Ethnographic Research Of The Impact Of Catalyst Strategies On The Engagement And Relationships Within The Classroom For 6th Graders Versus 2nd Graders In General Education, Casey Poland, Rene Beaird, Amber Keller, Sara Kubicek

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

This 2023 study focused on the effectiveness of the Catalyst Approach to classroom management in a second-grade versus sixth-grade classrooms in the same district. The Catalyst Approach is a comprehensive classroom implementation model that includes strategies for getting attention, engaging students, setting up for success, and supporting success. Whole group strategies are emphasized in this approach to aid in building a productive classroom environment (Burns & Brinkman, 2018). Our focus with this study was threefold: to see how the Catalyst Approach affected classroom management, how the Catalyst Approach affected relationships within the classroom environment, and how the Catalyst Approach compared …

The Experience Of Teaching Disengaged Students In Stem: Examined Through The Lens Of The Abc Engagement Framework, William Randall Hjorth

Theses and Dissertations

Young people today are increasingly disengaged from their education. Studies indicate that of all school subjects, American students struggle to engage in STEM subjects more than others. For decades, we have known that student engagement/disengagement impacts teachers. Researchers have also claimed that engagement/disengagement can be described as a construct made up of affective, behavioral, and cognitive dimensions (ABC). However, we do not understand how teachers experience student disengagement in these three areas. At a crucial time in education, investigation into the experiences of teachers with disengaged students is needed to uncover insights which may help us understand how teachers interpret …

Twelfth-Grade English Teachers' Lived Experiences Of Engaging Struggling Adolescent Readers: A Phenomenological Study, Ruth Ugonna Ebinama

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to explore 12th-grade English teachers' lived experiences of engaging struggling adolescent readers at a large public school district in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area of the United States. The theory that guided this study was Vygotsky’s social constructivism theory as it relates to engaging struggling adolescent readers. The central research question was the following: How do 12th-grade English teachers describe their lived experiences engaging struggling adolescent readers? Criterion purposive sampling was used to recruit 12th-grade English teachers with struggling adolescent readers in their English classes. Data collection methods consisted of open-response questionnaires, …

Exploring College Student Experiences In A Kinesiology Course Using A Gamified Grading System, Rachel E. Williams, Jedediah E. Blanton, Christopher D. Kilgore, Matthew Jones

Educational Practices in Kinesiology

Past findings indicate mixed results on the effectiveness of gamification in college courses. The use of a gamified version of specifications-based grading (e.g., gamified grading) is not yet well understood. The purpose of this two-part study was to understand students’ perceptions of intrinsic motivation and engagement in a kinesiology course using gamified grading, facilitated by a gamified grading platform called GradeCraft©. We used qualitative inquiry to capture a robust description of the student experience across a semester, identifying themes describing the course management (e.g., comparison with traditional course, individual approach), and the psychological experience (e.g., autonomy, stress). The following semester, …

Harnessing Untapped Potential: A Theory For Engaging Recent Graduates In Alumni Advocacy To Support Institutional Advancement Goals, Erin M. Valencik

Doctoral Dissertations

At the same time institutions and advancement offices are struggling to effectively engage recent graduates who are essential to the health and longevity of the engagement and philanthropy pipeline, public institutions are attempting to constrain rising college costs that threaten quality and accessibility. A large and ongoing contributing factor to increased college costs is reduced state funding for higher education that remains below historic levels. Given the current environment of declining numbers of new donors, the funding challenges that face higher education, and recent graduate motivations to participate in cause-based philanthropy, political advocacy may be one approach that can effectively …

Engagement And A Sense Of Belonging In Kinesiology Undergraduate Students, Gema Arreguin, Evelyn Castellon, Sarah Dunn

International Journal of Exercise Science: Conference Proceedings

A student's sense of belonging may promote success and retention during their undergraduate experience and could be influenced by co-curricular engagement (participation in community events organized by the home department). Even more important, an institution with a satellite “branch” campus offering less co-curricular events may see less sense of belonging in those particular students. PURPOSE: To assess undergraduate student sense of belonging based on co-curricular engagement and college campus and to investigate the findings in Kinesiology (KINE) students. METHODS: Public university students (18+ years) in California were recruited for an IRB approved Qualtrics survey in Spring 2023. Participants were asked …

Podcasting As A Pedagogy: Teacher Perceptions Of Podcast Use And Creation In The Classroom, Rebecca J. Hobby

