Digital Commons Network^™

The Pow+Tree Strategy’S Effects On The Argumentative Writing Of Struggling Secondary Students, Matthias Grünke

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

The present study aims to evaluate the effects of an argumentative writing strategy (POW+TREE) on four struggling ninth graders’ ability to produce persuasive texts regarding their point of view on different questions. I applied a multiple-baseline design to evaluate outcomes across participants. The results indicate the intervention helped students to write more extensive essays, and evidence shows an increase in quality. Follow-up data suggest the effects remained after the treatment ended. I also discuss future research and the findings’ implications for practitioners.

Elementary Teachers’ Verbal Support Of Engineering Integration In An Interdisciplinary Project, Sarah Lilly, Anne M. Mcalister, Jennifer L. Chiu

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

Despite emphasis on authentic science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and computer science (STEM+CS) projects in classrooms, research continues to demonstrate opportunity gaps in learning STEM+CS for students with disabilities. This study investigates how teachers verbally support students in two differently tracked classrooms to engage in engineering lessons that integrate science and computer science. Specifically, this study explores how the same elementary teachers both implicitly and explicitly support students across two classroom contexts, one class section with a larger proportion of students who were tracked into accelerated mathematics and another class section with a larger proportion of students with individualized educational plans …

Combating Underachievement In Gifted Elementary Students Through Differentiation, Samantha Kluz

Masters Projects

Research within the field of gifted education has shown that underachievement is a pertinent problem that has affected gifted students for decades. While various factors have been suggested to lead to underachievement, this project focuses on the educator’s role to support the learning needs of gifted students to combat underachievement. Research has shown that differentiation is an effective solution to ensure gifted students’ needs are being met and they are able to reach their full achievement potential. Utilizing a five-part series on differentiation, teachers will participate in professional development focused on a background of differentiation for gifted students and three …

The Great Water Design Challenge: A Collaboration With Noaa Planet Stewards, Elizabeth Martinez

Publications & Research

Session Goals

• Define design challenge
• Generate ideas for classroom design challenge
• Outline design challenge for your classroom

NOAA Planet Stewards NESTA Article

Implementing Food Science-Based Instruction In Career Technical Education Courses, Jasmine D. Hendrix

Theses and Dissertations

Students are exposed to food concepts in agriculture-based career technical education (CTE) courses which provide a gateway for students to become more aware of food science career pathways. Professional development for Mississippi (MS) CTE teachers is needed to effectively implement food science-based instruction since there is not a food science curriculum framework adopted in MS. The objective of this study was to assess a food science professional development training for MS CTE teachers that would increase their self-perceived knowledge of food science, self-perceived ability to conduct food science skills, and their self-efficacy to implement food science-based instruction. Thirty-one teachers participated …

Teachers Of Culturally And Linguistically Diverse Students And Effective Professional Development: A Critical Review Of Research, Irish Farley

Journal of English Learner Education

Effective Professional Development (PD) is essential for teachers of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CLD) students. Despite the continuing increase of diversity of students, teachers are underinformed with best practices for teaching and support. Many good teachers may not know how to best support CLD students. In 2018, the National Center for Education Statistics reported that only 44% of surveyed teachers who had at least one CLD student in their classroom received professional development specifically for working with these students. This review of the literature covers two distinct but related topics: why teachers of CLD students need more PD and what …

Planning For Instruction Using A Language-Based Approach To Content Instruction For Multilingual Learners, Luciana C. De Oliveira, Destini Braxton, Jia Gui

Journal of English Learner Education

This article briefly describes a language-based approach to content instruction (LACI), an approach to content instruction for multilingual learners in general education classrooms that incorporates six Cs of support for scaffolding. The authors provide examples of classroom instruction by a fifth-grade teacher who used several elements of LACI in her instruction. A planning guide to assist implementation of these elements is proposed and concrete examples of how to plan for classroom instruction for multilingual learners are included.

