Education Commons^™

Track Star + Thing Power: Be[Com]Ing In The Literacy Workshop, Kortney Sherbine

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

This paper explores the intra-actions between and assemblages among classroom materials, a teacher's chair and a seven-year-old boy during a second grade literacy workshop. I consider the ways in which the relationships between the human and more-than-human produced multiple ways of being and, in particular, new modes of competence for a child whose classroom literacy practices were often considered illegitimate or unremarkable. Drawing on posthumanist and more-than-human philosophies of difference, I suggest that the child's affective relationships with materials and his teacher's willingness to engage in a nomadic pedagogy produced new opportunities for him to experience and demonstrate his literate …

Enhancing Citizenship Learning With International Comparative Research: Analyses Of Iea Civic Education Datasets, Ryan T. Knowles, Judith Torney-Purta, Carolyn Barber

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

Large-scale international databases provide valuable resources for scholars, educators and policy-makers interested in civic engagement and education in nations that are democracies or striving towards democracy. However, the multidisciplinary nature of secondary analysis of these data has created a fragmentary picture that limits educators’ awareness of relevant findings. We present a summary of research conducted across disciplines using datasets from two large-scale cross-national studies of civic education conducted by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (CIVED:99 and ICCS:09). The IEA studies were conducted in more than 40 countries with nationally representative samples of 14–15 year olds. In …

Be[Com]Ing A Teacher In Neoliberal Times: Visioning As Resistance In Teacher Education, May Hara, Kortney Sherbine

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

Teacher education is under assault from the corporatization of public education. There is evidence that reductive, essentialized/ing discourses of standardization and compliance exert intense pressures on teacher education, and a market-based, audit culture constricts conceptions of the “good teacher”. Despite the pervasiveness of neoliberal discourses, little is known about how student teachers experience increased corporatization in education, or about how they act rather than are acted upon in this context. In examining these dynamics, we explore the following research questions: (a) How do student teachers make sense of neoliberal discourses in teaching? (b) How do student teachers experience the process …

Components Of Place Value Understanding: Targeting Mathematical Difficulties When Providing Interventions. School Science And Mathematics, Beth L. Macdonald, Arla Westenskow, Patricia S. Moyer-Packenham, Barbara Child

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

Place value understanding requires the same activity that students use when developing fractional and algebraic reasoning, making this understanding foundational to mathematics learning. However, many students engage successfully in mathematics classrooms without having a conceptual understanding of place value, preventing them from accessing mathematics that is more sophisticated later. The purpose of this exploratory study is to investigate how upper elementary students' unit coordination related to difficulties they experience when engaging in place value tasks. Understanding place value requires that students coordinate units recursively to construct multi-digit numbers from their single-digit number understandings through forms of unit development and strategic …

White Male Privilege: An Intersectional Deconstruction, Matthew J. Etchells, Elizabeth Deuermeyer, Vanessa M. Liles, Samantha M. Meister, Mario Itzel Suárez, Warren L. Chalklen

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

This research saliently deconstructs the philosophical writing of a white, privileged male by five diverse academic peers by using a methodology of deconstruction to analyze the initial author's writing. Their reflects on his nascent perspectives address the stages of racism, mea culpa, the relationship between privilege, oppression, and classism, a feminist perspective, binary, and intersectionality. Further analysis connote for the need to deconstruct privilege in a literary context and to develop an autoethnography to fully delve into privilege beyond a superficial and neglectful narrative.

The Influence Of Equitable Treatment On Latina/O High School Students’ College Aspirations, Amanda Taggart, Jaimi Paschal

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

This study examined the influence of equitable treatment on Latina/o students’ college aspirations. Logistic regression was used to identify variables associated with Latina/o high school students’ aspirations to attend college within the context of theory concerning the college search, choice, and enrollment processes. Data were drawn from a nationally representative sample of Latina/o students in the ELS:2002 dataset. Results indicated that Latina/o students were more likely to aspire to attend college if they perceived equitable treatment for different groups of students during high school.