Selected Honors Theses

Podcasting is an innovative technology medium that has impacted the world with its new ideas, perspectives, and connections between listeners and hosts. While this medium has grown exponentially in many spheres, it is relatively new in educational settings. This thesis seeks to determine whether educators are ready to implement podcast listening and producing in their classrooms. It also seeks to ascertain educators’ perceptions of the benefits and challenges of podcasting. A survey was conducted asking teachers and college students preparing to become teachers about their observations and understandings of podcast use in classrooms. The findings indicated that access to professional …

Preparing Future Leaders In The Arts Through The Community Arts Engagement Certificate Program: What I Learned From Teaching The First Introductory Seminar, Sharon Davis Gratto

Research and Reflection on Learning and Teaching in Higher Education

The University of Dayton’s Community Arts Engagement certificate program was recently launched with the teaching of its first introductory seminar. The program and this course were conceived to be broader in scope for arts majors than the more familiar arts administration minor program. Several of the outcomes of the seminar—both those planned and those unforeseen—can be informative in thinking more expansively about experiential learning and community collaboration in arts education or other disciplines. This article represents a narrative description of the program and its introductory seminar and a personal reflection after teaching the seminar for the first time.

A Phenomenological Study Of The Lived Experiences Of High School Seniors In Mathematics Classrooms: Analyzing Methodologies That Increase Engagement, Andrea L. Crews-Brown

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to understand the methods high school seniors found engaging in mathematics classrooms at a private high school in Northern Florida. This study focused on engagement theory, which explains processes that help students learn based on attentiveness to presented content. Data collection for the phenomenological study consisted of interviews, focus groups, and journal entries as students shared their perspectives on engagement in their mathematics courses throughout upper school at a private Florida high school. Data collection took place by interviewing 15 students with the intention of students following into the other phases allowing …

The Influence Of Extracurriculat Activities On Engagement And Environment Elements Of School Culture At Two Title I Middle Schools In Alabama, Jeremy Jones

Ed.D. Dissertations

Limited research had been conducted on the role extracurricular activities had on school culture. Even less was dedicated to how middle school educators perceived how extracurricular activities influenced school culture. Due to the lack of overall research, further research was necessary to develop a better understanding of the influence of extracurricular activities on school culture, more specifically the Safe Supportive Schools Model’s engagement and environment elements of school culture. The purpose of this basic interpretive qualitative study was to examine educators’ perceptions of the influence extracurricular activities had on the Safe Supportive Schools Model’s engagement and environment elements of school …

Instructors’ Experiences With Employing Kinesthetic Instructional Strategies In Gatekeeper Community College Courses: A Single Holistic Case Study, Jodie S. Hogan

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this qualitative, single holistic case study was to understand how community college instructors use kinesthetic instructional strategies to engage students enrolled in gatekeeper college courses at a community college in the Northeastern United States. The theory guiding this study was domains of learning theory, as it explains how faculty approach instruction according to how students experience the six levels of the cognitive taxonomy and provides a foundation for the consideration of how the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains are intertwined. A qualitative methodology with a single case study design was used to address the central research question, …

Instructional Coaching: A Support For Increasing Engagement In Middle School Mathematics, Christi Ritchie Edwards

Theses and Dissertations

This observational case study employed a qualitative design to investigate the impact of student-centered instructional coaching and self-determined professional development on student engagement in middle school mathematics. Research demonstrates that engaging students in the learning process increases their attention and motivates them to engage in higher-level critical thinking. Teachers who adopt a student-centered approach to instruction increase opportunities for student engagement. Instructional coaches are used as a professional development tool to support teachers with student-centered instructional practices to engage students in their learning. This four-week study involved two sixth-grade mathematics teachers conducting Number Talks in one of their classes of …

Exploring The Impact Of Technology Implementation At The Elementary Level, Jayme Jakubek

M.Ed. Literature Reviews

This paper explores the impact of technology integration at the elementary level, focusing on measuring learning, benefits and challenges, attention, and technology. By examining existing research, this literature review highlights the importance of effective technology implementation in providing students with enhanced engagement, personalized learning, and the development of critical thinking and problem-solving skills. It also addresses challenges such as access to technology, teacher training, and the need for digital citizenship education. The paper concludes with recommendations for future research from educators and policymakers and a discussion summarizing the key takeaways, and an action plan for future instruction.