Enhancing Classroom Management Skills: Efficacy Of A Supplemental Multi-Platform Intervention For Preservice Teachers, Michael S. Rosenberg Phd, Sunny R. Duerr, Kate Ingraham, Karen Bell, Art Gould

Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning

Many teachers are ill-prepared to apply practices that can both preempt and address challenging behaviors that interfere with academic instruction. We evaluated the efficacy of a supplemental multi-platform (direct instruction, guided practice, and mixed reality simulations) intervention designed for preservice teachers who do not have opportunities to participate in formal classroom management courses. Efficacy of the intervention was assessed through the quality of classroom management plans, the presentation and implementation of the plan in the virtual classroom, and classroom management self-efficacy. Results indicated that preservice teachers successfully developed quality proactive classroom management plans but struggled to present and implement their …

Teacher Instructional Practices And Student Mathematics Achievement, Michael C. Osborne

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

Using the nationally representative sample from the United States in the 2012 Programme for International Student Assessment (N = 7,429 students from 240 schools), I examined the relationship between teacher instructional practices and student mathematics achievement. To account for the multilevel structure of the data with students nested within schools, I used a two-level hierarchical linear model in the data analysis. Teacher instructional practices showed statistically significant effects on student mathematics achievement, even after controlling for socioeconomic status (SES) and sex at the student level and school mean SES and whether the school is public or private at the …

Culturally Relevant Teaching For The 21st Century: The Success And Challenges Of Pre-Service Teachers When Using Technology In Critical Ways, Virginie Jackson, Stacy Delacruz, Dominique Harry

Georgia Journal of Literacy

This case study examined pre-service teachers' use of technology as they implemented culturally relevant literacy lessons while tutoring elementary students in their field placement sites. As we enter a new decade, we want our students to be future-ready with technology skills. Here, we present an examination of how pre-service teachers integrated culturally relevant teaching with technology along with a discussion of the tools and devices their students used. Findings provided evidence that as pre-service teachers experienced authentic and engaging learning experiences within a supportive space, they emerged equipped to teach in culturally responsive ways that supported student learning and deeper …

Virtual And Blended Instruction And School Lunch Eligibility On Student Achievement During The Coronavirus Pandemic, Leann Ferrell Helms

College of Education Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to determine the effects of virtual and blended instruction and school lunch eligibility on student achievement during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic measured by the 2021 ACT Aspire Interim Assessment scores. Scores chosen were from seventh- and ninth-grade students in five schools giving the ACT Aspire Interim Assessment prior to Winter Break. The scores were used to provide academic performance data for the dependent variables used in each hypothesis. Bronfenbrenner developed the ecological systems theory in 1979 to identify environmental factors affecting a person’s characteristics over a lifetime. COVID-19 affected education and instructional delivery during …

Building Family Partnerships In A Catholic School By Connecting After-School And Home With Mathematics, Bilge Cerezci

Journal of Catholic Education

Parents need guidance, support, and motivation to learn how to support their young children’s mathematical development in ways that are more foundational and effective. In Addition After School Math Program serves twenty-four students in grades 3, 4, and 5 and their parents in an urban neighborhood at a Catholic elementary school. In In-Addition After School Math Program, we see families as partners and build our after-school program around supporting mathematics thinking and discoveries by engaging the whole family.

Thinkmed: Providing An Environment For Disadvantaged Students To Explore Stem, Steven Trinh, Lauren Dudley, Peter Chang

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

ThinkMED is a nonprofit initiative offering a four-week curriculum specifically designed to develop critical thinking and encourage evidence-based decision making. Each week’s content material revolves around the use of a ThinkMED Science Kit containing a wet lab experiment designed to supplement the content curriculum. Each experiment is formulated to be inclusive of all California Next Generation Science Standards K through 5. Contained within each week’s ThinkMED Science Kit is a unique QR code that directs the student to an interactive simulation of the experiment created by our team of computer scientists and graphic designers. At the end of each week, …

Development Of Sense Of Place Through An Urban Citizen Science Program, Cornelia Harris

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Citizen science programs are a way for participants to develop a sense of place, which has been theorized to lead to pro-environmental behaviors. In this mixed-methods study, I document how a citizen science program encourages urban youth to connect with their place, and notice how both joy and wonder are developed as they experience a stunning migratory event with a unique organism, the American eel. Students were excited to be in a creek and to ‘discover’ a new creature in a place that they had walked past for years, one that was merely a backdrop to their lives prior to …

The Impact Of A K-8 Stem Program On Grades And Student Choice Of Stem And Advanced Mathematics And Science Coursework In High School, Astrid Rodrigues

Dissertations

The demands of today’s workforce call for schools to prepare their students to have problem-solving skills and be critical thinkers and collaborative colleagues. Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) learning has been known to cultivate, excite, and promote critical thinking and problem-solving skills in students from an early age.

