Digital Commons Network^™

The Impact Of Using An Online Learning Management System On Student Biology Achievement In A Hispanic Rural High School, Brent J. Burkott

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose for this study was to determine the effect of using online Learning Management Systems with a Blended Learning pedagogy on state assessment achievement of high school biology students with interactions analyzed based on teaching method (Face-to-Face/Blended Learning), course type (Honors/Regular) biological sex (Male/Female), risk factor (At-Risk/Not At-Risk), and socioeconomic status (High/Low). The research questions were: (1) What is the difference in achievement scores between students taught in a Blended Learning environment with a Learning Management System verses a traditional Face-to-Face learning environment, and (2) What differences in achievement exist on the Texas assessment based on teaching method, course …

Evaluation And Implementation Of The C-Pen On The Reading Level, Comprehension, And Oral Reading Fluency Of Third-Grade Students With Learning Disabilities: An Action Research Study, Kawanna Mckenzie

Theses and Dissertations

Third-grade students with learning disabilities struggle to meet reading proficiency levels at both the national and local levels. The appropriate support, services, and instruction of students with learning disabilities can help them achieve reading proficiency. Specific educational laws have been implemented to enable students with learning disabilities to use assistive technologies such as text-to-speech tools to support their reading. The purpose of this action research study was to evaluate the impact of a text-to-speech tool—the C-Pen—on the reading skills of third-grade students with learning disabilities at an elementary/middle school. The focus of this study was on three main research questions …

Physician Burnout: A Curriculum Design Study, Dian A. Ginsberg

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study created and evaluated an educational intervention that addressed the remediation of physician burnout on an organizational level. This quality improvement study explores existing programs and applies innovation to improve the depth and scalability of a physician burnout program.

Creating Cultural Capital: The Education Of Jewish Females At The Alliance Israélite Universelle (Aiu) School For Girls In The City Of Tunis, 1882–1914, Joy A. Land Phd

Published Articles

Based on rarely viewed images from the fin de siècle, this article will contribute to the burgeoning field of Jewish women in the world of Islam. At the Alliance Israélite Universelle (AIU) School for Girls in the city of Tunis, 1882–1914, after a seven-year course of study, Jewish and non-Jewish girls acquired certification of their academic or vocational skills through a certificate or diploma of couture. Such credentials, according to Bourdieu (1986), constitute “cultural capital.” Furthermore, “cultural capital … is convertible … into economic capital and may be institutionalized in the forms of educational qualifications.” A young woman could create …

Spirits In The Dark: Black Community Education And The Light It Bears, Sydoni A. Ellwood

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

“Spirits in the Dark” is a digital space dedicated to the efforts of Black community education. It memorializes the commitment and strategies of spirits, light bearers like Mary McLeod Bethune and Huey Newton – people who devoted their lives to the fortification of their communities via education. This project also presents a variety of answers to one specific question: What lessons can school leaders and educators incorporate from community-controlled education programs to make learning spaces affirming and engaging for Black students? In totality, the digital space contributes to conversations in urban education and sociology, specifically the ones being held around …

A Decolonial Middle School Social Studies Curriculum: 19th Century U.S. Westward Colonization, Leah Chatterji

Master's Projects and Capstones

Social Studies education throughout the United States sustains settler futurity, white supremacy, and coloniality, as it rarely engages with Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) hxstories and structural violence. For middle schoolers, this is especially troublesome as social justice pedagogies are minimal for this demographic. To shift this, this field project offers an 8^th grade decolonial Social Studies curriculum on 19^th century U.S. Westward colonization; this topic was intentionally chosen as it is an opportunity to disrupt settler epistemologies. It centers: Land; relationality; and collective liberation. It complements the California unit 8.8 standards, yet different grades, subjects, …

Carolina African Runner Peanuts: Connecting African And Alabamian Agricultural History, Abby West, Gary Padgett, Matthew D. Campbell

The Councilor: A National Journal of the Social Studies

Social Studies has the potential to impact STEAM education in unrealized ways. It can have this impact by being meaningful, integrative, value-based, challenging, and active. This article examines teaching about Carolina African Runner peanuts and the history of Alabama’s agriculture. The introduction of peanuts to Alabama and the enslavement of African people cannot be removed from a lesson such as this – nor should it. It is through value-based education that social studies contributes the most to STEM and STEAM lessons. This article is significant in that it demonstrates a history lesson that is active rather than passive. This article …

Migrating Away From Jim Crow: Using The C3 Framework To Teach The Great Migration, Jeremiah Clabough

The Councilor: A National Journal of the Social Studies

In this article, I discuss how to teach about the causes for the Great Migration using the Inquiry Arc from the C3 Framework. First, a brief overview of the Great Migration is given. Then, a series of activities is provided with primary and secondary sources to explore the causes for the Great Migration. Finally, a writing activity is given that allows students to summarize the reasons that millions of African Americans took part in the Great Migration. The steps and resources to implement the series of activities are provided.

