Digital Commons Network^™

The Effect Of Project-Based Learning On Student Mastery Of Ngss Practices, Alexander C. Bendlage

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

Project-based learning diverges from traditional learning methods of the past by engaging students in the application of curriculum through the creation of products that represent their understanding of important skills and concepts. This research compared the rigor of project-based learning tasks with traditional learning tasks, and examined achievement differences between students taught with project-based learning and traditional instruction. To do so, a group of 81 students participated in a study in which the performance of a control group participating in traditional learning methods was compared to that of students who participated in project-based learning tasks. It was found that on …

Western Michigan University Magazine, Spring 2021, Western Michigan University

Western Michigan University Magazine (1997-present)

• Persisting through the pandemic
• Student well-being
• Redefining normal
• Groundbreaking research
• Designing a bright future
• Centering on resilience
• Pandemic impacts on teaching
• University News
• Alumni Profile
• Expert Insights
• Classnotes
• In Memoriam
• In Tempo

Grand Valley Magazine, Vol. 20, No. 4, Spring 2021, Grand Valley State University

Grand Valley Magazine

Grand Valley Magazine is a quarterly publication about Grand Valley State University produced by University Communications since 2001.

Faculty Of Color Viewpoints Regarding Recruitment, Retention, And Academic Climate At Texas Community Colleges, Caitlin Alexa Graves

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The recruitment and retention of faculty of color is a critical issue within higher education institutions, however, the research is lacking within community colleges. Community colleges enroll over half of all non-White students in higher education, more than any other type of higher education institution; however, the faculty do not reflect the student population. Faculty of color face potential suppression, omission, isolation, and lack of belonging. This study illuminated faculty of color’s experience at community colleges and the culture at community college for these faculty. In this qualitative, interpretative phenomenological study, the researcher explored the viewpoints of faculty of color …

The Reciprocity Of Mentorship: Impacting Christian Higher Education, Alessandra Brohmer Hansen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this interpretive phenomenological analysis was to explore the lived experiences of students and faculty engaged in mutually beneficial mentoring relationships at Christian universities. A dearth of current research focused on the experiences of emerging adults and on the benefits to mentors in a Christian context prompted this inquiry. Semi-structured interviews were completed virtually with two mentor-mentee dyads, while data analysis included use of qualitative research software as well as original phenomenological reduction and interpretation. Findings provided insights not only into the meaning student mentees ascribed to mentoring but also into the perceptions of faculty mentors. Despite different …

Attachment And Identity In Higher Education: Lived Experiences Of Korean Adoptees, Janeice A. Garrard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

South Korea has been the largest sending country of adoptees since the Korean War. Many of the adoptees were placed in predominantly White communities in the Midwest United States. In the existing literature, researchers revealed that Korean adoptees expressed feelings related to loss of ethnic identity, birth culture, and place of belonging. It has not been fully understood how attachment and identity influence Korean adoptees in their pursuit of a higher education. Therefore, this study sought to examine the impacts of attachment to birth culture, adoptive culture, and adoptive family combined with issues of ethnic identity in the lived …

The Application Of Adult Learning And Development Theory In The Undergraduate Classroom, Jennifer Flewelling

Educational Studies Dissertations

Instructors in higher education may have a limited knowledge of ways adults learn and develop. That lack of theoretical understanding may have inhibited the pedagogical practice of faculty in the undergraduate classroom. The purpose of this study was to explore how university instructors described their understanding of adult learning and development in undergraduate settings, and to identify factors that influenced the design and implementation of instructional practice as reported by undergraduate faculty. The study employed an explanatory sequential mixed methods research design. An online survey collected quantitative and qualitative data from 95 university instructors in Northeastern Massachusetts. Follow-up interviews were …

Students' Evangelical Worldview In Public High School Content Areas: A Phenomenological Analysis, Russell Allen

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Although much research has been conducted regarding Christian worldview in private high schools and Christian colleges, very little information exists regarding Christian worldview at public high schools. The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study is to describe how 10 evangelical students in public high schools interpret content areas through their worldview. The study answered the following critical question: How do evangelical students in public high schools interpret content areas through their worldviews? Participants were found using criterion sampling in central Pennsylvania and document analysis, interviews, and focus groups were used to collect data. Moustakas’s (1994) approach was used for data …

2021 Spring Nutshell, Morehead State University. Institutional Research & Analysis.

Office of Institutional Research & Analysis Publication Archive

Spring 2021 issue of the Nutshell.

