Curriculum and Instruction Commons^™

Exploring Early Childhood Teachers’ Experiences In Teaching Multilingual Children In Public Mainstream Schools In Tennessee, Maria Dias

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study, grounded in a phenomenological perspective, delves into the lived experiences of early childhood teachers who teach multilingual children in mainstream classrooms in Tennessee. Amidst the rising number of multilingual learners in mainstream educational settings and the dearth of adequate teacher training to address their needs, this research illuminates the experiences of these teachers. Furthermore, it seeks to advocate for the integration of translanguaging pedagogy into teacher training programs and state policies. This study employed a qualitative study using the three-in-depth-interview series from a phenomenological perspective (Seidman, 2019). The first interview focused on participants’ overall teaching experiences and …

Breaking Point: An Examination Of The Factors And Motivators That Determine Whether A Teacher Will Stay In The Classroom Or Choose To Leave The Profession, Katherine Treloar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Teachers are quitting the profession in droves, leaving classrooms empty or overcrowded. As a result, students are receiving a sub-par education from unexperienced or underqualified teachers (Watling et al, 2010). Retaining teachers for more than five years is no small feat. Teachers face unrealistic expectations, chronic high stress, and mental and physical health problems that lead to widespread burnout. However, some teachers are able to overcome these obstacles and stay in the profession for long periods of time (Buric & Penzic, 2019). This study identifies the internal motivations and external factors that influence teacher job satisfaction and describes how those …

Improving Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Education In Undergraduate Nursing Programs, Robin E. Roberts

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Ongoing competency validation of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) skills is not a routine practice in nursing school. Basic Life Support training and certification is obtained before or during nursing school with little opportunity for practice. Poor quality cardiopulmonary resuscitation skills can affect the confidence level of the performer and the patient outcome. The aim of this study was to explore the effect of training nursing faculty on the adoption of cardiopulmonary resuscitation technology into nursing school curriculum to provide improved cardiopulmonary resuscitation skills to nursing students. Using a pretest-posttest, this study followed the Kirkpatrick model of evaluation of continuing education, which …

Do-It-Together: Informal Transformative Sustainability Education, Derek Brannon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Climate Crisis is an urgent and inescapable reality students are thrust into. Learners must be prepared adequately for their futures, not only for their sakes but also because collective and transformative change is required. Transformative sustainability education provides one pathway to this transformation and focuses on radically altering students’ perceptions about the world and their agency in effecting change on ecological issues. The field of transformative sustainability education is emergent and thus is still fragmented, leaving gaps in the literature. Little research has been conducted on how informal and nonformal university spaces can be used to create transformative experiences …

Immersive Learning Environments For Computer Science Education, Dillon Buchanan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This master's thesis explores the effectiveness of an educational intervention using an interactive notebook to support and supplement instruction in a foundational-level programming course. A quantitative, quasi-experimental group comparison method was employed, where students were placed into either a control or a treatment group. Data was collected from assignment and final grades, as well as self-reported time spent using the notebook. Independent t-tests and correlation were used for data analysis. Results were inconclusive but did indicate that the intervention had a possible effect. Further studies may explore better efficacy, implementation, and satisfaction of interactive notebooks across a larger population and …

Examination Of Formal Instructional Design Processes At Traditional Institutions Of Higher Education In The United States Post-Pandemic Onset, Heather L. D. Tobin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to identify the motivational elements of formal online instructional design processes that are being implemented at traditional institutions of higher education (IHEs) in the United States (U.S.). For this study, I conducted a comprehensive literature review identifying emerging issues of practice for instructional design partnerships between the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic during the spring of 2022 and the spring of 2023. This study was developed through the lens of Keller’s (2010) attention, relevance, confidence, satisfaction, and volition (ARCS-V) model of motivation. An understanding of the elements of current processes that present as benefits …

Study Abroad And The Global Public Good: A Developmental Evaluation Of The International Business Major, Sara Barbier Bularzik

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Study abroad, for any length of time and in any location, is widely recognized in higher education as a positive educational activity. While individual benefits of study abroad have been explored for decades, recent research has pushed the field to consider benefits for the local and global community. This program evaluation contributes to this line of inquiry by asking international business majors about the influences on their study abroad program choice process and the involvement of the university’s mission to positively impact the public good. Using developmental program evaluation and UNESCO’s global citizenship education theory, this study found that students …

College Students’ Perceptions Of Sense Of Community, Satisfaction, And Cognitive Learning In Online Classes, Laura Lynn Higgs Kappel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this non-experimental, comparative quantitative study was to determine if there were significant differences between the perceptions of undergraduate and graduate students about the importance and presence of sense of community in online classes at two southern public universities using survey data. The study also aimed to determine if there were significant relationships between students’ perceptions of the presence of sense of community and students’ satisfaction with the course and between students’ perception of the presence of sense of community and students’ perceptions of increases in cognitive learning. The study also addressed factors of undergraduate classification, gender, and …

