Education Commons^™

The Effects Of A Poverty Simulation On Immediate And Sustained Participant Empathy, Doris Mann

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Capstones

Using the Attribution and the Experiential Learning Theory seated within Constructivism, this study examined the effect of the poverty simulation, Community Action Poverty Simulation (CAPS), on empathetic attitude toward those who experience poverty. 778 participants represented the fields of education, health care, and social work. Measures of immediate and sustained empathetic attitude were conducted using the Basic Empathy Scale (BES) (Jolliffe & Farrington, 2006). Findings indicate that there is immediate empathetic attitude change for the participants, but no sustained empathetic attitude change. Some of the variables considered included gender, race, age, income, voluntary/in-voluntary and others. This study supports the need …

A Comparative Study Teaching Chemistry Using The 5e Learning Cycle And Traditional Teaching With A Large English Language Learner Population In A Middle School Setting, Cynthia Nicole Mcwright

Dissertations

For decades science educators and educational institutions have been concerned with the status of science content being taught in K-12 schools and the delivery of the content. Thus, educational reformers in the United States continue to strive to solve the problem on how to best teach science for optimal success in learning. The constructivist movement has been at the forefront of this effort. With mandatory testing nationwide and an increase in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) jobs with little workforce to fulfill these needs, the question of what to teach and how to teach science remains a concern among …

Self-Regulated Learning And Self-Efficacy In Prekindergarten Students, Leonard Wayne Long

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to understand prekindergarten teacher perceptions of self-regulation and to investigate how prekindergarten students regulate their learning.

Research entailed video recorded observations of prekindergarten students engaged in social-cognitive behaviors during centers. The Creative Curriculum - one of several State recommended programs for prekindergarten - provided the foundational guidelines for teachers to incorporate into daily lessons - one of which is for students to play in organized centers. Naturalistic observations were conducted in five-minute intervals per student and coded according to The Play Observation Scale. During play, students' activities were coded according to interaction with …

Factors Affecting Secondary Students' Learning In A Credit Recovery Program, Richard Alan Joyer

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A credit recovery (CR) program was implemented at a rural high school in Texas to assist with high school completion. While graduation rates increased, the time for completion also increased for students in the CR program. The purposes of this correlational study were to examine factors that impact student learning in the CR program and to determine whether teachers were implementing student-centered instruction. Piaget's constructivist theory provided the framework for the study. The guiding question was to examine the relationships between student achievement and classroom environment, active learning, attendance, and student success from those enrolled in the credit recovery class …

Virtual Learning Environments' Impact On Adult Learners' Motivation In The Workplace, Clarence Eugene Bashshar

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Virtual learning environments have become prevalent in the workplace to improve talent development. However, because there are so many different types of design options, not all learners are finding success in the virtual learning environment. This mismatch can negatively impact employees' motivation and learning outcomes. The purpose of this study was to explore how design features of a virtual learning environment impacted adult learners' motivation in the workplace. Constructivist and self-determination theories were used as theoretical frameworks. The research question in this study explored how social and external contextual factors influence an adult learner's motivation to learn in a virtual …

Improving Scientific Literacy Through Reading Strategies: An Action Research Study, Myra L. Finneran

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this quantitative action research study is to examine a Scientific Reading Intervention Model (SRIM) with students enrolled in Honors Chemistry at a private high school in South Carolina. Students were given a pre-test prior to the intervention. The research took place over a six-week period in the spring of 2017. A teacher-participant worked with the researcher-participant to implement the intervention that consisted of three reading activities—pre-reading, during-reading, and post-reading. These three activities were designed to enable the low-level science readers to better comprehend their chemistry texts by activating prior knowledge with an anticipation guide, identifying key concepts …