Elementary Education Commons^™

Technology Or Pencil And Paper: How Do Fifth Graders Best Learn Math Facts?, Carrie Hartwig

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

This research was conducted in order to answer two questions. First, technology or pencil and paper: how do fifth grade students best learn math facts? The second question asked was: How does fact fluency affect feelings about math? The group of 20 students (13 boys, 8 girls) was divided into two groups. One group worked with a technology-based intervention. The second group used the paper and pencil intervention called Cover, Copy, Compare. The study revealed that both interventions were effective at increasing fact fluency, however the technology based intervention showed greater growth. The students were also surveyed about their feelings …

Flipped Classroom Effects On Upper Elementary And Middle School Student Motivation Inside And Outside The Classroom, Katarina Kuhlmann

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

This action research study focuses on the effects the Flipped Classroom Model has on student motivation in the classroom, as well as at home. Two research questions are utilized in this study and the two research questions are the following: How does the Flipped Classroom Model (FCM) enhance student motivation at home, as well as in the classroom? What obstacles can educators and students face pertaining towards motivation with the Flipped Classroom Model (FCM) and how can they overcome those challenges? The study on the Flipped Classroom and student motivation took place in a 5^th grade classroom consisting of …

How Teaching Virtues Became A Movement. A Book Review Of The Rise Of Character Education In Britain: Heroes, Dragons, And The Myths Of Character, Judith L. Pace

Democracy & Education

How did character education become so popular? What does its curriculum look like? And what is its educational impact? Lee Jerome and Ben Kisby answer these and other questions in a bold and brilliant book. Focusing on the character education movement in Britain, they dissect its theoretical foundation, explain its ascendancy, analyze its curricula, and examine its results. The authors construct a compelling argument that character education clashes with education for democracy.

Character education claims to be a panacea for improving individual children’s life chances as well as an array of societal problems. But with its deeply flawed ideology, curricula, …

Creating Democratic Classroom Communities With Morning Meeting Humanizing Social Practices. A Response To "The Morning Meeting: Fostering A Participatory Democracy Begins With Youth In Public Education", Maureen P. Boyd, Brian Edmiston

Democracy & Education

In our response to Tilhou’s article published last issue, “The Morning Meeting: Fostering a Participatory Democracy Begins with Youth in Public Education,” we share and discuss ethnographic data from Morning Meetings in two U.S. elementary classrooms. We detail ways the democratic potential of Morning Meetings is being cultivated in these classroom communities where one teacher has extended the Responsive Classroom model while the other has developed his own structures. We show how classroom democratic norms are established through humanizing community-building social practices as we argue that Morning Meetings must be understood across time and activities that may have an academic …

Differentiated Spelling: Using Small Group Instruction, Sara Broughton

Masters of Education in Teaching and Learning

Spelling instruction is often overlooked by many teachers during reading and language arts. The purpose of this study was to implement a manageable differentiated word study instruction program, drawn from the Words Their Way (WTW) program, to determine how it affected students’ spelling accuracy and how the participants perceived its effect on students’ daily journal writing time in a fourth-grade self-contained classroom. Students were placed into small groups based on their spelling pre-test scores. Data was collected through field notes, student and teacher interviews, a pre- and post-test, and a survey. Qualitative data was analyzed using the constant …

“Math Talks Are Like An Alarm Clock Waking You Up”: Language’S Crucial Role In Mathematics, Ella Wasser

Masters of Education in Teaching and Learning

Whole group math talks, or number talks, are a common practice to get students talking about their own understanding of mathematical concepts. The purpose of this study was to implement math talks in small group settings to see what would happen, specifically to students’ conceptual understanding as well their general perceptions of math talks. This study took place in a fourth-grade math classroom, and math talks were implemented with the whole class for a week and then moved to small groups for the remaining three weeks of the study. During the study, a pre-and post-assessment was given, field notes were …

Students’ And Teacher Perceptions On The “Really Great Reading” Phonics Program And Its Effectiveness, Savanna Simmons

Masters of Education in Teaching and Learning

Choosing a phonics instructional approach to use in the classroom can be a difficult task for teachers, which is why many schools have started implementing specific phonics programs. The purpose of this study was to determine the student and teacher perceptions of the “Really Great Reading” phonics program and its effectiveness for helping students learn to read and spell. The study took place in a second-grade classroom with twenty in-person students and the classroom teacher. The researcher gathered data from surveys, interviews, and pre- and post-assessments. Qualitative data was analyzed using the constant comparative method and quantitative data was analyzed …

