Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

Powerpoint Games In A Secondary Laptop Environment, Michael K. Barbour, Jim Kinsella, Lloyd P. Rieber

Education Faculty Publications

There is no denying the success and popularity of WebQuests among teachers. For those interested in technology integration, this is a significant step in the right direction. Yet, WebQuests are instructivist examples of technology integration – they are web-enhanced forms of direct instruction. We consider constructing homemade PowerPoint games as a constructionist alternative to WebQuests. PowerPoint is nearly ubiquitous software and teachers already use existing games in their classrooms. The authors contend that a better use of class time for learning is to turn over the act of game design to the children themselves. In this project, students in social …

Thinkfinity.Org Videos, Robert Del Greco, Graduate Assistant

Cornerstone 1 Reports : Expansion and Enhancements of the Thinkfinity Platform

Follow-up reports on the integration of videos in the Thinkfinity projects.

Original Goals: • To establish a rapport with a school in which Thinkfinity.org videos could be produced. • To create a reproducible format that could be used to create future Thinkfinity.org videos. • To create a video series (no less than 5 videos) of interactive whiteboard enhanced lessons based on Thinkfinity.org lesson plans that demonstrate how teachers can utilize both resources.

The Effect Of Virtual Clinical Gaming Simulations On Student Learning Outcomes In Medical-Surgical Nursing Education Courses, Robin A. Lewis

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The purpose of this study was to determine what the effects of virtual clinical simulation instruction were on the learning outcomes of students in higher education medical-surgical nursing education courses. This study fills a gap in the literature by adding data to the body of knowledge related to the use of this strategy for practical application in the classroom. This study used a causal comparative design. Data were acquired from the ATI Content Mastery Series (CMS) 2.1 Medical Surgical Examination ™ information for the fall 2006 through fall 2008 academic semesters. Additionally, data were collected using a pre- and post-course …

A Descriptive Analysis Of Knowledge And Implementation Of 21st Century Instructional Practices Among Elementary School Teachers Whose Administrators Participated In The 2006-2007 21st Century Leadership Institute, Elisabeth Michelle Samples

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The purpose of this study was to describe levels of knowledge and implementation of 21st century instructional practices among elementary school teachers whose administrators participated in the 2006 – 2007 21st Century Leadership Institute. A researcher-developed survey was used to collect data from 242 elementary teachers from 22 West Virginia schools. Teachers reported high or moderate knowledge and indicated they were implementing a majority of the 21st century instructional practices on a daily or weekly basis. Teacher knowledge of practices was significantly different based on school SES. Teacher implementation levels were not significantly different based on the variables investigated. The …

Teacher Retention: Program Evaluation Of A Beginning Teacher And Mentor Program, Janet B. Anthony

Education Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation evaluated a beginning teacher induction and mentor program currently used in a rural, county school system in western North Carolina and its effectiveness in the retention of teachers. The system has 29 schools, around 16,690 students, and employs approximately 1200 certified staff members. Using the CIPP Evaluation Model with a formative approach, information was gathered about the conditions that necessitated the program, procedures and practices used by the system to provide support and assistance to beginning teachers, whether or not established processes were being followed, and the impact of the program on beginning teacher retention. Individual and focus …

The Impact Of Collective Teacher Efficacy On Student Achievement In High School Science, Mark W. Burcham

Education Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation was designed to examine the impact of collective teacher efficacy on high school science achievement by looking at relationships among collective teacher efficacy, its two constructs, group competence and group task analysis, and high school science achievement scores at four rural high schools in Northwestern North Carolina.

The researcher gathered historical test data from the testing coordinator from the school system and then administered the Collective Teacher Efficacy Instrument, developed by Goddard, Hoy, and Woolfolk Hoy (2000), to 24 science teachers from the four high schools. Using this information, the researcher conducted statistical analyses to determine the relationships …

Case Study: The Effect Of The Implementation Of Professional Learning Communities On Teacher Behaviors At Two Elementary Schools, Rachel N. Clarke

Education Dissertations and Projects

This study examined the impact of the implementation of a Professional Learning Community (PLC) model on teacher behaviors in two elementary schools. The research questions underlying and providing a research framework for the study were as follows: How does establishing a PLC change teacher instructional behavior? How does the implementation of a PLC encourage teacher professional growth? How do grade level meetings affect the instructional behavior of classroom teachers?

