Education Commons^™

Autonomous Professional Learning Through Practitioner Inquiry: A Study Of Growth Plan System Experiences, Daina Kelly Gaputis

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The need for quality science education has long been established, but despite reform after reform, it remains a current concern. What we know as good teaching is not happening, perhaps because there is an increase in science teachers using alternative certification programs to enter the field. This lack of formal training causes teachers to have a reliance on professional learning opportunities to learn about reform-based science education. Unfortunately, traditional forms of professional learning are often inadequate, so newer professional learning designs have been established. Some of these newer designs, such as practitioner inquiry, offer teachers autonomy over how they assess …

Institutional And Individual Approaches To Change In Undergraduate Stem Education: Two Framework Analyses, Stephanie B. Feola

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The overarching goal of this dissertation is to examine institutional change initiatives in STEM and to understand the impact of engaging with a specific change strategy on a biochemistry educator’s instructional practice. Institutional change initiatives involve executing an intentional strategy to influence teaching practices within a specific institution. This research investigates NSF-funded change initiatives at three public research universities that were focused on encouraging the adoption of evidenced-based instructional practices (EBIPs) by STEM faculty. As part of an effort to understand how the three institutions approached this task, framework analysis was performed using the initiative’s annual reports to NSF. Further …

Threats To School Safety: Examining Levels Of Community Violence And Its Relation To School-Related Threats, Dorie Ross

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite significant media attention provided to school-based acts of violence, these tragic incidents are relatively rare across school environments, leading to increasing challenges in identifying students who may pose a threat. Previous approaches to school discipline, including policies such as zero tolerance, resulted in significant racial disparities among students who received disciplinary consequences inconsistent with the severity of their behaviors or threats. Alternatively, a relatively recent approach that emerged following a series of school shootings in the 1990s was school threat assessment, which focuses on prevention rather than prediction. While it is important to determine students who may pose a …

Academic Procrastination Among Chinese International Undergraduate Students In The United States, Yunlu Xiang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research aimed to explore academic procrastination among Chinese internationalstudents, using NVivo 12 to analyze data gathered through interviews with six participants. The study identified both internal and external factors contributing to academic procrastination, with social networking and software being the most significant external factors and disinterest and avoidance being the most significant internal factors. The participants did not identify the COVID-19 pandemic as a significant factor in academic procrastination. The study analyzed gender differences in academic procrastination among Chinese students. The pandemic had different effects on men and women, with men downplaying the concept of time and women experiencing …

The Transformative Impact Of A Semester-Long Us-Based Gelt Course On Pre-/In-Service Teachers' Cognition And Classroom Practices, Özge Güney

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As English has become a global lingua franca used by a greater number of nonnative speakers than native speakers, a focus on native speaker norms in English language teaching (ELT) has become obsolete. There has been a call to incorporate different varieties of Englishes (native, nonnative, and nativized) and related cultures in both teacher education programs and the English classroom- an approach known as Global Englishes Teacher Education (GELT). This study investigates the influence of a GELT-informed teacher education course offered at a US state university on the cognition and (future) practices of pre-/in-service teachers, which aspects of the GELT …

The Effects Of A Multicomponent Informational Text Reading Intervention On Comprehension: A Multiple Baseline Study, Lesley S. Noel

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, I present the findings from the implementation of aninformational text reading comprehension intervention. Using a single-case multiple baselines across participants’ experimental design, I examined results from three small heterogeneous groups of three to four students during the literacy block in a suburban fourth-grade classroom in a large school district in the southeastern United States. I designed a multi-component intervention with explicit instruction of informational text features to investigate the impacts on intermediate students’ oral retell and main idea statements. My research was guided by the following questions: (1) To what extent does participation in ITMI improve fourth-grade …

“We Need To Have A Place To Vent And Get Our Frustrations Out”: Addressing The Needs Of Mothering Students In Higher Education Using A Positive Deviance Framework, Melissa León

