Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons^™

Improving Student Engagement Despite Lowering Attention Spans In The Classroom, Kaycee Lee

Senior Honors Theses

Attention spans have been decreasing throughout society for many years, partially due to the constant increase of technological advances. The average human attention span of eight seconds is particularly concerning to teachers and others in the classroom. It does not seem that the average attention span is ever going to increase, so teachers must implement intentional methods and strategies within their classroom to keep their students’ attention. Physical activities, technology and hands-on supports, small group instruction, shorter lessons, making intentional mistakes, flexible seating, and differentiated instruction are all strategies supported by research to improve student engagement within the classroom. Every …

Tales From The Classroom: A Qualitative Study Of Teacher Experiences With Covid-19, Stephen B. Thompson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological study will be to discover insights into how the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdown has caused residual effects on students’ academic, social, and emotional health two years removed from the pandemic. COVID-19 has impacted education from the lockdown that the leaders in the United States mandated. This lockdown removed students from school’s traditional routines, causing them to learn new ways to participate in their education. The method guiding this study is a qualitative phenomenology to focus on the lived experiences of teachers. Using a transcendental approach, the researcher will focus on the depiction of the …

Are Students Actually Learning What You Think They Are? An Exploration Into The Educational Outcomes Of Course Based Undergraduate Research Labs, Matilda Dumaine, Jacob Saadoun

Biology Presentations

It is important to understand whether students are acquiring intended educational objectives. A course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) lab seeks to blend the logistical ease and accessibility of college courses with the educational benefits of research experiences. By employing inquiry-based teaching methods, CURE labs enable students to collaborate in a group setting under the guidance of a faculty member, engaging in hands-on research. This project studies how educational outcomes of CURE labs can be measured. CURE labs may improve anything from technical lab skills, to scientific literacy, to persistence in science. These short-, middle-, and long-term goals may be measured …

Searching For Equity Within Children's Literature: A Professor And Students' Journey Of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion And Belonging, Beth Lattanzi

Education Doctorate Dissertations

Children's literature, books written specifically for children ages birth through fourth grade, is a core resource in early childhood education and is heavily used as part of the instruction of pre-service students. Many professors of early childhood educators take great pride in their personal classroom libraries, often including favorite books from their schooling and pre-service days. A professor's personal classroom library consists of children's books used within the classroom, books used as examples, and books loaned to students for assignments. Pre-service students get excited to share their favorite books in class and in their field placements. After years of teaching …

Gathering Nuanced Data For Understanding Student Withdrawals, Beverly Wood, Emily Faulconer, Darryl Chamberlain

Publications

This white paper argues that the current system for collecting data on student withdrawals at their university is inadequate. The current withdrawal form lacks detail and makes it difficult to understand the reasons why students leave courses. This is a problem because it hinders efforts to improve student persistence (completion of courses).

Key Points:

• The university's strategic plan emphasizes student experience, enrollment management, and academic excellence. High withdrawal rates undermine these goals.
• Researchers developed a research-based nuanced framework for understanding withdrawal reasons.
• The current withdrawal form offers limited options for students to explain why they are withdrawing; the current form …

Who Picks Where A Student Sits In A Classroom?, Kathryn Kummer

Honors Projects

This ACTION research study aims to explore who should pick where students sit in a classroom. Disruptive behavior is a common issue in managing a classroom, so in this study, the results of each arrangement will be done by observing how often disruptive behavior happens in the classroom due to the seating arrangement. Student preference for seating arrangement will also be noted to determine if that affects disruptive behavior. The three arrangements to explore are: student choice, teacher choice, and random selection. By the end, the study will provide the arrangements effect as it relates to disruptive behavior and if …

Restorative Practices In English Language Arts: My Journey Towards Linguistic Justice, Ariana Skeese

Master of Arts in English Plan II Graduate Projects

In this final portfolio, I examine anti-racist pedagogy in English Language Arts Education.

