Education Commons^™

The Nebraska Educator, Volume 6, Issue 2 (2022), Heidi Jo Bartlett , Co-Editor-In-Chief, Danika Lang , Co-Editor-In-Chief

The Nebraska Educator: A Student-Led Journal

Contents

Developing Metacognition: Leveraging a Spiral Curriculum to Enhance Strategy-Learning Programming • Matthew Brooks, Educational Psychology

A Thematic Analysis of Faculty Advice for Doctoral Students • Alexa Yunes-Koch, Katie Johnson, Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education

Emotional and Attentional Regulation: Impact of Trauma and Journal Writing • Jody-Ann Coore, Educational Psychology

From Active Learning Trigonometry to Lecture-Oriented Calculus: Student Interactions • Kelsey Quaisley, Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education & Dr. Nathan Wakefield, Mathematics

Maximizing Student Citizenship Education • Consuelo Gallardo, Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education

Masked or Unmasked? The Impact of Hidden Facial Expressions on Interpretations of Emotion • Justin Andersson, …

A Thematic Analysis Of Faculty Advice For Doctoral Students, Alexa Yunes-Koch, Katie Johnson

The Nebraska Educator: A Student-Led Journal

The present study examines advice given by the graduate faculty in a department (n=24) to new Ph.D. students in the department. The thematic analysis employed inductive coding to draw themes from the data, and seven salient themes emerged from the interviews: relationships, openness, individuality, purpose, academic work, self-care, and logistics. Grounded in a theoretical framework of social constructivism, the present study analyzes how knowledge is created as a social artifact that is passed down from faculty to graduate student and highlights the ways in which doctoral students then shape the meaning of said knowledge through their own interpretations and actions. …

Developing Metacognition: Leveraging A Spiral Curriculum To Enhance Strategy-Learning Programming, Matthew Brooks

The Nebraska Educator: A Student-Led Journal

There is significant converging literature that emphasizes the value of learning metacognitive strategies. Current approaches to teaching metacognition focus disproportionately on domain-specific strategies. These strategies emphasize domain-specific subject material rather than the metacognition itself. The following intervention proposal aims to develop a multi-level (5th-12th grade) metacognition program designed using a spiral curriculum. This novel approach flips the paradigm and chooses to center metacognition. Additionally, this program leverages encoding, retrieval, transfer-appropriate processing and, delivered specifically through the spiral curriculum, delivers content in a manner that encourages distributed practice, a concept that has been well-documented to be beneficial for learners. The proposed …

Masked Or Unmasked? The Impact Of Hidden Facial Expressions On Interpretations Of Emotion, Justin Andersson, Lauren Thayer

The Nebraska Educator: A Student-Led Journal

Researchers are still exploring the impact of the novel COVID-19 disease. This global pandemic has altered daily life, including how we interact with others. One radical change is the wide use of cloth or disposable face masks that cover people’s faces from the nose down. The current paper explores issues related to the diminished ability to identify others’ facial expressions and what impact that may have on people’s ability to perceive emotions and the social cues attached to those emotions. To further explore this issue, an exploratory, experimental study was conducted, participants (n = 7) were asked to complete a …

Bridging Metacognition And Executive Function: Enhancing Metacognition Via Development Of The Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex, Matthew Brooks

The Nebraska Educator: A Student-Led Journal

Currently, there is a gap between the psychological concept of metacognition and the neuroscientific construct of executive function (EF). The following research proposal attempts to bridge this gap with an argument that component parts of “cold EF” like working memory and cognitive flexibility closely overlap with the component parts of metacognition that include planning and regulation. Additionally, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and the superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF) are strongly associated with working memory and cognitive flexibility. The proposed research strategy in this article then offers a way to potentially evaluate metacognition through means beyond psychological measures. If the parallels …

Maximizing Student Citizenship Education, Consuelo Gallardo

The Nebraska Educator: A Student-Led Journal

Increasingly, global statistics have pointed out that young citizens are disengaged from democratic participation. This has captured public attention and led some countries to start creating educational policies as an attempt to implement educational citizenship programs to prepare young citizens to be active participants in a democratic society. Nevertheless, little is known regardless of the impact of those programs on democratic countries like Ecuador and the role of active citizenship at the educational level. It has led Ecuadorian younger population to avoid engaging in active social and political participation. Therefore, some national policies, international reports, specific topics related to citizenship …

