Education Commons^™

Academic Performance As A Predictor Of Student Growth In Achievement And Mental Motivation During An Engineering Design Challenge In Engineering And Technology Education, Nathan Mentzer

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this correlational research study was to determine if students’ academic success was correlated with: (a) the student change in achievement during an engineering design challenge; and (b) student change in mental motivation toward solving problems and critical thinking during an engineering design challenge. Multiple experimental studies have shown engineering design challenges increase student achievement and attitude toward learning, but conflicting evidence surrounded the impact on higher and lower academically achieving students.

A high school classroom was chosen in which elements of engineering design were purposefully taught. Eleventh-grade student participants represented a diverse set of academic backgrounds (measured …

Complex Systems In Engineering And Technology Education: A Mixed Methods Study Investigating The Role Computer Simulations Serve In Student Learning, Douglas J. Walrath

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This research was conducted to determine if students receiving complex systems instruction in the form of software simulations recognize patterns and underlying elements of complex systems more effectively than students receiving traditional instruction. Complex systems were investigated with an analytic (reductive) approach in a control group and with a synthesis approach in the treatment group. Exploration of this top-down approach to learning complex systems counters traditional bottom-up methodologies, investigating systems and subsystems at the component level. The hypothesis was that students experiencing complex systems scenarios in a computer-based learning environment would outperform their counterparts by constructing a greater number of …

Teaching Patterns: A Pattern Language For Improving The Quality Of Instruction In Higher Education Settings, Daren Olson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

One method for improving the appeal of instruction is found in Christopher Alexander’s work on architectural design patterns. In this qualitative research study, student comments on teacher/course evaluation forms were analyzed to generate six instructional design patterns. The teacher enthusiasm pattern encourages teachers to show (a) increased scholarship and enthusiasm towards the subject matter, (b) genuine concern and enthusiasm towards the students, and (c) mastery of and enthusiasm towards the act of teaching. The balanced curriculum pattern recommends that teachers (a) determine the appropriate depth or breadth of subject matter and communicate it to the students, (b) create a balanced …

A Study Of Utah Teachers' Developmentally Appropriate Beliefs And Practices As Related To Perceptions Of Kindergarteners' Successful School Entry, Mary Mceuen Darnell

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study was an exploration of 450 Utah kindergarten teachers' perceptions of problems children face at the time of kindergarten entry, as well as an examination of the teachers' developmentally appropriate beliefs and practices. Consistent with previous research, teachers' beliefs were found to be more developmentally appropriate than their reported practices. This study also investigated the relationship between both teacher and classroom/school demographics and teachers' developmentally appropriate beliefs and practices. Further, the relationship between teachers' perceptions of children's transition to kindergarten and beliefs, practices, teacher demographics, and classroom/school demographics was studied.

Study findings indicated that teachers perceive 20% of kindergarten …

Online Education For Nontraditional Adult Students: Perceptions And Attitudes Of Emergency Services Workers In Asynchronous Learning Environments, R. Jeffery Maxfield

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The goal of this research was to better understand the lived experiences and perceptions of nontraditional, adult college students in an asynchronous online environment. Contemporary researchers have investigated the differences between online education and the traditional, in-class learning. Most of the work has been done in quantitative methodologies, focusing on the similarities and differences in cognitive achievement. The extant literature is replete with studies and positions claiming little or no difference between the two delivery methods. However, most research is not presented in a theoretical construct; therefore, it is difficult to create a nexus between one study and the next. …

Transforming Perspectives Through Service-Learning Participation: A Case Study Of The College Counts Program, James O. Peacock

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A case study has been conducted on the College Counts program, a well-integrated service-learning program, to examine the experiential learning of 10 former participants. It was the objective of this investigation to view the learning of 10 college students, through the lens of transformational learning, as they reflect on their experiences as participants in the College Counts program. Transformational learning theory was used as a lens to determine if high school students have the ability to engage in transformative learning. Students reported in their own voices transformative learning in one or more of the following forms: increased cultural inclusiveness, commitment …

Predicting On-The-Job Teacher Success Based On A Group Assessment Procedure Used For Admission To Teacher Education, Lavaun Gene Faulk

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this study was to investigate the ability of a group assessment procedure used as admission criteria into a teacher education program to predict future teaching success. Information was sought from principals within the state of Utah regarding the teaching success of 151 Utah State University graduates teaching in Utah public schools. Interviewed principals used a self-anchoring scale (1 = unsuccessful to 10 = highly successful) to “anchor” their beliefs about successful and unsuccessful teachers. Scores principals gave study participants when considering their success to other teachers on faculty were compared to scores teachers were given earlier as …

A Causal-Comparative Model For The Examination Of An Online Teacher Professional Development Program For An Elementary Agricultural Literacy Curriculum, Clay L. Rasmussen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a teacher professional development program as measured by the extent that participants have continued to use lessons and materials up to three years after the professional development experience. The professional development program was delivered online and structured by five key characteristics of effective professional development.

Sixty-five participants of Food, Land, and People (FLP) professional development completed an online survey answering certain demographic variables and indicating the number of lessons and activities they had used from the FLP professional development. An implementation and continued use measurement model was …

Developmental Students' Perceptions Of Unsuccessful And Successful Mathematics Learning, Laurel Howard

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe what experiences, attitudes, and learning strategies developmental mathematics students believed contributed to their failure to gain basic math skill proficiency in the past and what experiences, attitudes, and learning strategies these students now believed were most likely to enhance the successful learning of basic math skills.

To gain an understanding of the lived experiences of successful developmental mathematics students who were previously unsuccessful, structured, open-ended interviews were conducted, classroom observations were made, and formative and summative assessments for the students were collected. Fourteen students from a western 4-year college were selected …

Doctoral Education Among Latter-Day Saint (Lds) Women: A Phenomenological Study Of A Mother's Choice To Achieve, Jonathan Glade Hall

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) have been compellingly counseled by church leaders that motherhood should be women’s greatest ambition, and as such that it should demand mothers’ full-time in the home; at the same time they have been taught to get all of the education that they can. Mothers with young families must decide if they should continue their educational pursuits, or spend their full-time in the home. This study sought to fill a gap in the literature and understand the lived experience of these women by researching how LDS mothers with young children …