Written documentation and perceptions of principals and teachers, solicited through interviews and focus groups, were used to provide data for the study, along with survey data and grade level meeting documentation. …

Professional Learning Communities: A Case Study Of The Implementation Of Plcs At An Elementary School Based On Huffman And Hipp's Five Dimensions And Critical Attributes, Shannon Long

Education Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this case study was to examine the change in perceptions of instructional staff in regards to five dimensions as it proceeded in establishing a professional learning community. The researcher utilized focused interview sessions, group interview questionnaires, and Huffman and Hipp's Professional Learning Survey to determine how the staff perceived the implementation of professional learning communities. The findings of this study will help the school of study determine the next steps of their journey of implementing professional learning communities.

Koinonia, Larry Crabb, Jesse Brown, Steven M. Conn, Michael Santarosa, Stephanie Santarosa, Steve Ivester, Kyle Lantz, Nathan Geer, Andrew D. Rowell

Koinonia

Spotlight Features
Sovereign Stumbling: My Life Journey to Date, Larry Crabb

Conversations About Racism, Jessie Brown

Anxiety: A Growing Problem in College Students, Steven M. Conn

Thinking Theologically
Teaching the Truth, Michael and Stephanie Santarosa

Book Reviews
Kingdom Triangle: Recover the Christian Mind, Renovate the Soul, Restore the Spirit's Power (by J.P. Moreland), reviewed by Steve Ivester

The Soul of a Christian University: A Field Guide for Educators (edited by Stephen T. Beers), reviewed by Kyle Lantz

The Outrageous Idea of Academic Faithfullness (by Donald Opitz and Derek Melleby), reviewed by Nathan Geer

I Once Was Lost: What Postmodern Skeptics …

The Impact Of Teacher Self-Efficacy In Writing On Instruction And Evaluation Of Writing In A School District In Western North Carolina, Deanna Berrier

Education Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation was designed to examine the writing strategies and scoring practices of fourth-grade teachers on the North Carolina Fourth Grade Writing Assessment and local, county-wide writing assessments by collecting data from 13 elementary schools located in rural, western North Carolina.

Both qualitative and quantitative means of data collection were implemented. Inter-rater reliability was used to determine reliability of the fourth-grade teachers' scoring using the North Carolina Fourth Grade Writing Assessment Rubric. Qualitative data was collected through the use of two surveys administered to the fourth-grade teachers in the county. Interviews and a focus group were also used to determine …

A Case Study Of A High School Transition Program Into The Ninth Grade, Jamie Douglas Durant

Education Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation was designed to examine and evaluate the effectiveness of a Ninth-Grade Transition Program at a Rural High School in Central North Carolina. The ninth grade is a pivotal year that determines which students will prevail and which students will fail to finish high school (Hertzog, 2003). It is essential that schools put in place components that ease the transition into high school and provide ongoing support.

Investigation measuring instruments used by the researcher included a two-part student survey and focus groups involving students in the ninth grade and those teachers who teach in the ninth grade. The data …

Evaluating The Impact Of The Beginning Teacher Induction Program On The Retention Rate Of Beginning Teachers, Monica Lynn Shepherd

Education Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation was designed to examine the Teacher Induction Program of a rural school system in North Carolina. The effects of mentor assignment, ongoing staff development, master teacher observation opportunities, structured reflection and self-assessment, and other support offered at the system level to beginning teachers on the retention rate of beginning teachers in the school system were analyzed.

The researcher determined 10 themes based on the objectives of the school system's Beginning Teacher Support Program: improving beginning teachers' skills and performance; supporting teacher morale; communications; collegiality; building a sense of professionalism and positive attitude; facilitating a smooth transition into the …

The Effects Of Teacher Stability On Third Grade Student Achievement As Measured By The North Carolina End-Of-Grade Tests In Reading And Mathematics, Juddson W. Starling

Education Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation was designed to examine the effects of teacher stability on student achievement as measured by the North Carolina End-of-Grade tests in reading and mathematics for third grade students. The perceptions of third grade teachers and elementary school principals concerning issues with teacher stability were also examined. Accountability for public schools in North Carolina has driven educators to find ways to increase student achievement. Teacher stability is a variable that can be controlled by educators in an attempt to increase student achievement.

