Education Commons^™

A Final Master's Portfolio, Martha Stai

Master of Arts in English Plan II Graduate Projects

The following portfolio is submitted to meet the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the field of English with a specialization in English Teaching through Bowling Green State University. The pieces selected for the portfolio range from analysis to pedagogy. Selections include two substantive research essays, a writing-based unit plan, and a critical essay, all of which reflect the rigor and analysis required in the courses at Bowling Green State University.

Data Literacy On The Road: Setting Up A Large-Scale Data Literacy Initiative In The Databuzz Project, Tom Seymoens, Leo Van Audenhove, Wendy Van Den Broeck, Ilse Mariën

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This paper presents the DataBuzz Project. DataBuzz is a high-tech, mobile educational lab, which is housed in a 13-meter electric bus. Its specific goal is to increase the data literacy of different segments of society in the Brussels region through inclusive and participatory games and workshops. In this paper, we will explore how to carry out practical data literacy initiatives geared to the general public. We discuss the different interactive workshops, which have been specifically developed for DataBuzz. We highlight the background, design choices, and execution of this large-scale data literacy initiative. We describe the factors that need …

Data Literacy And Education: Introduction And The Challenges For Our Field, Leo Van Audenhove, Wendy Van Den Broeck, Ilse Mariën

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Data literacy is a hot topic, which is currently discussed in many different fields from open data initiatives, statistics, computer societies, coding initiatives, and beyond. The resulting literature is inspiring but not always satisfying from the perspective of the media literacy scholarly field. The goals behind data literacy are often instrumental and utilitarian in the function of job-related skills or open data initiatives. We hope that this special issue will contribute to a broader discussion about data literacy. In this introductory essay we provide an overarching introduction, highlighting some of the main themes, questions, issues, and insights addressed in …

Racism In Education Remix, Kevin M. Donton

English Department: Research for Change - Wicked Problems in Our World

Racism in Education has been a huge problem in the United States today, and it still is. The presence of racism in the education system is quite controversial and many people have strong opinions on it. Its roots date all the way back to slavery in the United States to the Brown vs. the Board of Education case to the Reagan Revolution to present day in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement. This topic has been a problem for a long time now and should be brought up more. Along with this information and as a reinterpretation, or …

Reinecke, John E., Collection, 1923-1974, Special Collections, Leonard H. Axe Library

Finding Aids

A collection of writings by John E. Reinecke and Kansas State Teachers College publications.

John E. Reinecke was born in Southeast Kansas in 1904. He graduated with a BS from Kansas State Teachers College in 1925 before moving to Hawai’i to become a professor of creole languages at the University of Hawai’i in 1926. John earned his PhD from Yale in 1937. Reinecke was a strong advocate against the plantocracy and the military in Hawai’i. He and his wife, Aiko, protested with the workers’ unions, calling for a living wage. Branded as communists, both John and Aiko were fired from …

Carlson, Paul, Papers, 1944-2013, Special Collections, Leonard H. Axe Library

Finding Aids

Music, papers, and photographs relating to the career of PSU music professor Paul Carlson.

Paul Carlson (1932-2019) was born to Rev. Carl Carlson and Ava B. Carlson in Chicago, Illinois. Throughout his childhood he played violin for the school ensembles including Roosevelt Middle School and Chicago Christian High School. After graduating high school in 1950, he immediately began pursuing his bachelors of music at the Chicago Conservatory of Music. After receiving his diploma in 1954, he taught at the Messiah College is Harrisburg, Pennsylvania for two years. In 1957, he received a master’s degree in music from Northwestern University. That …

The Fear Of Reptiles And How To Change It, Maxwell Lyman

Honors Projects

Reptile fear is prominent across many cultures. Anti-reptilian attitudes can lead to anti-conservation attitudes towards reptiles. Person-animal interaction has been shown to decrease fear desensitization and increase positive attitudes towards "unpopular" animals. My project demonstrates the effectiveness of live animal presentation in dispelling negative attitudes of reptiles. However, due to the sample size of the project, further research is highly suggested.

The Effects Of Principal Feedback On Instruction And Student Achievement, Jeremy Brownfield

Dissertations

Legislative and educational reform through the first 20 years of this century has focused largely on the impact of the teacher and principal on student achievement (Kraft & Gilmour, 2016; Marshall, 2017). Principals’ influence upon achievement is second only to that of classroom teachers; however, principal impact is indirect and difficult to quantify (Leithwood, Louis, Anderson, & Wahlstorm, 2004). This mixed-methods study involved the analysis of secondary data and elicitation of teachers’ and principals’ perceptions in order to determine the impact of principals on student achievement. The quantitative portion of the study involved an analysis of secondary data including the …

Science In Early Childhood Education, Olivia Kocina

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Science is often limited or absent in an early education classroom. It is important to give children an outlet to experience science in the classroom or through lesson plans. Having science at an early age can provide children the opportunities to build up their reasoning, to question things about the world, and later in life to feel more confident in other STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) activities or areas. To address this need, I created a 3-day program for 3 to 5 year-olds at Little Learners of Aptos School in Aptos, California.

