Education Commons^™

Rubrics In Use As An Assessment Tool For Elementary Physical Education, Megan Marie Brown

All Graduate Projects

There are many health related benefits of participating in regular physical activity. A well-designed elementary physical education program will promote lifetime physical activity that may reduce the risk of disease. In implementing a quality curriculum for physical education, educators need to take in to account the standards when deciding the direction for their curriculum (NASPE, 2005). According to the Washington State Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (2008), physical education includes curriculum, instruction and assessment all implemented together. This project addresses the need for meaningful and convenient assessment tools.

School Counselor Assignment In Secondary Schools: Replication And Extension, Jennifer L. Williamson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Before school counselors can carry out the duties and responsibilities outlined as part of a comprehensive school counseling program, they must know which students they are responsible for helping. The topic of assigning students to school counselors has only recently been seen in the educational research arena in a study by Akos, Schuldt, and Walendin (2009). The current study attempts to replicate and extend the findings of Akos, Schuldt, and Walendin by addressing the questions of how secondary school counselors are assigned and what are their perceptions of their assignment. In addition, the study attempts to determine whether a particular …

Teachers' Perceptions Toward Required And Self-Directed Professional Learning, Marla Kay Lambert Hutton

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is a difference in the opinions of elementary, middle, and high school teachers concerning teacher required or self-directed professional learning. Additionally, the study investigated differences in teaching experience, professional development in a series compared to in a single meeting, workshop, or conference, rather than ongoing professional learning, and whether the teachers’ perception for professional learning is similar to their administrators’ perception for teachers’ learning.

Research findings indicated there was a relationship between teachers’ preference for professional learning and their years of teaching experience and their level of teaching (elementary, middle, …

The Reported Needs Of A Teacher Mentoring Program, Kimberly Myers Tillman

Dissertations

The following study was conducted in four public school districts in south Mississippi and involved a combination of 167 administrators, mentors, and novice teachers. The purpose of this study was to measure the reported needs of a teacher mentoring program as perceived by novice teachers, mentor teachers, and administrators. An additional purpose of the study was to examine administrators’ perceptions of how alternate route and traditional route teachers differ in their needs of a teacher mentoring program.

Two multivariate of analysis (MANOVA) tests were conducted to measure the differences among novice teachers, mentors, and administrators in their perception of what …

A Critical Analysis Of Job-Embedded Professional Learning Within A Distributed Leadership Framework, Ashley Jimerson Campoli

Dissertations

Leadership style and professional learning have been linked to student achievement. Studies have linked leadership styles such as distributed leadership to job-embedded professional learning. However, research is mixed when these two constructs are related to student achievement.

This study evaluated the relationship between distributed leadership and jobembedded professional learning. This study also evaluated relationships among jobembedded professional learning, distributed leadership, and third-grade achievement scores.

The study involved third grade mathematics teachers and school administrators in 46 elementary schools in the state of Georgia. Pearson’s bivariate correlation test was used to explore the relationship between job-embedded professional learning and distributed leadership. …

The Context For Change: Reconceptualising The 3rs In Education For Indigenous Students, Elizabeth M. Jackson-Barrett

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Abstract

In 2011, three years on from the Apology given by Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd to the Stolen Generations and coupled with the Federal Governments agenda to ‘close the gap’ in education for Aboriginal students, perhaps it is time to retrospectively look at the issues and challenges that have moulded the terrain of Aboriginal education in Western Australia. It is clear that over the last 200 years there has been progress in improving the access of schooling for many Aboriginal students. However the retention and successful completion of compulsory schooling still remain at unacceptable levels. It is these current performance …

Teachers' Perceptions Toward The Secondary Physical Education Program In The State Of Kuwait, Khaled A. Al-Kandari

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to determine the perceptions of physical education teachers and supervisors toward the secondary physical education program in eight domains in the State of Kuwait. Stratified and cluster sampling were used to select two schools of female teachers and two schools of male teachers from each district (6 districts); therefore, 24 schools were selected randomly. One hundred thirty-eight physical education teachers were selected and 66 supervisors were selected. A four-point rating scale (i.e., strongly disagree to strongly agree) and open-ended questions were included in the survey. Cronbach's alpha reliability, descriptive statistics, and independent sample t …

