Elementary Education Commons^™

Bridging Teacher Candidates, School Communities, And The World During A Pandemic, Sarah Jean Baker, Jennice Mccafferty-Wright, A. Minor Baker, Stefanie D. Livers

The Journal of Advancing Education Practice

The Covid-19 pandemic caused distance that separated the teacher from the learner as schools and higher education moved to virtual and flexible learning communities. Likewise, at the same time racial tensions were growing further increasing the distance and divide across the country. This positions teacher educators with the responsibility to bridge this distance.

The challenges of preparing educators for activism in a post-Covid educational context that considers cultural literacy, ethical leadership, and community engagement is explored with three narratives. These narratives provide the opportunity to think with and through our commitments in early childhood and elementary teacher education. Collectively, these …

Music Is The Intervention: The Intersections Of Music As A Therapeutic Activity In At-Risk Youth, Gladys H. Gonzalez Landaverde

Senior Honors Theses

Across the United States, public schools face many discrepancies in the quality and caliber of education that a student can expect to receive. While schools try to address the vast needs of students, many children and adolescents are unfortunately faced with choosing between prioritizing their education and the circumstances faced outside of the school day. The discrepancies in schooling range from the quality in the commonly accepted core curriculum like English and mathematics to the opportunities offered outside of traditional academia like music. Unfortunately, at-risk students are unlikely to have access to music education in the same ease as their …

Oral History: A Tool For The Elementary And Middle Classroom, Jessica Keiser

Senior Honors Theses

Modern historical instruction requires educators to cover broad expanses of history and prepare students for standardized testing. In the push to meet state standards and cover the vast curriculum in short periods of time, many educators have begun to teach to the textbook. Much to the detriment of students, this educational practice has favored periodization and content quantity over the development of crucial historical skills. Rather than adhering to popular education trends, teachers can consider implementing oral history projects within their elementary and middle school classrooms. Oral history is a methodology that employs first-hand accounts to teach about key historical …

The Mitigation Of In-Group And Outgroup Biases: Understanding The Perceptions Of Educators On The Contact Approach Theory, Brigitte Blazys

Dissertations

The contact approach theory was introduced in the 1950s, by Allport, as a method to mitigate biases. Since then, many DEI practitioners in the United States have formed alliances to create a social justice movement to combat racism, prejudice, and biases in our society. Nevertheless, little research has been conducted in the contact approach theory as these biases, initially observed as in-group and outgroup biases, originate in the early years of life. To begin to fill this gap in the literature, the purpose of this study was to better understand and identify to what extent, if any, prekindergarten through third …

Impact Teacher Perceptions Of Distance Education As A Strategy For Formal Education During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Monica Morgan

Student Research Poster Presentations 2022

Students cannot be successful if their basic needs are not met. Distance education led to many hurdles, especially for low-income families, including lack of access to the internet and required technology, inadequate home learning environment, and restricted human interaction. These hurdles may negatively impact teacher perceptions of distance education as a strategy for formal education.

Co-Teaching In High School, Ashley Evans

Student Research Poster Presentations 2022

Students with and without disabilities are entitled to a free and appropriate public education. All students should be given the best education no matter the circumstances that may be present. Implementing the co-teaching model and framework into high school general education classrooms can benefit all students. Where there are benefits with teaching models, there are also drawbacks that can cause the implementation of the model not to be implemented as created. Difference causes can cause this that school districts may or may not be able to control. The lack of professional development, certifications of the educators, and defining the roles …

Mind The Gap: Addressing The Disproportionate Rate Of Discipline Of Black Students In The Public Education System, Sophia Mcconnell

OUR Journal: ODU Undergraduate Research Journal

Within public education, it has been shown that there is a disproportionate rate of discipline between Black and White students. A literature review was conducted to identify prevailing themes as to why this gap occurs, what factors maintain it, and what can educators do to reduce it. Several themes were found and are detailed in this paper in the following order: First, several studies have debunked the previously held idea that low socioeconomic status and the Differential Involvement theory could be explanations for the disproportionate rate of discipline. Second, there are two leading factors, among many others, that maintain the …

Discussion Of Educational Philosphy For Elementary Math Educators, Daniel Kurzweil

Open Educational Resources

No abstract provided.

