Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

An Analysis Of Teachers' Perceptions Of Bullying At The Elementary School Level, Tiffany Wilson Thomas

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Teachers in elementary schools are often faced with countless disruptive bullying behaviors, which cause them to lose valuable classroom instruction time. In addition, bullying victims have shown a decline in academic success as compared to students who are not bullied. The purpose of this qualitative bounded case study was to explore teachers' understanding and awareness of bullying behaviors and policies at the elementary school level, particularly in an elementary school in a southeastern state that has experienced large increases in student disruptive behavior over the past 2 school years. Bandura's social cognitive theory served as the conceptual framework. Semi-structured interview …

Mandated Continuing Education And The Competency Of Illinois Physical Therapists, Denise Lynn Hunter Ethington

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Continuing education (CE) mandate laws are passed by states because it is in the public interest. The intent behind the passage of Illinois's CE law for physical therapists is to protect public health and safety through ensuring the competency of providers. However, studies into the impact of mandated CE on competency have been mixed. The problem addressed by this study was whether Illinois's CE law was effective in improving the competency of physical therapists and its impact on patient care. The purpose of this study was to understand what role mandated CE played in developing the competency of physical therapists …

Teachers' Narratives On Turnover In Focus County Schools, Deonne Beckwith

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Focus County School District in the Mideast United States experienced a 12% teacher turnover rate over the last 2 years. The purpose of this study was to explore those factors that led to teachers leaving the district. Bandura's social cognitive theory was the guiding theory to examine and explain those factors that contributed to the district's teachers' attrition. Using narrative inquiry, the teachers' thick descriptions of their experiences were collected through the interview process. The data consisted of 9 personal interviews of teachers who left the district. .The data were analyzed and coded through the 6-part LaBovian model of abstract, …

Improving Literacy For Diverse Low Socio-Economic Status Middle School Students, Vivian Fowler Means

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In an urban district, Surfside School personnel were concerned that student literacy proficiency levels were low during 2011-2014 and teachers had not been able to close the achievement gap despite a focus on literacy practices and literacy professional development (PD) provided by the district. The purpose of this case study was to explore the perceptions of teachers and administrators in relation to the best instructional practices for increasing self-efficacy when teaching literacy skills and related literacy PD for teachers. Knowles' andragogy theory and Vygotsky's social learning theory formed the theoretical foundation of this study, which hold that PD should provide …

Employing Flight Simulation In The Classroom To Improve The Understanding Of The Fundamentals Of Instruction Among Flight Instructor Applicants, Kenneth P. Byrnes

Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education & Research

An examination of the gap in the knowledge and understanding of teaching methods that exists in the aviation training industry is examined in this study. Previous research highlights the deficiencies associated with the initial training of Certificated Flight Instructors (CFIs). This study focuses on the training that is required on the fundamentals of instruction, specifically the difficulty associated with training future instructors on how to identify and respond appropriately to human behavior will be addressed. For the purpose of this study a virtual learning environment was created through role play and the use of flight simulation in the classroom. Two …

Using Conversation Analysis In Data-Driven Aviation Training With Large-Scale Qualitative Datasets, William A. Tuccio, Maurice Nevile

Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education & Research

This paper contributes to a growing body of work related to the Conversation Analytic Role-play Method (CARM) by studying the primary flight instruction environment to create training interventions related to radio communications and flight instruction practices. Framed in the context of conversation analysis, an approach to the detailed analysis of naturally occurring interaction, the large-scale, long-duration qualitative audio/video data collection and coding methodology is discussed, followed by trends identified in the ongoing study. The concept of CARM “trainables” are discussed with examples. The study shows that large-scale qualitative datasets may be leveraged to produce valuable data-driven training interventions.

Improving Depression Screenings For Adults Living With Hiv/Aids Through Education And Training, Shermanda Brumfield

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

People living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) are 4 times more likely to have a diagnosis of depression than persons without HIV. The specific problem at a rural clinic in a southern region of the United States, was a lack of continuity in the Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9) screening procedures that made sure that PLWHA were screened, identified, and referred. Early identification and treatment can help patients cope with barriers that affect health outcomes. The purpose and goal of this project was to develop and implement an evidence-based depression screening protocol to improve clinical staff practices and adherence to the PHQ-9 …

High School To College Transition Among Black Males: An Action Research Project, Orval Albert Jewett

