Education Commons^™

Brain-Compatible Study Strategies, Lori Desautels

Lori Desautels

Driving my 15-year-old daughter home from cross country, I asked her where she learned to study. She replied, "Mom, I have never been taught how to study, we just do it because teachers have way too much to teach! They assume we know, and Cornell Notes are their idea of teaching us how to study!" I thought about this conversation and began to create a template that can hopefully assist students to organize, plan and create capacity in their working memories to learn content for the long term.

Below is a brief, simply-stated template on study skills for fifth grade …

Brain Labs: A Place To Enliven Learning, Lori Desautels

Lori Desautels

Although emotion and cognition originate in different parts of the brain, they interact and play a powerful role in learning and memory. According to neuroscientists like Eric Jensen, priming the brain for particular states of engagement -- such as curiosity, intrigue, surprise, suspense, a bit of confusion, skepticism, and the feeling of safety -- prepares the mind to learn. Furthermore, incorporating emotion into our instruction and content supports long-term memory. This might not be news to teachers, but not enough students know how to optimize their brain for learning. That's why every child should have the opportunity to explore …

"Whatever! You Think I Care?", Lori Desautels

Lori Desautels

I was thinking this afternoon of the misunderstood "language" from developing children and adolescents that we often receive as educators. This is the type of language that catches us off guard as we posture for the perfect discipline-minded "one-up" response. Sometimes it feels frustrating -- and actually downright awful -- when we hear our reactions unintentionally mirroring those anxious or angry emotions, personalizing these conversations when, in actuality, it has nothing to do with us!

Addressing Our Needs: Maslow Comes To Life For Educators And Students, Lori Desautels

Lori Desautels

In the mid-1950s, humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow created a theory of basic, psychological and self-fulfillment needs that motivate individuals to move consciously or subconsciously through levels or tiers based on our inner and outer satisfaction of those met or unmet needs. As a parent and educator, I find this theory eternally relevant for students and adults, especially in our classrooms. After studying it over the past couple of years, my graduate and undergraduate students have decided that every classroom should display a wall-sized diagram of the pyramid, as students and teachers alike place pins and post-its on the varying tiers …

University Rankings: Evidence And A Conceptual Framework, Jonathan G.S. Koppell, Jacob Fowles, H. George Frederickson

Publications from President Jonathan G.S. Koppell

University ranking has high public visibility, the ranking business has flourished, and institutions of higher education have not been able to ignore it. This study of university ranking presents general considerations of ranking and institutional responses to it, particularly considering reactions to ranking, ranking as a self-fulfilling prophecy, and ranking as a means of transforming qualities into quantities. The authors present a conceptual framework of university ranking based on three propositions and carry out a descriptive statistical analysis of U.S. and international ranking data to evaluate those propositions. The first proposition of university ranking is that ranking systems are demarcated …

The Influences Of Teacher Self-Reflection Practices While Interacting With Families, Nena M. Cunningham

All Theses And Dissertations

Self-reflection in early childhood education is one reform effort that has taken hold in the education community. This study shares some of the findings of a qualitative study that explored how five teachers identified and implemented strategies of self-reflection, and how these strategies informed their practice. The purpose of this study was to better understand self-reflection and how it influences interactions with families. The theoretical framework originates in the works of Touchpoints® and Bandura, and applies a theoretical framework to give voice to the teachers within the context of their community action program. Four themes were culled from the data …

Out Of Sync: Analyzing The Paradoxical Impact Of Synchronous Learning In Distance Education, Benjamin David Luce

All Theses And Dissertations

Modern forms of distance education provide students and instructors with the ability to access their online experiences without being limited by time or place. Though this quality is convenient for many, the predominantly asynchronous nature of online learning creates transactional distance that challenges the depth of engagement between instructors and students. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine the impact of technology-assisted synchronous transactional interventions on the social construction of knowledge created between instructors and their students in distance education. Research was conducted through a series of interviews with instructors who have used synchronous methods within their online …

Spatial Skills & Introductory Computing, Steve Cooper

DBER Speaker Series

Our questions

Is there a correlation between a student's spatial abilities and her ability in programming? Spatial abilities are measured through the R-PSVT, and CS programming ability is measured the 2009 AP CS MC questions

If yes, can we increase programming success through the teaching of spatial skills?

