Curriculum and Instruction Commons^™

Art Studio As Thinking Lab: Fostering Metacognition In Art Classrooms, Julia Marshall, Kimberley D'Adamo

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

What can high school art classes offer to both aspiring artists and students who have other interests and goals? Here’s an answer: thinking skills. Thinking skills are essential for all learners, and both art creation and encoun-tering art provide opportunities for complex thinking and, therefore, for honing conceptual skills. Beyond that, art experiences can spur students to reflect on how they think and to expand and refine their thinking. That is to say, art classes can cultivate metacognition.

This article pursues both trains of thought and describes how an art class can be an art thinking lab—a site for everyone …

A Love-Hate Relationship: Personal Narratives Of Pride And Shame As Patriotic Affects, Mark E. Helmsing

Occasional Paper Series

The Office of Alumni Relations for George Mason University—in Fairfax, Virginia, where I teach—is located centrally on the campus. The exterior of the building faces a busy walkway, displaying in vinyl lettering the official slogan of the university’s alumni association: “once a Patriot, always a Patriot.” This motto refers to the university’s Patriot mascot and implies that once a person joins the university as a student, that person becomes a Patriot and will forever remain a Patriot, which, the alumni office presumably hopes, will result in feelings of goodwill that prompt generous financial contributions from alumni donors.

In considering the …

Fostering Democratic Patriotism Through Critical Pedagogy, Hillary Parkhouse

Occasional Paper Series

When I was a high school US history teacher in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City, I sometimes wondered about the relationship between patriotism and critique of one’s nation. Specifically, I questioned just how critical students could be without becoming disaffected toward the United States. I tried to be honest with my students about the nation’s mixed record of democracy—how the country was founded on ideals of equality and yet stole land from Native Americans, kidnapped millions of Africans as part of a massive system of chattel slavery, and denied the vote to women until 1920. But I …

Teachers As Leaders: An Autoethnographic Account Into The Way That Personal Spirituality Influenced One Teacher's Leadership In A South Louisiana High School, Scott Mckneely Blanchard

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this autoethnographic study is to better understand the role spiritual leaders have in both educational settings and in the motivation of students. An overarching question guides this autoethnographic study: Is spiritual leadership, influenced by Christianity, an appropriate form of mentoring-leadership relationships in public secondary schools? The specific research sub-questions for this study address the following: 1. How do servant leadership and spiritual leadership help create this autonomous learning environment identified by Deci and therefore reduce the number of amotivated students? 2. How can understanding the student as an individual help a teacher confront the issues with motivation …

Developing Political Thinking And Discussion Skills In Civics Classrooms. A Book Review Of Teaching Politics In Secondary Education: Engaging With Contentious Issues, Patricia G. Avery

Democracy & Education

In Teaching Politics in Secondary Education: Engaging with Contentious Issues, Wayne Journell displays his passion for politics, teaching, and research. He provides secondary social studies teachers and teacher educators with practical ideas for reorienting civics and government instruction toward the political sphere as it is, not the idealized politics often portrayed in textbooks. Drawing heavily from his research on civics classes during the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections, Journell focused on two primary instructional goals: developing students' skills in political (or policy) thinking and discussions of controversial political issues. This accessible, informative, and inspiring book offers teachers a good first …

Political Simulations: An Opportunity For Meaningful Democratic Participation In Schools, Isolde De Groot

Democracy & Education

Political simulations are considered promising tools to instigate democratic learning in schools. This article reports a qualitative inquiry into student involvement in the organization of the 2012 mock elections—the shadow elections that schools can organize in conjunction with the official elections—in eight high schools in the Netherlands. The objective of this inquiry is twofold: to evaluate student involvement in mock elections in these schools and to lay the theoretical groundwork for further quantitative inquiries into student participation in political events. For the deductive analysis of student roles in organizing the mock election, I adapted Fielding and Moss’s (2012) “patterns of …

Last Year's Choice Is This Year's Voice: Valuing Democratic Practices In The Classroom Through Student-Selected Literature, Michael D. Boatright, Amelia Allman

Democracy & Education

The authors of this article explore democratic practices in the classroom by using student-selected literature. After multiple class sets of student-selected young adult novels were purchased using grant money, the authors set out to see what happens in a classroom when student choice is at the forefront of pedagogical decision-making and how students resonated with and voiced their experiences reading about those chosen novels. Because canonical texts are often used to help students understand allusions in contemporary texts, one adolescent novel and one canonical novel became the focal points for this project. With democratic practices undergirding this project, the authors …

