Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Education Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 12 of 12

Full-Text Articles in Education

Developing An Educational Toolkit For Caregivers Of Six-To-Eighteen-Month-Olds Mixing Developmental Milestones And Outdoor Education, Jessica K. Hillstrom Dec 2016

Developing An Educational Toolkit For Caregivers Of Six-To-Eighteen-Month-Olds Mixing Developmental Milestones And Outdoor Education, Jessica K. Hillstrom

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

This capstone addressed the research question, Would the creation of an environmental, outdoor education toolkit help significantly benefit very young children reach their childhood milestone goals? It documents the creation of an educational toolkit for children aged 6 – 18 months old, which integrated age appropriate developmental milestone games and activities with outdoor themed activities. The goal was to prove that proving parents and caregivers with a toolkit for this age group of 6–18-month-old children would help make parents interested in spending more time outdoors, provide a cost-affective method for early outdoor exposure, and help parents save time by using …


What Instructional Strategies Are Effective For Increasing Vocabulary For English Language Learners In A Preschool Classroom?, Nicole Carter Dec 2016

What Instructional Strategies Are Effective For Increasing Vocabulary For English Language Learners In A Preschool Classroom?, Nicole Carter

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

The research question addressed in this project is What Instructional Strategies are Effective for Increasing Vocabulary for English Language Learners in a Preschool Classroom? Teaching students who are limited in their understanding of the English language can be a daunting tasks; since students speak their native languages at home, making it difficult for teachers to communicate with them. This topic is significant because there has been a rapid increase in English language learners in the United States with the gap in achievement between ELLs and their English speaking peers. The purpose of the research is to find ways to increase …


Teachers’ Third Eye: Using Video Elicitation Interviews To Facilitate Kuwaiti Early Childhood Preservice Teachers’ Reflections, Hessa Alsuhail Nov 2016

Teachers’ Third Eye: Using Video Elicitation Interviews To Facilitate Kuwaiti Early Childhood Preservice Teachers’ Reflections, Hessa Alsuhail

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative descriptive study explored the experiences of three Kuwaiti pre-service teachers with guided reflection and the extent to which video technology facilitates reflection. The data sources were semi-structured and video-elicited interviews, field notes, and researcher reflective journals. The study was guided by two research questions: In what ways does video elicitation facilitate Kuwaiti pre-service teachers’ reflections? What do Kuwaiti pre-service teachers reflect about? I used Rogoff’s Sociocultural Theory (2003; 1995) as my conceptual lens for this study which stresses the importance of cultural contexts in all areas of education. I developed a concept I call “third-eye” thinking to define …


Family-Friendly Science: Increasing Family Engagement In Stem Education, Alison Bixler Oct 2016

Family-Friendly Science: Increasing Family Engagement In Stem Education, Alison Bixler

Honors Projects

Family engagement is vital to a child’s success in his or her academic career. Current research has focused more specifically on the relationship between parent engagement in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education and a student’s success in his or her STEM education. This paper is a summary of present research pertaining to this topic, as well as a summary of the results of a field-based study the author and faculty mentors completed to learn more about methods for engaging families in STEM education, particularly in the area of science. Present research indicates that a successful method for engaging …


Using Literacy Centers To Support A Balanced Literacy Program In A Pre-K Classroom, Jacquelin Ann Rowan Aug 2016

Using Literacy Centers To Support A Balanced Literacy Program In A Pre-K Classroom, Jacquelin Ann Rowan

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

The question addressed in this research project was, how can using literacy centers support a balanced literacy approach in a Pre-K classroom? The author’s motivation for completeing this capstone was to learn more about balanced literacy and how the use of balanced literacy could support her student’s learning. This capstone describes, in detail, what balanced literacy is, what literacy centers are , and how to use both to create an engaging learning environment for Pre-K students. It also provides guidelines for how to manage literacy centers both in organization of materials and the literacy center time block. Finally, the capstone …


The Influence Of Parent Language Use On The Dual Language Development Of Simultaneous Bilinguals, Berit Erin Gelvez Jul 2016

The Influence Of Parent Language Use On The Dual Language Development Of Simultaneous Bilinguals, Berit Erin Gelvez

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

This study included bilingual families who have the goal of raising their child to be 5 bilingual. The purpose was to examine how parents use both English and Spanish with 6 their child and whether that resulted in their child being bilingual. This research used a 7 mixed methods approach, which included an interview with parents to learn how they use 8 each language with their child. The second part included a vocabulary assessment with 9 the child in both English and Spanish. Results of the vocabulary assessment and 10 information from parent interviews were analyzed to see if there …


A Nature Adventure Chapter Book For Early Readers And How It Can Influence Children's Interest In And Desire To Explore The Natural World, Keith Marshall May 2016