From Active Learning Trigonometry To Lecture-Oriented Calculus: Student Interactions, Kelsey Quaisley, Nathan Wakefield

The Nebraska Educator: A Student-Led Journal

Active learning is an important component in many college mathematics classes. However, not all college mathematics classes are being taught using active learning-oriented methods. This phenomenological study examined how four undergraduate students’ reflections on their recent experiences in a lecture-based Calculus I course compared to their reflections on their previous experiences in an active learning-oriented Trigonometry course. According to participants’ reflections, certain prescribed classroom structures, such as large classroom sizes, seemed to negatively affect student interactions with both instructors and peers in Calculus I lecture, especially their ability to ask questions. Whereas feeling comfortable to ask questions in either Trigonometry …

Emotional And Attentional Regulation: Impact Of Trauma And Journal Writing?, Jody Ann Coore

The Nebraska Educator: A Student-Led Journal

Traumatic experiences are very common and have a high lifetime prevalence rate, which a large body of research indicates negatively impact the ability to self-regulate, including emotional and attentional regulation. This study focused on traumatic experiences caused by peer victimization and aimed to examine the effects on self-regulation after exposure to artificial trauma and journaling in graduate students. A convenient sample of 9 graduate students were randomly assigned to the control or intervention group. All participants were asked to engage in a journaling activity after watching the assigned video. Three emotional Stroop tasks were administered to participants: before watching the …

The Nebraska Educator, Volume 6, Issue 1 (2021)

The Nebraska Educator: A Student-Led Journal

Contents:

• Again Awake: A White Researcher’s Iterative Positioning for Entering Black Spaces—Eileen Boswell, Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education. (doi: 10.32873/unl.dc.ne021)

• Exploration of Lived Experiences of Science Teachers of English Language Learners: A Transcendental Phenomenological Study— Uma Ganesan, Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education (doi: 10.32873/unl.dc.ne022)

• Confronting the Past, Challenging the Future: Linguistic Hegemony and Neoliberalism in TESOL— Crystal Bock Thiessen, Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education (doi: 10.32873/unl.dc.ne023)

• The Effects of Self-Regulated Strategy Development on Students with Emotional/Behavioral Disorders: A Literature Review—Danika Lang, Special Education and Communication Disorders (doi: 10.32873/unl.dc.ne024)

• Assessments and Accommodations for English …

Triangulating Research That Focuses On Decolonizing And Race-Based Educational Theories, Beth Dotan

The Nebraska Educator: A Student-Led Journal

The normalization of white cultural and societal educational standards often produce uniform consumers of knowledge. In an effort to seek modification from conventional educational belief systems, this literature review looks at a collection of critical, race-based, and anti-/ de-colonial epistemologies and challenges traditions of inquiry. The research: 1) articulates how national culture perpetuates divisiveness through race and racism in colonized American society and institutions, 2) contemplates the amalgamation of Jewishness and whiteness, and 3) considers utilizing critical theory and social justice views to decolonize educational methodologies as a path to implement change. Historical context and the diverse array of scholarship …

Confronting The Past, Challenging The Future: Linguistic Hegemony, Capitalism, And Neoliberalism In Tesol, Crystal Bock Thiessen

The Nebraska Educator: A Student-Led Journal

Western capitalistic values that have given shape to contemporary neoliberal ideologies have, for too long now, greatly influenced the field of teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) as a whole, essentially working to continue cycles of injustice and inequality throughout the field despite well-meaning intentions to the contrary. Dominant language ideologies and linguistic hegemony have greatly shaped both socialized and institutional discourse in English and have worked together to help commodify the idea of upward mobility and success for anyone and everyone who “buys-in” to learning English, reflecting neoliberal selling points that are often taken for granted as …