Empowering Indigenous Learners Through The Creation Of Graphic Novels, Deborah Begoray, Alexis Brown

Journal of Media Literacy Education

In this paper, we examine how Indigenous and non-Indigenous adolescents identify media influences as health/wellness related. We conducted research over a six-week period in two alternative high school settings: a culture-based Indigenous education program at one school and an arts-based program at another school, both in the same small, Western Canadian city. We taught students from both programs the principles of critical media health literacy. Small groups of students from the Indigenous program wrote narratives. Then small groups of Indigenous and non-Indigenous students in an arts-based education program converted these stories into graphic novel/comic book format. Findings indicated a broad …

Gaming In The Social Studies Classroom: Student Perceptions Of Learning History With Mobile Media, Amie Musselman, Michael Edward Hess, Charles L. Lowery

Journal of Research Initiatives

Mobile media is the over-arching term for handheld devices with internet capabilities such as smartphones and tablets. This multifaceted, handheld technology is common amongst teens and young adults. Specifically, individuals between ages 18 and 29 are primarily wireless internet users and owners of cell phones, 81%, and 93% respectively. This study addresses the question: what are public high school students' perceptions of mobile media in a social studies classroom? Of particular interest in this work is a better understanding of how mobile devices affect student interest and enjoyment during a World War II lesson. Traditionally, social studies instruction is heavily …

Parliamentary Procedure Interactive Notebook, Amie Carter, P. Troy White, Laura Hasselquist, Madhav Nepal

STEM & Agricultural Education Curriculum Resources

These resources were developed as an undergraduate student research experience. During the summer and fall of 2018, the Agricultural Education faculty in the Department of Teaching, Learning & Leadership recruited teachers and students to pilot and suggest revisions to these resources and to report their effectiveness in promoting engagement and learning of Parliamentary Procedure.

This item contains three downloadable files. Student and teacher notebooks are designed to be printed on 8.5"x14" pages in booklet format. The cutouts are on standards letter size paper.

Aged 539 Graduate Internship Report, Derek L. Silva

Agricultural Education: Graduate Internship Reports

The Galt High School Agriculture Department is committed and dedicated to promoting and developing personal growth, career technical skills and rigorous/ relevant instruction for all students. Offering several pathways in the Agri-Science, Ornamental Horticulture and Ag Mechanics personalized to student’s career and technical skills interest areas through engaging hands on laboratories and industry insight and certification.

In order to accomplish the skills and abilities listed above, the Galt High School Agriculture Department currently overs the following courses for the 2017-2018 school year: Introduction to Agriculture Mechanics 1, Agriculture Mechanics 2, Agriculture Power Mechanics 1, Advanced Agriculture Mechanics, Agricultural Construction BITA …

The Effects Of Metacognitive Training On Algebra Students’ Calibration Accuracy, Achievement, And Mathematical Literacy, Deana J. Ford

Teaching & Learning Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation describes an empirical study that investigated how metacognitive training influenced lower achieving Algebra students’ calibration accuracy, achievement, and development of mathematics literacy. Multiple methods were used to collect and analyze the data. Close analysis of students’ work and classroom observations revealed that students that were exposed to the metacognitive training had significantly higher prediction accuracy and made gains in their understanding of the mathematics word problems than did students who did not receive the metacognitive training. Overall, however, both the intervention and comparison groups improved in their academic performance and became more mathematically literate and accurate in their …

Through Their Eyes: Perspective Taking Activities For Social Studies Classes, William Gary Cole, Gary Padgett

The Councilor: A National Journal of the Social Studies

Perspective taking activities have been shown to yield a number of positive effects for students across disciplines. In this article, the authors provide two ready-to-teach lessons plans that encourage perspective taking through research, critical thinking, and creativity. By asking students to view history through the eyes of the people who lived it, these activities help students think deeply and creatively about social studies content.

School Shouldn’T End When The Bell Rings: An Exploratory Homeschooling Study, Mackenzie Dukelow

MA Research Paper

Homeschooling has experienced significant growth over the last several decades, yet little to no research has explored the relationship between homeschoolers and the public education system. Being the first to explore this relationship, the current study collected and examined data from 3 semi-structured interviews and 15 online homeschooling blogs in order to understand the growth of homeschooling in Ontario and the relationship between homeschooling and the public education system. The results of this study reveal the relationship between homeschoolers and the public education system varies significantly over time and locale, the challenges within each system and the difficulty of transitioning …

Young Adult Book Review - Americanized: Rebel Without A Green Card, Danielle M. Butcher

The Journal of Balanced Literacy Research and Instruction

No abstract provided.

