Curriculum and Instruction Commons^™

Teachers’ Self-Perceived Attitudes And Self-Efficacy Of Instructing English Learners In Middle Tennessee, Angela Hughes

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

As the population of English learners (ELs) continues to grow, so does the achievement gap between ELs and non-EL peers. Educators must analyze what could be contributing factors to Els’ low performance, such as misconceptions about ELs, teachers’ attitudes toward teaching ELs, and how teachers perceive themselves as able to instruct ELs effectively. Further research was needed to examine ELs in the general education classroom and teachers’ attitudes to determine when and why teachers feel less or more self-efficacy teaching ELs. The purpose of this quantitative study was to analyze 74 general education teachers’ sense of self-efficacy for teaching English …

Crafting A Pedagogical Identity: A Multiple-Method Examination Of An English Department’S Writing Pedagogy, Nathan Alan Serfling

English Theses & Dissertations

This study developed after a program review of my current English department. The review pointed to a lack of coherence within our required writing curriculum. To learn more about my colleagues’ practices and values in writing instruction and to discover similarities and strengths that might guide our curricular revisions, I devised a multiple method, descriptive study of my colleagues’ pedagogies. I initially distributed surveys and used four key pedagogical taxonomies from writing studies scholarship (current-traditional rhetoric, expressivism, cultural studies and critical pedagogy, and rhetoric and argumentation) to analyze the survey data. Finding these taxonomies to be inadequate frameworks for understanding …

The Role Of The University Library In Creating Inclusive Healthcare Hackathons: A Case Study With Design Thinking Processes, Bethany S. Mcgowan

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Librarians can utilize design thinking practices to develop instructional materials, in the development of new products and services, and in prototyping novel solutions to problems. This paper will explore the role of design thinking in teaching and learning via the use of the Blended Librarians Adapted Addie Model (BLAAM), and will illustrate how well-designed learning approaches can be used to create inclusive learning environments. It will present a case study showcasing how an academic health sciences librarian utilized a design thinking process to create a health data literacy instruction service that encourages diverse participation in healthcare hackathons.

The Impact Of A Problem-Posing Approach On Student Engagement In An Esl Classroom In A Mid-Atlantic State, Beverly Anne Richardson Jewett

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the impact of a problem-posing approach on student engagement in an ESL classroom at a community college in a Mid-Atlantic state. This study took place during the Spring 2019 semester with seven participants, two males and five females. Data were collected through pre- and post-surveys, pre- and post-interviews, student work artifacts, informal interviews, and field observations. The results of the study revealed that the students perceived an increase in their own engagement through a problem-posing instructional approach. Furthermore, the results revealed increased students’ value of collaboration, an environment that disarmed the fear of speaking, and connections to …

Work Ethic Skills And A Liberal Arts Education: Using Work-Integrated Learning In A Liberal Arts Course To Enhance Students' Work Ethic Skills And Demonstrate The Practicality Of A Liberal Arts Education., Jennifer M. Lopes

Theses and Dissertations

To address the gap in employability skills among recent college graduates, the proposed intervention seeks to integrate work ethic skills (WES) into the general education curriculum in a practical, efficient, and effective way to develop and enhance students’ professional skills. Work-integrated learning (WIL), if done properly, is the most effective method for students to learn, practice, and apply professional and academic skills. Problematic is the fact that general education courses have tenuous WIL connections because they are not “job specific. Hence, Kolb’s (1984) experiential learning theory is applied as the theoretical framework for creating effective an meaningful learning experiences via …

A Phenomenological Look At What Motivates And Challenges Teachers To Use Outdoor Learning Activities, Kristin Elizabeth Peney

Theses and Dissertations

The specific problem of practice on which this study is focused is the lack of opportunities for students to engage in outdoor learning experiences (OLEs) and one contributing factor to this problem, the hesitance teachers demonstrate towards engaging their students and themselves in OLEs (Rickinson et al., 2004). The purpose of this study was to gain a deeper and more thorough understanding of the beliefs about outdoor learning experiences (OLEs) held by teachers in my context. An investigative action research design using the phenomenological approach was selected for this study as teacher beliefs are complex, and are best understood when …

Using An Argument Driven Inquiry Model To Develop Scientific Proficiency In The Middle School Classroom, Lorelei Ross

