Education Commons^™

Qualitative Case Study On Cell Phone Appropriation For Language Learning Purposes In A Dominican Context, Gisela Martiz

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This research study investigated how a Dominican English language teacher and her students appropriated cell phone features for educational purposes inside and outside the classroom. The dissertation used a qualitative approach that focused on the teacher, and four students selected from a class of 23. Data collection took place for 8 weeks in an English language center located at a public university in the Dominican Republic in the summer of 2014. I collected data through interviews, conversations, classroom observations, and questionnaires. Data were analyzed to identify emerging themes that described how the teacher and students used their cell phones for …

Learning From The Teaching Practices Of Successful Teachers Of Latina And Latino Students, Glori H. Smith

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this study, sponsored by the Department of Teacher Education and Leadership at Utah State University, was to determine the classroom practices and attitudes of the teachers that had been identified as successful with Latina and Latino students at an urban middle school. Criteria for successful teachers were not determined by the researcher, but by those school stakeholders who were asked to nominate such teachers: the administrators, faculty, and parents of Latina/o students.

The difference between the achievement of White students and students of color has long been a concern of educators. It is well established that critical …

Expert Rural Elementary School Teachers' Planning For Effective Instruction, Lance T. Hatch

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Learning how to plan for effective instruction is a critical part of the work performed daily by the elementary school teacher. While some new and struggling teachers in urban school districts have access to professional development on a variety of topics including instructional planning, teachers in rural school districts often struggle to find training opportunities. This study sought to gather information and insight from rural teachers who demonstrate expert instructional planning. The specific planning decisions they made and activities they engaged in while planning were studied. Not only were the planning practices identified, but the reasons said practices were employed …

Adoption, Adaptation, And Abandonment: Appropriation Of Science Education Professional Development Learning, Max L. Longhurst

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Understanding factors that influence teachers to use certain practices from training they receive will help improve learning experiences for students. This study examined how two teachers with the same teacher training experience use learning from that training in their instruction differently. This research attempted to account for multiple factors that influenced teachers learning. Educator’s incorporation of teaching practices can vary from teacher to teacher and from training to training. This variability is understood in terms of their appropriation of new teaching practices into their teaching and delivery of learning. Two teachers were selected as a result of their participation in …

Using Video Prompting On An Ipod Touch To Teach Multiple-Step Recipes To Transition-Age Students With Moderate To Severe Cognitive Disabilities, Kjerstin Mourra

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study investigated effects of video prompting using an iPod Touch to teach recipe-following to four 16-19 year-old youth with intellectual disability and autism in a transition classroom. Target behaviors involved correctly following three multi-step recipes: microwave dinner, brownies, and gelatin. A multiple-probe design across recipes was replicated across participants. After low levels of responding in baseline probes, researchers presented participants with an iPod Touch showing each step of the task using video and with audio narration. Following the video prompting phase, maintenance and home-based generalization probes were conducted. The intervention increased recipe-following performance for all participants. Performance maintained and …

Indicator 13 Training For Transition Teachers: Comparison Of Pre-And Post Test Scores On Writing Of Goals, Christina B. Smith

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Special education teachers sometimes experience problems with knowing how to construct and write transition goals that meet Indicator 13 requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. This project examined the effects of teacher training in Indicator 13 requirements on the quality of transition goals. Participants included 17 special education teachers from one school district located in a western state. Target behaviors where increasing each participants’ post-test goal quality scores from individualized transition plans (ITP) written after they demonstrated knowledge about requirements through a post-instruction goal quality writing probe. Procedures involved (a) a pre examination of participants’ transition goals that …

A Feminist Examination Of How Girls And Women Engage With A Female Protagonist In Dystopian Young Adult Literature, Robin A. Parent

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study examines how girls and women related to a strong female protagonist in Scott Westerfeld's book Uglies, a dystopian young adult novel. I chose the text, Uglies, as a common experience shared between both participant groups. Two main research questions framed this study: How do girls and women relate to the female protagonist in dystopian YAL? and, How are the responses to dystopian YAL similar and different for the targeted teen audience and the adult audience? This study utilized third-wave feminism and reader response theory for its critical framework. Third-wave feminism calls for researchers to foreground personal …