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A participatory action research project involving social workers as stakeholders from high schools and the local community college in Nassau County, New York, provided the basis for an inquiry that addressed the effectiveness and implementation of clinical social work practice with Black male students transitioning to community college from high school. This study addresses how clinical social work practice may be utilized to enhance the experience of the transition process for Black male students from high school to college. Through the use of a qualitative in-depth interview process, 16 school-based social workers provided professional perspective and expertise that resulted in …

Elementary Teachers' Perceptions Of Practices And Professional Development For Differentiating Mathematics Instruction, Sandra Mujagic Varajic

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Teachers and administrators in a Title I elementary school in a southeastern state are concerned that there has been a trend over the past 3 years of declining standardized assessment scores in mathematics for students in Grades 3, 4, and 5. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore teachers' perceptions of practices, and professional development (PD) for differentiating mathematics instruction. This study was grounded in the conceptual framework of Vygotsky's zone of proximal development and Tomlinson's differentiated instruction (DI). Purposeful sampling was used to select 8 teachers and 1 mathematics coach, who worked with students in Grades …

Classroom Approaches And Japanese College Students' Intercultural Competence, Joan Elizabeth Gilbert

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Preparing college students to be contributing members of local and global societies requires educators to analyze the capabilities and needs of their students and to adjust instructional content and practice. The purpose of this mixed-methods study was twofold: (a) to explore how classroom approaches designed to facilitate students' questioning of assumptions and beliefs regarding different cultural beliefs, social structures, and practices might influence Japanese college students' self-reported development of intercultural competence, and (b) to investigate whether or not the students developed their potential for intercultural competence. Mezirow's transformative learning theory informed this study. Archival qualitative data were from 137 Japanese …

“I’M Not Good At Math”: Mathematical Illiteracy And Innummeracy In The United States, G. Wesley Rogers

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Why do we view mathematics the way we do in the United States and how have these views created an environment where we consider mathematical illiteracy and innumeracy socially and culturally acceptable when a lack of this knowledge and ability can function to enslave, exploit, restrict, and oppress. Throughout this investigation, I have explored some of the possible reasons for why we view education, mathematics, and the learning of mathematics the way we do and the impact of these views on our motivation and desire to learn mathematics. Using my over 20 years of teaching experience and the review of …

Puzzled Representations: Popular Media And How Educators Come To Know Autism, Vanessa N. Keener

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

People learn about the world through popular culture. Popular culture media representations of autism can be found in TV, film, literature, Internet media, advertisements, and more. This study employed a quantitative correlational design to survey 273 Georgia educators regarding their perceptions of autism, including knowledge about autism, best practices for teaching students labeled as having autism, perceived positivity and accuracy of popular media representations of autism, as well as participant identification with popular media representations of autism and personal characteristics (i.e., age, sex, level of education, type of degree, years of teaching experience, professional and personal experiences). Six major findings …

Relative Importance Of Anxiety And Motivational Variables In Predicting Language Achievement For College Learners Of Chinese, Qi Wang

Doctoral Dissertations

The growing worldwide enthusiasm in learning Chinese calls for more research on learner characteristics in Chinese classrooms to better inform teaching practice. Language anxiety, which falls under the umbrella of learner’s affect, is considered an important affective aspect that negatively influences language learning and acquisition. As research on language anxiety mainly focused on the learning of Western languages, this study constitutes an initial attempt to investigate anxiety in the learning of Chinese through the testing of a structural model. The purpose of the study was to examine the relative importance of language anxiety in predicting Chinese achievement when motivation, integrativeness, …

Shifting Pedagogy For Adolescent Refugees With Limited Or Interrupted Formal Education: A Case Study Of The Professional Experiences Of A Secondary English Literacy Development Teacher, Stephanie Ledger

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

In recent years, there has been a large influx of refugees into settlement countries worldwide. In Canada, this displaced population includes many adolescent students of limited or interrupted formal education (SLIFE). Consequently, secondary school teachers are challenged to meet the print literacy needs of SLIFE within traditional ESL instructional settings.

The literature reveals an urgent desire and need for the use of early literacy instructional practices to address the print literacy needs of SLIFE. Despite this acknowledgement, many ESL/ELD secondary school educators are reluctant to shift their pedagogy from traditional ESL to early literacy pedagogy (Dooley, 2009; Dooley & Thangaperumal, …

Evaluating The Attitudes Of Preservice Teachers Toward Multicultural Competence, Angela D. Marshall

Theses and Dissertations

Changes in the ethnicity of the student population across the nation necessitated a change in teacher education curricula. This explanatory, sequential, mixed-method study examined how a group of preservice teachers viewed the importance of multicultural competence before and after student teaching. Specifically, an evaluation of preservice teachers’ attitudes about their own multicultural preparedness was made prior to and after being given full responsibility for an ethnically diverse classroom.