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of argument driven inquiry (ADI) on the development of evidence-based arguments for eight eighth-grade students. This study took place in the third quarter of the 2018-2019 school year. The setting was a public middle school in a suburban county in the Southeast. Through the use of an action research design, qualitative and quantitative data was collected over a six-week period using various instruments. Instruments included a content pretest and post-test, generating an evidence-based argument pre-test and post-test, pre- and post-formal interviews, pre and post science questionnaire Likert attitudinal scale, collection …

The Impact Of Mindfulness Practices On The Dispositions Of Eight Third-Grade Elementary Students At An Elementary School In The Southeast Region Of The United States, Jakob Lauffer

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to examine the impact mindfulness sessions had on the dispositions of eight third-grade students. In the Spring of 2019, mindfulness practices were presented to third-graders in their regular classroom setting every Monday and Thursday over the six-week qualitative action research study. During this time, the teacher-researcher administered 15-minute mindful lessons that aimed to help increase coping strategies in the student population. The instruments used for data collection in this qualitative action research study were: a pre/post-intervention questionnaire, weekly exit slips utilizing multiple choice and open-ended questions, field notes, and digital video recordings. Students utilized …

Legal Education In The United States: Moving Toward More Practical Experience, Hon. Sandra R. Klein

Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

When Affect Meets The Relational: A Dialogical, Life Writing Approach To English Studies, D. Shane Combs

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation responds to a lack of explicit conversation and pedagogical approaches inclusive of both life writing and interior individual experience in composition studies. Broken into three chapters, the first serves to consider the detrimental impact composition studies has on interiority when it equates the internal with expressivism (Bishop; Newkirk; Gradin; Murray). This chapter focuses on the life writing of Donald Murray, a composition scholar pivotal to one-on-one conferencing and the process movement in composition. This chapter considers how elements of Donald Murray’s work—aloneness, one-to-one relational, and vulnerability—might overlap with introverts and highly sensitive people. If Murray is dismissed, then, …

The Effect Of Collaboration On Online Student Motivation In A College Biology Course, Christina Fieber

Theses and Dissertations

Online coursework in higher education is an accessible, cost-effective alternative for students and institutions. As demand for online courses grows, the need to address discrepancies in online student success and elevated attrition rates is a pressing issue in higher education. Instructional methods in online classrooms are a potential lever for minimizing these gaps. Research indicates motivation is a key indicator of student success and can have a positive impact on student achievement and persistence, whether online or in a traditional classroom setting. Collaboration, including social interaction, has also been shown to have a positive impact on student outcomes, and can …

Student Engagement With Video Instruction—How To Engage 7th-Grade Social Studies Students And Diverse Academic Abilities With Video In The Classroom, Andrew Miller

Theses and Dissertations

This mixed methods action research study explored the use of video-enhanced instruction in a seventh-grade social studies classroom in a small, rural middle school in the southeast United States. The primary research questions for this study was, How do different strategies for video-enhanced instruction support or challenge engagement in learning for students with diverse academic abilities? This dissertation will describe how I used the SAMR model of technology integration (Puentedura, 2012), and David Havens’ (2014) framework for engagement with technology to enact and study the impact of three different ways that video-enhanced instruction could be used to support students identified …

Focusing On Social Presence In An Electronics Course At A Two-Year College: An Action Research Study, Sherisse G. Jackson

Theses and Dissertations

Using a phenomenological approach, this action research study explored the influence of social presence (Garrison et al., 2000) on the achievement of students who were enrolled in Electronics, a two-year college course. Social presence was facilitated through the use and study of reciprocal teaching (Green, 2000), a collaborative learning strategy that has the potential to foster the development of social presence and is inherently culturally responsive (Gay, 2010). Qualitative data were generated through interviews with students, practitioner reflective notes, and classroom observations during the intervention. Analysis and interpretation of the data indicated student-participants had positive experiences during the intervention and …

“More Luggage”: The Heavy But Invisible Social Burden Carried By African American Advanced Placement Students, Leslie C. Richard

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this investigative action research study was to find new ways to disrupt the inequitable recruitment and enrollment practices in the sequence of AP English courses at a small, urban high school in the southeast United States. Through engagement in practitioner inquiry and guided by Critical Race Theory (CRT), this study sought to gather knowledge from the stories told by African American students about their choice to enroll in AP English and their experiences with their classmates, teachers, and the social environment in the course. Their counternarratives are juxtaposed against the limited perspectives of four White, female AP …

