Education Commons^™

The Relationship Among Mathematics Anxiety, Mathematical Self-Efficacy, Mathematical Teaching Self-Efficacy, And The Instructional Practices Of Elementary School Teachers, Lydia Joan Smith

Dissertations

The purpose of this quantitative, correlational study was to explore the relationships among the variables of mathematics anxiety, mathematical self-efficacy, mathematical teaching self-efficacy, and the instructional practice of elementary school teachers. The study included 320 practicing elementary teachers who teach mathematics to students in kindergarten through eighth grade. These teachers completed the Abbreviated Mathematics Anxiety Scale, the Mathematics Teaching and Mathematics Self-Efficacy survey, and the Patterns of Adaptive Learning Survey. Quantitative data analysis methods included descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis. Results indicated a statistically significant relationship between mathematical teaching self-efficacy (efficacy) and mastery approaches to instruction, as well as …

The Effect Of A Math Emporium Course Redesign In Developmental And Introductory Mathematics Courses On Student Achievement And Students' Attitudes Toward Mathematics At A Two-Year College, Amy Renée Bishop

Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to determine the effect of computer-based instruction on student mathematics achievement and students' attitudes toward mathematics in developmental and introductory mathematics courses, namely Elementary Algebra, Intermediate Algebra, and College Algebra, at a community college. The researcher also examined the relationship between attitudes and achievement. The sample consisted of 112 students, and the study was conducted during the Spring 2010 semester at a community college in south Mississippi. The participants were enrolled in one of six classes taught by the researcher. The control group consisted of three classes (one Intermediate and two College Algebra sections) …

Older Adults And A Writing Workshop: A Phenomenological Study, Jennifer Lynn Alex

Dissertations

This study examines how older adults experience the phenomenon of participating in a writing workshop and how older adults interpret their experiences, understandings, and realities of writing. Ten older adults, ranging in age from 62 to 83 with varying degrees of experiences in writing, participated in this study. Through a semi-structured interview, each participant related his or her experience first as a writer and then as a member of a writing workshop offered through a Community Literacy Center in a mid-sized Appalachian city.

A phenomenological analysis method was used to identify and analyze themes of meaning that emerged in the …

A Critical Analysis Of The Implementation Of Depth Of Knowledge And Preliminary Findings Regarding Its Effectiveness In Language Arts Achievement, Carol Elizabeth Ferguson Viator

Dissertations

Mississippi implemented its new curriculum standards with depth of knowledge (DOK) goals in 2007, but successful educational reform requires effective professional development that prepares teachers to make the needed instructional changes. This study evaluated whether there were statistically significant relationships among professional development duration, frequency, type of training, utilization of training in instruction and assessment, and teachers’ perceptions of instructional and assessment implementation practices and language arts achievement for third, fourth, and fifth graders as measured by the MCT2 language arts assessment. The study also evaluated teacher perceptions of the implementation of depth of knowledge in instruction and assessment and …

Cooperative Learning: Attitudes, Perceptions, And Achievement In A Traditional, Online, And Hybrid Instructional Setting, Allison Hardin Duckworth

Dissertations

Cooperative learning has been sufficiently studied to be accepted as an effective method of education. Student reception of cooperative learning, and therefore the degree of its success in a given situation, will depend on the mode of delivery. New technology for delivering courses totally online challenges many aspects of traditional education, and is particularly difficult for cooperative learning that relies heavily on intense face-to-face communication among students. This study was conducted to compare cooperative learning in a traditional setting to that in hybrid and online settings. A model for delivering a cooperative learning experience has been developed utilizing concept maps …

Impact Of Golf Video Games On Teaching Golf In Physical Education, Ann Pohira-Vieth

Dissertations

Although technology has become an integral part of many classrooms across the country, the incorporation of technology through the use of video games in physical education is also becoming a mainstay in multiple school districts. In West Virginia public schools, Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) has entered the physical education classrooms as a way to help curb obesity (“Study Shows Video,” 2008). Schools in Arkansas, Missouri and Hawaii have also followed suit by adding DDR to the physical education curriculum (Gallaway & Lauson, 2006). Even though the incorporation of video games into educational programs is becoming more prevalent, there is a …

Preservice Teachers’ Attitudes, Familiarity, Use, And Perceived Applicability Of Content Area Reading Strategies, Bridgette Ladonna Davis

Dissertations

The influence of field based-experiences in K-12 classroom and grade level licensure area on preservice teachers’ attitudes, familiarity, use, and perceived applicability of content area reading instruction was examined for 597 participants from three state-supported universities in a southeastern state in the United States. These participants who were seeking either K-6 or 7-12 licensures represented three levels of field-based classroom experience: (a) no field-based experience, (b) some non-sustained field-based experience, and (c) a full-semester of field-based experience. Data were collected using a demographic questionnaire and two instruments, the Attitudes toward Content Area Reading (ATCAR) questionnaire and the Content Area Reading …

Kindergarten Assessments As A Predictor For A Student’S Need For Intervention, Victoria Ellen Weinketz Hoover

