Education Commons^™

‘Let Them Be Who They Are’: Discovering Special Education Teachers’ Perceptions Of Oppressive Normativity And Their Practice Of Celebrating Neurodiversity, Caitlin Sweetapple

Theses & Dissertations

Autistic students are faced with ableism and oppressive practices daily in their school environments. Special educators can mitigate this problem by celebrating the neurodiversity of the students in their classroom. Utilizing a critical disability theory lens, I conducted an instrumental case study through observations and interviews with six special education teachers at a special education school. The research objective was to understand how special education teachers approach oppressive normativity in their classroom and adapt their practice for neurodiverse learners. The findings revealed that special education teachers who work strictly with neurodiverse learners do not perceive oppressive normativity in their classroom …

Women In The Superintendency: A Phenomenological Study Of Women Superintendents’ Perceptions Of Social Capital, Victoria Catalano

Theses & Dissertations

Public schools are faced with a shortage of women superintendents in the United States. Although women dominate the teaching profession and outnumber men in educational leadership and doctoral programs in education, there is a disproportionate number of men compared to women leading the nation’s public schools. Using feminist theory and social capital theory, this qualitative phenomenological study examined how nine women superintendents perceived gender-based obstacles, as well as the support of social capital during their ascent to the superintendency. The findings revealed that women in the study faced sex-role stereotyping and gender bias from men and women as they aspired …

Professional Development For Veteran Teachers: Let Them Speak!, Livia M. Gama Fagundes

Theses & Dissertations

Professional development is designed to enhance teachers’ pedagogical knowledge and their professional growth. However, veteran teachers have divergent professional learning needs that must be addressed to positively impact the effectiveness of the professional development they attend. This research study emphasizes the importance of care practices and how veteran teachers want to be heard and included in the planning of the professional development they attend. This study also highlights the importance of positive relationships between school administrators and veteran teachers and how this leads to learning conditions that better serve the professional learning needs of veteran teachers. The purpose of this …

A Phenomenological Investigation Of Academic Momism: Perceptions Of Female College Faculty’S Role Expectations In High-Stakes Stem Courses, Donna Cempa-Danziger

Theses & Dissertations

This qualitative phenomenological study looked at how female faculty in higher education who teach high-stakes courses may experience a role of academic momism (AM) and how they negotiate their roles and responses within a patriarchal system. Gender bias and prescriptive stereotyping of women as communal may lead female STEM instructors to be perceived more as “academic mothers” (Bernard, 1964) rather than respected academicians. Within higher education institutions, students often perceive their female professors as more concerned about their emotional well-being, nurturing, service oriented, and less academic when compared to male faculty members. The demanding nature of high-stakes courses in STEM-oriented …

Work-In-Progress: Rapid Development Of Advanced Virtual Labs For In-Person And Online Education, Yiyang Li, Yuzhong Shen, Charles Sukenik, Brian Sanders, Pauline Delacruz, Justin Mason

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

During the closure of K-12 schools and universities thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, many educators turned to web conferencing tools such as Zoom and WebEx to deliver online lectures. For courses with labs, some teachers provide recorded videos of real labs. Watching recorded lab videos is a passive experience, as the procedures and point of view are fixed, and students do not have any control of the lab and thus miss the opportunity to explore different options, including making mistakes that is important part of the learning process. One approach that holds great potential to enhance laboratory experience for online …

But Are They Good Teachers? Examining Who Takes Up Teacher Leadership And How Their Instruction Differs From Their Peers, Peter D. Wiens, Jori S. Beck

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

Teacher leaders function in many roles in supporting school success including instructional leadership and supporting colleagues. This study draws upon the Status of the Social Studies Survey (Fitchett & Vanfossen, 2013) to examine the responses of 6,702 US-based middle and high school social studies teachers to understand the antecedents of teacher leadership and the instructional practices of these individuals compared to their peers. Survey responses indicate that the vast majority of social studies teachers report participating in some aspect of teacher leadership. Teacher leaders tend to be less experienced and have less educational attainment while employing more research-based instructional techniques.