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the experiences of mothering students at four different colleges using a positive deviance (PD) framework. PD is an approach that seeks to identify positive behavioral patterns that help members of a community overcome structural barriers (Gross, et al. 2017). The Positive Deviance Framework was applied to investigate how some mothering students are successful in college and how their experiences could potentially help new or struggling mothering students. Eleven mothering students were interviewed to determine what interventions could assist mothering students who lack representation in the traditional college environment, a situation that often leads to feelings of isolation. …

Dynamical Polymer Chain Heterogeneities And Their Impacts On The Glass Transition, William Forrest Drayer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The utilization of polymeric materials has endured since prehistory, at first unknowinglyin the form of natural biopolymers such as wood and leather, culminating and continuing through the development of the plastics industry in the early twentieth century. Polymers, along with other materials including silicate glasses, readily exhibit the glass transition upon quenching: a continuous but rapid change from viscous (liquid) to elastic (solid) behavior. The physics surrounding the glass transition have been studied for over a century; while considerable progress has been made, there remains no universally accepted predictive theory of the glass transition. Modern development of glassy materials consists …

Meeting Diverse Student Needs: An Examination Of A Physical Education Teacher Alumnus’ Culturally Responsive Teaching Beliefs And Their Enactment, Craigory V. Nieman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine how one physical education teacher education (PETE) alumnus teaching in a CED urban school perceives culturally responsive teaching in physical education (PE), as well as how they enact it in their classes. Guided by culturally responsive teaching and self-efficacy, this study examined John, a physical education teacher education alumnus teaching in a CED urban elementary school. John completed the culturally responsive teaching self-efficacy scale (CRTSE; Siwatu, 2007), five semi-structured interviews, five reflection journal prompts, and eight voice memos over the course of 12 weeks. Additional data collection included text messages, emails, and …

Policy And Leadership Accountability On Black Special Education Teacher Persistence, Brittany M. Holmes

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There is a persistent shortage of qualified special education teachers in schools across the country. This issue is exacerbated by the need for special education teachers of color who can help serve the disproportionate number of minority students in schools. Over time, researchers and government entities, alike, have considered ways to increase the recruitment and retention efforts of Black teachers However, given the lack of investigation regarding the needs of Black teachers in special education and what encourages their persistence, efforts to increase representation have been unsuccessful. For this reason, using a qualitative methodology, the purpose of this study is …

Untangling The Phenomenon Of Teacher Anxiety During The Covid-19 Pandemic: Voices Of Secondary Ela Teachers, Jenise Gorman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Hybrid simultaneous teaching, surgical masks, Lysol wipes, and uncertainty capture the zeitgeist of teaching during COVID-19. This study builds on teachers’ daily stressors in the classroom. Many shifts in education that never seemed possible created angst and anxiety in the classroom (Cupido, 2018; Dubey and Pandey, 2020; El Rizaq & Sarmini, 2021; Zuo et al., 2020; Garcia and Piotrowski, 2022). Teachers entered the 2020-2021 school year having to learn many firsts.The purpose of this study was to understand the interplay of work-life lived experiences of secondary English teachers with moments of anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a post-intentional phenomenological …

“They’Re Still Trying To Wrap Their Head Around Forever”: An Anatomy Of Hope For Spinal Cord Injury Patients, William A. Lucas

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation draws on ethnographic data to investigate the nature of spinal cord injury (SCI) rehabilitation in Central Florida, using participant observation and interview data to understand how people with SCI (pwSCI) conceptualize their own disabilities after experiencing such radical alterations in their subjectivities. Using case studies and ethnographic vignettes, it argues that the extreme double binds in which pwSCI find themselves (where they are personally ordinarily disabled and socially extraordinarily novel; and where they are enabled resources to pursue “hopeful” therapy modalities while being designated as hopelessly disabled) is further polarized by the various legislative regimes of truth in …

