Digital Commons Network^™

The Impact Of A Mathematics Research Experience On Teachers' Conceptions Of Student Learning, Todd Abel

Doctoral Dissertations

Many mathematics teacher professional development programs have either incorporated or been organized around a goal of providing "research-like" (Cuoco, 2001) experiences. That is, teachers participate in a project that somehow simulates the mathematics research process. Though some research studies have shown positive outcomes from such programs, researchers have cautioned against assuming universally positive benefits without sufficient evidence (Proulx and Bednarz, 2001). Teacher conceptions of student learning play an important role in lesson development and preparation for classroom work (Penso & Shoham, 2003). Similarities between the processes of mathematics research and student learning (Dreyfus, 1991) beg the question of whether experience …

Educator Perceptions Of Policies That May Impact Black Male High School Persistence, L Antonio Henley

Doctoral Dissertations

This study purposed to identify educators' perceptions about the academic state of Black males, explore the influence of policies on Black males' high school persistence, and examine differences in educator perceptions with regards to the impact of education policies on African American males. Findings indicate that educators believe that Black males are doing poorly academically and educators are concerned about the academic progress of Black males. Also, educators do not to believe that the majority of policies identified in this research have any significant impact on the high school persistence of Black males. Further, there are significant differences in educators' …

Navigating The Cultural Gaps: Whiteness And Diversity In Two Elementary School Classrooms, Rachel Parse Johnson

Doctoral Dissertations

This study asked how two white, in-service elementary school teachers within the context of their classrooms navigated the cultural gaps between themselves and students from whom they differed (e.g. racially, ethnically, socio-economically, and/or linguistically). Three sub-questions examined: 1) what life experiences shaped how the teachers understood difference and diversity within their classrooms; 2) what system(s) of beliefs the teachers learned and constructed through those experiences; and 3) what identities the teachers assumed and/or assigned to themselves and their students. The study employed a sociocultural theoretical framework. Ethnographic data collection strategies included participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and material collection. Discourse analysis …

Parent And Teacher Perceptions Of School Partnerships In New Hampshire Schools, Brenda J. Zarnowski

Doctoral Dissertations

This quantitative, descriptive study assessed parent and teacher perceptions of the extent to which exemplary school-family-community partnership practices were being implemented at elementary and secondary schools within the state of New Hampshire. The teacher and parent participants were organized into four paired groups and were asked to indicate the frequency with which activities, that exemplify Epstein's six types of school-family-community partnership practices, were utilized at their respective schools to determine whether significant differences exist among teachers' and parent's perceptions of partnership program implementation.

The sample for this study was drawn from forty two elementary and secondary public schools across the …

A Doctoral Thesis Examining Change In A Hei In Ireland: Changing Universities And The Response Of Academics To Change In The Dublin Institute Of Technology, Kevin Kelly

Books/Book chapters

This is doctoral thesis undertaken by an experienced academic in the Engineering Faculty of a Higher Education Institute in Ireland. It examines the demand for universities to change in response to a fast changing external environment. This research explores how stakeholders are responding to the demands for change and how a bureaucratic organisation is attempting to become more responsive and innovative.

President's Report, 2010, University Of Montana (Missoula, Mont.). Office Of The President

University of Montana President’s Report, 1993-2016

The President’s Report of the University of Montana, produced by University Relations on behalf of the President’s Office.

Examining The Relationship Between Early College Credit And Higher Education Achievement Of First-Time Undergraduate Students In South Texas, Carl A. Saltarelli Ph.D.

Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education

The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between early college credit and the success of first-time undergraduate students in South Texas. Many high school graduates are entering college with credits earned while they were enrolled in high school. Researchers have examined the value of early college credit in easing students’ transition from high school to college. Additionally, researchers have investigated the value of early college credit in enhancing students’ early college persistence rates. This researcher focused on the relationships between early college credit and college student achievement of first-time undergraduate students. In the study, student achievement was …

Co-Teaching Beliefs To Support Inclusive Education: Survey Of Relationships Between General And Special Educators In Inclusive Classes, Ida Malian Ph.D., Erin Mcrae

Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education

Co-teaching is a prevalent approach to providing effective instruction in inclusive classes. The purpose of this study was to determine teachers’ perceptions of compatibility and discrepancy between their approaches to teaching, personal characteristics and efficacy of co-teaching. Noonan’s Co-teacher Relationship Scale was adapted to survey the co-teachers statewide. Results of the statewide survey of Arizona general and special educators teaching in inclusive classes are presented as they relate to their responses. Various aspects of co-teaching relationships and teacher implementation of co-teaching models are discussed. The authors derive attributes of co-teachers in Arizona that indicate compatibility and sustainability of co-teaching arrangements. …

What Teachers Wish Administrators Knew About Co-Teaching In High Schools, Geraldine M. Nierengarten Ph.D., Trudie Hughes

Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education

This article presents the results of individual and focus group interviews with the co-teaching partner teachers comprised of general and special educators. In particular, the analysis reveals the teachers’ perceptions regarding what principals need to know and understand to support co-teaching in their schools. The co-teaching teams identified the following factors as important for the success of co-teaching in a high school classroom: teacher training, administrator training, compatibility, planning time, student schedules, natural proportions, respect and value for the teaching assignment, administrative support, and professional development. The teams also identified student and teacher benefits from participating in a co-taught classroom.

A Qualitative Study Of Tribal Colleges And Universities That Have Transitioned: From Two-Year Associate Degree Granting Institutions To Targeted Four-Year Bachelor Degree Granting Institutions, Lynette Kay Chandler

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to analyze how tribal colleges and Universities have transitioned from two-year associate degree granting institutions to offering four-year bachelor degree granting institutions. This case study includes three tribal colleges: Sitting Bull College, Salish Kootenai College and Turtle Mountain Community College. These colleges were selected to provide a solid cross section of the ten TCUs that have developed four-year degree programs while keeping the research bounded by the Northwest boundary of the United States. This research was framed by the central question: What is the process that selected two year associate degree offering …

The Pipeline Project: Trajectories Of Classroom Behaviour And Academic Progress : A Study Of Student Engagement With Learning, Max Angus, Tim Mcdonald, Chris Ormond, Rudy Rybarcyk, Anthea Taylor, Anne Winterton

Research outputs pre 2011

The Pipeline Project addresses three questions concerning the relationship between the classroom behaviour of students and their academic performance. First, to what extent does classroom behaviour explain why students fall behind and fail to meet acceptable standards in literacy and numeracy; second, if student classroom behaviour does influence academic performance, what forms of classroom behaviour are of most significance; and third, are the students whose behaviour has contributed to their underperformance in literacy and numeracy likely to ever catch up?

The Impact Of Education In Guatemala, Devin Redmond

Honors Capstones

The focus of this project will be to scrutinize the world of Guatemalan culture, and explore the impact education is currently having, as well as the impact it will have in the future. A secondary focus will be to shed light on what life is like in areas where formal education currently does not exist, and the societal and economic impact it has on those affected. With an emphasis on and explanation of specific current efforts to reform education in the poorest areas in Guatemala, this project will describe education as an agent for breaking the cycle of poverty. This …

Soviet Education: Communism In The Classroom, Alison W. Berryman

Honors Theses

My thesis examines the Soviet Union’s educational system during Stalin’s rule. It proves that the goal of the Soviet educational system in the 1920s and 1930s was to instill strong Communist loyalty from a very early age and to expedite the process of industrialization by educating future workers in “socially useful” labor.

The Significance Of Learning Style With Respect To Achievement In First Year Programming Students, Vivian Campbell, Michael Johnstone

Research outputs pre 2011

Study investigates the relationship between the Kolb learning style of first-year programming students and their level of achievement. The method of data collection is described and the process of hypothesis testing is explained. The students in this study were predominately converger and accommodator learning styles. Statistical tests indicated no overall difference between the results of students with different learning styles but a difference was found along Kolb's concrete-abstract axis. A number of possible impacts on teaching are discussed and suggestions made for future research.

Inclusive Education Training: Steps To Prosperity, Saima Khalid

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

No abstract provided.

