Education Commons^™

An Evaluation Using Universal Design For Learning, Lilah Nye

Honors Projects

This research was conducted to evaluate the prevalence of an Educational framework known as the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in a set of lesson plans published by a nationally recognized organization. The intention of this focus was to push major professional organizations in mathematics education to produce inclusive resources for all students. UDL is an opportunity to increase accessibility of curriculum for students by reducing barriers to learning that play a role in educational inequity, and generally the goal of UDL is that lessons are made accessible preemptively to benefit all students rather than for individual students as the …

Evaluating The Affective Impact Of A Place-Based Learning Course Project In The Geosciences, Nathan Charlton

Masters Theses

Coping with issues such as climate change and depletion of natural resources demands a scientifically literate public. For many students, the only exposure to earth science comes in a college-level general education geoscience course. One way to engender positive attitudes toward and interest in earth science among these students (the future public) is to connect learning to actual places to which students have a personal attachment.

This study seeks to evaluate the impact of a place-based learning project (MyPlace) currently in use in an introductory geosciences general education course at Western Michigan University. Students in the MyPlace project select a …

Student Evaluation Of Mathematical Explanations In Aninquiry-Based Mathematics Classroom, Ashley Burgess Hulet

Theses and Dissertations

Students do not always evaluate explanations based on the mathematics despite their teacher's effort to be the guide-on-the-side and delegate evaluation to the students. This case study examined how the use of three features of the Discourse—authority, sociomathematical norms, and classroom mathematical practices—impacted students' evaluation and contributed to students' failure to evaluate. By studying three pre-service elementary school students' evaluation methods, it was found that the students applied different types of each of the features of the Discourse and employed them at different times. The way that the features of the Discourse were used contributed to some of the difficulties …

Dificultades En El Aprendizaje De Conceptos Químicos Relacionadas Con Las Disoluciones En Un Grupo De Estudiantes De Grado Once, Carmenza Bernal Soriano, Jhon Jairo González Orozco

Maestría en Docencia

La presente investigación tiene como propósito identificar las dificultades en el aprendizaje de conceptos químicos asociados a las disoluciones que debido a su complejidad presentan 26 estudiantes de grado 11 del colegio distrital Manuel Cepeda Vargas de la localidad octava de la ciudad de Bogotá. Por tanto se consideró pertinente centrar este estudio en torno a ¿cuáles son las principales dificultad en el aprendizaje que presenta un grupo de estudiantes en la apropiación de los conceptos del tema de las disoluciones? Para ello se realizó una revisión de algunos autores en el marco teórico y se justificó el por qué …

An Investigation Of The Dayton Regional Stem School Public-Private Partnerships, Kimberly S. Poole

CCE Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation study documents in-depth the exploration of the Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) between the Dayton Regional STEM School (DRSS) and their industry partners as well as the establishment of a framework for evaluating and assessing PPPs. The public-private partnership agreements were studied in order to answer the over-arching research question: How is an effective public-private partnership established, assessed, and evaluated in education? A descriptive case study methodology was used to study DRSS' public-private partnership agreements to determine if goals and objectives were established and whether or not the partnerships met those goals and objectives. This case study also included …

Identifying Productive Resources In Secondary School Students' Discourse About Energy, Benedikt Walter Harrer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A growing program of research in science education acknowledges the beginnings of disciplinary reasoning in students’ ideas and seeks to inform instruction that responds productively to these disciplinary progenitors in the moment to foster their development into sophisticated scientific practice. This dissertation examines secondary school students’ ideas about energy for progenitors of disciplinary knowledge and practice. Previously, researchers argued that students’ ideas about energy were constrained by stable and coherent conceptual structures that conflicted with an assumed unified scientific conception and therefore needed to be replaced. These researchers did not attend to the productive elements in students’ ideas about energy. …

Inquiry-Based Laboratory Investigations And Student Performance On Standardized Tests In Biological Science, Usha Patke