Examining Diversity And The Role And Influence Of Post-Secondary Faculty At A Predominantly White Institution In Tennessee: A Critical Race Case Analysis, Lanell Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative, critical race analysis study is to explore how White faculty conceptualize and apply critical race theory (CRT) and culturally responsive pedagogy (CRP) to curricula within a college of education and how the perceptions of their students’ identities influence specific pedagogical decisions. The researcher sought to extend the research on CRT in education by analyzing specific, detailed cases and incorporating purposeful sampling by selecting participants who match specific study criteria, i.e. graduate-level White faculty located in Tennessee who teach in programs of education.

This study was limited to six faculty in a college of education (in …

Gifted Female Voices: Perceptions Of Differentiation In Secondary And Higher Education, Ann Makikalli

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

While the advocacy of differentiation as best pedagogical practices for instruction of gifted students can be found in scholarly literature, minimal research attention has been given to high-ability students’ perceptions about their lived classroom experiences. Lack of challenging and accelerated content for identified gifted students can lead to boredom, negative self-perception, and disengagement from school. Gifted adolescent females, who are less likely to address barriers to realizing their potential can especially suffer or thrive depending on curriculum. The purpose of this qualitative study is to describe identified female gifted university students’ perceptions of pre-collegiate and collegiate differentiation of curriculum and …

A Different World: The Experiences Of Black Women At A Southern Predominantly White Institution, Latoya Stackhouse

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present study investigated the lived experiences of Black women on a predominantly White institution (PWI) campus in the South as they relate to the core themes of Patricia Hill Collins’ Black Feminist Thought (BFT). The core themes of BFT that were the focus of the research were Self-Definition/Empowerment, Safe Space, Controlling Images, Invisibility/Sense of Belonging. Sista circle methodology was used as the form of inquiry with two 60-minute sessions over a two-month span. This methodology was chosen because its focus centers the lived narratives of Black women within a safe space unlike traditional focus groups. Findings from the sista …

A Causal Comparative Study Of Stem Persistence Between Supported And Non-Supported Stem Interested Students, Elizabeth Bernardi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Many students who enter a STEM track in college move out of that track before graduation (National Science Foundation, 2018). The purpose of this study was to assess whether there was a difference in STEM-related major persistence for population proportions of students actively involved in the Science Scholars program and those who were STEM-interested but not program participants. This program oriented students to the STEM program, facilitated engagement with peers and faculty, exposed students to research opportunities, and filled in potential learning gaps (Gibson et al., 2019).

The questions guiding the current research included:

Q1. Was there a statistically significant …

The Influence Of Dual Enrollment On Rural Student College Persistence., Jeanne Toure Guerrero

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Using the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09), this study addresses the research question of whether dual enrollment (DE) influences first- to third-year college persistence at a four-year institution, controlling for gender, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status (SES), and rurality. The results revealed that there are statistically significant differences between the independent variables of DE Participation, Gender, Race/Ethnicity, SES, and Rurality and the dependent variable of College Persistence. Controlling for other variables, the following main effects results emerged: Students participating in DE courses were more likely to persist than non-DE students. Female DE students were more likely to persist when compared …

Meeting Myself As A Scholarly Practitioner: A Self-Study Exploring The Process Of Integrating Instructional Technology Into Introductory Theater Courses, Ramona Broomer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

A growing number of faculty in higher education are using technology applications in their teaching practices. However, a gap in the literature exists related to instructional technology integration in liberal arts courses. This gap also exists in theater education, where I have spent the last 20 years of my professional life. This self-study analyzed my knowledge and practice of using instructional technology in theater education. Using technological and pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) as a theoretical framework, I examined my teaching of introductory theater courses in face-to-face and online formats. As part of the inquiry process, I collected and analyzed …

Virtual Reality For Public Speaking Rehearsals: Student And Faculty Perceptions, Carrie A. Saltsman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Speeches and speech rehearsals are an important part of many basic communication courses. However, instructors are developing new ways for students to rehearse their speeches every day; one way may be for students to use virtual reality. Although virtual reality is somewhat of a new innovation, it is effective in various settings, including higher education, and more specifically, the speech classroom. However, this efficacy may not matter if students and instructors are unwilling to adopt it into the classroom. Diffusion of innovation theory, developed by Rogers (2003), focuses on how an innovation is diffused and adopted. Using two of the …

The Relationship Between Career And Technical Education Enrollment And College And Career Readiness Outcomes, Daniel Soliz Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

