Curriculum and Social Inquiry Commons^™

Mindfulness Is When “You Don’T Think At All, You Just Do Whatever You Want Without Thinking Of The Consequences”: Reframing Mindfulness In A Third-Grade Classroom, Emily Colwell

Masters of Education in Teaching and Learning

This study explored the influences that five minutes of daily mindfulness activities had on third-grade students in a math and science classroom, as well as both student and teacher perceptions of the mindfulness activities. The researcher implemented five minutes of a mindfulness activity daily during a three-week period. Data collection methods included pre-and-post surveys, observations with field notes, student artifacts, and student and teacher interviews. Qualitative data was analyzed using the constant comparative method to look for recurring themes and numerical data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. Four major themes emerged including better understanding of what mindfulness is, the role …

High School Students’ Perceptions Of Geography: A Study On The Influences Of Life Experiences, Kenzi Valadez

Masters of Education in Teaching and Learning

Geography is often viewed as a subject that breeds a variety of perceptions by those who take it as a classroom subject. Understanding factors that influence these perceptions is a paramount aspect that many classroom teachers fail to consider. At the time of this study, the researcher was a graduate student completing a year-long clinical teaching placement. The researcher sought to understand what factors influence how students view the subject of geography. The aim of the study was to examine how students perceive their life experiences influencing their view of geography as an academic subject. For this study, the researcher …

Student Perceptions Of Social Emotional Learning Interventions, Courtney Cook

Masters of Education in Teaching and Learning

This study examined how senior English students in an academic classroom perceived a social emotional learning curriculum called CharacterStrong. The researcher taught weekly CharacterStrong social emotional lessons focused on community building and interpersonal relationships between educators and students and among peers. She collected data through surveys, headnotes, and individual student interviews. Data were analyzed using the constant comparative method to look for recurring themes. The researcher found the participants felt that the sharing prompted by CharacterStrong intervention resulted in higher engagement and a more cohesive classroom community. Even so, the researcher found that students had identified a lack of …

The Effects Of Bibliotherapy On Students With Behavioral Problems: Combating Negative Behavior With Books, Alaina J. Peters

Masters of Education in Teaching and Learning

At the time of the study, the researcher was a graduate student serving in a yearlong clinical teacher placement. The researcher sought to find an intervention to behavioral problems taking place in a third grade classroom setting. The aim of the study was to diminish the negative behavior occurring in the classroom setting through the use of bibliotherapy. For this study, the researcher collected data through the use of surveys, document collections, interventions, and observation with the addition of field notes. Using the constant comparative method with the addition of descriptive statistics, the author found common themes amongst the data …

“Now I Feel Like I’M Supposed To Make Mistakes”: Changing Student Perceptions Of Mistakes, Ellison Lunde

Masters of Education in Teaching and Learning

This study examined how second-grade students in a GT-clustered classroom perceived making mistakes. The researcher implemented literature discussion circles focused on growth mindset and making mistakes as an intervention to improve student perceptions. She collected data through surveys, field notes, and student focus group interviews. Data were analyzed using the constant comparative method to look for recurring themes as well as descriptive statistics in the case of numerical data. Three major themes emerged including struggles with mistakes, internal processes, and benefits of mistakes. Statistics confirmed that the intervention effectively improved the perceptions of almost every student and that GT students …

Implementing Writers’ Workshop Into The Special Education Classroom, Taylor Denning

Masters of Education in Teaching and Learning

Writers’ Workshop has developed prominence as a method towards providing authentic writing experiences. The purpose of this study was to determine what happens to student perceptions and quantity of writing when Writers’ Workshop is implemented into a special education setting. This study took place in a self-contained special education classroom of third-, fourth-, and fifth-graders. Data was collected through focus group interviews with the teachers, focus groups with two students from every grade, perception surveys, and writing samples.

Surveys and focus group interviews were completed before and after the implementation. Writing samples were collected at the beginning, middle, and end …

Pointless Or Profitable? Perceptions Of Proactive Circles In A Second-Grade Classroom, Jordyn Arendse

Masters of Education in Teaching and Learning

Teachers are plagued with the unfortunate concept of “never enough time” in the classroom, trying to balance meeting the needs of the whole child and meeting the requirements of higher authority. The purpose of this study was to identify student and teacher perceptions of proactive circle and its impact on relationships, as well as its impact on students’ ability to appropriately express their feelings and emotions. The study took place in a second-grade classroom with seventeen students and one classroom teacher. Data was collected through surveys, sociograms, interviews, and field notes. Qualitative data was coded using the constant comparative method, …

Functional Behavior Assessments Through The Lenses Of A General Education Clinical Teacher, Marissa Clark

Masters of Education in Teaching and Learning

The purpose of this study was to look at the experience of a clinical teacher implementing a Functional Behavior Assessment, and what impact the assessment had on decreasing student behavior. Three student participants were selected based on the frequency of disruptive behavior in the classroom. Direct observation was taken over four days in order to develop hypotheses about the function of behavior. Interventions connected to the function were created and implemented over the course of the next four weeks, as behavior continued to be observed. For two students, the intervention consisted of a self-monitoring checklist and for the third student …