Education Commons^™

Technology Resolved: An Ethnographic Approach To Instructional Design Within Urban Middle School Debate, Dana Bryant

Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology Dissertations

Technology literacy is the latest achievement benchmark for 8th grade public school students under No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Although necessary for contemporary academic and professional success (Selfe, 1999; Pearson & Young, 2002), this benchmark is at odds with the legacy and current state of social inequities within American public education, as all students have not been provided with equal opportunities for engaging and safe learning environments (Kozol, 1991; Darling-Hammond, 2006)—much less technology enabled ones. The purpose of this qualitative study was to design culturally informed technology activities for urban middle school students in the Computer Assisted Debate (CAD) after …

Assessment Of Students' Knowledge Of Internet Risk And Internet Behaviors: Potential Threats To Bullying And Contact By Internet Predators, Stacey L. Kite, Robert K. Gable, Lawrence Filippelli

NERA Conference Proceedings 2010

Given the serious issue of bullying, this study sought to assess middle and high school students' knowledge of appropriate use and their behaviors on the Internet and social networking sites, especially regarding behaviors that may lead to cyberbullying or contact with potential Internet predators. Three school districts (urban, suburban, and urban ring) with grades 6 - 12 are participating in this study. Differences among and between grade levels, gender, and school demographics at the dimension and item-level will be presented.

The Effect Of A Seventh Grade After School Leadership Program On The Developmental Assets, Academic Achievement, And Behavior Of Non-Thriving Students, Beth L. Fink

Student Work

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of the Time Travelers Leadership Program, an after school intervention program, on non-thriving seventh graders' Developmental Assets, academic achievement, and behavior. Schools are facing the unprecedented challenge to educate a multicultural and multilingual student body with varied abilities and motivations for learning, and research on promotion and prevention programs that address positive youth development constructs are promising in improving students' school success.

Characterizing Preservice Teachers’ Mathematical Understanding Of Algebraic Relationships, Leah A. Nillas

Leah A. Nillas

Learning And Serving: An Exploratory Action Research Case Study Of A Middle School Service Learning Curriculum Project, Georgina Levey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Service learning, a natural link between community service and standards-based education, encourages students to learn about themselves in the context of the world in which they live. In other words, service learning is a method of teaching that enriches learning by engaging students in meaningful service to their schools and communities, and integrating that service with established curricula or learning objectives (NYLC Service-Learning Glossary, 2005). Educational service activities can be done directly or indirectly and they can have a varying degree of “involvement” ranging from community service, community exploration, community action or advocacy and research. In this study, a service …

Bullying And Gender: The Social/Emotional, Psychological, And Physical Effects On Middle School Students In South Mississippi, Cassundra Peyton-Brown

Dissertations

Bullying is a great concern in schools today. When bullying occurs, it hinders school success and academic performance. During the late 1980s and 1990s, school violence was prevalent in middle school characterized by events such as the Columbine shooting. This forced both students and school personnel to deal with school shootings, gang activities and other violent acts. According to subsequent investigations, some of these incidents occurred because students were bullied and teased. This supports the maxim that students can only be successful academically in a safe and orderly environment.

The first interest of this study was to assess the effects …

Complicating Students’ Historical Thinking Through Primary Source Reinvention, John H. Bickford Iii

Faculty Research and Creative Activity

To best challenge students’ thinking, researchers and educators must locate or create innovative ways to spark enthusiasm and facilitate criticality. This paper investigates how middle school students analyzed various primary and secondary historical documents to construct original political cartoons. Students articulated newly generated understandings about the complex historical event within these original political cartoons. Students then examined and discussed peers’ original political cartoons. This approach was novel because the research literature indicated students rarely are asked to construct original political cartoons to express opinions and understandings. Political cartoons mostly are used as tools for interpretation and usually only with gifted …

The Complexities Of The Work Experiences Of Urban Middle School Teachers On Interdisciplinary Teams: An In-Depth Phenomenological Interview Study, Barbara Anne Choiniere

Open Access Dissertations

There are about 16,000 middle schools in the United States; the half million teachers who teach in them affect the academic and emotional lives of about a hundred students while working cooperatively with an array of adult personalities and endeavoring to cover the curriculum. Although research has been conducted on many components of the middle school, an in-depth look at teachers’ experiences with the concept is missing. The purposes of this study were to explore three ideas: the complexities of the work experiences of teachers who participate on interdisciplinary teams in urban middle schools, the possible interactions of the structures …

