Curriculum and Instruction Commons^™

Perceived Efficacy Of Beginning Teachers To Differentiate Instruction, Michelle K. Casey, Robert K. Gable

Teacher Education

A two-phase, sequential mixed-methods design was used to assess perceptions of teacher efficacy (10 item survey, alpha = .90) to differentiate instruction for N = 36 graduates from one MAT teacher preparation program. Research questions addressed levels of self-efficacy, perceptions of preparedness, teaching tenure, and number of certifications held. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA and t-test procedures. A focus group with N = 10 purposively selected 2010 graduates and interviews with N = 2 graduates each from the 2008 and 2009 classes, and N = 2 faculty were conducted. No significant relationships were found for tenure and …

The Learning Gardens Laboratory: Teaching Sustainability And Developing Sustainable Food Systems Through Unique Partnerships, Heather Burns, Weston Miller

Educational Leadership and Policy Faculty Publications and Presentations

Garden-based education programs at the Learning Gardens Laboratory (LGL) in Portland, Oregon, have been developed in a partnership between Portland State University and Oregon State University in order to advance the development of sustainable food systems and sustainability education. Learning gardens serve as rich sustainability learning sites due to their ecological and sociocultural benefits, and provide a hands-on way for students to engage in interconnected issues and begin to participate in solving complex problems. At LGL there is an understanding that developing sustainable food systems also requires teaching and learning practices that reflect the goals of sustainability education. Our primary …

Road Map To Becoming A Physician Assistant, Maguire J. Miller

Senior Honors Projects

The field of medicine is under constant change and reconstruction, especially when it comes to healthcare practitioners. When a demand is placed on the system, healthcare providers must figure out how they can satisfy the medical needs of the population. Within the past few decades there has been a shortage of people who are capable of fulfilling these needs. For this reason a new profession has been developed; it is called a Physician Assistant (PA). Professionals with this title have been through a rigorous training modeled after what a medical student goes through, but it is condensed into a much …

Community College Students' Perceptions Of Effective Communication In Online Learning, Donna Alice Hill Parker

Dissertations

This quantitative research project analyzed the application of instructional communication tools and techniques used by community college students to determine how they perceive communication in their online classes. Online students from a community college participated in this study by completing an electronic survey. Data analysis revealed that these participating students communicated primarily through written online communication tools such as posting of class notes, email, and discussions. Students lack exposure to more innovative communication tools such as teacher-made audio and video presentations or live conversations and demonstrations through the use of Wimba or other tools, which are readily available in the …

In Their Own Words: Using Students’ Writing To Develop A Digital Manual For New College Students, Kristen Di Gennaro, Agie Markiewicz

Cornerstone 1 Reports : Expansion and Enhancements of the Thinkfinity Platform

No abstract provided.

Creating A Creativity Class In The Elementary School: Research And Development, Alyssa C. Charles

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

This project researches the need for a creativity class in the elementary school. Through literary research on current best practices in 21^st century education it becomes apparent that schools must alter what they do in preparing students for the future. Changes must be made to foster and value creative expression and creative problem solving. The goal of this project is to investigate how implicit and explicit creativity training and Creative Problem Solving (CPS) work with fourth and second grade children in a private school. The project outlines the steps taken to spread awareness about the importance of offering a …

Illuminating The Effects Of Dynamic Lighting On Student Learning, Michael S. Mott, Daniel H. Robinson, Ashley Walden, Jodie Burnette, Angela S. Rutherford

Curriculum and Instruction Faculty Publications - Archive

Light is universally understood as essential to the human condition. Yet light quality varies substantially in nature and in controlled environments leading to questions of which artificial light characteristics facilitate maximum learning. Recent research has examined lighting variables of color temperature, and illumination for affecting sleep, mood, focus, motivation, concentration, and work and school performance. This has resulted in artificial light systems intended to support human beings in their actualization through dynamic lighting technology allowing for different lighting conditions per task. A total of 84 third graders were exposed to either focus (6000K-100fc average maintained) or normal lighting. Focus lighting …

Bridging Contexts: Creating An Online Professional Development Tool For Enhancing Teacher-Family Communication, Joan Walker

Cornerstone 1 Reports : Expansion and Enhancements of the Thinkfinity Platform

No abstract provided.

An Action Study Of The Design, Delivery And Evaluation Of An Undergraduate Course In Creative Problem Solving, Blake Steven Godkin

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

The purpose of this project was to prepare and carry out a formal action study documenting the design, delivery and evaluation of an undergraduate course that emphasized the development of students’ understanding of creative thinking and the Creative Problem Solving process. This research project focused on a specific course that was available to junior and senior students at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. The title of the course was “Applications of Creativity and Creative Problem Solving” and the course was offered by the Department of Educational Psychology. This project contains an investigation of selected literature sources that could …

A Third Grade Bilingual Teacher's Knowledge And Practices For Developing Reading Comprehension, Miriam Guerra

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The purpose of this study was to examine teacher knowledge and practices for teaching reading comprehension to English language learners and socio-economically disadvantaged students in a third grade bilingual class. This study uses a conceptual framework of pedagogical content knowledge to investigate how kinds of content knowledge and pedagogical practices interact to create the teacher’s special way of knowing how to teach comprehension to her students. This study uses a case study methodology to investigate what the teacher knows and how her knowledge is enacted in her teaching practices. This case study provided an in-depth perspective of teacher knowledge. Through …

