Curriculum and Instruction Commons^™

Imparting Practical Wisdom And Resilience To Our Students, Charles (Derrick) Lawson

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

The powerful impact of communicating a teacher’s belief in a student is presented. By sharing trade books and novels with metaphoric messages, teachers can impart practical wisdom and enable students to develop resilience when facing challenges.

Survey Of Students’ Perceptions Of Assertive Discipline And Restorative Discipline In American Christian Academy, Ibadan, Nigeria., Adedayo Oladeji Okunade

Master of Education Program Theses

This action research study investigated the perceptions of students regarding two discipline methods, Restorative Discipline (RD) and Assertive Discipline (AD), at American Christian Academy, Nigeria. The total number of participants was sixty-six students from grades seven through nine. Participants were divided into two groups: grade seven (experimental group) and grades eight and nine (control group). The experimental group was exposed explicitly to the Restorative Discipline Method for four weeks while the control group continued to be exposed to the Assertive Discipline Method (the norm in the school). At the end of four weeks, both groups were given a questionnaire containing …

Holistic Versus Dualistic Christian Worldview: A Study Of Comparative Impact In A Latin American Community, Jinhi K. Roskamp

Master of Education Program Theses

This action research study investigated teacher and student perceptions regarding the impact of worldviews on educational outcomes in an urban, lower income setting in Nicaragua. Two Christian schools, one representing a holistic biblical approach and the other a dualistic approach in similar socio-economic settings were selected for a primarily non-experimental quantitative study to find out whether a holistic biblical worldview orientation in teachers was perceived as more effective in producing student transformation that connected with service to the community. A third school representing a secular approach was included as additional point of comparison. Participants included seven teachers and twelve fourth-grade …

Teachers As World-Makers In The Digital Age, Abby De Groot

Master of Education Program Theses

Despite enormous gains in educational technology and access to information, today’s students still struggle with digital literacy. In fact, some argue that today’s students are so distracted by digital media that their literacy skills are falling behind previous generations. In order to combat this phenomenon, researchers have singled out certain critical literacy skills for today’s students that, when taught effectively, will help those students develop into competent and productive adults: collaboration, composition, attention, evaluation, and responsibility. This study highlights and analyzes this important literacy research in order to help teachers better equip their twenty-first century students. Christian teachers especially should …

Case For Improved Reading Achievement Using A Co-Teaching Model, Jill Van Soelen

Master of Education Program Theses

This action research study investigated the effects of the use of co-teaching on the reading achievement of students from two elementary schools in northwest Iowa. The participants were 103 elementary school students in the second through fourth grade. The sample included 52 students instructed using a co-teaching method of instruction and 51 students who were not instructed using the co-teaching method. Using STAR Reading Assessment data, a comparison of the growth in reading achievement was made between students who were taught by one teacher and students who were taught by a teacher candidate (intern) and experienced cooperating teacher (mentor) using …

Discharge Education Curriculum For Residents Rotating On An Inpatient Pediatric Ward, Kaitlin Widmer, Priti Bhansali, Julie Noffsinger

E-Learning Modules

Adult literature has demonstrated that patient preferences and understanding of discharge instructions can impact success of discharge and even predict return ER visits. There is very little data in pediatric literature describing what information should be discussed with families when providing discharge instructions, and most pediatric residents do not receive formal education on the topic. This curriculum is designed as a brief educational intervention that can improve residents’ comfort and skills in providing discharge education to families. The materials include both how to present the curriculum and tools to assess resident knowledge, behaviors and attitudes regarding discharge education as well …

Youth Empowerment As Demonstrated By The Jóvenes En Acción Program, Kirstin French

Capstone Collection

This paper uses a review of relevant literature on empowerment and youth empowerment theories and models to develop a comprehensive understanding of key elements that are found in youth empowerment programs. Through the literature review, there are five themes identified which can be used to analyze youth programs for the presence of empowerment. The five themes considered are: a power sharing adult-youth relationship, an individual and community level orientation, a safe and supportive environment, peer collaboration, and reflection. A World Learning youth program, Jóvenes en Acción (Youth in Action, or JenA) is used as a case study to understand the …

Imsa© Fusion: Preparing Students For Future Scientific Expertise, Michelle Kolar, Dora Phillips, Elizabeth Martinez, Laurie S. Sutherland

Publications & Research

Illinois adopted the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) on February 19, 2014 with implementation scheduled to begin in the 2016-17 school year. This article explores (1) the national and statewide need for STEM college and career readiness based on current data; (2) the research on best practices in STEM teaching and learning; and (3) the work of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA) to create IMSA Fusion, a science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) educational program that is aligned with NGSS and utilizes research-based best practices to serve Illinois educators and students.