Gifted Dropouts: A Phenomenological Study, James Zabloski

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This qualitative phenomenological study of the life experiences of seven rural gifted individuals who dropped out of school investigated whether they shared commonalities that might have led to the phenomenon of dropping out. The problem was that no one had asked them to share their stories prior to this study. By searching for meaning in their individual and combined stories, the overarching theme of relationships weaved through all of them. Three themes emerged which contributed to their drop out decision: relational traumas, relational losses, and relationships with teachers. All of these gifted dropouts experienced a significant relational trauma in middle …

Being Bullied And Psychosocial Adjustment Among Middle School Students In China, Yulan Cheng, Ian Newman, Ming Qu, Lazarous Mbulo, Yan Chai, Yan Chen, Duane F. Shell

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Background: Using the Chinese version of the Global School-based Health Survey (GSHS), this article describes the prevalence of being bullied among a nationally representative sample of Chinese students in grades 6-10 and explores the relationships between being bullied and selected indicators of psychosocial adjustment.
Methods: A total of 9015 students in middle schools in Beijing, Hangzhou, Wuhan, and Urumqi completed the Chinese version of the GSHS. Researchers analyzed the results from 2 questions about the frequency and form of being bullied and 11 questions about psychosocial adjustment. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression were used in the analysis.
Results: About 25.7% …

Impact Of Freshman Transition Interventions On Ninth Grade Academic Achievement, Emily Spake Brown

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of various freshman transition interventions on student academic achievement. Specifically, this study aimed to measure academic success by focusing upon ninth grade End of Course Test (EOCT) scores. The data were collected using a researcher-developed survey. After securing permission from all superintendents, the survey was electronically mailed to all high school principals within the state of Georgia. Among participating systems, the survey response rate was 78.4 percent. Based upon expert opinion, the twenty individual intervention items were categorized into three domains. The domain data were analyzed using analysis of variance …

An Examination Of Teacher-Student Trust In Middle School Classrooms, Virginia Louise Durnford

Open Access Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore: (a)how and to what extent teachers experience and express trust in relation to individual students and groups of students (b)how and to what extent teachers value and focus on specific attributes of trust over others and (c) how and to what extent the levels of teacher trust in students and the various attributes of trust impact the teachers’ behaviors and choices in the classroom. Data were collected from teacher interviews, teacher questionnaires, classroom and school artifacts, and descriptive field notes from observations. Data were analyzed using content analysis and open, axial, and …

Achievement Effects Of Sustained Silent Reading In A Middle School, Mary Pinson Sullivan

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study was to determine the reading achievement effects of a school- year-long program of sustained silent reading in a middle school. Students' scores on the Stanford Achievement Test, Ninth Edition across three years (2006, 2007, and 2008) were analyzed to test eleven null hypotheses. A 3 x 3 repeated measures factorial ANOVA showed significant post treatment differences in gains for Total Reading and Reading Comprehension at each of the three grade levels (sixth, seventh, and eighth grades) and for Reading Vocabulary for seventh grade. Pretreatment gains were greater for Reading Vocabulary in sixth and eighth grades. …

Teacher Mathematics Learning And Middle School Student Achievement, Sally Marie Mascia

ETD Archive

United States policymakers have taken measures to improve learning for all students emphasizing the use of scientifically based research in choosing educational programs to promote school improvement and student learning. However, educators, researchers and policymakers debate about which factors are most important in affecting student achievement. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) places major emphasis upon teacher quality as a factor in improving achievement for all students. This emphasis grows out of research showing that teachers' mastery of the academic content they teach is critical to engaging students and is a significant factor in raising levels of …

The Impact Of Grade Configuration On Sixth Grade Academic Achievement In Florida Public Schools, Karen Schafer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the impact of grade span configuration on the academic achievement of sixth grade students in Florida public schools. Grade configuration (PK-6, PK-8, and 6-8) was the independent variable. Academic achievement, the dependent variable, was measured using 2009 Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) Reading and Mathematics mean scale scores and the percentage of students making annual learning gains from 2008 to 2009. School socioeconomic status (SES) was used as a covariate to equalize the effect of poverty on achievement. Random samples of schools were drawn from the population of all Florida public schools with sixth grades in 2009, …

