Education Commons^™

Minecraft In The Math Classroom, Aaron J. Hultstrand

Senior Honors Theses

The spread of technology is creating the need for teachers to evolve and adapt their strategies within the classroom. Teachers must continually improve upon their technological integration in order to teach students ever more effectively. Game-based learning has recently gained prominence as a plausible use of technology in the classroom. This thesis will discuss the classroom implications and application of game-based learning. Specifically, the use of the video game Minecraft in the high school math classroom will be examined. The potential of Minecraft as an effective teaching tool to advance the quality of student learning will be examined through a …

The Trials Of A New Teacher, Diego A. Rocha

Student Publications

Tim, a new teacher, faces challenges as he works towards changing the environment in a high school music program.

A Reflection On My Challenged Assumptions, Darvesh Karim

Professional Development Centre, Gilgit

No abstract provided.

Which Middle School Model Works Best? Evidence From The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Brian V. Carolan, Christopher C. Weiss, Jamaal Matthews

Department of Educational Foundations Scholarship and Creative Works

There are few areas of school organization that reflect more dissatisfaction than how to structure the education of adolescents in the middle grades. This study uses multilevel models on nationally representative data provided by the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study to investigate the relationship between schools’ middle-level grade span and students’ math achievement. Classroom quality was considered as an explanation for any relationships between grade span and achievement. Also examined was whether gender and family structure moderated this relationship. Results indicate that there is no generalizable relationship between grade span configuration and math achievement, but that measures of classroom quality predicted …

Beyond The Basics: Providing Continuing Education Workshops For Preceptors; A Commentary, Sara Nottingham, Michelle A. Cleary, Jason Bennett

Education Faculty Articles and Research

Current Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education (CAATE) standards allow education programs to determine the most appropriate format and content of preceptor workshops. Clinicians, including preceptors, have noted challenges trying to keep their knowledge updated with current standards of care and educational competencies. Clinicians and preceptors in our program and the literature have described challenges trying to keep knowledge current with changing standards of care, research evidence, and athletic training educational competencies. Preceptors also value applicable and easily accessible continuing education opportunities. In order to address these challenges and provide accessible continuing education opportunities for preceptors, the faculty in …

Review Of Can Education Change Society? By M.W. Apple, Connie Schaffer

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

Can education change society? The question is simple, and Michael W. Apple’s response is an irrefutable, yes. However, a broader exegesis is needed because the issues confounding this question are steeped in powerful political forces from both the right and left. Within the pages of Can Education Change Society?, Apple continues his long-time professional exposition regarding education’s role in challenging these and other hegemonic systems.

The Disabled Teacher: A Memoir Of An Interrupted Pedagogical Career, A Life With A Chronic Illness, And An Encounter With Real Barriers To Inclusive Education, Dorothy M. Bossman

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This dissertation is a narrative exploration of multiple themes relevant to education research: the relationship between the university and school, epistemology, teacher identity, disability studies, researcher subjectivity, and the retention of quality educators. This work of “autoethnography” (Ellis, Bochner, & Adams, 2011) approaches these topics through the tellings of a teaching career, the awakening of an education scholar, and the development of a chronic illness. While the focus of this inquiry often returns to the researcher’s pedagogical identity, the three storylines interact in myriad ways that relate to the larger field. Removal of one of these narrative threads would, metaphorically, …

The Study Of Pre-Service Teachers Participating In Candidate Learning Communities: A Mixed Methods Study, Barbara Sunderman

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of instructional skill and professional dispositions of pre-service teacher education candidates’ understanding of their own teaching skills. The research examined perceptions before and after the clinical experience while participating in a Candidate Learning Community. In this mixed-methods study, perceptions were quantitatively measured with a pre-survey and a post survey of 17 participants and qualitatively described by 11 participants in follow up interviews; each intensely studied teaching skill and professional pedagogy in coursework and cooperative classrooms.