College and career readiness for K-12 students has become a priority of legislatures and educational leaders in the United States. In recent years, Texas public school leaders have emphasized the importance of maximizing the percentage of College, Career and Military Ready (CCMR) graduates. The specific problem studied was that a low percentage of students in Texas, in comparison to the state’s graduation rate, graduate with a CCMR distinction. Career and Technical Education (CTE), a component of K-12 education, can assist school leaders in maximizing college and career readiness for students. However, it was not clear how within schools, CTE enrollment …

Languages, Cultures, And Identities: Cross-Cultural Experiences Of Hbcu Students In A Study Abroad Program In Costa Rica, Irina M. Tedrick

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this dissertation was to illuminate how an immersive study abroad program enabled my Black and African American Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) students to have meaningful language acquisition, cultural exploration, and identity expansion experiences. The methods used in this research reflect the qualitative narrative nature of the cross-cultural narrative inquiry (He, 2003, 2006, 2010; Phillion & He, 2008; Phillion et al., 2009; Sharma & Phillion, 2021). Thus, to accurately capture the participants’ stories, I employed a variety of methods, gathering data through semi-structured interviews and the collection of personal artifacts, such as journal writings, pictures, and …

University Course Evaluations: A Study Of The Influence Of Faculty, Student, And Course Variables, Tyesha De’Shuan Stewart

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Course evaluations impact faculty’ annual evaluations and have become somewhat controversial, yet course evaluations in faculty evaluations persist as a common practice across universities. While many scholars find this success-based tool effective in assessing teaching effectiveness, others question the validity and reliability of this measurement and are opposed to using this tool as a mean of determining faculty members’ success. The purpose of this study is to provide a more in-depth examination of course evaluations by analyzing faculty, student, and course variables. Analyses were performed to address the following research question: “To what degree do faculty gender, faculty race, faculty …

Quality In All Levels: A Model Defining And Measuring Quality In Bioethics Education, Ercan Avci

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Due to the lack of academic studies in the quality assessment of bioethics education, this dissertation aimed to propose a normative model, Quality in All Levels (QAL), to define and measure quality in bioethics education. The QAL model described quality in bioethics education as conformance to the goals and determined these goals as (1) increasing ethical knowledge, (2) improving ethical skills to strengthen ethical sensitivity, awareness, and judgment, (3) developing ethicalbehavior, and (4) promoting cultural competence. The dissertation utilized Avedis Donabedian’s three approaches: structure, process, and outcome to formulate quality standards and indicators in bioethics education. In respect of …

Technology-Based Culturally Relevant Chemistry Education (Crce), Mercy Adoma Fosu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The relevance of chemistry concepts and principles remains a challenge for most students enrolled in college chemistry courses. Part of this problem is the disconnect with what students experience in their every-day lives, and how the material, specifically chemistry content is presented via textbooks, lectures, and laboratory teaching. Moreover, the teaching of general chemistry has traditionally focused on traditional, instructor-centric expository delivery of course materials, that treats students as empty vessels devoid of prior knowledge. Students prior knowledge and experiences are crucial in shaping their understanding of scientific concepts and principles. Even students with relatively low expectations for success in …

Student Outcomes In Online And Face-To-Face Classes At A Hispanic-Serving Institution (Hsi), Rebecca S. Cottrell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As online course enrollments are increasing in higher education in the United States, it is increasingly important to understand student course outcomes in these classes, particularly at Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI), where there has been limited previous research. This current study examines online course outcomes in the form of student course grades and student withdrawal rates as compared to outcomes in face-to-face courses. The setting for the study is Russell University, a public university in the Rocky Mountain west, and an HSI. Data used in this study came from a large, deidentified data set of all enrollments in any course offered …

Portraits Of Professional Collaboration: Faculty-Librarian Teaching Partnerships, Carrie L. Forbes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Many regional accrediting organizations for higher education have embraced information literacy as a key component for both student success and student learning outcomes. Through embedded librarianship practices, librarians are now taking a leading role in developing and promoting users’ information literacy skills and in adopting an active classroom teaching approach. Faculty-librarian team teaching is a best practice for integrating information literacy into the higher education curricula, but the extant research has largely focused on the barriers to collaboration. Using Walsh and Kahn’s (2010) model of “collaborative working” as a conceptual framework, this dissertation explores the qualities and characteristics of four …

Remaking Identities, Reworking Graduate Study : Stories From First-Generation-To-College Rhetoric And Composition Phd Students On Navigating The Doctorate., Ashanka Kumari

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation responds to the decreasing number of first-generation-to-college doctorates in the humanities and the limited scholarship on graduate students in Rhetoric and Composition. Scholars in Rhetoric and Composition have long been invested in discussions of academic and/or disciplinary enculturation, yet these discussions primarily focus on undergraduate students, with few studies on graduate students and far fewer on the doctoral students training to become the next wave of a profession. In this dissertation, I argue that if we engage intersectional identities as assets in the design of doctoral programs, access to higher education and academic enculturation can become more manageable …

