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The Uses Of Uncertainty In The College Classroom, Virginia S. Lee

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Psychological research has corroborated the importance of uncertainty to learning at the psychophysiological level. Recent studies in brain dynamics have demonstrated that the brain manifests an inherent variability that increases with the presentation of new stimuli. This psychophysiological uncertainty plays a significant catalytic role in learning, It opens up the organism to experience, causing it to investigate the environment with enhanced receptivity, preparing it for different behavioral actions, and facilitating the central processing and encoding of information received from such renewed exploration. Searching, exploring, and trial-and-error behaviors indicate psychophysiological uncertainty and accompany the appearance of reorganization, stability, and progressive development …

The Design And Development Of A Model Program That Integrates Arts, Social Studies And The Washington State Essential Academic Learning Requirements For The Seventh Grade Students And Manson Secondary School, Kenneth L. Nelson

All Graduate Projects

Relatively little research was encountered which attempted to measure the effectiveness of an integrated curriculum over a more traditional course of studies. The results that were articulated seemed to indicate that students in classrooms using an integrated curriculum approach did as well or better than students experiencing a more traditional approach. This was especially true in the area of conceptual understanding. The purpose of this project was to design and develop a model program that integrated Language Arts, Social Studies and the Washington State Essential Academic Learning Requirements for the seventh grade students at Manson Secondary School.

Review Of The 1998/1999 Wenatchee Masters With Certification Teacher Preparation Program, William Patrick Fillman, John Morton Tuttle

All Graduate Projects

The Wenatchee Master of Education Certification Teacher Preparation (WMECTPP) was an intensive year long field and performance-based program designed to enable its participants to become modem educators with mastery level competence. The purpose of this study was to document the efficacy from a participant/observer perspective, and to create a blueprint for others interested in a similar program. The ethnographic study of the 1998/99 WMECTPP was performed by two program participants. The authors analyzed and described the philosophical foundation, structure, candidate pool, and completion requirements of the WMECTPP. Authors concluded, based on an extensive review ofrelated literature, that the WMECTPP was …

Selected Institutional Characteristics, Bridgewater State College, Academic Year, 1998-1999, Office Of Institutional Research And Assessment, Bridgewater State College

Factbook

No abstract provided.

Behavioral Problems In Schools: Ways To Encourage Functional Behavior Assessment (Fba) Of Discipline-Evoking Behavior Of Students With Emotional And/Or Behavioral Disorders (Ebd), Jo M. Hendrickson, Robert A. Gable, Maureen A. Conroy

Communication Disorders & Special Education Faculty Publications

Functional behavioral assessment (FBA) of aggressive and negative behaviors that lead to suspension and expulsion is mandated for students with disabilities in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 1997. This legal requirement is problematic for many school districts as well as teacher preparation programs in that numerous barriers to effective application of FBA exist within our educational institutions. The present article discusses some of the major challenges school districts personnel face in implementing FBAs. A school improvement initiative, Success4, is presented to illustrate an approach that the state of Iowa is taking to overcome these challenges. Finally, …

An Assessment Of Coping And Outcome Experiences After Interpersonal Betrayal, Laurie L. Couch

Faculty Research at Morehead State University

A report submitted by Laurie L. Couch to the Research and Creative Productions Committee in 1999 on the process of coping with interpersonal betrayal.

Master Scheduling At Entiat High School: An Ethnography Of Process And Practice, Evelyn M. Barnes

All Graduate Projects

The purpose of this Master's Project was to participate in, observe, and describe the process of master schedule creation as experienced in Entiat High School, a small high school in central Washington state. Included is a discussion of the challenges and concerns of creating a master schedule in a small high school. A model procedure, which can be utilized to create the annual master schedule regardless of format, is presented as a cooperative approach. Ideas on retooling the master schedule especially as it is related to current educational reform and restructuring are presented.