An Iceberg Model For Improving Mathematical Understanding And Mindset Or Disposition: An Individualized Summer Intervention Program, Arla Westenskow, Patricia S. Moyer-Packenham, Barbara Child

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

This study describes 3 years of mathematics intervention research examining the effectiveness of a summer individualized tutoring program for rising fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade students with low mathematics achievement. Based on an iceberg model of learning, an instructional framework was developed that identified and targeted students’ specific mathematical needs, developed number sense flexibility, and encouraged positive mindset or disposition. Students participated in eight one-on-one tutoring intervention sessions. Pre- and posttest results indicated that students made moderate to large effect size gains in each targeted area of instruction. Additionally, the intervention proved to produce positive results across three different contexts for …

Forms Of Science Capital Mobilized In Adolescents’ Engineering Projects, Amy Wilson-Lopez, Christina M. Sias, Allen Smithee, Indhira María Hasbún

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

The purpose of this multiple case study was to identify the forms of science capital that six groups of adolescents mobilized toward the realization of their self-selected engineering projects during after-school meetings. Research participants were high school students who self-identified as Hispanic, Latina, or Latino; who had received English as a Second Language (ESL) services; and whose parents or guardians had immigrated to the United States and held working class jobs. The research team used categories from Bourdieusian theories of capital to identify the forms of science capital mobilized by the participants. Data sources included transcripts from monthly interviews and …

The Effects Of Dyad Reading And Text Difficulty On Third-Graders' Reading Achievement, Lisa Trottier Brown, Kathleen A. J. Mohr, Bradley R. Wilcox, Tyson S. Barrett

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

This study replicated, with modifications, previous research of dyad reading using texts at various levels of difficulty (Morgan, 1997). The current project measured the effects of using above–grade-level texts on reading achievement and sought to determine the influences of dyad reading on both lead and assisted readers. Results indicate that weaker readers, using texts at two, three, and four grade levels above their instructional levels with the assistance of lead readers, outscored both proficient and less proficient students in the control group across multiple measures of reading achievement. However, the gains made by assisted readers were not significantly different relative …

Currere And Prolepsis: A Literary Analysis, Kristin Kristner Hall, Mario Itzel Suárez, Sungyoon Lee, Patrick Slattery

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

Literary scholars and English teachers will recognize the word prolepsis as a term describing the moment in a short story or novel when the reader becomes fully cognizant of past, present, and future events all in one instant. This is a moment of heightened insight, transcending historical sedimentation. " A proleptic moment is any experience " of a text that shifts the reader/viewer/listener outside of " linear segmentation of time and creates a holistic understanding of the past, present, and future simultaneously " (Slattery, 2013, p. 305). Prolepsis is the moment when all of the events of the narrative coalesce. …

Variations Of Reasoning In Equal Sharing Of Children Who Experience Low Achievement In Mathematics: Competence In Context, Jessica Hunt, Arla Westenskow, Patricia S. Moyer-Packenham

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

For children with persistent mathematics difficulties, research and practice espouses that an altered kind of mathematics instruction is necessary due to sustained performance differences. Yet, a critical issue in mathematics education rests in the question of why research locates the problem within these children. In this paper, we challenge a longstanding assumption about the type of mathematics children with low achievement in mathematics “need” along with how these children are positioned in terms of mathematical thinking and reasoning. Our aim in this work is to identify ways of reasoning evident in the partitioning activity of 43 fifth-grade children as they …

Comparative Analyses Of Discourse In Specialized Stem School Classes, Colby Tofel-Grehl, Carolyn M. Callahan, Louis S. Nadelson

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

The authors detail the discourse patterns observed within mathematics and science classes at specialized STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) high schools. Analyses reveal that teachers in mathematics classes tended to engage their students in authoritative discourse while teachers in science classes tended to engage students in dialogic discourse. The authors examined variations in the type of discourse in relationship to the discipline being taught, the educational level of the teacher, and course requirements were also explored.