Self-Assessment Of Elementary Lesson Plans Through An Ecological Lens, Scott Edward Sebree

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Classrooms are ecosystems. Classrooms have well defined boundaries and host living and nonliving elements. These elements interact as classroom lessons and day to day ongoings occur. These interactions have potential to be synergized to increase learning outcomes. The purpose of this research is to develop a self-reflective instrument for teachers to consider the elements, interactions, and synergy of lessons. An instrument was developed based on models of other survey instruments (Cantu, 2015) (Appendix A). Content validity experts were recruited, and the instrument was refined as a self-reflective tool. As a self-reflective instrument teachers can use reflective practice to further intentional …

Exploring Long-Term Impacts Of Self-Regulated Learning Interventions In K-12 Contexts: A Systematic Review, Erin Cousins, Linda Bol, Tian Luo

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Faculty Publications

While research illustrates the benefits of interventions designed to improve self-regulated learning (SRL) and academic achievement, far fewer studies have examined the durability of these effects. This review synthesizes research on the lasting effects of 17 comprehensive SRL interventions on variables related to metacognition, cognition, motivation, and achievement in K-12 populations. Results reveal common patterns of design, domain-specificity, intervention complexity, and style of measurement instrument. Intervention effects tend to be durable regarding achievement and SRL but were mixed when presented across multiple measures of SRL. Overall findings imply that SRL interventions can lead to enduring effects on achievement and better …

Teacher Retention Policy Coherence: An Analysis Of Policies And Practices Across Federal, State, And Division Levels, Andrene Castro, Adria Hoffman, Jonathan D. Becker, David Naff, Peter S. Willis, Andy Kane

MERC Publications

As part of a larger MERC study, this report provides an overview of federal, state, and regional policies and practices relevant to teacher retention. Using key informant interviews and document analysis, the report addresses the following research questions: What teacher retention policies exist at the federal, state, and local levels? How are these policies structured at the state level and local levels? How do teacher retention policies vary across MERC divisions? Following the findings, the report presents recommendations for policy and practice.

An Online Hub For Queens Parents, Abe R. Levine

Capstones

I sought to build a common hub for parents across District 28 in Queens to connect with one another. I did this by creating a bilingual newsletter called the Queens Boletín. The goal of the Boletín was for parents to share and find resources, to advance the conversation on equity, and to build community.

A Fundamental Part Of Learning: Employing Play-Based Learning In Marin County, Ca Kindergartens, Spencer Gapinski

Literary and Intercultural Studies | Senior Theses

Play occupies a fundamental part of learning as a human being yet is often not used in an educational setting. Public Schools across California have increased the academic demand of students as early as Kindergarten with the intent to increase learning. While academic learning has seen moderate increases in past decades, the result has seen a decrease in play in the classroom. This essay assesses the benefits of using a Play-Based Learning method as well as describes the next steps needed to incorporate Play-Based Learning into Marin County Kindergarten classrooms.

"Read It Again!": Storytelling To Imitate The Great Teacher, Kate Whatley

Senior Honors Theses

The student’s mind is bent on stories, asking mothers around the world to ‘read it again’. These stories preserve information and emotions for centuries. In the classroom, stories enliven motivation and empathy in ways that result in higher academic achievement and social awareness. Learning to use stories as a key instructional strategy will allow for more equitable opportunities in classrooms, encourage mental health and truth telling for the teacher and the student collectively, and allow the academic community to imitate Christ by contributing to the bigger story taking place across time. In application of using stories as teachers, this thesis …

The Privatization Movement Is Not Dead! A Book Review Of A Wolf At The Schoolhouse Door: The Dismantling Of Public Education And The Future Of School, Jeffrey Frenkiewich

Democracy & Education

In January of 2020, Diane Ravitch published Slaying Goliath, in which she claimed the movement to privatize America’s public school system was dying. While this might be true, the movement is not dead, and this review looks at Jack Schneider and Jennifer Berkshire’s A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door, which examines the history of school privatization and calls for renewed vigilance by those who oppose it. Schneider and Berkshire argued that defenders of public education need three conceptual frames to fight privatization efforts: (a) a clear presentation of the aims and objectives of the privatization movement; (b) knowledge of the …