Transition To Higher Education In A College Assistance Migrant Program: Students’ Perception Of Purpose, Mark R. Lane-Holbert

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The 21st century world is increasingly globalized and interconnected, and migration is a reality that substantially impacts the US educational system, and often requires specialized services for migrant students to successfully transition to higher education. While higher education has many benefits, it also presents inherent risks and challenges for students from migrant families, whose academic and life experiences may be vastly different from traditional college students. Federal collegiate transition programs like the College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP) recognize this and aim to support students holistically throughout their transition to higher education. Such programs are in continual search of effective ways …

Factors To Consider For Effective Implementation Of Aac With Students With Autism: Saudi Special Education Teachers’ Perspectives, Mazen Abdurhman Almethen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study aimed to explore the perceptions of Saudi special education teachers regarding teaching minimally verbal students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and factors facilitating the use of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) system in their classroom. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with five Saudi special education teachers. Teachers were from three schools at the General Directorate of Education in Unaizah, Saudi Arabia. The findings were analyzed by using thematic analysis. Findings revealed that Saudi special education teachers faced many challenges when teaching students with ASD who have minimal verbal abilities which includes expression difficulties, challenging behavior, and teacher-related challenges. …

Training Parents Via Telehealth To Teach Manding To Children With Asd To Replace Problem Behavior, Sukarah Almulhim

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study assessed the effectiveness of using Behavioral Skills Training (BST) for parent training to implement functional behavior training and video modeling via a telehealth platform designed to increase manding abilities and to decrease problem behaviors with children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). With eight participants, this study used a multiple-baseline design across subjects (four parents and four children with ASD). The research was divided into three phases: parent training, baseline, and intervention. BST was administered remotely from the United States through synchronous video conferencing with families in different countries in the Middle East. All parents were able to learn …

Chasing A Moving Target: Examining Shifts In Elementary Teachers' Language And Conceptions Of Digital Literacy During Professional Learning, Stephanie M. Branson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Emerging and transforming innovations carry with them new ways of conceptualizing literacy practices in the classroom. As the technology revolution forges ahead and permeates the elementary school setting, teachers must consider how they talk about and model digital literacy practices. Digital literacy goes beyond merely operating technology tools and devices. It includes the cognitive and social processes that take place when reading, writing, and communicating in digital spaces and with digital tools. To understand the integration of digital literacies into the classroom, we must better understand how teachers develop digital literacy competencies and dispositions through focused and intentional professional learning …

Identifying Contributors To Disproportionality: The Influence Of Perception On Student Social, Emotional, And Academic Behavior Ratings, Chelsea Salvatore

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Successful implementation of the MTSS framework involves equitable assessment and decision-making. This calls for researchers to investigate the processes utilized to identify students for early behavioral support, such as multi-informant universal social-emotional behavioral screening. The current study aimed to investigate this by first examining the usability of the Social, Academic, and Emotional Behavior Subscale (SAEBRS) and the student self-report version (mySAEBRS) across Black and White students in grades seven through nine. After examining these tools for measurement invariance, the trifactor model was employed with race as a predictor variable to examine the mean difference of Black and White students’ scores …

Intimate Conversations: A Mixed-Methods Study Of African American Father-Adolescent Sexual Risk Communication, Shanda A. Vereen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Background: Approximately 50% of African American (AA) high school students are sexually active and a large proportion of sexually active AA students report engaging in sexual risk behaviors such as not using condoms at last intercourse. Consequently, AA adolescents in the United States experience outcomes of risky sexual behaviors at high rates. Evidence shows parents have an effect on shaping adolescent attitudes, values, and beliefs regarding sex through sexual risk communication (SRC). Although parent-adolescent SRC is associated with reductions in sexual risk behaviors among AA adolescents, research has primarily focused on mothers. While parents acknowledge that SRC is traditionally viewed …

