Education Commons^™

Phenomenon-Based Instruction In The Elementary Classroom: Impact On Student Engagement And Achievement In Science Content Learning, Chris Taylor

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Phenomenon-based teaching is a multidisciplinary instructional approach based on student inquiry and problem solving. Students investigate and solve their own questions by applying what topics are relevant to the problem. The goal of phenomenon-based learning is to prepare learners to solve problems in real life. Instead of passively learning abstract or disconnected concepts, phenomenon-based instruction provides student’s rich and meaningful context to the subject by actively engaging them to discover knowledge and skills required to solve the problems. Phenomenon-based instruction gives students the opportunities for discourse, argumentation-using claims with supporting evidence, and making sense of the material being covered, ultimately …

Designing Stem Experiences For The Family In Order To Develop Stem Family Habitus And Capital, Soñia Galaviz

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Ethnic minority students and low-income students are grossly underrepresented in demonstrating interest and aspirations in science, evidence of science participation, and subsequent capital. Members of these populations do not often embrace a STEM identity or recognize that science, technology, engineering, and math are for them. While schools struggle to innovate in terms of how best to engage and increase aspirations and opportunities in STEM for these underrepresented populations, the family continues to be the most ignored contributor to a student’s STEM identity. Families play an important role in influencing their students’ attitudes, interests, aspirations, and achievements in STEM. While research …

The Convergence Of Negotiated Imaginative Play, Literacy Learning And Kindergarten Common Core English Language Arts Standards, Grace Salinas-Casper

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The implementation of strict academic requirements is replacing play as a previously widely accepted developmentally appropriate practice in kindergarten classrooms around the United States, resulting in an imbalance in cultivating the whole child. Research focused on the importance of play in children’s cognitive, linguistic, physical, moral, creative, emotional and artistic development exists. Couched in Vygotsky’s social development theory and the Reggio Emilia principle this ethnographic case study investigates how kindergarteners demonstrate literacy learning, practice and mastery of Common Core English Language Arts Standards (CC.ELA) through imaginative play in a negotiated environment. Research outcomes suggested that negotiated play appears to provide …

Building Conceptual Understandings Of Equivalence, Kelli Rich

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The equal sign is prevalent at all levels of mathematics however many students misunderstand the meaning of the equal sign and consider it an operational symbol for the completion of an algorithm (Baroody & Ginsburg, 1983; Rittle-Johnson & Alibali, 1999). Three constructs were studied through the lens of the Developing Mathematical Thinking (Brendefur, 2008), Relational Thinking, Spatial Reasoning and Modes of Representation. A review of literature was conducted to examine the effects of mathematics instruction on the development of students’ conceptual understanding of equivalence through the integration of spatial reasoning and relational thinking. The Developing Mathematical Thinking (DMT) curricular resources …

Implementation Of An Avid Elementary Program In A Technology-Rich Environment, Molly J. Large

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the innovations that occurred as the AVID Elementary program was implemented in a technology-rich school environment and the ways in which those innovations were communicated and adopted across the school. It examined how the AVID Elementary program functioned at the site and how teachers developed technology-enabled alternatives to traditional AVID strategies and materials.

The primary question for this study was “How is AVID Elementary implemented in a technology-rich environment?” A qualitative ethnographic case study methodology was appropriate for this study, and the study was conducted through an ethnographic lens that explored the …