Curriculum and Instruction Commons^™

Food Landscapes: A Case Study Of A Cooking And Art- Focused Program For Teens Living In A Food Desert, Jessica R. Norris

Theses and Dissertations

This study constructs themes and propositions about the experiences of youth participants in the fall 2013 Food Landscapes program at the Neighborhood Resource Center in Richmond, Virginia. During the program, youth participated in cooking-based volunteerism with adults with disabilities and created short videos about their experiences. In this study, I analyzed pre- and post-program participant interviews, twice-weekly program observations, and facilitator reflections to understand how Food Landscapes affected youths’ conception of community engagement and communication strategies. This case study offers insight into how youth experience after-school programming of this design. Based on my findings, youth develop and rely upon a …

A Cultural Lens Into The Story Underneath: A Resource Guide Of African American Art, Artists And Culture For Art Education, Valerie Graves

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this study is to create a qualitative resource guide of African American culture, art, and artists for an art education curriculum. This project encompasses four main themes to reflect an area of African American culture via a work of art created by an African American artist. These themes are, Family with the sub themes African American Male, Matriarch, and Children; Spirit with the sub themes Faith, Spirituality, and Inspiration; Identity with the sub themes Artist’s Voice, Triumph, and Hope and Vision; Community with the sub themes Ancestors, Social Issues, and Cultural Voice. These themes constitute …

Factors Affecting Student Satisfaction In Different Learning Deliveries, Kuang-Yu Chang

Theses and Dissertations

This study addressed the relationship between student satisfaction and four interaction variables--student-content, student-instructor, student-student, and student-technology--in online, blended, and traditional learning settings. Demographics, previous experience with the Internet, and discussion-board applications were also investigated.

There were 916 respondents, including 185 in online settings, 90 in blended settings, and 641 in traditional settings, to Strachota's (2002) Online Satisfaction Survey. Participants took the survey either in an on-site classroom (traditional learning) or through e-mail, website link, or the Blackboard course management system (online setting). Participants in the blended setting could choose between completing the survey on-site or online, but were asked to …

Homophonic Translation, Appositional Writing, And The Monster, Ryan Landry Clark

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation features a combination of critical and creative work

exploring the ethics of appropriative writing and the reparative potential of homophonic translation. The opening essay examines the ethics of appropriation- based poetry and introduces the concept of what I call "appositional writing," a term to describe ethically-minded works of poetry that make use of appropriative writing methods. The next three parts of this dissertation are each appositional writing projects that make use of homophonic translation as the primary method of composition. "Arizona State Bill 1070: An Act" is a homophonic translation of the anti-immigration bill of the same name. …

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 …

Digital Native Preservice Teachers: An Examination Of Their Self-Efficacy Beliefs Regarding Technology Integration In Classroom Settings, Sarah Parker Southall

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this mixed-method study was to investigate digital native preservice teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs regarding their technology experiences and skills at the beginning and at the end of their field placement semester. Digital natives, as defined by Prensky (2001), are students born after 1980 who have been raised with digital media and spend a great deal of time engaging with digital devices. Factors that could impact changes in these participants’ technology integration self-efficacy beliefs were also analyzed. This study used pre- and post-surveys, face-to-face interviews with a portion of the respondents, and a document review of course materials and …

The Play's The Thing: An Examination Of Play's Role In The Cognitive Development Of Adolescents, Ian Scheu

Theses and Dissertations

The study explored the relationship of play and development in adolescents. It was developed to determine if play in adolescents has a cognitive developmental purpose. The research design was a quantitative study with qualitative elements. The design of the study consisted two groups of participants who engaged in either a computer program to test cognitive skills or a computer game which contains the same tests. The participants (N = 216) were adolescent males and females (ages 12-19) from urban mid-Atlantic Catholic high schools. After vetting the data, the total was N = 167 and only included males (ages 14-19). The …

Higher-Order Thinking Question Affecting Economically Disadvantaged Students’ Reading Achievement, Ruth Ann Bennett

Theses and Dissertations

Reading proficiency continues to elude a large number of school children, in particular, our economically disadvantaged students (Clark & Akerman, 2006). In a continued effort to decrease the gap between the high-poverty and low-poverty students’ reading scores, this study examined the effect of third-grade and fifth-grade teachers’ use of higher-order thinking (HOT) question levels and student context (whole group, small group, and one-one-one) during reading workshop on economically disadvantaged students’ reading achievement. Teacher questionnaires and researcher observations were analyzed to determine the effect on reading CRCT scores and the two domains within the reading CRCT scores of Literary Comprehension and …

The Effects Of Reflective Thinking On Middle School Students’ Academic Achievement And Perceptions Of Related Instructional Practices: A Mixed Methods Study, David Denton

Theses and Dissertations

The problem investigated in this study was whether instructional practices, which characterize reflective thinking, aided in the alignment of curriculum, instruction, and assessment at the classroom level. Participants included 259 seventh grade students, 126 female and 133 male, from 10 intact social studies classrooms. The investigator used an explanatory mixed methods design, which included a quantitative and qualitative phase.

