Education Commons^™

Using Color With Care: An Exploration Of The Application Of Psychological Color Theory Within Language Classrooms, Mackenzie Wisneski

Honors Program Theses

This study is a qualitative analysis of the current use(s) of affective-based color theory for social-emotional and academic-related assistance within language classrooms. Current and past literature support the important and effective nature of a learner’s environment in relation to information acquisition and retention (Krashen, 1982; Maslow, 1970b; Perry, 2006). This research is significant within the language teaching field as it stands to summarize the external challenges that emergent bilingual students are facing as well as contextualize their learning environment with respect to the use of visual cues to promote both the students’ social-emotional wellbeing and academic success. Data was collected …

Uni Honors Program Students' Perceptions Of Gifted Programming In K-12 Education, Kylie Tinder

Honors Program Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to determine and evaluate the experiences of students in the UNI Honors Program who participated in gifted programming in their K-12 education. This research focuses on student perceptions of impacts of these programs on their lives, from their time of identification through their college experience. It explores both positive and negative impacts in the areas of academic growth and achievement, college preparation, and socioemotional well-being of students. Survey and interview questions examined how students felt about the impacts of gifted programming on these areas. There were also opportunities for students to give general thoughts …

Identifying Misconceptions About Evolution Relative To Science Curriculum Exposure At The Secondary Level, Rachel Carney

Graduate Research Papers

Evolution is the foundation of the biological sciences. Addressing misconceptions related to biological evolution ensures students have a solid understanding of evolution so that they can become scientifically literate members of society. While studies have identified misconceptions about evolution, there is much less research on the degree to which specific biology curricula address these misconceptions. The goal of this study is to determine how exposure to the SEPUP biology curriculum affects the misconceptions about evolutionary theory held by 10th grade students.

This study took place at a moderately-sized school located in the Midwest. Students respond with their agreeability to a …

High School Earth Science Students Evaluating Agricultural Solutions, Jaclyn Citlali Sanchez Erickson

Graduate Research Papers

With the Next Generation Science Standard (NGSS) implementation it is imperative to include three-dimensional learning in any curriculum designed. In addition, NGSS lends itself well to inquiry based and project based learning.

I chose to focus my curriculum project on developing a project-based learning (PBL) piece targeting NGSS ESSS 3-4: Evaluate or refine a technological solution that reduces impacts of human activities on natural systems. The PBL was designed for ninth-grade earth science students at a rural school. This project was designed with 5 E-learning in mind to help organize the end product, a presentation. It was developed using an …

Incremental Improvements: Examining Instructional Changes And Rationales Of K-12 Online Teachers Using The Picrat And 4e Frameworks, Jered Borup, Rocio Quiroga Velasquez, Charles R. Graham, Leanna Archambault, Royce Kimmons

Faculty Publications

Teacher preparation programs have been slow to prepare teachers for the online environment, leaving many online teachers needing to learn on the job. However, little research has examined how online teachers grow as educators. One way to better understand this growth is to examine the changes online teachers make in their instruction and their rationales for making them. In this qualitative case study, we surveyed online teachers three times during an academic year regarding their instructional changes. Participants described these changes and categorized them on a modified PICRAT matrix to indicate if the changes made student learning more passive, interactive, …

Making The Most Of Program Evaluation Data: Understanding Human Services Professionals’ Well-Being Through Qualitative Secondary Analysis, Elizabeth Ann Deaton Wacker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Qualitative secondary analysis (QSA) allows researchers to explore new research questions and ensure that participants’ voices are heard to the greatest extent possible, without the burdens of additional data collection. However, this approach is rarely used outside of the health sciences, and little guidance exists in the literature about how to conduct QSA. This study is a secondary analysis of qualitative program evaluation data related to the well-being of human services professionals from two fields: child welfare and early care and education (ECE). It explores these professionals’ well-being, as well as the methodological issues of how well-being has been addressed …

A Call For Critically Inclined Higher Education Data, Wendy A. Fish

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The economic logic of neoliberalism has reached its zenith—now firmly entrenched in our political, social, and cultural transactions (Giroux, 2014; Harvey, 2005). As a result, we stand on the precipice of a new era—the data era—in which neoliberalism’s orientation towards accountability, micro-management, and hierarchical ordering mediates all social and political narratives. Data, it is said, is fast becoming “the new oil”—the most valuable global resource (Bhageshpur, 2019; Harari, 2018).

