Education Commons^™

Building Interest And Knowledge In Geosciences Through Place- & Field-Based Teacher Professional Learning Programs: A Comparative Multi-Case Study, Emily Gochis

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The focus of this study was to develop and evaluate a geoscience professional development model that would improve K-12 teachers’ capacity to effectively build geoscience literacy and interests in students from a variety of settings and cultural groups. The research compared the application of a geoscience professional development model realized through multiple case studies of varying settings and scales. The study investigated the capacity of each approach in improving teachers’ geoscience background knowledge, awareness of local geologically and culturally significant examples, and ability to integrate place-based, field investigations into standards-based curricula. By using both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, the study …

An Investigation Of Problem-Based Learning On The Advanced Placement Exam Scores And Interest Of Ap Biology Students, Tia Hohler

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This study reports the effectiveness of problem-based learning (PBL) on the interest and Advanced Placement (AP) Biology exam scores of high school students. The experimental group was exposed to a constructivist PBL environment using an overarching unit problem, inquiry style lab investigations and white board discussions while the comparison group received direct instruction in the same curriculum. AP Biology exam scores were collected for two years with direct instruction and two years with PBL instruction. An interest survey was given to a subset of the experimental group and included students enrolled in the course during the 2019-2020 school year. Analysis …

Changes In Participation And The Deveolopment Of A Learning Community For English Teachers In A Video Club In Albania, Zachary S. Blehm

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This study investigated a group of English teachers’ interactions watching video of their classrooms, in what is called a video club, for the purpose of professional development. Changes in both what and how teachers discussed, along with how the club developed as a learning community were investigated using recordings of their conversations in two early and two late video club meetings. The focus of what teachers discussed changed from the early to the late meetings and a pattern of discussion emerged in the later meetings. Significant changes in the number of ideas teachers put forth for discussion and the number …

Learning To Notice And Use Student Thinking In Undergraduate Mathematics Courses, Anna Pascoe

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The goal of this study was to evaluate the outcomes of an intervention focused on developing mathematics graduate teaching assistants’ skills of noticing and effectively responding to instances of student mathematical thinking that have significant potential to further students’ learning. Four mathematics graduate teaching assistants participated in a semester-long intervention in which video of undergraduate mathematics lessons was individually analyzed and then discussed collectively with the researcher on a weekly basis. The MOST Analytic Framework (Leatham, Peterson, Stockero, & Van Zoest, 2015; Stockero, Peterson, Leatham, & Van Zoest, 2014) was introduced as a tool to aid in the analysis and …

Geoheritage Of The Keweenaw Peninsula, Erika Vye

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The Keweenaw Peninsula is a compelling intersection of cultural, industrial, and mining heritage - all of which is rooted in its ancient geologic underpinnings. The incredible geodiversity of the Keweenaw expresses a billion year geologic history that has shaped the landscape and resulted in the discovery of one of the largest native copper deposits on Earth; in turn, originating one of the oldest metal workings in the Western Hemisphere, and the famed mining boom of the Keweenaw in the late 1800’s. This rich human story intertwined with globally significant geosites has endowed the Keweenaw with a strong geoheritage.

Geoheritage considers …

Building A Discourse: Bridging The Gap Between New Media's Convergence And Rhetoric And Composition's Multimodality, Katherine G. Aho

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

My dissertation emphasizes the use of narrative structuralism and narrative theories about storytelling in order to build a discourse between the fields of New Media and Rhetoric and Composition. Propp's morphological analysis and the breaking down of stories into component pieces aides in the discussion of storytelling as it appears in and is mediated by digital and computer technologies. New Media and Rhetoric and Composition are aided by shared concerns for textual production and consumption.

In using the notion of "kairotic reading" (KR), I show the interconnectedness and interdisciplinarity required in the development of pedagogy utilized to teach students to …