The research revealed significant increase in personal perception of teaching skills and dispositions during the …

Geographical Literacy, Attitudes, And Experiences Of Freshman Students: A Qualitative Study At Florida International University, Daniela F. Ottati

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to explore the geography literacy, attitudes and experiences of Florida International University (FIU) freshman students scoring at the low and high ends of a geography literacy survey. The Geography Literacy and ABC Models formed the conceptual framework. Participants were freshman students enrolled in the Finite Math course at FIU. Since it is assumed that students who perform poorly on geography assessments do not have an interest in the subject, testing and interviewing students allowed the researcher to explore the assumption.

In Phase I, participants completed the Geography Literacy Survey (GLS) with items taken from …

Supporting Teacher Development : Literature Review, Kate Reid, Elizabeth Kleinhenz

Teacher education

This literature review identifies and evaluates evidence on the effectiveness of approaches to improving teacher quality in developing countries. It examines four categories of assistance for improving teacher quality: teacher development policies, pre-service education and training, in-service professional development, and school-based support. As far as possible, the review highlights practices that demonstrate effectiveness.

Role Of Civil Society Institutions In Promoting Diversity And Pluralism In Chitral District Of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, Mir Afzal Tajik

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

Pakistan is a country with a fast growing population of nearly 190 million people divided into a large number of ethnic, cultural, linguistic, political and religious groups. The basic ideology behind the creation of Pakistan was Islam and it was considered to be the unique force which could bind together the religiously, ethnically, linguistically, and culturally diverse society.

An overwhelming majority of Pakistan’s population is Muslim with Sunni and Shia as the two major schools of thoughts but there are many other smaller sects within Muslim and non-Muslim population. Ethnically, Pakistani society is divided into major groups such as Punjabis, …

Plunging Beneath The Surface: Uncovering Internal Dispositions, Lori Piowlski, Karen Colum

Elementary and Literacy Education Department Publications

Teacher preparation programs face the challenge of measuring candidates’ competencies that can be considered internal dispositions; which impact the quality of their instruction. This study delves into candidate edTPA scores in correlation with their IDI mindsets to support program development.

Elementary Teacher Education Program- Vital Statistics, Guy Trainin, Mary Masur

Research and Evaluation in Education, Technology, Art, and Design

This inforgraphic presents data about the students in UNL's Elmentary Teacher Education Program based on data from Academic Year 2013-2014.

Teaching Leaders, Lisa Deangelis, Sherry H. Penney

Center for Collaborative Leadership Publications

In an age of instantaneous information sharing and increased interdependence, today’s leaders must learn to work collaboratively, leveraging the strengths, skills, and experiences of those around them, in order to address the challenges they face. The Center for Collaborative Leadership is uniquely situated in the College of Management at the University of Massachusetts Boston. The purpose of the Center’s Emerging Leaders Program is to challenge and inspire the adult participants in the program to act collaboratively, identify and rethink boundaries, build purposeful relationships, and become better leaders and citizens. In this brief, the authors reflect on how this program is …

Scholars Of Distinction And The Development Of Educational History In The United States, Karl M. Lorenz

Education Faculty Publications

The paper describes the accomplishments of a select number of distinguished scholars who advanced the cause of the history of education. The evolution of this field of study and inquiry followed its own unique path in the United States, and that at certain moments its trajectory was influenced by the thoughts and actions of celebrated professionals. Each individual contributed in a distinctive way, by either deepening or broadening the study of educational history in educator preparation programs, or by encouraging disciplined research and research-related activities in the area. In this latter endeavor, scholarship was often enhanced by making resources available …

Teacher Education Pedagogies Related To Preparing Preservice Teachers As Leaders In Pakistan, Meher Rizvi