Critical Reflections On Teacher Conceptions Of Race As Related To The Effectiveness Of Science Learning, Colby Tofel-Grehl, Kristin Searle

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

The Maker Movement’s current traction in education revolves around the notion that constructing artifacts improves student interest and engagement. Often touted as a new and important way for students to access STEM content, “making” activities offer a unique opportunity to disrupt the traditional perceptions of who can successfully “do” STEM. Blending familiar materials and practices (e.g. sewing with a needle and thread) with atypical materials (e.g., conductive thread and sewable LED bulbs), electronic textiles, or e-textiles, allow makers to create working circuits in ways that connect with their out-of-school lives, including heritage and vernacular cultural practices. This article describes the …

Kindergarten Children’S Interactions With Touchscreen Mathematics Virtual Manipulatives: An Innovative Mixed Methods Analysis, Stephen I. Tucker, Christina W. Lommatsch, Patricia S. Moyer-Packenham, Katie L. Anderson-Pence, Jurgen Symanzik

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to examine patterns of mathematical practices evident during children’s interactions with touchscreen mathematics virtual manipulatives. Researchers analyzed 33 Kindergarten children’s interactions during activities involving apps featuring mathematical content of early number sense or quantity in base ten, recorded during one-to-one task-based interviews. Iterative analysis involved applying learning progression rubrics to video data, using hierarchical clustering to visualize the progressions via heatmaps with dendrograms, and returning to video data to investigate emergent patterns. Results indicated that overall, children’s mathematical practices aligned with research on development of mathematical understandings, but that individual children’s mathematical practices changed …

An Examination Of Children’S Learning Progression Shifts While Using Touch Screen Virtual Manipulative Mathematics Apps, Christina M. Watts, Patricia S. Moyer-Packenham, Stephen Isaac Tucker, Emma P. Bullock, Jessica F. Shumway, Arla Westenskow, Jennifer Boyer-Thurgood, Katie Anderson-Pence, Salif Mahamane, Kerry Jordan

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to examine shifts in young children's learning progression levels while they interacted with virtual manipulative mathematics apps on touch-screen devices. A total of 100 children participated in six mathematics learning sequences while using 18 virtual manipulative mathematics touch-screen apps during clinical interviews. Researchers developed a micro-scoring tool to analyze video data from two camera sources (i.e., GoPro camera, wall-mounted camera). Our results showed that it is possible to document evidence of shifts in children's learning progressions while they are interacting with mathematics apps on touch-screen devices. Our results also indicated patterns in the children's …

Using Modeled Writing To Support English-Only And English-Learner Second-Grade Students, Kathleen A. J. Mohr

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

This study compared 70 English learners (ELs) and English-only (EO) second-grade students’ writing samples before and after a yearlong writing program. The school utilized Write From the Beginning (J. Buckner, 2006) and focused on personal narratives. A subgroup of students also participated in an intervention supporting expository writing on curricular topics. Sociocognitive theory framed the Modeled Writing (MW) used in this study. An analysis of covariance used prescores on 2 writing assessments to compare students’ writing achievement at the end of the year, and t tests compared students’ writing by gender, language, and group on various pre- and posttest scores. …

Teacher Conceptions, Curriculum Ideologies, And Adaptations To Linear Change In River School District: Implications For Gifted And Talented, William T. Allen Jr., Scott L. Hunsaker

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

Curriculum ideologies are educational theories applied in everyday pedagogical practice. In this study, to better meet the learning needs of their students, four middle school teachers used a variety of ideologies as a professional toolbox. When confronted with school district standardization, these teachers adapted; however, as predicted by earlier studies, adjustments required the loss of previously successful curriculum. As predicted by Feldhusen, these losses affected teachers of high-level students (honors and gifted and talented) the most. In this district, two such teachers opposed standardization; nevertheless, even with resistance, they lost ideological-based curriculum choices. What are teachers of high-level students …

The Role Of Cultural Discontinuity In The Academic Outcomes Of Latina/O High School Students, Amanda Taggart

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

This study examined the impact of cultural discontinuity on the academic outcomes of Latina/o high school students. Hierarchical multiple regression was utilized to (a) investigate the significant differences between the characteristics and academic outcomes of high school students who do and do not experience cultural discontinuity between their home- and school-based learning and social experiences based on Eurocentric cultural values, and (b) examine the contribution of demographic variables, socio-cultural variables, academic experiences, and cultural discontinuity to students' cumulative grade point average (GPA) and standardized test scores. Data were collected from two high schools in South Central Texas. Findings revealed that …