Communities Of Practice And Teacher Development – Lessons Learnt From An Educational Innovation In Pakistan, Sajid Ali

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

Communities of Practice (CoP) is a novel idea that highlights the importance of informal learning and working groups in an organization. Organizations need to nurture informal spaces of learning so as to enhance overall organizational success. This article builds on this idea and applies it to educational context of Pakistan, particularly towards the issue of teacher training. The paper presents the example of an educational improvement programme in KPK province of Pakistan titled ‘Primary Education Project – Improvement of the Learning Environment (PEP-ILE)’. It is highlighted that PEP-ILE created cluster based training model around subject areas. Such configuration allowed for …

Integration Of Racially And Ethnically Diverse Modern Day Military Veterans In American Higher Education, Cedric Mandell Kenner

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study focused on examining the integration and transition challenges of racially and ethnically diverse modern day military veterans at a predominantly white research university. Modern day racially and ethnically diverse veterans who have been retained at the institution past their freshman year were invited to participate in the study. Tinto's (1975) Student Integration Model (SIM) served as the theoretical framework for the study which focused on retention and academic support strategies that could be appropriate for racially and ethnically diverse modern day military veterans in American higher education. The methodology utilized in this study was phenomenology which utilized interviews …

Factors Which Influence The Use Of Active Learning Strategies By Nursing Faculty, Deborah Lowell Shindell

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Nursing education is facing a crisis. Anachronistic teaching methods are no longer keeping up with the needs of new graduates entering practice. Despite a body of knowledge which supports the use of active learning in higher education, nursing faculty continue to rely on lecture as their primary pedagogical approach. Previous study of the use of research products in clinical nursing practice identified systematic factors such as characteristics of the communication of research findings and characteristics of the organization form the greatest barrier to use. This study discovers if these same barriers face nursing educators.

Using Roger‟s Theory of Diffusion of …

The Impact Of Regulating Social Science Research With Biomedical Regulations, Brenda Braxton Durosinmi

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The Impact of Regulating Social Science Research with Biomedical Regulations Since 1974 Federal regulations have governed the use of human subjects in biomedical and social science research. The regulations are known as the Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects, and often referred to as the "Common Rule" because 18 Federal agencies follow some form of the policy. The Common Rule defines basic policies for conducting biomedical and social science research. Almost from the inception of the Common Rule social scientists have expressed concerns of the policy's medical framework of regulations having its applicability also to human research in …

The Utilization And Effectiveness Of The Hesi E(Square) Exit Exam As A Graduation Requirement Toward Increasing Nclex-Rnrtm Pass Rates In Baccalaureate Nursing Programs, Debra Henline Sullivan

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Due to a desire to better prepare BSN students for the Nurse Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN^® ) and to increase first-time pass rates, nursing programs across the US are using predictive testing to implement policies that require students to pass a standardized exit exam to graduate (National League for Nursing, 2010). Evolve Learning Systems owned by Elsevier, Inc. offers such an exit exam named the HESI E ² , which recommends a benchmark score to predict success on the NCLEX-RN^® . To offset an expected decrease in NCLEX-RN^® pass rates due to recent changes …

Change Is Learning: Metacognition To Resolve Concerns During The Third Year Of The Implementation Of A Technological Innovation, Nola Allen-Raffail

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

"We are living in a time of change. Rather than viewing change as a painful course of action, let's develop an understanding of how it works, how to facilitate the process, and how to learn from our experiences" (Hall & Hord, 2011, p. 18).