This study explored the high school course selection of students who had participated in a compulsory Kindergarten to 8^th grade (K-8) STEM program, called Project Lead the Way (PLTW), while in middle school. Specifically, the study compared the number of STEM and advanced mathematics and science courses that students who …

How Does A Veteran Teacher Implement A Prekindergarten Math Curriculum?, Heidi Butterfield

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The purpose of this study was to explore how a veteran teacher implemented a state-approved commercial math curriculum in a prekindergarten classroom. In this action research study, guided by ethnographic principles, I employed Spradley's (2016) developmental research sequence to study what resources from the curriculum the teacher used, how the teacher adapted the curriculum, and what influenced the decisions the teacher made while implementing the curriculum. Data collected for this study included: the teacher guide provided by the commercial curriculum; teacher lesson plans; photographs of student created artifacts; the teacher's reflection journal and notes; and videos of a teacher implementing …

Signature Pedagogy For Entrepreneurship Education: An Emerging Perspective, Ashley Gess, Eleonora Brivio, Gianluca De Leo

International Journal for Business Education

Entrepreneurial ways of thinking and doing intersect with the knowledge and skills that a global citizen needs to thrive. There is a robust body of scholarship that identifies core entrepreneurial skills however there is a dearth of evidence addressing how to successfully teach entrepreneurship. Using the lens of experiential learning, this qualitative study examines the surface, deep, and implicit structures of professional entrepreneurial culture toward revealing a meaningful, authentic pedagogical approach for entrepreneurship education. In order to achieve this outcome, researchers utilized a semi-structured comparable multiple-case study design to engage 19 incubated entrepreneurs in focus group interviews. A replication strategy …

Cultivating Financial Literacy Through Secondary School Economics Education: Access To Powerful Knowledge, Emanuel Mizzi

International Journal for Business Education

‘Powerful knowledge’ is disciplinary knowledge that when learned, empowers students to make decisions in a way that will influence their lives in a positive way (Young, 2008). In this paper, the researcher employs this construct to explore the financial literacy education arising from studying secondary school economics. It emerges from the author’s research aimed at exploring teaching and learning in secondary school Maltese economics classrooms. The underlying conceptual framework for this study is critical realism. The study design consisted of interviewing and observing 14 economics teachers, together with four focus groups interviews with students. Data were analyzed by employing thematic …

Teacher Knowledge, Perceptions, And Language Orientations Towards Oral Language Instruction In A Dual Language Classroom, Lucy A. Montalvo

Theses and Dissertations

Dual language (DL) schools provide literacy in students’ native languages; however, it is unknown if there is a focus on oral language (OL) development, an essential component for emergent bilinguals’(EB) literacy development. The purpose of this mixed-methods case study is to understand what DL teachers in Virginia know about OL instruction when providing literacy instruction to EB students. This study also explored DL teachers’ perceptions and language orientations towards OL instruction in a DL classroom. The Holistic Biliteracy Framework by Escamilla et al. (2014) provided a research-based pedagogical model to compare teachers’ knowledge on OL instruction. The Language Orientation Framework …

Law Library Blog (December 2021): Legal Beagle's Blog Archive, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Law Library Newsletters/Blog

No abstract provided.

The Predictability Of Selected Academic Demographic And Family Related Factors On The Academic Achievement Of Middle School Students., Demetria Westmoreland

Dissertations (2016-Present)

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship and predictability of selected demographic, academic and family related factors on the academic performance of middle school students. Specifically, this study will be concerned with the predictability of the variables gender, ethnicity, standardized mathematics scores, standardized reading scores, family income, type of household, socioeconomic status and primary language spoken in the home on the academic performance of middle school students as measured by their STAAR’s social studies scores. A quantitative correlational research design was employed in the current investigation. A linear relationship was not found between the demographic factors of …

Girls Support Group, Cindy Garcia

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The purpose of this capstone project is to keep girls connected with other girls through zoom. Due to the pandemic, schools were closed and a lot of the girls became isolated from their peers as well as after school activities. The project addresses the main consequences of the shelter in place order which are social isolation, mental, and emotional health. The project promotes coping skills to help them stay connected and adapt to this new way of living. Adjusting to a new way of living can be hard for young girls affecting them both mentally and emotionally. This can have …

The Use Of Phoneme-Grapheme Mapping Practice To Improve Foundational Reading Skills In A First Grade Student, Annah Scherling

