Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

Math In Melody: How Music Strikes A Chord With Memory And Learning, Aidan V. Waters

Honors Theses

As a result of personal curiosity, this thesis seeks to understand the current status of music integration within educational settings, discussing its importance and potential impact. By considering existing literature, it analyzes music’s effectiveness in K-12 education, particularly within the mathematics classroom. Based on the current body of research, the study identifies three key features of music integration: its effectiveness as an energizer, a memory tool, and a means of creating structure within the classroom. Building on these findings, a proposed ten-day, music-integrated Algebra I unit on functions is presented, applying the research in a variety of ways. The unit …

Analysis Of Students’ Problem-Solving Errors Based On Newman’S Stages In Group Discussions, Ilfi Nur Diana, Nyamik Rahayu Sesanti, Sri Rahayu

Jurnal Pendidikan Humaniora

This study aims to analyze students’ problem-solving errors during group discussions using Newman’s Error Analysis (NEA), while also exploring how social interaction influences error formation. This research addresses a gap in previous studies that predominantly focus on individual error analysis, with limited attention to collaborative learning contexts. A qualitative descriptive approach was employed involving 29 fifth-grade students at SDN Arjowinangun 1, Malang, Indonesia. Data were collected through classroom observations, written tasks, and semi-structured interviews, and analyzed using the Miles and Huberman interactive model, including data reduction, data display, and conclusion drawing. Data validity was ensured through triangulation and member checking. …

Development Of An Educational Book Based On The Intangible Cultural Heritage Of Dendang Lebah And Silat Pelintau As A Means Of Preserving Tamiang Malay Culture, Saiful Bahri, Rina Purnama Sari, Azrul Rizki

Jurnal Pendidikan Humaniora

This study aims to develop an educational book based on the intangible cultural heritage of Dendang Lebah and Silat Pelintau as an effort to preserve Tamiang Malay culture in Aceh Province. The research employed a Research and Development (R&D) approach using the Borg and Gall model. Data were collected through interviews, observations, and documentation. The results of the study indicate that the developed educational book, designed as a teaching material to preserve Tamiang Malay culture, was successfully validated. The book received excellent evaluations across all validation aspects. Content expert validation achieved an average score of 91.75%. Validation by design and …

Infographic: School-Provided Lunches, Dominique Russell

Teacher infographics

A survey of almost 400 parents has assessed their interest and preferences in a school-provided meal offering for Australian primary schools. Respondents were asked about cost, nutrition and quality, environmental sustainability, access, menu options, and the school approach to food. Here are some of the findings.

National E-Criteria In Finnish Higher Education: A Tpack-Informed Policy Analysis, Ejike Okonkwo

Essays in Education

Responding to calls for a deeper understanding of contextual factors shaping learning, this paper examines the Digivisio 2030 e-criteria, a recently introduced national higher education quality framework designed to enhance digital pedagogy. Document analysis was used to examine five key features of the e-criteria: research-based, modularity, diversity, accessibility, and availability. The findings reveal that the e-criteria function as structural enablers, offering non-prescriptive guidelines that support reliable and user-friendly digital environments, flexible course design, inclusive teaching practices, equitable access to learning resources, and ongoing reflection on pedagogical processes. These findings are interpreted through a deductive approach using the Technological, Pedagogical, and …

Developing Pediatric Educational Resources For Occupational Therapy Fieldwork Students And New Employees, Alyssa Gottheiner

Entry-Level Occupational Therapy Doctorate - Doctoral Capstone Symposium

For occupational therapy students, the fieldwork education portion of their curriculum allows them to apply theory and principles learned in their academic program into practice with actual clients (Occupational therapy fieldwork education, 2022). Research indicates the benefit of access to resources and adapting to different learning styles in occupational therapy fieldwork education (Grenier, 2015). Research also indicates that training programs for new healthcare employees can positively impact knowledge, skills, and performance (Patel et al., 2023).  However, there is a lack of research on the availability and benefit of supplemental educational resources for students to access during fieldwork education in pediatric …

