Education Commons^™

Leveraging Local Resources And Contexts For Inclusive Computer Science Classrooms: Reflections From Experienced High School Teachers Implementing Electronic Textiles, Mia S. Shaw, Deborah A. Fields, Yasmin B. Kafai

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

Background and context

Promoting open-ended projects presents new opportunities and challenges for inclusive teaching in CS classrooms. While efforts have been made to develop inclusive curricula, little research has focused on ways teachers apply curricula in their classrooms to promote inclusion.

Objective

To understand the challenges faced in facilitating an open-ended unit and the pedagogical strategies enacted to address those challenges, we analyze the self-reported teaching practices that experienced teachers developed in their implementation of a constructionist electronic textiles unit in Exploring Computer Science.

Method

We inductively analyzed and coded 17 experienced teachers’ weekly surveys and post-interviews.

Findings

Teachers …

Successful Tutoring Sessions, Successful Student Conferences, Elsa C. Torgersen

Writing Center Analysis Papers

Many students come into their writing center appointments and student-teacher conferences with largely negative “writing baggage.” These students often have the expectation that these sessions will be what they were like in high school—the teacher marks what they have done wrong and though there may be positive things said, the students often remember the negative. So how can tutors and teachers create a new environment to help students feel comfortable with their writing while still teaching? This paper explores two potential solutions: beginning sessions and determining a session’s agenda. Through treating students like they matter and letting them help determine …

Praising Students’ Writing: How Compliments Encourage And Motivate, Emma George

Writing Center Analysis Papers

How to praise students in either the role of a teacher or a tutor is daunting task. These two different roles require different techniques as to the amount and quality of praise that can be given to writers. As a teacher, it is difficult to give specific praise to every single one of your students due to time limitations and volume, but tutors can and should give specific compliments to writers to increase their confidence and motivation in writing. This paper outlines several tutoring practices that have been successful on an individual level in helping students gain confidence in their …

Building Community Using Experiential Education With Elementary Preservice Teachers In A Social Studies Methodology Course, Stephanie L. Speicher

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

There is urgency for teacher educators to instruct preservice teachers in the core tenants of social justice education. This urgency is based upon the ever-growing shift in the American demographic landscape and the responsibility of educators to teach for equity, justice, identity and community within classrooms across the U.S. Preservice teachers report feeling inadequately prepared to educate for social justice when entering the formal classroom setting. Feelings of incompetence in social justice teaching pedagogy expressed among preservice teachers coupled with minimal examination in the literature of the effects of teacher education practices that aid in the readiness to teach for …

Diversity Education: Are We Preparing Teachers To Teach All Learners?, Lindi Andreasen

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Five hundred twenty-three preservice teachers from six different preparation programs completed the diversity and multicultural perspectives portion of the Professional Teaching Knowledge and Skills Survey (PTKSS) to determine their feelings of multicultural efficacy at the end of their program and again after their first year of teaching. Statistical analysis revealed that preservice teachers rate their capability to teach diverse students as "adequate" to "well" on a 5 point Likert type scale (M=35.28, possible Range=0-50), with no significant drop in self-efficacy after one year of teaching (M=34.09). However, individual item means did drop consistently between the preservice and inservice stages, and …

The Effect Of Behavioral Skills Training On Teachers Conducting The Recess-To-Classroom Transition, Sarah C. Smith

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Although it may not seem harmful, students in the elementary grades often take several minutes to move from recess back to their classrooms. The problem, however, is that these lengthy transitions add up over time, and teachers lose valuable time to instruct. The less instruction students receive, the poorer their academic performance tends to be. But how much time can teachers save by reducing their students’ transitions?

According to the current study, the answer is a lot. Dr. Thomas S. Higbee and Sarah C. Smith of Utah State University recently conducted a study in which they trained second, third, and …

The Effects Of A Training Session On Teacher Knowledge, Perceptions, And Implementation Of Assistive Technology In Secondary Schools., Robert Woodbury Jr

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Despite the prevalence of students with mild disabilities in special education and the legal mandate to consider assistive technology to support their needs, research suggests low rates of assistive technology use by this population (Bouck, Maeda, & Flanagan, 2012; Derer, Polsgrove, & Rieth, 1996; Quinn, Behrmann, Mastropieri, & Chung, 2009). One major barrier to assistive technology consideration and implementation cited by teachers is a lack of training. This study examined changes in teachers’ knowledge, perceptions, and implementation of assistive technology as a result of a hands-on teacher training session. Participants included 61 regular and special education teachers and administrators in …

