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Theses/Dissertations

2015

Experiential learning

Articles 1 - 11 of 11

Full-Text Articles in Education

Addressing The Past, Embracing The Future: An Analysis Of How Historic Inequality Has Created Current Obstacles To Learning English In Brazil And A Proposal For A New Community-Based Approach, Aja C. Bryant Nov 2015

Addressing The Past, Embracing The Future: An Analysis Of How Historic Inequality Has Created Current Obstacles To Learning English In Brazil And A Proposal For A New Community-Based Approach, Aja C. Bryant

MA TESOL Collection

This paper contextualizes current challenges to English learning in Brazil within the educational history of the country. It explores the ways in which language, both native literacy and foreign, has been used to set apart and advantage the elite class, while educational policy and approaches have served to pacify and control the majority. This history has left psychological, cultural, and economic legacies which inhibit learning today. Nevertheless, modern globalization is placing increasing pressure on Brazilians to achieve fluency in English and other languages. This paper briefly outlines the new and complex intellectual and social skills needed to participate in a …


The Schoolyard As An Outdoor Classroom: Learning Through Experience, Jason W. Spray Jul 2015

The Schoolyard As An Outdoor Classroom: Learning Through Experience, Jason W. Spray

Dissertations

When teaching ecology concepts, teachers often overlook utilizing the schoolyard as an outdoor classroom. This study examined the use of the schoolyard to teach ecology concepts in order to improve environmental knowledge and attitudes among fifth grade African-American students. The “Nature Unleashed” curriculum was the primary source for the lessons. This curriculum encompasses experiential learning and place-based education. The curriculum, taught over a six-week period, utilized hands-on activities inside and outside of the classroom. There were 248 fifth grade African-American students (N = 248) who participated in the research study. Students responded to a pre- and post-assessment to measure knowledge …


Experiential Learning: An Exploration, John Santo Verdico May 2015

Experiential Learning: An Exploration, John Santo Verdico

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

There is a problem with education in the United States. Students coast through school focused on grades, and leave school prepared for homework and controlled situations; they are not ready for the rigor and unpredictability of every day life in the real world. Studies on experiential learning show that the best way to gain professional skills and understanding is not necessarily in the classroom with a teacher, but outside the classroom with peers. Butler University's Music Industry Association (BMIA), provides such an opportunity. Producing the annual BMIA Sampler album increases students' understanding of concepts learned in the classroom and encourages …


Life Skill Development Of Youth Participants Of The 4-H Beef Skillathon Program, Josey Megan Harris May 2015

Life Skill Development Of Youth Participants Of The 4-H Beef Skillathon Program, Josey Megan Harris

Masters Theses

4-H agents and agriculture teachers across Tennessee teach youth about animal science projects using a variety of different methods, and these youth typically go on to compete in the Tennessee Junior Livestock Exposition Skillathon competition for their chosen animal project. Skillathon is an educational delivery method where a facilitator conducts a learning station where youth can gain knowledge or demonstrate their knowledge and skills learned by doing livestock project work. However, approximately 27% of youth in Tennessee with beef projects choose not to participate in the skillathon. This is troubling since early research has shown life skills are developed by …


Teachers' Perceptions Of An Integrated Third Grade Curriculum's Effects On Students' Reading Achievement, Charlene Lane Bazemore Jan 2015

Teachers' Perceptions Of An Integrated Third Grade Curriculum's Effects On Students' Reading Achievement, Charlene Lane Bazemore

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

School leaders in a Virginia urban school district designed and implemented a reading-infused integrated curriculum to address Grade 3 students' struggles to read and comprehend grade-level text. Informed via a constructivist approach, the curriculum integrated the core subjects, reading, and service learning for developing competent readers, thinkers, and problem solvers. This instrumental case study focused on 13 Grade 3 teachers' perceptions of the integrated curriculum in regards to their students' reading achievement. Qualitative data were collected from face-to-face interviews, students' progress of work documents, and the district's integrated curriculum unit. Open coding was employed to analyze the data. Inductively, triangulated …


College Faculty Experiences Assigning Service-Learning And Their Inclination To Continue, J. Shannon Chamberlin Jan 2015

