Secondary Education and Teaching Commons^™

A Guided Chatbot Learning Experience In The Science Classroom, Jennifer Davis

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

This dissertation describes a practitioner’s design-based development of a prototype chatbot to guide students in learning biological concepts of genetic mutations and protein synthesis. This chatbot’s architecture provides learning activities, feedback, and support throughout a series of short, connected lessons. The chatbot is designed to scaffold learners through a predict, observe, explain model of inquiry learning. It utilizes real-world phenomena to lead students through biology core ideas, science and engineering practices, and crosscutting concepts. Results of prototype testing include survey results in support of the proof of concept among both students and teachers, as well as accuracy measurements of chatbot …

Technology Leadership Qualities In Secondary School Principals In Nebraska Who Support Student-Led Social Media Teams, Jill M. Johnson

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study addresses secondary school principals in Nebraska who are dealing with the negative ramifications of their students’ social media interactions. To combat the problem, this study sought to identify the technology leadership qualities possessed by secondary school principals in Nebraska who support student-led social media teams. A purposeful sampling of six secondary school principals in Nebraska, who have all been practicing principals for at least three years, engaged in individual semi-structured interviews via Zoom in January 2021. The primary research question was: What technology leadership qualities are possessed by secondary school principals in Nebraska who support student-led social media …

Acts Of Meaning, Resource Diagrams, And Essential Learning Behaviors: The Design Evolution Of Lost & Found, Owen Gottlieb, Ian Schreiber

Articles

Lost & Found is a tabletop-to-mobile game series designed for teaching medieval religious legal systems. The long-term goals of the project are to change the discourse around religious laws, such as foregrounding the prosocial aspects of religious law such as collaboration, cooperation, and communal sustainability. This design case focuses on the evolution of the design of the mechanics and core systems in the first two tabletop games in the series, informed by over three and a half years’ worth of design notes, playable prototypes, outside design consultations, internal design reviews, playtests, and interviews.

Transforming School Hallways Through Critical Inquiry: Multimodal Literacies For Civic Engagement, Tiffany A. Dejaynes, Christopher Curmi-Hall

Publications and Research

The authors examined the research and activism of 10th graders (ages 15–16) involved in a youth participatory action research project in a course in qualitative research at their small public school in New York City, New York. The authors, a classroom researcher and a high school teacher, looked closely at how the youth researchers used photography, collage, and videography to transform their school hallways into a space for critical conversations about race and gender. The authors examined how the hallways became a civic space shaped by collective youth resistance, multimodal counterstories, and negotiated civic engagement.

“There’S Nothing Wrong With Fun”: Unpacking The Tensions And Challenges Of Human Centered Design For Learning With Pre-Service Teachers, Zoe Falls, Justin Olmanson

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

Research into practices of making within formalized education has primarily focused on K12 settings, inservice teachers in professional development, and pre-service teachers facilitating a maker experience for K12 students. Less is known about the professionalizing impact making and human centered design can have on pre-service teachers, especially in relation to how or if the experience deepens their understanding of content, pedagogy and human centered design. This study traces a group of pre-service social science teachers’ development of a meme generator to support learning history. By studying their process from inception to conclusion, we found students were less inclined to engage …

Finding Lost & Found: Designer’S Notes From The Process Of Creating A Jewish Game For Learning, Owen Gottlieb

Articles

This article provides context for and examines aspects of the design process of a game for learning. Lost & Found (2017a, 2017b) is a tabletop-to-mobile game series designed to teach medieval religious legal systems, beginning with Moses Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah (1180), a cornerstone work of Jewish legal rabbinic literature. Through design narratives, the article demonstrates the complex design decisions faced by the team as they balance the needs of player engagement with learning goals. In the process the designers confront challenges in developing winstates and in working with complex resource management. The article provides insight into the pathways the team …

Reconceptualizing Pedagogical And Curricular Knowledge Development Through Making, Steven Greenstein, Justin Olmanson