Book Chapters / Conference Papers

An analysis of traditional authoritarian preservice teacher development approaches in Pakistan demonstrates that they develop teachers as technicians who carbon copy the same authoritarian training model in their classrooms. The more contemporary approaches to teacher education with leadership development focus are mostly limited to in-service teacher education programs. The key dilemma with in-service education is that once the teachers have received higher qualification they tend to move out of the classrooms to assume management positions. What Pakistan requires is classroom teacher leaders who have the capacity to initiate and sustain school improvement. I propose the pedagogy of transformation, which is …

Managing Conflict By School Leadership : A Case Study Of A School From Gilgit-Biltistan, Darvesh Karim

Professional Development Centre, Gilgit

Managing conflict at school has been an age-old challenge for educators. Conflicts are a natural part of life and therefore a natural part of school life. Learning to deal constructively with conflict is a life-skill need for educational leaders. This paper reports a case study of a private English medium school of Gilgit-Baltistan about exploration of the conflict management which advocates two approaches to manage conflicts at school level i.e. to follow strict rules and regulations and penalizing on violation and secondly, empowering the stakeholders to resolve their own problems by their-selves.These approaches have proved that competence in conflict resolution …

Introduction To The Case Studies 2015 : A Compendium Of Cases & Voices From The Field, Mola Dad Shafa, Khadija Khan

Professional Development Centre, Gilgit

No abstract provided.

Transforming Pedagogies: Emerging Contexts And Texts Of Teaching Learning, Dilshad Ashraf

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

This brief offers recommendations for policy and practice around ensuring continuity of education in emergency situations. It also aims at engaging important stakeholders to assert the need for education in emergencies in countries like Pakistan, which frequently confront natural and human-led disasters. This brief also discusses the need for ‘education in emergencies’ in a ‘low HDI’ developing nation such as Pakistan, where being exposed to natural and human-led disasters seems to be a way of life. It provides an initial platform for those who are interested in understanding the scope of this theme, as well as designing and delivering educational …

Exploring The Contribution Of Teaching And Learning Processes : Constructing Students’ Gender Identity In An Early Years Classroom Of A Government Girls Primary School In Pakistan, Amina Bibi Baig

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

The construction of gender identity is a complex process which begins at a very early formative age. In these formative years, children begin making sense of how men and women are positioned in society. Schools as important institutions play a significant role in this process particularly with reference to students’ understanding of the gender relationships around them. This article reports on a study which explored how gender identity construction takes place in a single sex (girls) classroom for early years. The study investigated the teacher-student interactions and student-student interactions in the real environment of the classroom. Qualitative research guided the …

Successful Alternative Education: Still Reproducing Inequalities? The Case Of The Community School Program In Egypt, Lucy El-Sherif, Sarfaroz Niyozov

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

Community schools are an alternative form of education that center on partnerships between the community and/or the state, aid organizations, and non-governmental organizations. The Community School Program (CSP) in Egypt sparked a social movement in education in that country, with disparate actors all coalescing around the CSP as an alternative, empowering model of education. This study examined the relationship between the CSP and the dynamics that formed, shaped and co-opted it through in-depth interviews and observations. Our analysis examined the program’s processes and legacies on its former students. The study found that critical factors in the program’s success were its …

Chronicles Of Change : Strengthening Teacher Education In Pakistan, Nida Dossa

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

A step towards improving education in Pakistan; being able to sit in a classroom, feel safe, learn about how the world works: being able to read a book, make up stories and discover new ideas - these are the basic rights of every child. however, millions of children in Pakistan have never seen a classroom or attended a lesson. Here, educational challenges are innumerable and oftentimes seem insurmountable. STEP - Strengthening Teacher Education in Pakistan works to improve the quality and delivery of elementary education services appropriate to the poor in the country, particularly women and children in Pakistan.

Creating An Enabling Environment For Community Engagement In School-Based Governance: A Glimmer Of Hope", Dilshad Ashraf

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

In 1960, the global enrolment of primary school aged children was less than half. By the 1990s, in spite of rapid population growth in much of the world, the proportion of primary enrolled school children was more than 75 percent. The credit to this spread in educational access does not only go the western of often called the formal form of school operations but to indigenous educational provision and management models as well. It has been observed in many developing countries around the world that indigenous development of a targeted geographical area.