The first phase involved testing the effects of an intervention, administered for 23 days, on students’ academic achievement according to a content-specific test. In addition, this phase involved a questionnaire used to assess student perceptions of the intervention. Results of the …

The Efficacy Of Repeated Reading For Building Reading Fluency Of Fourth-Grade Students At A Rural Elementary School In South Carolina, Clarice B'Yonca Norman

Theses and Dissertations

The Efficacy of Repeated Reading for Building Reading Fluency of Fourth-Grade Students at a Rural Elementary School in South Carolina. Clarice B. Norman, 2010: Applied Dissertation, Nova Southeastern University, Fischler School of Education and Human Services. ERIC Descriptors: Reading Fluency, Reading Comprehension, Reading Instruction, Curriculum Based Measurement, Rural Schools.

This applied dissertation study was designed to examine the effects of a repeated reading strategy on the oral reading fluency and reading comprehension of fourth-grade students in a rural South Carolina school. In addition, it examined the hypothesis that repeated reading of connected text would build reading fluency and increase comprehension. …

Changing School Culture: A Primary Literacy Initiative, All Hands On Deck, Veronica Boone-Gbesi

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to implement the balanced literacy approach to reading instruction for two-hundred sixteen kindergarten through third graders, as a means of increasing student achievement, focusing instruction school wide, and creating a collaborative instructional culture. Data to evaluate the study took the forms of teacher surveys and reflective essays, screening and progress monitoring assessments and standardized test results. Teacher surveys and reflections were collected and analyzed for consistent patterns, professional development needs, and/or areas of growth. The teacher responses were used to direct professional development workshops, and as a diagnostic tool to ascertain the need for …

An Articulation Of Science Curricula In Grades Seven Through Twelve, Mary C. Donaldson Clark

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this articulation was to align the science curriculum of the Lower Cape May Regional School District with the New Jersey State Core Content Standards and to articulate the 7th and 8th grades curricula with that of the high school. Faculty participated in a summer workshop to develop a curriculum map and to set benchmarks to identify student achievement. A survey was developed and distributed to members of the science and mathematics departments to isolate problems with the curricula and to determine the extent of professional development needed in each department. A second survey was furnished to the …

Service Learning – Facilitating Academic Learning And Development Of Social Skills, Kathleen E. White

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a service learning project in raising the civic responsibility, social skills, and academic skills of special education students, while meeting the needs of homeless individuals living in Callalily County, New Jersey. Service learning provided an opportunity for student growth. Students learned to be dependable, solve problems, and learned cooperation and teamwork, while increasing their academic skills.

The study involved three classrooms of special education students: one elementary class of students with behavioral disabilities, one middle school class of students with behavioral disabilities, and one high school class of students …

Teacher Mentoring: The Needs Of First Year Teachers, Susan E. Barkowski

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to identify the needs of the first year teachers in one public school district for the 2001-2002 school year. The intern distributed two surveys over the course of the study. The first survey was distributed in the beginning of the school year and the second survey at the end of January. The purpose of the surveys was to determine if the needs of the first year teachers changed over the course of the school year.

All of the first year teachers in the intern's school district were identified and sent a survey asking them …

A Curriculum Design For Sport Tourism Studies In South Africa, Kamilla Swart

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of A New Mathematics Problem-Solving Program, Audrey L. Becker

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to implement and evaluate the effectiveness of a mathematical problem-solving program for eighth grade students in the Margate School District. The researcher used a quantitative quasi-experimental design in correlation with a qualitative case study design. The subjects consisted of low to average ability students enrolled in a preexisting skills development course. The students were separated to form an experimental and a control group. A pretest/posttest instrument was used to determine the quantitative results, and daily field notes were recorded to evaluate the qualitative conclusions.

The level of student growth due to the completion of …

The Effects Of Use Of A Metacognitive Strategy On The Language Anxiety Of Missionaries At The Missionary Training Center, Laura Millet Bichon

Theses and Dissertations

Language anxiety is a form of anxiety that can negatively affect language learners by disrupting their cognitive processing, by rendering their learning experience unpleasant, and by reducing the quantity and quality of their language production. The language anxiety research contains many suggestions for anxiety reduction, one of these being the use of metacognitive language learning strategies. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a self-monitoring, metacognitive strategy called ASWE on the language anxiety levels of young male and female missionaries in the intensive language learning program at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah. The ASWE …

The Relationship Between Birth Order And Standardized Reading Test Scores, Eugenia M. Centa

Theses and Dissertations

The study was undertaken to determine If the only child and the eldest child in a family would score significantly higher on a standardized reading test than siblings occupying other positions in the birth order. Eleventh grade students at a public high school in a southwestern county in Georgia were surveyed as to whether they were the only child, the eldest child, or occupied another position in the familial birth order. From these surveys, the students were randomly assigned to three groups: Group 1 consisted of 30 only children (16 males, 14 females); Group 2 was comprised of 30 eldest …

Discover Uptown: Using The Built Environment To Interpret Local History, Linda C. Bohannon

