Curriculum and Instruction Commons^™

A Postcolonial Comparative Study Of Secondary Education And Its Ideological Implications For West Indian Communities In Puerto Limon, Costa Rica ; Bluefields, Nicaragua ; And Old Providence Island, Colombia, Raquel Sanmiguel

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The present study sets out to identify the ideological implications that the current national systems of secondary education have for West Indians who ended up living in the “"buffer zone"” between Latin American and Anglophone Caribbean histories: Raizales in Old Providence Island, Colombia; Afrolimonenses in Limón, Costa Rica, and Creoles in Bluefields, Nicaragua. The axis of examination is the school curriculum both as practice and as a set of pre-determined content and goals that teachers have to follow. It is a critical analysis of the ideologies that inform education, supported by an inquiry into the historical and cultural factors that …

Investigating Young Children's Music-Making Behavior: A Developmental Theory, Paul G. Morehouse

CGU Theses & Dissertations

We have many developmental theories contributing to our understanding of children as they meander steadfastly toward maturation. Yet, none have reported on how young children interpret the qualitative meaning and importance of their own music-making experiences. Music created by average, not prodigious, young children is perceived by adults as “play” music rather than “real” music. But do young children take the same view as adults? When Piaget speaks of the young child’s qualitatively unique view and experience of the world (Ginsberg & Opper, 1988), can we assume that his statement encompasses young children’s predispositions related to music-making?

Music is understood …

Telling The Truth As Wpa, Beth Daniell

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

After reflecting upon students, a writing program administrator looks hard at two other challenging situations and questions the truthfulness of her approaches to each.

Back Matter

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

No abstract provided.

How Porous Are The Walls That Separate Us?: Transformative Service-Learning, Women’S Incarceration, And The Unsettled Self, Coralynn V. Davis, Carol Wayne White

Faculty Journal Articles

In this article, we refine a politics of thinking from the margins by exploring a pedagogical model that advances transformative notions of service learning as social justice teaching. Drawing on a recent course we taught involving both incarcerated women and traditional college students, we contend that when communication among differentiated and stratified parties occurs, one possible result is not just a view of the other but also a transformation of the self and other. More specifically, we suggest that an engaged feminist praxis of teaching incarcerated women together with college students helps illuminate the porous nature of fixed markers that …

The Impact Of Socioscientific Issues Based Curriculum Involving Environmental Outdoor Education For Fourth Grade Students, Karey Burek

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There is a divide between what students are being taught within the science classroom and what they experience out in the real world. This study sought to explore possible relationships between a socioscientific issues embedded curriculum and outcome variables addressing environmental attitude and knowledge, oral and written argumentation and critical thinking skills. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used to examine both within and between class differences as well as individual differences between the beginning and end of a semester of elementary school. Results indicated that socioscientific issues assist students in developing their critical thinking skills while also providing students …

A Head Start To Learning: Exploration Of A Parent-Directed Intervention To Promote Early Literacy Skill Development, Ashley Nicole Sundman-Wheat

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the effects of a parent-led intervention focused on developing children's early literacy skills within the home setting. The lesson plans contain scripted steps for completing activities to teach letter names and phonological awareness skills. Archival data were analyzed from a study conducted with 26 families from three Head Start centers. Thirteen families completed the intervention and thirteen families were enrolled in a control condition which provided information on shared reading strategies. Children in the intervention group performed at statistically significant higher levels on measures of letter naming, phonological awareness, vocabulary/oral language, and comprehension. Parents rated both the …

Multiple Intelligences In The Text: Examining The Presence Of Mi Tasks In The Annotated Teacher's Editions Of Four High School United States History Textbooks, Carey Mullican

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The current state of the social studies classroom comprises one of uninspired students using unexciting textbooks as their guide for learning U.S. history (Hope, 1996; NCES, 1993; Banks, 1990; Wakefield, 2006). With multiple intelligences gaining popularity in education, renewed hope exists for social studies to produce quality textbooks with differentiated instruction to reach all learners. The purpose was to design a rubric for measuring the presence of multiple intelligences structured tasks in teacher's editions of four 11th grade U.S. history textbooks. Using 1995 to 2007 as a purposeful sample of consistent authorships and similar publications, the study looked at teacher's …

Impact Of School Counselors' Use Of Deliberate Practice And Accountability Measures On Perceived Levels Of Self-Efficacy And Student Academic Success, Allison Paolini

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the degree and frequency to which school counselors' utilized accountability measures and deliberate practice and their impact on perceived levels of counselor self-efficacy, as well as, perceived levels of student academic success. This study attempted to answer several critical questions regarding school counselor accountability and deliberate practice. It assessed the relationship between receipt of formal training in the American School Counseling Association Model (ASCA) or another counseling model and likelihood of using ASCA principles, the relationship between years of work experience and use of accountability measures and deliberate practice, the relationship between use of accountability measures and …

