Educational Methods Commons^™

Come Si Fa?: Can Virtual Worlds Help Us Promote Intercultural Awareness, Susanna Nocchi

Conference Papers

This paper describes the author’s experience with a pilot course of Italian in SL®2. The course is part of a PhD research on Exploring the potential of virtual worlds to promote Intercultural Awareness in students learning Italian as a Foreign Language. In the paper the author will justify her choice of virtual worlds for the development of language competence and Intercultural Awareness and will present some results of her activity theoretical analysis of the data. Problematic areas and potential moments for the development of Intercultural Awareness were highlighted during the analysis.

Using Individual And Group Multiple-Choice Quizzes To Deepen Students' Learning, Sophie M. Sparrow

Law Faculty Scholarship

For years, I was highly skeptical about using multiple-choice questions to assess law students' learning.' Clients, after all, do not ask lawyers to solve multiple-choice problems. I have realized, however, that multiple-choice quizzes can be a highly effective technique to include in any doctrinal class. Well-designed multiple-choice quizzes can help students in any size class learn foundational doctrine, provide feedback to teachers and students, develop students' interpersonal skills, and prepare students for the bar exam. Having used multiple-choice quizzes in first year and upper-level courses for several years, I now value multiple-choice quizzes as an effective first step in preparing …

Racial Disproportionality In Special Education: Causes, Outcomes And Avenues For Change, John Gillies

Graduate Student Independent Studies

In school systems across the United States, disproportionality in special education along racial and ethnic lines is not merely a problem of overrepresentation or underrepresentation, but misrepresentation. African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans are given incorrect diagnoses, disproportionate educational designations, and inappropriate placements. The key factors behind disproportionality include racial bias among educators and other service providers, socio-economic status, substandard early childhood environments, and family composition. Inappropriate special education placements can lead to increased rates of school dropout, poor academic achievement, lower-paying jobs, and juvenile crime. Therefore disproportionality is not a problem confined to the education system, it is of …

Contemplative Education Centerstage: Training The Mindful Performer, Linda Anne Sanders

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the late 20th century and early 21st century, contemplative education/studies courses, concentrations, and initiatives have emerged in the academy. Although there has been significant discussion of postsecondary courses and programs that have integrated contemplative views and practices in the literature, there have been few studies of contemplative curricula and pedagogy in higher education. Additionally, there have been even fewer inquiries of the influence of contemplative education on performing arts training within conservatories and college and university departments. The aim of this qualitative study was two-fold: (1) to describe, interpret, and appraise the impact of contemplative education on the curricula …

Examining The Utility Of The Response To Intervention Framework In Meeting The Needs Of All Learners, Robin J. Carey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Response to Intervention framework is an effective means for or of identifying Specific Learning Disabilities. This study examined one school's utilization of the framework in meeting the needs of a continuum of learners from those who struggle to those in need of advanced options. A case study format was utilized, involving an elementary school in a suburban school district in Colorado. Through classroom observations, teacher interviews and dialogue with the site's Problem-Solving Team, principal, and a focus group, the Response to Intervention framework proved to be an effective model in meeting the needs of all learners. In addition, the …

The Development Of A P-20 Educational Campus: A Case Study On Innovation, Richard R. Patterson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Tyack & Tobin (1994, p. 454) describe that the “grammar of schooling,” like the shape of classrooms, has remained remarkably stable over the decades. This has frustrated generations of reformers who have fought to change standardized organizational traditions. Typically school reform has taken the form of innovations in education. Unfortunately, educational innovations don't usually last long or they were never truly innovations in the first place but rather a repackaging or reintroduction of age-old customary practices.

The “Eos Public Schools” set out on a mission to integrate P-20 educational reform into its overall school system as a way to confront …

The End Of Homework: Redefining The Default To Goalwork, Theresa Marie Gomez

Theses Digitization Project

This study examines whether setting individualized attainable goals are more effective than assigning traditional homework. The author uses the term 'goalwork' to describe individualized goals set by teacher and student which are practiced in place of traditional homework. The research question addressed in this study is whether there is a significant connection between the implementation and use of goalwork and district benchmark assessments.

Influences Of Morality In Theatre For Children, Ashleigh Merle Lutes

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this thesis is to examine current practices and suggest strategies and support for effective ways to teach morality with and through theatre. Using theatre as a moral training ground creates opportunities for children to learn to make positive choices throughout their lives.

Exploring Organizational Culture Through Metaphor Analysis, Felice D. Billups

Research Methodology

How would you describe your campus culture or your school environment? Would you carefully outline the details of the working conditions, the way people interact in meetings, or the unique communication style of your organization? Or would you rather use a descriptive phrase, or even a metaphor, to summarily reveal your organization’s culture? Metaphor analysis, as a means to uncover organizational culture, is an increasingly popular strategy for qualitative researchers. In interpretative qualitative studies, metaphors comprise a form of linguistic analysis which assists researchers who are interested in an intensive but short-term evaluation of organizational culture (Patton, 2002; Schmitt, 2005). …

Why Writing Workshop?, Indiana Partnership For Young Writers

Articles

We believe writing workshop is the instructional framework that best supports all students. Through rigorous teaching, students learn to write with clear vision and skillful intention, positioning them well for lifelong academic and workplace success.

The Effects Of School-Wide Positive Behavior Interventions And Supports On Student Achievement And Other Outcomes, Gail Pamela Angus

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of school-wide positive behavior interventions and supports (SWPBIS) on student academic performance and other outcomes. The participants in the study are eight middle schools from an urban Southern California school district that were mandated to implement SWPBIS in 2005.