Education On Boyer 4th Newsletter - Dec 2020, Education Department

Education Student Scholarship

"Education on Boyer 4th" is the newsletter for the Messiah University Department of Education. The newsletter consists of articles written by faculty, profiles highlighting faculty, current students, and alumni, "Photos from the Field," a student devotional, and more! The newsletter is put out monthly.

Deaf Cultural Capital And Its Conflicts With Hearing Culture: Navigational Successes And Failures, Ashley Greene-Woods, Natalie J. Delgado, Beverly Buchanan, Misty Sides, Abbas Ali Behmanesh, Brian Cheslik, Caroline K. Koo, M. Diane Clark

JADARA

Despite the creation and implementation of laws intended to support and protect Deaf individuals, stories of limited opportunities and oppression within the workplace still exist and are pervasive. Current research in regard to Deaf individuals’ upward mobility includes a discussion of cultural capital, Imposter Syndrome, and navigational capital. To further understand the experiences of Deaf individuals, the research team conducted a mixed-methods study utilizing surveys and interviews. The results provided insight regarding challenges experienced by the participants in either-or-both their education and employment. The data suggests that the use of navigational capital was the most significant predictor for upward mobility.

The Contributing Factors To Student Nurse Medication Administration Errors And Near Misses In The Clinical Setting As Identified By Clinical Instructors, Kristen M. Selig

Theses and Dissertations

The report, To Err is Human, by the Institutes of Medicine (IOM, 2000) brought attention to medication safety in the United States healthcare system. While advances have been made in patient safety, including electronic medication dispensing systems, electronic medication administration records, and scanning systems, it is estimated that 7,000 to 9,000 people die each year due to medication errors (Tariq et al., 2019). The medication administration process involves steps from prescribing to administration. However, nurses administering the medications are the final check point. James Reasons’ Swiss Cheese Model of Accident Causation illustrates the role that systems play in medical errors. …

Peeling Back The Layers - Perceptions Of Parents Of Urban Elementary Students, Kellie Scruggs Baldwin

Graduate Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to determine the educational experiences of an identified urban elementary school in Central Virginia parents (similar to the researcher’s school’s parents) as lived through their own experience and how these educational experiences determine their academic parent involvement for their child. By examining parents’ educational experiences, educational professionals may be able to bridge the home and school communities and determine support needed to aid families in educating children.

Evolutionary Theory In Applied Problem-Solving, Lawrence C. Scharmann

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Biology’s quest to be considered a mature science was initiated by Charles Darwin with the publication of On the Origin of Species2 in 1859. Naturalists quickly endorsed Darwin’s explanation for the relationships between similar species (i.e., common ancestry). Nonetheless, one of the arguments posed against evolution was that its supposed mechanism of action – namely natural selection – was considered conjecture at best since Darwin provided little in the way of evidence to support how natural selection might actually work. It was not until the 1930s when geneticists T.H. Morgan, Theodosius Dobzhansky, Ernst Mayr, and G. Gaylord Simpson noted that …

Struggling Student Teachers: Interventions For Support And Success, Sheree Moser

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

Teacher shortages in K-12 schools have created unique challenges for teacher preparation programs. University instructors face the task requirements of supporting candidates from a wide variety of backgrounds at the undergraduate and graduate level. While some of these candidates enter higher education programs skilled, eager, and committed, others are less prepared, requiring significant attention to make it through the program. Exams required by state departments of education and minimum grade point averages influence each candidate’s ability to move forward within the program, causing some students to experience additional struggles related to mental health and financial burdens.

