Education Commons^™

A Situational Analysis Grounded Theory Study Of University Inclusive Physics Learning Environments, Tali Hairston, W. Tali Hairston, Wilford T. Hairston

Education Dissertations

Different teaching and learning strategies have informed physics educators on addressing the cultural meanings and practices of physics that have sustained homogeneity within university programs. However, literature evidence physics learning environments are under-theorized in dismantling homogeneity and conceptually changes physics student learning for those struggling to learn physics. The purpose of this situational analysis grounded theory study was to explain a theoretical construct of inclusive physics learning environment strategies of eighteen college and university faculty, collected from interview data in a 2017 study. The research question guiding this study was to describe the sociocultural theoretical structure emergent in the inclusive …

Bringing College Classes To High School, Stephanie M. Wieland

Education Dissertations

Recent education reforms have focused heavily on increasing academic rigor for secondary students attending public schools with a goal of improved academic outcomes for all students. A common practice for increasing rigor school-wide is the adoption of college-level curriculums such as dual-credit, Advanced Placement, and the International Baccalaureate in U.S public secondary schools.

This study examined the relationship between the implementation of one or more college-level curriculum(s) in a public secondary school and overall student academic achievement. Academic achievement was measured by student performance on the Washington state standardized End of Course exam in Biology and the Smarter Balanced exams …

A Meta-Analysis Of The Effects Of Reflective Self-Assessment On Academic Achievement In Primary And Secondary Populations, Jeffrey James Youde

Education Dissertations

Recent empirical research studies indicate that reflective self-assessment as a classroom approach can have a positive impact on student achievement. Reflective self-assessment, a form of metacognition, allows a student to think about past, current, and future learning performance. Although several discrete empirical studies have supported such hypotheses, a quantified exploration and summary of the relationship between classroom techniques of reflective self-assessment and student academic achievement is needed. The results of the current study, a meta-analysis of surveyed empirical studies from the past 26 years, indicate that reflective self-assessment has an overall effect size of .46 on academic achievement across grade …

Measuring Cultural Competency In Educators: The Educators Scale Of Student Diversity, Ronak A. Patel

Education Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to uncover a rich theoretical basis of cultural competency and awareness in education and create an instrument, Educators Scale of Student Diversity (ESSD), which reliably and validly measures cultural competency in educators. Current measures lack in both a wide theoretical basis of cultural competency as it relates to educators in diverse teaching environments and in reported psychometric quality. The ESSD derived from a wide range of theoretical constructs that encompass the experience of modern teachers in diverse environments. The original 50 items, which were written after an extensive literature review, were reviewed by a …

Sustainable Change In Public School Districts, Angela Cheri Franklin

Education Dissertations

Reform is a reality for many school districts and schools. When faced with reform movements, districts and schools must address both the immediate implementation and the sustainability of the reform. This dissertation study is informed by two theories centered on reform implementation and sustainability: Organizational Learning Theory by Leithwood, Aitken, and Jantzi (2006) and Coburn’s (2003) Theory of Sustainability. Current empirical research in this field identified particular factors that lead to successful implementation of reform and long-term sustainability. A monitoring tool was used to investigate factors such as: vision for reform, decision making, professional development, innovation and change, effectiveness of …

The Effects Of Morpheme And Prosody Instruction On Middle School Spelling, Margaret Anne Dornay

Education Dissertations

A single case design was used to investigate the impact of two types of instruction on middle school students’ spelling. Phase 1 emphasized morphology awareness instruction (MAI) and phase 2 employed the addition of prosody awareness instruction (PAI). In order to compare the effects of MAI and PAI, spelling scores were gathered from eight students over a 12-week period. The children attended two 30-minute sessions each week. Two of the participants were high performing students, three were typical learners, and three students were experiencing pronounced difficulties in all areas of literacy. The scores of seven out of eight participants indicated …

An Assessment Of Integrating Authentic Research In Undergraduate Science Curricula, Daihong Chen

