Education Commons^™

Current Practices Of Co-Teaching In An Elementary Inclusive School: Moving Toward Effective Co-Teaching Relationship, Mona Al Nassir

Annual Graduate Student Symposium

Co-teaching has become more prevalent in schools. The purpose of this study is to explore how general and special education teachers build successful co-teaching relationships to provide special education services to students with disabilities. This case study specifically described how two pairs of co-teachers including one special education teacher and two general education teachers interact, collaborate, and build and promote their co-teaching relationships.

The observation and interviews with two first grade co-teaching pairs provided data that told the story of how their co-teaching relationships developed and were promoted through working together in an inclusive classroom. Research data for this qualitative …

Making Inventions Using Scamper And Animal Adaptation Ideas With Elementary Students, Mahjabeen Hussain

Annual Graduate Student Symposium

This study explores to what extent the SCAMPER (Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put to another use, Eliminate, and Rearrange) technique combined with animal adaptation ideas learned through form and function analogy activities can help fourth graders generate creative ideas while augmenting their inventiveness. The sample consisted of 24 fourth grade students (14 female, 10 male) ages 9-10 at a suburban Midwestern elementary school. A repeated-measures design involving all participants alternately in the two conditions measured students under each treatment condition. In the experimental condition, students used SCAMPER charts with animal adaptation ideas to generate ideas to improve a product using …

Shrink And Squeeze: Today's Teaching Pressures And Its Effect On Teaching Social Studies, Alyssa Diane Mckeone

Honors Program Theses

Social studies education is one of the four core subjects taught to students in elementary schools. Teaching social studies provides students with the content knowledge and ways of thinking to allow them to be participating members in their communities. Although there are many skills students learn from social studies, due to federal legislation starting with No Child Left Behind, social studies has been put on the back burner while math and reading take the forefront. The goal of this study was to explore the perceptions and experiences of teachers regarding their social studies teaching. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with veteran …

Using The Growth Mindset To Improve Opportunities For Negotiation In Argument-Based Inquiry Elementary Classrooms, Bridget Tharp

Honors Program Theses

The purpose of this study is to evaluate if teaching students about the growth mindset improves achievement on standardized science assessment in a classroom that uses argument-based inquiry (ABI) instruction. A critical part of ABI is also referred to as negotiation and is considered cognitively demanding for students. The demands of argumentation often make its implementation extremely challenging for teachers because students often do not have strategies to overcome the failure they will encounter during the process. ABI is a research-based instructional practice that has been shown to improve student learning in science. This study will look at specific aspects …

A Case Study Analyzing The Traits, Programs, Actions, And Beliefs Necessary To Overcome The Correlative Relationship Between High Free And Reduced Lunch Rates And Low Standardized Test Scores, John Speer

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

As the K-12 student population in Iowa continues to become more socioeconomically challenged, as evidenced by a continued increase in the free and reduced lunch rates for schools in Iowa, a demand for increased student performance on standardized tests is growing. This dichotomy proves challenging to schools. In general, schools with a higher rate of identification of students eligible for free and reduced lunch rates produce lower achievement scores on standardized tests. The purpose of this study was to (1) Identify the strength of the corollary relationship in Iowa between free and reduced lunch identification rate and 4th grade achievement …

Investigating The Role Of The Written Curriculum On Lesson Planning For First-Year Elementary Mathematics Teachers, Anna Kron

Honors Program Theses

While studies have previously explored aspects of lesson planning from the perspective of experienced teachers, there is a lack of research investigating how this process is different for brand new educators. The researcher, a preservice elementary teacher studying at the University of Northern Iowa, wanted to learn more about the available resources and how she would utilize them when planning for mathematics instruction in her first elementary classroom. At the completion of this project, the researcher hoped to have a better understanding of the process first-year elementary teachers experience when transforming written textbook materials into a mathematics lesson plan. The …

An Investigation Of The Assessment Practices Of Elementary General Music Teachers In Iowa, Michelle Linn Hyde Swanson

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Assessment, leading to informed decisions, is an integral part of music education and may be a means to justify the importance of music as a valued content subject (Brophy, 2000). The purpose of this study was to describe the elementary general music assessment practices in Iowa. The study was framed using Stiggins’ (2005) categorical definition of assessment as gathering, organizing, summarizing, and reporting data. Mixed methodologies were utilized to gather data regarding these four categories through survey questions (N=211) and two focus group discussions. The participants were from a variety of school district sizes as well as teachers with varying …

Fluency And Instruction In The Elementary Grades, Stacey Bakken

Graduate Research Papers

Elementary teachers are being challenged to increase student's oral reading fluency. This can be attributed to today's high demands and focus on students fluency scores from required assessments, focusing mostly on correct words per minute. This project examines the history of reading instruction along with the five essential components highlighted by the National Reading Panel (2000), specifically, fluency. This project defines reading fluency and assessments used, as well as describing best practices in supporting and developing reading fluency in the elementary classroom.

The Value Of Inquiry-Based Science Instruction For Elementary Students, Jessica Renae Enger

Graduate Research Papers

This review examined the academic benefits of using inquiry-based science instruction in elementary classrooms. It also examined different ways teachers integrate inquiry-based instruction. Several studies identified increases in science content knowledge, concepts, and process skills as outcomes associated with inquiry-based instruction. Other studies in this review showed mixed or negative results for academic benefits of inquiry-instruction. This review also highlights hands-on investigations, discourse, and literacy as three ways teachers integrate inquiry. Findings of this review suggest inquiry-based instruction allows students to understand difficult science concepts, justify their ideas, and can create positive attitudes toward science.