Educational Methods Commons^™

Sustainable Pedagogical Space: Water Risk Reduction Management Through Permaculture Pedagogy, Susi Andriani Simanjuntak, Yuqin Zhou, Si Wen Li

CSID Journal of Infrastructure Development

This study explores a Permaculture design approach to promote water conservation and reduce water dependency, particularly in response to plastic pollution. Permaculture emphasizes water ethics, conservation principles, rainwater harvesting (via tanks, soil, land, and biomass), greywater reuse, and biological remediation techniques for water recycling and purification. The study applies a contextually adapted environmental pedagogy based on Permaculture for primary school students in North Sumatra, Indonesia, focusing on sustainable water conservation and plastic litter risk reduction. A case study method was employed, targeting schools that voluntarily participated. The approach highlights three commonly overlooked dimensions in environmental education: community connection, place-based authenticity, …

Centering Black Girl Love: Unearthing Black Girls’ Truths In A Predominantly White, Loveless Elementary School, Tyana R. Velazquez-Smith

The Language and Literacy Spectrum

This study examines the transformative power of literacy as a tool for healing, resistance, and revolutionary love in the lives of BLACK girls navigating predominantly white elementary school spaces. Revolutionary love is conceptualized as practices of care, affirmation, and joy that challenge systemic oppression while fostering belonging and possibility. Conducted in an elementary school in upstate New York, this research follows eleven participants from kindergarten through fourth grade, exploring their lived experiences and literacy practices during English Language Arts (ELA) instruction.

Drawing on Brian Street’s (1984) assertion that literacy is a social practice shaped by cultural and power dynamics, this …

The Squandering Of Critical Thinking In Our Schools And What We Can Do About It, Nick Pocius

Essays in Education

In the face of increasing disinformation, reduced student engagement, and rigid educational structures, this article critiques the current U.S. public school system’s failure to cultivate critical thinking in students. Drawing from over two decades of classroom experience, the author argues that the systemic emphasis on standardized testing, prescribed curricula, and diminished access to arts and physical education have contributed to a decline in curiosity and creative inquiry. Furthermore, the omnipresence of smartphones and social media has robbed students of the boredom that often sparks critical thought. The article proposes several pragmatic solutions, including banning phones during school hours, reintroducing recess …

Arts-Based Sustainability: From New York To Malawi, Martha B. Lerski

Publications and Research

Recognizing that libraries serve multiple constituencies and subject areas, this chapter documents and advocates for development of transdisciplinary arts-based research (ABR) and culture-related projects linked to environmental challenges. Libraries contribute collections and spaces, as well as the research of library and information scientists. Libraries are currently among invisible contributors to sustainability planning and services. The chapter will link this invisibility to the value of what visual arts refer to as negative space elements in subjects ranging from traditional ecological knowledge to environmental science. Library collections, projects, and research contribute to education for sustainable development (ESD) as required to achieve the …

Social Media And The Effect On Student Engagement, Lara Mcelveen

Dissertations

The purpose of my study was to determine the impact of social media on student engagement and behaviors in high school classrooms. The overarching research question that guided my study was: What is the impact of social media on student engagement? I used a mixed methods approach of quantitative and qualitative data to research my topic. I collected the data using surveys of two stakeholder groups in the study: young adults and educators. The survey results showed that both educators and young adults perceived a decline in class engagement and the rise of behavior in the classroom from social media …

A Teacher, A Supervisor, An Undefined Self, Alexa Muse

The Qualitative Report

This article follows the experiences and reflections of an American high school English teacher while evolving a single tenth grade memoir and grammar unit into a published student-led research project over the span of 3 years. As a partner piece, this article supplements my students’ published project, titled “A Teacher, a Tutor, a Friend,” that explores ChatGPT and student perspectives through a thematic discourse analysis under the framework of Figured Worlds (Holland et al., 1998); as their teacher-turned-supervisor, I found that preparing 10th grade students—now called the Lexington Student Research and Publication Collaborative—to grapple with such complex material was a …

Leveraging Artificial Intelligence In Education To Drive Cross-Sector Innovation, Brent Terwilliger, John Faraca

Publications

As artificial intelligence (AI) reshapes educational practices, particularly in technical fields such as uncrewed systems, robotics, and aviation/ aerospace, its integration raises promise and complexity. This exploratory study features an investigation of the impact AI tools adoption has on instruction, curriculum support, and workforce preparation, with a focus on online learning environments. Drawing from pilot survey data across aviation and aerospace education stakeholders and hands-on evaluation of AI video production platforms, findings reveal diverse applications, perceived benefits, and critical concerns, including ethical, pedagogical, and institutional challenges. Additionally, the analysis explored how AI-enabled education intersects with broader industry and government innovation …