Theses and Dissertations

The downtown commercial district of Columbus, Georgia, becomes an outdoor classroom in this project which uses the built environment to interpret local history. Developed for use by the Columbus Museum Uptown as а guide for a walking tour by eighth-grade students, the project surveyed selected blocks of buildings in downtown Columbus. The structures were examined for their architectural, historical and aesthetic significance. The information was organized into "tour stops" in which students participating can see the unique features of downtown Columbus as it is today and visualize what it might have looked like over the past century. The project was …

Intrinsic And Extrinsic Motivation: Influence On The Creativity Of Children's Poetry Writing, Violet Rich Hayes

Theses and Dissertations

This study tested the hypothesis that creativity in children's writing will be significantly higher (p< .05) when, prior to writing a poem, children are presented a socially-induced intrinsic motivational orientation than when presented an extrinsic motivational orientation. Eighty sixth grade students were assigned to either a control group, intrinsic motivation group, or extrinsic motivation group. After writing the initial poem, students in the intrinsic orientation condition rank-ordered a 7-item intrinsic reasons for writing questionnaire before writing a second poem. The students in the extrinsic orientation rank-ordered extrinsic reasons for writing. A questionnaire was not given to those in the control condition. There were no significant differences in the creativity of the second poems after the experimental manipulations. The level of significance for individual paired-comparisons and also between group paired-comparisons of the pre- and posttest poems was p>.05. The implications of intrinsic and extrinsic orientations upon children's creativity are discussed.

Seventh-Grade Student Achievement In Length, Perimeter, Area And Volume, Cathy Pierce

Theses and Dissertations

This study was designed to measure seventh-grade achievement in finding length, perimeter, area and volume when four different presentations of the problem were given: standard textbook problems, word problems, students measuring, and problems labeled differently than the standard textbook problems. Each of the 235 subjects took one of four different measurement skills testes developed by the researcher. Results indicate student achievement decreases as the complexity of the attribute increases. Overall, students found standard textbook problems the easiest to solve, followed by word problems, and students measuring, respectively. Problems labeled differently than the standard textbook problem were the most difficult for …

A Validation Study Of An Instructional Design Which Attempts To Teach The Concept Of Faith To Seventeen Mentally Retarded (I.Q.'S 50-75) Seminary Students Of The South Salt Lake Seminary District During The Spring Of 1970, Roger Hendrix

Theses and Dissertations

Recognizing a need to develop religious instructional material for mentally retarded seminary students of the L.D.S. Church, this study was designed to validate an instructional model set up to teach the concept of faith.

Thirty-four mentally retarded seminary students were randomly assigned to six control groups and six experimental groups. Each group was given a sixteen question pre-test. Then, the next day each experimental group was given instructional treatment and the post-test, while the control groups only received the post-test. The Study was geared for a two hour period of time. Results obtained from the analysis of covariance showed a …

The Establishment Of An Instructional Materials Program And Center In The Snake River Seminary District With Guidelines And Recommendations, Wayne Ray Doman

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this project was to establish an instructional materials program and center in the Snake River Seminary District to provide the equipment, materials, and technical skill necessary to enable local production of teacher conceived instructional aids. This was accomplished only after a majority of the teachers had, by a demonstration, been convinced of their need for production facilities.

The equipment and services to be included in the IMC were determined by a survey of teachers' desires and by recommendations from the District Audiovisual Committee, and then funds were raised by a special district project to procure them.

The …

Attitudes Of Lds Seminary Students Toward Different Methods Of Grading, Rex L. Coles

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was twofold: to determine the attitudes of students toward different parts and methods of grading in LDS Seminary, and to determine if significant differences exist in attitudes of students toward their class and teacher when using different methods of grading including a suggested method.

The study reported the areas most preferred by students about grading and the areas least preferred. It reported the evaluation of the suggested method of grading including those areas of most value to the students and those of least value.

The suggested method of grading helped to raise the subjects' grades …

A Study Of The Concerns Of Tenth And Eleventh Grade Seminary Students About The Thirty Five Directional Objectives Of The Lds Seminary System, Lemar Olyn Hanson

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine whether LDS sophomore and junior seminary students have significant differences of concern about concepts and attitudes contained in each of the thirty-five Directional Objectives which guide the curriculum of the Seminary System of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The study involved LDS Seminary students from the Burley, Idaho; Arimo, Idaho and Ogden (Weber) Utah seminaries, and consisted of 164 sophomore and 109 junior students.

An instrument was developed called the Student Inventory. It consisted of statements of concern expressed by a cross section of seminary students about the thirty-five …

An Analysis Of The Development And Use Of Objectives For The Seminary Teachers In The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints, John Paul Fugal

Theses and Dissertations

The literature on educational problems and procedures gives considerable emphasis to objectives. Sometimes called aims, goals, or values, the objectives have been variously formulated according to the philosophy and environment of their authors. Great variation is found in the many codes of objectives which have existed and which now are used in education.

In examining the code of general objectives which has been published and circulated throughout the Latter-day Saint Seminary System since 1943, the writer was of the opinion that these objectives were not fully used by the seminary teachers and that they may not be those really desired …

The Changing Industrial Arts Curriculum In Minnesota, Douglas B. Sowle

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.