Education Commons^™

Critical Media Literacy In Social Studies : A Case Study, Lauren Collet-Gildard

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

There have been many efforts to address the importance of media literacy in schools, but little research has focused on critical media literacy (CML) in social studies curricula or classrooms. This is the first case study to examine the planning and implementation of a school wide CML lesson designed by teachers, and it traces this process from inspiration and collaborative conception of the lesson through its enactment within the classroom. In addition, this research provides unique insight into how teachers arrive at CML as a means of empowering students in the face of widespread disinformation and political polarization. In my …

Teaching And Living In La Frontera: Teacher Perceptions Of Mexican Immigrant Students' Lived Experiences With Border Violence, Edith Trevino

Theses and Dissertations

This research is grounded in the truth of my own lived experience with border violence in La Frontera. Gloria Anzaldua (1987), describes the U.S. Mexico border (La Frontera) as an “open wound where the Third World grates against the First World and bleeds”(p. 3). Border violence in La Frontera is discussed in this research through four lenses which create a nexus of intertwined connections within curriculum and education. I use the lens of a grieving displaced daughter, a desperate mother trying to find support for her traumatized child in a failing educational system, a teacher who tries to honor her …

Ojos Vendados: An Ethnographic Approach To Understanding How Immigration Status And Language Influence The Identity Of High School Students In The Rio Grande Valley, Ariana Garza

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined oppressive factors Mexican immigrant students, or children of Mexican immigrants, face throughout their lives in RGV. These factors, which are termed “blindfolds” throughout this paper, can have a great impact on these students’ identity. The purpose of this study was to expose students to the blindfolds give them an opportunity to remove them and move past the oppressive measures that may have shaped how they are.

Knowing the implications of these stereotypes can explain why students may choose to be certain ways or do certain things. We can use this information to our advantage as educators of …

From Awareness To Action: Teacher Attitude And Implementation Of Lgbt-Inclusive Curriculum In The English Language Arts Classroom, Michelle L. Page

Education Publications

This survey research describes English language arts teachers’ comfort levels in integrating literature with lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) themes or characters into their curricula and classroom practices. Significant relationships were found between teachers’ age, comfort, awareness of resources, and implementation levels. Although younger teachers had higher comfort levels with LGBT texts, they displayed lower resource awareness levels and static implementation rates. In addition, comfort, awareness, and implementation of LGBT curriculum materials were also correlated with teacher location and with strength of religious belief, with rural teachers and strongly religious teachers displaying lower comfort and implementation levels. Availability of …

Verbing History: A Textualist Approach To Gendered Politics In U.S. History Curriculum, Ginney Patricia Norton

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Using three curricular interventions from World War II, I employ an alternative rhetorical history to understand how Social studies curriculum has become a space for the simultaneous deliberation of both national identity and gender politics. In working through the propaganda of Rosie the Riveter, the stories of the women of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and the experiences of gay men and women in the military during the war, I suggest that Social studies curriculum normalizes and reifies gendered, racial, and queer citizenship in relationship to white, masculine, and heteronormative citizenship. It also utilizes epideictic rhetoric to rhetorically and historically construct problematic …

The Comprehensive Emergent Literacy Model: Early Literacy In Context, Leigh Rohde

Leigh Rohde

Incidencia De La Política Pública Educativa Colombiana En El Texto Escolar De Ciencias Sociales De Grado Noveno 2004-2010. Análisis De Dos Propuestas Editoriales, Diego Alejandro López Ordoñez, Diana Marcela Méndez Gómez

Maestría en Docencia

La indagación: “Incidencia de la política pública educativa colombiana en el texto escolar de ciencias sociales de grado noveno (2004-2010).Análisis de dos propuestas editoriales”, aborda la dinámica del texto escolar de esta área a partir de la pregunta: ¿cómo incide la política pública educativa colombiana, en el texto escolar de ciencias sociales grado noveno, propuesto por dos editoriales, durante este período? , para lo cual se ha planteado como objetivo general determinar la incidencia de la política pública educativa colombiana en el texto escolar de ciencias sociales, grado noveno en la propuesta de dos editoriales, durante el período de tiempo …

A Foreign Affair: A Phenomenological Study Of Barriers To Adult Liberian Refugees' Success In The American College Classroom, Carla White Ellis

English as a Second Language Faculty Publications & Research

Liberia has survived a fourteen-year civil war. Within this time, many Liberians were forced to flee their countries and seek refuge. The United States and Liberia have held a long-standing friendly relationship; hence, there are thousands of Liberian refugees living within the United States. The educational issues of refugees worldwide is lacking in research. Consequently, the purpose of this dissertation is to gain an understanding of the lived experiences of adult Liberian refugees matriculating within American college classrooms. Through phenomenological methodology, the lived experiences of ten Liberian refugees enrolled within American college classrooms produced valuable results. Three major themes were …