This is problematic. Although there are countless ways in which the application of data has improved the world, it has a long, dark history as a technology of oppression. Yet, data …

Resilience & Persistence Of First-Generation Ncaa Division I Student-Athletes: An Evaluation Of The Key Culture, Communication, & Sports Program At Colorado State University, Sarabeth Morofsky

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This program evaluation highlights the Key Culture, Communication, & Sports (KCCS) Program at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, CO, a learning community program dedicated to serving student-athletes. Learning communities, considered high-impact practice in higher education, have a longstanding and successful approach to supporting new college students (Mamerow & Navorro, 2014). Many of the traditional benefits of learning community participation line up closely with the needs of student-athletes (Mamerow & Navorro, 2014). A Utilization-Focused program evaluation was implemented. KCCS students and KCCS faculty and staff were interviewed to understand if and how the KCCS program was meeting its goals. The …

Equity Battles: Multicultural Leadership For English Language Learner Students, Alfredo Pargas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The focus of this study was to increase teachers’ and school leaders’ capacity and awareness to be better multicultural leaders for English Language Learner (ELL) students. This study produced several recommendations to address this issue. During this study, I used improvement science as the methodology and included a variety of stakeholders as participants. The conceptual framework used to guide this study included community cultural wealth and funds of knowledge. Using both the voices of ELL families and the input of the school equity team, which includes teachers and a school leader, we collaboratively created a six-stage intervention program to increase …

Interrogating Whiteness In Graduate Education Culture: A Phenomenological Exploration Of Southeast Asian American Graduate Student Experiences, Lesley Nina Sisaket

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study is to understand the role that whiteness has in shaping the graduate education experiences of Southeast Asian American students in the United States. This study explores two research questions. 1) How do Southeast Asian American graduate students describe their graduate education? 2) How do Southeast Asian American graduate students describe concepts of whiteness, if any, throughout their graduate education? According to the experiences from six selfidentifying Southeast Asian American students, their graduate education experiences were described to be racially taxing, unchallenging, and isolating experiences. These findings stemmed from their graduate education experiences, which …

Policymaker Discourse In Colorado Public Higher Education Appropriations, Nathan Willers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

State funding for higher education is one of the most pressing issues facing both institutions and policymakers in 2022. Colorado has seen significant declines in the amount of state funding per student over the past two decades, resulting in increases in student burdens for tuition. Policy discourse analysis through a poststructural and neoliberal lens provided insight towards the legislative process and the discursive themes utilized by Colorado policymakers during the 2021-22 legislative budgeting cycle. Twelve artifacts were analyzed, including a mix of policy briefs, hearings, and budget and appropriations reports, for discursive data related to the state’s appropriations for public …

Exitosas On Their Own Terms: Centering Latina Testimonios To Understand Latina Undergraduates’ Student Success Beliefs, Lauren R. Contreras

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Utilizing testimonio methodology grounded in LatCrit and Chicana Feminism, this research centered the voices of 11 Latina undergraduates attending a 4-year private, predominantly white institution in the Western U.S. to understand how they defined and measured their own success in higher education. Traditional success measures focus on the institution's dominant measures, such as graduation and persistence rates. These success measures do not fully represent Latina/o/x values nor how Latinas undergraduates define their own success in higher education. This research revealed that Latina undergraduates define their success by academic achievement, career attainment, Latina/o/x values of familismo and comunidad, and their …