A Literature Review Of Parental Involvement In Public Schools From 1994-1999, Barbara Gohl Keene

All Graduate Projects

The purpose of this project was to see how parental involvement affected student achievement and how educators could involve parents at the middle grades and junior/senior high levels. American families and our society have changed dramatically over the past twenty-five years. These changes have had exciting effects on educational processes in schools. It has become a challenge to involve parents in the educational process, especially during the middle, junior and senior high school years. Parents are far more involved in their children's early childhood education than in their later years of schooling (Pryor, 1995). Involvement drops off dramatically when children …

An Alternative Residential Education Program: An Evaluative Study, Marc A. Kincaid

All Graduate Projects

Schools today are trying to make an adaptation to accommodate all children and their disabilities. For many, the problem does not lie in a child's learning ability, but rather in their behavioral disability. According to its mission, The Ranch is committed to not only accommodating at-risk boys, but is trying to help them re-adjust and re-enter society with the skills necessary to function in every day life. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate The Ranch by examining the effectiveness of the program and its goals. Evaluation was done both Formatively and Summatively, through interviews and documentation. The researcher …

Grade Equivalents: Accuracy And Certainty Of Interpretations Among Parents, Teachers, And School Psychologists, Eric R. Smith

Masters Theses

Scores on standardized tests (e.g., Iowa Test of Basic Skills, Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children III, Wechsler Individual Achievement Test) can be represented by a number of different metrics. One of the ways scores can be represented is with grade equivalents, which tend to be popular with parents and teachers because they seem to be fairly easy to understand. However, several researchers have claimed that grade equivalents are often misinterpreted. Standard scores are viewed by many researchers as the superior type of derived score. However, standardized scores can be difficult to understand, particularly for individuals with little or no training …

An Investigation Of The Construct Validity Of The Children's Skills Test, Cynthia D. L. Ladd

Masters Theses

The Children's Skills Test (CST) is an aptitude and achievement test for children in grades Kindergarten through Nine, developed from the American School Psycho-Educational Assessment Battery (ASPAB). It is designed for home administration via the computer, and no examiner is present. At this time, no technical information has been released regarding the CST, nor has any research been published.

The Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (K-BIT) is a brief measure of general intelligence with sound technical properties. It is administered by an examiner. The K-BIT has been correlated with the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Third Edition (WISC-III), the most commonly …

The Construct Validity Of The Adjustment Scales For Children And Adolescents (Asca) And The Preschool And Kindergarten Behavior Scales (Pkbs), Jamie D. Rich

Masters Theses

The Adjustment Scales for Children and Adolescents (ASCA) and the Preschool and Kindergarten Behavior Scales (PKBS) are two relatively new behavior assessment scales that measure youth problem behavior. The ASCA is designed to be completed by the child's classroom teacher. The PKBS is designed to be completed by the child's teacher, parent, or day care provider. Both scales are unique and are considered to be technically adequate. Many of their syndromes/subscales and global scales/composites are similar in nature and description according to their respective manuals. No research, however, has been conducted establishing convergent evidence of construct validity between these two …

Alignment Of The Challenger Center Curriculum With The Washington State Essential Learning Requirements And The Use Of Multiple Intelligences, Shaila Donel Brookover

All Graduate Projects

The State ofWashington has recently adopted a set oflearning standards called the Essential Academic Learning Requirements. It is the intention of this Master's project to align the learning objectives of the Challenger Center curriculum with the Essential Academic Learning Requirements for Science, so that it may be used as a sixth and seventh grade enrichment opportunity. Itis also within the scope of this project to include Gardner's theory on multiple intelligence as an educational tool to improve student learning. It will be suggested that with the use of multiple intelligences and the integration of informal science learning experiences, students will …

A Model School Within A School Program For Chelan Middle School, Joseph B. Harris

All Graduate Projects

The purpose of this project was to develop a model school within a school program for at-risk students enrolled in grades 6 through 8 who are currently residing in the Lake Chelan School District, Chelan, Washington. To accomplish this purpose, current research and literature focused on altemative programs/schools and at risk students was reviewed. Additionally, related information from selected schools/districts throughout the state of Washington was obtained and analyzed regarding the formation of a new altemative school program. The school within a school will be evaluated on an ongoing, annual basis by participating administration, staff, and students.

