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It's A Blessing, Douglas E. Abrams Dec 2008

It's A Blessing, Douglas E. Abrams

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.


Autism Fast Start Checklist, Tina Taylor, Leeann Whiffen Dec 2008

Autism Fast Start Checklist, Tina Taylor, Leeann Whiffen

Faculty Publications

This Fast Start Checklist was created to help parents in Utah who are concerned that their child is exhibiting signs of an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). It serves as a general guideline for obtaining support through the evaluation and initial treatment process and is not intended to be all-inclusive. Early Intervention and school personnel can guide parents to these resources as they collaborate to determine the best route for serving children who exhibit signs of ASD. Parents should be encouraged to not try to do everything on this list, as they are provided as points to consider. This checklist is …


An Exploration Of The Effects Of A Practicum-Based Mathematics Methods Course On The Beliefs Of Elementary Preservice Teachers, Damon L. Bahr, Eula Ewing Monroe Nov 2008

An Exploration Of The Effects Of A Practicum-Based Mathematics Methods Course On The Beliefs Of Elementary Preservice Teachers, Damon L. Bahr, Eula Ewing Monroe

Faculty Publications

Effects of a practicum-based elementary mathematics methods course on the beliefs of preservice teachers regarding conceptual knowledge in school mathematics were explored using a pre-post design. The intensity of those beliefs was assessed before and after the methods course using the IMAP Web-Based Beliefs Survey, an instrument constructed by the "Integrating Mathematics and Pedagogy" (IMAP) research group at San Diego State University. IMAP Beliefs Survey assesses belief intensity by asking respondents to react to and analyze written and video cases (Ambrose, Clement, Philipp, & Chauvot, 2004; Philipp, Ambrose, Clement, Sowder, Schappelle, Sowder Chauvot, & Thanheiser, 2005). Its use with preservice …


The State Of Balance Between Procedural Knowledge And Conceptual Understanding In Mathematics Teacher Education, Damon L. Bahr, Michael J. Bossé Nov 2008

The State Of Balance Between Procedural Knowledge And Conceptual Understanding In Mathematics Teacher Education, Damon L. Bahr, Michael J. Bossé

Faculty Publications

The NCTM Principles and Standards for School Mathematics calls for a balance between conceptual understanding and procedural knowledge. This study reports the results of a survey distributed to AMTE members in order to discover the opinions and practices of mathematics teacher educators regarding this balance. The authors conclude that there is wide disparity of views regarding the meaning of the terms "conceptual" and "procedural" as well as the meaning "balance" between the two, in terms of what constitutes mathematics, the learning and teaching of mathematics, and the assessment of mathematical proficiency.


Diversity, Multiculturalism, And Pluralism: A James White Library Bibliography, Terry Dwain Robertson Nov 2008

Diversity, Multiculturalism, And Pluralism: A James White Library Bibliography, Terry Dwain Robertson

Faculty Publications

A bibliography of books available in the James White Library addressing issues of diversity, multiculturalism, and pluralism in the disciplines of business, education, political science, religion, and sociology.


An Evaluation Of The Effectiveness Of The Instructional Methods Used With A Student Response System At A Large University, Charles R. Graham, Larry Seawright, Coral Marie Hanson Oct 2008

An Evaluation Of The Effectiveness Of The Instructional Methods Used With A Student Response System At A Large University, Charles R. Graham, Larry Seawright, Coral Marie Hanson

Faculty Publications

This study investigates the adoption of student response systems (SRS) across a large university campus. The study sought to understand how faculty members were using the SRS and what instructional strategies student and faculty found to be most valuable to their learning. The term "helpful" and the concept of "helpfulness" is used in place of "valuable" as it more clearly communicates to students and faculty the concept of how an SRS is of worth to them. Students were generally positive about the helpfulness of the instructional methods professors were using. Students found the ability to receive immediate feedback on their …


College Males: Keeping Them Engaged On Your Campus, Jason A. Laker Jul 2008

College Males: Keeping Them Engaged On Your Campus, Jason A. Laker

Faculty Publications

There has been much discussion in the popular media over the last few years to the effect that there is a “crisis” with regard to men in higher education. There have been several angles in these reports, including arguments suggesting that men are declining in student ranks, or that women are outpacing their male counterparts. In any case, these reports have asked questions about where the men are if not in college; and what will be the consequences of this problem in terms of the workforce, families, or the potential nature and future of higher education. One could easily be …