Comparison Of Neurological Activation Patterns Of Children With And Without Autism Spectrum Disorders When Verbally Responding To A Pragmatic Task, Daphne U. Hartzheim

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study examined the neurological activation of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) while performing a pragmatic judgment task. In this study, children between the ages of 9 and 15 years responded to questions regarding a social situation, taken from the Comprehensive Assessment of Spoken Language, while concurrently having their brain activity measured. We targeted four brain regions for analysis: dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), superior temporal gyrus (STG), and the inferior parietal lobule (IPL).

Ten children with ASD and 20 typically developing (TD) children participated. Matching occurred in a bracketing manner with each child in the ASD …

Negative Reinforcement Through Contingent Easy-Task Presentation, Cicely Irene Nickerson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Escape from instructional demands is one of the most common functions of problem behavior. Some research suggests that a switch from difficult to easy tasks may function as a reinforcer for problem behavior. This is of particular concern for situations in which easy tasks are part of the intervention procedure to reduce problem behavior. This project examined the reinforcing effects of a switch from low-probability (low-p) to high-probability (high-p) tasks for individuals whose problem behavior was maintained by escape from demands. It also provided preliminary evidence as to the quality of reinforcement provided by a switch from low- high-p tasks. …

Teacher- And Student-Developed Summaries Of Performance: Perceptions Of Teachers And Vocational Rehabilitation Counselors, Heidi S. Preece

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Special education students often struggle to access services upon graduation from high school. A summary of performance is a document that should ease this transition, but often is nothing more than a meaningless piece of paper. This study sought to use a student-completed portfolio as a summary of performance.

A student-completed portfolio and a teacher-completed summary of performance document was evaluated by special education teachers and Vocational Rehabilitation counselors. Results indicate the usefulness of a student-completed portfolio for person centered planning.

The Effects Of Unidirectional Peer Tutoring On Mathematics Outcomes For Students With Learning Disabilities In An Inclusive, Secondary Setting, Daniel Pyle

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Students with disabilities included in general education settings often require varying levels of supports and services to execute classroom routines effectively while maximizing their learning opportunities. One support that holds potential to increase outcomes for students with disabilities in general education settings is peer tutoring. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the effects that a targeted, unidirectional tutoring intervention had on the math outcomes for students with learning disabilities in a Secondary Mathematics I class. High school students that had advanced skills in mathematics served as interventionists (i.e., peer tutors) and were trained to deliver the unidirectional …

"It Is Not In The Stars To Hold Our Destiny But In Ourselves": Tales Of Saudi Muslim Women Maintaining Their Identities In U.S. Higher Education, Debi Sheridan

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The objective of these oral histories was to examine, explain and reveal the success of a small group of Saudia (female Saudis) whose studies at a mid-Western American university through the medium of English (their second or third language). Four students were randomly selected from a group of volunteers, based on their successful completion of the English as a Second Language (ESL) program, plus a year of other academic classes in the university. One student, who had not completed the ESL program, was admitted to the master of English program having passed the Test of English as a Foreign Language …

Clinician Recasts And Production Of Complex Syntax By Children With And Without Specific Language Impairment, Rebekah Wada

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study examined whether children with specific language impairment (SLI) respond differently than children who are typically developing in response to an intervention composed of the strategies of priming and recasting. Twenty-six children between the ages of 6 years, 10 months to 10 years, 11 months participated in the study (13 with SLI and 13 developing typically). The intervention was completed in one session. Findings revealed that both children with and without SLI were able to be primed to produce subject relative and object relative sentences with subject relative clauses being easier to produce than object relative clauses.

