Other Education Commons^™

Academic Vocabulary Instruction And Adult English Language Learners In The Arabian Gulf: A Phenomenological Study Of Instructor Perspectives, Indrani Ibrahim

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe 11 ESL instructors’ experiences and perceptions of why some adult learners in their college level ESL programs in the Gulf States of the Middle East have challenges to academic reading comprehension success. The theories that guided this study were epistemological and axiological ones whereby participants’ descriptions of perceptions regarding academic vocabulary instruction, instructional self-efficacy, and experiences were explored. Adult learning theory of Malcolm Knowles’ coupled with the social cognitive theory espoused by Albert Bandura are the frameworks that underscore the adult learner context and their social learning and instructional environments within …

Traditional Vs. Project-Based Learning: The Effects On Student Performance And Motivation In Honors Level Mathematics Courses, Sunletha Carter

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Since the charge by the National Council for Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) to move away from the traditional learning (TL) method of instruction to more learner-controlled techniques, project-based learning (PBL) has been on the rise. This quasi-experimental nonequivalent control group design study compared the academic achievement of 122 eleventh and twelfth grade students who were instructed using PBL techniques, with a control group of their counterparts who were instructed using TL techniques, in honors level mathematics courses. Pretest and Posttest data collected from both groups of students were statistically analyzed using independent t-tests, and Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA), respectively, since …

Teachers' Perceptions Of Assessment Practices In Mathematics: Comparing Rural And Urban Secondary Schools In England, Michael Jarrett

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This causal-comparative study compared the mean scores on the measures to determine if there were differences in perceived frequency of usage and perceived skill in usage of classroom assessment practices between mathematics teachers in urban secondary schools and mathematics teachers in rural secondary schools in England. The study comprised 109 participants selected by a random sampling method. The sample consisted of 53 mathematics teachers from urban secondary schools and 56 mathematics teachers from rural secondary schools drawn from a population of secondary school mathematics teachers in England. The Assessment Practices Inventory (API) was used to collect data from the participants …

Special Education Teachers' Beliefs And Perceptions Of Evidence-Based Reading Instruction, Loretta Jackson Tatum

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to identify and uncover themes that emerged from special education teachers’ experiences, beliefs, and perceptions of evidence-based reading instruction. The theoretical framework that guided this study consisted of the epistemological theory of knowledge and Bandura’s social cognitive theory. Data collection methods included semistructured in-depth interviews, documentation analysis, and classroom observations. Data analyses involved reflecting on 13 special education teachers’ collective comments, dialogues, written documentation, and interview transcripts. Three themes emerged regarding the phenomenon of teaching reading to children with disabilities (a) Knowledge sources, (b) Environmental diversity, and (c) Organizational constraints. These essential …

The Relationship Of Organizational Identity And Alumni Participation Interest Among Online, Non-Traditional, Undergraduate Students At A Southeastern Private Religious University, Mary Hendrick

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Colleges and universities depend heavily on alumni participation in the areas of financial contributions, positive advertising, and student recruitment. As higher education institutions increase the number of fully online programs, it is important to ensure that students feel a sense of connectedness to the university. The purpose of this study is to determine if there is a correlation between non-traditional, online, undergraduate students’ sense of connectedness to their college and their subsequent interest in alumni participation after graduation. This research provides information that would fill a gap in the literature on the correlation between perceptions of identity when related to …

Hello Bordello: Transformative Learning Through Contesting The Master Narrative Of The Cathouse, Micki Voelkel, Shelli Henehan

The Qualitative Report

Miss Laura’s Social Club is a restored Victorian brothel that serves as the visitors’ center for Fort Smith, Arkansas. Miss Laura’s reflects the values and power structures of the community in which it exists reinforcing the dominance of privileged white males. This qualitative study analyzed the results of three previous studies about Miss Laura’s—a case study, a social science portraiture study, and an embedded thematic analysis. The primary research question was What is the master narrative of Miss Laura’s Social Club? The original case study consisted of semi-structured interviews with three docents and 16 visitors to the site, four site …

New Jersey Anti-Bullying Bill Of Rights Act: Perceptions Of High School Administrators On Implementing The Law, Christopher C. Irving

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

The purpose of this study was to examine the 2011 New Jersey Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights Act (NJAB) and its perceived impact on urban school districts. Through a series of interviews with 16 participants from three urban school districts in New Jersey, the researcher sought to examine if those charged with implementing the NJAB have deemed the law and its requirements effective. The interviews were conducted with NJAB- mandated Anti-Bullying Specialists for each of the schools that participated in the study. The Anti-Bullying Specialists are the staff members in each school who are responsible for the implementation of the NJAB, …

Does Gender Still Matter? Child Custody Bias In The Illinois Family Court System, Derek K. Ronnfeldt

Theses and Dissertations

Over the last several decades, nearly all of the states have formed task forces to look at the perception of a gender bias within the family court systems as they pertain to child custody. This self-scrutiny has included the attitudes of judges and attorneys within the system and the need of reform of our family courts. This research focused on replicating a study conducted by Dotterweich and McKinney that was completed in 2000 that compiled statistics from four different state task forces in Maryland, Missouri, Texas, and Washington. This research focused on Illinois judges and attorneys, using the same questions …

Reading Horizons Vol. 55 No. 2

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

No abstract provided.