The Art Of Building Belonging Through Student Voice And Choice: Liberating Learning And Creating Community In Catholic Schools, Rich Hill

Doctoral Dissertations

This is a study of students’ voices, choices, and experiences. Its purpose is to examine the barriers and opportunities for building belonging in Catholic schools. The research is a contribution to the positive work of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging currently taking place in various Catholic school contexts. It is also a response to specific issues that continue to permeate students’ curricular experience, such as the silencing of voice, the lack of choice, untapped educational agency, and the exclusion of their authentic identities. The study is designed to learn directly from students’ own lived experiences, their testimonies, and their artwork. …

The Role Of School Leadership In Promoting And Supporting Cultural Diversity And Inclusion In The Classroom: A Grounded Theory Approach, Matuor Dot Alier

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

This study addresses the pressing issue of how school leadership influences the promotion and support of cultural diversity and inclusion within classrooms. Despite growing demographic diversity in educational settings, many schools fail to adequately prioritize cultural inclusion, leading to inequities in educational opportunities, social isolation, and discrimination for students from diverse backgrounds. School leaders are uniquely positioned to create inclusive environments, yet there remains limited research on how they implement and sustain effective diversity practices. This qualitative study explores the experiences and strategies of school leaders who have successfully fostered inclusive educational environments. Grounded in a constructivist paradigm and employing …

Musical Language And Communication: Students Connect Music Streams To Literacy, Mathematics, Science, And Movement, Kelly Collier

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This dissertation discusses how music and literacy claim many of the same skills, ways music may be used as a motivational tool to help promote strategies for skill development, and how teachers working in teams have the innovation to generate strategic learning. By combining music symbolism with the literacy curriculum, one can create a set of elementary school lessons that integrate musical melody with the facets of literacy, mathematics, science, and movement to formulate beneficial opportunities for student engagement and learning. Students cultivate learning by using the elements of rhythmic literacy, such as identifying beat values in conjunction with their …

Elevating Education: Leveling Up Individual Learning Plans, Maximum Mgrdich-Ararat Sirabian

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This three-article dissertation investigated the effectiveness, implementation quality, and automation of Individual Learning Plans (ILPs) in promoting college and career readiness. Article 1 analyzed High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 data and found that ILPs did not significantly guide course alignment. Article 2 examined ILP implementation across Nevada high schools, revealing inconsistent quality, limited standardization, and few culturally responsive practices. These findings informed the creation of a new high-quality ILP framework. Article 3 employed a convergent parallel mixed methods design to assess an automated ILP prototype based on this framework. Participants in the automated group reported significantly higher scores in …

Individual Differences Matter: Examining The Relationship Between Transfer Students’ Identity And Social Presence In Online Learning, Le Quanda L. Boldin-Cole

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study investigates the relationship between transfer students’ perceptions of identity and their social presence within online learning environments, addressing a gap in research on this underexplored population. Drawing on Erikson's (1968) psychosocial development theory and Marcia's (1966) identity status model, the study explores how identity formation influences both the perception and manifestation of social presence in the online learning environment. A sequential explanatory design (Creswell & Poth, 2025) was employed, combining quantitative data from a web-based survey on identity status and social presence perceptions, followed by content analysis of students' discussion posts to examine social presence indicators. The findings …

Joy In Lifelong Learning: An Introduction To Planning For Learning Disabilities In Museum Education, Elaine L. Davis

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

For over a century, the role of museums as learning institutions has been considered alongside that of schools. However, special education practices are rarely adapted for museum education, requiring educators in museum contexts to undertake extra work to accommodate those with learning disabilities. This thesis used Qualitative Comparative Analysis and Textual Analysis to review pedagogical white papers and academic research on museum programs aimed at neurodivergent audiences. The findings were used to create a professional development guide for museum educators at a range of different types of museums.

How A Garden Hoe Changed My Literacy Life: A Story Of Teaching, Coaching, And Becoming, Kelsey J. Walker

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

In this dissertation, I explore how personal practical experiences teaching reading intervention impacted my own understanding of the role of a secondary literacy coach. Drawing on the concepts of dialogism and adult learning theory, I leveraged learning conversations to grow my own body of knowledge. The methodology of this study was done using narrative inquiry and autoethnography. This methodological blend allowed me to closely study myself as the primary participant with a unique positionality as a scholarly practitioner. I unpack the complexities, contradictions, and tensions of my lived experience through stories and vignettes set in a rural midwestern public school …

Ethnic Studies Pedagogy: Professional Development And Its Relevance To Student Achievement, Gabriel A. Orosco Dr.

