Education Commons^™

Career Changers As First-Year Teachers In Rural Schools, Sara Winstead Fry, Holly Anderson

Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

The challenges novice teachers face as they adjust to inservice teaching are well documented. However, relatively little attention has been given to beginning teachers in rural schools who have had previous careers in other professions. We used qualitative methods to examine the professional experiences and perceptions of four career-changing first-year teachers in rural schools, seeking to identify significant issues in their professional developmental processes. Three primary themes emerged: evidence of effectiveness as teachers; mentoring career changers, and; adjustment to rural school and community. We conclude with implications and recommendations for educators working to support this unique population of educators in …

Place, Purpose, And Practice: A Case Study Examining Rural Teachers’ Sense Of Community And Its Impact In The Classroom, Faith Beyer Hansen

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

In an era in which education policy directs schools towards economic outcomes and away from local and/or community goals, this research is rooted in the notion that place matters (Howley & Howley, 1995). More specifically, this study examines what impact a rural teacher’s sense of community has on her experiencing both the broader community, the community of her individual classroom, and on her practice.

This collective case study followed six teachers in one rural middle school in the mountain west. Participants were nominated using a Sense of Community Index (SCI-2) and fell into the following categories: teachers with a low, …

Generating Keywords Improves Metacomprehension And Self-Regulation In Elementary And Middle School Children, Anique B. H. De Bruin, Keith Thiede, Gino Camp, Joshua Redford

Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Metacomprehension accuracy is typically quite poor; however, recently interventions have been developed to improve accuracy. In two experiments, we evaluated whether generating delayed keywords prior to judging comprehension improved metacomprehension accuracy for children. For sixth and seventh graders, metacomprehension accuracy was greater for the delayed-keyword condition than for a control group. By contrast, for fourth graders, accuracy did not differ across conditions. Improved metacomprehension accuracy led to improved regulation of study.

Connecting Science With Engineering: Using Inquiry And Design In A Teacher Professional Development Course, Louis S. Nadelson, Patricia Pyke, Janet Callahan, Anne Hay, Joshua Pfiester, Mark A. Emmet

Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

The engineering design process has evolved over time to be the central and effective framework that engineers use to conduct their work. Logically, K-12 STEM professional development efforts have then attempted to incorporate the design process into their work. There has been little in the STEM literature, though, of the explicit measurement of the growth in design process knowledge. Our study presents findings of significant improvements in knowledge of the design process that resulted over the course of a recent summer STEM institute and professional development program among K-5 teachers.

As more emphasis is placed on integrating STEM into the …

Enhancing Preservice Elementary Teachers’ 21st Century Information And Media Literacy Skills, Sara Fry, Sara Seely

Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

This two-semester pedagogical study investigated the effectiveness of an approach to information and media literacy instruction for elementary preservice teachers. Participants were trained in and then used a systematic process of searching for, evaluating, and using journal articles and websites. Two-thirds of the Semester one participants were unsuccessful identifying relevant, high-quality journal articles and ½ inaccurately evaluated the quality of websites. After three opportunities for formative assessment were added to the instruction model in Semester two, participants proficiently evaluated websites and ¾ were able to find relevant journal articles. The results demonstrate the importance of formative assessment and the need …

School Choice Decisions: A Naturalistic-Constructivist Inquiry Into Parents’ Perceptions On School Choice And School Improvement At A Pedagogically Progressive Charter School, Emily Louise Gibson

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Politicians and educational leaders often cite school choice as a sound mechanism for improving public education. However, education theorists and researchers call for more research to verify whether and how choice has an impact on what happens in public schools for all learners, and suggest that there is a need for more naturalistic-constructivist studies to examine the realities inherent in school choice contexts. Missing from the research literature are in-depth perspectives of those on the front lines of school choice decision: parents.

This naturalistic-constructivist inquiry used grounded theory and mixed methods to examine parents’ recollections of their own elementary education …

Graduate School Learning Curves: Mcnair Scholars' Postbaccalaureate Transitions, Scott Willison, Emily Gibson

Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

The federally funded Ronald B. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program (McNair Program) prepares first-generation, low-income, and underrepresented college undergraduates to pursue terminal graduate degrees. This study examines 22 McNair scholars’ transitions into graduate school in an attempt to identify factors that influence alumni persistence and matriculation. The participants in this study were alumni from a mid-sized, Northwestern university's McNair Program. During interviews, participants identified significant "learning curves" experienced in graduate school. Five themes, representing 14 learning curves, emerged: academic readiness, weaving a supportive web, managing the clock, being accepted, and staying financially fit. Researchers incorporated identified learning curves into an on-line …

Democratic Education Only For Some: Secondary Schooling In Northern Uganda, Philip Kelly, Stephen Odama

Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article analyzes the effects of the political, social and cultural contexts of secondary education in northern Uganda. Specifically, the authors examine interactions between several factors with the schooling system, including

• post-colonial curriculum,
• centralized examination system,
• several decades of war and instability,
• poverty, and
• intra-national and inter-tribal prejudice and discrimination.

Informing the analysis is the fact that Uganda is a democracy and thus has certain democratic responsibilities to its children and students. To explore these issues, the lenses of democratic theory and critical theory are employed.