Results

Spatial training seemed to be correlated with better CS gains, and in particular helped Hispanic women and students from low SES backgrounds

Caveats

We measured code reading, but taught code writing

Differing student demographics for the 2 sessions

Small n

Strengthening The Farm To School Movement In Mississippi: Strategies And Policy Goals, Harvard Law School Mississippi Delta Project

Delta Directions: Publications

In recent years, Mississippi has seen increasing demand for locally grown food. Many consumers, policymakers, and advocates now see locally grown food as bringing health, economic, and environmental benefits to the local community. “Farm to school,” a means of building relationships between local farms and schools, has become increasingly popular, increasing fruit and vegetable consumption among students and strengthening the local economy. In the last decade, farm to school in Mississippi has gone from a little-known concept to a state-supported approach adopted by school districts across the state. For example, through the Mississippi Department of Defense Farm to School Program, …

Investigating The Influence Of The Level Of Inquiry On Student Engagement, Emily K. Faulconer

Publications

Previous studies investigating student-generated questions in a laboratory class compared inquiry to a traditional approach without characterizing the inquiry level. This study investigated the influence of inquiry level on the quantity and quality of student-generated questions over one semester in a General Chemistry course with 356 participants. The researchers studied two types of inquiry in labs: structured inquiry and open inquiry. Quantity and quality of student-generated questions were analyzed and student attitudes were measured using a LIKERT survey while content knowledge was assessed via post-test. A close relationship was not found between the level of inquiry and the quantity or …

Eighth Grade Perspectives: The Relationship Between Students’ Attitudes Towards Math And Students’ Attitudes Toward Music, Glen Lowe

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Being successful in math is considered to be important for future employability, and music may be an important venue for students to improve their math skills. Rather than being unrelated, strong musical education programs have been linked to higher performance in math and academics in general. The purpose of this correlational study was to determine whether a statistically significant relationship exists between students’ attitudes toward math and their attitudes toward music with regard to gender. A convenience sample of 107 eighth grade students from a metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia school district participated in two surveys: Tapia’s Attitude Toward Mathematics Inventory (ATMI) …

Peer Tutoring Of Junior Nursing Students: Student Experiences And Perceptions Of Self-Efficacy And Benefit, Mary Clarke

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological study is to understand the experiences of peer tutoring in junior-level nursing students, as well as the perceptions of increased self-efficacy and overall benefit to student learning. The proposed study included 10 nursing students enrolled in the residential Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program at a large private university in the Southeast United States. The theoretical framework guiding this study included both developmental constructivism (Piaget, 1953) and social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1994), as they work in a reciprocal relationship within a conceptual framework. Knowledge is constructed, and as students learn concepts from experiences, they …

A Phenomenological Investigation Of Elementary Educators' On-The-Job Experiences After Self-Selected Professional Development, Cindy Manzanares

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study is to describe elementary educators’ on-the-job experiences after completing a self-selected professional development (PD). This study was guided by the overall question: How do elementary educators describe on-the-job experiences after completing self-selected professional development? To provide further direction of the vast experiences three sub questions were utilized. (a) To what extent, if at all, have practices from the professional development been implemented? (b) What factors are perceived to positively impact implementation of the professional development? (c) What factors are perceived to negatively impact implementation of the professional development? Albert Bandura’s social cognitive theory, …

Experiences Of Elementary Teachers Using Inclusion Models To Serve Gifted Students, Mandy Sears

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Gifted education has undergone recent changes because of the decrease in funding set aside for gifted students in the public school system. The use of inclusion to provide gifted education within the general education classroom is one option that is more cost-effective than the traditional resource, or pullout, programs that have been used in the state of Georgia. This phenomenological study investigated the perceived experiences of general elementary educators who were new to teaching gifted students and were required to use an inclusion model in the general education classroom. Participants included 13 teachers from 4 school districts in Northern Georgia. …

Fluency: A Steady Beat In The Making, Nicole Patton

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

This honors thesis explores the literacy component of fluency and its instruction in the intermediate grades through the incorporation of Brain-based learning and the arts. Because reading fluency can affect other areas of reading, such as comprehension, it is important to build fluency skills through meaningful instruction. By exploring the best practices of fluency instruction, by understanding how the brain learns, and by recognizing how the arts can meet the needs of different learners, educators can alter and create instruction that challenges students’ reading ability in a unique way. A series of fluency lessons incorporating brain-based learning and the arts …

Math Stories In Elementary Mathematics Education In China And North America, Bingqing Xu

