Digital Commons Network^™

Planning And Implementing A Successful Nsa-Nsf Gencyber Summer Cyber Academy, Bryson R. Payne, Tamirat Abegaz, Keith Antonia

Journal of Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

The GenCyber program is jointly sponsored by the National Security Agency (NSA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) to help faculty and cybersecurity experts provide summer cybersecurity camp experiences for K-12 students and teachers. The main objective of the program is to attract, educate, and motivate a new generation of young men and women to help address the nationwide shortage of trained cybersecurity professionals. The curriculum is flexible and centers on ten cybersecurity first principles. Currently, GenCyber provides cyber camp options for three types of audiences: students, teachers, and a combination of both teachers and students. In 2016, over 120 …

Teacher Knowledge And Selection Of Evidence-Based Practices: A Survey Study, Maria B. Sciuchetti, John W. Mckenna, Andrea L. Flower

Journal of Vincentian Social Action

Federal legislation and state and local policies mandate the use of evidence-based practices (EBPs) and aim to improve the quality of education for all students. Federal mandates (No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001) coupled with teacher training requirements and the need for identifying effective practices for use with students with and without disabilities, highlight the need for teachers to not only implement EBPs but to identify such practices for implementation. The passage of NCLB marked the first time in education that the use of scientific research to inform instructional decisions was mandated.

The Role Of The Secondary Principal As A Transformational Leader In High Performing, Project Based Learning Schools In California, Daniel P. Ching

Dissertations

ABSTRACT

The Role of the Secondary Principal as a Transformational Leader in High Performing, Project Based Learning Schools in California

by Daniel Ching

Purpose: California (CA) schools are facing increased pressure to implement new content standards and perform well on the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP). The new standards focus on higher level thinking skills, technology, and skills that cross multiple content areas. These expectations are aligned with project based learning (PBL) as an instructional model. However, there are very few models for PBL schools that are considered high performing. To implement PBL in high schools requires …

Differentiating Instruction Through Math Stations And Literacy Centers, Olivia Bates

Faculty Curated Undergraduate Works

Differentiating instruction based on students’ readiness, interests, and learning profiles is essential for creating effective and meaningful learning activities. Identifying these characteristics allows teachers to meet students’ needs and engage them in learning. By differentiating instruction, educators target specific students’ strengths and challenges in developing lessons to support their understanding of content. Two useful strategies for differentiating math and literacy instruction include stations and centers. In stations and centers, students work on specific skills catered to their educational needs while rotating activities in flexible groups. This guide supports teachers in identifying strategies and understanding the benefits of differentiating math and …

Tempered Experience: The Educational Foundation Of Democratic Ideology, Nicholas J. Schwarm

Philosophy Undergraduate

Democracy is a political ideology, one that requires a person to believe in that ideology for it to exist. The contemporary political landscape is dominated by democracies, and for this reason we need to understand how to build and sustain Them. There needs to be a well educated populace of citizens, who are able to engage in democratic actions, and aid the community. What they need is tempered experience, experience that is understood though the knowledge that a citizen already has.

Bgsu Minecraft Initiative Website, Jacob Gusching

Honors Projects

A website for the BGSU Minecraft Initiative, a program that uses Minecraft as an educational tool to engage younger students to learn. This website is a communication tool to showcase the work of BGSU students and to spread the knowledge and lesson to plans to interested parties.

New Languages Of Schooling: Ethnicity, Education And Equality In Nepal, Uma Pradhan

HIMALAYA, the Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies

Mother-tongue education has remained a controversial issue in Nepal. Scholars, activists and policy-makers have, on the one hand, favored mother-tongue education from the standpoint of social justice. Against these views, others have identified this as predominantly groupist in its orientation and not helpful in an imagination of a unified national community. Taking this contention as a point of inquiry, this paper aims to explore the contested space of mother-tongue education to understand the ways in which people position themselves within the polarizing debates of ethnicity-based claims on education in Nepal. Drawing from the ethnographic fieldwork in mother-tongue education school, in …

America Reads-Mississippi/Americorps Reading Program's Impact On Mississippi Community College Attendance, Charity Yarbrough

Theses and Dissertations

Since the inception of AmeriCorps programs, reading, education and civic engagement has been emphasized in a large portion of the United States. Members enlist to serve schools and communities for 1 year, possibly 2. Upon completion of a member’s year(s) of service an education award is given which can be used to attend a community college, university or repay student loans. This study showed how AmeriCorps/America Reads programs partnered with community colleges and universities which recruited members to volunteer at school sites and community centers tutoring students in classrooms to improve reading, grades, engage in community service activities, use education …