The Architecture Of Instructional Theory, Andrew S. Gibbons, Clint P. Rogers Jun 2008

The Architecture Of Instructional Theory, Andrew S. Gibbons, Clint P. Rogers

Faculty Publications

This chapter joins a discussion of instructional theory that has been ongoing for nearly a century. It departs in some ways from prior discussions: (1) it considers instructional theory as a species of technological theory rather than as a type of scientific theory, a view expressed more fully elsewhere (Gibbons, 2003a), (2) it adopts the viewpoint articulated in earlier chapters of this book that there are multiple distinct bodies of technological theory that pertain to the work of instructional designers, (3) it attempts to articulate a particular view of the nature of two of those bodies of theory by describing …


Making The Implicit Explicit: Creating Performance Expectations For The Dissertation, Debra S. Gentry May 2008

Making The Implicit Explicit: Creating Performance Expectations For The Dissertation, Debra S. Gentry

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.


Trendspotting And Microtrends In Academic Libraries, Nicole A. Cooke, P. Hawthorne Apr 2008

Trendspotting And Microtrends In Academic Libraries, Nicole A. Cooke, P. Hawthorne

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.


Sociocultural Aspects Of Russian-Speaking Parents' Choice Of Language Of Instruction For Their Children In Estonia, Raija Pini Kemppainen, Scott Ellis Ferrin, Steven J. Hite, Sterling C. Hilton Feb 2008

Sociocultural Aspects Of Russian-Speaking Parents' Choice Of Language Of Instruction For Their Children In Estonia, Raija Pini Kemppainen, Scott Ellis Ferrin, Steven J. Hite, Sterling C. Hilton

Faculty Publications

In most cases, parents whose native language is not predominant in the area they live in have no opportunity to choose the language for their children's instruction in schools. However, in some areas language minority families have options regarding the language of instruction (e.g., Finns in Sweden and Russians in Estonia). This article focuses on language choice from the viewpoint of these families. Typically, discussions of language of instruction have focuses on integrative issues, such as creating loyal citizens, or instrumental or practical issues, such as education or labor market opportunities (Mtes 2004). Choice, however, may have deeper cultural and …


Evaluating Your Educational Program For Students With Autism, Tina Taylor Feb 2008

Evaluating Your Educational Program For Students With Autism, Tina Taylor

Faculty Publications

How do you decide what critical educational features need to be included in your service to students with autism? In the November issue of The Utah Special Educator, Cathy Longstroth (p. 75-76) outlined several characteristics of effective educational programs for students with autism. These recommendations are based upon substantial research evidence from the professional literature. You may wonder why you should design your educational programs with research in mind, when you already know "what works" for your students. On the other hand, many students with autism are hard to figure out and you may not be sure "what works" for …


Open Educational Resources: Enabling Universal Education, David Wiley, Tom Caswell, Shelley Henson, Marion Jensen Feb 2008

Open Educational Resources: Enabling Universal Education, David Wiley, Tom Caswell, Shelley Henson, Marion Jensen

Faculty Publications

The role of distance education is shifting. Traditionally distance education was limited in the number of people served because of production, reproduction, and distribution costs. Today, while it still costs the university time and money to produce a course, technology has made it such that reproduction costs are almost non-existent. This shift has significant implications, and allows distance educators to play an important role in the fulfillment of the promise of the right to universal education. At little or no cost, universities can make their content available to millions. This content has the potential to substantially improve the quality of …


Int 100 Winter 2008, Rob Morrison Jan 2008

Int 100 Winter 2008, Rob Morrison

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.


Preservice Literacy Teachers In Transition: Identity As Subjectivity, Mindy Legard Larson Jan 2008

Preservice Literacy Teachers In Transition: Identity As Subjectivity, Mindy Legard Larson

Faculty Publications

This research addresses the complexities of identity development of elementary and middle school preservice literacy teachers during their teacher education program using a poststructural feminist theoretical lens. This research investigated two questions: 1) How do preservice teachers develop their identity as teachers of literacy in the midst of authoritative discourses? 2) What kinds of strategies and discourses do preservice literacy teachers use to negotiate the competing discourses of literacy during student teaching? The results indicated that the identities of the preservice literacy teachers were in transition during their teacher education program and authoritative discourses were at work constituting their subjectivities …