An Exploration Of Educator Experiences Making Data-Driven Decisions Within A Multi-Tiered System Of Support, Jennifer L. D'Angelo

Doctor of Education Program Dissertations

School districts across the country often face challenges using data to implement a multi-tiered system of support (MTSS) to meet the needs of all learners through high quality educational opportunities. This qualitative investigation explored how educators in a public school district in the northeastern United States experience the collection and analysis of data to inform decision-making within a MTSS. Guided by the theory of planned behavior and employing a phenomenological analysis, this study addressed the inconsistencies in educator training along with a lack of existing literature focused on the foundational elements of data literacy. The research questions focused on understanding …

Learning Through Play At School Ukraine: Final Research Report, Rachel Parker, Amy Berry, Kellie Picker, David Jeffries, Prue Anderson, Oksana Zabolotna

Student learning processes

The Learning Through Play (LTP) at School Research Study Ukraine was a four-year intervention study funded by the LEGO Foundation and implemented by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) and the Ukrainian Educational Research Association (UERA). The intervention was a two-year professional learning program that blended online, and face-to-face learning called the Teacher Innovative Play Program (TIPP). The TIPP was designed based on documented evidence that reports that teachers need opportunities to experiment and reflect to change practice. The study was guided by three research questions which were revised following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russian armed forces …

Input And Output In An English Classroom: A Young Learner Corpus Of English (Yolecore), Thomas Zapounidis, Marina Mattheoudakis

Journal of Educational Research and Innovation

This article highlights the need for a new type of corpus that will combine both a learner and a pedagogic corpus. The need for such a type of corpus is underlined by the interaction between input and output and the expected impact of the former on the latter within all instructional settings. Such a corpus will allow us to collect data, including teacher language, learner language, coursebook content, etc. and relate it to students’ output at specific points in time. Our study aims to present and describe the Young Learner Corpus of English (henceforth,YoLeCorE), which is an …

The Inclusion Of Classroom-Related Dispositions In Teacher Evaluations, David K. Griffin

Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning

This paper examines various approaches to evaluating the classroom teacher and discusses the inclusion of dispositions in the evaluation process. A random sample of 150 teachers were asked to complete an online survey focusing on the inclusion of dispositions in their formal evaluations. They were asked to report what specific dispositions were evaluated, and if the specific dispositions were operationally defined. A summary of their responses to the survey items is discussed.

Teachers' Experiences Of Using Play And Al's Pals To Teach Socio-Emotional Skills Through Coaching Support Models, Deborah Tamakloe, Elizabeth Powers, Alisa Landis, Lori Mccracken

Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning

Interactive teaching strategies provide opportunities for engaging children in discussing difficult concepts such as socio-emotional wellbeing and wide range of ideas about their social and personal lives. However, few studies have explored preschool teachers’ efficacy of using coaching through ‘Play and puppetry programs as approaches to developing children’s emotional regulation, socio-emotional learning and wellbeing. This paper reports on a “Labyrinth Project” aimed to gain in-depth understandings of preschool teachers’ experiences and perspectives pertaining to their efficacy of using play and puppetry as tools to promote children’s emotional learning and development. The results showed that despite early challenges with the use …

The Role Of Emotions In Qualitative Analysis: Researchers’ Perspectives, Hilary Lustick, Xiaoye Yang, Abeer Hakouz

The Qualitative Report

Qualitative research is an inherently social and relational endeavor that relies on and engages our emotions. Yet, researchers receive little guidance on how to engage emotions without being swayed by personal biases. Lustick (2021) developed a framework called “emotion coding” for systematically engaging thoughts and emotions in qualitative data analysis by asking what a chunk of data can teach us about ourselves, our participants, and our study. In this study, we interviewed 15 researchers who had tried using the emotion coding technique, about their impressions of this technique and the role of emotion in qualitative research overall. Framed by Goffman …

Generational Poverty And Education: Breaking The Cycle Of Ignorance, Leland Jackson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Generational poverty is a problem that is not limited by race, gender, geography, or any other demographic. It is widespread and found in every state and city in the United States. Currently, over 17% of the population of the United States lives in poverty, based on a 2019 study. Of those, the vast majority are at least second-generation poverty dwellers. There seems to be no shortage of opinions on why a person lives below the poverty line, and many are willing to share them with those they know and those living in poverty. It is not unusual for one living …

Perception Of Emotional Intelligence And Self Efficacy For School Business Officials At K-12 Districts, Agha Mirza

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this quantitative, correlational study was to investigate the relationship between emotional intelligence and self-efficacy in Chief Business Officials (CBOs) working in School Districts in the state of California.