Juntos Luchamos: A Postcritical Ethnographic And Photovoice Study On Latinx Student Civic Engagement Practices At A Hispanic-Serving Institution, Liliana Diaz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Situated at a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI), this postcritical ethnographic and photovoice study sought to explore how Latinx students define and practice civic engagement. Theoretically framed by Latino Cultural Citizenship (LCC), the study explored how current Latinx student civic engagement practices inform a Hispanic-Serving Institutions’ civic engagement efforts. Data collection took place over the 2021-2022 academic year and an exhibition of the study’s findings was made publicly available at the culmination of the study. Findings from the study indicate that Latinx postsecondary students define civic engagement as knowledge and resource sharing (KRS) and achieving success. Findings for how Latinx postsecondary students …

Educators’ Perspectives On The Practices And Implementation Of Social Emotional Learning Programs, Monica Parra Ballon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This interview-based qualitative study sought educators’ perceptions of best practices for and implementation of mindfulness and social and emotional learning (SEL) programs in the classroom in order to discern how SEL programs foster student socioemotional wellbeing (e.g., self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, responsible decision making). To do so, I conducted semi-structured interviews via videoconference with nine educators from public, private, and charter schools in the United States and Canada. Discussions include questions about personal experiences and implementation of SEL interventions. The recorded interviews were transcribed and coded to locate emergent themes. The present research revealed several training and implementation …

Intermediate College Writing: Building And Practicing Mindful Writing Skills, Stacey Corbitt, Dawn Atkinson

Writing

Welcome to Intermediate College Writing: Building and Practicing Mindful Writing Skills, an open textbook designed for use in university‐level courses that focus on cultivating study skills alongside effective academic and workplace writing skills. It offers a no‐cost alternative to commercial products, combining practical guidance with interactive exercises and thoughtfully designed writing opportunities.

This textbook’s modular design and ample coverage of topics and genres means that it can be used flexibly over semester‐long or stretch courses, allowing instructors and students to select the chapters that are most relevant for their needs. By blending new material with reviews of key topics, …

Digital Educational Modules Development For The Career And Technical Cybersecurity Pathways During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Vukica Jovanović, Murat Kuzlu, Otilia Popescu, Petros Katsioloudis, Linda Vahala, Michael Wu, Deborah Marshall, Michael Crespo, Mary Addison

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

Virtual learning has been used now for several decades, but it has never had a bigger impact on student learning than in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic. Universities and schools faced shutdowns all around the world, and teachers had to adapt rapidly to online mode of instruction. Many educators were faced with a triage approach with no previous experience in distance learning, a lack of resources for professional development, and already existing shortages of current educational modules that could assist them in their day-to-day jobs. This gap was especially evident in areas such as career and technical education (CTE) …

Experiences During The Implementation Of Two Different Project-Based Learning Assignments In A Fluid Mechanics Course., Orlando Ayala, Kristie Gutierrez, Francisco Cima, Julia Noginova, Min Jung Lee, Stacie Ringleb, Pilar Pazos, Krishnanand Kaipa, Jennifer Kidd

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

There is growing evidence of the effectiveness of project-based learning (PBL) in preparing students to solve complex problems. In PBL implementations in engineering, students are treated as professional engineers facing projects centered around real-world problems, including the complexity and uncertainty that influence such problems. Not only does this help students to analyze and solve an authentic real-world task, promoting critical thinking, but also students learn from each other, learning valuable communication and teamwork skills. Faculty play an important part by assuming non-conventional roles (e.g., client, senior professional engineer, consultant) to help students throughout this instructional and learning approach. Typically in …

Teaching In The Times Of Pandemic, Mileta Tomovic, Cynthia Tomovic

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

The changes in academia are typically slow but very purposeful, they are carefully reviewed and strategically implemented, that is, until unpredictable massive tectonic shifts occur in society. Historically, academia has not experienced major distress on a global scale that would require a fundamental change and adaptation to new set of circumstances, until the world faced COVID-19 pandemic of proportions which caused academia to rapidly adjust to new realities and make major changes. The time frame in which the changes needed to be done, weeks and months, were so short that academia was placed under the significant stress to which it …