The Impact Of Technology Attitudes And Skills Of Rural Health Clinic Nurses On The Level Of Adoption Of Electronic Health Records In Mississippi, Jennifer Lynn Styron

Dissertations

The evolution of health information technology continues to reform the delivery of efficient, safe, and equitable healthcare in the United States. One such example is the emergence of electronic health records (EHRs) and the discerning emphasis placed on using this technology in meaningful ways. While the integration of EHRs into daily practice impacts all healthcare professionals, nurses remain a prominent driver in the successful adoption and usage of these systems. It is therefore imperative to understand the impact of nurses’ technology attitudes and skills on the level of EHR adoption in Mississippi.

This quantitative study examined the technology attitudes and …

African American Male Elementary Teachers' Perceptions On Factors That Influence Their Retention And Attrition: A Qualitative Study, Lemanski Chante' Walker

Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study was to describe and explore American male elementary teachers’ perceptions on factors that contribute to decisions to remain in or exit the teaching field, specifically elementary education. Ten African American male elementary teachers participated in the study. The theory from this study was the Motivation–Hygiene theory (Herzberg, Mausner, & Snyderman, 2010). The study was conducted on the basis of Phenomenology with the use of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (Maslow, 1954). Research yielded African American males’ perceptions. Data were collected consisting of one on one interviews. The interview data were analyzed and collected using Colaizzi’s …

Birds Of New England And Costa Rica: A Science-Based Interdisciplinary Curriculum, Alice M. Ford

Graduate Student Independent Studies

Students are naturally inquisitive scientists, and successful interdisciplinary curricula access this curiosity by shaping academic studies around students' needs as scientists. Therefore, students are scientists who need opportunities to study and observe the world around them. This curriculum, "Birds of New England and Costa Rica: A Science-Based Interdisciplinary Curriculum," is based on children's abilities to observe and question by studying the immediate environment of the students and relating it to another environment. In this way, students compare and contrast relationships in order to construct their own knowledge about birds in New England and in Costa Rica. Through this study, students …

Older Adults And A Writing Workshop: A Phenomenological Study, Jennifer Lynn Alex

Dissertations

This study examines how older adults experience the phenomenon of participating in a writing workshop and how older adults interpret their experiences, understandings, and realities of writing. Ten older adults, ranging in age from 62 to 83 with varying degrees of experiences in writing, participated in this study. Through a semi-structured interview, each participant related his or her experience first as a writer and then as a member of a writing workshop offered through a Community Literacy Center in a mid-sized Appalachian city.

A phenomenological analysis method was used to identify and analyze themes of meaning that emerged in the …

Recycle Please: Teach Your School To Recycle, To Care, And To Help Solve The Climate Crisis, Ted Wells

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This Independent Study offers one developmentally-appropriate way in which the elementary school teacher can help alleviate the current global warming crisis by leading students to organize a school-wide recycling program carried out in the spirit of service learning. The reader will learn that this recycling work is two-pronged: the physical labor of recycling and the educational outreach to the school community through marketing, using posters, assemblies, videos, and more. A philosophy of education underlying this work is described in detail, as is the journey of the author in discovering this pedagogy that includes tapping into a personal environmental activism for …

A Museum-Based Curriculum For Middle School Students In New York City, Nayantara Mhatre

Graduate Student Independent Studies

India Inquiry is a museum-based curriculum designed for middle school students in New York City. The curriculum is organized by the following themes: Geography, Wildlife, Culture and Crafts, and Religion. Within each theme there is one out-of-classroom trip, including three visits to the American Museum of Natural History, and one to the Ganesh Temple in Flushing, Queens. In addition there are seven lessons that compliment and support the organized field trips.

The curriculum was developed to appeal to the social, emotional, and intellectual needs of students emerging from the latency period of late childhood and approaching early adolescence.

India Inquiry …

Making Sense: Reflections On Developing A Social Studies Curriculum For Five- And Six-Year-Olds, Anne Tobias

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This paper is a reflection on the writing of a social studies curriculum for five and six-year-olds-a study of a neighborhood construction site. It examines the way in which one teacher's commitment to offering children meaningful content evolved into the formulation of her educational philosophy, as influenced by such progressive educators as John Dewey, Lucy Sprague Mitchell, and Caroline Pratt.