Beyond Memorization: Transforming Spelling Instruction For Grades K-Second, Victoria J. Mason

Student Scholar Showcase

Engaging students in effective instructional strategies in spelling influences overall decoding abilities and literacy development.  During this session, participants will explore how spelling patterns and word analysis strategies support literacy achievement throughout elementary grades. We will examine the developmental stages of spelling, learn how to explicitly teach spelling patterns and rules, and practice strategies for providing interventions that meet the needs of struggling spellers. Participants will partake in a lesson simulation to role play instructional strategies effectively during phonics instruction.

Critical Explorations: Using Feminist And Artful Inquiry In An Adolescent Literature Class, Emily L. Freeman

Feminist Pedagogy

Using feminist and artful inquiry in teacher education courses creates spaces of resistance to normative modes of sharing knowledge. The Critical Explorations project is the final assignment for a required young adult and adolescent literature course and requires that students engage in creative modes of expression when sharing their research. The teaching activity opens up new possibilities for engagement with texts and research questions that works to disrupt traditional English Language Arts assessments.

From Stories To Speech: Cultivating Cultural Competence And Linguistic Awareness In Future Slps, Alexis Lawton

Teaching and Learning in Communication Sciences & Disorders

This manuscript reports on a pilot study examining how storytelling and linguistic diversity may cultivate cultural competence in graduate students in speech-language pathology (SLP). Through engagement with traditional folk tales, students explored the cultural significance of narratives and the linguistic features that shape them. The assignment emphasized adapting stories for diverse audiences while highlighting culturally relevant vocabulary, dialectal variations, and the complexities of language use. Facilitated discussions following student presentations prompted reflections on how these elements influence communication and understanding. Preliminary findings suggest that narrative exploration can foster both cultural and linguistic awareness, equipping students with emerging skills to provide …

Sjsu Erfa Board Minutes, March 2, 2026, San Jose State University, Emeritus And Retired Faculty Association

SJSU ERFA Minutes

SJSU ERFA Executive Board Minutes

March 2, 2026

Teachers Writing Together To Restore Hope And Resist Burnout, Beth M. Lehman

Virginia English Journal

This article invites teachers to consider how the practice of writing, especially in facilitated writing groups designed for teachers, can be an effective activity for processing stress and restoring hope. Attention on teacher writing often focuses on how writing helps teachers to improve their teaching. Here the attention is on the value of writing for teachers themselves. Practices of Amherst Writers and Artists (AWA) strengths-based writing groups are described with a focus on Teachers Flourishing through Writing, an online workshop series that the author helped to create. Through analyzing workshop methods and self-reflecting on workshop experiences, the author asserts that …

Apprenticing Towards Deeper Learning In The Ela Classroom: Using Young Adult Literature To Support Students’ Mastery, Identity, And Creativity, Julianna Kershen, Kacy M. Price, Nynke Wimp, Evie Jackson, Kaitlin Rogers

Virginia English Journal

This practitioner focused article highlights the perspectives of pre-service teachers and undergraduate researchers investigating the kinds of learning interactions and instructional decisions that result in deeper learning outcomes for high school students. Deeper learning outcomes are often described as 21^st century skills, including mastery learning, support of holistic and scholarly student identities, and the ability to engage collaboratively with critical and creative problem-solving skills. The authors suggest a series of young adult literature texts that can serve as springboards into project-based learning opportunities that provide authentic and real world-connected activities, iterative cycles of learning, peer-peer collaboration, and in-depth disciplinary …

All Flourishing Is Mutual: Cultivating A Gift Economy Of Literacy, Lindsey Lush, Melissa Kurtz

