Curriculum and Instruction Commons^™

Promoting Preservice Stem Education Teachers' Metacognitive Awareness: Professional Development Designed To Improve Teacher Metacognitive Awareness, Andrew John Hughes, Eddie Partida

Educational Leadership & Technology Faculty Publications

This quantitative portion of a convergent complementarity, mixed-methods, exploratory study describes the design and implementation of a 5-week preservice teacher professional development (PD) experience and the associated Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI) measures before and after the experience. The PD experience was designed to explicitly address participants’ domain-general and domain-specific knowledge and regulation of cognition through a highly integrated academic and clinical preparation regimen centered on a cognitive coaching model. The study participants comprised preservice STEM education teachers (N = 11) enrolled in a dual teaching certification and Master’s in Education program. The findings showed an increase in participants’ regulation …

Concrete Beam Design: Pouring The Foundation To Engineering In T&E Classrooms, Andrew J. Hughes, Chris Merrill

Educational Leadership & Technology Faculty Publications

Ask a middle or high school student if they could design a concrete beam that weighs only 20 pounds and is 36” long but must hold 600 pounds without failing. What is the student likely to say? What if the student was told that, with some optimized decision making based on relatively straightforward mathematics, their beam could hold 2400 pounds or more? The focus of this article is not on concrete beam design, it is rather an introduction to engineering principles in beam design using a lab activity. The concepts and skills learned in this article will lead students into …

Analyzing Concrete Beam Design: Verifying Predictions In T&Ee Classrooms, Andrew J. Hughes, Chris Merrill

Educational Leadership & Technology Faculty Publications

Design is often accepted as a fundamental aspect of engineering (Dym, et al., 2005). The design process is frequently portrayed as a set of steps. However, the design process is more complex than just a set of steps in a relatively fixed process. The complex nature of design, design thinking, questioning, and decision-making is exactly what technology and engineering classrooms are well suited to address. When addressing the question—“Why is technology and engineering education (T&EE) so important?”—the authors believe T&EE’s importance relates to our discipline’s ability to solve complex problems by balancing theory and practice in engaging hands-on learning scenarios …

Mining Educational Implications Of Minecraft, Youngkyun Baek, Ellen Min, Seongchul Yun

Educational Technology Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study aims to explore the educational potential of Minecraft which has been widely used since its first release in 2009. Articles about Minecraft were searched for in ProQuest. Data was gathered from twenty-six articles which were indicative of three categories: Integration into curriculum; Student engagement, interest and enthusiasm; and Knowledge and skills acquisition. By using Minecraft, students acquire knowledge and skills, and are also engaged, interested and enthusiastic when Minecraft is employed in science, math, social sciences, language arts and composition classes. Challenges with using Minecraft in the classroom include the lack of focused learning objectives, inflexible curriculum, and …

Flexible Teaching For Student Success: A Three-Tiered Initiative To Prepare Faculty For Flexible Teaching, Devshikha Bose, Lisa Berry, Rob Nyland, Anthony Saba, Teresa Focarile

CTL Teaching Gallery

The COVID-19 pandemic brought some unique challenges for the academic community. To counter the disruption caused by campus closure, faculty who taught in-person, blended, and hybrid courses needed to be prepared to pivot to remote instruction. This article describes the design and evaluation results of a three-tiered professional development initiative that focused on preparing faculty to teach with flexibility, whatever may be the necessary teaching environment. This design may serve as a model for professional developers building similar programs for faculty. The authors also share a resource—a Flexible Learning and Instruction Plan (FLIP).

Exhibit Curriculum For Fighting For Democracy: Unit Three, Sarah Aponte, Martin Toomajian

Open Educational Resources

Exhibit curriculum for the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute exhibit, Fighting for Democracy: Dominican Veterans from World War II.

Students in Global History and U.S. History courses often spend extensive class time studying World War II. Dominicans were involved in virtually every facet of the U.S. war effort. The Dominican Studies Institute's exhibit highlights Dominican veterans who served in both the European and Pacific theaters, in multiple branches of the U.S. armed forces. These same veterans, like other people of color, faced discrimination as soldiers in the U.S. An exploration of these veterans' experiences would be memorable and valuable for secondary …

Eportfolios As A High Impact Practice, Neal Malik

Q2S Enhancing Pedagogy

An e-portfolio has been recognized as a High Impact Practice (HIP). High Impact Practices are defined as “educational experiences that are meaningful, require student action and participation, and contribute to the life-long learning of the student.” (AACU, 2019, ¶2). Preliminary research has revealed that students that engage in HIPs are more likely to achieve higher grades, more readily retain and transfer information, and may narrow equity gaps (Kuh, Gambino, Ludvik, & O’Donnell, 2008). An e-portfolio is an interactive personal digital archive that may contain artifacts (such as resumes, curricula vitae, personal statements, etc.) or examples of achievements (such as projects, …

Fun With Grammar, Beena Anil

Teacher India

Activity-based learning can help students to learn grammar. Dr Beena Anil shares practical tips.