Relationships Of Home, Student, School, And Classroom Variables With Mathematics Achievement, Roslyn B. Miller

Theses and Dissertations

This study used the TIMSS 2011 International Database to investigate predictors of 8th-grade mathematics achievement across three countries that represent a wide range of cultures and levels of mathematics achievement: Chinese Taipei, Ghana, and the United States. A review of literature on predictors of mathematics achievement yielded variables in four major contexts of learning—a student’s home, beliefs, school, and classroom. The variables of home that were investigated are home possessions for learning, parent education, and parents’ expectations and involvement in their children’s education. The variables of student beliefs were self-confidence in mathematics and the value of mathematics. The variables of …

From Common Core To Charter: The Economic Remedy To Nc Education, Hunter B. Winstead

Senior Honors Theses

Although numerous factors contribute to the decline of North Carolina’s economic prosperity, one of the most prevalent is the waste that occurs through the ineffective funding of education. In the last century, this system has become progressively centralized and bureaucratized which restricts the presence of diversity and hinders economic choice. The purest evidence of this movement is demonstrated through the state’s adoption of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), an initiative designed to serve as a basis for federal entanglement in education. Proponents of CCSS claimed that the system would accomplish a variety of rigorous educational goals; however, none of …

Task Persistence: A Potential Mediator Of The Income-Achievement Gap, Sara S. Whipple, Christine K. Genero, Gary W. Evans

Journal of Applied Research on Children: Informing Policy for Children at Risk

Background: The pervasive gap in achievement among impoverished children has been investigated primarily in terms of parental investments, specifically parent to child speech and other forms of cognitive stimulation (e.g., toys, print materials). This research extends that literature by considering the role of a non-cognitive factor, namely task persistence, in the income-achievement gap. Using task persistence as the hypothesized mediator, duration of childhood in poverty is used to predict two educational variables - perceived academic competence and educational attainment. Although bivariate relationships between each of the variables have been demonstrated in past research, a full model linking task persistence with …

Students' Explanations In Complex Learning Of Disciplinary Programming, Camilo Vieira

Open Access Dissertations

Computational Science and Engineering (CSE) has been denominated as the third pillar of science and as a set of important skills to solve the problems of a global society. Along with the theoretical and the experimental approaches, computation offers a third alternative to solve complex problems that require processing large amounts of data, or representing complex phenomena that are not easy to experiment with. Despite the relevance of CSE, current professionals and scientists are not well prepared to take advantage of this set of tools and methods. Computation is usually taught in an isolated way from engineering disciplines, and therefore, …

Stronger Together: The Reality Of Humanities Curriculum In A Stem Focused Era, Morgan Dalton

Honors Theses

The world of education is constantly changing. However, the way the pendulum is currently swinging has placed the Humanities, what has been seen as the framework since ancient times, under attack. Currently, that pendulum has become predominately focused on STEM education, and many budget cuts are being made to any part of the curriculum that does not fall under that category. This is not only seen in college and the job market, but in K-12 education. Pre-service teachers focusing on a STEM subject are often offered more incentives. Many college bound students are also shying away from the arts, especially …

Preparation For Collegiate Music Theory And Aural Skills Through Repertoire, Caroline E. Dunmire

Senior Honors Theses

Music majors often struggle in first-year music theory and aural skills coursework. These struggles have lead to increased dropout rates among music students. Even those students who succeed in music theory course work often are not able to apply theory concepts to music literature. Some universities have identified this problem and sought to rectify it through offering remedial course work, however the universities should not bear this burden. Success in theory and aural skills is linked to mastery of music fundamentals and basic aural skills. Pre-college studies should focus on these subjects and not place too much emphasis on advanced …

Flipping The Classroom In Business And Education One-Shot Sessions: A Research Study, Madeline Cohen, Jennifer Poggiali, Alison Lehner-Quam, Robin Wright, Rebecca K. West

Publications and Research

In response to the challenge of maximising the effectiveness of one-shot information literacy (IL) sessions, library faculty at Lehman College experimented with the flipped classroom model. This research paper reports the results of a multi-semester quantitative study of the flipped classroom in business management and education one-shot sessions. Researchers explored two research questions: Do students in a flipped session demonstrate greater knowledge before their session than students in a control session? and Do flipped and control students demonstrate significant, positive improvement in knowledge after their session? The researchers used pre- and post-tests to evaluate two crucial aspects of the flipped …

Using Academic And Learning Analytics To Explore Student Success In An Online Graduate Program In Communication, Megan N. Bergman