Providing Institutional Support For Academic Engagement In Online And Blended Learning Programs, Sara Tuiloma, Charles R. Graham, Adriana María Martinez Arias, Diana Maria Parra Caicedo

Faculty Publications

In this paper, we examine how universities can evaluate the level of support they provide to help their students with affective, behavioral, and cognitive engagement in their online and blended learning experiences. Additionally, it identifies what types of supports help students engage academically and what barriers hinder their online engagement. Using a survey instrument sent to university students (n = 1295), we conducted a mixed-methods analysis to understand better how students feel the institution supports their online engagement and what barriers they experience. To accomplish this, we addressed the following research questions: (1) How do students feel the institution supports …

Youth Musicians’ Executive Functioning And Its Impact On Emotional And Behavioral Health, Michael A. Tate

Dissertations and Theses

A growing body of neuroscience literature shows that music promotes brain development, as learning a music instrument involves multiple brain regions and neurocognitive systems. In partnership with a non-profit organization with a mission to strengthen New York City communities through music education programs, this study aimed to evaluate the effects of music training on children’s executive functioning (EF), as well as emotional and behavioral outcomes. We hypothesized that (i) children’s EF would develop more rapidly with exposure to the program; (ii) the intensity of practice would be associated with rate of growth of children’s EF, emotion regulation and behavior; (iii) …

Adverse Childhood Experiences And Teacher-Student Relationships, Whitney Pasch

Theses and Dissertations

The single most impactful person in a student’s life is his or her teacher, and the relationships that are cultivated within a teacher’s classroom are lasting. When teachers bring adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) into the classroom, the influence of these traumatic events may have an effect on the development of teacher-student relationships. To better understand the potential relationships between teachers with two or more ACEs and their students, a qualitative case study guided by the following research questions was conducted: 1) What are teachers’ perceptions of the development of relationships with students when the teacher has experienced at least two …

Investigating Asian American History And Its Roots In New England: A Curriculum For Secondary School Students, Karen Lau

Holster Scholar Projects

Connecticut is the first state to include Asian American and Pacific Islander studies in the K-12 public school curriculum, requiring boards of education to offer AAPI studies by the 2025-2026 school year. This curriculum supports the state’s efforts to teach students about AAPI history with a focus on New England. Under this six-week curriculum, students will learn about the transnational immigration of Asian indentured workers, the legacy of the Chinese Educational Mission, the heroism and resistance of Japanese Americans during World War II, the patriotism of Asian American and Pacific Islanders in the armed forces, and the activism of past …

Demystifying Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion Among Students In Higher Education, Sundra D. Kincey, Aziza Zemrani, Theresa L. Bailey

Public Affairs and Security Studies Faculty Publications

Understanding the unique components of diversity, equity, and inclusion is essential for institutions of higher education to increase student success outcomes and to prepare graduates for the world of work. This chapter will focus on how diversity, equity, and inclusion as a single entity is perceived by enrolled students, particularly minority students, and how institutions may help to increase students' awareness of such topics and the impact on their lives upon graduation. Discussions will lend themselves to strategies that institutions may employ to demystify these terms for enrolled students. Specific focus will be given to the use of inclusive competencies …

Considering What Faculty Value When Working With Instructional Designers And Instructional Design Teams, Jason K. Mcdonald, Salma Elsayed-Ali, Kayla Bowman, Amy Allen Rogers

Faculty Publications

The purpose of this research was to study what university faculty valued when working with instructional designers and instructional design teams to develop educational simulations. We did this through a case study of three faculty, where we analyzed what they discussed among themselves or communicated to other team members about what mattered to them about their team relationships or the design processes they employed. We structured our case report around three thematic issues that expressed how our participants depicted good relationships and processes. Our report concludes with a discussion of how instructional designers could use our findings in their practice.