Evaluation Of Arabic Language Textbooks For The Second Cycle Of The Basic Education In Sultanate Of Oman In The Light Of The Modern Educational Standards., Said Saif Salem Al-Amri

Student Works (2010-2019)

This study aims to evaluate Arabic language textbooks in the second cycle of the Basic Education, in Sultanate of Oman in the light of textbooks educational standards, and Arabic language standards. To achieve these aims, a list of textbook educational standards was set up together with a list of Arabic language standards in the second cycle of the basic education. Both lists have been approved by a panel of referees and developed into tow questionnaires. The instruments were applied to a stratified random sample of teachers and supervisors and then tested by using the (Holsti) formula for insuring the reliability. …

Teaching Resources In Speleology And Karst: A Valuable Educational Tool, Jo De Waele

International Journal of Speleology

There is a growing need in the speleological community of tools that make teaching of speleology and karst much easier. Despite the existence of a wide range of major academic textbooks, often the caver community has a difficult access to such material. Therefore, to fill this gap, the Italian Speleological Society, under the umbrella of the Union International de Spéléologie, has prepared a set of lectures, in a presentation format, on several topics including geology, physics, chemistry, hydrogeology, mineralogy, palaeontology, biology, microbiology, history, archaeology, artificial caves, documentation, etc. These lectures constitute the “Teaching Resources in Speleology and Karst”, available online. …

Teaching Teachers And Students About The Nature Of Science, Nelofer Halai

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

This article advocates the teaching about the nature of science to both pupils in schools and teachers in teacher education institutions in Pakistan. Not knowing about science; teachers tend to continue to teach science as fixed knowledge and not as inquiry and this cycle continues. This cycle needs to be broken. This article first discusses the salient features about the concept of the nature of science and then illustrates these ideas with the help of a simple but a powerful activity which could be used both with teacher educators and pupils in secondary and lower secondary classrooms.

The Relationship Between Learning Styles And Nursing Students' Satisfaction With Online Education, Jamie L. Meyers

Master's Theses and Capstones

A descriptive correlation study was conducted to investigate the relationship between nursing students' satisfaction with online education and their preferred learning style. Eighty-nine nursing students from a Northeast university completed the Visual (V), Auditory (A), Read/Write (R), and Kinesthetic (K), (VARK) learning style inventory tool, Online Course Satisfaction Survey (OCSS) and demographic questionnaire. Findings revealed an overall 67% satisfaction rate with online education but dissatisfaction in the areas of communication and interaction. The study showed the majority of nursing students possess the combination of all four learning preferences, VARK. No statistical significant relationship between a student's learning style and satisfaction …

Partnership Between Myth And Reality : Structural Asymmetries In Parent-Teacher Relationships, Marisa Bel Holtz

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Despite a historically unprecedented increase in advocacy for parental involvement in education in recent decades, parents continue to express dissatisfaction with their communication with teachers, while teachers continue to identify their interactions with parents as a source of tension and stress. While the practitioner literature recommends parent-teacher collaboration as an attainable goal, the theoretical literature suggests that, given the structural asymmetries of parent-teacher relationships, open communication may be impossible. Via unstructured interviews with parents and teachers of suburban secondary students, this study explored the structural limitations on authentic parent-teacher communication. A two-layered analytic approach combined thematic analysis and narrative discourse …

Enhancing Literacy Among Rural, Work-Oriented Youth : A Cultural Analysis, Marta Kliger Albert

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This dissertation focuses on educational reform in New York State in relation to two policies that I term "dual reform." The 1996 Regents graduation policy required all students to participate in the college-prep curriculum and attain a Regents diploma, while the 2001 Career and Technical Education (CTE) policy promoted integrative approaches to teach academic topics within CTE. The central study questions were: How has literacy reform been constituted in relation to CTE within two rural communities? How does CTE enable and constrain youth literacy learning and development?

"We Do Not See Things As They Are. We See Things As We Are." : Capturing The Transformation Of Career Changing Women From Stem Fields To Teaching, Catherine Snyder

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This qualitative study tracks the journeys of four career changing women in STEM fields as they pursue a Master of Arts in Teaching degree and transition into teaching positions. Through analysis of archived writing, journaling, photo elicitation, interviews and member-checking, the study analyzes participants' thinking and learning at the beginning of their entrance into graduate school through to their second year of teaching. Using Mezirow's Transformative Learning Theory, the study focuses on the challenges faced by the women, the catalysts for change, the durability of lessons learned in the teaching program and their degree of contentment with their decision given …

The Boys Like Action And The Girls Like Emotion, Timothy Lintner

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Mentoring In Teacher Education: Building Nurturing Contexts And Teaching Communities For Rural Primary School Teachers In Sindh, Pakistan, Nilofar Vazir, Rakhshinda Meher