How Arizona Community College Teachers Go About Learning To Teach, Carolyn J. Hamblin

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

New Arizona community college teachers go through a transformative learning process when they learn to teach. They enter the classroom with preformed ways of thinking about teaching. These habits of mind include what they imagine a community college teacher to be. They expect their knowledge and expertise to translate into teaching ability and they are shocked to learn that this is not the case. Classroom teaching involves basic pedagogical skills such as preventing cheating, creating appropriate tests, planning a course calendar, and pacing a lecture. The discomfort that accompanies this revelation causes the teachers to think critically about what good …

Second Language Teaching And Learning: The Roles Of Teachers, Students, And The Classroom Environment, Martin Briggs

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This portfolio is a compilation of the concepts and practices that the author believes constitute effective second language teaching. It is centered on the author’s teaching philosophy, which is based on the teacher’s roles as facilitator and the students’ roles as active participants in a student-centered, communicative classroom. The author claims that as teachers and students understand and carry out their respective roles, student proficiency in the target language will increase. In support of this teaching philosophy, three artifacts are included that discuss the following: 1) The use of television commercials and other media from the target culture to facilitate …

Starting Early: Perceptions Of Parents And Teachers On 6th To 12th Grade Transition Timeline For Students With High-Incidence Disabilities, Josie M. Nielsen

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Post-secondary educational and employment outcomes for students with high- incidence disabilities continue to lag far behind their nondisabled peers. A carefully designed timeline including evidence-based transition skills and practices may serve as a guideline for teachers and parents as they prepare student /child with high-incidence disabilities for successful transition into adulthood. This project examined the importance and age/grade-appropriateness of skills/activities on a transition timeline, based on ratings by teacher and parent focus groups. Participants included eight secondary teachers with at least10 years experience, and five parents of children with high-incidence disabilities who graduated from both high school and post-secondary school. …

The Effects Of Training On Teachers' Perceptions Of Inclusion Of Students With Intellectual Disabilities, Kerin M. Vernier

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

In today’s society, many general education and special education teachers struggle with the concept of inclusion of students with intellectual disabilities (ID) in the general education classroom setting and perceive that inclusion of ID students impedes the learning of others. The purpose of this project was to establish if a 60-min training session on the benefits of inclusion would alter teachers’ perceptions of inclusion of children with ID in the general education setting as measured by a pre- and post-training rating scale. Forty-eight general education and special education school teachers participated. Of the 48 participants, 47 had special education experience …

Comprehensive High School Reform: The Lived Experience Of Teachers And The Smaller Learning Community Initiative, Richard K. Nye

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In an era of comprehensive school reform, it appears that the voice of teachers is seldom solicited or recognized in the process of planning and implementing school-wide reform. The primary purpose of this study was to report the lived experiences of teachers at Timberton North High School (pseudonym) as it related to the Smaller Learning Community (SLC) reform initiative. Research questions addressed how the faculty experienced the SLC initiative and how their experiences were different from their perceived notion of what SLCs were trying to accomplish and in what ways SLCs initiated a socially constructed understanding of educational purposes. This …

Exploring K-3 Teachers' Implementation Of Comprehension Strategy Instruction (Csi) Using Expectancy-Value Theory, Laura Slack Foley

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

This research investigated factors that influence the implementation levels of evidence-based comprehension strategy instruction (CSI) among K–3 teachers. An explanatory design was chosen to gather and probe the data. Quantitative data were gathered via a mailed survey distributed through a representative sample of the 40 school districts (through a stratified-random selection of teachers) in a state in the Rocky Mountain West. Expectancy-value theory was applied as it affects self-reported levels of teacher implementation of CSI. Both expectancy and value showed significance for predicting self-reported CSI implementation in two multiple regression analyses. Surveys revealed teachers' perceptions of what impedes or supports …

Utah Kindergarten Teachers' Challenges And Concerns About Teaching Kindergarten, Ruth Jane Liebschutz Moore

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This qualitative study was an exploration of 55 Utah kindergarten teachers' perceptions of challenges in teaching. It investigated written concerns teachers expressed in a statewide survey of kindergarten teachers. Study findings indicated that two main issues were communicated by teachers: a disparity between their developmentally appropriate beliefs and practices in the classroom, and concerns about children's kindergarten readiness and transition to school. About 56% of teachers felt a struggle in implementing their developmentally appropriate beliefs about education, for a variety of reasons: large class sizes, district and state mandates, and lack of resources, particularly time. Furthermore, 53% of educators conveyed …