Part One of the thesis is divided into three major sections. The first consists of a developmental overview of five- and six-year-olds. The second describes the connections between understandings of basic child development, understandings of a particular group of children, …

Bridges To Change: From The Classroom Community To Weeksville An Integrated And Thematic Curriculum, Pamela Jones

Graduate Student Independent Studies

"Bridges to Change" is a curriculum designed for use in a third grade inclusive classroom. This curriculum serves a dual purpose: (1) to provide teachers and students with activities that are designed to build and forge a sense of classroom community and (2) to provide teachers with built-in modifications and adaptations-thereby making the curriculum accessible to students at all levels. A wide array of sources was used in the creation of this curriculum. Understanding by Design and Universal Design for Learning were instrumental in laying the foundation for this work. Understanding by Design's "backwards design" approach was instrumental in the …

Effect Of Cooperative Learning (Student Teams -Achievement Divisions) On African American And Caucasian Students' Interracial Friendships, James Edward Cook

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to gauge the impact of cooperative learning teams on interracial friendships. The participants were 256 sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students in English classes (20% African American and 80% Caucasian) at a rural middle school in Louisiana. After delivery of instruction, the experimental group studied worksheets in teams, received rewards based upon the team's performance, and received individual grades based upon individual exam scores. The control group studied worksheets individually and received individual grades. This eight week study utilized the sociometric question, “Who are your friends in this class?” as the pretest and posttest …

An Investigation Of The Haitian-American Community In New Jersey And Its Understanding Of School Choice, Hildegarde Vernet

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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Factors Which Cause Families To Home School Their Children In Northeast Tennessee, Tony G. England

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The problem which this researcher investigated centered around the motivational factors which caused parents to educate their children at home. The purpose of this study was to assess the factors as perceived to cause families to home school their children. This study of home school education offered the opportunity to examine the dynamics within home schooling families as they conducted a non-traditional educational alternative. The study may provide information and insight to assist public school policy makers in considering inclusion of program components presently perceived as missing. Two home school associations in upper East Tennessee responded to a home school …

A Case Study Of The Effects Of Integration On Two Black High Schools In East Tennessee, Sheila R. Knaff

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the effects of integration on two black high schools and their communities in East Tennessee. The purpose of the study was to show how integration impacted these two communities both negatively and positively. The research method was qualitative and used the case study approach. Interviews of former students, teachers, and administrators of these two schools was a primary source of data collection. Further analysis of the data used the qualitative software package QSR NUD*IST 4.0. Data gained from the interviews, coupled with historical and current literature, as well as other published documents in relation to these two …

The National Mall: Becoming Correspondents, Chronologers, Autobiographers, And Biographers, Marion Mccorkle Bradford

Graduate Student Independent Studies

The National Mall curriculum for seven and eight-year-olds is a child-centered, literacy and social studies-based series of units.Recognizing the need to connect reading and writing with the students'real life experiences, this study utilizes the prior knowledge which students bring to the curriculum and extends that information with activities which build a common experience for all of the children. Developed for inner-city students in Washington, D.C., the study incorporates teaching and learning about letter­ writing, timelines, autobiographies, and biographies with history, geography, economics, and political science which is pertinent to the National Mall.

The Post Office : A Social Studies Curriculum For Seven And Eight Year Olds, Carol Ribner

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This paper presents a curriculum that I have developed and used with my class of second graders over the past three years. The curriculum is the study of the Post Office as part of a study of the neighborhood, and the subsequent planning and running of a schoolwide post office.

A Study Of The River : Social Studies As The Core Of The Curriculum For Five And Six Year Olds, Carol Yahr Tucker

Graduate Student Independent Studies

Using social studies as the core of the curriculum is an effective educational framework for five and six year olds. When this curriculum starts with the children's life experiences and goes on to study some aspect of their community or environment, children can begin to understand the interconnectedness of the adult world. Young children feel the excitement of learning when they immerse themselves in a study; they find that learning can be a vital process related to their needs and experiences, rather than a dry transfer of skills and pre-existing bodies of knowledge.

Learning Through Expressive And Representational Experiences In Social Studies : Eight-And-Nine-Year-Olds Study The Netsilik Eskimos, Joan Cenedella

Graduate Student Independent Studies

The following paper is the record of a study of the Netsilik Eskimos that took place in a group of twenty-five eight and nine-year-olds in 1973. Included in the paper are a description of the school, the classroom, and the children involved; a brief discussion of the overarching concepts inherent in the content of the study; a record of the ways in which the study was presented to children; and finally, a detailed description of the children's work. The point is made throughout the paper that the children learned through expressive experience in the study and that this expressive experience …

A Survey Of The Procedures Used In The Selection Of Social Studies Textbooks In The Public Schools, Wayne D. Pringle

All Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to (1) survey the procedures used in the selection of social studies textbooks in the public schools; (2) to determine the qualities considered in the selecting a textbook in social studies.