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

This paper examines how mentoring can improve the performance and level of teacher education in Pakistan, especially in rural areas. It presents a qualitative case study that focuses on two teachers from rural Sindh; one male and the other female. These teachers were participants in the Mentoring Program at the Aga Khan University – Institute for Educational Development (AKU-IED). Data was collected through participant observations, from structured and unstructured interviews, in the classroom and the field, and from reflective journals. The program focused on reconceptualizing the role of these teachers as mentors, developing relevant skills through critical thinking and reflective …

Meaningful Measurement: Is Fluency A Valid And Reliable Measure Of Reading Progress For Struggling Adolescent Readers? Examining The Efficacy Of Pearson's Aimsweb For Struggling Adolescent Readers, Elizabeth A. York

Master's Theses and Capstones

A growing body of research draws into question the validity and reliability of measurements of fluency as indicators of literacy growth for older, struggling readers (Paris, Carpenter, Paris and Hamilton, 2005; Scammacca, Roberts, Vaughn, Edwards & Torgesen, 2007; Yovanoff, Duesbery, Alonzo & Tindal, 2005). Nevertheless, many high schools utilize such measures. This study examines the validity and reliability of Pearson's AIMSweb as a tool for assessing the literacy development of 17 9th grade students with special education identifications. Evidence from this study draws into question the reliability and validity of AIMSweb measures for this population. Additional research with a larger …

Border Pedagogy And The Acculturation Of Korean Students In U.S. Institutions Of Highereducation, Randy Green

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study aimed at identifying learning and teaching strategies that can promote the process of acculturation for Korean students in institutions of higherEducation in the United States. In particular, the study attempted to pinpoint ways in which these students and their instructors can become aware of and resistEducational tendencies and approaches that promote hegemony and devalue cultural perspectives and experiences as well as construct meaning within the context of a worldview that is influenced by both Korean and U.S. cultures. It was hoped that the identification of these skills and strategies would aid both students and instructors in developing the …

Study Of The Lasting Effects Of Attending: A Leadershape Program, Daniel J. Stoker

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This exploratory study investigated the long-term learning resulting from participation in a LeaderShape program. The research examined LeaderShape graduates‘ current practices and definitions of leadership to see if they remain consistent with the program‘s learning goals. Graduates with five or more years since attendance were studied to provide a separation of time for the social experience to dissipate and to allow for possible application of the material beyond a collegiate setting. An electronic survey was distributed to 1,399 LeaderShape graduates who attended a national session between 1986 and 2004, resulting in 207 (14.8%) responses. Quantitative questions were analyzed utilizing SPSS …

Evaluation Of Admissions Criteria And Practices With Regards To Successful Online Learning Styles And Characteristics, Karen A. Magner

Theses and Dissertations

This study evaluated admissions criteria and practices with regards to characteristics that lead to success in an online learning environment. The study had three main objectives: (a) to examine successful online learning styles and characteristics, (b) to examine current admissions practices of graduate, four-year, degree-granting academic programs that are nearly fully online and delivered in a hybrid mode of delivery, combing synchronous and asynchronous course activities, and (c) to examine whether there was any evidence that schools offering online graduate programs are considering the characteristics of successful online learning when assessing students for admission. The study sample consisted of 50 …

Welcome, Patricia R. Renick Ph.D.

Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education

Welcome to the Spring/Summer 2010 edition of the Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education.

This issue contains research into the planning, communication, and collaboration necessary for successful inclusion efforts.

Dr. Ida Malian provides us with a study that explores Co-Teaching as a means of providing for the needs of exceptional learners.

Dr. Vance Austin also explores this topic of co-teaching in a middle school as a means of including students with special needs.

Dr. Carl Saltarelli discusses the relationship between early college credit and higher achievement with undergraduate students.

Dr. Richard Mehrenberg provides a qualitative investigation into the process of redesigning …

Response To Intervention: Right On Track, Charmion B. Rush, Nicole Dobbins Ph.D., Stephanie A. Kurtts Ph.D.

Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education

The purpose of response to intervention, or RTI, is founded on the premise that, with data-based decision making and evidence- based practices, children who otherwise may have been identified with a mild educational disability will receive early instructional intervention and thus have the opportunity to remain with their peers in general education settings. For RTI to be successful, educational professionals need to have the core building blocks for implementation. A comprehensive RTI plan integrates academic interventions with behavioral supports to catch struggling learners early. Identification models that include RTI may lead to better achievement and behavior outcomes for all students. …