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2022-September-01-Award-Winning Scientist Leading Etsu's Undergraduate Research, University Marketing And Communication, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

Dr. Cerrone Foster, an award-winning scientist teaching at East Tennessee State University, is the new interim director of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities. 

The office hosts a variety of events, such as the Dr. Jay S. Boland Undergraduate Research Symposium, each year with a goal of aiding undergraduates with their research. The office also provides funding opportunities to support student research.

Dr. Cerrone Foster

One of Foster’s goals is to increase the number of students who engage with the office. 

“We want to ensure that opportunities are equitable and remove any barriers that may prevent students from doing research,” …

2022-September-01-Fall Color Should Be Spectacular, University Marketing And Communication, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

JOHNSON CITY – Expect a “spectacular showing” from fall foliage in the Appalachian Highlands this year. 

That’s the prediction from East Tennessee State University’s Travis Watson.

Fall color at ETSU

“For the most part, the Appalachian Highlands region has seen ample rainfall this summer, which means the trees have kept a lot of leaves,” said Watson, the university’s campus arborist who holds a master’s degree in biology. “The cooler temperatures over the last two weeks combined with the sunny weather should make for a spectacular showing of fall color across our region.” 

Already, the tallest peaks in the Great Smoky …

2022-September-01-Etsu Will Offer Weekly Fall Color Predictions - Bucwire, University Marketing And Communication, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

JOHNSON CITY – Orange and yellow hues hugging the meandering roads through Roan Mountain. Spots of red lining the Tweetsie Trail. Bright orange and yellow lighting up the maple trees nestled throughout Johnson City.  

In the weeks ahead, the vibrant shades of autumn will dot the regional landscape.  

Scores of Americans, many here in the Appalachian Highlands, will take part in the annual tradition of “leaf peeping,” a major tourism boom that sees folks go for long drives and hit the trails in hopes of spotting breath-taking autumn leaves.   

This year, East Tennessee State University aims to make the process …

An Account Of The Methodological Implementation Of Design-Based Research In The Chemistry Classroom Context, Esther Kibga, Emmanuel Gakuba, John Sentongo

Institute for Educational Development, East Africa

Design-Based Research (DBR) has recently received a significant amount of attention in the educational research literature of the 21st century. This work analyses the understanding of DBR as the research methodology, why, and how it can be applied in educational research to bring a practical outcome and improve educational practices. Besides, this work reflects on a step-by-step implementation of the Hands-on Instructional Model (HIM) designed to enhance the development of chemistry learners’ curiosity and problem-solving skills. Also, it gives a detailed description of the two prototypes of the first alteration cycle. A sample of 169 Senior Three chemistry students was …

Transforming Afterschool Programs Into "Engines Of Development": A Policy Analysis Of The Federal 21st Century Community Learning Centers, Jane Quinn

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Although schools receive most of the attention in discussions of and research about educational policy, an equally important—and under-investigated—arena is the non-school hours. American students spend more time outside of school than in school, and a host of studies have shown that the ways young people spend their discretionary time can greatly influence their short-term and long-term outcomes. Issues of educational equity are deeply embedded in the topic because opportunities to participate in high quality out-of-school learning experiences are not evenly distributed in American society. The single most important policy target in this aspect of student life is the federal …

The Making Of A Bilingual University In The 21st Century, Michael Mena

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

At the southernmost tip of Texas, the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) opened its doors on August 31, 2015 as a ‘bilingual, bicultural, and biliterate’ campus—the only one of its kind and at a scale never before attempted in the United States. This is a categorical achievement in the near 200 year-long quest for the educational advancement of Latinxs in Texas—a state historically structured by white supremacist ideologies, violent economic and political disenfranchisement, as well as a racially segregated education system designed to maintain exploitative labor practices (Montejano 1987; González 1990, 2013, 1999; Blanton 2004). This constitutes the …

A Survey Study Of Speech-Language Therapists’ Experiences With Teletherapy At The Onset Of The Covid-19 Crisis, Jason A. Rosas