The writer gathered test data from a target school district and analyzed test scores by the number …

It Takes Discipline: Learning In A World Without Boundaries, Stephen Healey

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

As Plato suggested, pedagogy is inextricably related to the polis. The learner and teacher are constituted by social, political, and economic bounds, and yet the twenty-first century polis is increasingly a world without boundaries. This is a perilous and exciting time to teach and learn. As agents of terror have shown, political boundaries are uncomfortably permeable. Economically, culturally, and religiously, globalization has reduced the power of nation-states and threatened erasure of their boundaries. Isolated identities—nationalistic, religious, linguistic, sexual— are under siege. Nothing is immune from alteration by these large-scale forces. Plato’s insight is that the pressures and possibilities, which determine …

Catalogue 2009-2010, Bank Street College Of Education

Graduate School of Education

This course catalog from a past academic year is a resource for referring to previous course offerings, degree requirements, institutional policies, and more.

Anatomy Of A Scientific Explanation, Cassandra Volpe Horii

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

“If I’m going to explain this theory, the question is, are you going to understand it? Will you understand the theory?” - -Richard Feynman, 1979 Douglas Robb Memorial Lectures

In this way, Richard Feynman, recipient of the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics and renowned teacher, author, and bongo player, introduced scientific explanation as an interesting problem with understanding as its testable outcome. Making quantum mechanics understandable to an audience of non-specialists is no easy task. Feynman had his audience in stitches, on this occasion, after noting that advanced graduate students in physics often “do not understand it either, and that’s …

Non-Science For Majors: Reforming Courses, Programs, And Pedagogy, Jennifer Frederick

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Scientific advances fill news headlines and find audiences in popular movies, legislative bodies, and courtrooms, suggesting that society is broadly engaged by scientific issues. Science students typically learn concepts and methods that ignore the social and cultural foreground as well as religious and ethical implications of science practice. These excluded factors often reappear in scientific developments such as genetic engineering of herbicide-resistant plants, environmental effects of chemical and biological waste management strategies, and medical and health implications of sequencing the human genome. Though today’s science professors are already burdened by expanded content from introductory to advanced courses, now more than …

Making Sure That Peer Review Of Teaching Works For You, Nancy Van Note Chism

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Peer review of teaching: A hastily arranged visit to the classroom of a faculty member in desperate need of quick testimony on teaching effectiveness, resulting in a bland letter stating that the class is interesting and students seem engaged.

Given this prevailing practice in peer review of teaching, no wonder most faculty members fail to see its inherent usefulness. To many, this limited view and practice have rendered it a necessary evil, only to be used under duress. This essay seeks to expand both definition and practice. Let’s begin with another definition:

Peer review of teaching: Collegial efforts to understand …

Orienting Students To An “Inside-Out Course”: Establishing A Classroom Culture Of Interactive, Cooperative Learning, Karlene Ferrante

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

I have developed a course in communication theories that foregrounds active learning, with structured opportunities for support. The result is an “Inside-Out Course” in which students are required to turn in a “ticket” for entry to class— usually a concept map of the reading. Since the first exposure to material is through homework, class time is used for quick overviews and learning activities designed by student teaching teams. Students are motivated to create good concept maps for tickets, since they are allowed to use those maps for the case study exams, taken with open notes. Assessments require students to select …

"How Did I Spend Two Hours Grading This Paper?!" Responding To Student Writing Without Losing Your Life, Eric Lemay

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

The specific critical moves and writing conventions of your discipline probably differ from mine, but your discipline certainly has them and when teaching them to students becomes your aim, your responses to their writing will take less time and be more effective. No longer will you have to transform novice papers into expert ideas. Instead, you can focus on the novices themselves. You can use their writing to teach them the next thing they need to know as novice historians, philosophers, or anthropologists. Given that they’re novices and you’re an expert, that thing is almost always obvious to you, although …

The Digest Edition 2009/1 : The Use Of Icts In Schools In The Digital Age: What Does The Research Say?, Marion Meiers, Pat Knight, Gerry White

Research Digest

This edition of The Digest is focused on research that has investigated aspects of digital learning. The body of research sometimes described as ‘e-learning research’ encompasses many aspects of ICT in education, at many levels and in many contexts. For the purposes of this digest, the key question is What does research tell us about digital learning in schools? The first section of the digest is focused on the diverse uses of ICT in schools, and evidence about the ICT literacy of Australian students. This is followed by an overview of evidence about the impact of ICT on student learning. …

Analysis Of Factors Influencing West Virginia Secondary Biology And Science Teacher Attrition Rates, Seth Perry

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The high rate of attrition for beginning teachers has been blamed on many factors. Nationally these include low pay, urban versus rural school settings, age, with younger teachers leaving sooner, and other variables making a complex problem with no clear component responsible for the loss of teachers. This study examined the self reported variables that contribute to high school teachers in West Virginia leaving their profession. An electronic survey instrument was distributed to current secondary teachers across the state. Teachers were asked to respond to questions related to professional satisfaction, perceived value from students and parents, administrative support, content versus …

