Curriculum and Instruction Commons^™

Caring, Advocacy, And Collaboration: A Study Of Teacher Empowerment, Effectiveness, And Career Satisfaction, Sylvia Satterfield Hodge

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate how caring and advocating for marginalized students, along with collaboration among colleagues, contributes to teacher retention, empowerment, and job satisfaction. Goals of this research included unraveling ways in which caring teachers contribute to the self-esteem and academic success of students of poverty, particularly students of color; along with investigating how collaboration among teachers affects teacher attitudes toward the profession. This research was conducted through a case study which involved interviews of individuals, a focus group discussion, as well as detailed study of literature on the topics of teacher advocacy, job satisfaction, and …

Teacher Perception Of Promoting Student Engagement Among Culturally Diverse Students Through The Use Of Culturally Relevant Strategies, Ivey Pearl Addison

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to investigate teacher perceptions of the impact culturally relevant pedagogy has on student engagement. The study explored the beliefs, attitudes and perspectives of four elementary school teachers. Observations and interviews were utilized to gather qualitative data for this study. Teacher lessons were used to achieve triangulation. The findings will provide teachers with a conceptual framework that can be adapted to improve academic achievement.

A Phenomenological Study Of Student Engagement In United States History Classrooms, Emily Louvette Manigault

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this phenomenological study is to explore the relationship between student engagement and the perception of academic achievement (learning) by teachers and students in an urban high school social studies course. Over the past several years, educational leaders and researchers have tried to find a cause for a number of issues in public education, including low academic achievement, increasing student drop-out rates and the decline of positive perceptions of schools in general. As a result, there has been increasing research done on the level of engagement that students experience during their schooling. Much of the research has focused …

Who Let The Elephant In The Room? Analyzing Race And Racism Through A Critical Family Literacy Book Club, Lamar L. Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to interpret, investigate, and analyze how race, racism, and power are embedded and intertwined not only in society but also in the education system and in homes and communities. Specifically, through parent and student engagement during a series of book club meetings, I investigated how parents’ racial identities impacted how they created critical dialogue pertaining to issues of race, racism, and power with their children. Guided by critical race pedagogy, critical race theory (CRT) and CRT methodology, this study used race as a critical analytic lens to examine the lives and work of people …

A Descriptive Study Of Prek-3 Alignment In South Carolina: Implications For Primary School Education, Kimberly W. Mcabee

Theses and Dissertations

PreK-3 alignment is a continuum of experiences that begins in preschool when a child is three-years-old and extends through third grade. Many early childhood educators, researchers, and policy makers believe the implementation of PreK-3 alignment has the potential to make a significant difference in schools across America. It is considered by some experts to be the most promising solution to the problems facing education today. This study was designed to determine the levels of implementation of PreK-3 alignment in South Carolina’s primary schools, which practices impact student achievement, and the levels of student achievement in these schools. Primary schools were …

A Local Exploration Of Educators’ Perceptions, Collaboration And Usage Of Natural Sites In Introducing The Outdoors To Marginalized Students, Todd Beasley

Theses and Dissertations

A recent trend in social science research has focused on factors that lead to low participation rates by racial groups, specifically the African American population, within outdoor and wilderness settings as a connection to the issue of low participation rates by these same groups in outdoor and environmental careers. Much of the research has relied upon theories that address the marginalization of the African American population in relation to the social context: marginality, subculture/ethnicity, discrimination, acculturation, and opportunity. However, an area of interest that warrants a deeper examination of potential contributing causality is the role of the educator.

The purpose …

An Examination Of Relationship Factors Contributing To Student Persistence In Ing Run For Something Better, Brice Leon Sampson Cockfield

Theses and Dissertations

There is sufficient empirical evidence that children are more unfit now than ever before in the history of the United States. Defeating childhood obesity is a critical agenda issue for the First Lady Michelle Obama as the medical community and the United States at large continually cite research that obesity, poor nutrition, and low physical activity may affect children’s cognitive and physical outcomes. Much of the research in this area is quantifiable and measurable through body mass index, the number of repetitions of certain exercises, and physical stamina. As schools search for solutions to address this epidemic, school nutrition and …

Facilitating Embodied Instruction: Classroom Teachers’ Experiences With Drama-Based Pedagogy, Peter B. Duffy