How Workload Influences The Emotional Aspects Of Principals' Work, Cameron Hauseman

Journal of Educational Leadership in Action

Principals’ work is more complex and time consuming than in the past. An expanding workload also heightens the emotional aspects of principals’ work and can make it difficult for principals to manage their emotions. Using findings from interviews with 13 school principals, this study identifies how workload influences the emotional aspects of contemporary principals’ work. Participating principals indicated three areas where workload influences the emotional aspects of their work. These three areas include how managing an intensifying and expanding workload can heighten emotions, as well as navigating the legal aspects of principals’ work and being called out of the school …

In Memory Of Dr. Ronald Reigner, Dawn Owens

Georgia Journal of Literacy

Leaders and members of Georgia Association of Literacy Advocates (GALA), formerly Georgia Reading Association (GRA), were deeply saddened by the recent passing of a revered friend, Dr. Ronald Reigner. The association extends sincere appreciation for the contributions of Dr. Reigner, a Georgia Reading Association (GRA) Past President. Dr. Reigner served the organization faithfully in numerous positions during the past twenty years, including GRA President, GRA Executive Committee member, GRA Board of Directors member, GRA committee chair, local council president, and student council sponsor/liaison.

Collegial Feedback: Navigating The Obstacles, Anna Coats, Shaunee Howard, Kevin Ward

Instructional Modules for Professional learning Responding to Opportunities and Valuing Educators (IMPROVE)

The purpose of this PLM is to provide a conceptual framework for effective collegial feedback and to enhance the educational process. It was devised to empower individuals through building capacity in identifying possible obstacles to effective collegial feedback and to acquaint individuals with resources and strategies to overcome obstacles in collegial feedback. This PLM was designed for educators who have to provide feedback, including mentors, instructional coaches, and peer observers. Because it aligns with the adult learners’ ways of knowing, it is geared toward those who give feedback to adults rather than K-12 students.

View professional learning module.

Coaching The Resistant Teacher, Mallory Bricker, Gwendolyn Johnson, Lashaunda Plain-Mamon

Instructional Modules for Professional learning Responding to Opportunities and Valuing Educators (IMPROVE)

This module was created to assist instructional coaches, curriculum facilitators, peer coaches, assistant principals, or anyone in a leadership position to help teachers grow professionally. You, the instructional coach or leader, have expertise in content, andragogy, pedagogy, and communication. However, as instructional leaders, we have all come up against the teacher unwilling to participate in the coaching process. According to Lancaster (2016), the challenges that instructional coaches encounter are "teacher resistance to coaching support, scheduling conflicts, ill-defined roles and responsibilities, lack of administrative support, and teacher reluctance to change" (p. 23). No matter the reason, through this module you will …

From Student Engagement To Student Empowerment, Gail D. Gallman, Kelsey J. Gibson

Instructional Modules for Professional learning Responding to Opportunities and Valuing Educators (IMPROVE)

This Professional Learning Module is designed to provide educators with the resources and skills to move their classroom interactions from engaging students to empowering students. The module focuses on six levels of student empowerment that focus on the whole child: intellectual, emotional, behavioral, physical, social, and cultural engagement. Throughout the module, educators will be provided with a series of activities that provide the educator with the opportunity to reflect on and engage with the strategies as they are represented in their own classrooms.

View professional learning module.

Diversity Informed Practices For Effective Family And School Communication, Shanda Jones, Joyce Patton, Tiffani Richardson

Instructional Modules for Professional learning Responding to Opportunities and Valuing Educators (IMPROVE)

This module is designed to encourage teachers to examine their own perceptions of poverty and how these perceptions can influence and impact the degree and quality of parent communication. The module is self-paced and presents teachers with a variety of perspectives and resources to appeal to multiple learning modalities. As teachers increase their knowledge base about perceptions of poverty and family communication they will begin to bridge the home/school communication gap and improve student outcomes.

