Educational Methods Commons^™

The Differences In Approaches To Learning Among Kindergartners Who Attended State-Funded Pre-K, Kristin Mobbs

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This causal-comparative study examined the differences in early childhood experiences on the critical school readiness domain of approaches to learning. Kindergarten teachers from a small district in northeast Georgia completed the Learning Behaviors Scale to examine the dependent variables of competence motivation, attitude toward learning, attention/persistence, and strategy/flexibility from a convenience sample of 187 kindergarten students. The school district provided archived data that included kindergarten class lists, preschool experiences during the 2012-2013 school year, race, gender, free/reduced lunch status, and elementary school attended for kindergarten in order to examine kindergartners' learning behaviors. Descriptive statistics provided information on the mean differences …

Designing Playful Games And Applications To Support Science Centers Learning Activities, Michail N. Giannakos, David Jones, Helen Crompton, Nikos Chrisochoides

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

In recent years there has been a renewed interest on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. Following this interest, science centers' staff started providing technology enhanced informal STEM education experiences. The use of well-designed mobile and ubiquitous forms of technology to enrich informal STEM education activities is an essential success factor. The goal of our research is to investigate how technology applications can be better used and developed for taking full advantage of the opportunities and challenges they provide for students learning about STEM concepts. In our approach, we have conducted a series of interviews with experts from science …

Gamification Of Education: A Review Of Literature, Fiona Fui-Hoon Nah, Qing Zeng, Venkata R. Telaprolu, Abhishek Padmanabhuni Ayyappa, Brenda Eschenbrenner

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

We synthesized the literature on gamification of education by conducting a review of the literature on gamification in the educational and learning context. Based on our review, we identified several game design elements that are used in education. These game design elements include points, levels/stages, badges, leaderboards, prizes, progress bars, storyline, and feedback. We provided examples from the literature to illustrate the application of gamification in the educational context.

Articulating A Vision: A Case Of Study Of Democracy, Education, And Prisoner Rehabilitation In A Day Reporting Center, Gregory A. Jones

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Abstract

Unfortunately, little or no time is spent on transitioning inmates back into society, especially those with physical and mental disabilities. One support service that is being taken into consideration is the Day Reporting Center. Day Reporting Centers are highly structured nonresidential programs. Parolees report to the center on a daily basis, submit to drug tests, and are enrolled in various counseling, education, or vocational classes. Whereas most centers have strict monitoring and surveillance of parolees, one center that stands out in its alternative approach of self-governance is the San Bernardino Day Reporting Center in San Bernardino, California. There, the …

Homeschool Curriculum Choices: A Phenomenological Study, Sarah Pannone

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to describe the factors influencing homeschool curriculum choices. Within the study, three research questions were asked: 1) How do select home educators describe the factors that influence their curricular choices? 2) How do select home educators' beliefs affect their selection of curriculum? 3) How do select home educators' teaching styles and methodologies affect their curricular decisions? To best address these questions a transcendental phenomenological approach was used to examine the shared curriculum choice experiences of 10 home educators. Data was collected by means of surveys, interviews, and a focus group and then …

Teacher Trust Levels And How They Differ Between School Settings And Impact Teacher Involvement In Student Achievement Activities, Gretchen Kaeding Bergan

Dissertations

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 has brought accountability to the world of education. The Act’s purpose was to bring a standards-based educational reform process nationally by establishing measurable goals and high academic standards for students and teachers. The mandate to the states from the federal government specified that each state set up incremental assessments of all children, and schools have responded with significant efforts to improve student outcomes. One factor, teacher-to-teacher trust levels, has been shown through research (Bryk & Schneider, 1996) to improve professional working environments and student learning.

This was a comparison study of teacher-to-teacher …

Examining The Connection Between Classroom Technology And Student Engagement, R.C. Morris, Loran Carleton Parker

IMPACT Publications

Technological pedagogy is being relied upon more-and-more as a way to address the growing needs of higher education. This study investigated the use of a tool designed with the specific purpose of student engagement in a large classroom. The tool allows students to post to a community based discussion in a manner similar to a Twitter feed. Despite engaging in a community dialogue, findings suggest that as usage of the technology went up a student’s sense of community learning went down. This result prompted the authors to consider how this tool was utilized in the classroom. We close with a …

Teaching The Moral Imagination: How Global Education Aids In Peacebuilding, Charlee Bianchini

Capstone Collection

In this paper I present distinctive information from written resources and in-depth interviews with 17 constituents who are in some way involved in the incorporation of Global Education curriculum in the US. I specifically looked at Brookwood School in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts, a private school looking to develop programming around this subject. I also looked at World Learning Youth Programs in order to gain insight from an institution solely focused on GE. The aim of the research was to learn why and how Global Education programs are being incorporated into curriculums, what skills schools are aiming to have their students learn …

Keeping Equity In Mind: Strategies For Continuing Equity Work Once Formal Training Has Ended, Teri Lynn Tilley