Lawrence, Spring 2021, Lawrence University

Alumni Magazines

No abstract provided.

Spring 2021, Joëlle Walls

The Investigator Research Magazine

Dear readers,

We are proud to present the spring issue of The Investigator and share with you the expansion of diverse research and scholarly activities occurring at Kennesaw State. Although this year was met with challenges, KSU’s research enterprise has thrived and grown.

In this issue, Pamela Whitten discussed the establishment of the Interdisciplinary Innovation Initiative, an internal funding program to spur new collaborations focused on KSU’s research themes. And alumni Carl Saint-Louis and Karen Armstrong, featured in our cover story, have returned as faculty to mentor the next generation.

This publication would not have been possible without the visual …

Eds202 Psychological Foundations Of Secondary Education, Kelly Conover

Open Educational Resources

This syllabus was created for undergraduate students majoring in Secondary Education. The class topics and accompanying readings were organized to create a comprehensive overview of adolescent development as it relates to educators teaching adolescent students. The readings were picked specifically to encourage critical thinking and analysis of the class topics.

Program And Proceedings: Nebraska Academy Of Sciences 1880–2021, 141st Anniversary Year, One Hundred-Thirty-First Annual Meeting, April 23-24, 2021

Nebraska Academy of Sciences: Programs and Proceedings

Program

Aeronautics and Space Science

Anthropology

Applied Science and Technology

Biological and Medical Sciences

Collegiate Academy: Biology

Collegiate Academy: Chemistry and Physics

Earth Sciences

Environmental Sciences

General Chemistry

General Physics

Teaching of Science and Mathematics

Friend of Science Award: Paul Karr

Student Workshops, St. Mary's University

Schedules - 2021

This is the schedule of student workshops provided at the 1st annual research showcas

Nebline, April 2021

NEBLINE Newsletter Archive from Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County

Experiential Learning Teaches Skills and More

DIY FitBall: A Fun Fitness Activity

Recipe of the Month

Get Ready to Control Pine Tip Blight

Garden Guide

2021 Prennial Plant of the Year

Naturally Occurring Elements in Groundwater, Part 2 of a Series: Iron and Manganese

No Bull! Examine Your Sires’ Breeding Soundness

Inspiring Rich Conversations through Questions by Sarah Roberts

Become a Community Scientist by Kait Chapman

Hearto f 4-H Volunteer Award: James Blake

4-H Announcements for 4-H'ers and Volunteers

Watch Chicks Hatch on Egg Cam

4-H Achievement Celebration

Extension Calendar

2021 Weed Awareness

Controlling and Managing Phragmites

Take 2, Two …

Standardized Tests: Effects On Science Education And Diversity In Science, Rachel A. Rucker

Honors Thesis

Standardized tests are ubiquitous in the American educational system. The excessive use of standardized tests has led to a decrease in taught content and has pushed teachers at the high school level to adopt less effective teaching styles that are also extremely common for introductory STEM courses at the undergraduate level. The heavy reliance on ACT and SAT scores for acceptance into college is misplaced, as the ACT/SAT are poor predictors of STEM college graduation. Also, underrepresented students (women, racial minorities, and lower socioeconomic groups) are disproportionately impacted by the heavy use of standardized tests. These students tend to score …

The Impact Of Collective Efficacy And Collective Inquiry On Closing The Achievement Gap, Anne Marie Yarborough

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this two-phased, mixed-method action research study was to investigate the impact of a professional learning community’s collective teacher efficacy and their practice of collective inquiry in closing the achievement gap of eighth-grade social studies English language learners. The research questions guiding this research: 1. How and to what extent will collective inquiry impact collective efficacy among teachers? 2. How and to what extent will a professional learning community's collective efficacy impact student achievement on the 8th-grade social studies state assessment for English language learners?

