Education Commons^™

Accepting Responsibility For A Teen Reading Crisis: What Role Does Text-Relatability Play In Secondary Students’ Reading Enthusiasm And Comprehension?, Madhavi T. Clark, Winifred C. Nweke

Georgia Educational Research Association Conference

Educational responsibility requires that culturally relevant curriculum be taught to students. Unfortunately, in many secondary ELA classrooms, content continues to revolve around canonical texts written mostly by white males. With increasing negative reading attitudes and poor reading skills among adolescents, the authors sought to investigate how text-relatability may affect students’ reading enthusiasm and comprehension. They asked: Would students relate to or have higher reading enthusiasm for a contemporary adolescent text that reflected their teen culture? In this study, 16 students from a Title I school read a contemporary adolescent text and a classical text over a 6 week period. Students …

Supporting Religious Undecided Students: Implications For Educators, Jamie L. Workman

Georgia Educational Research Association Conference

This research explored a newly created model of first year academic advising used at a Mid-Size Public University. Modified from the traditional advising model, the new model was created for students in the new University Studies major, a designation for students formerly classified as undeclared majors. It was unknown how the University Studies students would experience academic advising, as they received a different academic advising model than undecided students in previous cohorts.

The researcher conducted the project using grounded theory techniques and phenomenological perspective. The researcher interviewed 12 students. The research questions were: (1) How did students experience being undecided …

Introducing Simulation Through A Situated Cognition Framework To Integrate Physiology Into Clinical Medicine, Elena Wood, Anthony Payne, Shilpa Brown, Tasha R. Wyatt, A.J. Kleinheksel

Georgia Educational Research Association Conference

A new multi-modality pathophysiology simulation was developed for second year medical students, in order to integrate basic sciences into clinical medicine prior to students’ clerkship experiences. A congestive heart failure case was introduced into the Physical Diagnosis course, allowing students to collect subjective data from a standardized patient actor, then to conduct a physical examination on a high fidelity manikin. By applying a theoretical framework of situated cognition, faculty were able to demonstrate the physiological processes the simulated patient was experiencing, allowing students to learn the content within the context where they will apply their knowledge during their clinical experiences. …

Latent Classes Of Victimization In U.S. Adolescents, Diana Mindrila

Georgia Educational Research Association Conference

This study used latent class analysis (LCA) with binary observed indicators to identify latent classes of victimization, based on the extent to which adolescents in the U.S. experienced traditional victimization and cyber-victimization. Data were collected by the National Center for Education Statistics and the Bureau of Justice Statistics using 2013 School Crime Supplement of the National Crime Victimization Survey. The sample included 4,939 individuals ages 12-18. LCA yielded a four-class solution: a) “Non-victims” (N=4,274), b) “Traditional victims” (N=486), c) “Cyber-victims” (N=107), and d) “Traditional victims and cyber-victims” (N=72). These findings inform practitioners of the most prevalent types of victimization in …

Navigating And Building Capacity For Educational Research: An Interactive Website To Ensure Smooth Sailing, Tasha R. Wyatt, Aj Kleinheksel, Elena Wood, Thomas Mitch Toomey, Lara Stepleman

Georgia Educational Research Association Conference

As seasoned educational researchers, we were trained in how to carry out a research project. However, for health professionals whose primary responsibility is to care for patients, many have not been explicitly taught the steps involved in launching and supporting educational research projects. The lack of opportunity to learn this process is a barrier to clinicians interested in engaging in educational research.

In an effort to build capacity for health sciences educational research at Augusta University, the Educational Innovation Institute developed an interactive website that serves as a “one-stop shop” for assisting with this process. The website was designed with …

Pre-Service Teacher Attitudes Toward Control: Middle And Secondary Education Teacher Candidate Reflective Practice As Evidence Of Gap Between Theory And Practice, Deborah Paine, Jt Cox, Robert Spires

Georgia Educational Research Association Conference

The gap between theory and practice in pre-service teacher training is well documented. Despite shifts toward constructivist approaches and student-centered instruction, teacher education programs continue to note the gap between innovative student-centered best practices in teacher training coursework, and the teacher-centered practices seen in many classrooms which then become early career teachers’ default approach. This study examined the attitudes and beliefs of pre-service teachers through reflections written during a 4-week practicum field experience. Within these reflections, researchers noted pre-service teacher attitudinal reliance on ideas of control, including student behavior control, student noise and the classroom. Study participants dismissed student-centered approaches …

A Tightrope Walk Of Trust: An Analysis Of Attachment Styles Of Children Raised By Parents With Psychotic Disorders, Kate E. Crockett

Georgia Educational Research Association Conference

A child’s development is significantly impacted by the environment in which the child lives, and the attachment styles of parents or guardians have a direct connection to the child’s attachment style. So what happens when one or more of the child’s guardians have a psychotic disorder? To answer this question, individuals will complete an assessment to determine their attachment style after providing information on whether their guardian(s) have a psychotic disorder. The individuals participating in the study will be contacted through email and all responses will be voluntary. The attachment assessment will be self-administered electronically by the individuals who volunteer …

Lessons Learned From Using Open Educational Resources In An Online Health Psychology Course, Judy O. Grissett

Georgia Educational Research Association Conference

This presentation will cover the use of open educational resources (OER) in an online health psychology course. OER are materials that have an open license, meaning they can be adopted or adapted from their original source and shared with others for free (UNESCO, 2017). All materials used in the course were free of cost to students and were accessible through the course learning platform GeorgiaVIEW.