Parents’ Involvement In Their Children’S Education: The Value Of Parental Perceptions In Public Education, John Duman, Hasan Aydin, Burhan Ozfidan

The Qualitative Report

The purpose of this study was to gather data from public school parents that would contribute to the understanding of parental involvement with school choice for their children and of parental involvement with educational organizations. We employed a case study approach as the methodological basis for eliciting 22 multi-racial parents perceptions’ about school climate and their child’s school choice. Our comprehensive in-depth semi-structured interviews, field notes, observations, and documents data collection process incorporated feedback from potential respondents from the outset of the design process to enhance data quality. Verbatim transcripts and documents were analyzed using a content and thematic analysis …

Summarizing Instruction In 11th-Grade U.S. History Course, Robin A. Belue, James Martinez, Regina Suriel, Ellice P. Martin

Journal of Multicultural Affairs

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of summarizing strategies on students’ academic achievement, attitude, and engagement toward learning. The study involved 59 high school 11^th-Grade U.S. History students. One class received direct instruction, while the other received summarizing instruction. Achievement was measured using pre- and posttest scores. Achievement scores for summarizing instruction students were slightly higher than direct instruction students. Students’ attitudes toward U.S. History were measured using a nine-item survey, and results indicated that both groups believed summarizing strategies were sound strategies for learning and remembering new content knowledge. The student engagement results …

The Lost & Found Game Series: Teaching Medieval Religious Law In Context, Owen Gottlieb, Ian Schreiber

Presentations and other scholarship

Lost & Found is a strategy card-to-mobile game series that teaches medieval religious legal systems with attention to period accuracy and cultural and historical context. The Lost & Found project seeks to expand the discourse around religious legal systems, to enrich public conversations in a variety of communities, and to promote greater understanding of the religious traditions that build the fabric of the United States. Comparative religious literacy can build bridges between and within communities and prepare learners to be responsible citizens in our pluralist democracy. The first game in the series is a strategy game called Lost & Found …

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 …

Advanced College Credit Pathways: Six Undergraduates Reflect On Their Journeys As Writers, Candence Malhiet Robillard

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study explored the writing habits and behaviors of six undergraduate students who earned advanced college credit from the International Baccalaureate diploma, Advanced Placement exam scores, or through dual enrollment partnerships with accredited colleges. Using narrative and case study methods, the study investigated the relationship between high school advanced credit composition courses and the requirements of undergraduate writing. At the time of the study the participants had already completed a minimum of three semesters of study on a college campus.Participants met a total of three times over the course of one semester. Inreflecting on their experiences and in sharing their …

Yeast: The Gateway To Redefining And Improving Biology Labs, Connor Loomis

Biology Summer Fellows

Building off of collegiate research performed during the summer of 2018, this lesson plan outlines a lab for secondary students using yeast. Yeast is an affordable and convenient organism to introduce to secondary education, and students can learn a lot about biology through it. Essentially, the goal of the lab is for students to explore the effects of certain substances on the growth of yeast. While content is emphasized, this lesson plan also looks to build students’ understanding of science in general as well as proper laboratory skills and technique. In addition, it pushes students in their thinking as they …

On The (Male) Fringes: How Early Religious Women Remain “Subordinate” In World History Textbooks, Erica M. Southworth

Faculty Creative and Scholarly Works

Second Wave feminist researchers identified male-dominated curriculum formats in late twentieth century curriculum materials. This study builds off their work and advances the conversation of women’s inclusion by current United States secondary world history textbook content via a feminist lens to determine the extent of women’s agency in the accounts of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The purpose was to determine if textbooks portrayed these patriarchal religions as exclusively male, thereby presenting inaccurate portrayals of the religions and the agents involved, which directly violates NCSS Standards. This study used critical discourse analysis to identify patterns of female marginalization and omission, indicating …

A Mixed Method Descriptive Study Of High School Graduates' Dual Enrollment Experiences And The Influence On College Readiness, Sherry W. Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this descriptive study was to examine the perceptions of graduates regarding the benefits of participating in Dual Enrollment and how their participation influenced their college readiness. Dual enrollment programs have become prominent nationwide. Several studies show positive outcomes including increased high school completion, improved postsecondary persistence, and higher college degree completion. This study will evaluate dual enrollment participants at one high school located in central Georgia. Data is analyzed and presented based on relevance to the effectiveness of the dual enrollment program. The study was important because the success of Dual Enrollment could provide a possible remedy …

