Curriculum and Instruction Commons^™

Inner City African American Girls' Learning Mathematics: Parental Influence And Classroom Experience As They Impact Mathematics Scores On The Act, Sharon Alicia Simeon

Wayne State University Dissertations

The objective of this study was to discover how parents (N=47), through their input at home, influence the mathematical performance of their daughters; how female African American students view their teachers' influence in their mathematical thinking; how critical is the mathematical classroom experience for African American girls; and can positive classroom experiences (teacher implementation of best practices) significantly add to the effect of the parental mathematical input at home. And lastly, how much can the two factors together predict higher mathematics scores on the ACT. Research instruments consisted of parent and student surveys. The participants were African American girls who …

Investigating The Effectiveness Of Problem-Based Learning In 3d Virtual Worlds. A Preliminary Report On The Hadrian’S Villa Project, Lee Taylor-Helms, Lynne. Kvapil, John Fillwalk, Bernard Frischer

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

This paper discusses a recent study to test the effectiveness of combining 3D virtual worlds (VWs) with Problem Based Learning (PBL) in archaeological education of undergraduate college students at two American universities. The testbed used was a virtual world of Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli (Italy), a World Heritage Site dating to the reign of Hadrian (117-138 CE). At both universities courses were offered on the villa using a PBL approach in such a way that the relative strengths and weaknesses of learning based on face-to-face, 2D, and VW presentations could be assessed. The study helped to clarify ways in which …

Bringing Out The Dead: Curriculum History As Memory, Ann G. Winfield

Education Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Are Your S'S In Effect? Ensuring Culturally Responsive Physical Education Environments, Brian Culp

Faculty Articles

Schools have rapidly becoming a kaleidoscope of ethnicities and cultures represented by demographic changes that have affected America’s schools. As educators in this era of change, a unique opportunity exists to ensure quality physical education for all students. Culturally responsive practices in the classroom can assist in minimizing students' alienation as they attempt to adjust to the different "worlds" often represented in school.

Literacy For All In 100 Days? A Research Based Strategy For Fast Progress In Low Income Countries, Helen Abadzi

Curriculum and Instruction Faculty Publications - Archive

In low-income countries many students are marginalized very early and remain illiterate. In grades 1-3 they attend rarely, though they may officially drop out in grade 4. Many others graduate from primary school without having learned letter values. The worrisome outcomes, despite much donor investment in low-income countries, have prompted scrutiny of the methods, and textbooks used to make students literate. This document offers insights from cognitive neuroscience and evidence suggesting that students can be taught basic literacy within the first semester of grade 1, if taught in consistently spelled languages. Teaching students at risk of dropout to read as …

Creating An Interdisciplinary Research Course In Mathematical Ecology, Glenn Ledder, Brigitte Tenhumberg

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

An integrated interdisciplinary research course in biology and mathematics is useful for recruiting students to interdisciplinary research careers, but there are difficulties involved in creating and implementing it. We describe the genesis, objectives, design policies, and structure of the Research Skills in Theoretical Ecology course at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and discuss the difficulties that can arise in designing and implementing interdisciplinary courses.

An Interdisciplinary Research Course In Theoretical Ecology For Young Undergraduates, Glenn Ledder, Brigitte Tenhumberg, G. Travis Adams

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

As part of an interdepartmental effort to attract promising young students to research at the interface between mathematics and biology, we created a course in which groups of recent high school graduates and first-year college students conducted a research project in insect population dynamics. The students set up experiments, collected data, used the data to develop mathematical models, tested their models against further experiments, and prepared their results for dissemination. The course was self-contained in that the lecture portion developed the mathematical, statistical, and biological background needed for the research. A special writing component helped students learn the principles of …

Organization Of Schooling In Three Countries, Edmund T. Hamann, Saloshna Vandeyar, Juan Sanchez Garcia

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

It has been more than 30 years since Britan and Cohen (1980) assembled a number of leading anthropologists in a joint call for an anthropology of bureaucracies. Their call was a refinement and rearticulation of a more enduring concern in anthropology, illustrated in particular in the work of South Africa-born, British anthropologist Meyer Fortes (1938) who was interested in what McDermott and Raley (2011: 46) have summarized as "the acquisition of kinds of people by social structure."