Open Access Theses

Fueled by the increase in data associated with the use of learning management systems, scholars and practitioners alike have been trying to explain and predict student success; yet the use of data analytic methods (academic and learning analytics) in higher education has created challenges and shortcomings for those who wish to adopt learning and academic analytics practices for their institution or program. Very little is known about either online education, particularly in the field of communication, as well as in online graduate and professional degree programs in any field from a learning and academic analytics perspective. This work reviews the …

Lightcraft Previzion In Distance Education, Perry L. Cox

Open Access Theses

Visual Effects has continued to progress at an astonishing rate and green screen technology can be seen in all aspects of the video industry from Hollywood blockbusters down to training videos and distance education.

As video technology has increased, so has the quality and capability of distance education. Purdue University has set itself to be at the forefront of distance education. This study looked to evaluate Purdue's investment in the Lightcraft Technology's Previzion system and its impact on distance education at Purdue. There were 65 initial participants and this study compared the impact of two separate videos on their learning. …

Conceptual Understanding Of Threshold Concepts Of Electrical Phenomena: Mental Models Of Senior Undergraduates In Electrical Engineering, Mark T. Carnes

Open Access Dissertations

Every field of study has a set of domain-specific concepts that anyone who desires to work in that field must know and understand. Most students who pursue university degrees in engineering trust that their education is designed to provide them with this knowledge. But does it? In electrical engineering (EE), conceptual understanding of electrical phenomena has rarely been addressed. Even though the presumed goal of instructors and students alike is to learn the concepts of electrical phenomena well enough to be able to use the concepts to design useful things, it is difficult to determine whether this goal is being …

Authentic Science In Education: Studies In Course-Based Research At The United States Military Academy, Anthony M. Chase

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation consists of two studies at the United States Military Academy. Both studies involve the use of Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs). These experiences give students the ability to engage in undergraduate research at an early point in their academic career by replacing traditional laboratory activities with semester-long research projects. Both studies show an implementation of this type of instruction from the Center for Authentic Science Practice in Education (CASPiE). Study 1 shows the specific method of implementation at the military academy and explores learning-based outcomes. Primarily the outcome of critical thinking is demonstrated. Critical thinking is a construct …

The Association Between Tolerance For Ambiguity And Fear Of Negative Evaluation: A Study Of Engineering Technology Capstone Courses, Sergey I. Dubikovsky

Open Access Dissertations

For many students in engineering and engineering technology programs in the US, senior capstone design courses require students to form a team, define a problem, and find a feasible technical solution to address this problem. Students must integrate the knowledge and skills acquired during their studies at the college or university level. These truly integrative design activities do not have a single “correct” solution. Instead, there is an array of solutions, many of which could be used to achieve the final result. This ambiguity can cause students to experience anxiety during the projects.

This study examined the main topics: • …

Race, Class And Gender In Engineering Education: A Quantitative Investigation Of First Year Enrollment, Canek Moises Luna Phillips

Open Access Dissertations

Research explanations for the disparity across both race and gender in engineering education has typically relied on a deficit model, whereby women and people of color lack the requisite knowledge or psychological characteristics that Whites and men have to become engineers in sufficient numbers. Instead of using a deficit model approach to explain gender and race disparity, in the three studies conducted for this dissertation, I approach gender and race disparity as the result of processes of segregation linked to the historic and on-going perpetuation of systemic sources of oppression in the United States. In the first study, I investigate …

Factors Influencing Teacher Instructional Practice In Mathematics When Participating In Professional Development, William S. Walker Iii

Open Access Dissertations

In this research, I investigated teachers’ interpretations of the goals of professional development and factors that contributed to enacted instructional practices. A multiple-case study design was used to examine the interpretations of four high school teachers participating in a year-long professional development program with a standards-based framework for mathematics education. Data collection included information about the professional development program, the intended and enacted curriculum (Stein et al., 2007), the teachers’ interpretations of the professional development goals, and context factors that influenced instructional planning and implementation. The data were used to create a description of the professional development, a case study …

An Empirical Study Of Earnings Of Immigrants And Native-Born Americans In The U.S. Labor Market Given Different Levels Of Educational Attainment, Yuli P. Gomez Bravo

Applied Economics Theses

This paper will compare the Lifetime wage earnings of immigrants and native-born citizens in the U.S. for the years 2000-2010 according to educational attainment using cross-sectional data. The data obtained through IPUMS-CPS Integrated Public Use of Microdata Series, University of Minnesota. The findings of investment in Human Capital of Mincer (1958), the Immigrants earnings distribution of Chiswick and Miller (2006), the Pareto’s law of income distribution, and the immigrants investment in human capital model by Duleep and Regets (1999) are the theoretical basis in which this study will be ruled. The empirical evidence suggests that immigrants who invest in education …