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The present study aimed to understand how delivering pediatric treatment services via ‘teletherapy’ affected speech-language therapists (SLTs) during the initial outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis in 2020. SLTs reported on their experiences with the change from in-person to remote service delivery via two national surveys distributed at the start of the pandemic between April 2020 and July 2020. To explain SLTs’ survey responses, this dissertation introduced the Professional Adaptation Model (PA Model). The PA Model facilitated evaluation of the SLTs’ professional environment and the psychological constructs of their professional identity believed to influence the transition to speech-language teletherapy. Specifically, …

Free Improvisation Pedagogy: An Arts Based Research Approach To Promoting Student Agency And Embracing Difference, Nicholas Catino

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Free Improvisation Pedagogy explores the changing perspectives of students as they co-create musical improvisations. Free improvisation is understood as a site for transformative pedagogy, with the possibility for people to break free of structures, think and perform independently, broaden their perspective of proper tonality, engage in musical democracy and equality of voice, and participate in music making that is active, participatory, and continually evolving.

Working with a small group of High School students in suburban New York, this research explores these topics and documents, through audio, video, visual art, and conversation, how students experience this type of music making and …

Understanding Parental Engagement At The Nexus Of Race, Class, Gender, And Sexual Orientation: An Examination Through Anti-Black White Settler Colonialism, Alyssa P. Lyons

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In the great scramble to remedy the inequalities of American education, the term “parental engagement” has remained a stubborn fixture in political, educational, and public discourse since the 1960s. Parental engagement has been offered as a possible mitigation tool in the fight for educational justice. This has led to ample social science research exploring the significance and impact of parental engagement on a host of educational outcomes. With much of the sociological theorizing of education stuck in the 1960s, scholars need new ways of theorizing to better understand the role of parental engagement in not alleviating educational inequalities—but in maintaining …

Critical Social Foundations Of Education: Advancing Human Rights And Transformative Justice Education In Teacher Preparation, Magnus O. Bassey

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Understanding "Death": Creating Student Opportunities For Meaningful Emotional Expression In The Science Classroom, Zachary Schafer, Lawrence C. Scharmann

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Understanding death as natural and integral to life cycles has been considered crucial and relevant in science teaching. The concept of death not only defines the physical end of life but also the end of a cycle and the beginnings of transformation. Adopting a broader definition of death thus empowers educators to directly address the affect and emotion that occurs for all students.

“Lock Us In A Room Together”—Local Students’ Suggestions For Improving Socialization With International Students, Vander Tavares

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

In Canada, research has examined international-local student interaction by focusing on international students’ perceptions and experiences. As such, the perspectives of local students toward socialization with international students remain less explored. Designed as a survey-based case study with 17 local students at a university in Ontario, this study sought to understand the perspectives of local students on how to improve socialization between the two groups. Additionally, this study investigated how local students conceptualized their experiences of multiculturalism and multilingualism at their university, considering the importance of diversity for the development of intercultural knowledge and intercultural relationships. Findings suggest that local …

Valuing Community Engagement Throughout The Faculty Recruitment Process, Lynn Pelco, Derek Miller, Todd R. Lookingbill

Other Publications

Department chairs and search committees play critical roles in recruiting community-engaged scholars to higher education institutions. This report summarizes some of the benefits of hiring community-engaged scholars across disciplines. The report also provides concrete strategies departments can use to both plan and execute a faculty search process that results in the hiring of a community-engaged scholar who brings the skills and experiences needed to succeed in the position and thrive in both the university and community.

Wonderfully Made: A Protestant Theology Of The Body (Book Review), Alida Sewell

Pro Rege

Reviewed Title: Wonderfully Made: A Protestant Theology of the Body by John W. Kleinig. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2021. 235 pp. ISBN: 9781683594680.

The International Academy Of Language And Culture: The Global (Pre)K-12 Charter School Network, Dree-El Simmons

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The International Academy of Language and Culture (IALC) is a charter school based on the original concept of charter schools by Ray Budde and Albert Shanker, as an academic environment dedicated and designed to improving the educational outcomes for its students through innovative pedagogy. Committed to American (and global) education reform, the IALC incorporates elements from higher education into the early childhood and adolescent settings. We accomplish this by utilizing an interdisciplinary approach in our language and culture-based program.

