Curriculum and Instruction Commons^™

Community Partners’ Assessment Of Service Learning In An Interpersonal And Small Group Communication Course, Sarah Steimel

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

This assessment explored community partners’ perceptions of service learning in a required communication course. Semi-structured interviews revealed that community partners believed that students were providing needed and valuable service, students were learning about the community and students were learning through their application of course skills in an applied context. However, community partners also felt that students were unaware of or did not care what they should be learning, that faculty contact was rare or nonexistent and that community feedback opportunities were rare and undervalued by faculty. Results suggest specific improvements necessary in service learning assignment design.

China's 80后 And 90后: The Next Generation Of Leaders In The World's Next Superpower, A Students-Teaching-Students Course, Patrick Slavin

Senior Honors Projects

In light of China’s recent reemergence as a global superpower, it is becoming increasingly important for westerners to understand its history and culture. For current college students, the culture of China’s youth is particularly pertinent.

In this project, a course, HPR 107: Chinese Youth Culture, was designed and taught through the Students-Teaching-Students program, which provides senior Honor’s Program students the opportunity to design and teach their own Honor’s Program course. The HPR 107 course focuses on China’s 80后 and 90后 generations, those born in the 1980s and 1990s, respectively.

This multi-faceted project includes: subject matter research, course development, pedagogy development, …

Perceptions Of Kentucky Secondary School Principals About Agricultural Education Programs: A Comparison Of Schools With And Without Agricultural Education Programs, Andy Joe Moore

Dissertations

Countless research suggests that secondary agricultural education programs could benefit all students regardless of school characteristics and geographic location, yet many secondary schools have yet to include agricultural education as part of their curricular offerings. In response, numerous studies have been conducted in recent years throughout the United States regarding how secondary agricultural education programs are perceived by school leaders. For the first time, this study sought to shed light on how secondary principals in Kentucky perceived agricultural education programs. Considered in this study, were how secondary principals with agricultural education in their schools perceived those programs differently than secondary …

The Relationship Of Preservice Teachers To English Language Learners In Mainstream Classrooms, Susan F. Alford

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

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship of preservice teachers by examining their attitudes and perceptions to English Language Learners in the mainstream classroom. An ever-increasing population of ELLs in U.S. classrooms has challenged the preparation of preservice teachers to meet the specific needs of this group of students. Preservice teachers’ attitudes toward their ability to connect with ELLs, their self-efficacy toward preparation to teach ELLs, and their attitudes toward language use in the classroom were probed. The research design included both quantitative and qualitative inquiries. A survey was administered to preservice teachers in three teacher preparation …

Creative Environments, Jamie M. Sanchez

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

This project is the result of the teaching and learning that occurred in a high school elective class called Creative Environments at Khartoum American School in Sudan. The students of this class were introduced to creative studies, creative problem solving, and design. Through an array of thoughtful lesson planning, the students gained essential skills that prepared them in redesigning a purposeless area on their school campus into a place that sparks creativity and builds community.

Engaging Literacy Activities A Case Study, Tiffanie Dawn Meridth

All Graduate Projects

The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) in Washington State has adopted Common Core Standards. The reading curriculum given to teachers most often reflects the appropriate grade level materials, but does not necessarily meet common core standards, engage students in learning, or prepare students to pass the end of year exams. In this study, engaging classroom literacy activities will be developed and aligned with learning targets associated with common core standards for sixth grade students. A variety of materials will be used for activities to include: novel sets, picture books, social studies curriculum, and additional teacher resources. It …

Improv(Ing) Students: Teaching Improvisation To High School Students To Increase Creative And Critical Thinking, Beth D. Slazak

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

This project focuses on teaching High School students improvisational techniques to increase their creative and critical thinking skills. This covers tools of Creative Problem Solving, rules and concepts of improvisational theater, and affective thinking skills. The finished project includes lesson plans, a workbook, and a video that will assist students and educators in teaching these skills.

Communicating Creativity: A Workshop And Communication Tools For Teaching And Consulting In Creativity, Stephen J. Hammond

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

This project developed tools to support a consulting practice integrating the author’s interests in creative process, design and organizational strategy. The focus is on educating students and clients about creativity, creative thinking, design and innovation. Design thinking concepts of user feedback and rapid prototyping were used during the project. The resulting products are materials for a multi-day graduate level workshop for design students, a creativity website including blogging capability and a four minute educational video aimed at helping establish an Aerospace Technology Center in Northern Illinois.

Developing A Service Learning Course For Iep Students, Krista Bittenbender Royal, Justyna Kikowska, Kristen Mcgreger, Laura Murphy, Sangita Victor

INTO Faculty and Staff Publications

Service-learning is a great way for ELLs to get involved in the community, develop interpersonal communication skills, and do research on social issues, but it can be an overwhelming course to develop. This presentation will outline how one IEP successfully developed a service-learning course and offer tips for those who want to develop their own. In Summer 2012, a team was organized to examine the ways in which service-learning could be implemented at our university’s IEP. This “Creative Team” explored both curricular and extra-curricular options, and after surveying students and examining other models of service-learning courses, the team decided to …

Teacher Induction Programs In North Carolina: Factors Relating To Job Satisfaction And The Intent To Remain In The Profession, Hannah S. Reeder

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Attrition rates continue to rise for beginning teachers. It is alarming that almost half of all new teachers leave the profession within their first 5 years. The “revolving door” that is created negatively affects student achievement. The most common solution to decreasing teacher turnover rates is implementing a comprehensive new teacher induction program. Comprehensive induction programs are designed to increase teacher efficacy, promote quality professional development, and facilitate a collaborative work environment among teachers (Alliance for Excellent Education, 2004).