Mental Health Applications As A Resource For Reducing Access Disparities? A Case Example From A Disaster Mental Health App, Laura Perez-Villagomez

Honors Theses

Past research indicates Latinx individuals underutilize mental health services when it comes to addressing their mental health concerns, but often fail to mention the barriers to underutilization. Systemic barriers to seeking care largely fall under two larger umbrellas: cost and availability. A focus on whether disparities observed in traditional mental health services persisted for a trauma-focused app that recruited participants from the 2017 Hurricane outbreak provides us a unique outlook on a comparative analysis of utilization and engagement between the applications, Bounce Back Now (BBN) and Enhanced Usual Care. BBN is made up of four major components including tracking, …

Building A Pedagogy Of Idea Generation And Embodied Inquiry, Kate Joranson

Art History Pedagogy & Practice

What futures become possible when we center questions, inquiry, and affective responses in research processes? What does it mean to support encounters with new ideas? In this article, I explore non-extractive models of teaching and learning, sharing ways of making space for idea generation, an under-described part of research and creative practice. The coming-up-with-ideas part of creative and scholarly work can be challenging to articulate, share, and teach. What if we paused and stretched this part out, making it more visible? By browsing physical collections of books in community with one another, during “curated browsing” experiences, we give ourselves — …

Three Sides To Success: Exploring How Inclusive Partnerships Can Nurture Robust Family And Community Engagement In The Classroom For African-American Students, Orianna Vaughn

Education | Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to explore the ways in which conscious family and community partnerships with middle schools can play an integral part of academic achievement for Black children. Family and community engagement play a critical role in a student’s success as support, and knowledge of their scholar’s strengths and interests can be an asset not only in the classroom, but to the scholar’s overall academic success, which can “lead to higher educational aspirations and increased student motivations'' (Bartz, et al. 2017). However, presiding narratives of disengagement and disinterest from Black parents in their scholar’s academic life have …

The Impact Of A Stem Education Program On Female And Racial Minorities' Knowledge And Attitude, Amira S. Flores

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of a STEM education program, specifically STARBASE, on the STEM knowledge and attitudes of fifth grade students, as well as its effect on their pursuit of STEM careers, with a focus on female and racial minority students. Based on a sample of 197 fifth graders from a school district in Southern California, the intervention took place at STARBASE, while the control group remained at their respective schools. A quasi-experimental design was used in the study, with four experimental and four control groups. A STEM knowledge assessment and S-STEM attitude survey …

Influence Of Applications And Usage Of Technology On Student Engagement In The Classroom A Qualitative Study, Nimrah Rae Marquez

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This qualitative phenomenological study focuses on the influence of technology applications and usage on student engagement in the classroom setting for high school (9th-12th grade) students and their teachers at a high school in New Mexico. The literature reviewed includes findings that technology applications and usage influence student engagement. However, there were gaps in literature in sharing teacher's lived experience. The theory guiding this study is Bandura's social cognitive theory. A qualitative phenomenological framework was followed to collect data from ten 9th through 12th-grade teachers. Individual interviews, focus groups, and non-participant observations were used as data collection approaches to address …

Understanding Community College Transfer Student Experiences: Academic And Social Engagement At A Private Four-Year Institution, Hezal Patel

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

The purpose of this study was to understand the academic and social engagement experiences of community college transfer students at a private four-year institution. Approached through the lens of a conceptual critical framework for transfer student research advanced by Laanan and Jain (2017), and using a qualitative narrative methodology, this study collected the stories of 12 community college transfer students attending a private four-year institution to understand their engagement experiences. Restorying participants’ narratives and multiple rounds of coding including: deductive coding, open and in vivo coding and process coding revealed the findings for this study. The findings indicate that individuals’ …

The Impact Of Closed Captioning And Student Lexile Reading Levels, Jim L. Pruitt

Journal of Educational Leadership in Action

This experimental mixed-methods study explores what happens to student Lexile scores when they use closed captioning. The quantitative data analysis procedures involved in this experimental study consisted of utilizing two-sample t-tests to compare the iReady Lexile scores of the participants [n=38] to that of the researched district students [n=810] that were not using closed captioning in this study. The researcher required participants to complete a baseline iReady test to determine their preexisting Lexile levels. Then after the study, participants both in the researched district and in the study, itself were required to complete an iReady post-test to determine their …

Adverse Childhood Experiences, Resilience, And Student Engagement In A University Statistics Course, Adam Heck

Faculty Works

Engagement is a fundamental aspect of the learning process. Exploring the role of outside factors on student engagement offers potential for eduators to tailor their pedagogies to meet the need of students who have experienced trauma. Researchers over the past couple of decades have begun exploring the role of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on a whole host of different fields (health, education, etc.). This study examines the potential role that ACES and resilience may play in a student’s engagement levels within a university statistics course. Participants were college students from a university in the southeastern United States. Two survesy, an …

Literacy Instruction And Student Writing In Middle School Social Studies, Nicole Hedman