Cultivating A Pedagogy Of Empathy: Teaching Science Fiction In A Changing Biotechnological World, Kathy L. Avery

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

CULTIVATING A PEDAGOGY OF EMPATHY: Teaching Science Fiction in a Changing Biotechnological World

By

KATHY L. AVERY

(Under the Direction of John Weaver)

Abstract

I argue that science fiction affords us the ability to think past our anthropocentrism, opening up a space for us to consider our relationship to burgeoning biotechnologies and the other. I provide critical interpretations of science fiction film and literature, which I believe stimulate the power of the narrative imagination to envision the “netherworld experience of the other”. I believe science fiction provides a site of speculation, a means to better understand and consider the role …

Examining The Meaning Of Course Evaluation, Tyesha Stewart

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Teaching evaluations significantly influence faculty members’ annual evaluations and progress toward tenure and promotion within academic programs in higher education. Those with consistently strong, positive, teaching evaluations have been deemed effective instructors and often validated with increases in salary, teaching awards, and promotion and tenure. This is especially the case when strong course evaluations are received in addition to documented scholarship and research activities and positively evaluated professional service. However, questions are being raised about the meaningfulness of students' ratings of course instruction. Do these measures effectively assess competence as instructors or do they measure other unknown processes in the …

School Climate: A Comparison Of Teachers, Students, And Parents, James A. Jacobs

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study was designed to examine the benefits of positive school climate and to measure the perceptions of school climate for intermediate grades in a Northeast Tennessee School district. An online school climate survey was used to collect responses from participants in intermediate grades and focused on the 3 major components of school climate: school engagement, school environment, and school safety. Data were collected for 2 consecutive years in 2016-2017 and 2017-2018. Response totals included 1,955 student responses, 116 teacher responses, and 210 parent responses that were analyzed and used for this study. Of the student totals, some students that …

Looking At Innovation Dialogically: Teaching Communication And (Social) Change In The Innovation Engineering Program At The University Of Maine, Mark J. Congdon Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Higher education institutions face two concurrent demands: preparing students for the job-market, while also developing informed and engaged citizens (Frey & Palmer, 2014; Gould, 2003). How universities reconcile these demands varies. The Innovation Engineering program (IE) at the University of Maine strives to both, “change the world by enabling innovation” (concern for social issues) and educate entrepreneurs (students) whose innovations reach markets quicker and at a decreased risk (capitalist orientation) (Hall, 2013; Kelly, 2014). The program uses a systems approach to innovation by teaching tools and methods for creating, communicating, and commercializing meaningfully unique ideas. Processes and contexts are important …

Educating Critically : Challenging The Familiar Contours Of Literacy Teacher Education., Bianca Nightengale-Lee

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The shifting cultural ecologies of U.S. classrooms emphasize acknowledging difference, accepting diversity, and sustaining both cultural and linguistic plurality (Banks & Banks, 2009; hooks, 1994; Paris 2014). Teacher education programs play an integral role in preparing Pre-Service Teachers (PSTs) with skills, knowledge, and dispositions necessitated by a growing Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CLD) student population (Cruz, Ellerbrock, Vasquez & Howes, 2014). To enact equitable teaching practices reflective of 21st century students, PSTs need to demonstrate a level of cultural awareness that acknowledges the racially, socially, and politically charged societal structures that shape education for CLD students (Hall & Carlson, 2016). …

A Curriculum Of Civic Responsibility : Transitioning Black American Students To College-Level Writing., Jamila M. Kareem

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation considers how racialized differences educational experience transition with Black students as they perform the expectations of college writing curriculum. I address the question: in what ways can a first-year writing curriculum centered on civic responsibility aid in smoother transitions from secondary to postsecondary academic writing for Black students at predominantly White institutions? My study applies racial and critical race methodologies framed within the tenets of critical race theory, institutional whiteness, and the absent presence of race in composition studies. I apply the methodologies in three key ways: analyzing transition practices through racialized perspectives; evaluating general education writing curriculum …

“I’M Not Good At Math”: Mathematical Illiteracy And Innummeracy In The United States, G. Wesley Rogers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Why do we view mathematics the way we do in the United States and how have these views created an environment where we consider mathematical illiteracy and innumeracy socially and culturally acceptable when a lack of this knowledge and ability can function to enslave, exploit, restrict, and oppress. Throughout this investigation, I have explored some of the possible reasons for why we view education, mathematics, and the learning of mathematics the way we do and the impact of these views on our motivation and desire to learn mathematics. Using my over 20 years of teaching experience and the review of …