Do Eportfolios Foster Creativity? An Evaluative Study In A Professional Development Context, Roisin Donnelly, Muireann Okeeffe, K.C. O'Rourke

Papers, presentations and other resources

The nurturing of creativity as a key skill in students is a current and topical issue due to the potential important economic and social benefits it can imbue. This paper outlines a case study in progress in an Irish higher education institution, which initiated as an evaluation of student ePortfolios and transformed into an examination of creativity within students ePortfolios. The context for the research is a group of postgraduate students using ePortfolios to build evidence of their learning experience on the programme. This research seeks to explore the notion of learner empowerment through creativity in ePortfolio use, specifically if …

Considerations Regarding The Future Of Andragogy, John A. Henschke Edd

Adult Education Faculty Works

Andragogy has a long and rich history that has shaped understanding of adult learning and continues to be a strong force in guiding the way adults learn. While adult educators in the U.S. are familiar with andragogy through the work of Dr. Malcolm Knowles, the theory of andragogy reaches a worldwide audience of practitioners striving to improve learning through its respectful and engaging method focused on the learner.

Both Ways Strong: Using Digital Games To Engage Aboriginal Learners, Robyn Jorgensen, Tom Lowrie

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

Engaging Aboriginal learners in the school curriculum can be quite a challenge given issues of cultural and linguistic differences. Even more so, these differences can be expanded when the students are in their adolescence. Creating learning environments that engage learners, while providing deep learning opportunities, is one of the biggest challenges for teachers in remote communities. This paper reports on a reform initiative that centred on the use of a digital game, Guitar Heroes, in a remote Aboriginal school. It was found that the digital media provided teachers with opportunities for new learning spaces and resulted in additional unintended learning …

The Complexity Of Reform Efforts In Science Curriculum And Instruction: A Case Study Of The Illinois Mathematics And Science Academy Chemistry Teacher, Tang Wee Teo

IMSA History

This study explores how teacher-initiated site-based reform in a specialized STEM school is conceptualized and enacted, how and why curriculum reform ideas change in the process of enactment, what qualities of teacher agency are entailed, how these qualities are acquired, interplayed, become generative, and/or are influenced to effect different curriculum reform outcomes, and how different conditions support and further teacher agency to make a more defensible curriculum.

In a critical case study of a highly experienced and qualified science teacher, I follow a teacher who initiated efforts to reform the advanced chemistry curriculum. This teacher wanted to make the curriculum …

Cultural Capital—Now You See It, Now You Don’T: Using Race To Unpack Systemic Class Differences, Leslie Martin

History and American Studies Articles

The article focuses on the discussion of the African American Vernacular English (AAVE) as one method to bridge the cultural gap among the students in the U.S. The cultural differences among students have been observed to affect their schooling experience. It provides an analysis of the AAVE as a form of cultural capital which promotes respect on the languages and dialects of the students.

Creating Conditions For Transforming Practicing K-12 Mainstream Teachers Of English Language Learners, Susan R. Adams, Kathryn Brooks

Scholarship and Professional Work – Education

Critical incident reflection journal writing provides a rich source for identifying high impact components of Project Alianza, a graduate course for mainstream secondary teachers funded by a US Department of Education Title III Professional Development grant. In this narrative pilot study featuring one strand of existing data, the co-authors, who are also co-instructors and co-researchers, begin the first rounds of analysis to identify emerging key conditions and contributing factors featured within specialized graduate courses for encouraging dispositional change and professional efficacy toward English language learners (ELLs) in practicing K-12 mainstream educators. Using Mezirow’s adult transformational learning theory (1991), Kegan’s stage …

English Learner Oral Language Production In Middle School Academic Classes, Kathryn Brooks

Scholarship and Professional Work – Education

Because of current federal and state educational policies, oral language development is an often overlooked aspect of language and literacy use and development of English Learning (EL) students in K-12 schools in the United States. This article describes a study in which a researcher used an ecobehavioral approach to investigate the conditional probability that young adolescent EL students would produce language in content area classes as they engaged in four different instructional grouping configurations: whole class, small group, one-to-one, and individual instruction. Significant differences emerged between instructional grouping configurations in terms of EL student production of oral academic language. Overall, …

Assisted Reading With Digital Audiobooks For Students With Reading Disabilities, Kelli J. Esteves, Elizabeth Whitten

Scholarship and Professional Work – Education

The goal of this study was to compare the efficacy of assisted reading with digital audiobooks with the traditional practice of sustained silent reading (SSR) in terms of reading fluency and reading attitude with upper elementary students with reading disabilities. Treatment group participants selected authentic children’s literature and engaged in assisted reading with digital audiobooks four to five times per week over an eight-week implementation period. Results showed that while all students demonstrated growth in reading fluency as calculated by words read correctly per minute, the growth of the treatment group far outweighed that of the control group. There was …

Five Strategies To Support All Teachers: Suggestions To Get Off The Slippery Slope Of "Cookbook" Science Teaching, Paula A. Magee, Ryan Flessner

Scholarship and Professional Work – Education

Many teachers shudder at the thought of implementing an inquiry curriculum. Perhaps they envision a rowdy classroom with little learning. Maybe they wonder, "How will this connect to all the standards?" Fortunately, these legitimate concerns can be addressed, and all students can engage in thoughtfully constructed inquiry science experiences. In this article, we outline five strategies that we have used with elementary school teachers as they moved from a "cookbook" approach in science to an approach that is inquiry-based. Having presented these five strategies in a linear format, we know that on the surface this may seem close to the …