Constructing Rural Geographies In Publication, Verdie Craig, Matthew Kurtz

Faculty Research at Morehead State University

The paper compares American and British scholarship in rural geography. It argues that, among other reasons for the difference in “rural geography” between the two countries, their distinct publication strategies offer insights for potential interventions. To sketch how the field has been differently construed on opposite sides of the Atlantic, the article first examines several sub-disciplinary literature reviews. It then adds a materialist account to a performative perspective of subdisciplinary formation by exploring how the publication industry helped shape distinct relationships between rural geography and theory. We suggest that rural geographers in the US might use new publication strategies to …

Working Toward A Third Space In The Teaching Of Elementary Mathematics, Ryan Flessner

Scholarship and Professional Work – Education

Building on work in the area of third space theory, this study documents one teacher’s efforts to create third spaces in an elementary mathematics classroom. In an attempt to link the worlds of theory and practice, I examine how the work of other theorists and researchers – inside and outside the field of education – can create new lenses for classroom practitioners. In addition, the article provides evidence that third spaces may be more difficult to realize than others have described. Rather than forcing a third space to emerge, what this study finds more important is creating an environment that …

Facilitating High School Student Success Through Read 180: Analysis Of Program Impact Using Measures Of Academic Progress (Map), Holly Mcwhorter

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In response to its failure to meet state mandated proficiency standards in reading and mathematics over the past three years, a rural, Title I high school (LS) in South Carolina purchased and implemented the commercially available literacy program READ 180 (R180) for the 2008-2009 academic year. While previous research reported by Scholastic, Incorporated (R180) had provided support for the use of R180 in improving literacy, these studies have been criticized recently for their lack of comparable control groups, experimenter bias and lack of data from other content areas such as mathematics. The purpose of this study was to determine the …

The Effects Of Block Scheduling On Ap Calculus Ab Student Achievement, Larry A. Lightner

Mathematics Graduate Theses

Student achievement on the AP Calculus AB Exam is always a concern for teachers and school districts that offer the exam. A factor of concern that also arises is a school’s schedule. A school’s schedule may have an affect on achievement. This study examines the comparison in achievement of students who take the AP Calculus AB Exam under a block schedule and a traditional schedule system. Block Scheduling is defined as a class period of 80-90 minutes with 4 periods each day, allowing a full year’s curriculum to be offered in one semester. Traditional scheduling is defined as a class …

Cooperative Learning In The Mathematics Classroom, Janine Regnier

Mathematics Graduate Theses

Student interactions are important which provokes the idea that cooperative learning should be incorporated into classrooms. Research states many benefits for incorporating cooperative learning and are included in the literature review. Cooperative groups were introduced and studied by the author, who ultimately concluded that cooperative learning does have a place in Mathematics classrooms and should be used when the lesson lends itself to a cooperative environment. The study results can be found in this paper following the literature review.

To What Degree Will Differentiated Instruction Impact Student Grades In A Middle School Classroom?, Maureen K. Wilke

Mathematics Graduate Theses

The middle school student population encompasses one of the widest ranges of diversity in the educational system. Besides cultural, religious, educational, economical diversity, the middle school student copes with physical and psychological changes as well. It is important to understand that reaching students successfully is not teaching one way, but providing a learning experience based on students’ needs. The five key differentiated strategies in the classroom are: knowing the student, the environment, meaningful lessons, tiered assignments, and assessment. Gather as much information on the students, such as data from past standardize tests, conversation with students, student journals about success and …

Using Blogs To Foster Inquiry, Collaboration, And Feedback In Pre-Service Teacher Education, Carol R. Rinke, Divonna M. Stebick, Lauren Schaefer, Michael Evan Gaffney

Education Faculty Publications

This chapter presents a critical case study on the use of information technology in a pre-service teacher education program. The authors integrated Weblogs (blogs) into two constructivist-oriented teacher preparation courses with the goal of helping students learn to think like a teacher through enhanced inquiry, collaboration, and feedback. The authors found that, through the use of blogs, pre-service teaching candidates grew in their abilities to reflect on their own teaching and to provide constructive comments to peers. The authors’ experience also indicated that while instructor and peer feedback via blogs was valuable, it functioned best when paired with face-to-face meetings …

Campus Crisis Management: A Comprehensive Guide To Planning, Prevention, Response, And Recovery, S. Nicole Hoefle

Growth: The Journal of the Association for Christians in Student Development

No abstract provided.