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if the kindergarten assessment results from the three windows in reading, written communication, and mathematics were a valid predictor of a student’s need for intervention up until the conclusion of second grade. Reynolds (1992) suggested that a student’s overall school success is reflective of the approach taken early in kindergarten. With the demands of the No Child Left Behind Act (2001), districts have set in place strategies to meet the standard of all students reading on grade level at the conclusion of the third grade. If districts are to rise to the …

The Relative Value Of Online Learning Environments As Perceived By High School Teachers, Daryl Joe Scoggin

Dissertations

Online learning environments have become more popular for use in education from year to year. This medium for teaching and learning has been successfully used in higher education for years. Only within the past decade has this instructional platform made its way into the P-12 arena. With the expansion of online learning environments becoming more popular, this type of lesson delivery may eventually make its way to the building or site level. As in a face-to-face classroom, teachers have an effect on the success of the students. The perceptions of teachers regarding dimensions of implementation and use of online learning …

The Natural Provenance: Ecoliteracy In Higher Education In Mississippi, Sarah Elizabeth Wheeless

Dissertations

Researchers have suggested that there is an increasing apathy in the study of natural history both in academic settings and in the scientific community (Schmidly, 2005). Natural history is the cornerstone of ecological literacy. However, most studies of environmental knowledge do not directly address knowledge of local natural history. Instead, they concern knowledge of human environmental issues, environmental concepts, or broad ecological knowledge. Ecoliteracy established the study of natural history as fundamental to environmental knowledge and seeks to determine levels of knowledge of local environments and factors associated with that knowledge (Pilgrim et al., 2007).

This study investigated ecoliteracy in …

Technical Writing Redesign And Assessment: A Pilot Study, Gaye Bush Winter

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to compare scores on writing assignments from traditional, fully online courses in technical writing to pilot, hybrid courses at a southern university. A total of 232 students’ assignments were compared in this study. All writing assignments were scored by six trained instructors of English using the same five point rubric.

The pilot, hybrid classes had a total of 97 writing assignments. The students were divided into three disciplines including business, humanities, and sciences. In the pilot, hybrid classes, there were 18 students (or 19%) enrolled in a business major. Five students were enrolled in …

Third Grade Reading Performance And Teacher Perceptions Of The Scott Foresman Reading Street Program In Title I Schools In South Mobile County, Jamie Ladnier Hicks

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if third grade reading performance of students enrolled in south Mobile County Title I schools improved as a result of the first year implementation of the Scott Foresman Reading Street program. Attempts were also made to identify predictors that may improve future reading performance and data were obtained regarding the perceptions and overall satisfaction of the certified instructional personnel in grades K-5 employed in the Mobile County Public School System during the 2009-2010 school year, the first school year following the initial full year of program implementation. Reading performance was measured using …

Perceived Reliable Sources Of Reading Instruction Information Selected By Kindergarten, First, Second, Third, Fourth, And Fifth Grade Teacher-Practitioners, Janet Kimberly Biglane-Hodges

Dissertations

The teacher is considered the most important factor in student success. With increased emphasis on research-based information through federal legislation, teachers struggle selecting credible methods and procedures among available reading instruction sources confounding the possibility of student achievement. Teacher self-knowledge, peer teachers, administrators, professional development, and the Internet are accessible sources for educators in regard to obtaining reading instruction information. Research in the field of education suggests teacher-practitioners procure and implement retrieved reading instruction information based on two factors: existing teacher beliefs regarding reading instruction and support of implementation of the method or practice within the school climate. This study …

A Graphophonic Investigation Of Beginning Level Texts, Kevin Clark Walker

Dissertations

This study attempted to provide a systematic framework for phonics instruction for beginning readers in literature-based classrooms based on relative frequency of phoneme-grapheme occurrences found in three distinct corpora. The first corpus contained an academic word list. The second corpus contained the running text from 363 books identified as first grade literature using the searchable online quiz database maintained by Renaissance Learning, Inc. (Renaissance Learning, 2009). The final corpus consisted of running text from 130 decodable readers that accompany Saxon Phonics 1: An Incremental Development (Simmons & Calvert, 2003). Each corpus was analyzed for graphophonic content in order to establish …

Web 2.0 And Self-Reported Student Performance Among High School Students In Rural Schools, Joseph Carl Cash

Dissertations

This research intends to contribute to the current literature available on the appropriate levels of utilizing Web 2.0 resources in the classroom, therefore, amicably submitting the study's results collaboration of a dynamic theoretical construct for pedagogy in the digital age. Educators must contend with and adapt to cognitive changes within their students. School leaders face existential questions regarding the role of the teacher, the role ofthe student, and the method by which these two partners interact. School administrators aware of the substantive challenge facing traditional methods of instruction should be able to provide professional development to teachers that would accurately …

Emotional Antecedents Of Preprimary Teacher Learning, Elizabeth Anne Beavers

Dissertations

A study of the relationships between emotional understanding, the dispositional attributes to think critically, receptiveness to new learning and willingness to change using structural equation modeling was conducted. Data from 186 preprimary teachers were analyzed to confirm the relationships between the constructs yielding four key findings addressing the individual and collective relationships between the variables expressed. Specifically, the findings and interpretations of this study produced the following conclusions: 1) one’s willingness to change may stem directly from the individual’s emotional understandings; 2) there is a strong relationship between emotional understanding and critical thinking dispositions; 3) receptiveness to new learning precedes …