View professional learning module.

Using Book Clubs To Encourage Middle School Reading Interest: A Qualitative Case Study, Marc Shoemaker

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Reading has been central to my life since my earliest years and has molded me into the adult I have become, for better or worse. My conversations in classrooms, backed by research, has made it plain that today’s students value reading far less than in the past. Books are still read in class, but less out-of-class reading takes place, and a lessening number of students carry a love of reading into adulthood. Student attitude toward reading changes during the middle-school years. As reading increases children’s empathy and critical thinking abilities, this becomes a significant concern. For my research, I chose …

Self-Contained And Departmental Educational Delivery Systems: A Case Study Of Differences In Student Achievement And Behavior, Robert Eugene Smith Iii

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This study investigated the differences in achievement and behavior for fifth-grade students taught using a self-contained instructional model compared to students taught using a departmentalized model. Differences based on selected demographic/attribute variables were also investigated. Teacher perceptions regarding the differences in the two organizational models were also examined. Data were collected from the West Virginia Department of Education’s end of the year student academic achievement assessment (The West Virginia General Summative Assessment), the West Virginia Department of Education’s online information system (WVEIS), and teacher surveys. Data suggest differences in the two instructional models along with significant differences in male and …

Special Education Teachers’ Perceptions Of The Predictors For Improving Post School Outcomes For Students With Disabilities, Ann Marie Wilkinson

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Students with disabilities are faced with overwhelming challenges as they transition from high school to postsecondary education, careers, and independent living. Legislation has mandated that schools provide services for students with disabilities to prepare them for these transitions into adult life (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 2004). To assist schools in providing more meaningful services, the National Technical Assistance Center on Transition (NTACT) identified and defined 20 predictors for post-school success (Test, Mazzotti et al., 2009, Test & Cook, 2012, Rowe et al., 2015, & Mazzotti et al., 2016). This study examined the perceptions of high school special education teachers …

2020-2021 Graduate Catalog, Wku Graduate School

Graduate School

Graduate School catalog regarding admissions, curriculum and policies.

Nurturing Excellence: A Case Study Of High School Learning Environments For The Gifted, Ryan A. Mcclintock

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The nuanced and complex cognitive and social-emotional needs of high school gifted learners are not sufficiently met through accelerated coursework like Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate alone. Addressing their needs requires the design, implementation, and leadership of programming that maximizes their agency, curiosity, and confidence. Such programming should be fully modern in its conception and allow gifted high school students to construct and share products of their learning with respect to issues of global importance. The purpose of this study was to explore high school learning environments designed to maximize the agency, confidence, and curiosity of gifted and talented secondary …

The Mobius Function And Mobius Inversion, Carl Lienert

Number Theory

No abstract provided.

Using Project Work To Enhance Learning, Divya Kapoor

Teacher India

The old school model of passively learning facts and rote memorisation is no longer sufficient for preparing students to survive in today’s world. Project-based learning can help foster 21st century skills, says Divya Kapoor.

An Innovative Editing Service For Medical Students, Lisa Price

Libraries Scholarship

Background: The Library serves students, staff and faculty of the Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine and related Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. Students face the daunting yet crucial tasks of preparing Personal Statements for residency, scholarship and other applications. Students and residents are also encouraged to seek publication opportunities. We recognized a need for proofreading and editing assistance, and one of our librarians had the background and experience to provide such a service.

Description: We developed a flyer announcing available services and distributed it within the library, at student and residency orientations, committee meetings and other appropriate campus events. …

Sparking Reading Engagement Through Tablets: An Early Intervention Reading Program And Parent Workshop For Tablets At Home, Rochelle Tkach, Tiffany L. Gallagher

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Research on this intervention program aimed to address whether digital technology (i.e., apps on tablets) contributes to struggling early readers’ (4–6 years old) on-task behavior and level of engagement while learning prerequisite emergent literacy skills (e.g., phonemic awareness, phonics, word recognition and decoding). The research also investigated whether parents/guardians of these students garner new knowledge about the potential of using multimodal applications to support their children’s literacy learning. Students struggling with early literacy worked one on one with a tutor alternating between activities on and off the tablet. Data were collected from two iterations of this program in the winter …

Models Of Resistance: Novice Teachers Negotiating Barriers To Best Practice, Andrew P. Huddleston, Kathryn Ohle, Amy Mullins, Hannah Lowry, Denae Shake, Jordyn Arendse