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In our information- and technology-based society, mathematics education plays an increasingly important role in current world economic development. As the world biggest economies,ChinaandNorth Americahave accelerated the reform of mathematics education in recent years. One of the phenomena is that children’s literature has attracted great attention in the improvement of mathematics instruction and students’ learning for early childhood education. However, research conducted on math literature and the comparison of math literature inChinaand North America is limited, which points the necessity to consider the similarities and differences of math literature inChinaandNorth America. By comparing and contrasting the math stories in China and …

A Quantitative And Qualitative Investigation Of Content-Area Literacy Instruction Integrated Into Social Studies Content For Kindergarten - 4th Grade Students, Jennifer E. Lee

Master of Education Research Theses

The objective of this study was to research the impact of short term intensive instruction of content-area literacy strategies on students’ academic success, students’ reading attitudes, and teachers’ perceptions of literacy integration into content-area learning of social studies with Kindergarten through 4th grade students at a private, Christian school. The experimental group of students did not show any statistically significant improvement over the control group of students. However, there was a trend in the experimental Kindergarten and 1st grade groups in which their content-area knowledge post-test scores slightly increased (5% and 10% increase in post-test scores, respectively) with additional literacy …

Creating Cultural Empathy And Challenging Attitudes Through Indigenous Narrative Project, Toni Wain, Moira Sim, Colleen Hayward, Juli Coffin, Donna Mak, Cobie Rudd

Donna Mak

The gap in life expectancy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians is too large to ignore. This has been attributed to social and economic disadvantage, access to health care and lack of cultural appropriateness of health services and providers. Creating culturally secure healthcare requires that we explore new ways for health professionals to relate to Aboriginal people. This article describes the development, implementation and early results from the Creating cultural empathy and challenging attitudes though Indigenous narrative project. The purpose of the project is to collect and trial narrative resources to engage students in stories of Indigenous people’s perceptions and experience …

The Effects Of Community-Building On Achievement, Motivation, And Engagement In Undergraduate Mathematics, Hannak Keith

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

This 2 x 2 quasi-experimental study examined the effects of pedagogical method (i.e., direct instruction vs. 5E inquiry) and intentional community-building (i.e., absence or presence) on undergraduate student (N = 103) motivation, engagement, and achievement in mathematics. Conditions were randomly assigned to one of four different College Algebra classes with a one-time occurrence and taught by a trained expert teacher. Findings indicated that intentional community-building – regardless of pedagogical method – had the strongest effects on students’ motivation, engagement, and achievement. Although no differing pedagogical effects were discovered (most likely due to the one-time implementation of the lesson formats), …

Testing The Effects Of Professional Development On Elementary Pre-Service Teachers’ Beliefs About Mathematics Inquiry Instruction, Courtney Inabnitt

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

In this study, a professional development (PD) seminar was designed and implemented with elementary pre-service teachers (n=20) enrolled in a mathematics content course at a small Midwestern university. The central focus of the PD was on bringing inquiry, specifically the 5E model, into mathematics instruction at the elementary level. The structure of the PD followed the 5E model format and participants learned about inquiry through inquiry. The study utilized a pre-post-test design and measured participants’ knowledge about the 5E model and beliefs about using inquiry in elementary mathematics instruction. Statistically significant growth from pre-test to post-test appears in …

Development Of An Associate Degree Level Course On Lean, Jeremy Espinoza

Master of Technology Management Plan II Graduate Projects

Lean training and education has become a focal point in both industry and the realm of academics; however, the need within the industry remains, and oftentimes companies must take on the additional and high expense of training new graduates once they enter the workforce. Often, the classes that students study in the lean methodology, if any are studied at all, are taught within other disciplines, and the instruction is in a general sense as opposed to in depth and hands on. Within the past eight years it has been referenced in different academic articles that students are not coming into …

Beyond The Lone Hero: Providing Supports For New Teachers In High-Needs Schools, Sarah Elizabeth Barrett, Donna Ford, Carl James

Occasional Paper Series

This essay examines the activities and challenges encountered in a partnership between a faculty of education and a local school board in Toronto, Canada. The goal was to address concerns over a 40% drop-out rate amongst Black students in the Toronto District School Board.

Teachers were to identify areas of concern, and to use university resources to investigate and improve work with students. Initially, findings were disappointing, teachers often felt isolated working on their own, and some administrators perceived the project as disruptive to the overall running of the school.

