Education Commons^™

Empowering Refugees Through Self-Education, Ayanna Osborne

Master's Projects and Capstones

This project focuses on how to create easier access to education in refugee camps. This is discussed through the ideas of self-directed learning and cooperative learning. As well, the current need for education is explored. Several case studies are provided demonstrating that people without a formal education have successfully been able to seek information and teach themselves. As well, studies are discussed in which individuals have been shown to efficiently seek information and teach one another.

My website provided is still under construction as of 01/2018. It will be completed by the end of the year. Anyone is welcome to …

Seeking Democracy Inside, And Outside, Of Education: Re-Conceptualizing Perceptions And Experiences Related To Democracy And Education, Paul R. Carr, Gina Thésée

Democracy and Education

This conceptual article underscores the importance of critical engagement in and through education with a view to enhancing education for democracy (EfD). As a centerpiece to illustrating this connection, we refer to our research project, which engages international actors through an analysis of the perceptions, experiences and perspectives of education students, educators and others in relation to EfD. The article presents the Thick-Thin Spectrum of EfD and a Spectrum for Critical Engagement for EfD to re(present) the problematic of political engagement and literacy on the part of teacher-education students. The findings of our study highlight a necessity for education to …

"State Your Defense!": Children Negotiate Analytic Frames In The Context Of Deliberative Dialogue, Jennifer Hauver

Democracy and Education

The purpose of this exploratory study was to identify the analytic frames children (ages 9 to 11) employed as they worked together to make sense of an ill-structured problem, what those same children did when their frames collided in the context of deliberative dialogue, and what they learned from the process of negotiation. Data included pre- and post-dialogue interviews with individual children as well as videotapes of the five dialogue sessions. Analysis suggests that children invoked six frames: fairness, common good, safety, kindness, tradition and self-interest. Of these, fairness and common good were super-ordinate frames, which resonated with peers …

Navigating Middle Of The Road Reforms Through Collaborative Community, Andrea J. Bingham, Patricia Burch

Democracy and Education

The current wave of educational reform is complex and situated in market-based initiatives coupled with a renewed emphasis on local autonomy, deliberation, and community—middle-of-the-road reforms. In practice, schools are challenged to develop organizational forms that can support collaboration and community engagement, alongside the bureaucratic and accountability-driven reforms that demand more oversight, transparency, and demonstrable results. Our intent in this paper is to begin to map the emerging contradictions and opportunities that the complex reform climate presents for practitioners through a case study of a personalized learning charter school. In so doing, we illustrate how a community of teachers within a …

The Globalized Classroom: Integrating Technology To Improve Communicative And Cultural Proficiency, Nicholas Frank

International ResearchScape Journal

The purpose of this project was to explore how the integration of technology affects students’ communicative and cultural proficiency in a second language when connecting two world language classrooms from across the globe. Through a series of weekly emails between partner schools, students practiced their interpretive reading and presentational writing skills while gaining knowledge of their partners’ cultures and colloquial language in a meaningful and individualized manner. The participants were U.S. high school students learning Spanish and Spanish high school students learning English. This created an authentic and organic environment for language acquisition, showing improvement in both communicative and cultural …

The Aftermath Of Detroit's Economic Decline And The Exodus Of Urban Teachers: A Phenomenology, Melissa Holtzhouse

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand the decision-making process of teachers, Kindergarten through twelfth grade, who left the urban setting in metropolitan Detroit. The theories that guided this study were Rotter’s locus of control and Condorcet’s decision theory as they investigated the experiences leading to teachers’ decisions to leave the urban setting within metropolitan Detroit. Four research questions were included (a) How do select teachers, Kindergarten through twelfth grade, describe the decision-making process they underwent before leaving urban education in metropolitan Detroit? (b) How do participants describe their experiences prior to their decision to leave urban education …

You Are Now Entering The School Zone, Proceed With Caution: Educators, Arbitration, & Children’S Rights, Raquel Muniz

Arbitration Law Review

No abstract provided.