Multiracial Individuals And Educational Testing, Karen Alexander

The Nebraska Educator: A Student-Led Journal

A literature review focused on quantitative measures and methods regarding multiracial individuals and educational testing revealed that multiracial individuals are uniquely different than monoracial individuals in terms of their racial identity and these unique identities interact with test scores. Until recently, this uniqueness has been ignored by institutions and within the field of educational testing. The uniqueness of multiracial identity should be taken into consideration when using test measures to make decisions for selection and when comparing group outcomes. The review provides a brief picture regarding the history of categorization of multiracial individuals and current research which connects the multiracial …

Again Awake: A White Researcher’S Iterative Positioning For Entering Black Spaces, Eileen Boswell

The Nebraska Educator: A Student-Led Journal

In this blend of critical annotation and personal reflection, the author narratively frames a selection of works comprising a contextualized reading list for White researchers confronting and positioning their whiteness for the first time. Built around 21 influential texts, this personalized collection of what to read and possible directions for contemplation reflects one educator’s awakening to the crucial situating of White research in Black spaces. The texts include academic journal articles, magazine pieces, and book chapters covering topical and methodological considerations, in addition to monographs and popular press books. The narrative and annotation are interwoven, creating a mini literature review …

The Effects Of Self-Regulated Strategy Development On Students With Emotional/Behavioral Disorders: A Literature Review, Danika Lang

The Nebraska Educator: A Student-Led Journal

Students identified with or at risk for emotional/behavioral disorders (EBD) face a number of challenges, both academic and behavioral (Trout et al., 2003). Individuals in this disability category especially struggle due to their challenges with self-regulation skills. These difficulties make it strenuous for students with EBD to regulate their thoughts, feelings, actions, and environments that may serve as distractions when attempting to attend to key learning tasks, including written expression. Self-regulated strategy development (SRSD) is a general framework of intervention designed to guide students through the complex process of writing while embedding necessary strategy instruction in self-monitoring, self-instruction, goal setting, …

Diversifying The Classroom: Masculinity And Intersectionality In (Teacher) Education: A Review Of Literature, Scott V. Gealy

The Nebraska Educator: A Student-Led Journal

While much has been written about the gender and demographic divide in the U.S. between the population of students and their teachers, complex gendered, cultural, and socioeconomic forces appear to be widening it. In an effort to reveal the many ways that teacher education programs can attract and retain a more diverse body of candidates, this literature review lays out a general overview of masculinity’s work as it pertains to the socialization of boys and young men in K-12 schools; it examines the influence of gendered, racial, and socio-economic assumptions on both teachers and learners; it looks at the experience …

Exploration Of Lived Experiences Of Science Teachers Of English Language Learners: A Transcendental Phenomenological Study, Uma Ganesan

The Nebraska Educator: A Student-Led Journal

English language learners (ELLs) are a talented pool of culturally and linguistically diverse students who are persistently increasing both in absolute size and percentage in the U.S. school population; however, they are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields in college as well as in the workforce (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2018). Education and scientific communities have found it challenging to improve students’ participation in STEM fields (Martinez et al., 2011). Exploring science teachers’ experiences could aid in improving academic achievement of ELLs and promoting educational equity. The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study is …

Assessments And Accommodations For English Language Learners: A Literature Review, Heidi Jo Bartlett

The Nebraska Educator: A Student-Led Journal

While research in how English language learners (ELLs) use assessment accommodations is lacking, there are some general conclusions that one can draw. First, teachers must know their students’ abilities. This includes knowledge of their English proficiency, knowledge of their first language skills, especially as it pertains to literacy skills, and knowledge of their content area understanding. If teachers are aware of areas of weakness in students’ assessments, they should work to compensate for them by either changing their instruction or providing assessment accommodations. Second, it is important for teachers to recognize the various types of assessment accommodations that are available …

The History, Evolution, And Trends Of Academic Dishonesty: A Literature Review, Amy Zachek

The Nebraska Educator: A Student-Led Journal

Academic dishonesty is a murky problem without a commonly agreed upon solution in American higher education. It has a long-standing history in higher education but a short history in academic literature, it has evolved rapidly and longitudinally (McCabe & Trevino, 1996), and it has several easily apparent trends and others that the majority of researchers are in disagreement about. While traversing this perilous landscape of dichotomies, this paper will examine connections and gaps in the literature, make suggestions and recommendations for future study based off of these results, and examine the implications that these recommendations could have on higher education …