A Nature Adventure Chapter Book For Early Readers And How It Can Influence Children's Interest In And Desire To Explore The Natural World, Keith Marshall

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

With the increase in screen-time, children are spending less and less time outside in nature. Many studies are finding significant negative impacts upon their mental, physical and emotional well-being. The author attempted to develop an age-appropriate fictional story based upon accurate and appropriate nature and science lessons. The book, The Adventurers…Journey to the Crooked Forest was created to test if children would be more interested in going outside in nature as well as if the book could increase children’s knowledge of nature and science topics through storytelling. The effectiveness of the book was tested on fifty 1st -3 rd grade …


Self Perception In The Eyes Of A Child: Exploring How The Development Of Children As Thinkers Relates To The Ways In Which They Self Define And Ascribe To Social Groups, Laura Elizabeth Dean May 2016

Self Perception In The Eyes Of A Child: Exploring How The Development Of Children As Thinkers Relates To The Ways In Which They Self Define And Ascribe To Social Groups, Laura Elizabeth Dean

Senior Theses

This thesis explores the social emotional development of children in the preoperational and concrete operational stages of cognitive development and their relationship to themes such as friendship, race, and gender. Through an analysis of the ideas of educational theorists Piaget, Bronfenbrenner, and Erikson and a research study with kindergarteners and third graders in a local school, the development of social concepts is examined. From these findings comes an exploration of how the development of these social and emotional concepts require more exposure in the early childhood education curriculum.


The Effects Of The Image-Making Within The Writing Process On Kindergarten Writing, Samantha Dee Merrell Mar 2016

The Effects Of The Image-Making Within The Writing Process On Kindergarten Writing, Samantha Dee Merrell

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

The research question addressed in this capstone was how Image-Making within the Writing Process can affect kindergarten student’s writing. Students were surveyed prior to exposure to the Image-Making within the Writing Process about their feelings toward writing. They were asked the same survey questions after the Image-Making within the Writing Process was introduced and the results were analyzed. Students were also interviewed and observed throughout the process. The results of both were analyzed as well.


Pre-Service Student-Teachers' Perceptions Of Play In The Early Childhood Classroom After Research Analysis With Discussion-Case Application: A Sequential Explanatory Mixed Methods Approach, Meredith Resnick Feb 2016

Pre-Service Student-Teachers' Perceptions Of Play In The Early Childhood Classroom After Research Analysis With Discussion-Case Application: A Sequential Explanatory Mixed Methods Approach, Meredith Resnick

Theses and Dissertations

Despite persuasive research demonstrating the importance of play in early childhood education, there is a problematic trend in early childhood classrooms of increased academics and high-stakes test preparation, with less opportunity for play (Brashier & Norris, 2008; Lynch, 2015; Nicolopoulou, 2011). This sequential explanatory mixed method study was designed to examine the impact and experience of participating in facilitated research analysis with discussion-case application on early childhood pre-service teachers’ knowledge of and attitude towards the role and value of play in the classroom, as well as their self-confidence in promoting developmentally appropriate play opportunities in the classroom. The findings indicate …


Negotiating Identity And Constructing Masculinities: A Narrative Case Study Of Men In Early Childhood Education, Matthew C. Luginbill Jan 2016

Negotiating Identity And Constructing Masculinities: A Narrative Case Study Of Men In Early Childhood Education, Matthew C. Luginbill

ETD Archive

Men teachers are not present in early childhood classrooms for many reasons, despite recruitment efforts. Many men who do choose to follow this feminized career path find themselves positioned as tokens and often quickly leave for administration. Informed by a three-dimensional narrative inquiry approach this research utilized identity and masculinities paradigms to investigate the experiences of veteran men teaching young children. A series of four interviews was used to explore and describe the individual professional life history of participants. The narratives of Frank, Jerry, and George provide a deeper understanding of how men negotiate identity and construct masculinities over time …


Professional Development Of Head Start Teachers In Emotional And Instructional Support, Marilyn Mcleod Harris Jan 2016

Professional Development Of Head Start Teachers In Emotional And Instructional Support, Marilyn Mcleod Harris

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In the southwest region of Tennessee, a local Head Start program classroom assessment scoring system's (CLASS) scores fell in the lowest 10% among national Head Start programs in emotional and instructional support. Since 2012, the Office of Head Start has released reports showing that the average Head Start program has low performance CLASS emotional and instructional support scores. The purpose of this exploratory case study was to investigate the professional development of local Head Start teachers with low CLASS scores in emotional and instructional support. Knowles's adult learning theory of andragogy was the overall conceptual framework and the concentrated theory …