Education Commons^™

Using Inquiry To Raise Engagement During Third Grade Instruction, Andrew Ellingson

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

The purpose of this study is to research the effects that using inquiry-based strategies have on independent reading time engagement and reading achievement for third grade students. The research will begin by identifying the level of engagement and reading achievement of a third-grade class. A third-grade class will receive lessons on using the inquiry process, and then they will be able to take control of their learning and will be able to read and create projects based off what they are interested in. This study will examine if these strategies and options will boost engagement for these third-grade students, which …

Why Students Seek Help, Blake Rasmussen

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

This project researched why students do and do not seek help in a high school class. Typically, when a student is more confident in their abilities, they are more likely to seek out help from a class teacher. Students who are less confident will conversely avoid looking for help, as they are afraid of what their peers and teachers will think of them for asking for help. This invites instructors to come up with ways to increase confidence and self-efficacy in these learners so they will then feel better about asking for help when needed.

Keywords: Self-efficacy, questions, help

Implementing Mindfulness: The Effect On Student Behavior And Focus At The Elementary Level, Brianna Anderson

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

The practice of mindfulness is being used with increasing regularity in classrooms around the world. Mindfulness is the idea of being present in the moment without thinking about the past or wondering about the future. Teaching students about practicing mindfulness has several components including breathing, seeing, stretching, and listening. Provided is a literature review and research on the positive effects mindfulness has on a students’ ability to focus, self-regulate, and release anxiety and stress in a Title 1 elementary classroom. Analysis of the data showed a decrease in the frequency of off-task behaviors in four out of six students during …

Re-Entering Schools After The Pandemic: An Analysis Of Helping Children After A Disaster, Amy L. Pahl

The Interactive Journal of Global Leadership and Learning

Modern schools have not had experience dealing with a pandemic, and as such, there is no pattern to follow when working with students as they re-enter the school system. Pahl draws comparisons from research on disaster recovery and lays out a plan for re-entering schools post-pandemic. The plan takes trauma into account while focusing on resiliency, utilizing student input and creating opportunities to review strengths and supports over time.

Predictive Measures Of Teacher Effectiveness During Student Teaching, Kristen M. Carlson

The Interactive Journal of Global Leadership and Learning

The student teaching semester of a teacher candidates career is performative in the need to impress a university supervisor, cooperating teacher, and pass any licensure required assessments. Two data collection points during this semester are from a required performance assessment (edTPA) and a perception survey (CM Exit). This article reviews the predictive validity of the two tools based on three years worth of data from one mid-sized, Midwestern teacher preparation program.

Teaching Under Crisis: Impact And Implications Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On Education In Minnesota, Boyd L. Bradbury, Ximena P. Suarez-Sousa, Mike Coquyt, Tiffany L. Bockelmann, Amy L. Pahl

The Interactive Journal of Global Leadership and Learning

A mixed-methods exploratory study was conducted to explore the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic had on Minnesota teachers. A convenience sample of 976 teachers were surveyed in mid-April 2020 via the Qualtrics version of the Swaggert Instructional Practice Under Crisis (SIPUC) questionnaire containing 43 questions. The SIPUC data were analyzed following the Leadership in Times of Crisis Framework for Assessment (Boin et al., 2013), that is, an emergency instructional triage to determine which teachers had been mostly impacted and the scope and effect the pandemic had on their instruction and lives. Teachers described the pandemic as an event that disrupted …

Editor's Note: Volume 1, Issue 2, Boyd L. Bradbury

The Interactive Journal of Global Leadership and Learning

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Service-Learning On The Moral Development Of College Students, Mike Coquyt

The Interactive Journal of Global Leadership and Learning Infographics

In the last few years, several national reports on higher education have called for colleges and universities to take a more central role in providing moral and democratic education to college students. These developments suggest a renewed interest in collegiate goals that go beyond those that benefit the individual, continuing an emphasis in addressing the moral dimension of higher education that has existed for centuries. Courses with a service-learning component can be a powerful instrument for moral transformation. Working within Kohlberg’s Moral Development Theory, this 16-week quasi-experimental case study investigated the extent to which service-learning advances moral development (movement from …

Making Summer Learning Equitable For Students In A Rural, Title I School District: Turning On The Faucet Of Resources, Kathrina O'Connell

The Interactive Journal of Global Leadership and Learning Infographics

This research explores summer learning loss and the effect of summer resources on students’ literacy growth. Using the faucet theory, this mixed methods sequential explanatory study was designed to provide equitable resources and educational support for students in grades five through eight in a rural, socioeconomically disadvantaged school district. Transportation, breakfast, lunch, books, and a literacy-focused enrichment program were coordinated and provided for all participants in an effort to reduce learning loss during summer break. The pragmatic approach to inquiry incorporated both quantitative (e.g., literacy outputs, registration, and attendance data) and qualitative data (e.g., parent open-ended question responses). Convenience sampling …

Mathematical Discourse: Impacts On Seventh Grade Student Learning And Feelings About Mathematics, Courtney Weston

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

The original purpose of this study was to investigate the impacts mathematical discourse has on instruction and students’ feelings about mathematics. The research would have focused on the impacts mathematical discourse has on 40 students in a 7th grade math classroom. Students would have been provided with tasks that foster and encourage discourse during instruction. Student surveys, work samples, and a Discourse Rubric would have been used to determine the impacts mathematical discourse has on instruction and students’ feelings about mathematics. Plans for this study changed due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Due to COVID-19, the research was shifted to an …

Making Summer Learning Equitable For Students In A Rural, Title I School District: Turning On The Faucet Of Resources, Kathrina M. O'Connell