Occasional Paper Series

In this paper, two scholars and practicing elementary educators argue that the policies and practices of the Science of Reading (SoR) movement in early literacy education are being constructed with the logic of a market economy, shaped by neoliberal ideologies of individualism, scarcity, and competition. Compelled by our concerns for the bodies and beings of readers and reading teachers in the context of our Northeast Georgia public elementary school and provoked by our shared engagement with The Serviceberry, Indigenous scientist and scholar Robin Wall Kimmerer’s book on lessons from the natural world, we engage a postqualitative approach to emergent, relational …

Uplifting The Legacy Of Black Teachers: Loving And Liberatory Pedagogies In A Science Of Reading Context, Natasha A. Thornton, Amanda L. Armstrong, Brooke Blacknall, Jordan Freeman, Elaine Nevers-Williams, Mukkaramah Smith

Occasional Paper Series

This article explores Black liberatory pedagogy (BLP) as a critical approach to navigating current Science of Reading (SoR) mandates, which are often restrictive and fail to honor the literacies and linguistic practices of Black children. Through the narratives of six educators—classroom teachers, teacher candidates, and teacher educators—the article examines how they have experienced and responded to the implementation of SoR standards and curriculum shifts. These stories also illuminate what becomes possible when teachers are in spaces that allow for autonomy, imagination, and culturally responsive pedagogy. The educators’ experiences, expertise, and cultural wisdom are centered, demonstrating how they enact BLP through …

The Future Of Dual Immersion In California: Analyzing California’S Global 2030 Goals, Jonathan Tejeda, Kamila Campos, Robert Emmans

School of Public Policy Capstones

California's Global 2030 initiative set an ambitious target: half of all K-12 students to achieve bilingual proficiency by 2030. This qualitative study examines whether Dual Language programs (DLPs) in California's major metropolitan areas are positioned to meet that goal. Drawing on ten semi-structured expert interviews with researchers, administrators, teachers, and nonprofit advocates, the study identifies four central challenges: inadequate student preparedness, chronic underfunding, insufficient teacher training, and a failure to connect students to their cultural heritage. The findings reveal that California lacks the infrastructure, data systems, and financial commitment necessary to achieve the 2030 goals. The authors recommend establishing a …

Urban And Suburban Teachers’ Perceptions Of Burnout In The Post-Covid19 Era: A Mixed Methods Dissertation In Education, Dylan Rossin

Graduate Theses & Dissertations

The Covid-19 pandemic fundamentally altered the professional demands placed on K–12 teachers, intensifying concerns related to occupational burnout. This mixed-methods study examined urban and suburban public school teachers’ perceptions of burnout in the post–Covid-19 era, with particular attention to emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment. Grounded in Maslach’s theory of burnout, the study sought to determine whether differences existed between urban and suburban teachers’ burnout experiences and to explore educators’ perspectives on factors contributing to burnout following the pandemic.

Participants included full-time public K–12 teachers in Pennsylvania with a minimum of three years of teaching experience. Quantitative data were collected …

Early Childhood Education And Sustainability: An Analysis Of Professional Development Needs For Teachers In Chile, Marlene C. Fermín González, Maria Valdivieso Aguilera, Ada Echenique Arguinzones

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The research is situated within studies that recognize Initial Teacher Education (ITE) for early childhood educators as key to advancing Education for Sustainability (Evans et al., 2022; Davis & Davis, 2021; Weldemariam, 2022) and that highlight the value of play and active pedagogy in promoting agency and sustainable citizenship from early childhood (Elliott et al., 2020; Engdahl, 2021). Its purpose was to identify the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that scientific evidence, regulatory frameworks, and experts consider essential for educators in the field of Early Childhood Education for Sustainability (ECEfS). Through a methodological approach combining documentary analysis and semi-structured interviews, an …

Infographic: Schools In 2025 – Student Enrolment And Retention, Dominique Russell

Teacher infographics

The Australian Bureau of Statistics release data on schools and students in Australia each year. The latest data for 2025 show increases in student enrolment and retention. Find out more in this infographic.