This study used a snapshot of a private Kindergarten-12^th grade school during the third year of the implementation of a technological innovation (RenWeb) to investigate teacher concerns during the process of change and gain insights into individuals' use of metacognition to resolve those concerns. Two primary research instruments were used, the Stages of Concern Questionnaire …

Being Outside Learning About Science Is Amazing: A Mixed Methods Study, Michelle L. Weibel

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study used a convergent parallel mixed methods design to examine teachers' environmental attitudes and concerns about an outdoor educational field trip. Converging both quantitative data (Environmental Attitudes Scale and teacher demographics) and qualitative data (Open-Ended Statements of Concern and interviews) facilitated interpretation. Research has shown that adults' attitudes toward the environment strongly influence children's attitudes regarding the environment. Science teachers' attitudes toward nature and attitudes toward children's field experiences influence the number and types of field trips teachers take. Measuring teacher attitudes is a way to assess teacher beliefs.

The one day outdoor field trip had significant outcomes for …

The Influence Of Peer Tutors And Technology-Actuated Reading Instruction Process On Third-Grade Students' Self-Perceptions As Readers: A Multiple Case Study, Brenda Shill Daw

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Driven by Lev Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory (1986), my study investigated the self-perceptions and interactions of seven underperforming, third-grade readers while using Technology-Actuated Reading Instruction (TARI). Partnered with same-age peer tutors, readers used digital tools to listen to, read/record, and playback oral reading passages. They practiced, peer- or self-edited, and selected their best reading products as part of the iterative process. As reading is a complex cognitive skill (Reinking, 2005), TARI incorporated higher cognitive learning activities via a synthesis of Gagné's (1985) nine conditions of learning and the Four-Component Instructional Design Model (van Merriënboer & Kester, 2005).

Much of the current …

The Unforgettable Experience Of A Workshop On Pythagoras Theorem, Salima Shahzad Arwani

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

No abstract provided.

Understanding The Evolving Roles Of Improvement–Oriented High School Teachers In Gilgit-Baltistan, Takbir Ali

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

In this paper the author presents a framework for understanding how improvement-oriented high school teachers’ accounts of change experiences portray their evolving roles as change agents in school reform. The data on which this paper is based come from a one-year long in-depth study (doctoral thesis research project) in which the author set out to investigate how improvement-oriented teachers pursue important changes in the realm of classroom, school and community; how the teachers-initiated changes can be characterized; and how the teachers’ roles evolve with their change practices. The researcher employed qualitative case study methodology, using in-depth interviews, classroom observations, post-observation …

Salam Teacher, Sultan Alam

Professional Development Centre, Gilgit

No abstract provided.

Do Teachers Learn In School Contexts? Some Perspectives From Pakistan, Ayesha Bashiruddin

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

No abstract provided.

Decolonial Multiculturalism And Local-Global Contexts: A Postcritical Feminist Bricolage For Developing New Praxes In Education, Katharine Matthaei Sprecher

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation presents a conceptual bricolage that explores complex, reflexive, and interrelated dimensions of educational praxes. My work is grounded in the assertion that the ever-changing, local-global nature of contemporary societies requires new approaches to curricula, pedagogies, policies, and practices in U.S. schools to meet the challenges and opportunities of a global era. Presenting my research and findings as four articles, I begin with a dialectical analysis of theoretical and pedagogical literatures to develop an adaptable framework for decolonial multicultural education. In Article 1, I demonstrate how this framework synergizes aspects of social reconstructionist and critical multicultural, global, and …

Changing Perceptions Of Science In Undergraduate Students: A Mixed Methods Case Study, Cindy S. Larson-Miller

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this bounded single-case study was to explore the understanding of the nature and process of science for undergraduate students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). The study investigated one professor’s methodology to explicitly teach undergraduate students about the nature and process of science, and documented their understanding and perception of science, both pre- and post-course.

Using a mixed method approach, data were collected to provide a better understanding of teaching the nature and process of science. Three main types of data were analyzed: the process of science (TPOS) assessment; survey questions, and the module curriculum.