Catalyst: A Social Justice Forum, Volume One, Issue One, Shane Willson, Landon S. Bevier, Rachael E. Gabriel, Taylor Krcek, Alaina Elizabeth Smith

Catalyst: A Social Justice Forum

It is with great pride that we present to you the inaugural issue of Catalyst: A Social Justice Forum. Here we have attempted to create an innovative, peer-reviewed space in which people from numerous disciplines, or even those claiming no discipline, can present research, multimedia, and art aimed at furthering the ideals of social justice, broadly defined. Social justice is not a concept owned by the academy, for attempts to create a more just world can come from many professions, or even from no profession at all. By applying the traditionally academic peer-review process to work done by activists, artists, …

Qualitative Research In Teaching Diversity In A Non-Diverse High School Setting Using Contemporary Art, Robin L. Reczek

Art Education Projects

Abstract

This qualitative action research study examined the effects of introducing diverse contemporary artworks into a non-diverse educational setting. For 3 months, 18 female high school students explored a range of artists, art styles, and artworks, in aid to discovering their own diverse qualities as well as the diversity of their classmates. Through participatory action research, I investigated how diverse contemporary artwork impacted student actions, discussions, and artworks. With the assistance of the transformative learning theory, I expected to convert students with non-accepting diversity views into unbiased young women. My research included data gathered from an assortment of alumni interviews, …

Backwards Planning, Forward Thinking, Valerie Balkun, Donna Thomsen

English Department Faculty Publications & Research

No abstract provided.

The "High 5" Elevator Pitch Worksheet, Connie I. Reimers-Hild

Kimmel Education and Research Center: Faculty and Staff Publications

Great elevator pitches are created to sell something in 30 seconds or less (the time it takes to go from the first floor to the top of the building in an elevator). Think broadly about how a great pitch can help you. Great pitches can be used to market or sell anything from yourself as an individual to your business or community. Great pitches are clear and compelling. They make memorable impressions of whatever you are pitching and create a foundation for building relationships, clients, sales and investments!

Art Practice As Research In The Classroom: A New Paradigm In Art Education, Julia Marshall, Kimberley D'Adamo

Kimberley D'Adamo: Art, Curriculum, Publications, and Other Scholarly Works

Student experiences at Berkeley High School reveal the generative potential of the art practice-as-research approach—how deep, broad, and creative the learning can be, and how powerful this model is in changing student attitudes toward art and themselves as artists and learners. This model of self-directed, inquiry-based learning works well because student art practice is cast as research and is structured as research. As a result, students make discoveries and connections that go beyond their expectations. They also acquire skills and understandings that transfer into their academic studies. In partic-ular, they find that learning can be engaging and that a trail …

A Review Of Sustainability Themes In K-12 Books, Roxanne M. Spencer, Jeanine Huss

Education for Sustainability Summer Institute

No abstract provided.

An Ethical Dilemma: Talking About Plagiarism And Academic Integrity In The Digital Age, Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, Kelly Sassi

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

An open, in-depth discussion about academic dishonesty may help students (and teachers) develop ethical approaches to scholarship. Real classroom talk is closely examined and suggestions for teaching students how to avoid plagiarism in the digital age are offered.

Effects Of Booktalking In Regards To A Students' Motivation To Read, Melissa Smith

Graduate Theses

This study investigates whether the use of booktalking presentations enhanced adolescent students’ motivation when conducted in a sixth grade departmentalized classroom setting. This research study was ongoing for one semester and conducted at a private school in the Permian Basin. Reading builds literacy. As literacy expands, so does language and conceptual development until reading becomes the instrument of empowerment and opportunity. An appreciation for books, along with a desire to read should be supported by teachers (Blass, 2002). The results from this qualitative study indicated that booktalking is an effective motivation tactic for struggling, reluctant and motivated readers.