Students in the course completed a project for which only OER were to be used to inform their research. Students therefore became familiar with finding credible OER online. In this presentation, I will discuss the …

Open Educational Resources: A Primer And Review Of Implementation At One Institution, Judy O. Grissett

Georgia Educational Research Association Conference

Open educational resources (OER), which are materials that can be adopted or adapted from their original source and shared with others for free (UNESCO, 2017), are becoming increasingly popular among faculty, as research has shown they are often as effective on student learning and engagement as copyright-restricted textbooks (Hilton, 2016). They also save students money on textbook cost (Bliss, Robinson, Hilton, & Wiley, 2013b).

The purpose of this presentation is several-fold. First, I will discuss the use of OER by faculty at one USG institution. Several courses have been transformed at the institution, including ones in biology, education, music, psychology, …

Designing An Eguide For Physical Examination In Pre-Clerkship Medical Education: A Pilot Study, Elena Wood, Tasha R. Wyatt, A.J. Kleinheksel

Georgia Educational Research Association Conference

Prior to this pilot study, there were no concise or standardized mobile resources for pre-clerkship medical students to using while conducting a physical exam. To address this need, an electronic guide (eGuide) was developed to instruct students on proper physical examination technique and to provide standardized reference information. This interactive resource was developed using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop as an interactive PDF, which could also be printed if desired. Both anatomy and physiology information was included, as relevant to physical diagnosis. The eGuide was particularly useful for those first-year medical students who have clinical skill units prior to basic anatomy …

Design And Exploratory Factor Analysis Of A New School Connectedness Scale, Jiali Zheng

Georgia Educational Research Association Conference

School connectedness is found to be directly related to adolescents’ academic achievement, peer acceptance, social emotional well-being, and their decisions to remain in school. Given its importance, school connectedness has become an important goal in educational reform initiatives. However, the construct of and terminology for studying school connectedness remain unclear and there is no consensus on what core latent traits of school connectedness should be measured. This study aims to design a new and easy-to-use school connectedness scale. The researchers will examine factor analysis results from existing literature, and borrow items from existing scales. Except for experts’ advice, adolescents’ opinions …

Implementing An Lgbtq Training For Teen Pregnancy Prevention Facilitators, Christopher F. Drescher, Elizabeth Devon Eldridge, Elizabeth Wood, Alexis Rossi, Lara Stepleman

Georgia Educational Research Association Conference

Rates of teen pregnancy are 2-3 times higher among Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer/Questioning (LGBTQ) youth. Evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention (TPP) programs exist, although they may not have been designed with LGBTQ youth in mind. Community organizations may need additional training to ensure that TPPs are LGBTQ inclusive. This study aimed to implement and examine participant experiences of an educational LGBTQ training provided to TPP facilitators. A four-hour LGBTQ educational workshop was designed that included didactics and interactive segments covering topics of LGBTQ terminology, intersectionality, and risk/resilience factors in LGBTQ youth. This workshop was provided to two groups of …

Supporting Rural Student Success In Higher Education, Peggy A. Lumpkin

Georgia Educational Research Association Conference

Founded in the late 1880’s, this college originally served students exclusively from the surrounding Appalachian region. Faculty to student ratios average 18:1 and the number of students served average 1000-1200. Today, although the college serves a more diverse student body geographically, it still endeavors to retain the culture of personal attention and support from faculty and staff. These attributes make the college attractive to students from rural communities who often are first generation college students. Striving to survive against competition from both well-funded larger private colleges as well as from state colleges and universities, places pressure on college administration to …

Puppetry Path 2 Science And Math 4 Girls, Paulette Harris, Linda G. Smith Mrs., Sarah E. Wong Ms.

Georgia Educational Research Association Conference

In our proposed practice report session, we will describe an ongoing project that bridges the gap between literacy, science, and math for young children. The project that will be shown demonstrates in a playful hands-on manner how using puppets taps into interests of young children in science and math as they develop literacy skills at the same time.

During this presentation of our practice report, the audience will have the opportunity to explore ideas and strategies for whetting the interests of young children. Examples of integrated science/math/literacy units that are a part of the practice report will be shared. These …

Implementing Model Curriculum Standards, Jose A. Villavicencio

Georgia Educational Research Association Conference

The recently published Standards for Learning World Languages guide teachers and students to teach and learn a foreign language of choice in ways that prepares them for life and career plans. The problem is that the Standards added the post secondary. It now includes elementary, middle, high school, and college in the progress indicators and achievable student learning outcomes. It is necessary to review the teaching and learning at the college level because this plan is meant to encourage school systems to consider a long-term sequential approach, comparable to math, science, and language arts, to permit learners the opportunity to …

Predicting Student Adaptation To College By Learning And Study Strategies, Katharine S. Adams

Georgia Educational Research Association Conference

This study highlights the relationships between learning and study strategies with student adaptation to college. Postsecondary students (n = 146) completed a demographic questionnaire, the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory (LASSI), and the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire (SACQ). Students were trifurcated into low, average, and high achieving groups by GPA. Data was analyzed using multiple regression and correlational techniques. LASSI subscales significantly predicted adaptation to college as measured by the SACQ for average and high achieving students, but did not significantly predict adaptation to college for low achieving students. The unique contributions of the LASSI subtests varied in …