Hiroshima On Peace Education And Problems With U.S.-Centric Historical Narratives In A World Without Survivors, Matthew S. Thome

International ResearchScape Journal

As time passes, the number of survivors from major world tragedies like the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki grows fewer and fewer. These survivors are a powerful resource for educating students of all ages about the importance of world peace. Drawing on the writing of Richard Moody and Frans Doppen, as well as Paul Ham, and Herbert Feis respectively, I outline the important role of hibakusha, or a-bomb survivors, in peace education at the secondary and collegiate levels. I explain how personalized survivor testimony provides an alternative and highly effective and necessary counterweight to teaching solely a U.S.-centric historical …

Cultural Self-Identification Among Extension Educators' And Cultural Competence In Cooperative Extension, Ruddy Y. Benavides

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

As immigration and globalization are increasing, the number of people in our country who speak more than one language is also increasing (Center for Public Education, 2012). These trends are creating needs for culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students and families in schools, specifically, the need for culturally responsive pedagogy and culturally competent teachers. In addition to formal educational contexts, non-formal educational contexts such as Cooperative Extension need to adapt to cultural changes as well. The purpose of this study was to explore the personal beliefs and professional experiences of present Extension Educators (EEs), and the techniques they practice in …

A Program Evaluation Of A Worksite Wellness Initiative For Weight Loss, Nicholas Martinez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to conduct a program evaluation of ACME’s worksite weight loss initiative and collect evidence relative to the efficacy of the program. An anonymous online survey was administered to participants of the weight loss initiative. The survey was designed to gather information relative to the research questions, which explored the initiative’s barriers to participation, alignment of initiative with the goals of participants, utilization of initiative resources, overall strengths, weaknesses, and areas of improvement for the weight loss initiative, as well as the respondents’ general profile for the six dimensions of wellness. Reporting of data included …

Inentives And Education: Experimental Evidence From Medellin, Colombia, Theodore D. Wisinski, Alessandra Cassar

Master's Theses

This research uses an experimental design to investigate how incentive structure influences goal achievement among disadvantaged high school students in Medellin, Colombia. Of particular interest is how treatment effects influence school performance as well as how this may vary with differing key characteristics of the participants. Medellin, Colombia, like much of South America suffers from high levels of inequality in the city proper. Improving educational outcomes in impoverished neighborhoods is essential for the growth of these neighborhoods and the greater community in which they are located. The model used in this experiment is inspired by the Family Independence Initiative (FII). …

Better Alternatives For Youth: Peace, Education And Human Rights, Abraham Jones

Master's Theses

Many urban youth in the United States live in what are identified as high stress neighborhoods, where trauma is a normative reality within which common life themes permeate. Colloquially, the communities in these high stress areas reclaim space by naming them as hoods, barrios and ghettos. However, depending on one’s perception, these words can have a negative connotation. Even when these communities hold various forms of community cultural wealth and capital, urban narratives are often dominated by false common perceptions that associate these spaces with the violence that occurs within them. There is a need for spaces that produce counter …

Integrating Idea Mapping Into Professional Development And Practice: A Guidebook For Educators, Sarah Rose Parsons

Master's Projects and Capstones

The daily metrics of the teaching profession can prove emotionally and physically taxing, especially when compared to the current rapidly growing veil of technological advancement and a lack of support from one’s community and administration in their field. The means of support for professional development, which are often presented in schools for educators, focus mostly on students and content delivery. These programs rarely pay attention to the personal growth of the individual educator. Educators can in turn help themselves if they are provided with the tools and time to do so. Thus, this project seeks to serve that purpose, founded …

Unemployment, Does It Really Hurt?, Claudia Vargas

Theses and Dissertations

This paper analyzes the consequences of changes in the unemployment rate in Colombia on the level of education attained for adolescents. Increases in the unemployment rate are associated with an increase in the average number of years of education. No significant effect was found for men of the same age.

The Complex Reasons For Missing Spirituality. A Response To "Democratic Foundations For Spiritually Responsive Pedagogy", Marian De Souza Dr

Democracy and Education

This article is written in response to Lingley’s (2016) concept of spiritually responsive pedagogy. To begin with, the word spiritual, when applied to education, still attracts varied responses. Therefore, I have begun by examining contemporary understandings of spirituality as reflected in current research and literature, which provides an informed context for my response. I follow up by aligning some of the key features noted by Lingley in democratic education and spiritually responsive pedagogy to other perspectives that deal with the spiritual dimension in education; I do this in order to offer a supportive stance to Lingley’s assertion that, if …