A Velvet Rope Of Exclusion: The Delmar Divide, Madison Beirne

Undergraduate Research Symposium

Many reports have been published about the complex topic of segregation in the Greater St. Louis area. However, the effect of years of systemic segregation on education has not been adequately discussed in a modern context. This report studies the root causes of the Delmar Divide in an attempt to understand the impact it produced in the educational community. St. Louis is a classically divided city and the public-school system has suffered as a result of educational inequities. This work focuses on how the Delmar Divide created pockets that continue to marginalize residents, particularly students. The effect that purposeful segregation …

Student And Teacher Diversity In The Mountain West, Marie A. Falcone, Guadalupe De La Rosa, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

K-12 Education

This fact sheet highlights public K-12 teacher and student diversity in the Mountain West states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. We explore data from Michael Hansen and Diana Quintero’s “Mountain West states face growing teacher diversity gaps” a 2018 Brookings Institution report. Specifically, we explore the teacher and student population in Mountain West states by race, revealing a disproportionate gap between students of color and teachers of color.

Afterschool Club: German For K-5, Justin Solheim

Honors Program: Expanded Learning Clubs

The lessons found in this paper were designed for a group of 20-25 elementary schools students in downtown Lincoln, NE. The students were split into two groups: K-2 and 3-5. Through a variety of activities, the students learned the basics of the German language and culture. Many of the lessons are simple and do not require difficult thinking, as this was a summer club. Instead, they allow students to collaborate, move around, color, and solve puzzles.

Differentiation For Gifted And Talented Elementary Students: What Teachers Know And Implement, Karyn Michelle Andrews

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of this research was to measure the ways elementary school teachers are differentiating instruction for their gifted and talented students and to gauge their awareness of the need for implementing appropriate differentiation strategies they use in their classrooms. The study surveyed elementary teachers currently teaching in one large school district in Kentucky. Teachers responded to 38 survey items, indicating how often they use specific practices with their gifted students versus with their average-achieving students.

The results indicated that there is much work to be done to increase teacher awareness of the importance of differentiated instruction for gifted and …

Third Grade Writing Skills And Project Based Learning, Julie M. Martin

Master of Education Graduate Projects

The project was designed to utilize project based learning to help improve the informational and opinion writing skills of third grade students. A unit was created that used the PBL Works project based learning Essential Design Elements and Teaching Practices along with a modified version of the Lake Washington School District Writing Units. The goal was to combine the proven benefits of project based learning with the required informational and opinion writing skills mandated by the Common Core State Standards. The unit consists of 25 lessons with roughly 30 total hours of combined teacher instruction and student worktime over a …

The Impacts Of Ability Grouping And Project Based Learning In Stem, Andrea Johnson

Education Masters Papers

Because of a decrease in state standardized test scores in science and an increase in the use of ability grouping in reading, this research investigated the impacts of ability grouping and project based learning in STEM unit. The participants in this study are made up of 24 fourth grades. They were split into groups based on their Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) results and completed a unit on matter. In the end, the students created a product explaining everything they learned about matter throughout the unit through choices of a presentation, video, or model. This research aimed to answer the following …

Using Avatars To Address Teacher Self-Efficacy, Chancey Bosch, Trevor Ellis

Journal of Global Education and Research

Technology-enhanced learning continues to provide opportunities for increased interventions in educational programing. For teacher education programs, novelty pales in comparison to providing meaningful instruction and enduring outcomes. The use of avatars has provided integration of research evidence that increases intended behaviors; however, research is lacking on teacher self-efficacy change via an avatar experience. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between teacher self-efficacy and avatar use in a teacher education program. A relational study using both parametric and non-parametric designs for four different samples indicated a significant relationship between avatar intervention and teacher self-efficacy in classroom management, …