Cripping The Border – Acompañamiento As Access: An Ethnographic Case Study Of Transborder Youth With Disabilities, Marco O. Amaral

Dissertations

The U.S.-Mexico border is a historical, geopolitical site of intense militarization where colonial logics of "othering" converge to marginalize disabled transborder youth. While transborder studies have expanded, students with disabilities remain relegated to the "void" and contained by educational systems that prioritize surveillance over access. Grounded in Sepúlveda’s (2011) acompañamiento and Transborder DisCrit, this ethnographic case study examines the lived experiences of both students and their families who cross the border daily to attend school in the U.S. It frames these journeys not as mere commutes, but as acts of defiance within the broader disability rights movement.

As a teacher-activist, …

An Immersive Placements And Moral Growth At Barretstown: Integrating A Transformative Framework With Preservice Teachers In Marianist Teacher Education, Jeremy R. Mills, Annie Chiles, Caroline Miller, Lauren Windsor

Thomas C. Hunt Building a Research Community Day

This study examines how immersive experiential learning at Barretstown, a therapeutic camp in Ireland, nurtures intellectual, ethical, and spiritual growth in preservice teachers. Framed by William James’ four characteristics of mystical experience — ineffability, noetic quality, transiency, and passivity — and grounded in the Marianist philosophy of education, the research employs a qualitative, phenomenological design. Reflective narratives from three teacher candidates were thematically coded, revealing transformative experiences marked by ineffable joy, revelatory insight, enduring impact, and openness to grace. Findings suggest that experiential learning integrated with spiritual and communal formation cultivates educators grounded in empathy, moral awareness, and authentic presence.

Exploring The Impact Of Generative Ai On Curriculum Design And Instruction: A Study With Preservice Teachers, Lindsay A. Gold, Vanessa Winn, Jackie M. Arnold

Thomas C. Hunt Building a Research Community Day

Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) is transforming education by reshaping curriculum design, individualized learning, and professional collaboration. This interpretive study examines how 70 preservice teachers engaged with GenAI through structured learning experiences focused on lesson planning, content development, and reflective practice. Participants, all fourth-year PK–Grade 5 and intervention specialist candidates at the University of Dayton, completed a co-taught seminar led by methods professors in science, social studies, language arts, and mathematics. Data sources included initial reflections on GenAI’s role in education, documentation of prompt exploration, and ongoing reflections during the seminar. Thematic analysis revealed a shift in preservice teachers’ understanding from …

Implementation Of A Classroom-Based Sensory Regulation Toolkit To Enhance Participation In Students With Severe Disabilities, Camryn R. Woods

Entry-Level Occupational Therapy Doctorate - Doctoral Capstone Symposium

Students with severe and multiple disabilities often experience sensory processing differences that can adversely impact their ability to engage, participate, and regulate within the classroom environment. Educators frequently report feeling underprepared to address sensory needs and implement effective, practical strategies to support these students. The purpose of this doctoral capstone project was to develop and implement a classroom-based sensory regulation toolkit within a specialized educational setting serving students with significant physical and cognitive disabilities.

The primary goals of the project were to (1) increase teacher knowledge and confidence in recognizing sensory processing patterns, (2) provide accessible, evidence-based strategies to support …

Cultivating Wisdom And Virtue: A Professional Development Model For Teachers Entering Classical Schools, Andrea Lyons Wells

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A capstone submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in the Ernst and Sara Lane Volgenau College of Education at Morehead State University by Andrea Lyons Wells on April 10, 2026.