How Arizona Community College Teachers Go About Learning To Teach, Carolyn J. Hamblin

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

New Arizona community college teachers go through a transformative learning process when they learn to teach. They enter the classroom with preformed ways of thinking about teaching. These habits of mind include what they imagine a community college teacher to be. They expect their knowledge and expertise to translate into teaching ability and they are shocked to learn that this is not the case. Classroom teaching involves basic pedagogical skills such as preventing cheating, creating appropriate tests, planning a course calendar, and pacing a lecture. The discomfort that accompanies this revelation causes the teachers to think critically about what good …

Who Cares? Developing A Pedagogy Of Caring In Higher Education, Andrew Shayne Larsen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

When students are asked about their motivation to succeed in a course, about whether they enjoyed their instructor, and about their overall satisfaction with the class, answers can often be traced back to an educator who was perceived by the student as caring. Perceived caring occurs when a student feels that a teacher’s positive behaviors directed toward the student are motivated by good intentions and good will.

Research in the area of teacher care has almost exclusively focused on elementary and secondary classrooms, and has advanced the theory that caring teachers and caring classroom environments prompt many positive educational outcomes. …

Identifying Factors Common Among Students Who Do Not Fit The Typical Mathematics Self-Efficacy And Achievement Correlation, Jodi H. Mantilla

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A student’s self-efficacy, or their belief in their ability to perform a specific behavior, has been shown to have a positive correlation with their academic achievement. In other words, if their self-efficacy is high, their academic achievement is high. If self-efficacy is low, likewise their achievement is low. Research has shown that this correlation is especially true when looking at the self-efficacy and academic achievement in a specific subject, such as mathematics. However, in a typical classroom, teachers experience students who have very high self-efficacy in their mathematics abilities yet perform mathematics tasks at a low level. They may also …

The Effects Of Brief, Localized, Intensive, Social Skills (Bliss) Training On Social Outcomes For Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder In Inclusive School Settings: Form And Function, Christian V. Sabey

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study examined the impact of a framework for implementing social skills training, entitled BLISS, on the social vocalizations of students with autism spectrum disorder.

The number of students with autism spectrum disorder is on the rise and many of these students are being served predominantly in general education settings. However, there is a serious lack of social skills training interventions that have been effectively integrated into the typical school setting, including the use of typically available school personnel as interventionists. The developers of the BLISS approach take a step closer to the ideal by integrating brief social skills instruction …

Perceptions Of Customized Employment Among Employers: A Survey And Focus Group, Melanie D. Adams

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Employment for individuals with significant disabilities can be achieved through customized employment. Unfortunately the employer perspective of customized employment is often overlooked. This study sought to identify employer's feelings about customized employment.

A focus group developed a list of barriers and facilitators to customized employment. The list was turned into a survey that was given to a different group of employers. The results showed that employers were unfamiliar with customized employment and were most concerned with the cost of accommodations. Researchers found that employers considered support from other agencies, financial incentives and increased productivity to be upsides to customized employment.

An Exploratory Study Of Attributes, Affordances, Abilities, And Distance In Children's Use Of Mathematics Virtual Manipulative Ipad Apps, Stephen I. Tucker

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This exploratory qualitative study investigated the presence of and relationships among constructs that contribute to children's interactions with educational technology, leading to the development of the modification of attributes, affordances, abilities, and distance (MAAAD) for Learning framework. For this study, each of 10 fifth-grade children participated in one individual video-recorded semistructured interview session, during which they interacted with two mathematics virtual manipulative iPad apps and responded to follow-up questions. Video recordings and observation field notes were analyzed for evidence of attributes, affordance-ability relationships, distance, and relationships among these constructs.

Constant comparative data analysis using memoing and eclectic coding provided evidence …

The Use Of Feedback In Group Counseling In A State Vocational Rehabilitation Setting: A Pilot Study, Saara Grizzell

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Thirty individuals with disabilities receiving services at a vocational rehabilitation state agency attended a ten week skills based group counseling program. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: feedback or the treatment-as-usual. Prior to each session, participants filled out the Outcome Questionnaire-45, a questionnaire that provides measures of four different aspects of counseling outcomes: level of symptom distress, problems with interpersonal relationships, social role performance, and mental health functioning. Reports were then generated showing each participant’s scores and progress over time. Group counselors and participants in the feedback condition received these weekly reports. At the end of the …

A Translational Investigation Of Positive And Negative Behavioral Contrast, Megan A. Boyle