The introduction of the Next Generation Science …

A Multi-Level Analysis Using Naep Data : Examining The Relationships Among Mathematics Coaches And Specialists, Student Achievement, And Disability Status., Kristin Harbour

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With the need to increase students’ mathematics performance and provide a more challenging mathematics curriculum, elementary schools have begun hiring mathematics coaches and specialists (MCSs). However, limited empirical research has been conducted to examine how the use of MCSs relates to student achievement. Using restricted-use data from the 2011 NAEP Mathematics Assessment, the current study examined the relationship between MCSs and the mathematics achievement of more than190,00 fourth-grade students in more than 7,400 schools nationwide. Additionally, the study examined whether that relationship differed for students with and without disabilities, a vital concern with the continued focus of equity in mathematics …

Integrating Ipads In The Kindergarten Classroom: How Does Technology Engage Students In Learning?, Kristine Ray

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

Abstract:

This action research was conducted over the course of a semester with 22 kindergarteners at a public school in Lincoln, Nebraska. The researcher set out to find how technology engaged students in learning using iPads. The students were given a questionnaire to determine prior interactions with technology such as tablets, smartphones, computers or laptops. Majority of students viewed these devices for entertainment and pleasure. After integrating the use of iPads in the classroom for whole group instruction, during guided reading for small group instruction, and during choice time, the students viewed the devices as a learning tool as well …

Exit Tickets' Effect On Engagement And Concept Attainment In High School Science, Amy Mastromonaco

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

Many high school students struggle to stay engaged in their science class. As a result, student learning often suffers. The purpose of this study was to implement one additional strategy (Exit Tickets) to the teacher’s pedagogy in order to help better engage students and promote student learning. The teacher then evaluated the efficacy of the strategy by: comparing both participant behavioral engagement and assessment results prior to and during/after the implementation of the Exit Tickets. The data was disaggregated to compare students who were typically behaviorally disengaged to those who were consistently behaviorally engaged so as to better determine the …

The Learning Landscape: An Assessment Of State Science Standards And Application In A Uri Outreach Center Youth Education Program, Sarah A. Robinson

Senior Honors Projects

Rhode Island state education standards provide educators with curriculum guidance and achievement goals for each grade level. In this case study, I examined the RI state standards and expectations for science education. I undertook this investigation in support of the URI Outreach Center and their elementary education program, Learning Landscape Field Trips. Learning Landscape provides Rhode Island teachers with an opportunity to meet state science standards through the medium of hands-on environmental education programs. Through my investigation, I became fluent in the Learning Landscape curriculum, teaching in more than 20 two-hour sessions. As well, I became familiar with the current …

The Teaching Of Explicit Phonics Effects On Kindergarten Reading Readiness Scores, Shannon Michele Price

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to examine the impact of an explicit phonics program, entitled Ten Minute Phonics, on kindergarten reading readiness scores when compared to students receiving phonics through an integrated curriculum approach. The problem studied ways to determine if the Ten Minute Phonics program participants' mean overall standard scores, alphabetic principle scores, and phonics scores on the STAR Early Literacy test would be significantly higher than kindergarten students who did not complete the program. The population of students was chosen from a school in a suburb of Atlanta. Using a small group format, the treatment group …

Classrooms As Creative Learning Communities: A Lived Curricular Expression, Soon Ye Hwang

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Theses and Other Student Research

Creativity—the fundamental basis of human experience, expression, and learning in the communal world of the classroom—is the primary concern of this dissertation. While creativity is one of the buzzwords of 21^st century education the world over, its lived understanding as fundamental to being human is understudied. This gap calls attention to the significances for all involved of entering into meaning making as creators. To explore the significances, I draw upon and give expression to my experiences of building such creative learning communities (CLC) in my own Multicultural Education (ME) classrooms as a teacher educator and curriculum theorist. Ways to …

Honoring Diversity In An Online Classroom: Approaches Used By Instructors Engaging Through An Lms, Jacob Petersen

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Theses and Other Student Research