Social cognitive theory and adult learning theory provided the theoretical foundation for this …

Differences In Integration And Persistence Between Black Males And Their Peers At Predominately White Christian Institutions, Dion Edward Leonard

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Over the last several decades there has been much conversation, dialogue, and research around the topic of African American persistence, and more specifically African American male persistence within the higher education sector. Studies have shown that there is a major achievement gap among African American and white males. Studies also show that this persistence gap has been sustained over the course of several years. While there has been much research done on the topic, the researcher specifically addressed the persistence gap of African American men within the predominantly white private Christian higher education community. This particular study addresses how faith-based …

The Effect Of Training Upon Faculty Stages Of Concern About Making Color Vision Deficiency Adaptations, Marlena H. Pinner

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Although color vision deficiency affects an appreciable portion of the human race, those with the condition do not enjoy mandatory educational accommodations. The purpose of this quasi-experimental investigation was to quantify the effect of professional development training on university faculty concerns about adapting their instruction for color vision deficiency. This investigation used a static-group comparison design with a professional development intervention for the experimental group at a liberal arts university (N = 98) in the Southeast of the United States, collecting data through an online fielding of the Stages of Concern Questionnaire. Independent Samples t Tests between the two groups …

A Phenomenological Study Of Instructors’ Experiences With Receiving And Utilizing Student Feedback In Online Course, Stanley T. Triplett

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this qualitative transcendental phenomenological study was to explore how community college online course instructors at a large community college in the Deep South experience students’ feedback to reevaluate course quality and instruction. The central question of the study regarded how community college online instructors experience receiving and engaging with student evaluations. The theory guiding this study was Knowles’s theory of andragogy as it provides a framework for understanding adult learning, including those of adult learners in community college contexts as well as those instructors receiving and responding to student evaluations of teaching. A total of 11 instructors …

A Predictive Correlation Study Examining Attrition Among Ncaa Diii Student-Athletes Based On Roster Gender, Sport-Type, And Sport-Attrition, Rebecca Jean Kayda

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This quantitative, correlational study examined whether gender, sport-type, and sport attrition can predict university attrition of student-athletes from a small, private, NCAA DIII institution. Student-athletes attending DIII institutions are considered a vulnerable population and are largely under-studied. Participation in extra-curricular activities, such as belonging to an athletics team, has been linked to higher rates of social integration on campus and smoother transitions into college life overall. This participation has not been shown to decrease academic performance; however, university attrition of student-athletes remains a problem. This problem is especially relevant in smaller schools, where a small percentage of student attrition can …

A Description Of The Factors Contributing To Parents Choosing Christian Elementary School For Children With Special Needs: A Transcendental Phenomenological Study, Andrea L. Cook

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Education professionals have expressed concern that parents’ decisions to enroll students with special needs in Christian schools are ill-informed due to lack of data surrounding student outcomes in such environments and lack of teacher qualifications (Cheng et al., 2016; Lane, 2017). There has been very little research on why parents choose Christian elementary school for their students with special needs. The purpose of this qualitative transcendental phenomenological study was to describe the factors contributing to parents choosing a Christian elementary school for children with special needs. Lev Vygotsky’s social constructivism theory framed this study, as it states that one’s knowledge …

Cultivating Gratitude And Learning: Virtual Agriculture Education For Elementary School Students, Heather Smith, Joy Gritton

2021 Celebration of Student Scholarship - Oral Presentations

In a time when the majority of young children know more about a computer than agriculture, this project brings agriculture to them in a unique way. This presentation introduces a program that aims to connect elementary students with the vast agriculture industry in the digital age using appropriate technology. The project consists of teaching children in Eastern Kentucky and beyond about agriculture and land use through the virtual dissemination of relevant stories, facts, and activities. In this way children can learn how agriculture is vital to their everyday life. Featured topics include horticulture crops, agronomic crops, livestock, and the history …