Masters of Arts in Education Action Research Papers

The purpose of this action research was to determine whether using daily literacy strategies focusing on writing would make an impact on the scores of a high-level question (HLQ) among middle school social studies students. The research took place over seven weeks in a public suburban midwestern middle school. The population of students in the study included 104 sixth-grade students. The intervention included using various literacy strategies focusing on writing and incorporating reading, speaking, and listening. Data was collected from writing samples, HLQ scores, observations, and a student survey. Some positive effects of the study were an increase in the …

Our Voices Matter: Engaging Middle Grades Hispanic Students In A Summer Literacy Program, Macy Christine James

All Dissertations

This study explored the literacy engagement of Hispanic rising seventh grade adolescents during a summer literacy program. Using a participatory social justice mixed methods design (Creswell & Plano-Clark, 2018), students’ voices were used to design and refine an instructional model proposed to increase their level of engagement in literacy tasks. Through a literacy motivation survey and focus group interviews, students’ perception of motivating and demotivating literacy experiences affecting their levels of engagement were gathered and analyzed. Following this exploration, a design-based approach was employed to create an initial model that would be refined by identifying the enhancing and inhibiting factors …

Engaging Drama: Does Drama Increase Student Engagement In A Second-Grade History Class?, Jasmine Villanueva

Student Research Submissions

This research investigated how drama integration benefitted students’ academic achievement and their engagement in history. This study integrated drama and history in a second-grade class, by allowing students to create tableaus to present and share information. The study used pre and post assessments, an attitudes survey to measure students’ attitudes towards history before and after integration, and the researcher also recorded student engagement at the beginning and end of drama integration. This study showed significant improvement in student content knowledge through the use of tableaus, and inconclusive results as far as engagement and student attitudes were concerned.

Math Engagement In Middle School Students, Elizabeth M. Rieman

Culminating Experience Projects

Student engagement is something with which teachers around the world struggle. There is an enormous amount of literature available with various ideas, tips, tricks, and suggestions for teachers to help engage their students in learning the required content. The techniques chosen, are specifically used to help middle school math teachers engage their students in the required content. From there, it offers a way to implement those strategies in a middle school math class.

Let's Talk: Csuglobal Conversations, Maria Ortuoste

csuglobalaction

No abstract provided.

Unlocking The Doors To Engagement And Accessibility: A Curriculum Development For Second Grade Learners In Social Studies, Jeanette Mcnair

Masters Theses/Capstone Projects

The goal of this project is to create a second-grade Social Studies curriculum that increases engagement and provides accessibility to all students. The intent is to pull from the instructional frameworks of Universal Design for Learning developed by CAST, Project-Based Learning by The Buck Institute and differentiation by Carol Ann Tomlinson. The following research question was used to propel forward the goal of this project: How can a second grade Social Studies unit unlock student engagement and universal accessibility by applying three educational frameworks? This question was answered by literature research on the topics of engagement and accessibility followed by …

Secondary Teaching Thriving: Investigating Secondary Teacher Well-Being And Contributing Factors To Thriving, Ryan H. Nichols

PhD in Education

The purpose of this study was to examine secondary teacher thriving using the PERMA well-being model. This non-experimental, quantitative survey aimed to discover secondary teachers’ well-being and how the dimensions of well-being are predictive of thriving among secondary teachers in the United States. Using a comprehensive researcher-created instrument assessing participants’ sense of thriving and PERMA well-being, the study resulted in statistically significant findings with 55 secondary teachers participating in the survey. Both sense of thriving and the dimensions of thriving were statistically significant in a one sample ttest. Demographics, such as school classifications, years of experience, and geographic locations, were …

Subjective Well-Being Of Teachers In K-12 Christian Schools, Julianne Rettig

Doctor of Education (Ed.D)

This non-experimental, quantitative study aimed to examine the factors that influence the self-perceived well-being of teachers in K-12 Christian schools. The sample for this study was convenient, non-probable, and purposive and comprised of 81 teachers from one Christian school system in Florida. The measurement tool used in this study is based on Seligman’s (2011) work on well-being. The Workplace PERMAH Profiler is a valid and reliable (α = .94) instrument that measures flourishing in terms of six domains: positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, accomplishment, and health. The internal reliability of study participant responses to survey items associated with the construct …

The Impact Of Pear Deck On Student Achievement And Perceptions, Eric Gross

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

This research determined the impact of the interactive technology Pear Deck on student achievement and perceptions of learning. Existing peer-reviewed research on the topic is limited. In this action research, the researcher had one 10th grade Global Studies class learn the subject matter from a traditional teacher-led lecture, while the other class learned the same content using a student-paced Pear Deck. The next class day, both groups took the same assessment to measure their achievement levels. The Pear Deck group also completed a brief survey on their perceptions of learning with Pear Deck. The results of the research revealed the …