Educational Methods Commons^™

Effects Of Tracking Students In A Secondary Mathematics Classroom, Nicole Seyfried

Mathematics Graduate Theses

This paper evaluates current research on the effect of grouping students of comparable abilities, a process known as tracking, in a secondary mathematics classroom. The research explores questions regarding the advantages and the disadvantages of tracking students by ability; the manner in which tracking affects the achievement of students in homogeneous and heterogeneous settings, and the ways tracking affects the achievement gap. In addition, this paper answers the question of how tracking affects students’ self- concept and self-esteem. Lastly, it examines changes in teacher attitude with respect to each track level and the impact of ability grouping on classroom structure …

Deliberate Use Of Creative Problem Solving In Art Making, Rebecca Dame-Seidler

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

This project explores the productivity of the Creative Problem Solving (CPS) tools in the visual art making process. The project offered the opportunity for high school student volunteer’s to participate in an after school program called Creative Art Group Experience (CAGE). Volunteers learned and made use of CPS tools to guide their art making. The project researched the effectiveness of using CPS tools in art making documenting volunteer progress and feedback. As an art educator, I had the opportunity to evaluate the impact of using CPS tools with the art-making process. The results of CAGE will benefit how CPS tools …

Connecting Children To Nature: A Multiple Case Study Of Nature Center Preschools, Patti Ensel Bailie

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

Environmental degradation, childhood obesity, and aggression of youth are societal problems that appear unconnected. However, their cause (and possible solution) may be linked to a common experience – the amount and quality of time spent in the natural world. Environment based education, significant life experience research, and studies involving urban youth and green spaces have shown that children’s experiences in the natural world have a positive effect on their attitudes, behaviors, and environmental awareness. Nature center based preschools are one approach for connecting children and nature, but little is known about the quality and consistency of their practices. This study …

Cyber Collaboratory-Based Sustainable Design Education: A Pedagogical Framework, Kyoung-Yun Kim, Karl R. Haapala, Gül E. Okudan Kremer, Michael K. Barbour

Education Faculty Publications

Educators from across the educational spectrum are faced with challenges in delivering curricula that address sustainability issues. This article introduces a cyber-based interactive e-learning platform, entitled the Sustainable Product Development Collaboratory, which is focused on addressing this need. This collaboratory aims to educate a wide spectrum of learners in the concepts of sustainable design and manufacturing by demonstrating the effects of product design on supply chain costs and environmental impacts. In this paper, we discuss the overall conceptual framework of this collaboratory along with pedagogical and instructional methodologies related to collaboratory-based sustainable design education. Finally, a sample learning module …

Being There: A Grounded-Theory Study Of Student Perceptions Of Instructor Presence In Online Classes, William G. Feeler

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

The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of experienced individual online students at a community college in Texas in order to generate a substantive theory of community college student perceptions of online instructor presence. This qualitative study used Active Interviewing and followed a Straussian grounded-theory design to guide the collecting and coding of interview data in order to identify emerging categories and generate substantive theory. The researcher collected data through interviews with 16 online students, all of whom had taken at least four online courses at a community college.

A constant comparative analysis of the data generated …

A Phenomenological Study Of Experienced Teacher Perceptions Regarding Cooperative Learning Training And Cooperative Learning Implementation In The Classroom, Susan Robinson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This qualitative phenomenological study sought to explore the perceptions of experienced teachers regarding cooperative learning training and its implementation in the classroom. Twelve total participants, nine teachers and three administrators, volunteered for this six-week study at a private, K3 - 12 school in Broward County, Florida. The study's purpose was guided by the following questions: (1) What do experienced teachers perceive about cooperative learning training as it relates to their classroom teaching? (2) What do experienced teachers perceive regarding cooperative learning use as it relates to their classroom teaching? (3) What are the impacts of cooperative learning training and implementation …

Taking Archaeology To The Classroom: A Model For A Fifth Grade In-Class Fieldtrip, Tamara J. Luce

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

Public archaeology has grown over the last decade due to interest in the field and Cultural Resource Management requirements. One group that is often overlooked in outreach efforts is children.