Women's Empowerment Through The Use Of Technology, Wolayat Tabasum Niroo, Helen Crompton

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

Technology has shaped people’s lifestyles globally. Today, the majority of the world’s population seeks help through technology as a portal to learning with the wide variety of learning materials available. Women in both developed and developing countries can access learning through technology, yet the scholarly community do not have an up-to-date collective view of how technology is being used to provide learning materials to empower women around the world. Therefore, this systematic review included an aggregated and qualitative synthesis to investigate extant empirical work over five years, 2017-2021. Following a rigorous PRISMA selection process, 40 articles were included in the …

2022 Morehead State University Benefits Guide, Morehead State University. Office Of Human Resources.

Staff Congress Records

2022 Morehead State University Benefits Guide.

Philosophical Underpinnings Of Mathematics Teacher Educator's Work, Elizabeth Suazo-Flores, Signe E. Kastberg, Melva R. Grant, Olive Chapman

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

Mathematics teacher educators (MTEs) are turning research lens on themselves to explore their knowledge and practices and with that contribute knowledge to the field of mathematics teacher education. In this working group we build from our exploration of MTEs' work. MTEs will describe their work and their views of knowledge and being in their work as MTEs. We invite MTEs to join our working group and assert that MTEs' discussions of their work will provide opportunities for professional learning that reveals how their knowledge and identity inform their practice.

The Impact Of A Year-Long Professional Development On Teacher Self-Efficacy In Personal Writing And The Teaching Of Writing, Guang-Lea Lee, Terri Brodeur, Cherng-Jyh Yen, Tian Luo, Pauline Salim Muljana

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

Long-term professional development (PD) initiatives are scant in the extant literature. This study examines the impact of a year-long, face-to-face teacher PD provided for teachers from a high-need elementary school to improve their personal writing and writing instruction. A mixed-methods approach was used to collect and analyze data primarily from pre- and post-surveys and interviews. Statistical analyses suggest that teachers’ self-efficacy toward writing instruction was improved, but not self-efficacy toward their personal writing. Various means of how the year-long teacher PD influenced their self-efficacy were demonstrated through qualitative analysis. Implications of conducting teacher PD on writing instruction were discussed.

"Navigating Diversity And Inclusion In Education In Asia" [Review Of The Book Diversity And Inclusion In Global Higher Education: Lessons From Across Asia Edited By Catherine Shea Sanger And Nancy W. Gleason], Seongryeong Yu

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

[Introduction] While much has been written on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in higher education, less has been published on nuances that exist outside of western contexts in other parts of the world including Asia-a region with distinct sociocultural systems marked by varying social hierarchies; gender, ethnic, and racial dynamics; and educational systems and forms of instruction. Echoing this need, Diversity and Inclusion in Global Higher Education: Lessons from Across Asia (2020), coedited by Catherine Shea Sanger and Nancy W. Gleason, offers practical approaches for promoting diversity and inclusion curricula in higher education throughout Asia. Comprised of eleven chapters and …

Kindytxt: A Free Text Messaging Program For Kindergarten Children And Families, Lennie Barblett, Nicola Johnson, Caroline Barratt-Pugh, Susan Hill

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

• This project focused on developing, delivering and evaluating a literacy text-messaging program for parents / carers with a child at kindergarten in WA.
• Texts were delivered weekly over 30 weeks, in collaboration with Better Beginnings. Families were invited to participate through a flyer in the book gifting bag delivered by local librarians to families attending kindergarten across Western Australia.
• Kindergarten teachers and librarians from 16 LGAs attended workshops to establish kindergarten-family library partnerships, along with the production and evaluation of a partnership framework and implementation materials.
• Evaluation involved all participants, with in-depth data collected from participants in six communities.