Participating students …

Bowen Family Systems Theory And Its Relationship To Teachers: Does Differentiation Of Self Predict Teacher Job Satisfaction?, Noal Baxter Cochran

Dissertations

Educational leaders are charged with maintaining the academic success of students, the faith of stakeholders in the educational process, and the growth of the educational profession. These objectives have become difficult during a time of noticeable discontent among the stakeholders of educational systems. The discontent is noted strongly among the ranks of teachers who continue to cite decreased job satisfaction as they face increased internal and external accountability pressures, declining resource availability, and reduced familial support. The resulting teacher job dissatisfaction has led to an increased need among the leadership of educational systems to develop an understanding of the issues …

Influence Of Teacher-Student Interactions On Kindergarten Children’S Developing Gender Identity Within The Pakistani Urban Classroom Culture, Almina Pardhan

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

In the current global push to explore the diverse and complex ways in which the school culture contributes to the shaping of young children's gender identity, early childhood teachers’ role in this process is an area of concern which has received limited attention. Furthermore, the schooling experiences of early years children in developing world contexts such as Pakistan remain largely absent. As such, this article discusses findings from a study investigating the role of women teachers’ practice in the construction of children's gender identities in the kindergarten classroom culture of one urban co‐education school in the highly gender‐segregated Pakistani context. …

Old Tribes, New Tribes: The Extent To Which Discipline Cultures Impact On The Development And Delivery Of Cross-Disciplinary Undergraduate Degree Programs? A Study Of The Bsc In Product Design At The Technologicl University Dublin, Robert Tully

Theses

The research presented in this thesis focuses on two objectives, the first and main objective being to investigate the impact of discipline cultures on the development and delivery of cross-disciplinary undergraduate education on the BSc. in Product Design at the Technologicl University Dublin. The second objective of the thesis is to consider the changes that occur as a result of the ‘tribes’ cohabitating on these cross-disciplinary education programs. The underlying interest in answering these questions lies in the implications for the way in which programs, which have a cross-disciplinary intention, structure, develop the syllabus, enable discourse and facilitate collaboration in …

Understanding How Practices Of Teacher Education In Pakistan Compare With The Popular Theories And Narrative Of Reform Of Teacher Education In International Context, Takbir Ali

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

Movements to reform teacher education are underway in many parts of the world, including Europe, Australia, North America and many other developing countries. The directions of and the approaches to these reforms vary in each country. Invariably changing educational policies across countries, innovations, research, and ongoing discourse in the field have contributed to new ways of understanding teacher education in different societies. This reflective paper examines the critical gaps in understanding the main causes underlying core issues facing teacher education and professional development in Pakistan; how the efforts and perspectives about reforming teacher education in Pakistan compare with the practices …

Street Theatre : Critical Pedagogy For Social Studies Education, Al-Karim Datoo, Zainab M. A. Chagani

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

This paper aims at exploring the usefulness of street theatre as critical pedagogy in teaching of social studies education. It gives a brief background of street-theatre and its linkages with critical pedagogy. In the light of theoretical underpinnings of this arts-based pedagogy, the paper deliberates upon the relevance and efficacy of street theatre in a social studies classroom. This paper uses a street theatre performance case to look at the techniques such as: body motion, body work, props, use of visual and audio aids, etc.; processes such as: conscientization and catharsis; and dialogical approach employed by street theatre to bring …

Private Higher Education In Pakistan, Nelofer Halai

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

The demand for higher education all over the world, especially in the developing world, has fueled a tremendous growth of private universities. Countries such as India and China, for example, possess increasing space for private universities to flourish either independently or through private-public or private-international partnerships. However, almost without exception the private universities being established in developing countries are of poor quality, and in this case Pakistan is no exception.

Drug Abuse, Darvesh Karim

Professional Development Centre, Gilgit

No abstract provided.

Reflecting On The World Environment Day, Darvesh Karim

Professional Development Centre, Gilgit

No abstract provided.

Developing Pedagogical Content Knowledge Of Science Teachers Through Action Research: A Case Study From Pakistan, Nelofer Halai, Manzoor Ali Khan

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

The aim of this study is to analyze the action research undertaken by Khan as a teacher researcher in a private school as part of the degree requirement of his M.Ed. program in Teacher Education at the Aga Khan University, Institute for Educational Development. The purpose of this analysis undertaken by the first author and supervisor of the study in collaboration with Khan was to understand the development of Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) of the teacher researcher through action research in a science classroom in the context of Pakistan. Khan taught the concepts of heat and temperature using an inquiry …