The Perceptions Of Success Of Latino Nursing School Graduates In The Appalachian Region Of The United States, Barbara M. Rauscher

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative narrative descriptive study focused on nine successful Latino nursing school graduates. Five participants were interviewed twice and four participants were interviewed once for a total of fourteen interviews. Participants and their families immigrated from Brazil, Costa Rica, Cuba, and Mexico. Participants attended school in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

Interviews revealed themes of Familism, Empowerment, and Perseverance. Familism was an overriding theme throughout each of the interviews. Participants described family as being their greatest support. They discussed sacrifices made by their families which assisted them in being successful. In addition, they also shared their willingness to make …

Contextualized Education In Global Schools: Conceptualizing School Systems In A Global World, Loren Guerin

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

Education has been prioritized by global agencies as a universal right and current trends in the United Nations global benchmarks and development agencies call for education for all and a set of global values to guide educational policy and practice. This paper aims to problematize the current understanding of schooling and educational systems in a globalized world while demonstrating the need to move away from a global curriculum based on homogenized values and towards a contextualized education system. By looking at the evolution of Western Education, the use of education by colonial powers, and an in depth case study of …

The Missouri Student Transfer Program, Howard E. Fields Iii

Dissertations

In 1993, the state of Missouri passed the Outstanding Schools Act. This law was created as a means to ensure that “all children will have quality educational opportunities, regardless of where in Missouri they live.” Section 167.131 of this law states that an unaccredited district must pay the tuition and transportation cost for students who attend an accredited school in the same or adjoining district. This portion of the law became known as the Student Transfer Program.

The Riverview Gardens School District (RGSD) was one of three unaccredited school districts in the state of Missouri in 2013. With close to …

A Descriptive Case Study: Elementary Teachers’ Technology Acceptance And Classroom Integration, Jenny Whitt

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this descriptive case study was to examine elementary teachers’ technology acceptance in the context of a student-supported professional development model in an elementary school located in the southern part of the United States. In this study, technology was defined as Internet, iPad™, or laptop use in a classroom environment as an instructional and learning tool. Face-to-face open-ended interviews, a survey, and archival data in the form of observations collected yearly as part of program evaluation for professional development were all used to answer the research questions. Research questions focused on (a) the impact of a student-supported professional …

Polygons, Pillars And Pavilions: Discovering Connections Between Geometry And Architecture, Sean Patrick Madden

Journal of Catholic Education

Crowning the second semester of geometry, taught within a Catholic middle school, the author's students explored connections between the geometry of regular polygons and architecture of local buildings. They went on to explore how these principles apply famous buildings around the world such as the monuments of Washington, D.C. and the elliptical piazza of Saint Peter's Basilica at Vatican City within Rome, Italy.

Strategies And Solutions For Implementing A Distinguished Success Ambassador Program To Promote Student Achievement, Ebony L. Payno

National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference

Are you looking for a unique program designed to enhance your school’s learning environment and academic success? Come hear this dynamic and refreshing presentation to learn how to equip your students with the tools they need to make a positive change serving as Success Ambassadors. This session will offer you a wealth of invaluable information, creative resources and practical strategies.

The Utilization Of Peer Mentorship And Its Positive Impact On Student Retention, Timothy B. Holt, Jacqueline Luedtke, Claire Schindler

Publications

In recognition of increasing rates of repeated ground schools and flight lessons, in combination with decreasing retention rates in the flight programs at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the Department of Aeronautical Science in the College of Aviation took initiative to create a program that identified struggle students before they reached excessive failure or financial distress. The students identified in the Student Success Initiative (SSI) after being assessed would be required to attend a mediation session with their academic and flight training staff in order to create a specialized training program.

• Student Success Initiative (SSI)
• Identifies "at risk" students
• Implemented training plan …

Soft(A)Ware In The English Classroom: (Re)Framing Education For Equity: Acknowledging Outputs And Inputs In Literacies Education, Noah Asher Golden

Education Faculty Articles and Research

"The way that our field of English education frames what and, at times, who are problems requiring solutions is at the heart of meaningful teaching and learning. Software and digital technologies play a role in the framing that grounds current educational reform policies in and beyond our field; a framing that works both to obscure and perpetuate inequitable systems. Software and digital technologies contribute to seemingly neutral educational policies and practices that obscure issues of structural racism, opportunity and access, and the privileging of a limited understanding of what it means to be literate and educated."