Saudi Parents As Advocates For Their Young Children With Disabilities: Reflections On The Journey, Sadeem A. Alolayan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Although special education advocates have played an essential role in obtaining rights for individuals with disabilities, there is still much unknown about their motivations, challenges, roles, and the meaning they made from their experiences. Research into Saudi parent advocates of children with disabilities and their complex daily life issues have seldom been investigated, with rare studies that focus solely on Saudi early intervention services needs and supports. This qualitative study aimed to explore the experiences of Saudi parents of children with developmental disabilities who are special education advocates in their communities. One of the goals of this study was to …

Relationship Between Demographic Characteristics And Internship Participation Of Senior Undergraduate International Students, Timothy W. Gjini

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The United States higher education institutions’ mission is to support students' academic success and career development goals by preparing them to become globally competent citizens and workforce-ready graduates. With student workforce preparation at the core of their mission, there is concern that colleges and universities are not adequately investing in international students’ engagement in career-preparation practices (e.g., internships). As such, this quantitative, secondary-data study explored the relationship between senior international students’ demographic characteristics, the institutional environment (type and classification), and their internship participation behavior. Key variables were identified from three complementary theoretical strands, including Astin’s Input-Environment-Output (I-E-O) Model (1988, 1993a, …

Evaluation Of A Prototype Deep Learning-Based Autosegmentation Algorithm On A High Quality Database Of Head And Neck Cancer Radiotherapy Patients, Jihye Koo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is devoted to the study of deep learning-based autosegmentation in head and neck radiotherapy. Much of the work presented here is motivated by the need to introduce a clinically useful autosegmentation model for head and neck organs at risk, with the aim of reducing inter-observer variation in structure segmentation and enhancing time efficiency of the treatment planning process. This dissertation describes autosegmentation approaches, introduces a prototype deep learning-based autosegmentation algorithm trained with carefully curated local gold data, and presents a series of comprehensive evaluations to verify the feasibility of implementing the prototype model in clinical settings.

One of …

Self-Determination And The Lived Experience Of Employed Adults With Intellectual Disabilities: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, Abdelrahman Mohammad Alzarie

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Literature reveals that self-determination is a critical predictor of employment at the post-secondary level for individuals with Intellectual Disabilities (ID). However, current research concerning self-determination in the post-secondary work of individuals with ID is scarce and primarily focused on the perspectives of parents or educators or has been driven by evaluating learning models of self-determination. Furthermore, individuals with ID were not adequately represented as participants in the current research, and their voices were not given the opportunity to be heard. Therefore, this qualitative phenomenological study aimed to explore the lived experience of six Saudi employed adults with mild ID who …

How Some Arboreal Salamanders (Genus Aneides) Jump, Glide, And Generate Lift, Christian E. Brown

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The jumping and subsequent aerial behaviors of arboreal lungless salamanders (genus Aneides) had never been investigated or described. The aims of this research were to (1) compare jumping performance within the family Plethodontidae with a special focus on arboreal species from genus Aneides, (2) describe the biomechanics and kinematics of aerial behaviors after a jump or extended fall, and (3) model airflow over the morphology of the most aerially adept salamanders to investigate if they are capable of generating lift. First, I recorded salamanders jumping, locomoting vertically, dropping, and flying in a vertical wind tunnel. Then, I laser-scanned and reconstructed …

Music As An Instructional Modality To Increase Attending Behavior Of Elementary Students, Zachary Grossman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Audio and audiovisual cues, when used as teaching tools, result in desirable learning outcomes for young learners when compared to visual cues alone (Havy et al., 2017; Kirkham et al., 2019; Sloutsky & Napolitano, 2003). Previous research has demonstrated that music can be an effective delivery method for teaching math in the elementary classrooms (An & Tillman, 2015; An et al., 2014; Azaryahu et al., 2020). However, the effectiveness of music at increasing attending behavior specifically has not been assessed in these studies. This study evaluated the effectiveness of music based instruction on students’ attending behaviors compared to non-music based …