Preschool Intervention Programs Addressing The School Readiness Gap For Poor-To-Low-Income Children Entering Kindergarten, Marizela Soria

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Over the last several decades, studies using quantitative and qualitative research methods have produced positive effects on children’s learning and behavioral development. These effects vary in size and lasting effect depending on the type of program implemented. Current public policies for child care, Head Start, and state pre-K do not ensure that most American children will attend a highly effective preschool program. In actuality, a striking amount of children attend weak programs and many others attend no program at all. These fall backs in attendance are mainly associated with children in poverty-to-low-income households, (Barnett, 2008). Data supports that early childhood …

Exploring Community Primary Teachers’ Experiences In The Generalist Based Teaching Subject Allocations. The Case Of Two Schools In Newala Urban, Ahmad Awadh Mussa

Master of Education

The approaches to allocating subjects to primary school teachers in Tanzania have been affected with the changes in the systems of instruction between the generalist and specialist systems. While the prevailing approach to subject allocations is based in the generalist system, the presence of both specialist and generalist teachers in schools have made those teachers experience varying associated feelings, challenges, and ways to address those challenges. This study explores these experiences of teachers by first creating an understanding, strengths and weaknesses of each system before examining teachers’ views regarding the more ideal approach to subject allocations. Data was collected using …

Learners‟ Conceptual Understanding And Misconceptions Of Fractions In Primary Schools In Amuria District Local Government, Uganda, Erumu Simon Peter

Master of Education

Fractions are a core part of the mathematics curriculum, important in their own right and also as a building block to more advanced topics. There is clear evidence, however, that the teaching and learning of fractions pose a challenge to many teachers and learners in primary schools the world over, with a number of common misconceptions resulting in persistent errors in learners‟ work. If these errors are not addressed at their early stages, it becomes a challenge to address them. In this study a sample of 20 Ugandan primary 5 and 6 children were given 7 additional lessons on fractions …

The Readiness Of Rural Government Secondary Schools In Uganda To Teach Information And Communication Technology (Ict) As A Dedicated Subject On The Curriculum: A Case Study Of Two Schools In Yumbe District, Baiga Solomon

Master of Education

This study sought to establish the readiness of two rural government secondary schools in Uganda to teach Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as a dedicated subject on the curriculum as part of the effort to equip the students with the necessary skills necessary for them to be able to access the benefits of ICTs both for enhancing their education and also for enabling them to fit and work successfully in an increasingly ICT- driven world. This qualitative study involved two schools in the rural district of Yumbe, in West Nile, Northern Uganda. The findings of this study suggest that schools …

Digital Citizenship In 21st Century Education, Aimee Green Logan

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

Recent Federal Government initiatives have affected equitable public school funding, which prevents many schools from becoming compliant with the California Common Core Standards. Presently, public schools in California must adopt Common Core State standards, which require the integration of technology within the classroom, however, there are no specific standards and or guidelines within the CCCS that address how students should safely conduct themselves online. This has left students and teachers unprepared to adequately support the growing needs of students online, especially without standards addressing digital literacy. Students who go online face cyberbullying, predatory contact, identity theft and other consequences that …

Examining The Influence Of Number Line Fraction Task Characteristics On Student Work, Sharlee Hatch

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Research supports the claim that classrooms with teachers who respond to student thinking in the mathematics classroom will see greater student gains and student success (Lamon, 1996; Sleep & Boerst, 2012). The topic of fractions is both difficult to teach and learn, but has important implications on future success in mathematics and in life. This study set out to explore the ways in which student work is influenced by characteristics of number line fraction tasks. By examining task type, number line structure, and number choice this study shares the way these task characteristics influenced student strategies. The relationship between task …

Immigrant Students: Attitudes And Perceptions Towards Education, Dayana Rangel

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This research studied the attitudes and perceptions towards education in foreign-born and first-generation immigrant students enrolled at California State University, Monterey Bay (CSUMB). Data was collected through an online survey that used original questions by the researcher as well as modified questions from The Center for Applied Research in Education, and the 2004 National Survey of Latinos: Education (PHC, 2004). Concepts from the Cultural Ecological Theory developed by John Ogbu were applied to this project as it explores the academic performance among immigrant students (voluntary minority). According to Ogbu, voluntary minorities have a pragmatic and optimistic attitude towards schooling (Ogbu …