Pre-Service Teachers' Growth In Understandings Of Best Practice Literacy Instruction Through Paired Course And Field Experience, Jamie Lipp, Sara R. Helfrich

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Illiteracy is on the rise in the United States, and the potential negative impact on today’s struggling reader is devastating. Now more than ever, preparing pre-service teachers to be effective teachers of literacy is crucial. This study examined the growth in understandings of best practice literacy of eleven pre-service teachers through paired course and field work. Results reveal that through paired course and field work, growth of best practice literacy instruction is shown by pre-service teachers’ enhanced abilities to define, assign importance, and relate to implications for student learning as well as develop efficacy around their use. Results of this …

“It’S Just Too Sad!”: Teacher Candidates’ Emotional Resistance To Picture Books, Aimee Papola-Ellis

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

The use of critical literacy with children’s books that focus on social issues and disrupt the status quo can be a powerful way to create spaces for conversations with students about social justice and empowerment. Teacher candidates in a semester long children’s literature course were asked to respond to a range of children’s texts that dealt with many social issues and disrupted the commonplace. Despite an explicit emphasis on critical literacy and social justice, the candidates were very resistant to using many of the texts in their own future classrooms. They had strong emotional reactions that prevented them from consideration …

Creating Spaces For Literacy, Creating Spaces For Learning, Christy M. Howard

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

This study represents the practices of a middle school social studies teacher as she focuses on integrating questioning, reading, and writing in her content area. This teacher uses literacy strategies to engage students in practices of reading multiple texts and writing to showcase learning. She creates opportunities for students to make connections to their learning, posing questions to enhance critical thinking and the use of multiple sources to support responses. Through these actions, she creates spaces for student reading, writing, and learning to occur.

Choice And Rigor: Achieving A Balance In Middle School Reading/Language Arts Classrooms In The Era Of The Common Core, Nancy L. Stevens

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

While the advantages of reading workshops are well known (Atwell, 1998), there is currently a debate among scholars, practitioners, and politicians about the use of instructional/independent level texts in light of the Common Core Standards’ end-of-year requirement for students to be reading at grade level (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010). Particularly in middle school, where motivation to read often declines, a workshop approach can help students develop and strengthen their interest in reading. A classroom survey completed by middle school students in a suburban school district in the Midwestern United …

Unopa Notes, July 5, 2016

UNOPA: Newsletters

No abstract provided.

Influence Of Musical Engagement On Symptoms Of Tourette’S Disorder, William Christopher Brown

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Tourette’s is currently considered a neurodevelopmental genetic disorder. Georges Gilles de la Tourette is given primary credit for the diagnoses of the disorder in the late 1800s. Clear answers have been elusive although modern research and improvements to neuroimaging have enabled the causal factors of Tourette’s Disorder (TD) to be examined with greater scrutiny. Currently, there is no known cure or pharmaceutical treatment that has been proven 100% effective for all patients and symptoms of Tourette’s. Anecdotally, there have been recent media and self-reports of people diagnosed with Tourette’s finding relief from their symptoms through involvement in focus-based activities such …

Nebline, July 2016

NEBLINE Newsletter Archive from Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County

Feature: Lancaster County Extension Board — Building Our Community Connection

Food & Health

Farm & Acreage

Pests & Wildlife

Horticulture

Early Childhood

4-H & Youth

Extension Calendar

and other extension news and events

Intersecting Asset-Based Service, Strengths, And Mentoring For Socially Responsible Leadership, Lindsay J. Hastings

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication: Faculty Publications

Grounded in a youth leadership and mentoring program, this chapter discusses the value of asset-based community development from the service-learning literature and the concept of generativity from the leadership development literature.

College students are frequently engaged in the community through local mentoring programs, as mentoring youth has become an increasingly popular service-learning pedagogical strategy among many higher-education institutions (Schmidt, Marks, & Derrico, 2004; Wells & Grabert, 2004). While many mentoring programs are designed to build resiliency in at-risk youth, mentoring has been identified as an effective practice in leadership development (Day, 2000; Dziczkowski, 2013).

This chapter will discuss the value …

Wilderness Restoration: A Case Study Of Two Place-Based Education Programs, Carolyn Ann Albracht

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

Research regarding outdoor environmental education programs for youth tends to be quantitative in nature, examining cause-and-effect relationships between program content and participants’ behavior and attitudes. Some researchers have suggested that programs that help foster an affective connection with nature in its participants may have more lasting and greater impact on participants’ pro-environmental behavior and attitudes than those that take a more cognitive approach. In other words, appealing to youth’s emotional sensibilities may go further than only teaching facts and skills about how to be better environmental stewards. In order to study these affective connections and how they might be fostered, …

Wrack Lines Spring/Summer 2016, Margaret (Peg) A. Van_Patten Ms.

Wrack Lines

This is the entire Spring/Summer issue of Wrack Lines Magazine, which has a shellfish theme and a Connecticut focus. 24 pages.

The Explorations Program: Benefits Of Single-Session, Research- Focused Classes For Students And Postdoctoral Instructors, Jeremy L. Hsu, Anna M. Wrona, Sarah E. Brownell, Waheeda Khalfan

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

We present an update to Explorations, a program at Stanford University that allows undergraduates in an introductory biology course to explore specialized topics in the biological sciences while providing graduate students and postdoctoral scholars the unique opportunity to develop and teach single-session, research-focused classes. We provide an assessment of eight iterations of the program, using program attendance, student and instructor evaluations, senior exit surveys, course grades, and completion of undergraduate honors theses to assess the impact of our program on students and instructors. Students rated their experiences highly, and most reported that the program had a positive impact on their …