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

Literacy is widely accepted as a critical life skill in the United States, but many students struggle to acquire the necessary foundational skills. The National Reading Panel of the National Institute of Child Health and Development established The Big Five which identified five critical areas for effective reading instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. There are 26 letters or graphemes represented in the English language and 44 sounds or phonemes. The connection between grapheme and phoneme is referred to as correspondences. A first-grade student, from a Midwest elementary school, was given a phoneme-grapheme mapping intervention to assist in …

Effects Of Small Group Math Interventions For Math Achievement, Brittany Folk

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

The purpose of this study was to see the impact of small group math interventions had on students’ math achievement with students who were considered high-risk according to Fastbridge testing. This study was mixed-methods action research, primarily focusing on the quantitative data gathered. The study used pre-test and post-test assessments, weekly small assessments, as well as surveys prior to interventions and after interventions to check students’ anxiety level towards math. There were five students from the 3^rd grade class were chosen to participate in this study. All data was collected and analyzed to determine if students grew in their …

Covid-19, Technology, And The Math Classroom: Changes, Obstacles, And Victories Integrating Digitally, Lauren Fifield Bellamy

Teaching & Learning Theses & Dissertations

Secondary math teachers faced new experiences and struggles this past virtual school year due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. Nine secondary math teachers from a school division in southeastern Virginia participated in this qualitative single case study. Data collection included individual semi-structured interviews and technology integration artifacts. Through a three round coding process, ten themes emerged to answer the following three research questions: 1) In terms of curriculum, teaching methods, and assessments, how did teachers describe their pedagogical change in virtual learning? 2) How do teachers perceive student performance has changed within the virtual learning space? 3) From teachers’ perspectives, …

A Causal Comparative Study Of Stem Persistence Between Supported And Non-Supported Stem Interested Students, Elizabeth Bernardi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Many students who enter a STEM track in college move out of that track before graduation (National Science Foundation, 2018). The purpose of this study was to assess whether there was a difference in STEM-related major persistence for population proportions of students actively involved in the Science Scholars program and those who were STEM-interested but not program participants. This program oriented students to the STEM program, facilitated engagement with peers and faculty, exposed students to research opportunities, and filled in potential learning gaps (Gibson et al., 2019).

The questions guiding the current research included:

Q1. Was there a statistically significant …

Strengthening Supports For Dual Credit Instruction In Chicago: Takeaways And Promising Practices, Ginger M. Reynolds

Reports, Analyses, and other Publications

No abstract provided.

Community College Geoscience Faculty Perspectives On Critical Thinking Instructional Tools, Mariela Salas Bao

Dissertations and Theses

Research has shown that modern courses and programs designed to foster critical thinking vary in both content and delivery, in turn leading to differences in their effectiveness. Few studies have investigated critical thinking among nontraditional students at community colleges taking STEM courses, especially within the geosciences. Furthermore, such research has focused primarily on the students with few if any studies involving faculty. This study examined the perceptions held by community college geoscience faculty regarding critical thinking and how such perceptions influenced their choice of instructional strategies. This study used a basic qualitative methodology and a maximum variation sampling to select …

On The Road To Translanguaging In A Dual Language Classroom: Teaching Math And Science In Mandarin And English, Xiaodi Zhou

Journal of Multilingual Education Research

This article examines the evolving instructional practice of one Chinese dual language instructor in the US as she employs a translanguaging-inspired approach in her math and science Mandarin medium classes. Contrary to the school language allocation policy requiring 90% Mandarin in her Chinese classes, she encourages the utilization of English as well as Mandarin in her instruction. This offers comprehensible input to learners, also making possible greater student participation. Findings from observations and interviews reveal how a focus on meaning-making in instruction resulted in the gradual evolution of bilingual language use and effective communication of content by students and the …

Engaging Students With Disabilities In Universally Designed Science Education, Latifa Sebti, Michelle L. Damiani

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

Increased student diversity in classrooms and the need for equitable STEM opportunities for all, creates an impetus for educators to establish inclusive and equitable environments and use teaching practices that facilitate meaningful learning for all students in science education. This article offers a three-part framework for combining inclusive philosophy, the science and engineering practices, and Universal Design for Learning. The article is intended to help teachers and teacher educators universally design science education to level the science learning field through access and equity for all students, including students with disabilities. We advocate for the use of four practices: creating an …