The Interactive Journal of Global Leadership and Learning

This research explores summer learning loss and the effect of summer resources on students’ literacy growth. Using the faucet theory, this mixed methods sequential explanatory study was designed to provide equitable resources and educational support for students in grades five through eight in a rural, socioeconomically disadvantaged school district. Transportation, breakfast, lunch, books, and a literacy-focused enrichment program were coordinated and provided for all participants in an effort to reduce learning loss during summer break. The pragmatic approach to inquiry incorporated both quantitative (e.g., literacy outputs, registration, and attendance data) and qualitative data (e.g., parent open-ended question responses). Convenience sampling …

Methods In Practice: Grounded Theory In Media Arts Education Research, Kyja Kristjansson-Nelson

The Interactive Journal of Global Leadership and Learning

Grounded theory qualitative research is a powerful method of practice, particularly for researchers aiming to explore complex processes through the perspectives and experiences of others. Grounded theory is also a powerful method of practice for researchers seeking to deepen a field of study in which the literature is thin and few theories exist. However, grounded theory is an often-overlooked research method, perhaps due to its inherent messiness. The purpose of this article is to demystify grounded theory practices by walking the reader through a grounded theory study conducted by the author in the field of media arts education. The study’s …

The Effects Of Service-Learning On The Moral Development Of College Students, Mike Coquyt

The Interactive Journal of Global Leadership and Learning

In the last few years, several national reports on higher education have called for colleges and universities to take a more central role in providing moral and democratic education to college students. These developments suggest a renewed interest in collegiate goals that go beyond those that benefit the individual, continuing an emphasis in addressing the moral dimension of higher education that has existed for centuries. Courses with a service-learning component can be a powerful instrument for moral transformation. Working within Kohlberg’s Moral Development Theory, this 16-week quasi-experimental case study investigated the extent to which service-learning advances moral development (movement from …

Synching Up On A Satisfaction: A Mixed Methods Study Exploring Synchronous Online Classroom Learning Satisfaction In The Corporate Training Environment, Andrew S. Burklund

The Interactive Journal of Global Leadership and Learning

Despite rapid evolution and innovation, “online learning” is no longer a universal term. There is a need to expand the existing research base to include subsets of online classrooms and include more diverse populations of learners. The overarching question for this study focused on synchronous online classroom satisfaction in a corporate setting. The researcher analyzed four years of historical learner-satisfaction data from post-class Level-1 satisfaction surveys from a Fortune 100 company. In total, 15,577 learner responses were collected, analyzed, and converged with data collected from employee focus groups related to synchronous online classroom satisfaction. The statistical analysis of learning satisfaction …

Full-Service Community School Intervention: Case Study Of Somali Parent-School Engagement Within A Rural Midwestern School District, Anne Leland

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

ABSTRACT

Current research has recognized considerable benefits of parent and family engagement with their children’s schools. However, research shows many systemic and individual barriers to effective parent and family engagement. Located in a rural Minnesota setting, Faribault Public Schools (FPS) has a large population of Somali refugee parents with limited English proficiency. Based on data from FPS, children from these families are falling behind in school. The FPS system has acknowledged the need to enhance engagement with these families to more effectively support their children’s success in school.

The purpose of this quasi-experimental, qualitative case study was to characterize Somali …

Summer Literacy Academy: Evaluating The Impact Of Supports, Book Choice, Incentives, And A Focused, Literacy-Based Summer Learning Program On Reading Outcomes For Rural, Middle School Students, Kathrina Oconnell

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

This research explores the effect of the equitable provision of resources and a literacy-focused curriculum on summer learning loss for middle-school students. Using the faucet theory, this mixed methods sequential exploratory study was designed to provide school-year resources during the summer months, for students in grades five through eight, in a rural, socioeconomically disadvantaged school district. Transportation, breakfast, lunch, books, and a literacy-focused enrichment program were provided for all students, and book choice and attendance prizes were used to increase student motivation. The pragmatic approach of the study incorporated both quantitative (e.g., literacy outputs, registration, attendance data, reading observations, and …

The Perceptions About Asd’S Rising Rates: A Comparison Between The General Public And Asd Professionals., Anna Ernst

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

The research conducted for this project answered the question: what are the public’s perceptions about ASD and its rising rates and how do these compare to the perceptions of professionals providing services to children with ASD? The participants of this research study were both male and female of a non-specific age group that work with children diagnosed with ASD, and those who have no contact with children diagnosed with ASD. 49.5% of survey respondents were professionals that have contact with students with ASD and 50.5% of respondents were those who have no contact with children diagnosed with ASD.The majority of …

Formative Assessment & The Connections To Student Learning In Beginning Drawing, Craig Mickelson

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

Abstract

This research study looked at the connection between authentic formative assessments given to students during the art making process. Multiple methods of both formative and summative assessment were used to measure whether student performance was increased with more or less feedback. During this research study, students completed a unit learning about how to use various value techniques in drawing that create a range of value along with showing creativity with surface textures. Such techniques included blending, hatching, cross-hatching and stippling. Students were assessed by their prior and post knowledge of terms and techniques used in this unit along with …

Motivation And Engagement In The Choral Classroom: Does Repertoire Make A Difference?, Katy Haltvick

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

The purpose of this study was to determine what motivates and engages students in a choral classroom and ensemble setting. Students were exposed to a variety of music ranging from challenging to more simplistic in nature. In addition, they even had pieces that they may have heard on the radio. The research participants for this study included students in grades 7-12 in a choral ensemble. Students were mixed races, as well as gender. Exposure to music varied depending on age. Older students have been exposed to much more repertoire, as well as much more variety of repertoire in terms of …