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

While making is typically tethered to narratives of entrepreneurship and business, it can provide a gateway to meaningful interaction and deepened understanding of both content and pedagogy. In this article we provide descriptions of two courses—one each at the pre-service and in-service levels—that engage teachers in making and design practices that we hypothesized would inform their pedagogical and curricular thinking. With a focus on the design of new tools to support teaching and learning through the use of human-centered design practices and digital fabrication technologies, these courses have teachers exploring at the intersection of content, pedagogy, and making. Specifically, they …

Efficacy And Implementation Of Automated Essay Scoring Software In Instruction Of Literacies To High Level Ells, Aaron J. Alvero

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explored the integration of automated essay scoring (AES) software into the writing curriculum for high level ESOL students (levels 3, 4, and 5 on a 1-5 scale) at a high school in Miami, Fl. Issues for Haitian Creole speaking students were also explored. The Spanish and Haitian Creole speaking students were given the option to write notes, outlines, and planning sheets in their L1.

After using AES in the middle of the writing process as a revision assistant tool, 24 students responded to a Likert Scale questionnaire. The students responded positively to the AES based on the results …

Improving Motivation, Engagement And Differentiation In Lesson Development Using An Interactive White Board: 10-Hour Workshop Cycle Toward Professional Development Certificate, Leslie Lieman, Jenelle Fiori, Naliza Sadik

Publications and Research

The School of Education prepares aspiring teachers for teaching in 21st century classrooms by offering intensive interactive white board training cycles. In designing interactive lessons, the workshop cycle focuses on the pedagogical decision making that can improve classroom teaching and student engagement and understanding.

Using Video Prompting To Teach High School Students With Moderate Intellectual Disabilities A Vocational Skill With A Portable Video Delivery System Employing A Qualitative Case Study, John Newman

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of portable video devices in the delivery of video content using video prompting to teach functional life skills to three high school students with moderate intellectual disabilities. The theoretical frameworks of the social learning theory, anchored instruction, and situated cognition show promise as the foundation of the development of specialized curricula to improve students' functioning in adaptive behavior skills. The study utilized a qualitative case study approach, using a multiple-probe across tasks and a single-subject design to obtain quantitative data as the first data collection strategy for a qualitative case …

A Case Study Investigating The Impact Of A Blended International Partnership On Perceptions Of Learning And Global Mindedness In A North Carolina High School, Jennifer Ricks

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Despite the ever-increasing popularity of international partnerships that blend study abroad and virtual learning, very little data exists to understand their impact on student attitudes and achievement. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to investigate the impact of a blended international school partnership on perceptions of learning and global mindedness in a North Carolina high school. Data was collected, in two phases, from stakeholder interviews, observations, an online Global Mindedness Scale survey, the NC School Report Card, and teacher lesson plans. Global mindedness was found to have increased as participants gained a multifaceted understanding of, and appreciation for, …

The Relationship Of Instructor Technical Literacy To The Academic Performance Of Students In Career Academies, Jorge Gomez

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Career Academy instructors’ technical literacy is vital to the academic success of students. This nonexperimental ex post facto study examined the relationships between the level of technical literacy of instructors in career academies and student academic performance. It was also undertaken to explore the relationship between the pedagogical training of instructors and the academic performance of students.

Out of a heterogeneous population of 564 teachers in six targeted schools, 136 teachers (26.0 %) responded to an online survey. The survey was designed to gather demographic and teaching experience data. Each demographic item was linked by researchers to teachers’ technology use …

Teaching Mathematics For Social Justice: Conversations With Educators – A Symposium, David W. Stinson, Anita A. Wager

Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology Faculty Publications

Using Marilyn Frankenstein’s germinal 1983 article “Critical Mathematics Education: An Application of Paulo Freire’s Epistemology” and Ole Skovsmose’s 1985 germinal article “Mathematics Education Versus Critical Education” as credible “start points”, critical mathematics or more broadly, social justice mathematics, is marking three decades of empowering yet uncertain possibilities. Nonetheless, there are two recurring questions: What is it? and What does it “look like”? Drawing on the collective stories (and wisdom) of critical mathematics educators, this symposium aims to offer some open, non-definitive answers to these two questions.