Faculty came to the realization that to help support their …

No Shortcuts On The Journey To Learning For Students Or Teachers, Alison Coviello, Susan Stires

Occasional Paper Series

Despite the generally held view that children in low-performing, under-served schools have "deficits" teachers in such schools often have very different experiences. Students can succeed in all areas of schooling and beyond. But for this to happen, teacher education institutions need to provide teacher candidates with background information and knowledge about instruction, so they can see and support the strengths of students in high-needs schools.

Facilitating Student Documentary Projects Toward 21-Century Literacy And Civic Engagement, Steven Goodman

Occasional Paper Series

The author describes how he uses video making as a way to engage students in high-needs schools. Goodman believes video making projects can help counter the ways minority students are made invisible by school curriculum and the culture of testing. More importantly, creating video documentaries allows students to use multiple literacies and does not exclude those who struggle with the written word.

Preparing Teachers For High-Need Schools: A Focus On Thoughtfully Adaptive Teaching, Arlene Mascarenhas, Seth Parsons, Sarah Cohen Burrowbridge

Occasional Paper Series

Differentiated instruction, or thoughtfully adaptive teaching, helps teachers successfully meet the needs of students in under-served schools. Teacher education institutions can do their part by forming partnerships with high-needs schools so teacher candidates can gain experience in a supportive environment. Along with providing a solid grounding in pedagogy, teacher education programs need to help candidates develop their own vision of teaching. Vision is seen as a way for teachers to remain true to their core values, and as a way to stay focused on how to do the best for all of their students.

The Right To Learn: Preparing Early Childhood Teachers To Work In High-Need Schools, Julie Diamond, Fretta Reitzes, Betsy Grob

Occasional Paper Series

Three teacher educators trained in the 1960's reflect on how to ensure educational equity in high-needs schools of today. The article starts with a description of the education the writers want for all children, and outline the processes and practices needed to sustain it. This is followed by a discussion on how schools of education can equip teachers with the values, understandings, and strategies they will need to achieve these goals.

The Invisible Schism: Teachers’ And Administrators’ Differing Perceptions Of Education Reforms, Sarah Melvoin Bridich

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies: Faculty Scholarship

This study examined teachers’ and administrators’ perceptions of education reforms, focusing on a state legislated education bill that altered teacher evaluations. A mixed-method design, including an electronic survey, was used to gather perceptions of Colorado Senate Bill 10-191: Great Teachers and Leaders Act from teachers and administrators in the Rockies School District (RSD), as well as these two groups’ general perceptions of teacher evaluations, education reforms, and change. Results revealed that teachers collectively hold similar views of education reforms, as do administrators; however, how each group perceives these elements of education policy and reform differs significantly. Both teachers and administrators …

Finding Empathy In Historical Inquiry And Data Management Through An Educational Research Example, Bo Chang

The Qualitative Report

In historical inquiry, researchers identify the research questions, specify the domain which relates to the research questions, and familiarize themselves with how the documents are structured and managed in the host library. In collecting data, researchers don’t need to constrain themselves with how documents are labeled by the archivists. They can break the boundaries of the labeled documents and find out how seemingly unrelated documents are actually inter-related. In analyzing data, positivists and constructionists view history differently, which results in different approaches to how historical data can be analyzed. Positivists believe in transparency and universal truths across the historical data …

State Of Video In Education (An Overview: Why Should I Use Video, And How Can I Do This Practically?), Kaltura

SIDLIT Conference

75%…of students use video in their assignments (up 4% over 2015)
50%…the increase over 2015 of respondents that say they are flipping their classroom
93%…say that video has a positive impact on student satisfaction
88%…say video increases student achievement
Evidence is growing year over year that video usage within teaching and learning is the norm; cable-cutters are the digital natives that enter our colleges and universities each fall and streaming on-demand content is the language they know. Please join Kaltura in this session, where we will discuss trends in the video space. Additionally, we will discuss how Kaltura tools can …

Static Course Modules? Zap! Librarians Create Interactive Online Lessons, Julie Hartwell, Heather Healy

SIDLIT Conference

Tired of voiceover PowerPoints? Looking for more than just another video link? NLA to the rescue! The New Literacies Alliance (NLA) is a project that creates interactive, online, and open access lessons addressing basic concepts of information and related literacies. Student scores on activities and assessments are captured using SoftChalk. The lessons are institution and LMS agnostic, allowing users from any organization to deploy the lessons in their online environment. Discover how librarians and instructors freely embed these lessons into their courses and collaborate remotely in the creation of new lessons. The session examines planning for initial lesson use, differing …