Sharing Identity: Indexing Cultural Perspectives Through Writing Responses To Graphic Novels, Alex Romagnoli

SANE journal: Sequential Art Narrative in Education

Indexing identity through writing responses among ELL students in response to a graphic novel helps provide insight into how writing responses represent people and how graphic novels can aid in that process of self-discovery through their inherent multimodalities. This study takes looks at four students in an ELL class at an urban high school in southern Pennsylvania as they responded in writing to a portion of Will Eisner's New York: Life in the Big City (2006). All of the participants took events from the portion of the graphic novel provided to them and indexed their urban, cultural perspectives through their …

Bullies And Allies Near The Playground: Mothers' Experiences Of Aggression In Their Children's Schools, Mara Vicente Robinson

Dissertations

Despite an increasing understanding of the importance of both parent-involvement and aggression among women, there appears to be little understanding of how these two areas influence each other; specifically, the lack of literature examining the extent to which female guardians experienced aggression from other female guardians and the effect it had on their involvement in their children’s schools. In an effort to investigate the extent to which aggression was prevalent among female guardians, the factors that influenced the aggression, and the effects of that aggression on women’s involvement in their children’s education, a convergent parallel mixed methods design was used …

Video Games And Virtual Reality As Classroom Literature: Thoughts, Experiences, And Learning With 8th Grade Middle School Students, Miles M. Harvey

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

This qualitative study utilized video games and virtual reality in an eighth-grade public middle school media literacy elective classroom in which the head researcher was also the official teacher for the students in the study. The nineteen students and their teacher used video games in small groups for five consecutive weeks. The teacher and nineteen students recorded data about their thoughts, experiences, and learning as they played in the classroom. Students responded to open-ended reader-response questions about their experiences after playing video games each day for forty-five minutes. Students reflected about their experiences in a thought journal. The teacher responded …

Competition: Motivating Or Declination Of Academic Success, Nicholas Mazza

Honors Projects

This study examines if competition in the classroom is more of a motivating or declining factor. I am examining the positive and negative effects of competitions on students. Games and individual worksheets will be employed to explore influence on academic achievement. Through my research, I did not find competition to be motivating for students. However, I did find the competition intervention to provide higher average quiz scores.

Supporting English Language Learners Inside The Mathematics Classroom: One Teacher’S Unique Perspective Working With Students During Their First Years In America, Amy Marie Fendrick

Research and Evaluation in Education, Technology, Art, and Design

Reflecting upon my personal experiences teaching mathematics to English Language Learners (ELL) in a public high school in Lincoln, Nebraska, this essay largely focuses on the time I spent as the only Accelerated Math teacher in my school building. From 2012 – 2017, I taught three different subjects at this high school: Advanced Algebra, Algebra, and Accelerated Math. This essay highlights why I chose to become a math and ELL teacher, as well as the challenges, issues, struggles, and successes I experienced during my time teaching. I focus on the challenges I faced teaching students who did not share my …

A School Of Choice: A Case Study Of An Instructional Learning Model In A Public School System, Samuel Mccord

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This case study focused on the understandings of the administration and teaching staff with regard to the implementation and student academic growth of the B-L Upward program. The understandings were formed from data collected through structured, face-to-face interviews. The questioning of the staff members assisted in determining an understanding of the instructional model of the B-L Upward program. The experimental nature of the B-L Upward program allowed students, primarily those graduating from eighth grade and heading into high school, to choose an alternative to the traditional secondary learning environment. The current case study is an examination of the B-L Upward …

A Study Of The Teaching Beliefs Of Globe Teachers, Laila Ali

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the teaching beliefs of GLOBE (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment) teachers, and to analyze their pedagogical practices. This study contributes to bridging the gap between our understanding of teachers’ beliefs of teaching science with inquiry and practicing science in class with inquiry. A descriptive research approach was used for both quantitative and qualitative analysis. Data was collected from seventy-two trained GLOBE teachers across the U.S. using Qualtrics.com.

Quantitatively, the pedagogical beliefs of GLOBE teachers were measured using the Beliefs about Reformed Science Teaching and Learning (BARSTL) questionnaire. Differences between …