Education Commons^™

Disassemble/Analyze/Assemble: How A Hands-On Engineering Project Affects High School Girls' Science/Engineering Self-Efficacy, Interest And Career Considerations, Jennifer Corbett Ferguson

Theses and Dissertations--Education Sciences

Engineering education as part of the K-12 curriculum can be an effective instructional tool and its benefits include improved science and mathematical achievement as well as an increased interest and understanding of the engineering field, especially for female students. However, there is a serious lack of research-based engineering curriculum being used at the middle and high school levels and lessons most often rely on building or construction competitions. Over the past decade or two, many well-known colleges have implemented a reverse engineering instructional unit known as Disassemble/Analyze/Assemble projects within their introductory engineering courses. These units have been shown to improve …

Can Less Be More? Study Load And Its Effect On Science Achievement Among Chinese Eighth-Grade Students, Xian Wu

Theses and Dissertations--Education Sciences

The present study addressed a core research question of “Can less be more?” concerning study load, which has become increasingly worrisome and controversial around the world. This idea reflects the philosophy of pursuing efficiency and effectiveness on learning, namely that a lighter study load may result in more successful academic achievement. The study adopted the IPO (input-process-output) model to address five interrelated research questions: 1) What are the structural characteristics of study load? 2) Is there any individual difference in study load? 3) What are the characteristics of teachers and schools under which students tend to have a heavier study …

Understanding Education Abroad With Advanced Quantitative Methodologies: Student Profiles And Academic Outcomes, Jie Dai

Theses and Dissertations--Education Sciences

This three-study dissertation contributes to the research in the field of participation in education abroad, particularly as it relates to student profiles and academic outcomes. Through employing more robust methodologies across the three studies, this dissertation aims not only to understand what are the factors associated with education abroad participation and how these factors interplay with each other, but also to provide a less biased picture of the impact of participation in education abroad on postsecondary educational outcomes. The studies have implications for equitable and inclusive access to education abroad.

The first study begins with the question: who studies abroad? …

Advanced Multilevel Models For Comparing Group Characteristics: The Case Of Sex Differences In Reading Achievement, Rongxiu Wu

Theses and Dissertations--Education Sciences

To help improve and advance research methodology when comparing the group characteristics, two advanced multilevel models were developed and introduced, which would allow a deeper and more refined look at the issue of sex differences in reading achievement.

The first model is a restricted multilevel model for the examination of institutional effects on multiple groups of individuals. The goal of this multivariate multilevel model with individuals nested within institutions was to estimate the institutional effects on multiple groups of individuals. With the employment of 2009 OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) data, an application was illustrated to examine whether …