Supporting Teacher Collaboration Aimed At Developing High School Students’ Digital Media Literacy: A Participatory Action Research Study, Rachel A. Riendeau

Theses and Dissertations

The growing use of social media as a source of information about important current events among high school students requires the development of new instructional strategies that promote digital media literacy. Recognizing that the use of social media varies extensively among high school students, the nature of this problem is highly context dependent. As such, the most likely approach to be successful in a given classroom is one led and enacted by teachers in their own classrooms. Therefore, the purpose of this dissertation in practice was twofold. The first purpose was to develop effective curricular materials that support digital media …

Developing Specialized Content Knowledge For Equitable Practice In Mathematics: Exploring A Constructivist Approach To Preservice Teacher Education, Jane Rector Wilkes

Theses and Dissertations

A successful teacher education program prepares preservice teachers to provide high quality mathematics education for all students. In order to effectively address the needs of diverse and historically underserved groups of students, future teachers need to have a deep understanding of both basic content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge. The purpose of this study was to examine ways to support preservice teachers in improving procedural and conceptual content mastery, as well as the specialized content knowledge that they will need in order to feel empowered to teach their future students.

Based on the theoretical frameworks of two components of mathematical …

The Impact Of Poetry Annotations On The Critical Thinking Skills Of High School Juniors And Seniors At A School In A Southeastern State, Stefanie J. Fowler

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of poetry annotations on students’ critical thinking skills. This action research study took place in the spring of 2019 with eight high school participants. Participants were enrolled in an English IV-Honors class that was a combination of juniors and seniors. The setting was a public high school in a southeastern state. A mixed methods design was used; however, the study was more dominantly a qualitative study, and data was collected from participant pre and post-surveys and interviews, student-participant work, teacher-researcher observation notes, journal entries, and rubrics for annotations and responses …

Elaborative Rehearsal: An Examination Of Usage, Perceptions Of Utility, And Differences In Metacognition And Test Performance, Tori Kim Norris

Theses and Dissertations

This action research study explored the use of elaborative rehearsal as an intervention and examined differences in metacognition and test performance among college students in a general psychology course. Metacognitive processes are crucial for adequate comprehension. Students often come into college having very little metacognition, knowledge about different strategies, different cognitive tasks, and sometimes even accurate knowledge about how they learn (Pintrich, 2002). Common metacognition strategies are note-taking, summarizing, finding main ideas, writing to learn, self-questioning, outlining, previewing, reflecting, reciting and reviewing (Kisac & Budak, 2014). Elaborative rehearsal is a metacognitive learning strategy that encompasses many of these components. Unfortunately, …

Education For Sustainability: The Effectiveness Of A Place Based Environmental Education Unit In Food Waste Reduction On The Environmental Awareness Of Fourth Grade Students, Bree Lauffer

Theses and Dissertations

Implementation of a place-based composting unit for food reduction in the Spring of 2019 with 10 fourth-grade students utilized qualitative methodologies in order to measure its effects on environmental awareness in the individuals. Guided by Capra’s (1997) notion of sustainability in an ecoliterate society and Sobel’s (2008) place-based pedagogy, the curriculum and instructional decisions during the construction of the unit utilized read alouds and outdoor activities that aimed to increase the students’ connectedness to their local setting in order to motivate students for engagement in ecoliterate behaviors. Pre- and post-intervention surveys, artifacts and exit slips in student nature journals, teacher-researcher …

Feminist-Infused Participatory Action Research To Promote Female Students’ Self- Efficacy In Mathematics, Nicole Hreno

Theses and Dissertations

Prompted by the manifestations of decreased levels of mathematical self-efficacy among the female students in my district, the purpose of this study was to investigate the source of self-efficacy development that was most influential among our female students and engage in praxis to combat these gender inequities. Grounded in critical feminist theory, I engaged six teacher-researchers in participatory action research through qualitative methodologies. Using questionnaires to examine the worldviews of our female students, the emergent study was guided by these voices which were previously silenced. The interventions employed were a direct result of the females’ expressed mathematical experiences, leading us …