Stt Kadesi’S Disrupting The Teaching And Learning Process During Covid-19, Muner Daliman, Hana Suparti, Jonathan D. James, Eudia Anggelia Ika Agustin, Hengky Wijaya

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

In this paper we report on a pilot study of the teaching and learning at Sekolah Tinggi Teologi KADESI (STTK), a tertiary theological institution in Yogyakarta, during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. Our methods for collecting data were to survey the 40 students and conduct one-to-one interviews with the 10 lecturers at STTK. The analysis of data drew on two theoretical constructs: Donald Schön’s reflection-in-action and the notion of empowerment in an educational context. We found challenges and difficulties to do with the logistics of teaching and the barriers to communication between instructors and students. And on the positive side, …

International Professional Skills: Interdisciplinary Project Work, Thomas Mejtoft, Helen Cripps, Christopher Blöcker

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Higher education should provide learning situations that prepare students for a future profession and make them world-ready. This paper reports insights from an international interdisciplinary collaborative project aiming to create learning experiences that are close to a professional situation. The collaboration setup simulates a setting of a digital agency with a development team in Sweden and a marketing team in Australia working together to solve a task. The collaborative project has been active since 2017, completing its fifth iteration in 2021. Postcourse survey results show that the students felt that a real situation was created with a high level of …

Mathematical Connections Established In The Teaching Of Functions, Vesife Hatisaru

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This study explores the types of mathematical connections established in the classroom in the teaching of functions. An extended model for mathematical connections (different representations (DR), procedural (PC), if-then (I-T), part-whole connections (PWC), feature/property (F/P), analogies, and instruction-oriented connections (IOC)) is used as the analytical framework. The context for the study is classroom observations of two secondary mathematics teachers teaching functions to Grade 9 students. The strength of teachers’ mathematical knowledge for teaching (MKT) the concept of function is different: one has stronger MKT, while the other has weaker MKT. A total of 485 connections are identified in a sample …

Mediation Roles Of Pedagogical Approaches And Personality Traits In Entrepreneurial Curriculum Design And Entrepreneurial Intention Nexus, Victor Fannam Nunfam, Ebenezer Afrifa-Yamoah, Akanganngang Joseph Asitik

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Planned behaviour theory was used in a path analysis modelling to investigate the serial mediation role of teaching methods and personality traits (locus of control, need for achievement and entrepreneurial attitude) in the relationship between entrepreneurship curriculum and entrepreneurial intention among university students in Ghana. A proposed 40-item instrument was used to measure outcomes for six constructs (3 personality trait constructs, entrepreneurship curriculum, teaching methods and entrepreneurial intention) for 324 participants. Acceptable convergent, divergent and construct validity scores were observed for the instrument. Teaching methods fully mediated the first-order relationships between entrepreneurial curriculum and each personality traits. The three constructs …

Pre-Service Teachers' Use Of Ict To Collaborate To Complete Assessment Tasks, Eileen V. Slater, Donna Barwood, Zina Cordery

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This research explored the use of ICT products by n = 123 pre-service teachers to complete collaborative assessments. Students responded to a questionnaire relating to the use, benefits and limitations, and what would better enable the use of ICT for collaborative assessment purposes. The ICT products favoured by students did not support some key elements necessary for online collaboration, through either student use or product functionality. Poor Internet access was a commonly cited limitation with the effect of reducing access to available ICT skills training. Suggestions for changes to course structure and content and further research are made.

