Educational Methods Commons^™

Reducing Barriers To Entry: Enhancing Inclusivity And Engagement In Elementary School Extracurricular Programs, Katie A. Monahan

Education Doctorate Dissertations

This mixed-methods action research study explores the barriers and strategies related to developing inclusive extracurricular programs in an urban elementary school. Through stakeholder surveys, interviews, and archival data, the study investigates how extracurricular activities support student engagement, social-emotional learning (SEL), and a sense of belonging, particularly for students from marginalized backgrounds.

Findings highlight persistent barriers, including funding limitations, staffing shortages, logistical challenges, and the absence of a centralized system for tracking participation. These issues disproportionately impact students with disabilities, English Language Learners (ELLs), and those from low-income households. The study also identifies key supports, such as community partnerships and culturally …

Evaluation Of Online Learning And Educational Resources On Learning Outcomes In Medical Education: A Systematic Review, Ryan Victor-Joseph, Misa Mi, David Stewart

Posters

No abstract provided.

Structured Unfreedom: Improving Schools, Society, And The Relationship Between Them Through Meaningful Learning And Autonomy, Meghan Carroll

Educational Studies Honors Papers

This paper seeks to explore critiques of the structure of traditional US public schools and investigate alternative methods of schooling that have looked to address these critiques in various ways. I draw upon various educational theorists to argue that the structure of traditional public schools, through their lack of freedom and choice given to students (and oftentimes teachers), creates an environment where students do not care about or feel connected to their education and what they are learning in school. There are various foundational elements that contribute to this structure of school, such as the switching of classes and the …

The Bluey Effect: Using The Children’S Cartoon To Connect Social-Emotional Learning And Core Content In The Classroom, Marra Becker

Undergraduate Theses

In recent years, there has been a push for incorporating SEL, or social-emotional learning, into the classroom. As important as this movement is, many teachers have expressed concerns about their ability to intentionally address SEL concepts during the school day. This stems from a lack of time, accessible SEL programs, and training for teachers and staff. During this time, studies have also shown that as students go through school into higher education, rates of engagement tend to drop significantly. This has only increased after the COVID-19 pandemic. One way to address both of these challenges is to create a way …

Equipping Teachers To Support Comic Literacy: An Analysis Of The Educational Potential Of Toon Book, Kayla Whitlock, Jewel Yoder Kuhns, Sara Kersten-Parrish Dr.

SANE journal: Sequential Art Narrative in Education

Teachers frequently reach for leveled readers to help facilitate their guided reading groups; however, there can be limits in using these leveled readers. One such limit relates to enjoyment and engagement. An answer to this is using TOON books during guided reading time. TOON books are graphic novel leveled readers and were created in response to a need for high quality books for readers of all levels. However, in reading these books teachers need to be aware of the comics form and how those features impact the reading process. In this article, we outline the features common in graphic novels …

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 …

Enhancing Student Engagement And Support With A Discord Ticketing And Ai-Driven Faq System, Benjamin Cisneros, Jorge Fonseca Cacho

UNLV Best Teaching Practices Expo

As the CS 202 Coordinator overseeing seven sections per semester, I introduced a Discord-based ticketing system to streamline student support and engagement. Traditional methods like office hours and email often created delays, whereas the ticket system allows students to receive timely help from any available TA, regardless of section. To further enhance accessibility, we added a public FAQ channel that displays resolved tickets, helping students quickly find answers without combing through chat logs. This approach supports learners with shorter attention spans and builds a shared knowledge base. Additionally, we are compiling these interactions to train an AI chatbot capable of …

The Power Of Connection: Fostering A Safe And Supportive Classroom, Michelle A. Arroyo

UNLV Best Teaching Practices Expo

One of the most effective teaching practices is building strong relationships with students and creating a safe, supportive classroom environment. When students feel valued, respected, and comfortable, they are more likely to engage in learning, take risks, and persist through challenges. In my classroom, I prioritize getting to know my students personally, establishing consistent expectations, and fostering a culture where mistakes are seen as opportunities for growth. By emphasizing trust, encouragement, and open communication, I create a space where students feel safe to ask questions without fear, advocate for themselves, and develop confidence in their abilities. This approach is particularly …

Teaching With Roleplaying Games, Bryan Blankfield

UNLV Best Teaching Practices Expo

Roleplaying Games (RPG) offer a uniquely dynamic teaching practice. Educational RPGs invite students to roleplay as historical figures or character types navigating complex scenarios. My students have roleplayed as golden age hip hop artists, presidential campaign teams, and citizens debating for/against Maya Lin’s proposed Vietnam Veterans Memorial in 1980. Any scenario is possible! The length of these games can span from one class period to an entire semester. It just depends on your objectives.

