Education Commons^™

Professional Development In Context: Investigating In-Service Development Programs For Syrian Teachers Of English As A Foreign Language During Times Of Military Conflict, Fadi Al-Issa

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The purpose of this study is to research how teaching practices and in-service professional development of English language teachers’ in Syria have been affected during times of military conflict: what impact English language teachers in Syria perceive the professional development programs they are required to attend have on their teaching and the learning environments they provide for their students, and how this perceived impact relates to the country’s current military conflict; and to explore the ways that teachers can be assisted to enhance their in-service professional development in a country experiencing a military conflict. Thus, by probing these two issues, …

Multimodality In The Art & Media Arts Classroom: A Qualitative Study Of Multimodal Literacies As They Appear In Art & Media Educator Classroom Curriculum And Practice, Kathleen M. Maniaci

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As a visual arts educator, I understand the unique opportunities students have to learn by making, inventing, and creating, to communicate their ideas. The work of the New London Group (2000), the more recent National Core Arts Standards and the National Core Media Arts Standards (2014) and the New York Arts & Media Arts Standards (2017) have significantly influenced this study by reinforcing both the necessity and potential to both art and media arts teaching practices in developing greater applications for multimodal literacy theory, defined by the National Council of the Teachers of English as “Integration of multiple modes of …

Developing Cognitive Flexibility And Project Management Judgment: Using Online Progressive Cases To Introduce Realistic And Unexpected Challenges, Lina Souid

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A project is a finite activity aimed at producing a tangible product or service. Designing and developing instruction is a type of project. Instructional design projects (design projects) require instructional designers (IDs) to manage multiple and often overlapping work tasks, balance the triple constraint (time, budget, and quality), and react to project changes. Thus, project management (PM) is a critical aspect of instructional designer competencies.

Traditionally, professional development (PD) involves the use of cases that present a complex, realistic problem for learners to discuss. Most of these cases are static; the problem does not change during the learning process. Static …

The Use Of A Digital Question Board To Facilitate Student Questioning And Engagement In Large Lecture Classes: A Mixed-Methods Study, Lili Zhang

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A lack of student questioning and engagement is faced by many universities, where a large lecture is a common practice. Emerging technologies bring about possibilities to fill this gap. This study applied constructivist learning theories and used a digital canvas as a Digital Question Board (DQB) for students to freely pose questions and respond using mobile technology. A mixed-methods study with a quasi-experiment was conducted to investigate the following research questions (RQs): (1) Do students demonstrate different questioning behaviors when provided access to a DQB from those students who are not provided with access to a DQB in large lecture …

Assessing Grit And Conscientiousness To Predict Medical Student Success On The National Usmle Step 2 Clinical Knowledge Exam, Jennifer C. Welch

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In an effort to consider additional or alternative variables that predict medical school success and to better identify qualified and more diverse medical school candidates to serve their communities, this study investigated the impact of two noncognitive traits, conscientiousness and grit, on the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Step 2 Clinical Knowledge (CK) national examination. The assessment used to measure conscientiousness was Costa and McCrae’s (1992) NEO-FFI-3 and the assessment used to measure grit was Duckworth and Quinn’s (2009) Grit S scale. This study also examined the correlation of sociodemographic (gender, age, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic background, and first-generation college status) …

Teachers’ Perceptions Of Evaluation Feedback Conferences: A Mixed Methods Study, Danielle R. Brain

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Teacher performance evaluations can serve two purposes: summative/accountability and formative/professional development. The current perception in the field is that performance evaluation systems predominantly focus on fulfilling a summative agenda over formative, which blurs the lines between the two purposes of evaluation (Popham, 2013). As a result, how evaluators and teachers react to evaluation ratings creates a disconnection between the summative and formative purposes and creates critical tensions between personnel being evaluated and evaluation systems. When this tension is felt, teachers and some evaluators feel that evaluation ratings cannot be used effectively for either purpose.A way to lessen the tension would …

Examining Intentions To Seek Counseling Amongst African American Male College Students, Jordan P. Shannon