How Can We Address The Wicked Problem Of University Student Attrition? A Bed (Early Childhood) Case Study, Gillian Kirk

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Student retention in education courses is a political imperative. This research examined the wicked problem of attrition in a Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood Studies) course, drawing on the experiences of three different groups of students studying early childhood. The participants from each study represented different student groups within the course, which included all female (n = 20), all male (n = 6) and all mid-year entry students (n = 10). A qualitative methodology was employed to capture students’ university experiences and their perceptions of events at university. The research generated a unique theoretical framework examining the intersection between student …

Realising Curriculum Possibilities In Wales: Teachers’ Initial Experiences Of Re-Imagining Secondary Physical Education, David Aldous, Victoria Evans, Rhys Lloyd, Fiona Heath-Diffey, Fiona Chambers

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This paper provides insight into secondary Physical Education (PE) teachers’ experiences of beginning to re-imagine secondary physical education provision in light of the new Curriculum for Wales, 2022 (CfW). Data were generated through analysis of semi-structured interviews (n = 5) with secondary PE teachers who participated in three workshops which uses a design-thinking methodology. Informed by Ball and colleagues’ conceptualisation of policy work, findings draw attention towards how engagement in the workshops provided a foundation for the participants to begin interpretation and translation of the new CfW and consider re-imagining existing PE provision within the school context. Participants’ interpretations of …

Education In A Warming World: Trends, Opportunities And Pitfalls For Institutes Of Higher Education, Orla Kelly, Sam Illingworth, Fabrizio Butera, Vaille Dawson, Peta White, Mindy Blaise, Pim Martens, Geertje Schuitema, Maud Huynen, Susan Bailey, Sian Cowman

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Higher education institutes (HEI) face considerable challenges in navigating how to respond to the escalating and intertwined socio-ecological sustainability crises. Many dedicated individuals working in the sector are already driving meaningful action through rigorous research, teaching, knowledge sharing, and public engagement, while there is a growing consensus that sector-wide change is needed to ensure that aspirational declarations and positive individual actions translate into sustainable and transformative change. This article seeks to contribute to such efforts by illustrating a number of trends, examples, and reflections on how third-level educational institutes can act sustainably. We highlight the potential of five strategies HEI …

Educators’ Perspectives About Teaching And Supporting Students With Learning Difficulties In Reading, Tanya Serry, Pam Snow, Lorraine Hammond, Emina Mclean, Jane Mccormack

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

We explored the perspectives of school-based educators located in Victoria, Australia, regarding their support of students who have reading difficulties. An anonymous survey was completed by 523 participants, including educators, educational leaders and Student Support Services staff. Results revealed multiple areas of concern related to their capacity to work on reading intervention with these students. Although participants reported that students with reading difficulties were present in most classes, confidence to work effectively with these students was mixed. They described feeling poorly prepared by preservice programs and indicated that insufficient time and mentorship prevented them from serving these students optimally. As …

The Knowledge Produced Through Student Drawings, Vesife Hatisaru

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Drawings have been extensively used as a research method to gather data from research participants including school students regarding their perceptions of mathematics and its teaching and learning. What is valued in drawing-based research in mathematics education, and what kind of knowledge is produced through student drawings, however, is not known. This study examines drawing-based research studies to understand these questions by applying a novel framework – the legitimation code theory (LCT). The study focuses on two cases: one of which looked at middle school students’ images of mathematicians (draw a mathematician) and the other examined the same age group …

Cyber Security Curriculum In Western Australian Primary And Secondary Schools: Interim Report: Curriculum Mapping, Nicola Johnson, Ahmed Ibrahim, Leslie Sikos, Cheryl Glowrey

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Cyber-crime poses a significant threat to Australians—think of, for example, how scams take advantage of vulnerable people and systems. There is a need to educate people from an early age to protect them from cyberthreats.

