Education Commons^™

Teaching Culturally Diverse Students From International Schools: What Online Educators Have To Say, Anneliese Sheffield

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This study is designed to discover how online teachers use technology to reach their multicultural international school students. Interviews of twelve international school online teachers were conducted. The topics for the interviews focused on the technology-based strategies that teachers use to meet the needs of multicultural students. The results showed that the tools used by online teachers for international secondary schools closely matched the uses of tools recommended in the literature. Sometimes, however, course design limited the choices teachers were allowed to make regarding tools for supporting students' multiple ways of learning and for encouraging discussion and collaboration. The results …

An Instructional Framework For Tier 2 Intervention In Mathematics, Catherine Didio Beals

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the effectiveness of an instructional framework for Tier 2 intervention in mathematics. The framework suggests intervention teachers utilize instructional practices shown to be effective for students with disabilities while assessing students strengths and weaknesses in skills that are strong indicators of an MLD. This study used a mixed methods design to determine whether tutoring based on this framework led to changes in understanding of multiplication and division for four low achieving fourth graders. It also evaluated the usefulness of the instructional framework in determining whether a student had patterns of deficit related to a mathematics learning disability. …

From Expulsion To Success: Perceptions Of Expelled Students About Their Expulsion Process And Resumption Of Education, Julie Slocum Dahlgren

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This mixed-methods study examined expelled students in a Northwest public school district of 3,400 students. The purpose was to analyze perceptions of expelled students from 2003-2010 (N-68) regarding their expulsion process and experiences relating to the resumption of educational pursuits. Data was collected from a questionnaire designed by the researcher and distributed to 44 students and from transcribed and coded testimony from four students. The research centers on the whys and wherefores of student expulsions, asking questions that could help schools and school districts penetrate more deeply into the expulsion process, questions that focus on how students perceive their own …

Looking Back And Looking Ahead: A Narrative Inquiry Of Practice Related To Reading Programs In An Accountability-Based Reform Context, Amanda Villagómez

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Teaching in an era of standards and accountability-based teaching has a direct impact on teachers and students. Narrative inquiry methodology was used to better examine the impact on the participant researcher and her students in the context of teaching adolescent literacy (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000; Montero & Washington, 2011; Schaafsma & Vinz, 2011). Over a three year period, adolescent literacy teaching methodology was examined through contrasting classroom contexts through the eyes of the teacher researcher and her students.

The following questions guided the inquiry: How has policy impacted me as a literacy teacher and the decisions I make, as well …

Engaging In Learning Together: A Theory Of Undergraduate Nursing Students’ Political Learning, Pamela Marie Gehrke

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Health care and nursing are political, and nurses need to be at policy decision-making tables. Graduate nursing education prepares nurses for policy roles, but little research exists about what political and policy education is taught to undergraduate nursing students or how they learn the concepts, skills, and disposition for political and policy work. Nurses need education for civic engagement and political advocacy in their undergraduate professional education. A study was done to learn how undergraduate nursing students made sense of civic engagement concepts like political advocacy and policy making in an online blended, required Policy, Power & Voice course in …

Place-Free And Place-Based Educational Preferences Among Rural High School Principals, Joshua Pfiester

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Rural schooling and rural communities are interdependent to a degree not seen in suburban and urban contexts. Thus, the threat to the sustainability of one inevitably affects the other. One of the variables in their sustainability may be educational practices (Haas & Nachtigal, 1998; White & Reid, 2008) that influence the likelihood of rural high school graduate outmigration (Corbett, 2007; Huang, Cohen, Weng, & Zhang, 1996). Considering the body of literature that testifies to the strong influence school administrators have in schools (Hallinger & Heck, 1996; Leithwood & Jantzi, 2000; Prestine & Nelson, 2005), understanding the preferences in educational practices …

Conceptual Understanding Of Fractions And Decimals For Fourth Grade Students, Sarah J. Appleton

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

A study was conducted in two 4th grade classrooms based on current research of foundational concepts of fraction and decimal knowledge, socio-cultural learning theory, cognition and international mathematics education. The goal of this study was for students to acquire conceptual and procedural knowledge of fraction and decimal concepts. When students have multiple experiences delving into rigorous tasks with fractions and decimals, researchers (Lamon, 2006; Siegler & Alibali 2005) suggest students will show an increase in understanding. Cognition and developmental stages were examined and incorporated within the suggested tasks of the instructional unit. With assistance from current research, this study demonstrated …

Perceived Impact By Teacher Candidates Of Specific Supervision Experiences Focused On Critical Reflection, Pamela Briggs

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This phenomenological case study describes the perceived impact by teacher candidates of specific supervision experiences focused on critical reflection. Within this study, critical reflection is defined as examining one’s teaching practice to consider the effects of one’s choices on others relevant to social and political context. The purpose of the study was to understand and describe the experience of specific supervision practices through the perceptions of teacher candidates practicing teaching during their professional year at assigned elementary schools. Data from this study focused on two main questions, “What specific supervision experiences do teacher candidates consider helpful to their teacher development?” …

A Developmental Study Of Asr-Enhanced E-Book Software To Improve On-Task Interaction For First Grade Users, Matthew William Gudenius

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This developmental research study explores the effects of audio-visual feedback and user input mechanisms on user behaviors and satisfaction, through development of a first-grade reading program for the computer. Specific design elements investigated include human vs. synthesized audio feedback, segmented vs. whole-word pronunciation, format of supporting graphic (image vs. animation), use of automatic speech recognition (ASR) to encourage or enforce oral reading of an e-book, and effect of tutorial with mouse-click word identification or ASR-controlled word synthesis games. The study examines a variety of quantitative and qualitative measures including use logs, recorded screen-capture videos of use sessions, one-on-one interviews, and …

Can Esl Teachers Teach Reading Metacognitive Strategies?, Adil Bentahar

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Metacognitive knowledge has been linked to use of metacognitive strategies and effectiveness in reading (e.g., Flavell, 1979). In the present research, I evaluated whether teaching three metacognitive strategies (planning, monitoring, and evaluating) would (a) improve English as a Second Language (ESL) students’ metacognitive knowledge, which in turn would (b) improve their comprehension. Eight non-English speaking students completed the Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategy Inventory (MARSI) (Mokhtari & Reichard, 2002) and a reading test at the beginning of a reading-writing course and again at the end of the course. The results revealed an increase from pretest to posttest in all three …

The Effect Of Service Learning On Community College Communication Students, Margaret Shu-Mei Sass

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This study discusses the implementation of a service learning component in the first year college communication 101 level courses. Through the execution of a service learning component in college communication classes at a community college, student’s communicative competency and attitude toward community service is assessed. Using two different delivery approaches, a quantitative study assessed the pre-test and post-test of the standardized tools Communicative Adaptability Scale (CAS) and Community Service Attitudes Scale (CSAS). Eight sections of the communication 101 courses were distributed into two groups: 1) the experimental group consisting of 4 classes, and (2) the control group consisting of four …

The Beat Goes On: The Connections Between Pitch Matching And Beat Competency In The Reading Proficiencies Of Third Graders, Lori Conlon Khan

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Children who are poor readers in their early years generally remain poor readers in their later years. Research questions explore positive connections between learning music and learning to hear, understanding the spoken word, and, ultimately, reading the printed word. A series of 12 lessons created to improve internal rhythmicity and practice pitch matching skills were administered by general music specialists to a treatment group of third grade students (n=15) reading below grade level, over a period of 12 weeks. Treatment group results were compared to a control group (n=10) who did not receive musical intervention. The research examined the reading …