An Educational Dilemma: To Touch Or Not To Touch, Ronald G. Jeffries

All Graduate Projects

The purpose of this study was to aid both pre-service and in-service teachers in solving the dilenuna of whether or not to touch students in the classroom environment. The harmful effects and consequences of the use of inappropriate touch by teachers, which tend to cause teachers and administrators to say, "Hands off!", were examined. However, numerous studies were researched which support the use of appropriate touch in teaching children. In addition, educators from fourteen schools in North Central Washington were surveyed to determine the consensus of whether or not teachers today continue to employ touch and for what purposes. The …

Elements Of A Successful Transitional Bilingual Program, Phillip J. Vasquez

All Graduate Projects

The issues related to bilingualism, and more specifically, to bilingual education have become part of the national rhetoric in the news media recently. Of primary concern is the question of whether bilingual education helps or hinders second language acquisition. This project focuses on the issue of bilingual education as an additive in second language acquisition in order to identify the most effective components of the bilingual education programs. The results of this project are compiled into a teachers handbook for meeting the challenge of effectively teaching the language minority student.

Using Bicycles As A Theme For A Cross-Curricular Literacy Program In A Secondary Alternative Setting, Synthia Parish-Duehn

All Graduate Projects

Practices in constructivist techniques in education and the application of thematic models were researched; the effect of motivation on learning was researched the connection between reading and writing was investigated, the link between vocabulary and reading ability was explored as well as the importance of schema and metacognition. A curriculum was designed using a theme, bicycles, based upon student interests. The curriculum implementation employed a cross-curricular, constructivist model. Research indicated that when reading instruction is delivered via a topic that the students have interest in and ownership of, the students become engaged in the instructional practice. Implications for curriculum design …

Does The Intermediate Booklet Category Test Discriminate Between Ld And Non-Ld Children?, Jo Anna Scheidler

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This study evaluated the effectiveness of the Intermediate Booklet Category Test (IBCT) at identifying LD children between the ages of 9 and 14. Thirty children were involved in the study: 15 with a previous diagnosis of LD and 15 with no diagnosis. All subjects were expected to have an IQ no less than 80. The IBCT was administered to all thirty children and their error score calculated. The means of the scores of the diagnosed and control groups were found to be statistically significant at the .05 level. Also, statistical significance was found between IQ and IBCT scores. While neurological …

Acer 1998-1999 Annual Report, Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

ACER Annual Reports

No abstract provided.

Critical Multiculturalism And The Globalization Of Capital: Some Implications For A Politics Of Resistance, Ramin Farahmandpur, Peter Mclaren

Educational Leadership and Policy Faculty Publications and Presentations

Despite the historic defeat of Marxism and constant attempts by so-called progressive educators to exorcize any residual Marxist discourse from the literature on multiculturalism, the contradictions of capital playing themselves out in the theater of contemporary social relations are beckoning Marx's spectre to return and further trouble those theories proclaiming that the "end of ideology" is upon us and that all we need to do in order to rescue humanity is to heed the clarion call of diversity. Too often overlooked in the debates over multiculturalism at present engulfing the academy are the myriad ways in which globalization is shaping …

Perceptions Of 4th And 6th Grade Students, Regarding Their Academic Abilities And Achievement, As Related To Participation In Distance Learning Using Interactive Television, Frances C. Stromsland

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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Test-Retest Reliability Of Individual Student Acquisition And Retention Rates As Measured By Instructional Assessment, Matthew K. Burns

Dissertations

Statement of the problem. Research on Instructional Assessment is in its infancy. To date, no studies regarding its psychometric properties have been published, but the need for using technically sound assessment methods is prominent in education. Therefore, demonstrated technical adequacy is crucial. The lack of psychometric data for Instructional Assessment is especially noteworthy since it is one of the few educational assessment techniques that includes assessment of performance and cognitive learning theory, both of which have been linked to improved student achievement.

Method. Ninety-six students from Grades 1, 3, and 5 were individually taught a series ofwords from …

Technology Partnership Curriculum Initiative: A Descriptive Case Study Of Its History, Development, And Implementation, Ingrid Wright-Jones

Dissertations

Problem

Curricular reform has a pathetic history. Curriculum documents, some of the major tools of reformers, have had a minor effect on transforming education because the power of pedagogy has been ignored (Cuban, 1993). Teachers in the Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) system voiced similar concerns about curriculum documents. Additionally, they felt that their 2-4-day in-service training did not adequately prepare them to implement curricular changes. This initiative, aimed at restructuring both the content and process of teaching, was to be implemented in a distance-learning pilot project in eight one-teacher schools.