Dissertations and Theses

Fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education, there remain large gaps in academic achievement between children of color and White students (Darling-Hammond, 2007). It is estimated that by 2050, the population of the United States will increase by 50%; 90% of which will be accounted for by minorities (Vanneman, Hamilton, Anderson, & Rahman, 2009). In less than 50 years, our citizenry will be comprised of "groups that are over represented among low achievers, and under represented among high achievers" (Ferguson, 2005, p. 4). Nationwide, districts are addressing the issue of the achievement gap through implementing formal equity professional development …

Exploring Reggio-Inspired Documentation: Lived Experiences Of Elementary Teachers And Children, Jenifer Marie Millan

Dissertations and Theses

In this interpretive phenomenological research study, making meaning of teachers and children's experiences of Reggio-inspired documentation takes center stage. Reggio-inspired documentation is a way of visually stabilizing and bringing meaning to experiences, ideas, thoughts and the daily interactions of children and adults (Bonilauri & Rubizzi, 2010; Filippini, Trancossi & Vecchi, 2009; Guidici et al, 2001; Rinaldi, 2006). Collecting research in The School of Inspiration elementary program brings to light the many experiences and possible meanings of Reggio-inspired documentation. The study's participants consist of 2 teachers, 45 children, and me, as a participant researcher, all developing the meaning over time.

Utilizing …

Global Education In New York City High Schools: What We Can Learn, Emily Gifford

Capstone Collection

In an increasingly globalized world, where international issues affect local communities, it is important for students to learn about global topics. International education in colleges is becoming more ubiquitous, but many students do not go to college and need to be introduced earlier. Is global education being taught in high schools? How have educators incorporated international issues into their classrooms? In this study, I spoke to educators in New York City to examine what public high schools are doing to integrate global issues into their curricula.

The study examines what obstacles teachers and schools face, what helps teachers to be …

Learning Together: A Case Study Of A Cooperative School’S Approach To Education, Ariana M. Ali

Master's Theses

This thesis is based on an in-depth case study of one cooperative pre-preschool and preschool in San Francisco. Qualitative research methods, such as observation and one-on-one interviews, were used to study the structure, culture, and community at the school. Cooperative schools have not been well researched or documented in academic literature and this study hoped to shed some light on this model of school organization. The parent-initiated and community-oriented nature of cooperative schools make them stand out as unique among the large, bureaucratically-run schools and daycares typically found in the United States. The results of this study highlighted four themes …

Orchestrating A Kindergarten Block Program : The Teacher's Role, Abbey Butcosk

Graduate Student Independent Studies

Analyzes the role of the teacher in kindergarten block building

The Early Years : A Handbook For New Early Childhood Progressive Educators, Mallory Morris

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This master's project provides research, advice, and suggestions that will continue to prepare progressive early childhood teachers for their first years in the classroom.

Farming And Education : An Interview Project Advocating For Farm-Based Education, Rebekah Mindel

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This thesis is meant to inspire educators to value farm-based education in which farming and education come together in experiential, inquiry-based learning.

Why The Arts?, Theresa Girardi

Honors Program Theses and Projects

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of arts integration within a PreK classroom in Northeastern Massachusetts. A single observation took place over the course of three hours within a PreK classroom of a childcare program that advocates for the integration of the arts. Nine students and one lead teacher were observed. One lesson was observed and assessed according to an arts integration checklist that looked for observable displays of arts integration within the lesson. In addition, an interview was conducted with the program director. The study found that the teacher met objectives across two content areas, …

Maine’S Charter School Law: Predicted Impacts On Waynflete School Enrollment, Kelsey Robinov

Muskie School Capstones and Dissertations

The aim of this study is to predict the impacts of Maine’s recently enacted charter school law on the enrollment at Waynflete School, a private co-educational day school in Portland, Maine. National data on current public and private school enrollment trends were examined, as well as existing data on the effects of charter schools on enrollments at these schools. The intent at looking at this data will be to determine what, if any, factors can predict in what areas charter schools are likely to flourish and pull students from private schools in significant numbers and to compare the characteristics of …

Review Of Bonnie Latimer, Making Gender, Culture, And The Self In The Fiction Of Samuel Richardson: The Novel Individual, Karen Lipsedge

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

Latimer’s Making Gender, Culture, and the Self in the Fiction of Samuel Richardson answers a need in eighteenth-century Richardsonian studies. It is also a thoughtful and long overdue study, which deserves praise and attention. Latimer provides the reader with a greater understanding of the notion of female individuality in Richardson’s novels, and also of eighteenth-century culture and contemporary literature. Her research is gratifying in its level of detail, and she is deft in showing correspondences between eighteenth-century culture, fiction and Richardson’s novels. Although Sir Charles Grandison lies at the heart of this study, Latimer is equally skilful in devoting attention …

Review Of Enit Karafili Steiner, Jane Austen's Civilized Women: Morality, Gender, And The Civilizing Process, Sarah Raff

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

No abstract provided.