History Teachers' Perspectives Of Time Constraints, Engagement, And Relevance In The Curriculum, Christy Mimie Davis

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Over the last 20 years, many state school administrators have reduced social studies instructional time in favor of time dedicated to reading or math skills due to the pressure of standardized testing. The purpose of this qualitative case study, which was based on constructivist theories about learning and schema theory, was to analyze teachers' perspectives on teaching history lessons, in terms of engagement and relevance, while working within new time constraints. Purposeful sampling was used to select 6 teachers for interviews; all had experience teaching social studies courses at the upper elementary and middle levels in a public school district …

Education And The Development Of On-Farm Identity: Dairy Farm Women's Experiences, Amy Leigh Spangenberg

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Women throughout the world have found emancipation through education. Yet, there has been no research on the role that education plays in dairy farm women's primary, on-farm identity development and how farm women's identities develop. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine dairy farm women's perceptions of previous learning (education) and its influence on their primary, on-farm identity development. The feminist standpoint theory provided the framework for this study. A homogeneous, purposeful sample of 10 active dairy farm women were interviewed using individual, face to face, semistructured questions to answer the question: What are dairy farm women's perceptions …

Determinants Of Academic Success Of Cambodian American Students, Chanthol Oung

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Cambodian Americans' (CAs) children still exhibit the second lowest rate of academic achievement in the United States, despite the tenets of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002 that promote equality in American education. Furthermore, there is a gap in the literature on the relationship between the academic success of Cambodian American students (CASs) and the parents' and the children's factors. Using a structural strain theory of deviance of functionalism theory, this correlational study (a) explored whether education, income, birthplace, and gender of parents and age at immigration and gender of children the determinants of academic success of CASs …

Barriers In Adopting Blended Learning In A Private University Of Pakistan And East Africa: Faculty Members’ Perspective, Nusrat Fatima Rizvi, Saleema Gulzar, Wachira Nicholas, Beatrice Nkoroi

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

Background: Education methods have undergone transformation over the centuries. Use of technology is the cornerstone for innovation in teaching methods. Hence, blended learning which includes face to face and online modalities is being increasingly explored as effective method for learning. This pilot study determines the perceptions of faculty members in a private international university on barriers influencing adoption of technology for teaching and learning.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted through a self-reported questionnaire using ‘survey monkey’. The data was entered and analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS version 20). Frequencies and proportions are reported.

Results: Findings …

Positive Education Federalism: The Promise Of Equality After The Every Student Succeeds Act, Christian Sundquist

Articles

This Article examines the nature of the federal role in public education following the recent passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act in December 2015 (“ESSA”). Public education was largely unregulated for much of our Nation’s history, with the federal government deferring to states’ traditional “police powers” despite the de jure entrenchment of racial and class-based inequalities. A nascent policy of education federalism finally took root following the Brown v. Board decision and the enactment of the Elementary and Secondary School Act (“ESEA”) with the explicit purpose of eradicating such educational inequality.

This timely Article argues that current federal education …

Does Seat Location Matter? A Review Of The Proximity Effect In Large And Small Classrooms, Kim Lacroix, Sean Lacroix

Communication Disorders & Special Education Faculty Publications

The proximity effect— whether distance from an instructor correlates with grades— has been the topic of many articles dating back nearly 100 years. Despite this attention, a cleavage in the literature remains. Some authors argue that increased proximity to the instructor negatively relates with academic performance while others maintain no proximity correlation with grades. This paper posits that a consensus does exist: seat location influences grades in larger classrooms but not in smaller ones. To support that position, these authors offer a review of previous literature and add to that body by analyzing student performance in six relatively small community …

On The Same Page: Theory, Practice & The Ela Common Core State Standards, Jessica Lauer

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This research sought to examine how writing was happening in high schools. States across the country, including Michigan, began implementing the Common Core State Standards in 2010. The standards place a heavy focus on informational texts particularly as a student reaches high school. The standards also suggest that writing should be a shared responsibility among teachers, acknowledging the importance of cross-disciplinary writing skills. Using a grounded theory approach to analyze the semi-structured interviews conducted with eight English teachers in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, this research revealed a disconnect between theory and practice when it comes to how educational standards …