Legislated Love And Loyalty: An Analysis Of State Patriotism Statutes, Benjamin R. Wellenreiter

The Councilor: A National Journal of the Social Studies

State statutes require students to engage in patriotic exercises and to learn the concept of patriotism. Through emphasis on ceremonial exercises, requirement of specific document study, framing of patriotism as a character trait, and language regarding civic engagement, state statutes promote various conceptualizations of patriotism. Rarely fitting into a dichotomic framework of either authoritarian or democratic patriotism (Westheimer, 2006, 2009), statutes emphasize varying levels of maintenance of status quos or acknowledgement of societal flaws. Identified were four patriotism statute categories related to the degree to which they maintain status quos or acknowledge societal flaws: active maintenance of status quos; ceremonial …

Inquiry: Tragic Journeys Of Enslaved African People Exposed Through Shipwreck Archaeology, Janie Hubbard

The Councilor: A National Journal of the Social Studies

This article describes an inquiry lesson, recommended for upper elementary and middle level students. One primary aim of the lesson is to explore shipwreck archeology to focus on the overseas journeys of enslaved African people during the transatlantic slave trade. A second aim is for students to recognize how the slave trade’s exploiters caused sustained damage to the principles of Black equality, producing systemic racism for centuries and into contemporary times. In this lesson, students inquire and discover nuanced information about the historic slave trade by studying clues from sunken slave ships. Students begin by closely observing artifacts found in …

Diversity And Worldliness At The Compass School, Luiz A. Batista

Capstone Collection

This paper demonstrates how the application of International Education principles and practices to curricula at the Compass School of Westminster, Vermont would augment worldliness and diversity as well as improve the overall quality of education offered at this secondary school. This research identifies deficiencies in areas pertaining to internationalization and diversity and provides recommendations to remedy these deficiencies. The realization of these recommendations would help to increase students’ preparedness for participation in a globalized society and would provide an enhanced educational experience for all. This research is intended to support faculty and staff at the Compass School by providing an …

Are All These Elementary Assessments Necessary? Phenomenological Study Of Standardized Assessments In The Elementary School Setting, Cathy Wright

Dissertations

All children warrant a rich, meaningful public education that prepares them for the opportunities, responsibilities, and challenges that await them as contributing members of a democratic society and a global economy. Based on testing calendars, teacher testimonials, and applied research from other state and local mandated testing studies, this study found that the length of time students spend taking and preparing for the test is extensive. CBS News (2015) noted between 20-25 hours are spent by each student taking standardized assessments, according to a comprehensive report of 66 of the nation’s large-city school districts by the Council of the Great …

Re-Centering Racial Justice In White-Dominated School Settings, Brian A. Davis

Master's Projects and Capstones

Any institution that does not give students the critical and theoretical frameworks to understand White supremacy in the United States is an active contributor in the proliferation of this hegemonic force. White supremacy is a system that produces violence educationally, socially, politically, environmentally, ontologically, and epistemologically. The study of Whiteness and White supremacy has been discounted in high school settings for various reasons. This project seeks to solve this critical issue within the field of secondary education through the implementation of a course that unpacks White supremacy while center Black history. This course will provide students with a historical framework …

The Effectiveness Of The Inquiry Based Learning Method In A Private Independent School Environment, Fred R. Eaves

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of an inquiry-based learning model (IBLM) in a small, independent school educational environment. Seisan Academy (SA) implemented a new teaching philosophy that centered around an inquiry-based learning approach with a focus on developing a more student-centered culture at the school. This new program was implemented with little feedback or measurement regarding the effectiveness of the approach. This study also looked to address the lack of formal evaluation regarding the implementation of the IBLM.