Theses and Dissertations

There is much anecdotal evidence to suggest that drama-based pedagogies significantly contribute to improved teaching and learning. Furthermore, there is important research that demonstrates the impact on teachers when they learn about neuroscience. This research project developed six professional development sessions for six elementary school teachers to provide training on both drama-based instruction and research on embodiment. Combining these two fields presented a problem. Arts-based research is qualitative in nature where cognitive science research depends on post-positivistic assumptions of reliability and trust-worthiness. Missing from these standard measures of research (fMRI studies, STROOP Tests, reaction time tests), however, is the impact …

An Examination Of Significant Factors Distinguishing Successful, On-Time High School Graduation Rates Among Black Males At A Large South Carolina High School, Sherry Mitchell Eppelsheimer

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine what students see as significant factors that impact their successful high school on-time graduation rates, particularly among Black males in a large South Carolina high school with respect to No Child Left Behind requirements. Through a comparative case study, qualitative research methods were used to identify significant factors, supports and/or barriers to Black male success and achievement of on-time graduation. Through individual interviews and observations of a subgroup of 7 Black males between the ages of 17 to 19, commonalities emerged that led to high school graduation. A comparison using a grounded …

Teacher Perceptions Of Global Citizenship Education In A Southern Elementary Public School: Implications For Curriculum And Pedagogy, Tamela Jett

Theses and Dissertations

Curriculum for global citizenship education is gaining momentum as countries have experienced an increase in interdependence and interconnectedness through technology over the last century. Through qualitative research, this study employed a phenomenological methodology to understand how ten female elementary teachers in grades third- through fifth- at the site of the present study, located in Mundo Pax Elementary School (MPES), define global citizenship and how these teachers utilized their personal definitions to shape their curriculum within their classrooms. The data were collected through semi-structured personal interviews, the school-wide curriculum, teacher lesson plans, and final products projects. The researcher used the program …

Identifying And Encouraging Math In Children's Out-Of-School Activities In The Rural Lowcountry Of South Carolina, Sherry Carillon Hyatt

Theses and Dissertations

Research shows that children of different backgrounds and cultures learn and perform differently in mathematics despite similar intelligence levels and mathematics instruction (Alvarez & Bali, 2004). Ethnomathematics strives to explore and explain such phenomena in terms of the complex role culture plays in one's background experiences and perceptions that influence cognition and how school is experienced (Ascher, 1991; Barton, 1996; Bishop, 1994; D'Ambrosio, 1994). The importance of recognizing and utilizing the mathematical concepts imbedded in students' everyday activities is stressed in the field of ethnomathematics (Ascher, 1991; Bishop, 1994; Presmeg, 1998). In order to relate students' out-of-school experiences to content …

Multigenre-Multigendered Research Papers, Mary E. Styslinger

Faculty Publications

Mary E. Styslinger asked high school seniors to explore genre and gender in a nontraditional research project. She then “sought to discover more about what students knew and how students’ knowing was represented.” Her analysis reveals that the multigenre paper can be a powerful form that allows for complexity, questioning, and the development of personal voice.

Transformative Professional Development: Negotiating Knowledge With An Inquiry Stance, Amy Donnelly, Denise N. Morgan, Diane E. Deford, Janet Files, Susi Long, Heidi Mills, Diane Stephens, Mary E. Styslinger

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

"Using Rhetoric Differently: An Advanced Writing Course From Historical Materials", Patrick G. Scott

Faculty Publications

Describes an advanced writing course based on a survey of historical rhetoric, from classical to twentieth-century rhetoric, linked to writing assignments using selected aspects of each period's rhetoric that reflect some current writing exigency. Originally presented to the Advanced Writing section at the South Atlantic Modern Language Association, Atlanta, GA, November 1989.

Matthew Arnold And Minimum Competency: The Nineteenth-Century British Experience With National Basic Skills Assessment, Patrick G. Scott

Faculty Publications

Discusses the British government's introduction in 1861-62 of the Revised Code, under Robert Lowe, tying government funding of elementary schools to annual examination of the progress made by each child in the basic skills of Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic, and the satiric perspective on the debate given by the poet and essayist Matthew Arnold, himself one of Her Majesty's Inspectors of Schools, charged with implementing Lowe's reforms. Many of the issues about local and national curriculum, state funding of education, the importance of basic or core skills in relation to breadth, and the best means to assess teacher effectiveness have …