcases authentic literacy tasks for each center and …

Teaching English In Earth And Space Science: Content-Based Curriculum Development For Secondary Multilingual Learners, Laura Gislason

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The number of English language learners in public schools continues to increase in Minnesota. Multilingual high school students having a WIDA English language proficiency level below three tend to experience a greater number of academic challenges and experience lower graduation rates. In order to combat these challenges, many high schools provide sheltered content classes co-taught by licensed content and EL teachers. While these courses help students succeed in mastering content standards, English language development is often relegated to incidental acquisition as a bi-product of the learning process. This capstone uses the connections model of content based instruction to answer the …

Whale Watching In Early Childhood, Victoria Anderson

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Whale watching (WW) is a growing business in the ecotourism industry. Two main goals of this industry is to support local conservation efforts and increase pro-environmental behaviors by altering participant environmental attitudes and beliefs. This capstone answers the research question: How can whale watching experiences contribute to the conservation efforts of ecotourism, educate youth on the importance of whales, and enhance the human-nature connection during early childhood? Research concludes that education plays a vital role in affecting participant environmental attitudes and beliefs. In addition to providing unique experiences to observe whales in their natural habitat, whale watching companies also have …

A Training Program That Connects Seasonal Garden Staff And Volunteers To The Mission Of Gale Woods Farm To Promote Land Stewardship Through Agriculture Education, Lindsay Bolstad

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

An educational farm has an opportunity to support staff with the skills needed to make pro-environmental food consumption choices, such as participating in a Community Supported Agriculture program and producing food using regenerative or sustainable practices. Research concludes that best practices for a staff training program considers environmental literacy, skill-building, andragogical principles, and consistent workplace values. This capstone uses a combination of literature review and personal communication to answer the question, what are the elements and considerations of creating a training program that connects seasonal garden staff and volunteers to the mission of land stewardship through food production and agriculture …

Increasing High School Students’ Environmental And Scientific Literacies Through Outdoor Investigations, Mack Mowen

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Getting out of the classroom can be some of the most memorable and rewarding experiences for students. As an AP Environmental Science teacher, I began thinking of ways students can perform outdoor investigations while increasing their environmental literacy. The research question I posed for this project is: how can high school science teachers improve students’ environmental and scientific literacy and help them understand their environmental impact through outdoor investigations? After researching different techniques and ideas, I decided on creating three different outdoor investigations that focus on three different systems of Earth. The first investigation focuses on water; students will be …

Correlations Between Outdoor Recreation And Environmental Awareness In Participants With Various Ages, Cultures, And Abilities, Jackie Murphy

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

In this project, the focus is on the correlations between outdoor recreation and environmental awareness in participants of various ages, cultures, and abilities. Presenting an opportunity to create a forum through a podcast that shares best practices from experts for people who engage in outdoor recreation as a leisure activity and newcomers to the outdoors. The literature review outlines the Leave No Trace environmental principles as it relates to the question of How can outdoor organizations boost their environmental education outreach using Leave No Trace principles accessible to all ages, cultures, and abilities? This project aims to create accessible information …

Utilizing A School Garden To Promote Ecoliteracy In Elementary Aged Children, Kelsie Murphy

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Environmental education is a key component to building ecoliteracy in childhood. Due to the current climate crisis, developing a sense of ecoliteracy in the next generation is essential to slowing the effects of climate change. When students are given the opportunity to interact with nature on a regular basis, the connection between humans and their environment becomes that much stronger. Unfortunately, in the current public education system, little to no importance is placed on teaching science, let alone environmental science. A school garden offers an opportunity to provide students with more outdoor learning opportunities. This capstone uses a combination of …

Developing A Proposal Plan To Create Nature-Based Classrooms In Early Childhood Settings To Support Inquiry Learning, Alaina Zapata

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The research question addressed in this capstone was, how can a nature-based setting support inquiry learning in early childhood education? It documents the author’s professional experiences and how they provided inspiration for the capstone topic and project. The author complies research that examines learning environments in early childhood education, curriculum to support learning in a nature-based setting, and partnerships involved to ensure outdoor learning success. The project includes a complete researched based proposal plan and presentation to transform a courtyard space within a school, into a nature-based classroom. The proposal plan highlights the benefits of nature-based spaces for early childhood …

U.S. Student Motivations To Study Abroad In East Asia: A Regional Comparison, Nadezhda Braun

Capstone Collection

Many factors influence student motivations to study abroad. This qualitative study examines U.S. student motivations to study abroad in East Asia (Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan), through the lens of push-pull theory and the Theory of Planned Behavior. The study finds that both theories accurately portray student motivations to study abroad in East Asia and that there are important distinctions between student motivations depending on their choice of host country.