The Impact Of Explicit Teaching Of Emotions In A Second Grade Classroom, Shaina Pine

Education Masters Papers

How can the explicit teaching of emotions affect student behavior and emotional problem solving? This action research project investigated how lessons using the explicit teaching model affected the ability for students to identify their own emotions, problem solve emotional responses, and use the process of affect labeling, or naming an emotion, to help students regulate their emotions within the classroom environment and beyond. Twenty-six second-grade students participated in daily emotional check-ins, explicit teaching lessons about twenty-five different emotions, and journal writing to reinforce emotional identification and problem-solving skills. A pre and post interview was used to assess students’ ability to …

Identifying Schools As Caring Communities: Teacher Perceptions About Character Education, Jasmine Johnson

Faculty Works

This study quantified teacher perceptions and their observations of school community interactive attachments. Observed attachments through teacher perceptions classified school communities as caring. Elementary school teachers in the southern United States districts volunteered, in order to determine the significance of school-based taught or learned character education principles in comparison with caring attachments. Data were collected using the Caring Community Profile – II questionnaire, which measures the participants’ attitudes by the extent to which they agree or disagree with a statement. The results clarified the significance of character education programs that identify school communities as caring.

Additionally, the findings answered the …

'Training' The Body Politic: Essays On The School Reform Orthodoxy, Jahan Naghshineh

Education (PhD) Dissertations

These essays represent my attempt to grapple with fundamental questions about what I see as the upside-down nature of educational reforms in American society. Why is there a never-ending crisis in America’s public schools? What does it mean when the educational specter from different periods of history is discredited and yet the specter keeps being recycled decade after decade? For example, elites propagated crisis narratives to galvanize support for the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation at the turn of the century. Countless researchers then documented the adverse impacts of NCLB on America’s schools and yet that literature never led …

K-12 Economically Disadvantaged Students, Poverty, And Education: Ecological Narratives Of Successful Raised-In-Poverty, Texas Educators, Rebecca N. Morris

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research study aimed to understand how successful Texas educators who grew up in poverty understood and improved the educational experience of economically disadvantaged students. This study utilized a structural ecological theory and three theories of social relationships (Social Identity, Standpoint, and Cultural Capital). This phenomenological and qualitative study used a cross-sectional, descriptive, online case study design rooted in narrative nonfiction. Virtual interviews with six successful Texas educators that grew up in poverty were conducted. A narrative method of analysis was utilized to generate codes then organize them into themes, and to construct and compare the narrative findings. The results …

Implementing Lgbtq+ Curriculum In Early Education Classrooms, Mahri Walker

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Many elementary schools have LGBTQ+ content missing from the curriculum, with gender identity and expression and diverse family structures notably absent. The issue that arises is children from LGBTQ+ families, or who may be LGBTQ+ themselves, do not feel represented in the curriculum. If children are provided with the knowledge of what it means to be LGBTQ+, then they are more likely to have a healthy relationship with themselves and their peers who may be included in that community. In order to address this issue, I created a three-day lesson for Kindergarten through first graders at San Lorenzo Valley Elementary …

Re-Centering Racial Justice In White-Dominated School Settings, Brian A. Davis

Master's Projects and Capstones

Any institution that does not give students the critical and theoretical frameworks to understand White supremacy in the United States is an active contributor in the proliferation of this hegemonic force. White supremacy is a system that produces violence educationally, socially, politically, environmentally, ontologically, and epistemologically. The study of Whiteness and White supremacy has been discounted in high school settings for various reasons. This project seeks to solve this critical issue within the field of secondary education through the implementation of a course that unpacks White supremacy while center Black history. This course will provide students with a historical framework …

From Barriers To Success: How Elementary School Principals Strategically Lead Schools To Become 21st Century Learning Exemplar Schools, Heather Gold

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative study was to examine the barriers and support systems elementary principals describe, through the lens of Activity Theory, they experienced while leading their schools to achieve 21st century learning exemplar status.