College Faculty Experiences Assigning Service-Learning And Their Inclination To Continue, J. Shannon Chamberlin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The academic benefits and enhanced social responsibility that students derive from service-learning (SL), defined as experiential learning that ties community service to academic courses, have been well documented. However, for a college to fully institutionalize SL, a high proportion of faculty needs to include SL in their courses. Based in Kolb's experiential learning theory, the purpose of this study was to enhance planners' understanding of how college faculty's past experiences assigning SL influence their inclination to assign SL in future courses. In this basic qualitative interpretive study, data were collected from 13 individual interviews with faculty who assigned SL at …


Program Evaluation: A Federal Agency's Air Traffic Control Train-The-Trainer Program, Lisa Marie Mercer Jan 2015

Program Evaluation: A Federal Agency's Air Traffic Control Train-The-Trainer Program, Lisa Marie Mercer

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In 2014, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) highlighted to the U.S. Senate the need to focus on air traffic control (ATC) training to meet job qualification and attrition rates within the career field. One U.S. Department of Defense military service assists the FAA in providing worldwide ATC services. This service is referred to as the agency throughout this paper to ensure confidentiality. The agency's ATC career field manager echoed the FAA's call for action in his 2014 Strategic/Action Plan. In August 2013, the agency's ATC trainer program was published. As of December 2015, the program had not been evaluated. The …


Barriers To Facilitating An Existing Certified Nature Explore Outdoor Classroom, Shelley L. Easler Jan 2015

Barriers To Facilitating An Existing Certified Nature Explore Outdoor Classroom, Shelley L. Easler

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In response to social trends whereby children are spending less time outside, school administrators have developed certified Nature Explore Outdoor Classrooms (NEOCs) intentionally designed to support whole-child learning within a natural environment. Despite the documented benefits of nature-based education, the literature and NEOC sites report challenges in facilitating this type of space. The purpose of this study was to investigate what prevents teachers in a certified NEOC from facilitating student/teacher engagement with the natural outdoor environment. Kolb's, Piaget's, and Vygotsky's theories of constructivism served as the study's framework to explore the problem from the teachers' perspectives. A qualitative case study …


Fourth Year Teachers' Perceptions Of The Student Teaching Practicum In Abu Dhabi, Kabrina Rochelle Johnson Jan 2015

Fourth Year Teachers' Perceptions Of The Student Teaching Practicum In Abu Dhabi, Kabrina Rochelle Johnson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A local college in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates began a Bachelor of Education program in 2008 to train prospective teachers to deliver a bi-literate education in Arabic and English to students in Abu Dhabi schools. Because there had been no examination of preservice teachers' perceptions of their practicum experience, a project study was designed to analyze the perceptions of a group of preservice teachers regarding the final practicum and whether that experience enhanced their ability to deliver educational practices to better serve students. This phenomenological study was guided by experiential learning theory, as preservice teachers learned from their experiences …


Experiential Learning & Engagement: The Role Of Professional Development And Engagement In The Graduate Assistant Experience, Abbey Marie Muetzel Jan 2015

Experiential Learning & Engagement: The Role Of Professional Development And Engagement In The Graduate Assistant Experience, Abbey Marie Muetzel

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study explores the lived experiences of graduate assistants pursuing a master’s degree in higher education. Graduate assistants now comprise approximately 12% of all postgraduate students in higher education. Thus, this qualitative study seeks to understand graduate assistants’ experiences and support them in honing the quality of their interactions and communication with supervisors (faculty and staff). With dual roles of student and employee, graduate assistants face various challenges and also encounter unique opportunities while pursuing their academic and professional journeys. The field of higher education administration has demonstrated an interest in understanding the experience of entry-level professionals. While there is …


The Impact Of Relevant Work Experience On Third Level Accounting Students' View Of Learning, Terese Deehan Jan 2015

The Impact Of Relevant Work Experience On Third Level Accounting Students' View Of Learning, Terese Deehan

Theses

The benefits of work experience in accounting education have been examined extensively in the academic literature. Extant literature cites skills development, putting knowledge into action, improved academic results, increased focus on study and career path and enhanced employability as the main benefits to students. Other than research on the impact on academic results, there is a dearth of research on the impact of work experience on students’ view of learning. In research conducted in Ireland, Byrne and Flood (2004) concluded that the majority of third-level accounting students only have a surface-level view of learning and that this will not be …