The problem of practice …

A Meta-Analysis Of Gender Gap On The Fci In High School And College Introductory Physics Courses In The Us And International Countries., Polin Yadak

Doctoral Dissertations

This meta-analysis synthesized research on gender gap in the Force Concept Inventory (FCI). The main goal of the present meta-analysis was to identify the moderator variables that mediate effect size differences. Furthermore, the statistical significance of the average effect sizes was investigated. The inclusion criteria for the meta-analysis resulted in 22 empirical research articles that studied gender gap and reported the number of male and female students in the study. The included articles reported multiple studies; therefore, there were 34 studies on pretest and 43 studies on the posttest FCI. The average effect size for the pretests was 0.62 and …

Teaching Peace: The Effects Of Concentrated Interaction With Anti-Racist/Anti-Bias Media On A Montessori Guide’S Practice, Sarah Streyle

Masters of Arts in Education Action Research Papers

The purpose of this self-study was to examine the effects of concentrated interaction with anti-bias/anti-racist media on a Montessori guide’s practice. It was conducted over a total of six weeks. The intervention included a pre- and post- survey of understanding, nightly media interactions, daily reflection journaling, daily tallies of anti-bias/anti-racist thoughts during the school day, and a daily confidence scale to measure the participant’s confidence to integrate anti-bias/anti-racist concepts into her teaching practice. The study was completed at a private Montessori school in a medium-sized midwestern town, with an early childhood classroom of fifteen three- to five-year-old students of diverse …

Country Report: The Teaching Of Philosophy In Singapore Schools, Steven Burik, Matthew Hammerton, Sovan Patra

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Singapore’s education system is widely regarded as one of the best in the world. In this report, we will focus on education at the primary, secondary, and junior college levels, and will not discuss the education offered in polytechnics (vocational colleges) and universities. We will also focus exclusively on Singapore’s public school system, which Singapore citizens are required to attend unless they are granted a special exemption. In addition to public schools, there are also international schools, which cater to the relatively large expatriate population in Singapore and typically offer a curriculum leading to the IB diploma. All public schools …

How To Prepare Young Finance & Accounting Professionals For Digital Revolution, Clarence Goh, Gary Pan, Chi Kwan Yuen

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Automation will alter the work of accountants in the coming years. However, accountants will always have a central role to play in business. In order to continue to thrive, the profession will need to position itself to capitalise on the opportunities that automation will bring. This involves identifying areas of work which computers cannot automate, and to focus on deepening contributions in these areas. This calls for a radical transformation of accounting education in order to equip accounting graduates with relevant work skills that will allow students to navigate a future workplace where computers and technology are the norm.

Gender Expansive Students In The Choral Classroom: Awareness & Practices Of Secondary Music Educators, Emma E. Taranko

Honors Projects

In an age of growing diversity, it is essential for educators, both pre- and in-service, to seek out strategies that will assist them in creating a welcoming classroom environment for all learners. It is incumbent upon choral music teachers and community leaders to educate themselves in the diversity that presents itself in their classrooms in order to better service all students. In this study, twenty-five secondary music educators shared their awareness of gender expansive students in their choir classrooms and any strategies they have used to better service their singers. This study was conducted in order to assess which strategies …

An Evaluation Of The Trauma-Informed Approach Implemented At A Title I Elementary School, Aleli Vazquez

Dissertations

An Evaluation of the Trauma-Informed Approach Implemented at a Title I Elementary School assesses the merits of the implementation of an intervention to support the social emotional ability and stability of students within elementary schools; called the Trauma Informed Approach. Many children attending elementary schools bring diverse and complex experiences to the classroom setting. Students with multiple adverse childhood experiences attend the educational system. Many students have a more difficult time concentrating and succeeding due to anxiety and lack of physiological needs being met. These needs must be met to secure positive learning gains for these students.

For data gathering …

Struggling Student Teachers: Interventions For Support And Success, Sheree Moser

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

Teacher shortages in K-12 schools have created unique challenges for teacher preparation programs. University instructors face the task requirements of supporting candidates from a wide variety of backgrounds at the undergraduate and graduate level. While some of these candidates enter higher education programs skilled, eager, and committed, others are less prepared, requiring significant attention to make it through the program. Exams required by state departments of education and minimum grade point averages influence each candidate’s ability to move forward within the program, causing some students to experience additional struggles related to mental health and financial burdens.

The problem of practice …

Democracy, Neoliberalism, And School Choice: A Comparative Analysis Of India And The United States, Eddie Boucher

Journal of Global Education and Research

India and the United States are the largest democracies in the world, and since the 1990s, both countries have implemented neoliberal economic reforms into most of their social institutions—including their education systems. Even though both countries have long-established commitments to public education as a means for socio-economic equitability for all citizens, in the wake of neoliberal reforms both countries have made significant moves to privatize education. The justification for school privatization was based on policies that redefined democracy in economic terms, and the result is a very undemocratic marginalization for the majority of students who do not have the means …

Reintroduction Of Skilled Trade Programs For High School Students, Cristian Ayala-Quirino