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, …

An Exploration Of Manipulatives In Math Education, Jade Monte

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Pre-existing literature has shown that the education system needs to re-evaluate mathematical teaching practices in a manner that can boost students’ confidence in mathematics. Thus, the research is to investigate the use of manipulatives in reducing students’ anxiety by increasing their learning experience and engagement in mathematics. Furthermore, the purpose of this thesis is to explain the interconnectedness of math manipulatives, student engagement, and problem-solving. An in-depth literature review is conducted, which contains definitions, important benefits and methodologies of manipulatives, as well as the teacher’s role regarding these three terms. When manipulatives, student engagement, and problem-solving are in harmony, students …

Anxiety In Elementary Classrooms, Stephanie Kane

Honors Program Theses and Projects

As the number of students with anxiety increases, elementary school professionals are becoming more aware of the signs, behaviors, and negative outcomes that are shown in a young student with anxiety. This study examined the impact that anxiety has on elementary students’ social and academic growth in the classroom. Interviews were conducted with seven elementary school teachers, two school counselors, and one school nurse from a variety of districts in Eastern Massachusetts. The purpose of the study was to identify the different ways that young students express their anxieties and the effect that this has on their schooling. Several different …

Rural Elementary Teacher Beliefs Regarding The Effectiveness Of Their Homework Practices During The Pandemic, Daniel Clara

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Through the lenses of C.S. Peirce’s Belief and Genuine Doubt, Albert Bandura’s Self Efficacy and Collective Efficacy, Bernard Weiner’s Attribution Theory, and Critical Race Theory, this dissertation captured and codified rural elementary teacher beliefs regarding homework and its effectiveness related to learning, and in particular, the effects brought on by the 2020 COVID 19 school closure. Rural school systems are under-researched and present notable differences in homework challenges, including access to libraries, technology and distance from home to school. Using qualitative research, this study identified themes regarding teacher perceptions of homework. The author explained that many of the long-held tenants …

Social-Emotional Learning And Literacy: A Literary Curriculum Designed To Support Children's Self-Awareness Skills, Chelsea Mcconnell

Masters Theses/Capstone Projects

The purpose of this capstone project is to present a curriculum that utilizes children’s books to teach the first competency of social-emotional learning: self-awareness. The curriculum was developed based on the following research question: How can we create a literacy curriculum that utilizes children’s literature to support students’ social-emotional development in the domain of self-awareness? The question was answered after examining Vygotsky’s sociocultural learning theory and research associated with bibliotherapy and text selection, as well as structure developed for bibliotherapy lessons. The curriculum includes sample lessons that support literacy and social-emotional learning instruction with alignment to Ohio’s Social-Emotional Learning and …

A Story Told, Carly Caldarella

Senior Honors Projects

How do we educate our future generations about topics that are difficult to discuss? Oftentimes, children ask us questions that make us think, "How do I respond to this?" It is essential for our young generations to understand the history of racism, its present manifestations, and solutions and methods of action in order for a bright and revolutionary future. It is not always a simple task for children to comprehend such intricate topics. However, through text and pictures in storybooks, children can better grasp the concepts of such subject matter. "A Story Told" shares the story of young children in …

A Tale Of Two Schools: A Study Of Student Risk Factors And Exclusionary Suspension Incidents, Brandy Nicole Williamson

Dissertations

discipline practices can widen the opportunity gap for at-risk students (Baker & Coley, 2013; Black, 2016; Crosby et al., 2018; Gibson & Gibson, 2019; Mallett, 2016; McCarter, 2017; Porter, 2015; Williams et al., 2017). The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between student risk factors and exclusionary discipline rates. Identification of a significant relationship between exclusionary discipline and student risk factors could lead to an increased awareness of precertification and practicing educator professional development needs. Identification of a significant relationship between trauma-related risk factors and exclusionary discipline could lead to an awareness of exclusionary discipline alternatives more …

Pivoting To Online Learning—The Future Of Learning And Work, Danielle J. Camacho, Jill M. Legare

Publications

The purpose of this article is to contribute to the emergent body of research that addresses the changing landscape of education transitioning from brick and mortar to online/remote learning. A review of related literature for this paper includes an early perspective of online education, emergent trends, methods used to support educators and learners and a summary of best practices and opportunities for educators. Transitioning courses from on-ground to online education requires a student-centered approach, a clear understanding of the objectives, and a plan to address each of the learning goals. Remote learning does not equate to a less rigorous learning …