Educational Methods Commons^™

Getting Students To Do Authentic Academic Research, Dr. Peter Dong

Professional Learning Day

Most classroom experiences bear little resemblance to actual research, and aspiring scientists and other researchers have no exposure to authentic academic work, in many cases, until graduate school. Giving high school students genuine research experience is possible and helpful for their understanding. This session will share lessons learned from IMSA's research programs and discuss ways, both big and small, that teachers and their schools can get students involved in real research.

Finding Exoplanets, Dr. Eric Hawker

Professional Learning Day

This session will engage teachers in exploring how students can look for exoplanets in TESS data. Participants will discuss the physics and math concepts that higher grade level students can apply to determine if the exoplanets they discover are potentially habitable. Attendees should bring a laptop or tablet to this session.

2025 Teaching Leadership In The Classroom: Leadership Theory, Activism, And Unsd Goals, Emma Wilson Parker

Professional Learning Day

IMSA’s Leadership Education & Development (LEAD) program is a student-led course focused on developing leadership skills for sophomores. Students explore leadership theories, models,and global impact through the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and activism.Peer discussions, hands-on activities, and group work challenge students to think critically about leadership. Join us for an interactive experience packed with leadership activities perfect for the classroom!

Ai Tools For Intelligent Teaching And Learning, Dr.Phadmakar Patankar

Professional Learning Day

Discover the power of free AI tools designed to enhance teaching and learning! In this interactive session, we will explore tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Khanmigo, setting up access and experimenting with their features. While the session will showcase examples in math instruction, educators are encouraged to test these tools across various subjects such as science, English, and history. This workshop empowers teachers to integrate cutting-edge AI tools into their classrooms, fostering creativity, efficiency, and engagement.

Focus Over Frenzy: An Educator’S Guide To Strategic Opportunity Selection, Charity Freeman

Professional Learning Day

Is your professional plate overflowing with commitments? This session challenges common productivity and time management myths while introducing practical tools for making decisions about your time and energy. Learn why "switch tasking" might make you feel productive but drains your cognitive resources. In this session, explore a comprehensive framework for evaluating opportunities that come your way, from aligning with your core priorities to assessing stakeholder dynamics. Leave with concrete strategies for saying "yes" or "no" confidently, setting meaningful boundaries, and making choices that support your effectiveness as an educator.

Build Your Own World!, Sarah Robertson, Felicia Maxa

Professional Learning Day

You will be introduced to an activity that allows you to create a unique planet and learn about earth and space science in the process! In making your planet, you will use knowledge of formation, plate boundaries, landforms, weather, climate, wind currents, and more. You will sketch out planetary details and create a raised relief map that shows aspects of your planet. If you love Earth Science and project-based learning, this is the session for you. Bring a pencil and a positive attitude!

Quantum Cryptography In Physics Class, Anastasia Perry

Professional Learning Day

Do you want to bring more modern physics content, beyond the photoelectric effect, into your physics classroom? Quantum mechanics has bizarre phenomena such as probabilistic measurement, uncertainty principle, and entanglement. Using quantum objects like photons can benefit cryptography and secure communication. This lesson will model the BB84 quantum key generation protocol using hands-on activity. Additional simulation activities and resources will be shared. This activity can be used in a high school physics class during the modern physics unit. Basic algebra skills and limited school supplies are needed. Interested CS teachers or middle school science teachers can use it as an …

Reflections On Light: Exploring Geometrical Optics With Precalculus Tools, Dr. Anderson Trimm

Professional Learning Day

In this session, the presenter will discuss the mathematical modeling of reflection and refraction of light as an engaging and accessible application of several concepts from precalculus. By presenting this topic with a greater emphasis on the underlying mathematics, students of physical science can make deeper connections with their mathematics coursework. The presenter will share a lesson appropriate for Algebra 2 or precalculus that integrates Desmos and PhET simulations and discuss differentiation opportunities. Attendees should bring a laptop to access the simulations.

Ai: What It Can And Can’T Do, Dr. Micah Fogel

Professional Learning Day

For those with no AI experience. Come find out what AI is, how it works, and how you can get started using it. Your students are already using AI, so you should learn how to use it to help them learn! Bring your laptop and play along!

With Or Without Highways?, David Hernandez

Professional Learning Day

Can you imagine your life without your GPS (Global Positioning System)? Although GPS seems to be an automatic and standard service for all users. The users alone contribute to at least 30% of the program’s ability to work accurately. Join us in exploring a model representing the calculations performed by navigational devices that predict travel times and the optimal roads for this travel time. If you get lost on the way to this presentation, use the GPS.