A Geowall With Physics And Astronomy Applications, Phillip Dukes, Dan Bruton Jan 2008

A Geowall With Physics And Astronomy Applications, Phillip Dukes, Dan Bruton

Faculty Publications

A GeoWall is a passive stereoscopic projection system that can be used by students, teachers, and researchers for visualization of the structure and dynamics of three-dimensional systems and data. The type of system described here adequately provides 3-D visualization in natural color for large or small groups of viewers. The name “GeoWall” derives from its initial development to visualize data in the geosciences.1 An early GeoWall system was developed by Paul Morin at the electronic visualization laboratory at the University of Minnesota and was applied in an introductory geology course in spring of 2001. Since that time, several stereoscopic media, …


Does Gender Influence Online Survey Participation?: A Record-Linkage Analysis Of University Faculty Online Survey Response Behavior, Grinell Smith Jan 2008

Does Gender Influence Online Survey Participation?: A Record-Linkage Analysis Of University Faculty Online Survey Response Behavior, Grinell Smith

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.


Constructing An Ethic Of Care In Teacher Education: Narrative As Pedagogy Toward Care, Colette Rabin Jan 2008

Constructing An Ethic Of Care In Teacher Education: Narrative As Pedagogy Toward Care, Colette Rabin

Faculty Publications

Teacher educators have a civic responsibility to prepare novice teachers to foster relationships across cultural, racial, and socioeconomic divides. Care ethics acknowledges this imperative. This study explores how to cultivate the knowledge, skills and dispositions associated with constructing a caring stance toward the work of teaching. Data come from two preservice teacher education courses. A cluster of course activities sought to foster novice teachers’ core skills for a caring stance. In particular, one assignment, an ethical dilemma case, gave the novice teachers the opportunity to write a narrative about practice and consider any potential moral implications. Since narrative methodology accounts …


Student Teachers Negotiating Identity, Role, And Agency, Dena Sexton Jan 2008

Student Teachers Negotiating Identity, Role, And Agency, Dena Sexton

Faculty Publications

This article reports on a qualitative study of one cohort of elementary student teachers in a public university in California over the course of one year. Applying an ecological approach to studying the process of learning to teach, this research focuses on intersections among identity, role, and agency across the systems of teacher education.


Substance Use And Social Identity In The Lesbian Community_Jls.Pdf, Molly Kerby Jan 2008

Substance Use And Social Identity In The Lesbian Community_Jls.Pdf, Molly Kerby

Faculty Publications

Although the study results report discrepancies in the rates of substance abuse in the lesbian community, the general consensus in the field of gay and lesbian studies is that these individuals, as a whole, have a higher rate of substance use. For this study, data were collected via the Internet on the use of drugs and alcohol, level of self-esteem, and degree of social identity in the lesbian community. A correlation analysis was used to determine if negative social identity within the lesbian community leads to low self-esteem that is reflected in higher rates of substance abuse. Though a positive …


Selecting U.S. Senators By The Original Method: Intersecting Mathematics And Social Studies, Bonnie H. Litwiller, David R. Duncan Jan 2008

Selecting U.S. Senators By The Original Method: Intersecting Mathematics And Social Studies, Bonnie H. Litwiller, David R. Duncan

Faculty Publications

Mathematics teachers are concerned with incorporating connections with other academic areas in their mathematics curriculum. Social science provides a rich source of data which can be collected, organized, and interpreted by mathematics students. These data become of particular interest to many students if they involve political questions and processes.


The Wheel Garden: Project Based Learning For Cross Curriculum Education, Sherry S. Herron, Douglas Magomo, Paula Rae Gossard Jan 2008

The Wheel Garden: Project Based Learning For Cross Curriculum Education, Sherry S. Herron, Douglas Magomo, Paula Rae Gossard

Faculty Publications

In this article, we discuss project-based learning in the context of a wheel garden as an instructional tool in science and mathematics education. A wheel garden provides multiple opportunities to teach across the curriculum, to integrate disciplines, and to promote community involvement. Grounded in the theoretical framework of constructivism, the wheel garden provides a multidisciplined educational tool that provides a hands-on, non-traditional arena for learning. We will examine some of the cultural, art, science, and mathematics connections made with this project


Critical Thinking As Disciplinary Practice, Stephen C. Yanchar, Brent D. Slife, Russell Warne Jan 2008