From Page To Perspective: Book Clubs & Book Reviews Enhance Learning In The College Classroom, Kim Nehls

UNLV Best Teaching Practices Expo

Incorporating book clubs and book reviews into my International Business Capstone course (UNLV BUS 498) offered a dynamic and fun learning experience that enhanced both academic development and personal growth. Following this assignment, students demonstrated strengthened skills in critical thinking, collaboration, and global awareness.

Using Game-Based Learning As An Active Learning Technique In Nursing Education Classes, Margaret Trnka

UNLV Best Teaching Practices Expo

In nursing education it is essential to prepare the students for complex clinical settings. The use of active learning activities such as game-based learning combines nursing content with gaming to increase engagement, knowledge retention, and critical thinking. This poster presentation shares information on game-based learning, how to use it, where to gather more information on the topic, and resources to implement game-based learning in the classroom. Game-based learning offers students an engaging and active way to learn in not just nursing education but all areas of education. Game-based learning is a strong activity that promotes deeper learning in both didactic …

Leveling The Playing Field: The Power Of Pre-Class Structure In Inclusive Education, Andrew Kauffman

UNLV Best Teaching Practices Expo

Many students enter UNLV without prior instruction on effective learning strategies or class preparation, and their limited classroom contact hours further hinder the development of essential study and self-regulation skills. This challenge is particularly pronounced among students from underrepresented and underserved communities. To address this, I created structured pre-class activities designed to equip students with effective study habits and learning strategies that support their success both in and out of the classroom. Before each class session, students complete a “Pre-Class Guided Practice” handout, which includes an overview of the new material, clearly defined learning objectives, a QR code linking to …

Helping Students Frame Their Educational Experiences, Nathan Slife, Joseph Ervin

UNLV Best Teaching Practices Expo

What separates a good instructor from a great instructor? One crucial aspect of a great instructor is their ability to help students frame their educational experiences. This framing assistance occurs for both good and challenging student experiences. Instructors play an important role in helping students understand their educational experiences. An instructor may not recognize that they have such a role. We encourage instructors to be intentional about their role in students’ framing.

When Realism In Testing Backfires: Lessons From An Unstructured Practical Exam Pairing, Jennifer Nash

UNLV Best Teaching Practices Expo

Physical therapists must adapt quickly and independently in diverse neurologic settings. To reinforce diagnostic readiness and self-sufficiency, students were not assigned partners in advance and received their exam schedule only on the day of testing. This format was designed to challenge adaptability under realistic conditions, promote independent preparation across all course skills, and reduce reliance on rehearsed teamwork.

Designing Futures: Embedding Life Design Into Second-Year Seminar, Janel Doll, Lauren Gatto, Chelsie Hawkinson, Anne Jacklin

UNLV Best Teaching Practices Expo

In COE 202: Second-Year Seminar (SYS), students engage in Life Design to build purpose-driven academic and career pathways. We use design thinking to help students:

• Identify values, strengths, and goals
• Explore possible life and career directions
• Reflect on academic choices in relation to future plans

Life Design Portfolio — Includes:

• Worldview & Lifeview reflections
• Odyssey Plans
• Decision-Making Matrix
• Prototyping conversations and experiences

Learning Outcomes:

• Apply design thinking to life and career planning
• Demonstrate reflective decision-making skills
• Articulate personal and professional values
• Connect coursework to long-term aspirations

Enhancing Engagement And Accessibility With Ai, Dynamic Camera, & Multi-Device Integration, Jorge Fonseca Cacho, Benjamin Cisneros