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The roles of public stigma, self-stigma and mental health literacy have been found to be influential to the help-seeking process of college students. However, their particular influence has yet to be explored with African American male college students (AAMCS). The purpose of this dissertation is to explore whether public stigma, self-stigma and mental health literacy will significantly predict intentions to seek counseling amongst AAMCS. Research identifying factors for help-seeking amongst AAMCS have largely considered variables such as racial identity, self-concealment, cultural mistrust, Afrocentric values, and African Self-Consciousness. Whereas scholars perceive the help-seeking process of AAMCS with some salience to cultural …

Mindful Inquiry - A Deweyan Assessment Of Mindfulness And Education, David John Wolken

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Mindfulness-based interventions are becoming an increasingly popular means for helpingstudents deal with the multidimensional challenges they face in contemporary educational settings. While potentially helpful, an uncritical employment of mindfulness in education can paradoxically function to reify the very neoliberal social conditions leading to the need for mindfulness in the first place. I assess this trend in educational theory and practice through John Dewey’s pragmatic philosophy. I show that the potential for both mindfulness and Dewey’s theory of mind and inquiry to support critical, sustainable social change is truncated by an uncritical retaining of the modern paradigm of mind that defines …

A Phenomenological Investigation Of The Lived Experiences Of Workplace Burnout, Wellness, And Resilience In Independently Licensed Private Practice Counselors Who Operate Their Own Practice While Maintaining A Caseload Of Clients, Sara Lynne Thaxton

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Private practice counselors who own their practice are unique from agency practitioners in that they function as both counselor and business owner. Therefore, these counselors must work to find a balance between the human aspects of practicing and the logistical business components of owning and operating a practice. The combination of these two roles can pose unique threats to a private practice counselor’s wellness and how they experience of burnout and resilience - which may differ from agency counterparts. Although resilience and burnout experiences and practices in agency and community counselors are prevalent in the literature, there is a lack …

Investigating Middle School Students’ Mathematical Reasoning In A Connected In-School And Out-Of-School Context, Joash M. Geteregechi

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The purpose of this study was to investigate the various aspects of middle school students’ mathematics task solving in a context that connects the students’ experiences in out-of-school and in within-school contexts. Specifically, the study explores the forms of mathematical reasoning that the students used while engaged in such contexts and also the influence of collaboration on the forms of mathematical reasoning used. Since the term mathematical reasoning is often used in mathematics education research and practice without clear definition, a considerable part of the literature review is dedicated towards identifying a reasonable conceptualization and framework for mathematical reasoning. In …

Dispositions And Dis/Ability In Teacher Education: Teacher Educator Perspectives, Katie Roquemore

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This qualitative study explores the connection of dis/ability and dispositions in teacher education. Although dispositions have been part of contemporary teacher education discourse for over thirty years, their continued ambiguity is a source of debate and contestation (e.g., Diez, 2007; Katz & Rath, 1985; Osguthorpe, 2013; Warren, 2018). Existing literature examining dispositions and dis/ability focuses on the dispositions and attitudes teachers have and/or need to teach students with disabilities (e.g., Campbell et. al., 2003; Castello & Boyle, 2013; De Boer et. al., 2011; Killoran et. al., 2014; McCray & McHatton, 2011; Mueller & Hindin, 2011; Taylor & Ringlaben, 2012; Woodcock, …

How The Classroom Schools: A Focused Ethnography Exploring The Built Classroom Environment And Its Inhabitants In One Kindergarten, Meredith Devennie

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This study is a focused ethnography around the sociology of a classroom’s built environment and its young inhabitants. I spent three months immersed in a kindergarten classroom where I used child-centered research methods (ie. the kids created collaborative and individual classroom maps and conducted child-led video tours) alongside participant observation to gather data related to how young children perceive and experience the materiality and spatiality of their classroom.

As a result of grounded visual and multi-modal analysis, I centered the young children’s voices and perspectives and discovered how the kids picked up on certain physical and symbolic markers bounding zones …

A Learner Interaction Study Of Different Achievement Groups In Mpocs With Learning Analytics Techniques, Di Sun

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The purpose of this study was to conduct data-driven research by employing learning analytics methodology and Big Data in learning management systems (LMSs), and then to identify and compare learners’ interaction patterns in different achievement groups through different course processes in Massive Private Online Courses (MPOCs).