Bridging The Gap Through Collaboration:, Rebecca Arliss, Carlos Arguelles, Rodolfo Hernandez

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

How Ipads Can Be Used In The Math Classroom To Improve Student Learning, Katie Ann Garrity Smieja

Mathematics Graduate Theses

This study explores how iPads can be used to enhance student learning in the math classroom. The author reviews current literature to determine how iPads are being used to facilitate communication, formative assessment, and promising practices in math education such as discovery learning and use of spreadsheets, graphing calculators, and manipulatives. Additionally, challenges and drawbacks to using iPads in the classroom are examined. Research supports the use of iPads to provide students access to digital content including online discussion boards and practice activities with instant feedback. iPads can also be used as student response systems to engage students in instruction …

Web Resources For Teaching Media Literacy, Krista Bittenbender Royal

INTO Faculty and Staff Publications

Preparing students for academic success involves more than just English; it must also address critical thinking skills. Using technology to integrate media literacy into a course can help students develop the higher-order thinking required for university classes. In this workshop, designed for teachers and curriculum coordinators, participants will learn about several web-based resources and materials used in an advanced English for Academic Purposes class that dealt with media literacy. These resources range from the websites of media literacy networks and current event sites to web-based information tools and visual representations of information, as well as educational learning resource centers that …

Examining The Integration Of Popular Culture In Education, Edward C. Hanson Jr.

Art Education Projects

This study is designed to examine the effects of integrating popular culture into the school curriculum, from the perspective of the parents, teachers and administrators involved. This study presumes that the positive aspects, and benefits to students, outweigh the negative and approaches the problem from the issues that need to be overcome by responsible parties involved in the education of the learners.

Findings of this study determined that lack of communication, distrust and group diversity all contribute in varying degrees to the dis-function of contemporary education. In order to move beyond a stagnated state in education the integration of popular …

Effective Science Teaching In A High Poverty Middle School, Georgette Meyer

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This qualitative case study described the characteristics of science teachers in a high poverty urban middle school whose 2010 scores on South Carolina's Palmetto Assessment of State Standards (PASS) ranked second in the state. Data was obtained through classroom observations, open-ended interviews, school documents, and photographs taken inside the school from ten participants, who were seven science teachers, a science coach, and two administrators. Findings revealed a school culture that pursued warm and caring relationships with students while communicating high expectations for achievement, strong central leadership who communicated their vision and continuously checked for its implementation through informal conversations, frequent …

Mathematics Classrooms At The Middle School Level: Does Grouping Make A Difference In Achievement, Adam Smieja

Mathematics Graduate Theses

This paper reviewed related research on student achievement based on how students were grouped, homogeneously or heterogeneously. Questions examined were whether students performed better in heterogeneous or homogenous groupings and to what extent did high-, average-, and low-ability students perform better in a particular group. Results showed that high-ability students in homogeneous groupings had higher gains in achievement when compared to their counterparts in heterogeneous groupings. However, gains for these high-ability students were not statistically significant. On the contrary, average-, and low-ability students did show statistically significant gains in achievement in the heterogeneous groupings. Yet, despite their effectiveness, implementation of …

Learning To Teach Mathematics With Reasoning And Sense Making, Amy L. Nebesniak

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study uses teacher research to examine teacher learning in the context of instructional coaching. The author, a mathematics instructional coach, engaged in an intense three-week coaching relationship with a high school Algebra teacher. A detailed description of the teaching and learning of quadratics that took place during this research provide information about what and how a teacher learns to teach mathematics with reasoning and sense making. Mapping the terrain of quadratics deepened the teacher’s understanding of the mathematical content and encouraged him to adapt his textbook in order to build mathematical reasoning. Through the coaching process, the teacher also …

Do At-Risk Students Benefit When Novanet Is Used For Credit Recovery?, Rebecca Lynn Volkerding

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if it is effective and appropriate to place all students needing credit recovery in computer-based classes regardless of age, risk ratio, and their previous failing grade. Driven by the NCLB mandate for schools to produce greater gains and graduate all students in 4.5 years, districts are now using online credit recovery programs to help at-risk students gain promotion and put students back on-track for graduation without placing these students back in the traditional classroom setting where they failed the class the first time. Although there is an adequate knowledge base about the …

The Beat Goes On: The Connections Between Pitch Matching And Beat Competency In The Reading Proficiencies Of Third Graders, Lori Conlon Khan

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Children who are poor readers in their early years generally remain poor readers in their later years. Research questions explore positive connections between learning music and learning to hear, understanding the spoken word, and, ultimately, reading the printed word. A series of 12 lessons created to improve internal rhythmicity and practice pitch matching skills were administered by general music specialists to a treatment group of third grade students (n=15) reading below grade level, over a period of 12 weeks. Treatment group results were compared to a control group (n=10) who did not receive musical intervention. The research examined the reading …

Can Esl Teachers Teach Reading Metacognitive Strategies?, Adil Bentahar

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Metacognitive knowledge has been linked to use of metacognitive strategies and effectiveness in reading (e.g., Flavell, 1979). In the present research, I evaluated whether teaching three metacognitive strategies (planning, monitoring, and evaluating) would (a) improve English as a Second Language (ESL) students’ metacognitive knowledge, which in turn would (b) improve their comprehension. Eight non-English speaking students completed the Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategy Inventory (MARSI) (Mokhtari & Reichard, 2002) and a reading test at the beginning of a reading-writing course and again at the end of the course. The results revealed an increase from pretest to posttest in all three …