A Forgotten Population? Assessment And Instructional Training For Teachers Of Students With Profound Multiple Disabilities, E. Horrocks, Robert L. Morgan

Special Education and Rehabilitation Counseling Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A Study Of Utah Teachers' Developmentally Appropriate Beliefs And Practices As Related To Perceptions Of Kindergarteners' Successful School Entry, Mary Mceuen Darnell

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study was an exploration of 450 Utah kindergarten teachers' perceptions of problems children face at the time of kindergarten entry, as well as an examination of the teachers' developmentally appropriate beliefs and practices. Consistent with previous research, teachers' beliefs were found to be more developmentally appropriate than their reported practices. This study also investigated the relationship between both teacher and classroom/school demographics and teachers' developmentally appropriate beliefs and practices. Further, the relationship between teachers' perceptions of children's transition to kindergarten and beliefs, practices, teacher demographics, and classroom/school demographics was studied.

Study findings indicated that teachers perceive 20% of kindergarten …

From Tutor To Teacher: For Some Peer Tutors, The Experience Can Lead To A Teaching Career, Robert L. Morgan, M. Rees

Special Education and Rehabilitation Counseling Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Virtual Manipulatives Used By K-8 Teachers For Mathematics Instruction: Considering Mathematical, Cognitive, And Pedagogical Fidelity, Patricia S. Moyer-Packenham, Gwenanne Salkind, Johnna J. Bolyard

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

This study examined teachers’ uses of virtual manipulatives across grades K-8 after participating in a professional development institute in which manipulatives and technology were the major resources used throughout all of the activities. Researchers analyzed 95 lesson summaries in which classroom teachers described their uses of virtual manipulatives during school mathematics instruction. The findings indicated that the content in a majority of the lessons focused on two National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (2000a) standards: Number & Operations and Geometry. Virtual geoboards, pattern blocks, base-10 blocks, and tangrams were the applets used most often by teachers. The ways teachers used …

Perceptions Of The Value Of Problem-Based Learning Among Students With Special Needs And Their Teachers, Brian Robert Belland, P. A. Ertmer, K. D. Simons

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

While problem-based learning (PBL) has been found to be effective with gifted and average students (Hmelo-Silver, 2004), little is known about its impact on students with special needs. This study examines the perceptions of middle-school students with mild, moderate, and severe disabilities and of their teachers regarding the value of participating in a PBL unit. The unit focused on the physical accessibility of a low-SES, rural community where the students’ school was located.We used the constant comparative method (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) to analyze interview data, and used observation data and artifacts to triangulate interview comments. Among the noteworthy findings …

Instructional Team Training: Delivering Live, Internet Courses To Teachers And Paraprofessionals In Utah, Idaho And Pennsylvania, D. E. Forbush, Robert L. Morgan

Special Education and Rehabilitation Counseling Faculty Publications

Shortages of fully qualified special education teachers have been present in rural, suburban and urban America since the formal inception of special education. Public schools have mitigated special education teacher shortages by hiring paraprofessionals. Though hiring of paraprofessionals has been common practice, it is becoming more difficult to recruit and retain paraprofessionals once hired due to factors related to, or exacerbated by, the lack of pre-service training that teachers receive to effectively supervise paraprofessionals. In response to this training need, a project developed, implemented, and evaluated two live internet-based real-time video and audio courses delivered to teachers and paraprofessionals in …

Controlling Choice: Teachers, Students, And Manipulatives In Mathematics Classrooms, Patricia S. Moyer-Packenham, M. Gail Jones

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

This research study examines the instructional practices of 10 middle grades teachers related to their use of manipulatives in teaching mathematics and their control of mathematics tools during instruction. Through 40 observations of teaching, 30 interviews, and an examination of 67 written documents (including teachers' plans and records), profiles were developed that describe how teachers used and controlled manipulatives during instruction. Results showed that teachers used a variety of manipulatives and other mathematics tools over the course of the year-long study. Teachers reported using a mathematics tool (manipulative, calculator, or measuring device) in 70% of their lessons, and this self-report …

An Evaluative Argument-Based Investigation Of Validity Evidence For The Utah Pre-Algebra Criterion-Referenced Test, Louise Richards Moulding

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study collected evidence to address the assumptions underlying the use of the Utah Core Assessment to Pre-Algebra (UCAP) to (a) measure student achievement in pre-algebra, and (b) assist teachers in making adjustments to instruction. An evaluative argument was defined to guide the collection of evidence. Each of the assumptions in the evaluative argument was addressed using data from a suburban northern Utah school district. To collect the evidence, test content was examined including item match to course objectives, reliability, and subtest intercorrelations. Analyses of correlations of the UCAP with convergent and discriminant measures were completed using student test data …