Extracting A Body Of Knowledge As A First Step Towards Defining A United Software Engineering Curriculum Guideline, Anton Kiselev

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

In general, the computing field is a rapidly changing environment, and as such, software engineering education must be able to adjust quickly to new needs. Industry adapts to technologies as fast as it can, but the critical issue is a need for recent graduates with the necessary expertise and knowledge of new trends, technologies, and practical experience. The industries that employ graduates of computing degree programs aim to hire those who are familiar with the latest technical traits, tools, and methodologies to meet these needs, and the software engineering curriculum needs to respond quickly to these needs. Still, unfortunately, software …

Navigating Age Of Majority-Related Issues In Special Education: The Current Needs And A Potential Means For Aligning Professional Values With Policy And Practice, Charles Blayne Walters

Theses and Dissertations

The paper that follows serves to collect three articles that investigate policy and practice regarding adult decision-making support for students with disabilities receiving special education services. Each has been led by the author of this multiple-manuscript dissertation, Charles Walters. Following a short introduction to these works as Chapter One, Chapter Two provides a reformatted version of an interview-based study with special education directors at the school district level. It was originally published in Volume 35, Issue One of the Journal of Special Education Leadership and titled “An Exploratory Study of Special Education Director Experiences with Issues Related to Age of …

Cultivating Community In A Sixth-Grade Classroom: An Action Research Study, Jennifer Weller Wells

Theses and Dissertations

Students who experience trauma bring this trauma to school with them in the form of exaggerated behaviors—acting out or withdrawing, being violent or extremely passive, or exhibiting rudeness or academic difficulty. Because students react to trauma in many ways, there is no one way for teachers to respond. The classroom community is vulnerable to the sheer unpredictability of behaviors. Grounded in ecological systems theory, whole-child theory, and compassionate teaching theory, this study explored my efforts to mitigate the results of trauma and increase the sense of community and well-being in my sixth-grade classroom. During the last few weeks of the …

Stories From North Carolina Teachers Of Color: An Inquiry Of Racialized Experiences In The Workplace., Deborah Stephanie Harrison

Theses and Dissertations

Growing educational research shows that teachers of color are finding themselves working in racially hostile schools through experiencing racism from their White colleagues in explicit and inexplicit ways. There is a need to further categorize how North Carolina teachers of color are experiencing racism in the workplace and identify how they are affected by it through experiential knowledge and analysis underpinned by critical race theory. Through action research, this study’s goals incorporated the implementation and evaluation of a collaborative book as a method of intervention on the effects of racial trauma. The collaborative book presents full counternarratives of teachers of …

Online Professional Development’S Effect On Teachers’ Technology Self-Efficacy And Continuance Intention To Use Pear Deck, Katherine Shirley Degar

Theses and Dissertations

Districts and schools are spending millions of dollars on technology, training, and professional development each year; however, a disconnect between technology use and good pedagogy remains. The one-shot, sit-and-get professional development model has not provided North Lake Intermediate School’s teachers the necessary skills and knowledge to prepare students for the 21st century through the use of innovative technologies. The purpose of this action research study was to investigate how a TPACK-focused online professional development experience influenced teachers’ development of technology self-efficacy and intention to integrate the technology tool, Pear Deck, and measure changes in their attitudes toward Pear Deck.

The …

Impacts Of Technology-Enhanced Dual Enrollment Mathematics Course On Rural High School Students’ Intentions Of Going To College, Nicolae Bordieanu

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this concurrent mixed methods action research study was to investigate the impact of new technology-enhanced Dual Enrollment (DE) math courses on students’ perception of college courses, the influence the technology-enhanced DE had on students’ intention of going to college, and the students' perception of the technology-enhanced DE math course. Examining student experiences in a technology-enhanced DE course informed all stakeholders as to what degree DE influenced students’ perception of college. The DE experience influenced students' postsecondary plans. The innovation of this action research study was the technology-enhanced DE math course. Software used to practice computational skills, conduct …

“So, The World Isn’T Just Old White Guys?”: Student And Teacher Experiences In A Culturally Relevant Advanced Placement Chemistry Class, James Thomas Sox

Theses and Dissertations

This action research case study explores the impact of a culturally and socially diverse Advanced Placement Chemistry curriculum on student and teacher experiences. This study emerged due to my lack of multicultural teaching practices, which limited meaningful connections for students of diverse backgrounds. Once aware of this deficiency, I created four thematic units that blended chemistry content with aspects of culturally relevant pedagogy and social reconstructionism. Surveys, reflection logs, observations, and a focus group interview captured data related to student and teacher experiences throughout the intervention period, which suggest the culturally relevant pedagogy supported students’ understanding of content, increased student …

Effects Of Choice Reading On Intrinsic Motivation In Underperforming Sixth-Grade Students, Heather M. Henderson

Theses and Dissertations

This single-case study was designed to evaluate the effects of autonomous text choice on reading motivation and reading comprehension in underperforming sixth-grade students. This study was built upon the theoretical framework constructed using self-determination theory, situational expectancy–value theory, and culturally relevant pedagogy. Study participants were asked to read a text of their choice for ten minutes each day. Once a week, study participants were observed during their reading time for off-task behaviors to frame discussions on student engagement with their chosen texts, and every other week during the course of the intervention, participants were provided with an opportunity to give …

International Students’ Lives In Trinity College And Their Pre-College Preparation, Sihan Zhang

Senior Theses and Projects

The world is more diverse and multicultural nowadays than at any previous time in history. For this reason, one important goal of higher education is to prepare culturally competent individuals with the ability to work effectively with people from different backgrounds. Thus, international education has become one of the best ways to fulfill this goal. However,it is not always so easy for international students to live and work effectively with others who differ from themselves. Therefore I, an international student from Trinity College, tried to find out how a sample of Trinity College international students describes their preparation for college …