This is an inquiry into how online instructors embrace the diversity of their student body while facing the inherent differences between a traditional face-to-face class and one that is taught online. Current research suggests that diversity in a traditional classroom is an asset if the instructor is sensitive to students’ backgrounds. This paper examines if such philosophies in traditional classrooms translate well into a distance education environment, where the student body may be even more diverse than a face-to-face class, but possibly unrecognizable because of the lack of physical cues. Research on the topic of multiculturalism in an online classroom …

Assessing The Relationship Between Student And Faculty Perceptions Of Student Engagement At Central Mountain College, Brandi R. K. Atnip

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study compared the perceptions of students versus faculty at Central Mountain College with regard to the issue of student engagement. Central Mountain College participated in the Community College Survey of Student Engagement and the Community College Faculty Survey of Student Engagement during the spring semesters of 2009, 2011, and 2013. The institution was provided with aggregate results from these survey administrations by the Center for Community College Student Engagement. Prior to this study, the survey results had not been accumulatively evaluated by the institution.

The study aimed to determine areas where there was congruence and incongruence between the students …

Perceived Attributes And Factors Influencing Instructors’ Using E-Textbooks In Higher Education, Sirui Wang

Dissertations

As digital content, e-Textbooks display text on the screen, integrate multimedia within textual components, and allow reading on portable devices; which make learning highly interactive, flexible, and immediately accessible, increase students’ engagements in learning, and make learning content portable, transferrable, and searchable. Those advanced features did not bring prosperity in using e-Textbooks in education. The adoption of using e-Textbooks in higher education is still far from its confirmation stage. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the perceived attributes of using e-Textbooks by instructors and their actual use of e-Textbooks in higher educational settings, to discuss …

Defining Primary And Academic Discourse Through Instructional Methods In A Single Junior High Classroom, Ashley Nicole Gerhardson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this study, I examine the use of academic discourse in the school setting and discuss the relation of the primary discourse to academic discourse. I focus on the verbal exchanges between a teacher and her students as these students acquire the academic discourse of the English classroom. The study focuses on the ideas of primary discourse and secondary or academic discourse as presented by Gee (1996) and focuses on his idea of Social languages.

Using a microethnographic study, I develop the idea of how the teacher related to her students and how a single educator felt about the purpose …

Career And Technical Education (Cte) And High School Student Success In Tennessee, Jerry Alan Sayers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the relationship between participation in CTE programs and students’ graduation rates and rates of CTE students’ entrance into postsecondary education or employment after graduation. Possible differences between students’ enrollment in urban and rural school districts and their graduation, participation, and secondary placement rates were also considered. Publicly available data on high school students in the state of Tennessee were analyzed to compare the graduation rates of CTE participants with the graduation rates of non-CTE participants in the state as a whole and in nine selected urban school districts and nine selected …

The Effects Of Expository Text Structure Instruction On The Reading Outcomes Of 4th And 5th Graders Experiencing Reading Difficulties, Janet J. Bohaty

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of a standard protocol supplemental expository text structure intervention (i.e., Structures) on 45 4^th and 5^th graders experiencing reading difficulties. Students were enrolled in six K-8 parochial schools located in a Midwestern suburban city. Within classrooms, students were randomly assigned to Structures intervention or a business-as-usual control condition. Students in the Structures condition were taught to identify and discriminate among the five text structures used by authors of expository text (Meyer, 1975, 1985): description, sequence, cause/effect, compare/contrast, and problem/solution. Students in the business-as-usual control condition participated in the …

Effective Practices For Developing Academic Language And Writing Skills In English Language Learners In The Elementary School Setting, Jenna N. Emadzadeh

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

With an increased population of English Language Learners (ELLs), educators are in need of programs and strategies that help their students learn academic content while learning to understand, speak, read, and write English (Duessen, Autio, Roccegrandi & Hanita, 2014). ELLs face several obstacles while learning in an elementary school classroom.

Studies have shown the positive effects of word analysis and vocabulary learning strategies on student achievement (Carlo, August, McLaughlin, Snow, Dressler, Lippman, Lively & White, 2004). Project GLAD is a model of professional development in the area of language acquisition and literacy that focuses on such instruction. According to Echevarria …

Teacher Perceptions On The Ethics Of Using Corporate-Sponsored Curriculum In The Classroom, Laura J. Lightfoot

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

Corporate involvement in education has always been a hotly debated issue. Is it a conflict of interests if companies provide material and information to schools? Or is it their civic responsibility and best interest to help promote education in order to create exceptional future employees? As budget cuts continue to devastate public schools throughout the United States, districts and teachers are looking for alternative means to provide the best education that they can. Many corporations are providing additional resources at minimal to no cost to schools, but with what consequences? Corporate created curriculum does not have as rigorous restrictions or …

Helping English Language Learners Develop Writing Proficiency Using The Thesis Evidence Model In The High School Social Studies Classroom, Keith R. Fleming

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

English Language Learners (ELL) are struggling to develop literacy skills in social studies classes at the high school level in conjunction with the transition to Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and assessment. The researcher conducted a qualitative teacher action research study. Participants included freshman high school students in mainstream, college preparatory, World Cultures classes in an affluent, suburban, public school district in California.