Review Of Paula Backscheider, Elizabeth Singer Rowe And The Development Of The English Novel, Sarah H. Prescott

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

No abstract provided.

Review Of Carol Stewart (Ed.), The Rash Resolve And Life's Progress, Sarah R. Creel

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

This review gives an overview of Carol Stewart's edition of Eliza Haywood's The Rash Resolve and Life's Progress. Providing a modern edition of these texts in print for the first time, Stewart's edition brings the two novels to life with careful attention to historical and contextual details.

You’Re An Austen Heroine! Engaging Students With Past And Present, Caroline Breashears

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

In my senior seminar on Jane Austen, I seek to engage students in multiple ways. On one hand, I want them to connect with Austen’s world and to reflect on what it means to them; on the other hand, I want them to understand the very real differences of that world and how they inform her novels. One strategy for engaging students in these ways is through interactive games. Studies have shown that many modern games have features similar to those stressed by engaged learning, so game design can be adapted for pedagogical purposes. I discuss the purposes, design, and …

Teaching Willmore, James Evans

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

Teaching Aphra Behn’s The Rover for nearly four decades, I have witnessed a considerable shift in students’ attitudes toward the play, especially toward Willmore. More positive about his character in the 1970s and 1980s, they have had a much more negative assessment since then. The only available video version, the Women’s Theatre Trust production, compounds my pedagogical problem through filming techniques and choice of actor; emphasizing male violence against women, its interpretation parallels feminist criticism of the 1990s. Asking students to examine theater history may lead them to see that Behn does not completely match this ideological paradigm. The original …

The Secret Life Of Archives: Sally Siddons, Sir Thomas Lawrence, And The Material Of Memory, Laura Engel

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

This essay is in two parts, in the first I attempt to map out strategies for considering archival materials through the lens of performance, and in the second I enact or perform some of those strategies through a close reading of a letter from Sally Siddons, daughter of the famous actress Sarah Siddons, to the renown portrait painter and rakish bad boy, Sir Thomas Lawrence. I present a methodology that considers archival researchers as tourists who approach archival objects and images as material for curating a virtual exhibition. I argue that this strategy allows us to recognize and attempt to …

Adrianne Wadewitz, 1977-2014, Laura Runge

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

No abstract provided.

Leveraging Digital Technology In Social Studies Education, Sarah Elizabeth Lundy

Dissertations and Theses

Today's K-12 classrooms are increasingly comprised of students who accomplish much of their informal learning through digital media and technology. In response, a growing number of educators are considering how they might draw upon these informal learning experiences to support student engagement and learning in the classroom through technology. The purpose of this study is for social studies educators, school administrators, teacher educators and curriculum developers to understand more about the potentials and limitations of integrating technology such as a digital text. This research focuses on the differences in experiences using a digital text and a printed text from the …

A Case Study In How French Teachers Understand Purpose In Educating Immigrant Students, Dana Doggett

Senior Theses

The purpose of the study was to comprehend how two French teachers understood their roles in teaching immigrant students. To achieve this goal, I observed classes at a middle school in Pau, France over the course of three months. I recorded extensive field notes and conducted two in-depth interviews with both of the teachers I observed. After returning to the United States, I coded my notes, identifying and analyzing patterns in the data. Among other conclusions, I discovered that these teachers emphasized students’ individual identities, including their diverse national and cultural backgrounds, while at the same time pushing the students …

Exploring The Factors That Influence And Motivate Female Students To Enroll And Persist In Collegiate Stem Degree Programs: A Mixed Methods Study, Rosemary L. Edzie

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

Nationally, the need for an increase in interest, enrollment, and degrees awarded from science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) degree programs continues to suffer. While students are enrolling in collegiate STEM degree programs, it is not occurring at a rate that meets the workforce demand. In addition to the concern that there is not a sufficient amount of collegiate STEM majors, there is a concern over too few females enrolling and persisting in collegiate STEM degree programs.

This mixed methods sequential exploratory research study considered the factors that influence and motivate undergraduate female students to enroll and persist in collegiate …

Elementary School Teachers' Interpretation And Promotion Of Creativity In The Learning Of Mathematics: A Grounded Theory Study, Yinjing Shen

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

Creativity is important for young children learning mathematics. Comparing the investment theory of creativity and national standards and principles for early mathematics shows that doing mathematics is more than applying rules and procedures; rather, learning mathematics takes a lot of creativity. However, much literature claimed that creativity for young children in the learning of mathematics was not adequately supported by teachers in the classroom due to teachers’ poor college preparation in mathematics content knowledge, teachers’ negativity towards creative students, teachers’ occupational pressure, low quality curriculum, and the like. The purpose of this grounded theory study was to generate a model …

Building A Framework For Indiana Geospatial Education, Benjamin D. Branch, Kathy L. Kozenski

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

No abstract provided.