Methodology: This phenomenological study examined the perceptions of 15 elementary and K-8 principals and their respective assistant principals regarding the barriers and support systems they experienced while leading their schools to achieve 21st century learning exemplar status. Participants were selected based on the criteria that they had been identified as exemplary by the Partnership for 21st Century Learning (P21); were public, non-private, …

"We Can Write, Too!" A Developmentally Appropriate Writing Curriculum For Grades K-1, Danielle Pierce

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

The Common Core State Standards initiative was created to unify current learning standards and ensure that all students were prepared for graduation across the United States (Common Core State Standards Initiative, 2021). Despite this initiative, national assessment data has shown that most students do not perform to grade level expectations in writing (Costa et al., 2020; NAEP, 2011). Scholarship has demonstrated that there is a deficit of research in primary grade writing instruction, and a lack of universal direction in how to teach students to meet writing standards (Graham & Harris, 2005; Korth et al., 2017). While it has been …

Playing Through Tragedy: A Critical Approach To Welcoming Children’S Social Worlds And Play As Pedagogy, Cassie Brownell

Occasional Paper Series

Children’s play frequently reflects the ways they understand and cope with personal life experiences and those in the wider world. Drawing connections to many of the tenants of Jonathan Silin’s lifelong work, the author offers illustrative examples of why play and children's social worlds matter as well as why adults should pay attention to what children do and say in their play. Through personal stories, the author shows how integrating play(full) experiences into the daily life of a classroom can foster children's understanding of seemingly "difficult" or "adult" ideas and events that may be confusing, fear-inducing or represent significant loss. …

Young Mathematicians: Stem Skills For Success, Lindsey Herlehy

Publications & Research

Our youngest STEAM learners are creative and curious but require support and foundational skills in math and science. Through play-based, open-ended explorations, young students can engage in STEAM-learning skills such as subitizing, sorting, drawing, and patterns. In this session, participants will actively take part in activities highlighting each of the mathematical foundations, examine STEAM-integrated tasks that support these concepts, and share resources to be used in the classroom.

The Impact Of Standardized Testing, Marissa Rapposelli

English Department: Research for Change - Wicked Problems in Our World

This paper will discuss the issues revolving around standardized testing and the detrimental effects it has on student’s mental health and testing anxiety. This will also show how it can limit and hinder the students long term learning in the future with standardized and high-stakes testing. It will also show how changes could be made in school systems to help better their students and their learning. The focus is on Pennsylvania testing due to the amount of standardized testing they provide their students.

A Curriculum Creation For Revolutionary Change: Using Diverse Mentor Text To Teach Literary Elements Through A Social Justice Lens, Sara Barkley

Masters Theses/Capstone Projects

The purpose of this study is to present a literacy curriculum designed specifically for fifth grade students. The curriculum utilizes Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (1995) and Learning for Justice (2018) social justice standards and domains, in order to provide best practices for all students to achieve academic success, celebrate diversity, and take action against injustices in the world. The following question framed the literature research that was conducted to develop this curriculum: How can we create a literacy based curriculum through a social justice lens that utilizes diverse children’s mentor text in order to create equitable school experiences? The question was …

What’S The Buzz?, Christine L. Moskalik

Teacher Resources

Read more: Moskalik, C. (2021). What’s the Buzz? A hands-on, interdisciplinary, & FUN way to learn about circuits, energy, engineering, bee communication and pollination. Science and Children. National Science Teaching Association. Volume 58 (Issue 5). May/June 2021.

Educating For Democracy: Policy Recommendations For The Revitalization Of Civic Learning In The United States, Meghan E. O'Brien

Community Engagement Student Work

The recent decades have brought upon a dramatic shift in the United States’ political and social climate. Increases in ideological polarization and extremism have taken hold as individual trust, knowledge, and participation in democratic processes has declined (Gould et al., 2011). These trends have contributed to the rising severity of social issues facing the United States - climate change, income inequality, systemic racism - as well as an inability to collectively address these issues. The need for a solution to these trends has never been greater as the nation struggles to perfect a democratic structure in which citizens are equitably …

Math Fact Fluency Instruction, Kelsey Nickel

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

This literature review investigates the purpose and importance of math facts instruction at the elementary level. Being able to know basic math facts both fluently and accurately is the foundation of mathematics education. There has been research showing the lack of math facts knowledge for the students in the United States compared to their peers in other countries. Math curriculum does not focus on math facts instruction enough to achieve mastery without the use of supplemental strategies. There has been research done on the strategies to study the effectiveness. These strategies include rote memorization strategies, computer assisted instruction, educational games, …

The Corridor Of Shame: An Immersed Analysis Of South Carolina Schools, Darren R. Burton