Multiple sampling strategies were implemented due to the mixed-methods nature of this study. Quantitative data collection included …

K-12 Economically Disadvantaged Students, Poverty, And Education: Ecological Narratives Of Successful Raised-In-Poverty, Texas Educators, Rebecca N. Morris

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research study aimed to understand how successful Texas educators who grew up in poverty understood and improved the educational experience of economically disadvantaged students. This study utilized a structural ecological theory and three theories of social relationships (Social Identity, Standpoint, and Cultural Capital). This phenomenological and qualitative study used a cross-sectional, descriptive, online case study design rooted in narrative nonfiction. Virtual interviews with six successful Texas educators that grew up in poverty were conducted. A narrative method of analysis was utilized to generate codes then organize them into themes, and to construct and compare the narrative findings. The results …

Teaching The Lessons Of The Vietnam War And Applying Them To The War In Afghanistan: Lesson Plans For A Sophomore Us History Class, Zoe Bond

Honors Projects

This project is a series of lesson plans for a 10^th grade US History class detailing the lessons of the Vietnam War and how they have and haven’t been used by President Obama in his decisions during the War in Afghanistan. The lesson plan uses Differentiation and Universal Design for Learning to accommodate every student in the class. The goal of this project was to teach original research in a way that promotes inquiry even if there is no correct answer at that time.

Science And Writing And Apes, Oh My! An Iterative Interdisciplinary Approach To Argumentative Writing And Forensic Science In The Secondary English Classroom, Lexi Cox

Undergraduate Theses

This hybrid thesis consists of a research base that informs the creation of an interdisciplinary English Language Arts and forensic science unit for tenth grade students. Using “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” by Edgar Allan Poe as an anchor text, students explore argumentative writing, the nature of science, and various technologies as they construct their own experiments and write an argument identifying the criminal of the story. This unit went through three iterations in its evolution, receiving feedback from university professors and high school English teachers. Emerging themes from this feedback included modeling expectations, emphasizing interdisciplinarity, and alternative schedules …

Enlaces In Reflections And (Re)Memberings As Latina Border-Crossers: Journeys Of Childhood And Professional Un/Welcomings, Ana Carolina Díaz Beltrán, Paty Abril-Gonzalez, Cinthya Saavedra, Michelle Salazar Pérez

Occasional Paper Series

We are humbled to be part of this special issue honoring the life work of Jonathan Silin. His scholarship and activism have opened spaces for future generations, like our own, to share our testimonios. We are straddling between being former early childhood teachers and current teacher educators—between our profe lives and our everyday lived experiences as Latina border crossers. Testimonios, which we engage in for this piece, have herstorically captured intimate tellings that connect individual struggles and strengths to the larger collective (Delgado Bernal, Burciaga, & Flores Carmona, 2012; Latina Feminist Group, 2001). It is in these testimonios that women …

What Can We Not Leave Behind? Storying Family Photographs, Unlocking Emotional Memories, And Welcoming Complex Conversations On Being Human, Esther Ohito

Occasional Paper Series

Everyone was startled by the flood that burst forth from my previously dry tear ducts, even me. What was supposed to be an ordinary oral presentation of a culminating assignment for Wendy Luttrell’s popular graduate school course on visual methodologies, Doing Visual Research with Children and Youth, had morphed into a strange waterworks festival starring me as the headlining performer. In addition to Wendy, a professor at the City University of New York’s Graduate Center, the audience included Tran Templeton and several other peers who were also my fellow doctoral students at Teachers College, Columbia University.1 The course drew on …

Whose Story Is It? Thinking Through Early Childhood With Young Children’S Photographs, Tran Nguyen Templeton

Occasional Paper Series

Child-centered practices and pedagogies of listening to children are part and parcel of progressive early childhood education. As critical early childhood teachers and researchers, we demonstrate that we value the voices and narratives of children by placing them at the center of our classroom and research agendas. Simultaneously, however, young children’s social position can put them at the mercy of adults’ (teachers’ and researchers’) whims, and their stories may easily be consumed in the name of provocative classroom displays or academic articles. This work explores the potential for visual participatory research, guided by critical childhood studies, to grasp the stories …

Decolonial Water Pedagogies: Invitations To Black, Indigenous, And Black-Indigenous World-Making, Fikile Nxumalo

Occasional Paper Series

In this paper, I share everyday stories of young people’s pedagogical encounters with water. I share these stories as illustrations of pedagogies that welcome young people into caring relationships with more-than-human life. I focus on the decolonial potential of these pedagogical encounters in relation to what they activate for Black, Indigenous and Black-Indigenous world making.