Consistent with the increasing prevalence of cyberthreats to individuals and organisations in Australia, the national Australian curriculum has been updated (version 9.0) to include specific content for cyber security for primary and secondary students up to Year 10. Endorsed by Education Ministers in April 2022, the Western Australian School Curriculum and Standards Authority (SCSA) completed a detailed audit of the endorsed Australian Curriculum version 9.0 …

Validation Of The Multi-Dimensional Student Perceptions Of School Questionnaire (Mspsq): Early Findings And Next Steps, Mary-Anne Macdonald, Eyal Gringart

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Research in Indigenous and non-Indigenous education in Australia over the last two decades has begun to turn towards quantitative methods of understanding various factors affecting student outcomes. The current article presents a new measurement instrument, the Multi-Dimensional Student Perceptions of School Questionnaire (MSPSQ), validated with a moderate-sized sample of secondary students in Western Australia (Indigenous: n = 244; non-Indigenous: n = 258; not stated: n = 34). The MSPSQ aimed to measure student perceptions of select experiences within the family, community and school which may factor in school engagement and beliefs regarding normative education behaviour and likely outcomes. Exploratory factor …

Investigating Secondary Mathematics Teachers’ Analogies To Function, Vesife Hatisaru

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This study investigates the analogies used by a sample of secondary mathematics teachers when they described the concept of function. The study is concerned with understanding what analogies were used by the participant teachers and conceptions of functions positioned in those analogies. Using examples from a set of responses to five open-ended questionnaire items, the article presents the main analogies found in the descriptions of the participant teachers and examines ways in which these are structurally mapped to function by applying Gentner’s structure-mapping theory of analogy. Among those discussed are the child–mother linkage and machine/factory analogies. Of interest is the …

Rethinking The Classification Of Games And Sports In Physical Education: A Response To Changes In Sport And Participation, Justen O'Connor, Laura Alfrey, Dawn Penney

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Background Through changing the way games are represented, classification systems have increased possibilities for teaching game forms beyond structured adult and singular official versions of popular sports. At the time of inception, the four-game form approach to classification (target, net/wall, striking/fielding, and invasion games) enabled modified, small sided conditioned games to be adapted to suit individual attributes, whilst reinforcing a core set of tactical and technical elements for transfer. With global shifts in patterns of sport participation, it is timely to review this dominant classification frame and the role it plays within physical education (PE). Purpose This paper proposes changes …

“There's Always People In The Room For Whom This Is Not Merely Theory”: Emergent Pedagogies, Casey Mccullough

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Colleges and universities are generally regarded as a place for students to expand their skill sets and knowledge in preparation for specific fields of work. Many academic institutions and disciplines are also focused on recruiting and retaining students from socially marginalized communities in the name of equity, inclusion, and diversity. Despite this, some institutions in practice prioritize image, status, and wealth while deprioritizing resources, care, and support for students and their learning conditions. Often within these institutions are educators who challenge these systems in their courses, on campus, and across the country, encouraging and empowering students to directly confront those …

A Guidebook For Adapted Physical Educators: Connecting The Domains Of Learning To Evidence-Based Practices, Kalyn G. Ruland

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

I created a guidebook for Adapted Physical Educators (APE) as a resource on how they can use Evidence-Based Practices (EBP's) created by The National Professional Development Center for Autism Spectrum Disorder (NPDC on ASD) to meet the Domains of Learning. The goal for this guidebook was to help bridge the gap between educational research and practice in the classroom. EBP’s are a form of research based interventions that are made easily accessible for busy educators. The main audience for the guidebook is Adapted Physical Education Teachers, with a secondary audience of Special Education and general education teachers. This guidebook was …

Inventory Of Records: Communications-Public Relations, St. Mary’S University Archives

Finding Aids

No abstract provided.

“Give Me A Path To Follow”: A Deweyan Inquiry Into Training Volunteer Eal Tutors Of Adult Refugees, Maria Enriquez Watt

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Volunteer English as an additional language (EAL) tutors working through adult community education (ACE) organisations play a key role in the development of adult refugee literacy and language skills in Australia. There are few requirements to work as an EAL volunteer tutor (VT), other than fluency in English. Yet refugee learners are known to have complex learning problems potentially resulting from their pre-migratory experiences. However, as the ACE sector is unregulated, provision for training VTs is uncoordinated, with many VTs receiving little or no training. Available training has largely been found to be ineffective and to support ideologies that potentially …