Senior Theses

This research project discusses school funding instruments of rural and urban schools in South Carolina and uncovers its effect on student academic achievement. Educational achievement is assessed based on report card datasets between 2018 and 2019, containing South Carolina Assessment of State Standards (SCPASS) score data and South Carolina College and Career Ready Assessment (SCREADY) score data. This research project uses a comparative analysis to evaluate each group’s performance in the subjects of English Language Arts and science. The statistical analysis tools that this research project uses include analysis of variance (ANOVA), linear regression analysis, and Microsoft Power BI. The …

Queering Elementary Education: A Queer Curriculum For 4th Grade, Emma Butensky, Kimberly Williams Brown

#CritEdPol: Journal of Critical Education Policy Studies at Swarthmore College

This project explores the positioning of queer students and queer curriculum in schools with a specific focus on elementary education. Using intersectionality as a guiding framework along with queer theories, educational theories, and feminist theories, this project examines and critiques how queer subjectivities have (not) been included in schools via curriculum for elementary school children. In an effort to better understand how educators have been successfully incorporating queer topics into their classrooms, this study uses qualitative research methods, specifically semi-structured interviews with teachers in New York City. The findings from this study have been used to create a 23-lesson curriculum …

Experience Between Mentors And Coaches: A Phenomenological Case Study To Examine Effective Coaching Conditions, Brittany Adkins

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Capstones

The study uses a phenomenological case method to explore the lived experience of the mentor-coach coaching phenomenon and examines the case of the Literacy Center (university partnership) in providing professional development to build instructional capacity in elementary reading coaches through a coaching model in order to improve reading achievement in students (kindergarten through third grade). The study is guided through the theoretical frameworks of Social Learning Theory (Vygotsky, 1978) and the Capacity-Building Model for Teacher Development (Cooter, 2004). It is focused on two research questions: 1) How does the mentor and coach experience change over time? and 2) What facilitates …

Don't Run Out Of Steam! Barriers To A Transdisciplinary Learning Approach, Jennifer C. Caton

Journal of STEM Teacher Education

Reform-based instruction can maximize learning and provide equitable access for students in both mathematics and science. A proposal for change by national organizations shed light on the need for programs in integrated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) or with the inclusion of the arts (STEAM). A balanced approach to integrated STEAM education uses real issues from around the world to challenge students to be innovative, creative, and think critically about ways they can provide solutions. The purpose of this article is to highlight the potential of a transdisciplinary STEAM instructional approach, while examining the barriers that teachers face in …

Coming Together Through Object Based Learning In A Pandemic, Brian Sheehy, Michael Sandstrom, John Heeg

The Councilor: A National Journal of the Social Studies

In the summer of 2019, three history teachers from all over the US, met in France for National History Day’s Memorializing the Fallen program and commenced a lasting friendship. While in France, touring the WWI cemeteries, memorial sites, and museums, we all realized the importance of experience-based learning and the seeds were sown for our interest in object based learning. Aside from the philosophical and pedagogical discussions on long bus rides and our passion for history, we shared a belief in the importance of revitalizing history education and helping it to evolve in the face of our twenty-first century world. …

Deliberation On The Public Good During Covid-19: A Case Study Examining Elementary Students’ Use Of Civic Perspective-Taking, William Toledo, Esther Enright

The Councilor: A National Journal of the Social Studies

Abstract

Building on prior research on place-based social studies instruction (Toledo, 2017; 2020), this study specifically looks at data from six third-grade teachers who designed and implemented a civics curriculum focused on engaging students with a unit on locally-relevant public issues. The ten-lesson unit that the teachers and research team collaboratively developed was taught in six classrooms across a large school district. A central public issue in the unit was travel across borders during COVID-19, or simply the coronavirus as it was commonly referred to at the time. Students also considered tensions between immigration and containment of contagious illnesses through …

Beyond Pandemic Pedagogy: Thoughts On Deconstruction, Structure, And Justice Post-Pandemic, Samantha Cutrara

The Councilor: A National Journal of the Social Studies

No abstract provided.

Teaching So They Get It To “Got It!” - The Instructional Cha-Chas, Leann M. Nickelsen Mrs.

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

Merging neuroscience, formative assessment process and differentiation, Instructional Cha-Chas are 4 steps (chunk/chew/check/change) for planning and implementing lessons that prevent and close gaps in all subject areas and grades. You will get templates, tools, and strategies for teaching content so it’s meaningful, for engaging students with high-impact thinking, and for examining and responding to daily student evidence so ALL students get it to “Got It!”