Science Teachers' Beliefs Concerning Reform Policies: Comparisons Based On Grade Level, Achievement History, And Socioeconom, Rachel Hallett

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In an effort to increase the relevance and rigor of the science curriculum being taught in schools throughout Florida, the Next Generation Sunshine State Standards were developed and districts throughout the state began processing them for use in the K-12 classrooms. With a history of adopt and abandon reform strategies, one district wanted to follow a more structured implementation approach to better ensure a successful transition to the new standards. As the first aspect of the approach, teachers in grades 3-8 were asked to complete two instruments which gauged their beliefs regarding the Next Generation Standards in science. Quantitative analysis …

Complicating Students’ Historical Thinking Through Primary Source Reinvention, John Bickford

Faculty Research and Creative Activity

To best challenge students’ thinking, researchers and educators must locate or create innovative ways to spark enthusiasm and facilitate criticality. This paper investigates how middle school students analyzed various primary and secondary historical documents to construct original political cartoons. Students articulated newly generated understandings about the complex historical event within these original political cartoons. Students then examined and discussed peers’ original political cartoons. This approach was novel because the research literature indicated students rarely are asked to construct original political cartoons to express opinions and understandings. Political cartoons mostly are used as tools for interpretation and usually only with gifted …

Adaptations And Continuities In The Use And Design Of Visual Representations In Us Middle School Science Textbooks, Victor R. Lee

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

Visual representations are ubiquitous in modern‐day science textbooks and have in recent years become an object of criticism and scrutiny. This article examines the extent to which changes in representations in textbooks published in the USA over the past six decades have invited those critiques. Drawing from a correlational analysis of a corpus of 34 US middle school physical science textbooks, continuities are established with respect to the purposes that most textbook images serve and the numbers of schematic representations that are used. Changes are observed in the overall total number of representations in textbooks and in the proportion of …

Implicit Theories Of Ability Of Grade 6 Science Students: Relation To Epistemological Beliefs And Academic Motivation And Achievement In Science, Jason Chen, Frank Pajares

Articles

We investigated (a) the associations of implicit theories and epistemological beliefs and their effects on the academic motivation and achievement of students in Grade 6 science and (b) the mean differences of implicit theories, epistemological beliefs, and academic motivation and achievement as a function of gender and race/ethnicity (N = 508). Path analysis revealed that an incremental view of ability had direct and indirect effects on adaptive motivational factors, whereas fixed entity views had direct and indirect effects on maladaptive factors. Epistemological beliefs mediated the influence of implicit theories of ability on achievement goal orientations, self-efficacy, and science achievement. Results …

The Effect Of Middle School Physical Education Curriculum On Student Attitudes, David C. Barney, Joe Deutsch

Faculty Publications

Middle school physical education can serve as an important tool in shaping students opinions and behaviors regarding lifelong physical activity. The curriculum in middle school physical education is one component that can positively or negatively affect a student's attitude toward physical activity throughout their life. The purpose of this study was to investigate the middle school physical education curriculum and its effect on middle school students' attitudes and perceptions towards their physical education class. It was found that middle school students do like the curriculum they participate in, mainly consisting of team sports.

Inquiry Based Mathematics Instruction Versus Traditional Mathematics Instruction: The Effect On Student Understanding And Comprehension In An Eighth Grade Pre-Algebra Classroom, Kyle Ferguson

Master of Education Research Theses

This quantitative study provides information obtained through the use of inquiry-based mathematics instruction verses traditional mathematics instruction. The use of each curriculum was implemented into two classrooms of eighth grade pre-algebra students. The study was based on data collected before and after each of the two units of study. Fifty-two suburban eighth grade students represented the sample population. Results of the SPSS analysis showed that both classes made improvement from their pre-test to their post-test for both units but students receiving instruction through inquiry-based instruction showed significantly more improvement on the second unit. These results can be useful for educators …

An Examination Of The Effectiveness Of A Professional Development Program On Teacher Knowledge And Practice To Address Adolescent Health Issues, Narima Aliya Shahabudeen

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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The Influence Of Inclusion On Langauge Arts Literacy And Math Achievement On Non-Disabled Middle School Students, Faye Brady

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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The Influence Of An Interactive Reading Program On Adolescent Students In Middle School, Bernadette L. Casey

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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