Through this teacher action research study, 34 high school grade students responded to a writing prompt used a pre-test evaluation. Students were then guided through a lesson sequence teaching writing strategies based in the Thesis-Evidence model. Upon …

Common Core Math And Critical Reasoning, Lorna M. Hayman

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

This teacher research action study compared the performance of students in mathematical critical reasoning for selected strands of math under the new Common Core Math Standards with their performance under the old California State Standards. Student scores from in-class tests and quizzes were comparatively analyzed over the duration of a year in one sixth grade classroom in Northern California. Findings from this study indicated a minimal increase in the critical reasoning skills of the students under the Common Core Standards when compared to the California State Standards. The results of the study imply that there is a need for longitudinal …

The Effect Of Student-Generated Case Studies On Conflict Resolution Style Development, David Dean Nemitz

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

With recent technological advances, which not only impact the manner in which we deliver higher education but also the essential outcomes pertaining to the disciplines, curriculum design must also advance. Designing pathways to engage students with activities that allow them to deepen their understanding of concepts but more importantly equip them to apply the concept is of high value. The following research outlines a quantitative study of the effect student-generated case studies have on the conflict resolution style development using a quasi-experimental design. This study examined experiential learning theory as it relates to developing conflict resolution styles by comparing conflict …

Student Understanding Of Function And Success In Calculus, Daniel I. Drlik

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if there is a relationship between student success in calculus and student understanding of function. Student understanding of function was measured using two questionnaires, one of which is a modification of an existing measure based on APOS theory. The other I developed with items from the concept image literature. The participants of this study were 116 high school students who were enrolled in a first-year calculus course. The results of the questionnaires were aligned to course exam scores to determine connections between function understanding and rate of success in calculus.

A major …

Increasing Phonemic Awareness In Kindergarten Students: Using Ipads In Language Arts Centers, Michelle Harrison

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

Language arts teachers find that students at any elementary grade show a wide range of abilities, specifically in the area of phonemic awareness. Student abilities are not evaluated accurately using paper pencil tests.

A review of the literature addresses teaching approaches and effective use of technology in an elementary classroom. Implications of the research suggest that student engagement with technology have an impact on their learning (Kearsley & Shneiderman 1998). The research indicates that, if teachers do not monitor progress,students often view the use of iPad apps as games, not educational opportunities. Research findings emphasize that in order for students …

The Major Dilemma, Erin Bohan

Senior Honors Projects

The variety of academic majors offered by universities seems to become more eclectic each year. From public relations to environmental economics to 3D graphics, the coursework and journeys taken by students across the country are exceptionally diverse. The University of Rhode Island offers over 100 majors, making it undeniable that some disciplines are disparate. My project calls attention to similarities in an area where the focus is customarily on the contrary. Before students were categorized, they all faced the same question – “What should my major be?”

At an age where we search for ways to identify ourselves, we often …

Experts As Teachers: Can We Abate The Disconnect Between Expert And Student?, Bailey Mallon

Senior Honors Projects

Studies have found that experts often fail as good teachers, mainly because there is a lack of communication within their specific area (Feldon, 2007). Experts may routinely underestimate how difficult a task can be for a newcomer (Hinds, 1999) and even when attempting to make a task easier, they omit information a novice would find valuable (Hinds, Patterson, & Pfeffer, 2001) because they unintentionally assume that non-experts are aware of and possess knowledge that only those already familiar in the field might have, and would thus know what they are talking about. Furthermore, there are factors controllable by the professor, …

Teaching Algebra: A Comparison Of Scottish And American Perspectives, Brittany Munro

Undergraduate Honors Theses

A variety of factors influence what teaching strategies an educator uses. I analyze survey responses from algebra teachers in Scotland and Appalachia America to discover how a teacher's perception of these factors, particularly their view of mathematics itself, determines the pedagogical strategies employed in the classroom.