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Applied behavior analysts implement research-based techniques to improve behavior. However, research with nonhumans suggests that intervening to improve behavior in one context may result in a worsening of that same behavior in another context (behavioral contrast). Although there are clinical implications of behavioral contrast, the vast majority of research on contrast has been conducted with nonhuman animals. Results from basic research suggest that contrast is influenced differentially depending on whether a change in conditions follows versus precedes a given context. For example, a child might encounter three contexts each day: home, school, and daycare. An intervention to reduce the child’s …

An Evaluation Of Group Activity Schedules To Train Children With Autism To Play Hide-And-Seek With Their Typically Developing Peers, Jessica S. Akers

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Children with autism spectrum disorder have difficulties with social and play skills. The purpose of this study was to determine if three young children with autism could learn to play a complex social game, hide-and-seek, with three typically developing peers. Participants were taught to play hide-and-seek using photographic activity schedules. Photographic activity schedules are a type of visual schedule that teach children with autism to engage in chains of behavior. Two schedules were present during
teaching sessions, a seeker schedule and a hider schedule. Each group member played the role of the seeker once during the game. The three participants, …

Assessing Preference For Home Language Or English Praise In English Language Learners With Disabilities, Casey James Clay

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Assessing preference for stimuli has been shown to be of value when determining potential rewards for individuals with disabilities. Researchers have found that preference for forms of social interaction can be identified for persons with disabilities. Furthermore, these same social interactions can be used as rewards for these same persons. This study conceptualized different languages as different types of social interactions. Assessing preference for languages may be of use to identify forms of social reinforcement that can be used with English Language Learners (ELLs) with disabilities. Identifying reinforcers may be of value for this population to inform how to structure …

An Investigatory Study Of Relationships Among Selected Theoretical Components Of Letter-Writing Fluency, Pamela C. Reutzel

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Research that shows the need for letter-writing fluency as a foundation for being able to attend to higher-level thinking skills in writing calls for more research as to what the components of letter-writing fluency actually are and how they are related to writing efficiency. To study the components of letter-writing fluency, four assessments were used to evaluate 49 kindergarten students’ letter writing abilities. These assessments were made in December of their kindergarten year. The first assessed subskill was letter-naming fluency (LNF), which has previously been shown to be predictive of reading ability. The other two subskills that were assessed focus …

The Effectiveness Of An Intervention Designed To Increase The Positive To Negative Ratio Of Instructor Interactions During After-School Programming, Rikki K. Wheatley

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this research was to assess the effectiveness of two interventions used to train instructors to increase PN ratios. The first intervention (workshop training) followed a didactic workshop-training model. The second intervention (coaching) included the components of the didactic workshop model with the addition of modeling, role-play, and performance feedback. In this study four instructors in an after-school program were randomly assigned to one of two groups to participate in training programs. These programs were designed to help them increase PN ratios when interacting with students during homework time in the after-school program. Group 1 received only the …

An Evaluation Of An Ipad-Based Activity Schedule, Kassidy Stuart Reinert

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A visual activity schedule is a set of pictures or words that can be used to teach an individual with disabilities to complete a set of tasks. These schedules can help individuals with disabilities to become more independent and complete tasks appropriately. Children with autism often engage in behaviors that are repetitive or not appropriate when playing. Visual activity schedules have been used to teach a variety of skill and teach appropriate play. Typically, activity schedules are paper based; this study examines the use of an activity schedule taught on an iPad. This study included three young boys with a …

College Student Perceptions Of Secondary Teacher Influence On The Development Of Mathematical Identity, Kathryn Van Wagoner

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Through interviews with college students, this qualitative study explored how the students' experiences with their secondary mathematics teachers affected their relationship with mathematics, known as mathematical identity. The study was rooted in the idea that learning is an experience of identity and in John Dewey's theory that all experiences are inextricably linked to past and future experiences. The eight college students' interview responses were written into biographical narratives and then analyzed within preselected themes related to experiences with secondary teachers and dimensions of mathematical identity. These themes were determined through a review of previously published studies on those topics.

The …