One starting point for an anthropology of organizations that sees schools as a particular kind of organization meriting direct scrutiny is the anthropology …

Acknowledging The Religious Beliefs Students Bring Into The Science Classroom: Using The Bounded Nature Of Science, Sherry A. Southerland, Lawrence C. Scharmann

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Scientific knowledge often appears to contradict many students’ religious beliefs. Indeed, the assumptions of science appear contradictory to the metaphysical claims of many religions. This conflict is most evident in discussions of biological evolution. Teachers, in attempts to limit the controversy, often avoid this topic or teach it superficially. Recently, there has been a political effort to teach to the controversy—which some see as a way of introducing religious explanations for biological diversity into science classrooms. Many science educators reject this approach, insisting that teachers limit classroom discussions to science alone. This science only approach leaves the negotiation of alternative …

Where Is Earth Science? Mining For Opportunities In Chemistry, Physics, And Biology, Julie Thomas, Toni Ivey, Jim Puckette

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

The Earth sciences are newly marginalized in K–12 classrooms. With few high schools offering Earth science courses, students’ exposure to the Earth sciences relies on the teacher’s ability to incorporate Earth science material into a biology, chemistry, or physics course. “G.E.T. (Geoscience Experiences for Teachers) in the Field” is an exploratory program funded by the National Science Foundation aimed to increase teachers’ geoscience interest and content knowledge. Participant teachers (n = 7) included non–Earth science teachers from underrepresented groups and/or high schools with a high percentage of students from underrepresented groups. A variety of quantitative and qualitative measures assessed …

Public Acts Of Self-Deliberation: Preparation For Discursive Democracy In Education, Vonzell Agosto

Educational and Psychological Studies Faculty Publications

This conceptual essay forwards self-deliberation as an act to be included in the preparation of educators and administrators. Self-deliberation is defined as a public act of deliberation that can be instigated pedagogically to prepare students for difficult dialogues on enduring issues in education. Self-deliberation provides another pedagogical method for preparing aspiring educators to participate in deliberative or discursive democracy. Narrative vignettes are used to illustrate the acts of self-deliberation performed by aspiring teachers of color as they consider controversial issues such as affirmative action, racial segregation, and culturally relevant education.

In-Service Teachers’ Understanding And Teaching Of Humane Education Before And After A Standards-Based Intervention, Stephanie Itle-Clark

Education Collection

The purpose of this study was to examine the ways in which credentialed educators conceptualized, understood, and perceived humane education, as well as their intent to include humane education in personal practice and their knowledge of strategies for integrating humane education concepts into their classroom work. The group of 25 educators participated in an online eight-week professional development course and completed pre- and post-surveys. The participants consisted of educators from the United States, British Columbia, and Vietnam. Participants were 11 secondary educators, 10 primary educators, 2 substitute teachers, 1 administrator, and 1 librarian. Results indicate that after an eight-week professional …

An Investigation Of Traditional Professional Development Versus Reform Professional Development And The Implementation Of Strategies, Curriculum And Classroom Environment By Prekindergarten Teachers, Helen Marie Oliver-Brooks

Wayne State University Dissertations

ABSTRACT

AN INVESTIGATION OF TRADITIONAL PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT VERSUS REFORM PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND THE IMPLEMENTATION OF STRATEGIES, CURRICULUM AND CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT BY PRE- KINDERGARTEN TEACHERS

by

HELEN OLIVER-BROOKS

May 2013

Advisor: Dr. Marc Rosa

Major: Curriculum and Instruction

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

The purpose of this study is to investigate differences between traditional conventional professional development and high quality reflective professional development and curriculum implementation of classroom practices. This study examined the extent to which professional development activities were associated with increased levels of curriculum implementation. Differences in curriculum implementation, teacher knowledge, and changes to teaching practice based upon the type …

Navigating The New Normal, Terre H. Allen, Holly Harbinger, Donald J. Para

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Faculty socialization and satisfaction are critical to retaining quality teacher/scholars and key to a well-functioning teaching-intensive, research-driven university (Ponjuan, Conley, and Trower, 2011). This chapter reports on a year-long research project aimed at investigating faculty work life and satisfaction at a large, urban, comprehensive state university. Our goal was to use empirical evidence to understand and support faculty work under the "new normal" conditions characterized by reduced state funding and increased faculty workload. We discuss the results in terms of a revitalized direction for facuity and explore directions for organizational development within the context of the new normal.

Envisioning Creative Collaboration Between Faculty And Technologists, Gail A. Rathbun, Sally Kuhlenschmidt, David Sacks

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Faculty developers must often mediate conflicts resulting from differences between seemingly mutually exclusive cultures that university technolo gists and university teachers inhabit. Activity theory embraces workplace conflict as normal and as contributing to organizing health and adapta tion, in contrast to a functionalist approach that focuses on how to maintain system equilibrium. Engestrom’s (1987) interpretation of activity theory provides a theoretically informed framework for under standing different forms of human activity, mediated by culturally mol ded rules, values, and division of labor, without suffering from the polarizing effects of an us-versus-them approach.