An English Only Fountain: A Response To Tamsin Meaney’S Critique Of English Privilege In Mathematics Education Research, David W. Stinson

Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology Faculty Publications

In this brief written reaction to Tamsin Meaney’s essay “The Privileging of English in Mathematics Education Research, Just a Necessary Evil?”, the author’s explicit purpose is to provoke an emotional response to Meaney’s plenary address with the juxtaposition of two visuals: (1) Table 1 – a list of English Only mathematics education conferences; (2) Figure 1 – a picture of a Whites Only water fountain. While intentionally aiming for an emotional response, however, it is important to note that the author is not suggesting that the injustices of Jim Crow and Apartheid were (are) one in the same nor that …

“I Hate History”: A Study Of Student Engagement In Community College Undergraduate History Courses, Katherine A. Perrotta, Chara H. Bohan

Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology Faculty Publications

Many instructors seek to improve student engagement, but determining how to achieve student engagement can be complex and complicated. The authors sought to explore how the implementation of active-learning strategies in undergraduate history courses at a metropolitan community college using graphic organizers and group discussion impacted student engagement. Surveys were distributed to students in five undergraduate history courses in order to elicit student perspectives on how active-learning strategies improved student engagement. The survey data revealed that some active-learning strategies improved student engagement, whereas others did not. The authors report that a combination of implementing lecture and active-learning strategies was effective …

Reaching Across The Color Line: Margaret Mitchell And Benjamin Mays, An Uncommon Friendship, Jearl Nix, Chara Haeussler Bohan

Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology Faculty Publications

The authors examine how the Margaret Mitchell - Benjamin Mays relationship displays the courage of two individuals who reached across a line of hatred and mistrust to bridge a gap between black and white citizens of Atlanta, GA.

Conversations About Privilege And Oppression In Mathematics Education, David W. Stinson, Joi A. Spencer

Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology Faculty Publications

In this editorial, the authors frame the purpose and outline the contents of the JUME special issue “Privilege and Oppression in the Mathematics Preparation of Teacher Educators” (the title of a 3-day conference held in Battle Creek, Michigan). As part of the “thoughtful action” called for throughout the conference, the intention of the special issue is to invite all mathematics educators (and others) into conversations about systems of privilege and oppression.

On Being A Hardliner On Issues Of Race And Culture In Mathematics Education Research, David W. Stinson

Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology Faculty Publications

In this editorial, the author provides a revised written version of his remarks delivered at the 35th annual meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education, Chicago, IL, November 15, 2013; the remarks were in response to Professor Na’ilah Suad Nasir’s (2013) plenary address “Why Should Mathematics Educators Care about Race and Culture?”

Diversity In Methodology: Different Possibilities For Data Collection, Analysis, And Representation, David W. Stinson, Erika C. Bullock

Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology Faculty Publications

Mathematics education research over the past half century can be understood as operating in four distinct yet overlapping and simultaneously operating historical moments: the process–product moment (1970s–), the interpretivist–constructivist moment (1980s–), the social-turn moment (mid 1980s–), and the sociopolitical-turn moment (2000s–). Each moment embraces unique theoretical perspectives as it critiques or rejects others. Moreover, because methodology is inextricably linked to theory, each moment calls forth unique methodological perspectives. Using exemplars of research articles from each moment, the authors illustrate how each moment provides different possibilities for data collection, analysis, and representation.

Nineteenth Century Rosa Parks? Assessing Elizabeth Jennings' Legacy As A Teacher And Civil Rights Pioneer In Antebellum America, Katherine A. Perrotta, Chara Haeussler Bohan

Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology Faculty Publications

Elizabeth Jennings should be recognized as more than a "Rosa Parks" figure in Antebellum New York City history. Both Jennings' and Parks' experiences with segregation on public transportation are similar, but they are not the same. Jennings' ejection from a New York streetcar was not deliberately planned, nor did her removal from the streetcar lead to mass protests or boycotts in New York City or throughout the country. Similarly though, as many African Americans endured violence during the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, Elizabeth Jennings also survived the New York City Draft Riots in 1863. Overall, both …

Variable Appropriation Of An Online Resource Discovery And Sharing Tool, Victor R. Lee, Mimi Recker, Tamara Sumner

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

Even when following best practices for participatory design, the appropriation of tools in formal education settings can be hampered by a number of factors. Drawing from a case of a web tool built to help teachers in five school districts find and share free resources in an educational digital library, we describe patterns of tool use and provide some explanations for variability in tool appropriation. We also suggest that future research consider school districts as complex systems of professionals whose interactions and inter-relationships may yield unexpected technology adoption behaviors.