Communities In Action: Lifelong Learning For Sustainable Development, Unesco Institute Of Lifelong Learning, 58 Felbrunnenstr., 20148 Hamburg, Germany

IACE Hall of Fame Repository

This handbook identifies principles and policy mechanisms to advance community-based learning for sustainable development based on the commitments endorsed by the participants of the Kominkan-CLC International Conference on Education for Sustainable Development, which took place in Okayama City, Japan, in October 2014. To inform policymakers and practitioners new to this field, the handbook clarifies the international vision and goals for sustainable development and Education for Sustainable Development, and identifies the potential contributions of community-based learning centres and organizations. It documents both policy and practice from different regions and concludes with a summary of principles and policy support mechanisms.

Learning Families: Intergenerational Approach To Literacy Teaching And Learning, Unesco Institute Of Lifelong Learning, 58 Felbrunnenstr., 20148 Hamburg, Germany

IACE Hall of Fame Repository

Within a learning family, every member is a lifelong learner. A family literacy and learning approach is more likely to break the intergenerational cycle of low education and inadequate literacy skills, particularly among disadvantaged families and communities. The selection of case studies presented in this compilation show that for an intergenerational approach to literacy to be successful and foster a culture of learning, it is necessary to provide sustained teacher training, develop a culture of collaboration among institutions, teachers and parents, and secure sustained funding through longer-term policy support. The examples from twenty-two different countries also provide evidence of the …

Global Perspectives On Recognising Non-Formal And Informal Learning:Why Recognition Matters, Unesco Institute Of Lifelong Learning, 58 Felbrunnenstr., 20148 Hamburg, Germany

IACE Hall of Fame Repository

This book deals with the relevance of recognition, validation and accreditation (RVA) of non-formal and informal learning in education and training, the workplace and society. It examines RVA’s strategic policy objectives and best practice features as well as the challenges faced and ways forward as reported by Member States. Special attention is paid to the analysis of institutional and political requirements that give genuine value to the recognition of non-formal and informal learning; the role played by RVA in education, working life, voluntary work and social inclusion; and the interests and motivations of all stakeholders, as well as the importance …

Transforming Our World:Literacy For Sustainable Development, Unesco Institute Of Lifelong Learning, 58 Felbrunnenstr., 20148 Hamburg, Germany

IACE Hall of Fame Repository

This compilation offers global examples of innovative and promising literacy and numeracy programmes that link the teaching and learning of literacy to sustainable development challenges such as health, social equality, economic empowerment and environmental sustainability. This publication is a timely contribution to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which promotes the engagement of stakeholders to ‘ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.’

Supporting Education, Research, And Training In The 21st Century, Glynis M. Bradfield, Adam Fenner, Petr Činčala

Faculty Publications

The expanding array of digital devices accessing the Internet around the globe provides new opportunities to collaborate in educating Adventist teachers and educational leaders to continue the teaching ministry of Jesus Christ in the 21st century. Partnerships among the Curriculum and Instruction Resource Center Linking Educators (CIRCLE), the Adventist Learning Community (ALC), and the Institute of Church Ministry (ICM) now connect more Adventists to education and training resources electronically than ever before.

At The Heart Of The Classroom: Teachers' Experience Of The Suffering And Success Of Students For Whom They Care, Randall Kenyon Bartlett Jr.

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

The core of teaching is the relationship of care between the student and the teacher. A community can be created in the classroom that honors and respects the inherent worth of each individual and through such mutual respect students and teachers can experience success. The suffering and the successes that teachers experience are central to the way they care for their students. There is currently a great deal of focus on education and schooling in the United States and generally this focus ignores the necessity and vitality of the relationship of care. Teachers must daily support and care for students …