A Case Study On Perspectives, Whitney Tallarico

Senior Honors Projects

The Rhode Island Training School becomes a home to juvenile offenders of the law.  Home, in so far as it is a place that they sleep, eat, and spend a lot of time in, as well as the atmosphere in which learning and growth occur during the adolescent phase of their lives.  There is a very high rate of released inmates who return to the facility for things like running away from group homes, not checking in with their parole officers, or other misdemeanors.  It is my belief that this is, at least in part, due to the fact that …

Factors Influencing Music Teacher Retention: A Mixed Method Study, Charles W. Cushinery

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to determine what internal and external factors influence the retention attributions of secondary level music teachers who participated in this study and identify what interactions exist between those factors. Phase one of this study was a survey of a group of secondary music teachers (N=260). The survey was used to quantify those factors that influenced music teacher retention and how those factors were ranked by the survey group. Phase two of this study employed case study methodology, specifically, interviews of six secondary music teachers selected from the initial survey pool, to provide a …

Designing A School Garden Space That Emphasizes Children's Wants And Uses Permaculture Design Methods, Mikhaela Mullins

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

A case study was organized at Saratoga Elementary school in Lincoln, Nebraska to obtain data on what children desire in a garden space. To collect this data a school garden space was constructed and an after school garden club was implemented. Students who participated in the after school garden club partook in the study by drawing their ideal garden. Elements that the subjects drew were identified and categorized into ‘highly desired’ and ‘somewhat desired’.

These elements were then incorporated into a proposed garden design plan for Saratoga. The proposal plan uses Permaculture design methods to emphasize sustainability.

Multicultural Education In The Music Classroom: Definitions, Methods, And Motives, Candace Rhnea Stafford-Davis

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study aimed to understand the multicultural teaching experiences of music teachers in the Fayetteville and Springdale public school districts through the lens of James Banks' four approaches to curriculum reform. The research was intended to add to the limited literature presently found on the definition of multicultural music education and how this type of education is implemented. The study also increased knowledge of teacher motives for implementing multicultural education in the music classroom and highlight challenges that lie within implementation. Purposive sampling was used and in an attempt to get an information rich sample, two schools were chosen from …

Intelligent Design And Its Place In The Classroom, Victor Trinh, Mekdelawit Mezgebu

Festival of Communities: UG Symposium (Posters)

Creationism, is the dominant belief held by the public. Evolution, on the other hand, is the competing theory of the mechanisms of creation. The recent dispute among the scientific and political field that has furthermore complicated the question of intelligent design being integrated into the curriculum of public schools is addressed here. We attempt to give both sides of the argument, along with analyzing the components of each theory. Intelligent design advocates are for the idea of accommodating what they have coined “intelligent design” into the classrooms of American schools. The opponents of intelligent design (evolution supporters); however, claim that …

Should Intelligent Design Be Taught Alongside Evolution In Public Schools?, Chelsea Opdendyk, Christina James

Festival of Communities: UG Symposium (Posters)

Evolution being the creation of life through a scientific method and ID being the creation of life through a religious point of view. The overall proposing question to be discussed throughout this project is whether or not ID should be taught in schools alongside Evolution within science classes. The first phase of this project involves research of the positive teachings of ID within the school system and how it can be beneficial to students. The second part of this project involves the negative aspects of educating students the proposed theory of ID. The final phase revolves around the favored conclusion …

Leading Innovation: Creating A Culture Of Sustainability Workshop Presentation, Connie I. Reimers-Hild

Kimmel Education and Research Center: Faculty and Staff Publications

A workshop designed to lead sustainable innovation with a focus on Dr. Connie's "5 Rays" of Innovation

Leading Innovation: Creating A Culture Of Sustainability Workbook, Connie I. Reimers-Hild

Kimmel Education and Research Center: Faculty and Staff Publications

A workbook designed to compliment the workshop, "Leading Innovation:  Creating a Culture of Sustainability" and focused on teaching Dr. Connie's 5 Rays of Innovation

Character Education Seeking The Best Of Both Worlds: A Study Of Cultural Identity And Leadership In Egypt., Rania M Rafik Khalil, Nevien Mattar

English Language and Literature

No abstract provided.

Leading Innovation: Creating A Culture Of Sustainability For Communities, Connie I. Reimers-Hild

Kimmel Education and Research Center: Presentations and White Papers

Innovation is as essential to communities as it is to businesses and other organizations.  This innovation workshop focused on core elements of leading innovation in communities.

The Impact Of The Peace Curriculum: One School's Story, Eloise Hockett, John Muhanji

Faculty Publications - College of Education

No abstract provided.

Resistance Meets Spirituality In Academia: "I Prayed On It!", Vonzell Agosto, Zorka Karanxha

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies Faculty Publications

We describe the lived experiences of a Black Woman educational leader who has studied and worked in the academy and in the field of K-12 education. This partial life history, excavated through the tenets of Critical Race Theory (CRT), illuminates the social construction of race and the pervasiveness and permanence of racism. We determined through a series of interviews that the participant's resilient resistance is guided by critical spirituality so that circumstances and people who challenge her also confront this source of power. Her lived experience, from student to faculty member, conveys the challenges and opportunities she faces and adds …

Technoromanticism: Creating Digital Editions In An Undergraduate Classroom, Katherine D. Harris

Faculty Publications, English and Comparative Literature

No abstract provided.