Education Commons^™

Examining The Read-To-Write Strategy And Its Effects On Second Grader’S Writing Of Sequential Text, John Neal

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Writing is so important. It is important in school and in our careers; writing is found to be helpful physiologically and psychologically. Experts wonder, with writing so important, why is writing not being adequately taught in the schools. The answer may be that writing is complex and teaching it is even more complex. The Read-to-Write Strategy is a writing model based on the study of exemplary models of text and children are explicitly taught how to write the way an author writes through a process of the teacher modeling how to write this way; the teacher sharing the writing task …

The Anatomy Of Virtual Manipulative Apps: Using Grounded Theory To Conceptualize And Evaluate Educational Apps That Contain Virtual Manipulatives, Jennifer M. Boyer-Thurgood

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This exploratory qualitative study used grounded theory to investigate the anatomy of educational apps that contain virtual manipulatives. For this study 100 virtual manipulatives within educational apps designed for the iPad were observed by the researcher in order to expand the explanations of and build theory about virtual manipulatives within apps. Affordance theory was used to frame all six phases of the study in which the researcher identified virtual manipulatives situated within educational apps, conducted observer-as-participant structured and unstructured observations, analyzed component data including field notes and memos using open and axial coding, created a conceptual framework, developed an evaluation …

Building Community Using Experiential Education With Elementary Preservice Teachers In A Social Studies Methodology Course, Stephanie L. Speicher

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

There is urgency for teacher educators to instruct preservice teachers in the core tenants of social justice education. This urgency is based upon the ever-growing shift in the American demographic landscape and the responsibility of educators to teach for equity, justice, identity and community within classrooms across the U.S. Preservice teachers report feeling inadequately prepared to educate for social justice when entering the formal classroom setting. Feelings of incompetence in social justice teaching pedagogy expressed among preservice teachers coupled with minimal examination in the literature of the effects of teacher education practices that aid in the readiness to teach for …

The Effect Of Video Training To Improve The Accuracy Of University Supervisors In-Class Observations, Julia Lyman

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

University supervisors of student teachers are often undertrained as to how to complete in-class observations. This project examined the effects of video training to improve the accuracy of university supervisors’ in-class observations. Participants were student teacher supervisors from various locations across the state who provide supervision for a local university in the Western U.S., and the university student teachers they supervised. Target behaviors included data collection on praise rate, percentage of specific praise, and opportunities for students to respond. The findings suggest that following training the participants collected data with varying results with some areas of high accuracy and others …

An Explanatory Sequential Mixed Methods Study Of The School Leaders’ Role In Students’ Mathematics Achievement Through The Lens Of Complexity Theory, Emma P. Bullock

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

School leaders are expected to make decisions that improve student mathematics achievement. However, one difficulty for school leaders has been the limited amount of research concerning content-specific (e.g., mathematics) school leadership and its effects on student achievement. School leaders do not make decisions in isolation; rather, they make decisions as part of a complex adaptive system (CAS), as proposed by complexity theory. The purpose of this study was to explore the role the school leader plays in students’ mathematics achievement through the lens of complexity theory.

The researcher collected survey data from K-12 school leaders and conducted focus group interviews …

Utah Elementary School Principals’ Preparation As Technology Leaders, Nathan L. Esplin

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The rapidly expanding use of technology in education has brought about the need for principals to be prepared as technology leaders. Although, there is a need for principals to be prepared as technology leaders, many currently are not prepared for this role. It is crucial that principals are prepared in order ability to lead their school in successful technology integration. The primary purpose of this quantitative study was to determine the perceived level of technology leadership preparation of Utah elementary principals using the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Standards for Administrators.

In addition to the study’s primary purpose, …