The IALC is a multilingual, full-immersion program. Food Studies (including culinary arts), the Arts, the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Martial Arts …

Learning Beyond Measure: Critical Numeracy And Resistance To Racial Capitalism, Atasi Das

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In this three-article dissertation, I connect with and expand from learning theories and mathematics and numeracy practices to reimagine numeracy as a potential tool towards liberation and human emancipation. Developing a framework and activity of critical numeracy, I explore the ways numbers and static categories have been used to “objectively” create, reproduce, and reify hierarchies within historical contexts and power relations. The core of this work examines, what do numbers and numeracy mean for us? Who are “the us” we can organize for? And for what purpose can and should we utilize, teach, and learn with numbers in and beyond …

Workforce Diversity And Health Equity: The Role Of Schools Of Public Health, Adashima Oyo

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The goal to eliminate health disparities and achieve health equity has remained a consistent public health and social welfare challenge for the United States. Schools of public health, despite being disproportionately White, are charged with the important task of training a diverse workforce of master and doctoral-level public health students to protect and promote the overall health of the nation with research, policy, and practice. Experiences and practices related to the recruitment, admission, enrollment, and graduation of students of color, specifically Blacks and Latinx, warrant further research. Positive deviance theory, critical race theory, and organizational culture theory informed this research. …

Hughes, B. S., Corrigan, M. W., Grove, D., Anintegrating Arts With Stem And Leading With Steam To Increase Science Learning With Equity For Emerging Bilingual Learners In The United States, Bradley S. Hughes, Michael W. Corrigan, Douglas Grove, Sage B. Andersen, Joseph T. Wong

Elementary & Secondary Education Faculty Research

Background: To inform STEM education for benefiting emerging bilingual (EB) and English fluent (EF) students, the present study evaluated the order effects of integrating science and arts within a large-scale, ongoing effort investigating the efficacies of Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)-aligned Science Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) methodologies to provide more equitable opportunities to students to learn science through Arts integration (STEAM). The experiment examines the curriculum integrating order of implementing combinations of STEM and STEAM approaches in fifth grade life and physical science instruction, comparing (STEM → STEAM) vs (STEAM → STEM).

Results: T tests and a three-way between-groups …

Teaching And Designing Culturally Responsive Experiences Using Cross-Media Film In Higher Education, Edward Cromarty, Mary Alice Young, Simone Elias

Journal of Research Initiatives

This paper examined the pedagogical use of cross-media film in higher education, as it highlighted cross-media in implementing a Culturally Responsive approach to enhance social justice learning in the classroom. The findings demonstrated the potential of cross-media film to engage learners through cultural relevance for the 21st century. The findings also considered that the Culturally Responsive approach may constitute a fourth pillar of the three epistemologies through research and suggestions for culturally responsive teaching practices.

Undergraduate Engineering And Education Students Reflect On Their Interdisciplinary Teamwork Experiences Following Transition To Virtual Instruction Caused By Covid-19, Kristie S. Gutierrez, Jennifer J. Kidd, Min Jung Lee, Pilar Pazos, Krishnanand Kaipa, Stacie I. Ringleb, Orlando Ayala

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

This study explores undergraduate engineering and education students’ perspectives on their interdisciplinary teams throughout the rapid transition to online learning and instruction from a face-to-face to a virtual format. In this qualitative study, students’ reflections and focus groups from three interdisciplinary collaborations were analyzed using the lens of Social Cognitive Theory. COVID-19 created a dramatic change in the environment such that the most immediate and direct impact on students’ experiences was on the environmental aspects of Bandura’s triadic reciprocal determinism model, which then triggered behavioral and personal responses to adapt to the new environment. Subsequent evidence of reciprocal effects between …

Total Wellness Of Turkish International Students: Perceptions And Inherent Growth Tendencies, Mehmet Avci, Romulo E. Montilla

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

Research on the international students primarily focuses on adjustment and acculturation issues rather than building and maintaining the wellness of specific cultural groups of international students. This study used basic psychological needs involved in self-determination theory to investigate the relationship between autonomy, competence, and relatedness needs, self-determined way of functioning, and wellness of Turkish international students in the U.S. Data was collected before Covid-19 pandemic using a self-administered survey from 179 (71 females) Turkish international students with a mean age of 29.7 years. The results indicated that the perceived total wellness of Turkish international students was slightly low. The results …

Titan Success: Faculty Behind The Scenes, September, Thorpe Center

Publications from the Associate Deans

No abstract provided.