Construction Management

The curriculum that incorporated skilled trades has vanished from many high schools, and more students are encouraged to attend college instead of pursuing trades. People view construction labor positions as jobs instead of careers. The construction industry is facing a substantial labor shortage amongst skilled laborers throughout the whole industry. Not enough people know how beneficial a career in the construction labor force can be. If more people knew about these career opportunities, they might have a greater interest in pursuing a career as a skilled tradesperson. To comprehend students’ understanding of the construction industry and examine where we can …

Participation In Visual And Performing Arts Courses And High School Graduation Rates In New Jersey Public High Schools, Richard L. Celebre

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Emerging issues, including limited financial resources, funding from public sources, and the increasing demand for academic excellence and achievement, are forcing high schools to reassess how current resources are allocated within their institutions. Public schools continue to look to become more efficient and strategic in the allocation of their available resources for promoting academically focused and successful students. The value of programs that are not directly connected to the standardized testing system currently in place, such as arts education, are often overlooked when school districts make their financial decisions. This is problematic because the benefits afforded to students through the …

Facts And Trends Regarding Performance And Funding Of K-12 In Kentucky, John Garen

Institute for the Study of Free Enterprise Working Papers

Kentucky’s K-12 experienced an 80% in increase in per pupil funds, after inflation, from 1990 to 2019. However, there have been only modest changes in its nationally-administered test scores, and no increases in the past decade. Moreover, per pupil funding seems to exceed that of all but the most exclusive private school tuition. Just over one-half of public funds goes directly to instruction and most funds to local schools come from Frankfort. Scoring on Kentucky’s own student assessment tests, the K-PREP, are higher than that of the comparable nationally-administered tests. Also, K-PREP shows improvement, while the other tests do not. …

Availability And Perceived Effectiveness Of High School Programs, Services, And Approaches To Address Trauma-Related Outcomes In The Upper Peninsula Of Michigan, Jaime Vanenkevort

All NMU Master's Theses

Twelve administrators at Michigan Upper Peninsula (U.P.) high schools participated in 12 separate structured interviews to identify programs, services, and approaches to address trauma-related outcomes. Participants were three U.P. superintendents, eight principals, and one Intermediate School District (ISD) social worker who described a convergence of factors affecting assessment measures of programs, services, and approaches to address student trauma-related outcomes in U.P. high schools. The interviews addressed the identification of programs, services, and approaches to address trauma-related outcomes at U.P. high schools and the assessment measures in use to evaluate available programs, services, and approaches. A systems theory approach and understanding …

A Mixed Methods Study Of Middle School Teachers’ Perceptions Of Schoolwide Positive Behavior Interventions And Supports And Its Influence On Effective Implementation, Tiffany J. Baskin-Downs

Theses and Dissertations

The use of a multi-tiered system of supports framework has been of growing interest in addressing issues related to disruptive behaviors and school suspensions. The purpose of this mixed-methods sequential, explanatory study was to examine middle school teachers’ perceptions (behavioral expectations defined, behavioral expectations taught, and an ongoing system for rewarding behavioral expectations) of their efforts toward implementing Schoolwide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports with fidelity in two middle schools within an urban school district located in Georgia. Data analyses included descriptive statistics, homogeneity of variance Levene’s test, t-tests, factorial analysis, a one-way analysis of variance, post-hoc tests, frequencies and …

Initial Program Evaluation Of An Ignatian Leadership Development Program: The Haddix Dean's Fellows Program, Molly P. Loesche, Jennifer Moss Breen

Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal

This chapter shares assessment results from a 4-year undergraduate Ignatian Leadership program. The Dean’s Fellows program consists of several curricular and co-curricular elements, including cohort-based seminars, a common summer read, an annual retreat, social and cultural activities, and a concluding leadership immersion experience. Learning formats throughout the four years included lectures, small and large group discussions, and workshops. For the immersion experience, the Dean’s Fellows participated in preparatory lectures that included information on cultural intelligence, anticipatory reflection, Ignatian Leadership, and discernment, as well as topical information. In order to ensure and improve program outcomes, assessment processes were developed, and data …

Overcoming Political Polarization: Federal Funding Of Education Is The Key, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah

Law & Economics Working Papers

The best way of overcoming political polarization in the US (the last two elections were both decided by fewer than 100,000 votes in WI, MI, PA (2016) and WI, AZ, GA (2020)) is to reduce disparities in education. But how can we do that? The basic problem arises from the US system of funding K-12 education from property taxes. While the picture above refers to college education, it is K-12 education that determines both college admissions and college readiness. Thus, the only viable solution is a federal solution. As President Nixon proposed in 1972, the United States should adopt an …