The Redesign And Evaluation Of A Higher Education Online Instructor Certification Program, Lindsey W. Mercer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The following exploratory case study is a program evaluation of a certification program for online instructors at a high-enrollment, 4-year research-intensive university in the southeast. Since 2014 the Online Instructor Certification (OIC) has operated as the predominant platform for preparing faculty to teach online at the site of study. The OIC contributes to meeting institutional strategic initiatives including accreditation and goals from the state board of governors. Using the Kirkpatrick training evaluation model, this study evaluated the OIC on the first three levels including how participants perceived the certification (Level 1), what participants learned (Level 2), and how participants applied …

Understanding And Measuring Family–Teacher Partnerships, Emily L. Baton

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

It has long been acknowledged that there is an important bond between families and schools that enriches the child’s behavior and academic life. The benefits of parent–school partnerships in a child’s education extend beyond the child, benefitting the families and educational staff as well. Terminology, definitions, and practices within the continuum of parent–school partnerships (Goodall & Montgomery, 2014) currently vary. The three most common term of the continuum are (a) family involvement, (b) family engagement, and (c) parent–school partnerships.Firstly, this dissertation sought to build upon the knowledge around the terminology and definition used to explain families and the education system …

Teaching And Learning Together: Situating Information Literacy In The Library Social Services Landscape Of Practice Through Online Scenario-Game-Based Training, Denise R. Shereff

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A scoping literature review and a qualitative case study were conducted in this dissertation research to explore formal information literacy instruction and professional development for librarians and social workers in the context of library social services. This research provides avenues for increasing understanding about how each is prepared to provide mental health and social service information and resources in public libraries.The scoping literature review was conducted on 19 studies published since 2002 focusing on librarians’ roles in information literacy instruction in social worker education. Articles were reviewed according to published Scoping Review guidelines. Trends were described regarding instructional and technological …

Comparing Mortality In Response To Simulated Climate Change In The Harvester Ant, Pogonomyrmex Badius, And The Fire Ant, Solenopsis Invicta, Haley Depner

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With the rapid transport of plants, produce, and goods out of its South American home, the fire ant, Solenopsis invicta, has invaded continents on a global scale. In the United States alone, S. invicta is responsible for an estimated $1 billion in damages annually. In contrast to the invasive fire ant, Florida’s native harvester ant, Pogonomyrmex badius, is a keystone seed disperser, providing seed relocation benefits to Florida’s sandhill wildfire-adapted habitats. Seed relocation reduces seedling competition for nutrients with the parent plant, reduces predation of seeds by rodents, increases nutrient loads associated with ant mound soils, and protects seeds from …

A Critical Analysis Of The Graduate Socialization Of Racially Minoritized School Psychology Students, Tatiana J. Broughton

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

By centering the voices of racially/ethnically minoritized school psychology graduate students I sought to understand how racially minoritized individuals experience their socialization process into the field, to critique and expose oppressive structures in place in their graduate programs, and to utilize garnered information to provide implications to address and dismantle oppressive structure within school psychology programs. Additionally, I sought to provide insight for school psychology training programs by identifying antiracist practices that minoritized graduate students view as supports in their training programs. Participants were eight racial/ethnic minoritized graduate students who participated in one to two virtual interviews discussing their experiences …

Piloting A Spanish-Language Web-Based Tool For Hereditary Cancer Genetic Testing, Gretter Manso

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cancer genetic services (including genetic counseling and testing) help identify patients and families at increased risk of developing cancer so that steps can be taken to reduce risks or find cancers early. Receipt of genetic services in the Hispanic/Latinx population is low due, in part, to a shortage of Spanish-speaking genetic counselors. To address this concern, a 12-minute online tool designed to inform individuals about cancer genetic services was translated into Spanish. The objectives of this pilot study were to determine if the educational tool improves knowledge and informed decision making and to assess usability and appropriateness of the tool …