Critical Thinking As Disciplinary Practice, Stephen C. Yanchar, Brent D. Slife, Russell Warne

Faculty Publications

Critical thinking in psychology has traditionally focused on method-centered tasks such as the assessment of method use, data analysis, and research evidence. Although helpful in some ways, this form of critical thinking fails to provide resources for critically examining the scientific-analytic foundation on which it rests and, when used exclusively, prohibits sufficiently critical analysis of theory and research. An alternative view of critical thinking—that emphasizes the identification and evaluation of implicit theoretical assumptions—is advocated. It is suggested that this alternative approach improves upon method-centered approaches by addressing not only implicit assumptions but also rule-following concerns. This approach is intended to …


Model-Centered Instruction, The Design, And The Designer, Andrew S. Gibbons Iii Jan 2008

Model-Centered Instruction, The Design, And The Designer, Andrew S. Gibbons Iii

Faculty Publications

A model of instruction described by Wenger (1987) identifies three elements that are active during instruction: the mental model the instructor wishes to share with the learner, the external experience used to communicate the mental model, and the evolving mental model of the learner. Gibbons (2003a), writing in response to Seel (2003), noted this three-part description as a bridge concept relating learning and instruction. This view has important practical implications for designers of instruction. For example, Gibbons and Rogers (in press) propose that there exists a natural layered architecture within instructional designs that corresponds with instructional functions. Among these layers …


Enhancing Special Educators' Knowledge And Understanding Of Hiv/Aids, Mary Anne Prater, Nancy M. Sileo, Thomas W. Sileo Jan 2008

Enhancing Special Educators' Knowledge And Understanding Of Hiv/Aids, Mary Anne Prater, Nancy M. Sileo, Thomas W. Sileo

Faculty Publications

HIV/AIDS continues to spread among children, youth, and young adults across all racial, ethnic, and cultural populations, including those with disabilities. This article considers information on HIV/AIDS such as individuals' health-risk behaviors, environmental circumstances, and perceptions that may contribute to HIV-infection; how disability characteristics, and cultural traits and values impact school-based HIV/AIDS prevention programs; and, culturally competent instructional considerations that acknowledge these variables.


A Teacher Self-Appraisal Checklist For Physical Educators To Assess Instructional Performance, Robert S. Christenson, David C. Barney Jan 2008

A Teacher Self-Appraisal Checklist For Physical Educators To Assess Instructional Performance, Robert S. Christenson, David C. Barney

Faculty Publications

Many of the instructional challenges physical education teachers are confronted with today are very different from even those of our recent past. Advances in educational practices have found different ways to reach students, respond to their activity needs, and provide more interesting, effective, safe, as well as, novel ways to approach the teaching-learning process. Exploration into "Best Practices", instructional methods, and teaching effectiveness over the past three decades has brought about numerous changes that have focused on enhancing the quality of the teaching-learning experience in physical education. Student assessment, teaching effectiveness and instructional accountability are just a few of the …


The Online Journal Of Distance Education Reaches The 10-Year Mark: A Look Back Using Social Network Theory To Examine Its Collaboration Network, Steven J. Hite, Julie M. Hite, Scott L. Howell, Lenae Crandall Jan 2008

The Online Journal Of Distance Education Reaches The 10-Year Mark: A Look Back Using Social Network Theory To Examine Its Collaboration Network, Steven J. Hite, Julie M. Hite, Scott L. Howell, Lenae Crandall

Faculty Publications

Happy 10th birthday to the Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration! Who would have ever imagined that this online journal situated on the Web site of a smaller university in Carrollton, Georgia, U.S.A., (population about 20,000 and listed in 2002 as one of the 50 best small southern towns in the United States), and without the financial backing of a large national association, would emerge 10 years later as one of the field's premier journals? Not even the founding editor, Dr. Melanie Clay, quite envisioned the number of contributors and readers who would seek out her journal from all over …


Science Books For Professional Pleasure Reading: Round Out Your Content Knowledge And Foster Interest In Science With This List, Grinell Smith Jan 2008

Science Books For Professional Pleasure Reading: Round Out Your Content Knowledge And Foster Interest In Science With This List, Grinell Smith

Faculty Publications

The article lists several science books, including "The Origin of Species," by Charles Darwin, "The Whole Shebang: A State-of-the-Universes Report," by Timothy Ferris and "Silent Spring," by Rachel Carson.