Humanizing Engineering For Preservice Elementary Teachers Through Sustainable Engineering Stories, Jeffrey D. Radloff, Madison M. Morris, Jacob Pleasants

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

Meeting the goals of US K–12 science education reform requires that preservice elementary teachers (PSTs) understand engineering as a specialized discipline and a human endeavor that addresses real-world issues. Yet in their formal education, few PSTs receive opportunities to learn about the humanistic dimensions of engineering: engineers’ personal values and motivations, the sociocultural nature of engineering work, and the societal significance of engineering. Storytelling about engineering offers a practical way to give PSTs access to these ideas. This study examines the impacts of integrating storytelling about engineering in a science methods course for future elementary school teachers. Over a two-year …

Teaching And Ai – Penalty Vs. Process, Scott B. Thesen

Research Days

In Fall 2025 I completed my Interdisciplinary Leadership doctoral capstone, "Perceptions of Implementation from Higher Education Participants in Online Course Design Professional Development". The purpose was to determine if and to what degree transference had taken place from training to regular practice by instructors. Twelve GovState faculty participated in Quality Matters workshops on online teaching best practices facilitated from March 2021 to June 2023. Interviews with study participants revealed common themes and were compared to training responses and usage in Blackboard courses to determine transference. Results showed training was applied to regular practice in not only online courses but other …

Interview With Orca Award Winner Paul Olson, Unl English; Literature, Curricular Reform, Great Plains Studies, Mark A. Griep, Paul A. Olson

UNL ORCA Interview Series

Paul Olson was awarded the ORCA in 1984. He was born in 1932 in Washburn, Wisconsin. During his youth, his family also farmed in Nebraska and South Dakota. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas. Next, he earned a master’s in English from the University of Nebraska, had a Fulbright fellowship to spend a year at London University in England, and earned his doctorate in medieval and Renaissance studies from Princeton University in New Jersey. In 1957, he joined UNL as an assistant professor of English and was soon promoted to full professor. One of his …

Retaining Teachers In High-Need Schools, Myram Chapman Brady

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A capstone submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in the Ernst and Sara Lane Volgenau College of Education at Morehead State University by Myram Chapman Brady on April 9, 2026.

Hands-On Learning And Design Thinking In Secondary Design And Technology Education, Carol K. Puddicombe

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Design and Technology (D&T) education occupies a distinctive position within the secondary curriculum through its historical emphasis on designing, making, and evaluating tangible artefacts. Drawing on a doctoral study, this article examines how the secondary school experiences of ten pre-service D&T teachers in Western Australia shaped their engagement with the subject. Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, data were generated through in-depth interviews. Analysis revealed three interrelated themes: the power of practical engagement, experiences of success in the workshop, and limitations in opportunities for explicit design thinking. Findings indicate that hands-on, workshop-based learning played an important role in fostering confidence, motivation, and …

The Role Of Mentorship: The Lived Experience Of Black Women In Higher Education Leadership, Joseph Fahrney

JWU Dissertations & Theses

The persistent underrepresentation of Black women in higher education leadership raises important questions about how institutional environments shape leadership advancement, belonging, and sustainability. This qualitative phenomenological study explored the role of mentorship in the lived experiences of Black women leaders in higher education in shaping leadership trajectories, professional development, and institutional engagement. Participants included senior leaders serving in roles such as president, vice president, chief officer, and other executive administrative positions across higher education institutions. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants (N=17), generating narrative data reflecting their experiences navigating leadership environments and mentorship relationships. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis …

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Adaptive Learning Strategies Among Deaf Students In Inclusive Higher Education: A Thematic Analysis, Mayasari Manar, Murni Winarsih

Jurnal Pendidikan: Teori, Penelitian, dan Pengembangan

This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of learning adaptation strategies implemented by students with hearing impairments in the context of inclusive higher education. The study employs a qualitative approach using an open-ended survey design involving 15 students with hearing impairments who are currently enrolled in or have previously attended higher education institutions. Data were analyzed using a reflexive thematic analysis approach to identify thematic patterns related to perceptions of the effectiveness of the adaptation strategies employed. The findings indicate that the majority of respondents perceived the adaptation strategies they used as “fairly effective,” although not yet fully optimal. The …