For my thesis I designed an in-class archaeology fieldtrip for fifth grade students. The overarching goal of my program is to introduce children to the field of archaeology in an age-appropriate way that teaches basic archaeological concepts and generates interest and awareness of the field. To create the strongest program possible I conducted research on outreach programs, and surveyed public archaeologists and teachers to determine what elements they would like …

Methods For Teaching Hispanic English Language Learners, Johannah M. Strohman

Senior Honors Theses

With the increase of diversity in American schools and the growing importance of English around the world, teaching English as a second language has become an essential aspect to education. It is difficult to have students of different cultural backgrounds in the classroom who are not proficient in English. A teacher cannot expect these students to succeed in an English only classroom setting. It is important that there be specialized teachers to address the needs of these students in order to reach all students where they are and help them accomplish all that they need to in order to succeed. …

Core Competencies In Civic Engagement, Leila Brammer, Rebecca Dumlao, Audrey Falk, Elizabeth Hollander, Ellen Knutson, Jeremy Poehnert, Andrea Politano, Valerie Werner

Center for Engaged Democracy Publications

A review and synthesis of key competencies contained in national-level reports on Civic Engagement, academic programs engaged in community-based models of teaching, learning and research, including a review of the literature and almost 30 academic civic engagement programs around the country.

The History And Impact Of A College‐Level Field‐Based Course On Learner And Community Development, David M. Harwood, Leilani Arthurs

Discipline-Based Education Research Group Speaker Series

Providing students with inquiry‐based learning experiences was a key recommendation made in the National Academies' 2007 report, Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future, and this presentation is about a model for providing such experiences to college‐level students through a field‐based geology course. GEOL 160 – Fundamentals of Geosciences in the Field was developed 10 years ago for undergraduate students preparing to be K‐12 science teachers. The goals of the course are to enhance undergraduate pre‐service science teachers’ (i) knowledge of geoscience and the nature of science, (ii) attitudes about science, and (iii) …

“Teach To The Middle”: A Double Case Study Of Two Multilevel Efl Classes In The Middle East, Teresa Hernandez

MA TESOL Collection

The purpose of this paper is to develop a comprehensive understanding of multilevel classes. It examines the pedagogical challenges that teachers often face in this teaching context, but it also considers the implications for what multilevel classes indicate about access to education in the EFL teaching field. The author has opted to examine two distinct cases of multilevel classes in the Middle East that she taught from 2010-2011 and in 2012. The first was a remedial 7^th grade English class called 7F in an international school in Erbil, the capital city of the Kurdistan region of Iraq. The second …

Tell Us More: Reading Comprehension, Engagement, And Conceptual Press Discourse, Dot Mcelhone

Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study examines interactions between teachers and students during reading comprehension instruction to determine how certain patterns of teacher-student talk support student comprehension achievement and reading engagement. The central focus of the study is conceptual press discourse, a pattern of teacher response that includes requests for evidence, examples, clarification, and elaboration. Hierarchical Linear Modeling analysis of data from 21 fourth- and fifth-grade classrooms (495 students) indicated that in classrooms where teachers more frequently used discourse patterns that reduced conceptual press, students demonstrated weaker comprehension and engagement outcomes.

Insects As Teaching Tools, Doug Golick

Discipline-Based Education Research Group Speaker Series

In this talk I will present on projects in which insects were used as instructional tools. This presentation will give an overview of how insects can be used for teaching with a variety of student age groups and how inquiry instruction can be promoted with insects. I will present overviews of 3 projects including Bumble Boosters, Bugs in the Classroom, and Web‐based insects identification tools. Bumble Boosters created a community of researchers that studied bumble distribution and abundance and artificial nesting domicile preferences. Forty Nebraska high schools were involved in this project.