UNLV Best Teaching Practices Expo

One of the biggest challenges in both in-person and remote learning is maintaining student engagement. Traditional lecture recording setups rely on static cameras, keeping the instructor locked in one position. However, research shows that students are more engaged when instructors move naturally throughout the room, using gestures, proximity, and dynamic body language to reinforce key concepts. Our solution integrates the Insta360 Link AI-powered facial tracking camera, which autonomously follows the instructor's movement across the classroom. This allows for a more natural, interactive teaching experience where students remain visually and cognitively engaged. Paired with a Laptop for presentations, an iPad Pro …

Facilitating Student Advancement: A High School Toolkit For Developing Professional Skills, Makenzie J. Mccain

Post-Professional Occupational Therapy Doctorate - Innovations in OT Symposium: Transforming Possibilities into Practice

Objective:

As students transition from high school to their next step, they are expected to demonstrate a different and often higher level of professional skills to successfully navigate their new roles. Existing research identifies these skills as highly valuable in industry and education, however there is a gap in research and resources that focus on high school students developing these essential skills. This quality improvement project focused on the development of a toolkit to fill this gap, providing an explicit, student-centered resource for professional skill development.

Methods:

The development of the Professional Skills Student Toolkit utilized established theoretical frameworks and …

Establishing Academic Self-Reliance: A Researched-Backed Notetaking Theory, Matt Hollenberg

2025 Student Academic Showcase

With the growing prominence of AI, the need for humanity to grow along with AI has become paramount. As important a tool as AI can become, society must remain diligent to learn and strive to continue to rely on human intelligence. To properly wield such a tool requires the invaluable ability to interpret the information brought forth. This is not only crucial for the individual, but society. To achieve this, individuals should strive to take a grit-based approach to learning to grow along with the exponential rise of AI. The goal of this presentation is to encourage individuals to put …

There's A Method To This Physics Madness, Hanna J. Ross

Physics and Astronomy Presentations

Physics tends to be seen by the general public as scary and unattainable, especially for students who are non-STEM majors. However, at Ursinus College (as well as many other institutions) the professors employ the use of specific problem-solving strategy instruction to mitigate these fears and further general problem solving skills. This study reviews previous experiments evaluating the merit of this strategy and analyzes its results as it relates to Physics on Screen, a physics class at Ursinus geared specifically towards non-majors.

Through The Looking Glass : Diversity Through The Eyes Of A Dress Form, Amara Copeland

LSU Master's Theses

This article aims to look into educational institutions and how they address diversity using curatorial displays. Does fashion and costume curation add to the seclusion of luxury? Looking into this correlation, this study aims to answer these next couple of questions. How does museum curation add to fashion social norms? Is it a subconscious or conscious decision when deciding on a mannequin or dress form? How do museum and fashion curations add to the exclusion of minorities in the world of luxury? What is costume luxury, and who do we say can obtain it?

This research aims to understand the …

Spanish Education: Teaching Philosophy Learned From Best Practice And Student And Teacher Engagement., Olivia Anderson

Honors Theses

This honors thesis investigates best practices for teaching Spanish in K–12 settings by conducting qualitative interviews with Spanish teachers at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. The study focuses on identifying effective strategies and classroom activities that promote student engagement and language proficiency while examining how teachers continue to develop professionally. Conscious of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages’ (ACTFL) Five C’s—Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons, and Communities—the research highlights communication as the central pillar of language learning. Through detailed classroom examples, such as “Mapa del Martes,” student-created cooking videos, and Kagan Strategies, the thesis illustrates how …

Promoting College And Career Ready Readers And Writers: A Guide For English, Science, And Social Studies Teachers To Support Instruction Of Sat Reading And Writing Skills, David Fitzpatrick

Masters Projects

In Michigan and across the United States, student scores on the Evidence Based Reading and Writing section of the SAT have been steadily declining. This project responds to this decline by developing a set of resources for skills-based literacy instruction that English language arts, social studies, and science teachers can use to revise their approaches to teaching literacy skills. Highly effective curriculum design and literacy instruction strategies were reviewed to design guides, templates, and models for practicing high school teachers at all grade levels to adapt in order to improve literacy instruction in their classrooms. By scaffolding literacy skills across …

Reinventing Mathematics Learning: An Exploration Of Undergraduate Mathematics Learning Post-Pandemic, Morgan R. Balesano