Preservice Teachers Use Of Digital And Non-Digital Music Composition Systems As Resources For Teaching Elementary Mathematics, Song A. An, Daniel A. Tillman, Victor Minces, So Jung Kim

Journal of STEM Teacher Education

This study was planned and performed with the main goal of examining preservice teachers’ (n=61) pedagogical reflections regarding the comparison of two educational music composition programs available for teaching mathematics. Empirical evidence that was collected and analyzed indicated that the two music composition programs each have distinctive strengths that may serve as appropriate teaching resources. The findings from the present study have shown that music composition and performance activities, if properly developed and supported by sound educational principles, learning theories, and educational technologies, can be used as classroom activities to support formal mathematics education while also providing out-of-school learning resources …

Remembering The Titans: A Cinematic Pedagogy For Enhancing Understanding And Improving Performance In Tuckman's Stages Of Group Development In Management Education, David S. Fowler, Jon Musgrave, David F. Zinn

International Journal for Business Education

This study examines the effectiveness of using multimedia, specifically Remember the Titans, to teach Bruce Tuckman’s Group Development stages in undergraduate management education. The research investigates whether integrating film-based pedagogy enhances student comprehension and academic performance compared to traditional lecture methods. Using a quasi-experimental design, data were collected over six semesters from undergraduate business students (N = 459) at a private liberal arts university. The study compared pre- and post-implementation cohorts, employing a structured writing assignment as an assessment tool. A quantitative analysis, including independent samples t-tests, revealed a statistically significant improvement in student performance (p = 0.039) after implementing …

Field Notes In Professional Development: Lets Read, Bob Gallagher

Journal of Inquiry and Action in Education

This article explores the evolving landscape of reading education through a blend of personal reflection and systemic critique by Bob Gallagher, Student Teaching Supervisor at Buffalo State University and a veteran educator with decades of experience as a teacher and administrator in Buffalo Public Schools, Coordinator of Professional Development at Sweet Home Schools, and Assistant Superintendent for Instruction at Niagara Wheatfield Schools. Drawing from his journey as an educator thrust into teaching reading without training in the 1960s, Gallagher examines the persistent challenges in fostering literacy amidst a declining cultural emphasis on reading. Highlighting the tension between illiteracy and aliteracy—where …

Use Of Simulation In Dietetic Internships: A Qualitative Exploration Of Program Director Attitudes And Motivations, Theresa B. O'Reilly, Amy J. Nwora, Megan Whelan, Mary-Pat Maciolek

Journal of Dietetic Education

The use of simulation holds promise for the future of dietetics education for its use as an alternative for up to 30% of the 1,000 supervised practice hours for the training of Registered Dietitian Nutritionists. Even more so, simulation is a teaching tool. When done well, simulation can challenge students in a safe environment where they can receive constructive feedback from expert guides and meaningfully reflect on their learning. The purpose of this study was to interview dietetic internship (DI) program directors on their attitudes and motivations on the use of simulation in their programs, targeting the heavily program-congested states …

Enhancing Elementary Students Conceptual Understandings Of Scientific Phenomena: The Impact Of Steam-First And Stem-First Approaches, Michael W. Corrigan, Joseph T. Wong, Doug Grove, Sage Anderson, Bradley S. Hughes

Elementary & Secondary Education Faculty Research

This study delves into the realm of student conceptual change, examining shifting understandings as important steppingstones on the path to sensemaking and canonical understanding in science education. It explores the potential of a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) curriculum, aiming to provide equitable learning opportunities, especially for emerging bilingual (EB) student populations. To achieve this, elementary school educators from randomly assigned schools received professional development training to implement a novel curriculum encompassing both STEM and STEAM (STEM + Arts) approaches to life science instruction. These approaches comprised: (1) an NGSS-aligned STEM unit employing inquiry-based science instruction; (2) an …

Course Design Toolbox (February 2025), Instructional Design And Delivery, Gonzaga University

Instructional Design & Delivery

No abstract provided.