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

As Ethnic Studies becomes a graduation requirement across all public schools in California, the importance of Ethnic Studies professional development cannot be understated. This is a tumultuous time in our world today. Multiple world conflicts are happening today, and many governments are facing challenges to their very existence. Ethnic Studies programs and classes challenge dominant narratives and close the opportunity gaps for historically marginalized communities.

This study examines the impact of Ethnic Studies (ES) professional development on student achievement within California’s public high schools, where ES has been mandated as a graduation requirement through Assembly Bill 101. The research emphasizes …

A Theoretical Model Of Participatory Team Science Training, Angela E. Jordan

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

BACKGROUND: Teams have long been used to address major scientific and societal problems, and interdisciplinary teams are understood to be the best approach to complex systems-based problems like climate change. Engaged research collaborations incorporating community members as equal partners in research projects are recognized as both a means of advancing equity and justice in research, and also of improving the success of research translation by developing solutions with community use-value. The science of team science (TS) and community-engaged research (CEnR) have emerged as scholarly disciplines, with attempts to define competencies, skills, functioning, and success. A growing body of literature in …

Using Social Emotional Learning To Connect Social Awareness And Classic Literature, Erin Anderson

Honors Projects

The following case study explores how social-emotional learning (SEL) teaching strategies enhance seventh-grade students’ engagement with classic literature during English Language Arts (ELA) class. Using S.E. Hinton’s classic novella The Outsiders as a foundation for this research, this study examines whether SEL-based lesson plans help adolescents make deeper connections between literature and their own lives. Two groups of students were compared in the study: one group received traditional, comprehension-based instruction, while the other participated in SEL-based assessments, encouraging perspective-taking and personal reflection. This study utilizes qualitative assessments like character analysis, reflection, and surveys to affirm that students who are exposed …

Artifact Investigation As An Access Point To Doing Social Studies, Jacquelyn R. Benchik-Osborne, Susan Mcdonough

The Councilor: A National Journal of the Social Studies

Social studies methods coursework at two Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs) emphasizes providing access to rigorous social science education for all. Teacher candidates (TCs) learn to design equitable opportunities for students in the elementary and middle level classrooms to engage in inquiry–to do social studies. One tool social scientists use to “do” their work is artifact investigation. Artifacts, such as historical photographs and primary sources, help students connect with cultural and historical contexts. Using digital artifacts from the Library of Congress (LOC), TCs create opportunities for students to explore social dynamics, identity formation, power structures, and community development through cultural realia. …

Speculative Youth Participatory Action Research: Narratives Of Imaginative Social Dreaming

Occasional Paper Series

No abstract provided.

Speculation Is Not Theoretical: The Work Of Ypar Moving Forward, Nicole Mirra

Occasional Paper Series

Nothing brought me more joy during my years as the coordinator of the UCLA Council of Youth Research than those moments when, after politely listening to my explanation of some theoretical concept that scholars have painstakingly defined and debated across years in the academy, the students would laugh and respond with some variation of, “Yeah, we get it. We know what they’re saying—they just use fancy language to say it.” Hegemony, social capital— whatever the concept, the youth could always tap into their own identities and experiences to understand that, stripped of all jargon, they already viscerally grasped these realities—the …

Crawl Spaces To Productive Ruptures: A Reflection To Remember Speculative Futures, Petra J. Lange, Erin Perry, Gregory Wickenkamp

Occasional Paper Series

Perhaps the greatest purpose of artistic expression is trying to make sense of the human experience. Art and storytelling construct and transform our realities. They take the noise of seemingly endless stimuli in our physical existence and identify patterns and meanings, and in so doing, wield incredible power. This is the exact reason censorship is a useful tool to the status quo and reactive. The state of Iowa put this tool to use in 2021 with the passage of House File 802, the law restricting so-called “divisive concepts” and the ability to explore systemic oppression in schools (Iowa Legislative Services …

Actualizing Black Spatial Histories Through A Speculative Youth Archiving Project, Kaleb Germinaro, Alvin Logan, Jr.