Standardized Entrance Assessment In Kindergarten: A Qualitative Analysis Of The Experiences Of Teachers, Administrators, And Parents, Martha Taylor Dever, J. J. Barta

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

A brief narrative description of the journal article, document, or resource. This qualitative study examined experiences of teachers, parents, and administrators related to standardized kindergarten entrance assessment to identify strengths and weaknesses of standardized testing in kindergarten. Strengths emerging from the data included consistency of information with core curriculum, and the time and opportunity to begin parent-teacher dialogue. Weaknesses included the narrow scope of the information obtained. (Author/KB)

Super Teachers: New Grant Award Targets Supervision Skills For Teachers, Robert L. Morgan, Charles L. Salzberg

Special Education and Rehabilitation Counseling Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Examining The Effects Of A Self-Study Package On Teachers' Use Of Coincidental Teaching In Preschool Classrooms, Laurie A. Dinnebeil

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This investigation examined the effects of a self-study package on three early childhood special education teachers' use of coincidental teaching with preschool children with, or at risk for, disabilities. The results of this investigation showed that all teachers performed better on a posttest than a pretest measure for knowledge of coincidental teaching. Teachers were also able to complete a series of written assignments pertaining to coincidental teaching. Increases in coincidental teaching knowledge, however, were not accompanied by changes in coincidental teaching behavior for two of the three teachers. Participating teachers reported satisfaction with the self-study package as an instructional format …

Training Seminars For Regular Education Teachers: Preparing To Teach Students Who Are Deaf In The Hearing Classroom, K'Leis H. Young

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

"Increased numbers of children who bear the medical label 'deaf' or 'hard of hearing' are being integrated today into regular classes with their hearing peers in preschool, elementary and secondary schools of the United States" (Northcott, 1980, p. 1 ) . Luckner (1992) related that approximately 79% of deaf and hard of hearing students have been served in mainstream settings. Regular education teachers were being asked to educate students who are deaf and hard of hearing with those who have no hearing difficulty.

A Linguistic Approach To Gender Bias In Student Evaluations Of Teachers, Paula H. Larsen

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Few people would deny that discrimination occurs in American society today. In spite of extensive national and local legislation intended to safeguard the rights of every individual, discrimination still exists although, of necessity, it is more insidious, often to the point of invisibility to all but those directly affected by it. Many groups of people experience discrimination in their everyday lives--Blacks, Hispanics, Vietnamese, physically handicapped persons, and the elderly--to name just a few. Another segment of our society, women, also experience discrimination.

An Expert System To Train Secondary Special Education Teachers In Language Arts Instruction, Elizabeth Shafer Martindale

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Writing, a complex organizational process that makes excessive attentional demands, can be frustrating for handicapped students. These students seldom complete a finished written product because t he y are usually trying to master the mechanical aspects of writing . Teaching the secondary-aged student with learning problems to use and unify writing skills into a finished product may be an initial step in helping them acomplish more difficult writing tasks.

The purpose of this Research and Development (R & D) study was (a) to develop and validate an expert system which suggests teaching and management strategies for special education teachers and …

Kindergarten Teachers' Conceptions Of Reading, Kelly Duane Tolman

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study attempted to identify the reading conceptions of a sample of kindergarten teachers in the state of Utah in terms of five basic approaches to beginning reading. The subjects responded to a survey instrument that included 45 statements about various beginning reading methodologies.

The descriptive data generated from the study indicates that no significant differences exist among the teachers' preferences for any of the five conceptions of reading. The data also indicates that no significant differences exist between teacher preferences for "content-centered" conceptions of reading and "pupil-centered" conceptions of reading.

This apparent lack of a preference for the "pupil-centered" …

A Study Of Distributive Education Students' Perceptions And Attitudes Toward Secondary Distributive Education Teachers In Utah, Wallace J. Levere

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this study was to mea sure secondary distributive education students' perceptions and attitudes toward their teacher coordinators in the Utah secondary schools . The student scores were then analyzed to determine if there were any differences which may be attributed to a specific teacher characteristic such as age, sex, teaching experience, vocational work experience, and academic preparation.

Nine groups of null hypotheses (54 total) were tested. Each group consisted of the following six factors derived from student responses to the attitude and pupil observation survey questionnaires: (l) Friendly, cheerful, admired; (2) Knowledgeable, poised; (3) Interesting, preferred; (4) …