Mathematics Educators And The “Math Wars”: Who Controls The Discourse?, David W. Stinson

Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology Faculty Publications

In this editorial, the author expresses support of a colleague, Professor Jo Boaler of Stanford University, in her actions of going public with the harassment that she has experienced through professional and personal attacks by James Milgram of Stanford University and Wayne Bishop of California State University, Los Angeles.

On The Brilliance Of Black Children: A Response To A Clarion Call, Erika Bullock, Maisie Gholson, Nathan Alexander

Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology Faculty Publications

In this editorial, three dotoral students in Mathematics Education reflect on their experiences as conference organizers and co-editors of the Proceedings of the 2010 Philadelphia and 2011 Atlanta Bejamin Banneker Associaton Conferences.

Beyond The Numbers: A Benjamin Banneker Association Conference Series, Jacqueline Leonard, Erica R. Davila, David W. Stinson

Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology Faculty Publications

The authors discuss how the "white male math myth" can be effectively debunked by conferences such as the Benjamin Banneker Association Beyond the Numbers conference series, which focus on urban mathematical education and highlight the achievements of black children.

The New Encyclopedia Of Southern Culture: Education (Review), Chara H. Bohan

Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology Faculty Publications

Review of: The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture: Education. Edited by Clarence L. Mohr. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2011.

Critical Pedagogy And Teaching Mathematics For Social Justice, David W. Stinson, Carla R. Bidwell, Ginny C. Powell

Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology Faculty Publications

In this article, the authors explore critical pedagogy within the context of mathematics classrooms. The exploration demonstrates the evolving pedagogical practices of mathematics teachers when teaching mathematics is explicitly connected to issues of social justice. To frame the exploration, the authors provide brief overviews of the theoretical tenets of critical pedagogy and of teaching mathematics for social justice. Through using narrative and textual data, the authors illustrate how a graduate-level, critical theory and teaching mathematics for social justice course assisted, in part, in providing not only a new language but also a legitimization in teachers becoming critical mathematics pedagogues.

Transitioning Into Contemporary Theory: Critical Postmodern Theory In Mathematics Education Research, David W. Stinson, Erika Bullock

Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology Faculty Publications

In this theoretical paper, the authors provide an overview of mathematics education as a research domain, identifying and briefly discussing four transitions or historical moments in mathematics education research. Using the Instructional Triangle as a point of reference for the dynamics of mathematics instruction, they illustrate how mathematics education researchers working in different moments explore different questions and use different theoretical perspectives. The authors then provide brief summaries of critical theory and postmodern theory, and suggest critical postmodern theory (CPT) as a hybrid theory that offers new possibilities for conceptualizing and conducting mathematics education research.

2011 Benjamin Banneker Association National Science Foundation Conference Program - Beyond The Numbers: The Brilliance Of Black Children In Mathematics, Benjamin Banneker Association

Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Top Five Narratives For Teaching About China's Cultural Revolution, Lindsey Cafarella, Chara Haeussler Bohan

Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology Faculty Publications

The authors recommend books about the Cultural Revolution to enhance student understanding of current events in China. These techniques improve student literacy, enhance historical empathy, and increase student understanding of this complex time period in China’s history.

Both The Journal And Handbook Of Research On Urban Mathematics Teaching And Learning, David W. Stinson

Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology Faculty Publications

In this editorial, the author explores the prestige that the edited "Handbook" has gained in the social sciences generally and in mathematical education specifically over the past few decades, and explores how this has established new power relationships and scholarly practices within urban mathematical education.