Mitigating Climate Change: Understanding How Teachers Integrate Social Justice Themes In Environmental Education, Gregory Simons,

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

Climate change is an increasingly severe global issue with devastating repercussions for marginalized, poor, and vulnerable people. As a result, environmental education has evolved over the years to build upon outdoor nature study and ecological concepts to incorporate fundamental principles of social and environmental justices while addressing climate change. This qualitative research study employed both an online survey and semi-structured interviews to address two research questions grounded in the environmental justice movement to determine how social justice intersects with pressing global issues commonly found in environmental science curriculum. First, how do environmental science educators integrate social justice themes in their …

Evaluating The Cultural Responsiveness Of Language, Strategies And Visuals In Social Emotional Curriculum, Julia Pedersen

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

This content analysis examines two kindergarten-sixth grade Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Curriculums; Second Step and Caring School Community through a Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT) framework. SEL and CRT are often thought of as two distinct domains in education, however this analysis explores their interdependence on one another. Grounded in research on social emotional intelligence, curricular design and culturally sustaining pedagogy, this study developed an evaluation framework that the researcher used to systematically review the curricular activities, strategies, language and visuals. Findings include multiple culturally responsive trends within each curriculum, as well as shortcomings which include a lack of representation of …

Connecting At-Risk Youth To Place: Using Restorative Practices To Improve Learner Awareness Of Local Climate Change, Ariel Johnson

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

Educational practices of restorative practices and outdoor education have often been implemented as two separate entities despite both having similar goals of building relationships while providing a sense of belonging and empowerment for the individual. Restorative practices originated in the justice system and are being increasingly used with at-risk youth in an effort to help the individual heal and rebuild relationships with community and self as a preventative approach to addressing the school-to-prison pipeline. Outdoor education is often conducted through place-based and inquiry-based learning, which uses hands-on experiences to promote increased learner awareness of environmental concerns, such as climate change …

Influence Of Learner Motivational Dispositions On Mooc Completion, Robert L. Moore, Chuang Wang

STEMPS Faculty Publications

This study examined the role motivational dispositions had on completing a massive open online course (MOOC) using identifiable data from 10,726 students who enrolled in an iteration of the HarvardX MOOC, Super Earths and Life. As part of the course registration process, learners had the option to complete a pre-course survey and self-report information including their level of education, gender and registration motivations. Using these pre-course survey responses, latent profiles linked to learners’ course performance were created. Results showed education background, gender, and motivation were all significantly related to students’ performance. Furthermore, students with intrinsic motivational dispositions performed better than …

Emeriti News Spring 2021, Emeriti Council

Emeriti News

• Message from the Chair: Gary Lawson
• Council Transitions in 2020
• Scholarship Programs
• Council Merit Scholars
• Coming Wednesday II Events
• In Remembrance
• Final Notes ...

Columns Spring 2021, Southern Adventist University

Alumni Newsletter

Features the article "Giving Their All". Danae (Bland) Netteburg, ’02, MD, and her husband, Olen—also a medical doctor—have never made it their goal to earn praise or set records. Instead, dedicated to following God’s path for their lives, they have an internal drive to give their all, no matter if they are serving in the mission field or hiking the Appalachian Trail. Other articles discuss Southern student's outdoor adventures and the legacy of Dr. David Smith.

The Role Of Social Support In Mitigating Parental Burnout For Mothers Of Children With Medical Complexity, Jaymi Yamoah

Doctor of Education (Ed.D)

Parental burnout is a complex syndrome resulting from chronic parenting stress. The components of parental burnout include overwhelming exhaustion, emotional distancing, and a sense of ineffectiveness in the parenting role. Parents of children with medical complexity (CMC) face a wide range of parenting stressors related to their child’s diagnosis. The purpose of this case study was to explore the role of social support in mitigating parental burnout in mothers of CMC. Five mothers participated in semi-structured interviews using Zoom video conferencing. Results of the study revealed three salient themes: types of social support, isolation, and helping others. Types of social …