Raising Cross-Cultural Awareness Among The Undergraduates Through Intentional Design In A Culture Course In The Us—An Exploratory Mixed-Methods Experimental Design, Hua Wang

Dissertations

The cultivation of intercultural competence is a growing trend globally, and integration of intercultural competence into coursework was widely acknowledged as a valid strategy to achieve this goal. The purpose of this study is to examine (1) the effects of the intervention of connecting one’s own culture to affect students' cross-cultural awareness development in American colleges; and (2) students’ perceptions of their own cultural‐awareness changes. Data was collected through pre-and post-questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. This study also compared between-group participants’ posttest ratings on a cross-cultural awareness scale, as well as pre- and post-test ratings within each group. The quantitative and …

Trade Books’ Contextualization Of Consequential Women’S Historical Significance, Toluwalase Solomon

2021 Awards for Excellence in Student Research and Creative Activity - Documents

No abstract provided.

Bridging The Interval: Teaching Global Awareness Through Music And Politics, Galit Gertsenzon

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Inquiry in Global Studies: Music and Politics is a regular course offering in which first-year honors students examine the social and cultural import of music in a global context. This qualitative study examines the practical and pedagogical implications of teaching music and politics during the coronavirus crisis. In a thematic, five-part series analyzing non-Western music both in service to the government and as protest against it, the author describes how students perceived the commonalities and diversities in global culture, history, politics, and society through music while at the same time demonstrating growth in music-making processes and confronting a remote learning …

Honors As A Third Space Occupation, Aaron Stoller

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

This essay argues that in order for honors to occupy and transform the academy it must begin by transforming itself. Drawing on Homi Bhabha’s notion of “third space,” the author argues that the traditional epistemic paradigms in higher education are inadequate for conceptualizing the praxis-driven work required in honors. Honors should be understood as a form of transdisciplinarity, with the aim of producing what is defined as Mode 2 knowledge. Only from within this nonbinary professional framework is honors capable of disrupting, reimagining, and transforming the university.

The Corridor Of Shame: An Immersed Analysis Of South Carolina Schools, Darren R. Burton

Senior Theses

This research project discusses school funding instruments of rural and urban schools in South Carolina and uncovers its effect on student academic achievement. Educational achievement is assessed based on report card datasets between 2018 and 2019, containing South Carolina Assessment of State Standards (SCPASS) score data and South Carolina College and Career Ready Assessment (SCREADY) score data. This research project uses a comparative analysis to evaluate each group’s performance in the subjects of English Language Arts and science. The statistical analysis tools that this research project uses include analysis of variance (ANOVA), linear regression analysis, and Microsoft Power BI. The …

Thinking Like An Historian: Improving Engagement Through Project-Based Learning In A United States History Classroom, George Gray

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this action research study is to determine the efficacy of project-based learning activities for improving students’ critical thinking skills and engagement in the classroom. South Carolina’s creation of the United States History end-of-course assessment has led many social studies teachers to design ‘teach to the test’ lesson plans, which this researcher’s students seem to find mundane and uninspiring. Although these teaching methods have helped some students perform well on the end-of-course test, these tactics have sapped their interest in social studies and have not prepared them to be responsible citizens in an active democracy. The social studies …

Growing Up Rural: A Sensory Ethnography Of Rural Children’S Perspectives On Time, Space, And Place, Rebecca Tilhou

Teaching & Learning Theses & Dissertations

Rural places afford significant differences in learning opportunity than their urban and suburban counterparts, and are often viewed from deficit perspectives, with a focus on the challenges that are specific to rurality. This locally-focused, qualitative research explored how childhood learning and education in a rural, Mid-Atlantic peninsula of the United States are produced by the interactions between and influences of the place’s geography, history, and culture. Through ethnographic and sensory fieldwork and participatory research with children at a place based learning program for youth housed at a public library, I present a deep examination of both formal and informal learning …

An Astronomer’S Journey Into Quantitative Reasoning, Jeffrey Bennett

Numeracy

The University of Colorado Boulder campus introduced what may have been the world’s first quantitative reasoning (QR) requirement in 1984 and started offering a QR course in 1988. Although I am an astronomer by training, I had the privilege of creating and teaching that course, which led to my co-authorship of the first textbook directed specifically at QR courses. In this “Roots and Seeds” piece, I will discuss how this course and textbook came to be, how I as an astronomer ended up involved in it, and how this work has connected with other aspects of my career.

Barriers To Post-Secondary Success, Douglas Swanson, Najeana Henderson, Maritza Sloan

Dissertations

This study reviews factors that prior studies have identified or failed to consider as barriers to post-secondary success. The three main areas include academic success for Latinx students after high school, organizational systems and their impact on African-American students’ postsecondary readiness, and what workers think of their high school education with regards to career preparedness.

Five factors are identified as major barriers for Latinx students to continue in a higher education system. A survey of former students from Saint Louis, Missouri, and Dallas, Texas, metroplex area identified 56 Latinx students that participated in an initial survey. This led to a …