Teacher Retention And The Future Of Learning: Alarming Concerns About Preparing The Next Generation Of Citizens, Dejuanna M. Parker, Barbara D. Holmes

Journal of Research Initiatives

Research is robust in detailing the various reasons teachers leave the profession. There is scant literature on why teachers stay and what should be done to improve teacher retention. Teacher retention is a primary concern nationally and internationally. The inability to retain teachers has resulted in a teacher shortage and significantly affects student learning. Sorenson and Ladd (2020) This study yielded three emergent themes related to integral factors of teacher retention: changing attitudes on administrative support, workplace collegiality, and persistence of passion and purpose. Recommendations offered include encouraging administrators to leverage the passion and commitment of the educators to create …

Toward A Critical Pedagogy Of Assessment Integrating Social Studies Education: The Proposed Socio-Critical Assessment Integration Framework (Scaif), Caroline O. Alordiah, Regina Arisi

Journal of Research Initiatives

The Socio-Critical Assessment Integration Framework (SCAIF) and its consequences for social studies education are examined in this study. The results emphasize the advantages of developing inclusive learning environments, encouraging comprehensive evaluation procedures, encouraging applicability to the real world, and giving students agency by allowing participation in the evaluation process actively. Teachers can promote social justice, question prevailing narratives, and foster critical discourse in the classroom using a critical pedagogy lens. Student learning outcomes are improved by authentic assessment activities that reflect real-world problems and demand that students use their knowledge in meaningful ways. Inclusive learning settings respect student diversity, encourage …

Playing The Digital Dialectic Game: Writing Pedagogy With Generative Ai, Rebekah Shultz Colby

University Writing Program: Faculty Scholarship

This article explores teaching writing with generative AI as critical play where students and teachers engage in an ethically dialectical and aleatory game with generative AI. I qualitatively surveyed 24 writing teachers about how they teach writing with generative AI as well as its advantages and disadvantages. I discovered that teachers used generative AI to teach about the ethics of generative AI's design and rhetorical use to avoid plagiarism. Teachers also critically played with generative AI to teach the writing process of invention, drafting, revision, and editing. Specifically, the critical, dialectical interplay of human and machine invents in aleatory and …

Developing Adolescent Word-Level Knowledge: Challenges And Opportunities In Professional Learning With Secondary Educators, Jenelle Williams

Michigan Reading Journal

This article aims to highlight the research base for disciplinary literacy approaches, emphasize foundational literacy components that apply to the majority of adolescent learners, and propose tangible approaches to attend to morphological development in multiple academic disciplines. The article will conclude with a call for additional research into the role of morphological awareness in strengthening adolescent reading comprehension, as well as further study of the implications for systemic approaches across all disciplines in secondary educational settings.

Wild Magic Farms: Increasing Student Engagement And Decreasing Academic Regression In Middle School Extended School Year Through Use Of A Role-Playing Game, Maryanne Cullinan

Educational Studies Dissertations

The Extended School Year (ESY) is a federal program that falls under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Law (2004) as part of Special Education in public schools in the United States. It is intended to help reduce regression in student progress towards Individualized Education Program goals. However, in New Hampshire, ESY struggles with a lack of clear goals, student buy-in and quality engagement. This study examined how a researcher designed role-playing game (RPG) could impact both summer academic regression and student engagement in a middle school ESY. Utilizing i-Ready testing (n=13) data and attendance data (n=9), this study compared …

Mindfulness 101: Integrating Mindfulness Into The First-Year College Curriculum, Shelley Linso

Mindfulness Studies Theses

The college experience offers young people unique opportunities for personal growth and academic development. However, it is widely recognized that college and university students suffer from unprecedented rates of anxiety and depression. Mindfulness, often defined as paying attention on purpose, moment-to-moment, without judgment, has the potential to not only reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression but also to promote flourishing. By integrating mindfulness into the first-year college curriculum, educators facilitate students’ abilities to a) better understand their emotional responses so that they might navigate stress, relationships, and challenges with greater ease, b) better recognize their strengths and weaknesses, and make …

Mindful Art Curriculum: Teaching Towards Transformational Change, Ashley Riemann

Mindfulness Studies Theses

With the recent influx of American public school diversity, art educators must establish an art curriculum that nurtures students' cultural awareness and creates a more equitable and inclusive learning environment. This paper responds to the increasingly diverse classroom and proposes the need for the implimentation of a mindful, culturally responsive art curriculum. Mindfulness paired with culturally responsive teaching is a transformative tool for art educators. These teaching techniques unite and create an inclusive and inquisitive learning environment. Through mindful exploration students learn to cultivate awareness and focus, forming a deeper connection with art and one another. As Jon Kabat-Zinn expressed, …

Action Research As A Pathway To Discovery In The School Library, David Vickers Loertscher, Michelle Young

Learning Hub

No abstract provided.