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to: (1) define the …

A Study Of Elementary Teachers' Attitudes Toward Mathematics Instruction And Mathematics Teaching Methods Used In The Elementary Classroom, William Otis Lacefield Iii

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations (1964–2006)

This study involved an investigation of elementary (grades K-4) teachers' attitudes toward mathematics instruction and the mathematics teaching methods elementary teachers plan and implement in the classroom setting. The population consisted of 492 elementary teachers (grades K-4) currently teaching in the Bibb County, Georgia, Public School System. The sample represented a cluster sampling of the population and consisted of 90 elementary teachers currently teaching in six public elementary schools. One inner city school, four suburban schools, and one rural/semirural school were randomly selected. The research design used was a correlational design. The sets of data considered were elementary teachers' self-expressed …

Student And Teacher Perceptions Of A Season Of Sport Education In A Regional Primary School, J. G. Strikwerda-Brown

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

An interpretive case study approach was employed to examine student and teacher perceptions of the implementation of a sport education in physical education program (SEPEP) in a Western Australian regional primary school. Choi’s (1992) curriculum dimensions were used as a framework. Three year seven teachers implemented SEPEP using a team teaching approach. The focus teacher, Ms Jenson, a highly regarded classroom teacher, described herself as non-sporty and lacking confidence and expertise in PE teaching. Students in her SEPEP volleyball class were considered less popular and less athletic when compared with those in the other two SEPEP classes. A focus volleyball …

Notions Of Justice Through Drama, Elvira Sammut

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This paper explores and describes the lived-experience of a group of 16-year-old girls in a drama class designed to heighten awareness of values of social justice. The students involved are experienced drama students, with a good knowledge of the theory of role-play and play-making, as well as, sound dramatic skills and techniques. The lived-experience provided the source for the research study that used film as a medium to inculcate notions of justice and equity in the classroom through self-devised drama. Phenomenological research was conducted with a group of seventeen Year II drama students. The students took part in a series …

Students' With Learning Disabilities Perception Of Mnemonic Strategies In Mathematics Instruction, Susan C. Moore

Theses & Honors Papers

This was a qualitative as well as quantitative study conducted at a middle school in a rural county in Virginia. The researcher examined learning disabled students for their perceptions of mnemonic strategies in mathematics instruction. After direct instruction and instruction involving mnemonics, the seven subjects were tested. The test scores were examined to determine if there was a significant difference between pre and post scores. After interviewing the subjects, the results indicated five themes: unfamiliarity of procedure leads to anxiety, mnemonics improves performance, students desire more mnemonic strategies, division and other multi-step problems are the most difficult, and an increase …

The Relationship Of Reading Recovery Teachers' Efficacy To Length Of Service And School System Support, M. Louise Moon

Dissertations

Existing research results directly relate teachers’ efficacy to student outcomes and to continuing staff development and school context; however, little work has been done to investigate these relationships for Reading Recovery teachers. Reading Recovery (RR) is an early intervention program designed to assist first grade children who are having difficulty learning to read and write. This program requires ongoing staff development and an implementation plan designed to provide appropriate school context; therefore, survey data were collected from Reading Recovery teachers to study relationships between teacher efficacy and (a) their length of service in Reading Recovery and (b) support for RR …

Codebook: The Lsay 1996 School Survey Technical Paper No. 12, Stephen Lamb

LSAY Technical Reports

Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth is a program of surveys of young people conducted by ACER with funding from the Commonwealth Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs. The surveys focus on the education and labour market experiences of groups of young Australians, beginning from their middle years of secondary schooling. Data collected include basic demographic variables, as well as information about educational and labour force participation extending over a number of years. The school survey Students participating in LSAY were originally sampled in 1995 from 298 schools nationally. In 1996 the schools from which the original sample of …

Volume 12, Number 01, Don Forrester Editor

Reaching Through Teaching

Full text of Volume 12, Number 01 of Reaching Through Teaching.