Revisiting The Definition Of A Virtual Manipulative, Patricia S. Moyer-Packenham, Johnna J. Bolyard

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

In 2002, Moyer, Bolyard and Spikell defined a virtual manipulative as an “an interactive, Web-based visual representation of a dynamic object that presents opportunities for constructing mathematical knowledge” (p. 373). The purpose of this chapter is to revisit, clarify and update the definition of a virtual manipulative. After clarifying what a virtual manipulative is and what it is not, we propose an updated definition for virtual manipulative: an interactive, technology-enabled visual representation of a dynamic mathematical object, including all of the programmable features that allow it to be manipulated, that presents opportunities for constructing mathematical knowledge. The chapter describes the …

Stem School Discourse Patterns, Colby Tofel-Grehl, Carolyn M. Callahan

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

In a cross case analysis of six specialized STEM schools across the United States selected on the basis of varied geographic location and school model type, the authors explore the ways in which classroom discursvive strutures established by teachers impact students' perceptions of their own agency and authority as relates to their science learning within specialized STEM schools. As national interest in specialized STEM schools grows, a deep need to understand the instructional practices that impact students motivation and interest has arisen. By better understanding how teachers drive classroom discourse through questioning techniques, student responses and reflections can be understood …

A Social Semiotic Analysis Of Instructional Images Across Academic Disciplines, Amy Wilson-Lopez, Melanie Landon-Hays

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

Framed in theories of social semiotics, this descriptive multiple case study examined the images used by six middle-school teachers during one school year as they each taught two different subject areas: earth science, language arts, mathematics, and/or social studies. Using Kress and Van Leeuwen’s visual grammar to analyze these images, this study identified discipline-specific patterns in how 1,132 images realized assumptions in regards to the ideational and interpersonal metafunctions of communication. A content analysis suggested discipline-specific differences in the presumed social distance between the content of the images and the students, as well as discipline-specific differences in assumptions about the …

How Affordances And Constraints Of Physical And Virtual Manipulatives Support The Development Of Procedural Fluency And Algorithmic Thinking In Mathematics, Jennifer Such, Patricia S. Moyer-Packenham

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to examine how the affordances and constraints of physical and virtual manipulatives influence the development of students’ algorithmic thinking when learning algebra and rational number concepts. Thirty-six third-grade students participated in two weeks of instruction using physical and virtual manipulatives as instructional tools. The primary design of the study was a teaching experiment in which quantitative and qualitative data were collected to provide a holistic examination. Pre- and post-test items were used in the quantitative analysis following a within-subjects crossover repeated measures design. Students’ written work, a user survey, student interviews, field notes, and …

Variations In The Intensity Of Specialized Science, Technology, Engineering, And Mathematics (Stem) High Schools, Colby Tofel-Grehl, Carolyn M. Callahan

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

Educators and policymakers in the United States advocate the development of specialized STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) schools, but little is known about the unique features and practices of these schools. Because no meaningful differences have been found attributable to model type (Tofel-Grehl & Callahan, 2014), the current study purposefully sampled 6 specialized STEM schools in the United States that provided different levels of STEM experiences for students related to highly varied goals and missions using a grounded theory approach. Schools were found to fall into two categories, high and low STEM intensity, based on five major traits. Schools …

Using An Iceberg Intervention Model To Understand Equivalent Fraction Learning When Students With Mathematical Learning Difficulties Use Different Manipulatives, Arla Westenskow, Patricia S. Moyer-Packenham

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

This study examined variations in 43 fifth-grade Tier II students' learning of equivalent fractions using physical and virtual manipulatives during intervention instruction. The overarching research question focused on how different manipulatives types support learning fraction sub-concepts during mathematics intervention instruction for students with mathematical learning difficulties. Over a three-week period, students participated in ten small group sessions using different manipulatives during instruction (physical, virtual, and combination). Data were collected from pre/post testing and daily monitoring assessments. An Iceberg Intervention Model was used to document student learning for five equivalent fraction sub-concepts and nine general fraction sub-concepts. Results showed that physical …