Autoethnographic Action Research As A Contemplative Practice: Awareness And Transformation Of Inner And Outer Selves, Jiju Varghese, Bal Chandra Luitel, Niroj Dahal

The Qualitative Report

Contemplation as a spiritual practice has taken various forms across different religious traditions and regions worldwide. Over the years, various contemplative practices have evolved and become popular even outside religious traditions to promote the well-being of all for inner and outer selves’ transformation. In education, many scholars worldwide have expounded on the benefits of contemplative practices in the classroom for students and teachers. Contemplative practices have penetrated research practices in the form of contemplative inquiry considering performative, philosophical, and artistic transformations, where researchers enter into a deep, thoughtful, and reflective introspective journey to see the connection between what is seen …

Right Choice For Me: An Executive Function (Ef) Focused Intervention Program For Teachers, Brisa E. Kress

Education | Graduate Culminating Projects

In every classroom, students face choices. These choices can look like how to approach a non-fiction text, how to plan a narrative, how to pick the right spot in the room for reading, or how to reflect on their experience during a group project.

Right Choice For Me is an Executive Function (EF) focused toolkit. It follows a flexible 10-week timeline and offers educators of any grade customizable tools and strategies to teach essential EF skills in ways that honor each student's voice, choice, and unique learning style. Right Choice For Me focuses on three core EF strategies:

• Planning/Goal-Setting

• Self-Monitoring …

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Interactive Read Aloud Planning Template For The Story, The Letter From The Book Frog And Toad Are Friends, Lauren Dehmer, David Wolff

OER Materials

This is a read-aloud planning template for the story The Letter from the book Frog and Toad are Friends, which holds five stories. The goal of the assignment is to create an effective read-aloud. Research supports these as they can expose children to new words and language structures (Burkins & Yates, 2021). Cunningham et al. (2023) also explain interactive read-alouds as a way to “immerse students in rich content.” The author was given a list of stories from the anthology, The 20^th Century Children’s Book Treasury: Picture Books and Stories to Read Aloud, from instructor Dr. David Wolff, who …

Authoring Culture: The Foundations Of Twenty-First Century Writing, The Authoring Culture Collective

Authoring Culture: Foundations of Twenty-First Century Writing

"Authoring Culture: Foundations of Twenty-First Century Writing is an open educational resource (OER) designed for use in college-level first-year writing courses, but is also useful in college courses that assign writing projects, and in a wide array of other writing situations outside of class.

Authoring Culture is distributed under a Creative Commons license, so it is freely available for you to use and you are free to modify it. Just make sure you provide attribution to the original project authors in accordance with the Creative Commons license. Our aim in releasing Authoring Culture as an OER is to make it …

Reimagining Traditional Education Through Humanizing Models Of Personalized Learning: Examining Implementation In The Midwest, Laura R. Garland

Dissertations of Practice

ABSTRACT

REIMAGINING TRADITIONAL EDUCATION THROUGH HUMANIZING MODELS OF PERSONALIZED LEARNING: EXAMINING IMPLEMENTATION IN THE MIDWEST

Laura Garland, EdD

Department of Curriculum and Instruction

Northern Illinois University, 2025

Michael Manderino, Director

This qualitative document analysis, supported by semi-structured interviews, investigated the ways in which three Midwestern, K-12 public school districts implemented humanizing models of personalized learning, as a method of shifting from a traditional, teacher-centered instructional paradigm to a learner-centered one. Additionally, it sought to identify how the pedagogical attributes employed in participant districts explicitly and implicitly aligned with humanizing pedagogies. Participant districts were chosen based on their relationship with the …

Finding Evidence For Understanding The Level Of Technology Integration By Teacher Candidates: A Mixed Methods Analysis To Support Caep Standards, Jennifer R. Jackson

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Accrediting bodies, such as the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP), are increasingly focused on how teacher preparation programs integrate technology. As part of the Teacher Performance Assessment (TPA) teacher candidates demonstrate essential classroom skills through submission of teaching videos, lesson plans, and reflections. This study examined which of these three document types provides the strongest evidence of technology use among teacher candidates. Using a technology integration model, the Technology Integration Matrix (TIM), this study quantitatively assessed the levels of technology integration and characteristics of the learning environment visible in a stratified random sample of 150 submitted documents. …