Methodology: The primary objective of this study was to examine the relationship between emotional intelligence and self-efficacy characteristics, employing a quantitative, correlational research design. The study involved a non-experimental approach to establish correlations between the identified variables and an explanatory design to elucidate the relationship between variables. Correlational research has been established as the most effective approach for examining correlations between phenomena and distinct population samples, which made …

Connecting Culturally Relevant And Sustaining Education Competencies In Teacher Preparation Programs To The Experiences Of Mixed-Race Learners In K-12 Settings: A Mixed Methods Study, Marissa Wallace

Education Doctorate Dissertations

Mixed-race individuals are increasing in number within the United States population. There is limited research on mixed-race learners in K-12 school settings. This study delves into the unique educational experiences of this group of learners and provides implications for future teachers. With a focus on the Pennsylvania Culturally Relevant and Sustaining Education (CR-SE) competencies, the researcher incorporates the competencies into course work and field experiences for pre-service teachers taking a course focused on literacy instruction and intervention. Quantitative, pre- and post- surveys, and qualitative data, open-ended responses, observations, and end of semester reflections were collected from pre-service teachers. Qualitative data, …

Associations Between Learning Environment And Study Satisfaction Across Time: Two Cross-Sectional Analyses Of Occupational Therapy Students, Gry Mørk, Susanne G. Johnson, Astrid Gramstad, Linda Stigen, Tove Carstensen, Tore Bonsaksen

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

There is increasing attention toward students’ satisfaction and how they perceive the quality of the program they attend. This study examined stability and change across time with regard to the relationships between learning environment factors and occupational therapy students’ satisfaction with the program. In the two consecutive cross-sectional analyses performed in this study, 163 second-year students and 193 third-year students from all six occupational therapy education programs in Norway participated. The Course Experience Questionnaire was used to assess learning environment factors and study satisfaction. The data were analyzed with Pearson’s correlation coefficient r and with hierarchical linear regression. Bivariate associations …

Teaching Citation Politics Through Literature Review Topographies: Towards Cultivating Relational Writing Practices, Mairi Mcdermott

Feminist Pedagogy

Feminism teaches how power works and circulates through our often-unquestioned everyday practices. Since becoming a professor, I have committed myself to this feminist teaching by demystifying--and reimagining--habituated practices, relations, and expectations in higher education that produce and are produced through cis-hetero-patriarchal capitalist White supremacy. Since literature reviews and citation practices are core materials scholars work with, I invite doctoral students to consider different ways these materials can be engaged in efforts to craft transgressive knowledges and worlds through our research. In this article, I describe an assignment designed to disrupt hegemonic patriarchal inheritances in the conventions of writing literature reviews …

The Development Of Identity, Self-Efficacy, And Persistence Intentions Among Frontline Healthcare Apprentices, Amber Gallup Ph.D.

Organization, Information and Learning Sciences ETDs

Apprenticeship, an established learning model and workforce development strategy, is increasingly used in frontline healthcare occupations. Through three research papers, this dissertation examined the impacts of U.S. registered apprenticeship and what promotes success. I used qualitative and mixed methods to explore the development of self-efficacy, professional identity, and persistence intentions among frontline healthcare apprentices. After analyzing data from a systematic literature review (n=134), interviews (n=17), and surveys of frontline healthcare apprentices and workers (n=71), I identified themes in registered apprenticeship; revealed gaps in research on the design of apprenticeship that promote learning and success; designed and evaluated a survey to …

Adaptability Of A Vertical Transfer Student, Dylan Barron

Masters Projects

Due to the growing population of transfer students, institutions need to prepare the proper resources to mitigate the feeling of transfer shock. This project explores literature pertaining to transfer students and what resources are offered that can either make this transition smooth or rough. Creating a day-long orientation to promote the resources that different offices offer, as well as providing peer mentors to share their knowledge of the institution. To ensure thorough assessment of the acquired knowledge of transfer students in this program and to determine any necessary program adjustments, surveys are conducted.