Learner interaction is the foundation of a successful online learning experience. However, the uncertainties about the temporal and sequential patterns of online interaction and the lack of knowledge about using dynamic interaction traces in LMSs have prevented research on ways to improve interactive qualities and learning effectiveness in online learning. Also, most research focuses …

“Because I Did What She Told Me To Do.” Understanding The Identity Work Of Elementary Students Of Color In The Science Classroom And How A Teacher’S Positionality Impacts Student Learning, Terrance Burgess

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This study examines how a classroom of elementary students of color constructed their science identities at a time in which the Next Generation Science Standards were taking root within their school’s science program. While the standards were developed under the paradigm of science being representative of a body of knowledge informed by student experiences, this study chronicles how elementary students reconciled their multiple identities (as a student, a person of color, and a scientist—their identity work) within the bounds of their classroom and community. In addition, the teacher’s positionality and the curriculum materials were studied to understand how they tended …

Exploring Undergraduate Students’ Topic Interest, Topic Knowledge, And Attitudes Regarding Harmful Algal Blooms, Alia N. Thompson

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Harmful algal blooms (HABs) are a growing concern in the US and abroad. Persistent misconceptions regarding HABs can increase the negative effects of bloom events by decreasing the effectiveness of communication efforts and impeding mitigation, monitoring, and recovery efforts. Addressing the misconceptions of diverse audiences has remained a prominent barrier in effectively communicating HABs and working towards HABs literacy. Undergraduates are a target audience for HABs outreach. However, there is a lack of information about the antecedents that influence their misconceptions related to HABs and efforts to address their misconceptions may not be as successful or engaging as they could …

Black Women And The Struggle For Education As The Practice Of Freedom: Embodying An Ethic And Pedagogy Of Liberation, Camilla J. Bell

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This dissertation explores the ways in which Black women across the Syracuse community embody an ethic and pedagogy of liberation for Black youth and their families within and beyond the school setting. The purpose is to understand in more nuanced ways Black women’s activation of their own lived experiences to dismantle systems of oppression and realize education as the practice of freedom for Black youth. Informed by Black feminist and womanist theories, this study employs narrative analysis, and sister circles—two methods which testify to the power of Black women’s her-stories and its impact on Black youth and their families. Knitting …

The Development And Initial Validation Of The Cultural Humility And Enactment Scale In Counseling, Peitao Zhu

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Cultural humility (CH) involves a stance of curiosity, a never-ending learning attitude, and a life-long process of self-reflection when encountering cultural diversity. Study of CH in the context of counseling is at a preliminary stage, primarily due to the dearth of conceptually and psychometrically sound measures. The study is intended to develop a client-report measure of counselors’ cultural humility, entitled the Cultural Humility and Enactment Scale (CHES). The researcher examined the factor structure, internal consistency reliability, construct validity, and predictive validity of the CHES in this study.

This study was correlational in nature and adopted a cross-sectional survey design. The …

Challenging Our Sense Of Ourselves: Teacher Leaders' Transformative Learning Experiences, Karen Marie Humphrey

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It is important to understand the ways teacher leaders undergo a transformation of their professional selves as they move from being a teacher to teacher leader. This qualitative study examined the ways teacher leaders made sense of their teacher leadership experiences, thus, exploring the changes in their beliefs, values, and perspectives as they expand their educational capacity in that role. This study used transformative learning theory as the framework to explore the phenomenon. Transformative learning theory is a theory of adult learning and is understood as a way of making meaning of our experiences that “transforms problematic frames of reference …

An Investigation Of Sixth-Grade Students' Conceptualization Of Angle And Angle Measure: A Retrospective Analysis Of Design Research Study Of A Real-World Context, Grace Njeri Visher

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A strong foundation in students’ understanding of the multifaceted nature of the angle concept is of paramount significance in understanding trigonometry and other advanced mathematics courses involving angles. Research has shown that sixth-grade students struggle understanding the multifaceted nature of the angle concept (Keiser, 2004). Building on existing work on students’ understanding of angle and angle measure and instructional supports, this study asks: How do sixth-grade students conceptualize angle and angle measure before, during, and after learning through a geometry unit of instruction set in a miniature golf context? What instructional supports contribute to sixth-grade students’ conceptualization of angle and …