Seeing Formative Assessments From A Broad Perspective, Consuelo Marisol Gallardo

The Nebraska Educator: A Student-Led Journal

October 2020 | 194 Seeing Formative Assessments from a Broad Perspective Consuelo M. Gallardo Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education University of Nebraska-Lincoln Abstract Despite the fact that many experts in the assessment field have advocated for the use of formative assessments, little attention has been paid to their thorough elaboration and application in Ecuadorian English as Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms. Some teachers have overlooked the validity of formative assessment as tools to inform instruction and language learning growth, so its application has generated a big debate. Therefore, this paper presents a literature review of perceptions and experiences of …

Interval Estimation Of Proportion Of Second-Level Variance In Multi-Level Modeling, Steven Svoboda

The Nebraska Educator: A Student-Led Journal

Physical, behavioral and psychological research questions often relate to hierarchical data systems. Examples of hierarchical data systems include repeated measures of students nested within classrooms, nested within schools and employees nested within supervisors, nested within organizations. Applied researchers studying hierarchical data structures should have an estimate of the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for every nested level in their analyses because ignoring even relatively small amounts of interdependence is known to inflate Type I error rate in single-level models. Traditionally, researchers rely upon the ICC as a point estimate of the amount of interdependency in their data. Recent methods utilizing an …

Culturally Relevant Science Teaching: A Literature Review, Uma Ganesan

The Nebraska Educator: A Student-Led Journal

This educational research literature review paper aims to discuss the rationale, review eight empirical research studies, and identify knowledge gaps in culturally relevant pedagogy in science education. This paper focuses on synthesis, review, and comparison of the findings of the empirical studies, and categorizes them into thematic heads such as similarities and differences between studies under the broad categories of professional development (PD) programs and case studies. Following these reviews, the author summarizes her reflections and thoughts about the literature to understand the big picture of culturally relevant pedagogy in science education. The basis of this literature review are various …

Difficulty And Distance In Educational Encounters With Historical Violence, Grant Scribner

The Nebraska Educator: A Student-Led Journal

This article reviews recent literature that addresses historical violence, difficult history, and the production of historical distance in teaching and learning about past violence. The author argues that based on the literature, the processes by which certain violent histories become “difficult” while others are aestheticized deserve greater attention. As violent histories become more or less difficult, the production of nuanced, contextually contingent historical distances may have serious implications for teachers’ pedagogical decisions as well as students’ reactions and understanding. The author argues further that historical violence not considered difficult or traumatic in a given moment and context deserves greater attention …

Empower: An Adaptable Writing Intervention, Carly Dinnes

The Nebraska Educator: A Student-Led Journal

EmPOWER is a six-stage writing intervention designed by speech-language pathologists to improve the expository writings of school-aged children with language learning and executive function disabilities. The intervention uses scaffolded instruction to transform struggling students into independent and self-regulating writers by training the students to use a variety of supports (e.g., graphic organizers, checklists) and strategies (e.g., referring back to the writing prompt) throughout the writing process. Many key features of the EmPOWER approach to writing instruction directly support components described in cognitive models of writing, which indicates that EmPOWER is a theory-guided writing intervention that may benefit a wide range …

Bilingual Acculturation Assessment: An Overview Of Current Developments, Donna Chen

The Nebraska Educator: A Student-Led Journal

Assessments are often used for decision-making in education, mental health practices, and industry. Consequently, decisions based on these assessments affect multiple aspects of a person’s life. Given the increase of ethnic minorities in the U.S., factors concerning the appropriateness and interpretation of tests based on norms must be reconsidered. The multifaceted effects of culture are just one factor to consider so as to not overlook important cultural components that may negatively impact the decision-making process. Additionally, language, with close ties to culture, must also be considered. Thus, the complexity of culture and language in tandem to assessment-based decision-making necessitates fundamental …

The Roles Of Language, Communication, And Discourse In Power: A Series Of Critical (Reaction) Essays, Alessia Barbici-Wagner