Connect To Learning: Using E-Portfolios In Hybrid Professional Development, Bret Eynon, Judit Török, Laura M. Gambino

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Based at LaGuardia Community College, the Connect to Learning (C2L) project has developed an innovative hybrid professional development model using e-portfolios, online conversations, and face-to-(ace meetings to support campus leadership teams as they strengthen e-portfolio initiatives on twenty-five diverse campuses nationwide. The C2L model adapts a conceptual framework of inquiry, reflection, and integration to a hybrid context and addresses the challenge of local professional devel opment leadership for classroom and institutional change.

Developing A Faculty Learning Community Grounded In The Science Of How People Learn: A Year-Long, Faculty-Led Teaching And Learning Seminar, Alison Rudnitsky, Glenn W. Ellis, Patricia Marten Dibartolo, Kevin M. Shea

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This chapter describes a multiyear professional development effort undertaken by a learning and teaching center at a liberal arts college. As part of its founding mandate, the center helps faculty improve teaching by paying attention to the current literature about how people learn. This core commitment of our center is pursued through support of a year-long faculty seminar. Now in its fourth year, the seminar has had a significant impact on its faculty participants and their thinking about teaching and learning. Moreover, the seminar has seeded a number of teaching and assessment initiatives at the college.

Faculty Development Scholarship: An Analysis Of To Improve The Academy, 1982-2011, Kathryn E. Linder, Suzanna Klaf

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

As To Improve the Academy enters its thirty-second year, this chapter offers a retrospective to honor the history of the field through a timely analysis of the content published in TIA and editorial and authorship trends over the previous three decades. Frequency distributions identify the most published authors, their institutional affiliations, the most written about topics, and patterns of collaborative authorship in volumes 1 (1982) through 30 (2011), and findings from a citation analysis of ten years of TIA (volumes 21-30), highlight trends in resources cited and types of resources.

Program Planning, Prioritizing, And Improvement: A Simple Heuristic, Peter Felten, Deandra Little, Leslie Ortquist-Ahrens, Michael Reder

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

As educational developers working with multiple constituencies and demands on our time, how can we efficiently and creatively improve our programming and prioritize our efforts? In this chapter, we offer a simple heuristic to prompt quick yet generative examination of our goals or programs in relationship to three key characteristics of effective educa tional development on three different institutional levels. We then describe uses and applications of the tool and reflective process, which allow developers to efficiently gain insight into their work and effectively frame priorities for planning and improvement.

A Consultations Tracking Database System For Improving Faculty Development Consultation Services, Jason Rhode, Murali Krishnamurthi

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

The role of the facuity development center in supporting the academic environment of the institution often includes creating or sustaining a culture of teaching excellence, responding to individual faculty members’ needs, and advancing new initiatives in teaching and learning (Sorcinelli, Austin, Eddy, and Beach, 2006). The varied programs, resources, and services offered routinely result from efforts to meet the expressed needs of faculty. While workshops and seminars are effective for introducing new pedagogical approaches or emerging technologies, faculty often have unique questions within specialized contexts that cannot be fully addressed in a large group setting. In such instances, a more …

From Outsiders To Insiders: Graduate Assistant Development At State Comprehensive Universities, Kathleen M. Brennan, Laura Cruz, Freya B. Kinner

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

We assess graduate assistant competency in key skills that employers in and outside of academia value and examine whether these skills are developed in the context of the graduate assistantship (GA) at a specific state comprehensive university. The GAs in our sample rate themselves as competent or very competent on all skills and report their GA experience somewhat influenced or influenced their skill competencies. Furthermore, perception of how one’s graduate assistantship influenced skill compe tency was significantly associated with perceived skill competency level. Based on these findings, we qiscuss distinct gaps that could be addressed to facilitate GA development at …

Tomorrow's Professor Today: Tracking Perceptions Of Preparation For Future Faculty Competencies, Michael S. Palmer, Deandra Little

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

The University of Virginia’s Tomorrow’s Professor Today (TPT) pro gram is a broadly conceived graduate student professional development program designed to facilitate the transition from student to academic professional. Begun in 2005 in response to the recommendations of a number of national reform initiatives, TPT focuses on improving pre paredness in three key areas: teaching, research, and service. We describe the key elements of the program and ongoing assessment efforts. Pre- and postprogram participant surveys from the first eight years show that TPT is improving perceptions of preparedness in twenty-one competencies tracked; follow-up studies support long-term impact.

Student Consultants Of Color And Faculty Members Working Together Toward Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy, Alison Cook-Sather, Praise Agu

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Through positioning undergraduate students as pedagogical consultants to college faculty, Students as Learners and Teachers is a program that provides reconceptualized "counterspaces" for students and facuity members with whom they work. In our study of the experiences of consultants of color, we found that those students and their faculty partners used program counterspaces to explore links between their lived identities and pedagogical commitments and to share authority and responsibility in developing culturally sustaining pedagogy. In this chapter we report on participants’ experiences in these collaborations and how they legitimate the knowledge of students of color in faculty learning.

