Education Commons^™

The Relationship Between Configurations Of The New Tech High School Model And Student Achievement, Kyle Grant Machen

Doctoral Dissertations

Traditional educational environments have been documented as being potential barriers to improving student achievement. Consequently, reform models, such as the New Tech High School (NTHS), were created to enable educators to fundamentally rethink teaching and learning. The purpose of this study was to ascertain whether the NTHS, as a reform model, is an effective vehicle to increase student achievement. The study examined the relationship between NTHS models and desired outcomes of the New Tech Network (NTN) as indicated by: state proficiency exams, End of Course (EOC) exams; a college and career readiness exam, the American College Test (ACT); and, School …

Chemistry Graduate Teaching Assistants: A Comparison Of The Classroom Discourse Within Expository And Problem-Based Learning Laboratories, Kelley M. Current

Masters Theses

Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs) commonly function as instructors within undergraduate chemistry laboratories. This study sought to explore and describe GTA classroom discourse within two distinct instructional modes, using discourse analysis as the theoretical framework. Theclassroom discourse within a series of verification style labs was comparedto the classroom discourse produced within a set of Problem-Based Learning (PBL) labs. The results suggest three primary findings: (1) the apparent relationship between the instructional mode and form of GTA classroom discourse, (2) the patterns in classroom discourse observed within a given instructional mode repeat, irrespective of content, and (3) the classroom discourse observed within …

I Did That Wrong And It Sounded Good: An Ethnographic Study Of Vernacular Music Making In Higher Education, Victor Ezquerra

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this ethnographic study was to examine vernacular music making in higher education. The participants, undergraduate music education majors (N=23 for Fall, N=10 for Spring), were investigated throughout the course of the 2012-2013 academic year. A constructivist philosophical framework was applied and data were collected using several methodologies including participant observation, journals, interviews, and audiovisual and multimedia methods. Results showed that students were able to successfully learn, create, and share music in a vernacular manner. Participants took a pragmatic approach to making music. Furthermore, students engaged several aspects of music making they had not encountered in traditional music …

The Effect Of Teachers' Epistemological Beliefs On Practice, Milton David Huling

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Unfortunately, for the most part, teachers do not teach the Nature of Science (NOS). Even when teachers have adequate NOS knowledge, their knowledge still does not make its way into practice. While there are various reasons for this happening, this study has isolated other, more typical, constraints to teaching in order to look more closely at the influence of personal epistemological beliefs, understandings of NOS, and their effects on practice. In an effort to minimize typical constraints of time for the teaching of NOS, a sixth grade physical science course was chosen as a way to minimize this constraint. Within …

A Comparative Analysis Of Top Performing Countries In Eighth Grade Mathematics As Measured By 2011 Trends In International Mathematics And Science Study, Courtney Wilson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The focus of this research was to shed light on factors contributing to global international rankings in mathematics released by the 2011 administration of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study. This study focused on factors contributing to the global ranking of international scores in mathematics. Although students in the United States performed below students in the other sample countries (Singapore, Japan, and the Republic of Korea), American students scored within one standard deviation of the top performer, the Republic of Korea. The study also revealed that although other countries had their brightest and most advantaged students participate in …

Not In Any Textbook: Contextualizing Learning For Elementary Students Using Experiential Simulations, Alicia Jane Mckinney

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated how the AmeriTowne program supported learning and incorporated 21st century knowledge and skills development for fifth graders through the use of an experiential simulation. Relatively few studies examine simulated learning generally, and this study is one of few that provides insight into AmeriTowne's unique approach by describing, interpreting, and appraising the intentions, operations and benefits of the program's Day in Towne simulation.

Five questions guided this study. 1) What are the intentions of the AmeriTowne program? 2) What conditions does the Young AmeriTowne program's Day in Towne simulation provide for educational experience? 3) Which aspects of the …

Understanding The Constructivist Learning Environment In Teacher Education Methods Courses, Veronica Jackson

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Abstract

This research will see to assess the degree to which teacher education faculty members were able to employ a classroom environment that encouraged a constructivist learning environment and how pre-service teachers feel about their teacher education methods courses at The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). The participants in this research were pre-service teachers in their senior year of their undergraduate teacher education program. There were 128 students (110 females, 18 males) enrolled in two sections in the teacher education program, Early Childhood-6 (EC-6) and 4-8 intermediate. The researcher administered the Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (CLES) as a …

Evaluating Inquiry-Based Learning As A Means To Advance Individual Student Achievement, Cherilyn Gwen Ziemer

Theses and Dissertations

Although inquiry-based learning has been debated throughout the greater educational community and demonstrated with some effect in modern classrooms, little quantitative analysis has been performed to empirically validate sustained benefits. This quantitative study focused on whether inquiry-based pedagogy actually brought about sustained and measurable improved learning and higher levels of student engagement, satisfaction, and understanding. The present study employed classic stratified random sampling to form two sample groups. Sixth-grade student subjects in two middle school science classes completed a four step process: all students completed a 40-question objective pretest, students completed a unit of study in either an inquiry-based learning …

Teacher Assessments Of Positive Behavior Support In School, Terrie Davis Phillips

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Students are often removed from classrooms due to behavioral concerns, which has led to an increase in student drop-out rates. Positive behavior support (PBS), a proactive approach to student discipline, was implemented at a local school in order to address the influx of students being sent to the office. Constructivism was the framework for this mixed method study on teachers' assessments of the current behavior support approach in their school and teachers' perceptions of school-wide PBS training and implementation. Data from the Effective Behavior Support (EBS) Survey were used in a descriptive statistical analysis of 162 teachers' assessments of behavior …

Collaborative And Creative Thinking Skill Development Through The Design Of Wearable Technologies, Laurie E. Korte

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Skills inherent in the creative thinking process such as reflecting and collaborating are needed for success in many careers. However, a focus on standardized testing in K-12 schools in the United States has resulted in the restructuring, reduction, and in some cases, elimination of arts in the curriculum to the detriment of students' creative thinking process. The purpose of this study was to discover whether creative thinking and collaborative skills were positive unintended consequences of a curriculum that includes the design of wearable technologies. Jonassen's modeling using Mindtools for conceptual change and Rosen's culture of collaboration provided the conceptual framework. …

A Mixed Methods Investigation Of Post-Secondary Students' Long Bone Anatomy Knowledge Retention Through Constructivism And The Works Of Vesalius, Jennifer F. Tynes

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Understanding human long bone anatomy is an important concept to master for post-secondary students that major in medical fields since skeletal structures assist in locating a pulse, conducting clinical procedures, and identifying injection sites. Skeletal anatomy is also used to name structures associated with other organ systems like veins, arteries, and nerves. This explanatory mixed methods study explores post-secondary students’ knowledge retention and perception of various constructivist activities that utilize historical approaches based on the works of Vesalius, the Father of Modern Anatomy to teach long bone anatomy. Three treatment groups and one controlled comparison group (n= 92) were provided …