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine beginning teacher induction programs in the state of North Carolina and the …

Student Attitudes Towards And Impressions Of Project Citizen, Sara Winstead Fry, Adil Bentahar

Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Project Citizen is a civic education curriculum used across the United States and internationally, yet research about its impact on students is lacking in the literature. This article reports the results of a preliminary study designed to answer the following questions: What are students’ attitudes toward and perceptions of Project Citizen? How do their attitudes and perceptions compare to those of students who completed senior projects? Ten high school students and 23 first-year college students completed a questionnaire designed for this study. Our findings indicate that the high school students had positive perceptions of Project Citizen, and they self-reported an …

Common Misconceptions And Instructional Best Practices For Teaching Fractions To Students In Grades Three, Four, And Five, Dan Fairchild

Mathematics Graduate Theses

This research paper will identify common misconceptions related to the teaching and learning fractions for students in grades three, four, and five. Different fraction subconstructs will be identified and instructional best practices will be identified for the teaching and learning of comparing fractions, ordering fractions, adding fractions, and subtracting fractions.

A Professional Development Program To Improve Math Skills Among Preschool Children In Head Start, Jonathan Brendefur, Sam Strother, Keith Thiede, Cristianne Lane, Mary Jo Surges-Prokop

Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of providing early educators professional development experiences and activities to improve the mathematical skills of preschool children in Head Start around four domains of mathematics. Because of the need to provide necessary mathematical experiences to young children to improve their early understanding and skills and provide the foundation for future success in mathematics, we provided the treatment group of early educators with professional development and center-based activities to promote four critical areas in mathematics. By randomly selecting Head Start centers to participate as the treatment group or control group, we …

Academic College Readiness Indicators Of Seniors Enrolled In University-Model Schools® And Traditional, Comprehensive Christian Schools, Sharon Brobst

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This correlational study examined the relationship between type of high school a senior attends (University-Model School® (UMS®) or traditional, comprehensive Christian) and academic college readiness, when controlling for prior academic achievement and gender. The study compared archival data from Christian school graduates from six schools located near Dallas, TX. Each took the Stanford-10 in their seventh, eighth, or ninth-grade years, which controlled for prior academic achievement. SAT and ACT scores measured academic college readiness. Results of three sequential multiple regressions, controlling for confounding, showed that prior academic achievement was significant in predicting SAT Composite, SAT Writing, and ACT Composite scores. …

Secrets Of Their Success: A Multiple Case Study Of Mathematically Proficient Homeschool Graduates, Betty Cardinale

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this multiple case study was to explain how mathematically proficient homeschool graduates acquired their proficiency. Bronfenbrenner's (1979, 1999) ecological and Process-Person-Context-Time (PPCT) models were used as theoretical frameworks to analyze the development of the graduates in the homeschool environment. The National Research Council's (NRC) Five Strands of Mathematical Proficiency (Kilpatrick, Swafford, & Findell, 2001) was used as a conceptual framework. I collected four types of data: (a) surveys; (b) National Assessment of Educational Progress; (c) Mathematical Self-Efficacy Scale scores; and (d) interviews. These data items were analyzed with explanation building, a special case of pattern-matching logic. Many …

Understanding Successful Japanese Language Programs: Utah Case Study, Timothy G. Stout

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Recent world events have caused Americans to reassess national political, economic, and educational priorities, resulting in a shift towards Asia. The schools in response have begun to introduce less commonly taught languages, such as Japanese and Chinese. Many Utah public schools have tried to implement less commonly taught language programs. Some have succeeded, and other others have not. The purpose of this study was to understand how and why some schools were able to successfully integrate less commonly taught language programs, and why others were not.

The results of this study suggest that the factors relating to students’ interests and …

Cooking Up A Course: Food Education At Pomona College, Christina A. Cyr

Pomona Senior Theses

Cooking skills are important but declining, with significant health, social, cultural, political, economic, and environmental implications. Food and cooking education can begin to address some of the negative effects of the cooking skills decline. This thesis makes the case for cooking classes in the education system, especially in higher education. The paper begins with a history of cooking education and skills, outlines the implications of the decline in skills, and discusses the potential for cooking education in higher education. The second part consists of a course syllabus, designed for Pomona College. The third section includes a discussion of the implementation …

Teaching Note - Four Pillars In Understanding Globalization: How I Teach Second Year Seminar, Fang Deng

Bridgewater Review

No abstract provided.

Learner Retention Of Medical Vocabulary Based On Instructional Format And Success In Medical Coding, Madelon Reed Gruich

Dissertations

This quantitative research study explores the correlation between instructional formats and the measurement of knowledge retention, as well as subsequent course mastery and whether other factors such as age, ethnicity, gender, number of study hours, number of work hours, and family responsibilities influence learning outcomes. The healthcare data technology program attracts large numbers of individuals seeking training in this administrative healthcare field and was the focal area of the research for this study.

The participants in the study were the students enrolled in the healthcare data technology program of a southeastern community college, preparing for employment in the medical billing …

The Impact Of Technology Attitudes And Skills Of Rural Health Clinic Nurses On The Level Of Adoption Of Electronic Health Records In Mississippi, Jennifer Lynn Styron

Dissertations

The evolution of health information technology continues to reform the delivery of efficient, safe, and equitable healthcare in the United States. One such example is the emergence of electronic health records (EHRs) and the discerning emphasis placed on using this technology in meaningful ways. While the integration of EHRs into daily practice impacts all healthcare professionals, nurses remain a prominent driver in the successful adoption and usage of these systems. It is therefore imperative to understand the impact of nurses’ technology attitudes and skills on the level of EHR adoption in Mississippi.

This quantitative study examined the technology attitudes and …