Honors Scholar Theses

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, beginning in March 2020 nearly all secondary and undergraduate mathematics students were forced to adapt to new methods of learning and testing. As a result, the current experience for these mathematics students has changed vastly, as have the opinions and preferences of these students in terms of their learning. This study aims to identify instruction and testing resources and methods that students prefer and those that students find less beneficial in their current, post-pandemic educational experience. The past few years have seen a focus on the direct impacts of online learning during the pandemic, …

Clarifying Background Knowledge - Understandings And Practices That Scaffold Comprehension, Justin M. Stygles

Wellspring: A Practitioner-Oriented Journal of Literacy and Language Education

Background Knowledge is a hot topic, though not new to our understanding of reading and comprehension. Background knowledge is more than just knowing facts and a scaffold to comprehension. What kinds of background knowledge students posses has a significant impact on their ability to interact with text cognitively and viscerally. What happens when they don't have the necessary background knowledge? Students must learn to clarify to acquire new knowledge that becomes the background knowledge for future literacy endeavors.

English As A Second Language Nurse Experiences With Collaborative Learning During Pre-Licensure, Baccalaureate Nursing Education: A Phenomenological Study, Candice Tart Phillips

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to understand how ESL nurses experienced collaborative learning with their native English-speaking peers in traditional baccalaureate-accredited nursing programs across the United States. The theories guiding this study were the Social Learning Theory (SLT) of Academic Self-Efficacy (ASE) by Albert Bandura and the Sociocultural Theory of Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) by Lev Vygotsky. The central investigative research question was: What are the lived experiences of novice ESL nurses who participated in collaborative learning with their native English-speaking peers during baccalaureate nursing education? Sampling methods used included a purposive and a snowball sample …

A Quantitative Causal-Comparative Study Of Occupational Self-Efficacy Beliefs For Acquisition Professionals After Completing Professional Credentials Designed For The Knowledge Or Performance Dimension, Carla A. Goger

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this quantitative, causal-comparative study is to explore the impact between credential programs designed for the knowledge or performance dimension and whether there is a difference in how those designs affect defense acquisition professionals’ occupational self-efficacy beliefs and whether the years of professional experience affect those results. This study endeavors to contribute to the field of education by shedding light on the relationship between the design of professional credential programs and occupational self-efficacy beliefs within the approximate 19,000 members of the defense acquisition workforce who have attained a credential since 2019. The occupational self-efficacy short-form (OSS-6) questionnaire was …

A Qualitative Transcendental Phenomenological Study Of The Nazarene Compassionate Ministries' Holistic Model Of Education, Phillip Jason Dixon

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this qualitative transcendental phenomenological study was to assess the effectiveness of the holistic model of Christian education in the development and preparedness of ministerial leadership roles as used by the Nazarene Compassionate Ministries’ child sponsorship program (NCMCSP) in Armenia, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and the Philippines. According to Moustakas (1994), transcendental phenomenology research seeks to understand human experiences (Moustakas, 1994). The participants in this study were delimited to graduates who experienced the NCMCSP from 2000 to 2020 and actively serving in ministerial leadership to assess their perceptions of the NCMCSP’s effectiveness in educating and preparing them for …

Using Trade Books To Thematically Teach Civil Rights Issues, Alyssa Whitford, Timothy Lintner, Caroline Sheffield

The Councilor: A National Journal of the Social Studies

This semester-long project examined the use of social studies trade books to thematically teach the civic contributions of three individuals who served as change agents in the United States during the late 19^th and early 20^th century. Two were African American men, Robert Smalls and Frederick Douglass, who took civic action to address racial discrimination faced by the Black community following the U.S. Civil War. The other was Ida B. Wells who challenged social inequities and injustices within her community. Throughout this project, sixth-grade students read selected trade books, examined primary sources, completed graphic organizers, and crafted writing …

History’S Unsung Hero: Examining Oscar Dunn And African American History Through A Graphical Novel, Nefertari Yancie

The Councilor: A National Journal of the Social Studies

Social studies curriculum is at the center of heated debates in U. S. politics. Conservative politicians seek to limit what student are taught about the experiences of people of color who have been oppressed or subjected to racist policies and treatment throughout American history. Whitewashing history denies students the chance to examine history in its fullness as they are unable to analyze the voices and experiences of all people whose stories have contributed to the American story. In this article, the author explores how graphic novels may be used to teach African American history. Specifically, the author discusses how activities …

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. …