Mobile App Learning Lounge: A Scalable And Sustainable Model For Twenty-First-Century Learning, Michael H. Truong

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Twenty-first-century learning is increasingly defined by the use of mobile devices and applications. Centers for teaching and learning can help facuity and students acquire greater familiarity and fluency with just-in-time learning using mobile apps by creating informal, inviting, and informative learning spaces on their campuses. This chapter features the Mobile App Learning Lounge (MALL), a low-cost, high impact initiative of a center for teaching and learning at a California research university. Beyond sharing how MALL works, this chapter offers practical suggestions and strategies for replicating a similar ini tiative at other institutions.

Determining Our Own Tempos: Exploring Slow Pedagogy, Curriculum, Assessment, And Professional Development, Peter A. Shaw, Jennifer L. Russell

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Key concepts and values in the Slow Living movement speak to many questions and tensions arising around calls for change in higher educa tion, porous work/life boundaries, rapid developments in technology, concerns about sustainability, and a desire to question assumptions and move beyond tips and tricks to more fundamental issues in curriculum and pedagogy. We propose a framework for Slow learning and teaching that incorporates various trends in curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment with implications for the role of technology and for professional development.

Formal And Informal Support For Pretenure Faculty: Recommendations For Administrators And Institutions, Gwendolyn Mettetal, Gail M. Mcguire

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

We analyze interviews from sixty-five faculty and administrators to understand the formal and informal types of support that pretenure faculty use to navigate their way to tenure. By understanding the different types of support that pretenure faculty need, institutions can better address the diverse issues that junior facuity confront when preparing for tenure and can ensure that all candidates receive some type of support. We conclude that institutions need to be intentional about offering both formal and informal support to pretenure faculty at various points in their careers.

Assessing The Long–Term Impact Of A Professional Development Program, Marcia M. Tennill, Margaret W. Cohen

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This study was designed to explore the long-term impact of a year-long facuity development program on participants. Three guiding questions focused the study: In what ways did the program influence the profes sional lives of participants five years after completion? How did the participants integrate those experiences into their professional lives? and What recommendations for best practices in the field of facuity devel opment can be drawn? Donald Kirkpatrick’s four-level evaluation model was the template for this qualitative research. Results indicated that participants retained program learning over time.

Enhancing Vitality In Academic Medicine: Faculty Development And Productivity, Megan M. Palmer, Krista Longtin-Hoffmann, Tony Ribera, Mary E. Dankoski, Amy K. Ribera, Tom F. Nelson Laird

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

The prevalence of low satisfaction and increased stress among faculty in academic medicine makes understanding facuity vitality in this field more important than ever before. To explore the contributors to and outcomes of faculty vitality, we conducted a multi-institutional study of faculty in academic medicine (N = 1,980, 42 percent response rate). Faculty were surveyed about climate and leadership, career and life management, satisfaction, engagement, productivity, and involvement in faculty development. Analysis reveals that controlling for other factors, academic medicine faculty who participate regularly in facuity development activ ities are significantly more satisfied, engaged, and productive.

Adapting School-Based Substance Use Prevention Curriculum Through Cultural Grounding: A Review And Exemplar Of Adaptation Processes For Rural Schools, Margaret Colby, Michael L. Hecht, Michelle Miller-Day, Janice L. Krieger, Amy K. Syvertsen, John W. Graham, Jonathan Pettigrew

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

A central challenge facing twenty-first century community-based researchers and prevention scientists is curriculum adaptation processes. While early prevention efforts sought to develop effective programs, taking programs to scale implies that they will be adapted, especially as programs are implemented with populations other than those with whom they were developed or tested. The principle of cultural grounding, which argues that health message adaptation should be informed by knowledge of the target population and by cultural insiders, provides a theoretical rational for cultural regrounding and presents an illustrative case of methods used to reground the keepin’ it REAL substance use prevention curriculum …

A Method For Simulating Burr Type Iii And Type Xii Distributions Through Moments And Correlations, Mohan Pant, Todd C. Headrick

Curriculum and Instruction Faculty Publications - Archive

This paper derives the Burr Type III and Type XII family of distributions in the contexts of univariate ??-moments and the ??- correlations. Included is the development of a procedure for specifying nonnormal distributions with controlled degrees of ??-skew, ??-kurtosis, and ??-correlations. The procedure can be applied in a variety of settings such as statistical modeling (e.g., forestry, fracture roughness, life testing, operational risk, etc.) and Monte Carlo or simulation studies. Numerical examples are provided to demonstrate that ??-moment-based Burr distributions are superior to their conventional moment-based analogs in terms of estimation and distribution fitting. Evaluation of the proposed procedure …