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Achievement data from the 3rd International Mathematics and Sciences Study and Program for International Student Assessment in science have indicated that Black students from economically disadvantaged families underachieve at alarming rates in comparison to White and economically advantaged peer groups. The study site was a predominately Black, urban school district experiencing underachievement. The purpose of this correlational study was to examine the relationship between students' use of inquiry-based laboratory investigations and their performance on the Biology End of Course Test, as well as to examine the relationship while partialling out the effects of student gender. Constructivist theory formed the theoretical …

Science Scores In Title I Elementary Schools In North Georgia: A Project Study, Ramon Frias

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB)'s emphasis of reading, language arts, and mathematics (RLA&M) and its de-emphasis of science has been a source of great concern among educators. Through an objectivist and constructionist framework, this study explored the unforeseen effects of the NCLB on public science education among Title I (TI) and non-Title I (NTI) students. The research questions focused on the effects of NCLB on Criterion Referenced Competency Test (CRCT) scores in the high-stakes subjects of reading, language arts, mathematics and the low stakes subject of science among TI and NTI 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students in …

Efficacy Of A Summer Intervention To Improve Gateway Mathematics Examination Scores, Arthur Wesley Jackson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Less than 50% of students from an inner-city high school in a southeastern US state who took the GATEWAY mathematics exam (2001-2007) earned a passing score on the first attempt, prompting teachers at the school to begin a summer intervention program based on Bandura's Self Efficacy Theory, to help them succeed on a subsequent reexamination. The program featured (a) extended learning time, (b) mastery learning, (c) direct instruction, (d) single-sex grouping, and (e) teacher collaboration. A survey of recent scholarly literature indicated that these 5 characteristics positively impact student learning and performance. The goal was to increase student understanding of …

Factors Related To Student Persistence In A New Residential Stem High School: The Case Of The Tennessee Governor’S Academy For Mathematics And Science, Amy Cinci Sullins

Doctoral Dissertations

Public and private sectors are grappling with decreasing numbers of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professionals as the need for them rises. State-supported STEM residential high schools may be the premier conduit to educate and socialize students in order to prepare for STEM college majors and careers. Gaining understanding of how these schools can nurture students academically and affectively so that they successfully matriculate to university STEM settings is valuable; however, minimal research exists related to the affective domain in relationship to retention at state-supported STEM residential schools. This exploratory, mixed methods case study describes factors that contribute to …

Exploring Antarctica: Analyzing The Outcomes Of A Minority Focused Field Research Program, Claudia Vanessa Garcia

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

With the need to increase minority representation in science, specifically in polar research, the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) developed an innovative field research experience entitled International Polar Year- Research and Educational Opportunities in Antarctica for Minorities (IPY-ROAM). Supported by a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant, twenty-eight participants including undergraduate students, graduate students and teachers completed a semester long online course and performed field research in Antarctica within the areas of ecology, physical science, policy or education. The purpose of this Thesis consists in determining the outcomes that individuals experienced through their participation in IPY-ROAM. Four outcome areas …

A Phenomenological Study Of Assessment Methods In The Inquiry -Based Science Classroom: How Do Educators Decide?, Gina G. Tash

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe the experiences of science educators as they select and develop assessment methods for inquiry learning. Balancing preparations for standardized tests and authentic inquiry assessment experiences can be challenging for science educators. The review of literature revealed that current research focused on instructional methods and assessment, students' assessment experiences, and teachers' instructional methods experiences. There remains a gap in current literature regarding the experiences of science educators as they select and develop assessment methods for inquiry learning. This study filled the gap by providing a description of the experiences of science educators …

Final Examination Scores In Algebra As A Function Of Retesting, Otto Francis Ruud

All Master's Theses

Many teachers as well as students feel that our system of evaluation is far from perfect, but these same people have offered no alternative workable plan which would in whole or in part relieve the objections. Hopefully this study will demonstrate a philosophy of the teaching of mathematics in conjunction with a companion plan of evaluation which will relieve many of the basic objections while at the same time produce more learning. The philosophy that a more cooperative attitude in regard to assignments, testing, and make-up work are more conducive to learning is the basic aspect of this study. It …