Occasional Paper Series

For today’s youth, learning about one's history and culture is not always a given in the classroom. Many schools are learning spaces void of any cultural or spatial connection, particularly for Black students. This paper details an action-based summer archeology program hosted by the Burke Museum and Seattle Public Schools Liberatory Education Program that explored Black spatial histories through speculative youth archiving. Through key relationships with community organizations, students underwent a three-week program designed to allow students to develop their relationship with Black spatial histories and envision their role in creating and setting history in real-time. Using student interviews, the …

Así Querés Que Aprenda: Artivism As A Speculative Praxis, Ángela Shamira Morales Pereira, Ana Corona, Rodrigo Aleman

Occasional Paper Series

Así querés que aprenda (Is this how you want me to learn?): Artivism as a Speculative Praxis is a youth-led research project created by a community of young people from Centro Educativo de Capacitación, Arte y Producción (CECAP), an alternative school in Uruguay. The project's title is drawn from a poem written during the research process, where youth critically reflect on their educational experiences

Introduction: Speculative Youth Participatory Action Research: Narratives Of Imaginative Social Dreaming, Ricardo Martinez, Ezequiel Aleman

Occasional Paper Series

The theme of Issue 53 of the Bank Street Occasional Paper Series, Speculative Youth Participatory Action Research: Narratives of Imaginative Social Dreaming, arose from our perception that many youths and teachers assumed that youth participatory action research (YPAR) was unattainable to them. We argue that, to the contrary, many have been living different forms of YPAR for years.

Supporting Elementary Educators Through A Nervous System Regulation And Social-Emotional Learning Skills Workshop Intervention: An Musc Capstone Project, Lily Morgan

Entry-Level Occupational Therapy Doctorate - Doctoral Capstone Symposium

Teachers have a great influence on developing children’s emotional intelligence, regulatory capacity, and occupational engagement. These professionals also happen to report some of the highest rates of stress, mental health challenges (Agyapong, B. et al, 2022), and burnout (Xie, M., et al, 2022). Providing teachers with education and support on nervous system regulation, social-emotional learning skills, and related topics can improve their ability to manage job stress, enhance modeling and interactions with students, and improve their quality of life. This project aimed to enhance knowledge, provide access to resources, and serve to support elementary educators at an inner-city school in …

Rooted Writing: The Role Of Place In Rural Writing Identities, Layne Elise Ilderton

The Rural Educator

This article investigates the intricate dynamics of writing relationships among rural students, highlighting the profound impact of place and identity on their writing experiences. Using a mixed methods approach, the study explores how rural settings influence students’ self-perceptions, apprehensions, and preferences in writing, as observed through a survey administered in three rural high schools. Central to the findings is the observation that students demonstrate a notable decrease in writing apprehension when engaging with topics rooted in their personal and rural experiences. They also have auditory and social preferences for writing environment and feel restricted with stringent grammar requirements in writing. …

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

Learning Hub

No abstract provided.

Team Teaching As Honors Faculty Professional Development, Richard Badenhausen

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

Discusses how team teaching may serve as professional learning and development for honors faculty in higher education and why it is valuable to frame it as such.

A Critical Role For An Honors Community Of Practice, Rebecca C. Bott-Knutson, Scott O'Leary, Scott Breuninger, Karen D. Youmans, Jeff Chamberlain, Sheila Nowinski

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

The Honors Community of Practice is a promising form of professional development in honors, where the wide variety of institutions, professional roles, and structures can present challenges to inclusive and relevant programming. The HCoP’s flexible and responsive format allows individuals in different contexts to connect, share resources, and learn from one another. The fluid nature of HCoP discussions, in which participants shift between mentor and mentee roles, highlights expertise in the community and encourages new voices to emerge. Of course, the advantages of Communities of Practice are not confined to honors. Their adaptability and simplicity make it effective programming in …

An Edifying Honors Collaboration, Rebecca C. Bott-Knutson, Jonathan D. Kotinek, Hedi M. Appel, Joy L. Hart, Paul Knox, Andrea Radasanu, Daniel M. Roberts, Timothy J. Nichols, Leigh E. Fine, William L. Ziegler, Mary Bryk, Susan Sumner, Rachael Budowle, Kaetlyn Cordingly, Graham E. Bastian, Noah Roerig, Adam Stroud, Keith Garbutt

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

In this chapter, we describe how one honors collaborative was formed, how it functions, and how it continues to evolve. For members of this collaborative, it has been an extraordinary professional journey with edifying impacts as we have been instructed, improved, and enlightened by our involvement.

Our collaborative emerged as a space to engage with colleagues across the nation with the common goal of better preparing honors students to tackle the grand challenges we face as a society (Appel et al., 2023). It comprises a network of honors leaders from 14 universities representing a variety of land-grant, Historically Black Colleges …