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

The purpose of this study was to examine how graduates from three teacher education programs made decisions regarding literacy instruction and assessment as well as the extent to which they were able to implement practices learned in their education programs. Participants were interviewed and observed multiple times, and a variety of documents, such as lesson plans, assessments, and journal prompts, were collected. Data were analyzed using the constant comparative method and Bourdieu’s concepts of field, capital, and habitus. Although the participants initially accepted the existing practices of their schools, they later implemented concepts learned in their education programs. The ways …

Comic Book Conversations As Pedagogies Of Possibilities In Urban Spaces, Ewa Mcgrail, Gertrude M. Tinker Sachs, Megan Lewis

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

The researchers in this qualitative case study explored the dialogic experiences of elementary school students during Comic Book Club meetings held in their local community resource center. The researchers wanted to know what experiences of dialogism were manifested in children’s conversations about reading, writing, and comic creation and what concepts of dialogism were evident in those experiences. The interview and observation data and artifacts suggest that co-construction of meaning and intertextuality played important roles in the dialogic experiences of the participants. Children’s co-construction of meaning and intertextuality also demonstrated engaged embodiment due to children’s spontaneous enactment of dance and dramatization …

Kinder – 1st Grade: Spring Activity Packet #1, Jessica Mitchell-Mccollough, Tricia Gray, Alexa Yunes-Koch

ICMEE Learning Packets: Level 1-2 of English Proficiency (K-5)

These packets are self-contained. Everything a child will need to be successful with the activities is provided in the packet. Students will only need a writing utensil. Additional tools like crayons or scissors can be used, but do not have to be.

My Plan for the Week

Day 1 • Design and name your buddy • Seasons in Nebraska • Read and Write Spring Worksheet • Seasons vocabulary cards • Math: Count the caterpillars • Read Spring, Spring, What Do You See?

Day 2 •Check the weather and dress your buddy • Draw a picture of Spring • Animal vocabulary …

The Timeliness Of Honors Contracts, Shirley Shultz Myers, Geoffrey Whitebread

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

With roots in a tutorial educational approach introduced by the ancient Greeks and made famous at Oxford and Cambridge, honors contracts in the United States emerged as tutorial arrangements in the late nineteenth century. Early honors programs at Harvard and other universities sought to counter an emphasis on practical training in US higher education after the Civil War with more flexible programs of study, small seminars, and tutorials (Capuana 21–25; Wolken; Repko et al. 28). This curricular reform spanned disciplines and responded to two key changes in education: the late-nineteenth-century growth of graduate education, particularly in the sciences, modeled on …

Curriculum Gone Bad: The Case Against Honors Contracts, Richard Badenhausen

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

This volume offers a timely and much-needed discussion, for in spite of their apparent ubiquity across the honors landscape, contracts are not a feature of honors education that has received much attention. For example, the National Collegiate Honors Council’s (NCHC) “Basic Characteristics of a Fully Developed Honors Program” and its companion statement on honors colleges—documents meant to guide colleges and universities in curricular innovation, engaged pedagogy, and intentional learning—make no mention of contracts. Additionally, NCHC’s 2016 Census of U.S. Honors Programs and Colleges, which captured qualities of 408 responding member institutions, asked over a dozen questions about curricular features of …

Enhancing The Structure And Impact Of Honors By Contract Projects With Templates And Research Hubs, James G. Snyder, Melinda Weisberg

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

The Honors by Contract (HBC) option is by its nature underdefined. That is to say, there are likely as many versions of the HBC as there are honors programs or colleges that use them. Some HBCs are attached to non-honors courses to augment the course content, whereas others are stand-alone mentored replacements for honors seminars themselves, following more of an independent study model. Some programs use HBCs to initiate students into the nature and scope of undergraduate research, and the deliverables vary widely. Likewise, the challenges and difficulties surrounding HBCs change from institution to institution. Because it appears natural to …

Building Honors Contracts: Insights And Oversights, Introduction, Kristine Miller

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

This book asks an overdue question: can we build honors contracts that transcend the transactional? The word “contract” itself—as both noun and verb—delimits more possibilities than it reveals. The chapters collected here expand this restrictive term by reframing honors contracts as collaborative partnerships for experiential learning. While most, though not all, of the volume’s contributors accept standard definitions of honors contracts as “[e]nriched options within regular [non-honors] courses,” they also imagine many and varied possibilities for such enrichment (Schuman 33). The subtitle’s pairing of “Insights” and “Oversights” thus suggests not that the authors have seen it all or missed the …