Education Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of integrating original research projects in undergraduate science curricula on student learning outcomes. Integrating original research projects in undergraduate science curricula has been promoted as an effective approach to involving large group of students in authentic scientific inquiry. The study defines course-based undergraduate authentic research experiences or authentic scientific inquiry based on situated learning, and conducted a systematic literature review of the impact of undergraduate research experiences in science related disciplines. Based on an extensive literature review, a unique survey entitled Student Science Learning Gains (SSLG) was developed and validated …

Reflective Assessment, Feedback And Academic Achievement In High School Mathematics, Nalline S. Baliram

Education Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of metacognitive strategies and content-specific feedback on student achievement in high school mathematics. Participants in the study consisted of a convenience sample of honors geometry students in grades 9 and 10 in a private high school located in Daytona Beach, Florida. Beyond answering the specific research questions raised in the study, an additional aim was to contribute to the growing body of knowledge pertaining to effective ways to use metacognitive instruction and provide effective content-specific feedback to improve student achievement and learning.

A quasi-experimental, nonequivalent control-group design with repeated-measures was …

The Relationship Between Student Performance On A Reading Progress Monitoring Measure And The Washington State Standardized Test, Miriam Mickelson

Education Dissertations

Some experts and educators believe that learning to read is critical to success in and out of school (Lonigan & Phillips, 2015; Nation and Norbury, 2005; O’Connor & Klein, 2004). Schools, therefore, have the responsibility to ensure that all students become proficient readers, especially by the end of third grade, considered to be a pivotal year for literacy (Hernandez, 2011; Lesnick, Goerge, Smithgall, & Gwynne, 2010). Promoting literacy entails providing students with effective literacy instruction shaped and guided by timely, reliable, and meaningful assessment results. Assessment should inform instruction, which hopefully leads to student mastery of state mandated reading standards. …

A Meta-Analysis Of The Effects Of Problem- And Project-Based Learning On Academic Achievement In Grades 6-12 Populations, Kimberly J. Jensen

Education Dissertations

Researchers and proponents of problem- and project-based learning (PBL) indicate that PBL as a curriculum and instruction approach (Savery, 2006; Schmidt, Loyens, Van Gog, & Paas, 2007) provides an effective way for teachers to respond to students’ needs, provides opportunities for students to actively engage in and take responsibility for learning by engaging in meaningful and relevant work, and provides students opportunities to directly apply their knowledge and skills (Hmelo-Silver & DeSimone, 2013; McCombs, 2010; Parker et al., 2011). Although primary research within secondary (6-12) contexts indicated that problem-and project based learning (PBL) is often superior to traditional, lecture-based instruction …

High Quality Visual Arts Education K-8, The Student, The Principal, And The Teacher, Patricia A. Hayes

Education Dissertations

The national infrastructure of arts education shows continued rhetorical support, updated visual art standards, attributes in 21^st century learning frameworks, and research affirming arts disciplines as a core subject still valued today. Concerns from the past, however, show and continue to portend a cloudy future for visual arts education against high profile national standards and high stakes assessments focused on mathematics, language arts, and science. This study provides four views of visual arts education: (a) current research, advocacy, and national and state standards supporting sustained high-quality visual arts education (HQVAE); (b) a renewed look at the Discipline-Based Art Education …

Epistemological And Pedagogical Beliefs Of Pre-Service And In-Service Teachers In A Tanzanian Context, Michael B. Msendekwa

Education Dissertations

Abstract

This study investigated the epistemological and pedagogical beliefs of pre-service and in-service teachers working toward a degree in education at a university in Tanzania. A total of 702 pre-service and in-service teachers from year one and three participated in the study. The Teaching and Learning Conception Questionnaire (Chan & Elliott, 2004b; Lee, Zhang, Song, & Huang 2013) was used to measure student-teachers’ pedagogical beliefs, and the Epistemological Beliefs Questionnaire (Chan & Elliott, 2000, 2004b; Lee, Zhang, Song, & Huang, 2013) to measure their epistemological beliefs.

Factor analysis of data from the Teaching and Learning Conception Questionnaire resulted in a …