The Nebraska Educator: A Student-Led Journal

The following is a conceptual paper consisting of a series of short, critical essays written for the “Language and Power” course taught by Professor Loukia K. Sarroub at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln during Fall 2019. The purpose of these essays is to understand the power of language, communication, and discourse in society and in education. Each essay is itself unique and connected to the others and explores the role of language in community and institutional settings. Language is intrinsically connected to culture, and most societies show their hierarchal power through it. For example, the short essay “‘Ketchup’ with Social Norms” …

The Current State Of Assessing Historical Thinking: A Literature Analysis, Taylor S. Hamblin

The Nebraska Educator: A Student-Led Journal

In American schools since the mid 2000’s, social studies departments and state departments of education have created goals and updated standards prioritizing critical thinking engagement. Promotion of critical thinking has created a wealth of scholarship on developing a specific type of critical thinking, or cognition, called historical thinking. Imperative to the promotion of teaching historical thinking is in how teachers can assess the inquiries that make it up. Unfortunately, standardized social studies assessments have failed to measure the acquisition of the new historical thinking standards. In order to improve the assessment practices of history teachers, I wish to do two …

Resources For Content-Area Teachers Educating Ells: A Literature Review, Heidi Jo Bartlett

The Nebraska Educator: A Student-Led Journal

Educating English Language Learners (ELLs) is a rapidly growing need in K-12 schools. While often viewed as a homogeneous group, in reality this population is varied in terms of prior knowledge, access to formal education, age, and native language. Despite these differences, students must be taught first social, and then academic, English in order for them to be successful in their classes and graduate. While in previous decades, ELLs were isolated from the mainstream population, common education practices now integrate them into their grade-level classes. However, while working with this high-need population, mainstream content-area teachers often lack the time, professional …

The Nebraska Educator, Volume 5: 2020, College Of Education And Human Sciences University Of Nebraska-Lincoln

The Nebraska Educator: A Student-Led Journal

Contents

Letter From The Editor

EmPOWER: An Adaptable Writing Intervention Carly Dinnes, Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education

Learning to Lesson Plan: A Mentor’s Impact on Pre-service Teachers Kelly M. Gomez, Connie L. Schaffer, Lela E. Nix, & H. Emily Hayden

Difficulty and Distance in Educational Encounters with Historical Violence Grant Scribner, Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education

Culturally Relevant Science Teaching: A Literature Review Uma Ganesan, Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education

Interval Estimation of Proportion of Second-level Variance in Multi-level Modeling Steven Svoboda, Education Psychology

The History, Evolution, and Trends of Academic Dishonesty: A Literature Review Amy Zachek, Educational Administration

Bilingual …

Learning To Lesson Plan: A Mentor’S Impact On Pre-Service Teachers, Kelly M. Gomez Johnson, Connie L. Schaffer Dr, Lela E. Nix, H. Emily Hayden

The Nebraska Educator: A Student-Led Journal

Lesson planning is considered an essential skill of teachers. As pre-service teachers first encounter the fundamental principles of planning for instruction, the complexity of planning to support the rigorous learning goals of content, curriculum, and individual student needs could be daunting. The mixed methods study explored how mentoring influenced early-program pre-service teachers’ self-efficacy (Bandura, 1997) and progression through stages of concerns (Fuller, 1969) in relation to lesson planning. Participants, secondary early-program pre-service teachers enrolled in a Midwestern teacher preparation program, included a target group who received mentoring and a comparison group who did not. Using constant comparison techniques guided by …

Effects Of Environment On Depressive Symptoms On Chinese Left-Behind Children, Lanyan Ding, Eric S. Buhs

The Nebraska Educator: A Student-Led Journal

Estimates indicate that about 70 million children in China have been left behind in their hometowns by one or both parents as their parents migrate to other places for work opportunities. However, the potential impact of parental migration on the emotional well-being of left-behind children is still unclear. The purpose of this study was to examine depression levels in Chinese left-behind children and to identify potential risk factors contributing to depressive symptoms in this population. Using a nationally-representative, stratified sample from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) database (3019 children, ages 10-15), an HLM model was applied at 1) the …