Introducing Undergraduates To Instructional Design In A Graduate Studio: An Experiential, Model-Centered Approach, Rebecca Stull Zundell, William Sowards, Scott L. Howell, Jason K. Mcdonald

Faculty Publications

This case study describes a combined graduate and undergraduate instructional design studio that introduced undergraduate students to instructional design in a multifaceted, holistic, and applied way. Reviewing the experience of the undergraduates in the course, this design case describes four learning interventions used to create this applied experience: (1) instructional design team projects—one non-profit and the other in higher education, (2) weekly seminars and biweekly training sessions from field experts, (3) an experiential out-of-state trip, and (4) weekly reflection journals. These studio-based learning interventions are presented within the context of the Experiential Learning Theory and Model-Centered Instruction. Overall, the course …

Critical Race Theory And The Civic Education Debate: Why Race Should Be A Part Of The Curriculum, Reilly Scott

CMC Senior Theses

If we accept the purpose of civic education is to teach students how to be good citizens, I argue the way civic education currently exists and operates is failing to achieve this goal. Traditional and mechanical civics has been the norm in education for decades. This has failed to teach students how to be good citizens because it 1) often isolates students with non-dominant identities 2) it does not encourage the motivation nor skills needed for civic engagement after high school and 3) does not include race as part of the curriculum. I argue race needs to be included in …

“¿Te Acuerdas?” An Anecdotal And Critical Analysis Of Storytelling As A Pedagogical Tool For Chicano Nationalism And Pride, Lesley Chavarria

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis examines the validity of storytelling as a pedagogical tool for students, particularly students of color. The project begins by presenting the value of storytelling and communal education using Zapatista philosophy and indigenous examples. The goal of this theoretical foundation is to begin to critically think about what education is, versus what it can be. Then, the main case study is introduced in the next section: Escuela Tlatelolco. Escuela Tlatelolco is a Chicano centric school in Colorado that closed in 2017. Through numerous primary sources, my discussion of the school will illuminate how this community used storytelling to support …

Financial Aid Knowledge And Resources Among First-Generation College Students, Carmelitia J. Coleman

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractFirst-generation, freshmen students struggle to complete the financial aid process at a 4-year private university in Louisiana, impacting their financial and academic well-being. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore first-generation, freshmen student perceptions of how they construct knowledge about the financial aid process and resources needed to help them complete the process. The conceptual framework of the study was comprised of Piaget’s theory of constructivism, which is grounded in the idea of learners constructing their own knowledge based on experience. The first research question addressed how first-generation, freshmen students constructed knowledge about the financial aid process. …

Attainment Of Superintendent Roles For African American Women In Rural U.S. School Districts, Likisha Tamese Coleman

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

African American women are underrepresented in the attainment of superintendent roles from a racial and gendered standpoint. African American females hold only 1% of superintendent positions in a field in which 27% of superintendents are women and 8.6% of superintendents are African American. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to describe the barriers and supports experienced by African American women in their attainment of superintendent roles in rural U.S. school districts. Black feminist thought and intersectionality provided the conceptual frameworks for this qualitative study. Data were collected from semistructured interviews with eight African American female superintendents from rural …

The 4c’S Of Pal – An Evidence-Based Model For Implementing Peer Assisted Learning For Mature Students, Nevan Bermingham, Frances Boylan, Barry J. Ryan

Articles

Peer Assisted Leaning (PAL) programmes have been shown to enhance learner confidence and have an overall positive effect on learner comprehension, particularly in subjects traditionally perceived as difficult. This research describes the findings of a three-cycle Action Research study into the perceived benefits of implementing such a programme for mature students enrolled on a computer science programming module on an Access Foundation Programme in an Irish University. The findings from this study suggest that peer learning programmes offer students a valued support structure that aids transition and acculturation into tertiary education whilst simultaneously improving their subject-matter comprehension and confidence. An …