Examining Patterns In Second Graders’ Use Of Virtual Manipulative Mathematics Apps Through Heatmap Analysis, Patricia S. Moyer-Packenham, Stephen Isaac Tucker, Arla Westenskow, Jurgen Symanzik

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

This study examined 32 second-grade children’s interactions with six virtual manipulative mathematics apps on the iPad using a novel analysis approach called heatmap analysis. Mathematical topics of the six apps focused on understanding skip counting and place value concepts. Children interacted individually with the apps under the guidance of an interviewer during 30-40 minute clinical interviews. The heatmap analysis revealed patterns in children’s performance on the tasks and suggested individual cases for further analysis. For example, clusters of children showed high or low performance during the skip counting sequence. In the high-performing cluster, one child still struggled to monitor the …

Undergraduate Latina/O Students: A Systematic Review Of Research Identifying Factors Contributing To Academic Success Outcomes, Gloria Crisp, Amanda Taggart, Amaury Nora

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

A systematic review was conducted to produce an up-to-date and comprehensive summary of qualitative and quantitative evidence specific to the factors related to undergraduate Latina/o student academic success outcomes during college. The purpose of the study was to make sense of and provide critique to this rapidly growing body of research, as well as to direct future research efforts. Findings indicate that a combination of (a) sociocultural characteristics; (b) academic self-confidence; (c) beliefs, ethnic/racial identity, and coping styles; (d) precollege academic experiences; (e) college experiences; (f) internal motivation and commitment; (g) interactions with supportive individuals; (h) perceptions of the campus …

Using Virtual Manipulatives To Generalize And Justify Through Discourse, Katie Anderson-Pence, Patricia S. Moyer-Packenham

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

This study examined the influence of different virtual manipulative types on the nature of students’ discourse related to generalizing and justifying mathematical concepts. During 27 episodes, students worked on mathematics tasks using three different virtual manipulative types: linked, pictorial, and tutorial. The level of students’ discourse in generalization and justification was coded and analyzed for each episode and compared across virtual manipulative types. A one-way ANOVA indicated statistically significant differences in the quality of generalizations and justifications among the different virtual manipulative types. Other patterns indicate that certain virtual manipulative types may be more suited than others for encouraging meaningful …

Using Virtual Manipulatives To Enchance Collaborative Discourse In Mathematics Instruction, Katie Anderson-Pence, Patricia S. Moyer-Packenham

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

This study examined the influence of different virtual manipulative (VM) types on the nature of students’ collaborative mathematical discourse. During 27 episodes, students’ worked on mathematics tasks using three different VM types: linked, pictorial, and tutorial. The level of students’ collaborative discourse was coded and analyzed for each episode and compared across VM types. A one-way ANOVA indicated statistically significant differences in the quality of collaborative discourse among the different VM types. Other patterns indicate that certain VM types may be more suited than others for encouraging meaningful collaborative discourse. The patterns and trends identified in this study contribute to …

Trust In Science And Scientists And The Acceptance Of Evolution, Louis S. Nadelson

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

Background: Accepting the concept of evolution is important for the advancement of biological science and has many implications for daily life. However, a large portion of the general public does not currently accept biological evolution. Therefore, it is important to understand what factors are associated with a decline in the acceptance of evolution. Of particular interest for us is the relationship of individuals’ sense of trust in science in relationship to evolution acceptance.

Methods: Using the Trust in Science and Scientists and Inventory of Student Evolution Acceptance we surveyed 159 undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory psychology course. Additionally, we …

Dual Language Instruction And Achievement: A Need And A Void In The Midwest, Tammy Oberg De La Garza, Erin Mackinney, Alyson Leah Lavigne

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

In recent years, the benefits of bilingualism through dual language (DL) education models have been well documented. Despite evidence of bilinguals' heightened cognition and achievement, Midwestern English language learners (ELLs) are relegated to language programs that do nothing to enhance or maintain students' native language. This descriptive study employed a survey to collect data on existing DL programs across the state of Illinois (the largest population of ELLs in the Midwest), to better understand the challenges facing DL educators and administrators in the nation's middle. Data suggests the predominant obstacle encountered by school administrators is a lack of qualified DL …