Understanding Inservice Middle School Teachers’ Views Of Nature Of Science (Vnos), Merika Charupoom, Yasmeen Hernandez, Emily Carter, Nicole J. Thomas, Tina Vo

Spectra Undergraduate Research Journal

The Nature of Science (NOS) is a component of science literacy that supports critical thinking around science concepts, speaking to how and why science is conducted and connected to creating data and evidence. NOS is designed to be more than the standardized lessons of science; it helps children critically analyze and solve real-world and societal issues using scientific knowledge. The interpretation of science varies between the ideology and beliefs of each individual. Given the importance of this idea, it is necessary that teachers be able to provide NOS opportunities to students; however, first, they must have a firm grasp of …

An Intersectional Community Resilience Approach To Understanding Climate Vulnerabilities In Lynchburg, Virginia, Tracy Mallard

Graduate Dissertations and Theses

This study uses an intersectional and justice lens to analyze how economic, institutional, social, cultural, and natural factors influence resilience in historically marginalized communities. It builds on the work of previous studies that have employed a five-dimension conceptual framework of resilience at the community level by focusing the model on the factors that enable or prevent resilience to extreme heat in communities. The focus community is the City of Lynchburg, Virginia. The researcher observed groups of community organizers in the process of setting an environmental justice and sustainability agenda, who prioritized determining how to engage residents in the decision-making process …

August 31, 2022 Greenmail, University Of Alabama At Birmingham

GreenMail (student newsletter through 2024)

No abstract provided.

Study Shows An Improved Way To Model Type 2 Diabetes In Mice, Staff

Browse All News

No abstract provided.

Case Study: Exploring College Students’ Transformative Learning Experience Through Co-Creation Of A Pilot Compassionate Parenting Module In A Humanities Class, Maria Silvia Casabianca

Theses and Dissertations

A case study was conducted with 14 students who took a 16-week college humanities course at a regional university in the state of Florida. The core subjects of the course were kindness, compassion, and empathy. The instructor’s approach to teaching included methods akin to those of transformational learning. Data were collected from 14 weeks of reflective journals, semi-structured interviews, and compassionate parenting modules written by the participants as final assignments. Findings indicated that transformative learning practices supported participants’ reflection and identification of acquired beliefs and new learning about kindness, empathy, and compassion. Participants also described perceived benefits of kindness for …

Improving Language Teaching And Learning Process With Dual Coding Theory Approaches, Citra Kurniawan, Shirly Rizki Kusumaningrum, Kee-Fui Turner Lam, Ence Surahman

Jurnal Pendidikan: Teori, Penelitian, dan Pengembangan

Dual coding theory (DCT) allows students to process information based on stimuli in the form of visual-verbal signals. This study aims to measure the relationship between the implementation of DCT on the process of Teaching & Learning. An experimental approach involving 101 students was used. The results showed that the DCT theoretical approach can be used to improve the language learning process. The research findings also showed that the learning strategies correlation coefficient is positive 0.826** which means that DCT has a very strong relationship with learning outcomes. In addition, the variables of gender and learning strategies demonstrated a positive …

Penguatan Karakter Bernalar Kritis Berbasis Integratif Moral Untuk Siswa Sekolah Dasar Dalam Program Kampus Mengajar Di Indonesia, Nursalam Nursalam, Suardi Suardi

Jurnal Pendidikan: Teori, Penelitian, dan Pengembangan

The research objective is to produce a model for strengthening character education based on critical reasoning moral integration for elementary school students in campus teaching activities in Makassar City. This research uses mixed research methods, using questionnaires, observations, interviews and documentation, then analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. The results showed that strengthening the character of critical reasoning based on moral integrative and social collaboration was in the very frequent category at all stages of moral knowing, feeling, sinverbal, action, habitus and culture from various campus teaching activities such as task assignment, giving direction, thinking together, and carry out tasks according to …

20220831: Assessment Office, Program Reviews, 2006-2009, Academic Affairs

Guides to University Archives

These items include materials from the office of Academic Affairs at Marshall University from 2006-2009. Items were received in 2021 but were not accessioned until 2022 and include program reviews for undergraduate, graduate, and MU SOM programs. Please download the finding aid for a full list of contents.