Bumble Boosters’ teaching objectives were to raise public …

Using Popular Media And A Collaborative Approach To Teaching Grounded Theory Research Methods, Elizabeth G. Creamer, Michelle R. Ghoston, Tiffany Drape, Chloe Ruff, Joseph Mukuni

Education Faculty Publications

Popular movies were used in a doctoral-level qualitative research methods course as a way to help students learn about how to collect and analyze qualitative observational data in order to develop a grounded theory. The course was designed in such a way that collaboration was central to the generation of knowledge. Using media depictions had the practical advantage of enabling the group to create fieldnotes from a common set of data collected simultaneously in a short period of time. Fictional representations in popular media can provide the basis to learn about both the methods and foundational assumptions for conducting qualitative …

The Effect Of An Instructional Model Utilizing Hands-On Learning And Manipulatives On Math Achievement Of Middle School Students In Georgia, Kara White

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The concepts and ideas of mathematics is a major element of educational curriculum. Many different instructional strategies are implemented in mathematics classrooms. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of an instructional model utilizing hands-on learning and use of manipulatives on mathematics achievement of middle school students. A quasi-experimental non-equivalent control-group design was used to examine 145, seventh-grade students from a North Georgia middle school. Data was collected to analyze if changes were experienced in pretest/posttest scores. A Mann-Whitney test was run and revealed initial group differences between the whole control and whole experimental groups, and also …

A Study Of The Relationship Between Middle School And High School Teachers' Instructional And Behavior Management Practices And Demographic Variables, Deborah Santiago

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Although teachers implement differentiated instructional techniques to provide students with enriching hands-on activities related to real life experiences, the implementation of instructional techniques has required teachers to rethink and revise their approaches to classroom management (CM). While a gap in research exists on current practices in the field of instructional and behavior management, empirical research is needed to understand the many facets involved with CM. The purpose of this correlation and causal-comparative study is to identify whether relationships exist between the demographic variables (gender, education degree, years of teaching experience, and school assignment) and CM practices used by a group …

Professional Writing In The English Classroom: Let's Get Real: Using Usability To Connect Writers, Readers, And Texts, Jonathan Bush, Leah A. Zuidema

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

The article discusses the application of the concept of usability and user-centered design in the interaction between the writers and the readers in the English classroom. It is inferred that the interaction with readers is essential during the process of writing. The elements of effective lessons on usability and user-centered design are highlighted.

An Investigation Of English Learners' Acquisition Of Academic Language To Obtain Reading Comprehension Skills, Mishka Barnes

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This collective case study explored how third-grader English learners (ELs) acquire academic language to learn reading comprehension skills in a classroom setting. Many ELs have acquired basic interpersonal communication skills, but have not mastered cognitive academic language proficiency, or academic language. The researcher selected six third-grade ELs who functioned as developing and expanding learners. Although many of these students can read text and use problem-solving strategies to blend words and read fluently, they may experience difficulties understanding academic language. Data was collected through observation, interviews with the ELs two mainstream teachers, document anlysis, and field notes. Using open coding, the …

Effects Of Summer School Transition Program And Grade Level On Seventh, Eighth, And Ninth Grade Students' Grades, Attendance, And Behavior, Katie Smith

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This causal-comparative study sought to identify the effects of attending a summer school transition program and students' grade levels (seventh v. eighth v. ninth) on students' grades (based on course failures), attendance (based on students' absences), and behavior (based on number of behavioral office referrals). The students who participated in this study were identified as at-risk during one of three educational transitions: from elementary school to middle school, between seventh and eighth grade in the middle school, and from middle school to high school. As part of their elementary school to middle school, intra-middle school, or middle school to high …

The Effect Of Voice Thread® Integration On High School Students' Anxiety And Oral Proficiency In The Foreign Language Classroom, Melanie Dunn

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of the asynchronous voice-conferencing technology, Voice Thread ®, on the anxiety and oral proficiency of high school students in their third year of studying Spanish as a foreign language. In this quasi-experimental study students' foreign language anxiety levels and oral proficiency were examined to determine if a difference existed based on the type of practice used. The treatment group used Voice Thread ® to practice speaking. The control group used the traditional method of the language laboratory to practice speaking. The Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) was used to …