The study employed quantitative and qualitative measures to assess preservice teachers’ levels of multicultural competence as well as their awareness of self-perceptions of multicultural competence that contribute to attitudes toward teaching an …

An Investigation Into The Self-Efficacy Of Jamaican Preservice Teachers For Working In Inclusive Classrooms, Sharon A. Anderson Morgan

Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this applied dissertation was to examine changes in the self-efficacy of preservice teachers on completion of a special needs course and to determine whether there is a correlation between self-efficacy and several demographic variables. Studies conducted in several countries revealed that, despite participation in a special needs course, preservice teachers often expressed low levels of confidence for the inclusion of students with special needs in their general education classrooms. Because there is not much research in the Caribbean on this subject, this study sought to further explore this issue within a different cultural context. The case study, …

Shining A Light On The National Professional Development Framework For All Who Teach In Irish Higher Education: Why It Matters, How It Works., Roisin Donnelly, Theresa Maguire

Journal Articles

In higher education, we have become increasingly aware of the narrative of being part of a knowledge-based economy, and know there are strong, compelling reasons for continuous professional development (PD) to support our role as educators. For anyone who teaches and supports learning in Irish higher education, PD is fundamental for remaining current in their role, it provides the drive to progress their career, and to deal with change in the sector. Prior to 2016, there has not been a mechanism or route in place nationally to give structure, focus and support to individual academic staff to avail of relevant …

Lttc Resource Pack On Academic Writing & Referencing, Roisin Donnelly, Marian Fitzmaurice

Other resources

The purpose of this guide is to support you in undertaking your written assignments for the postgraduate programmes in order to help you organise your work in alignment with academic writing requirements.

Proposing A Professional Development Model Of Academic Writing And Publishing Support, Roisin Donnelly

Other resources

The module ‘Academic Writing and Publishing’ which resulted in this model being developed was designed to nurture both innovation and critical thinking about writing practice for all academic staff who participated. This exploratory model for critical thinking, reading and academic writing practice is proposed encompassing a series of scaffolded in-class and online activities - Figure 1 shows the different dimensions of the blended module. Ultimately, this model aims to offer inspiration, creativity, confidence, continual feedback, support, and connections about academic writing and publishing. However, such bottom-up practices need direction, so it is important for the future how we think about …

Living And Teaching For Social Justice: Teacher Educators' Stories And Experiences, Courtney Kay Clausen

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

In the United States, the population of students’ with diverse racial/ethnic, linguistic, and economic backgrounds is on the rise, while teachers entering the field of education continue to be White or of European decent, monolingual, and female. These experiential differences between students and teachers can result in a demographic gap, where teachers struggle to meet the needs of all learners due to misperceptions, stereotypical beliefs, and biases. Educational scholars have called for the integration of social justice education into teacher preparation programs in order to assist preservice teachers in challenging their perceptions of students, to challenge the existing inequitable educational …

Outcomes, Perceptions, And Experiences In One Cped-Aligned Educational Doctorate (Edd) Program, Jolene Kay Farley Teske

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

EdD programming has been questioned because of lack of clarity in the initial degree construction and confusion regarding its unique focus on enhancing practice. An improved, coherent focus was developed through the Carnegie Project on the Educational Doctorate (CPED). To understand the changes happening in CPED-influenced EdD programs, studies conducted within these newly-revised programs are vital.

The current mixed-methods study explored perceptions of education doctoral (EdD) students in a CPED-Influenced program at one Midwestern university (n=36 for survey; n=8 for interviews). The research questions examined: (a) the successful completion of outcomes in the program; (b) the influence of the seven …

The Impact Of Peer Coaching On Peer Relationships And The Distribution Of Knowledge In Pre-Service Teachers, Kelsey J. Bowers

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of peer coaching on peer relationships and the distribution of knowledge in pre-service teachers. The increasing prevalence of teacher attrition in schools across the nation provides rationale for investigating potential avenues in combating this issue (Ingersoll, 2003). Increasing support and reducing teacher isolation are two important goals in peer coaching processes (Kurtts & Levin, 2000). This qualitative study was conducted using a single-case study research design. Pre-service teachers enrolled in an undergraduate advanced literacy practices course within an after-school literacy clinic setting were the participants of this study. Participants learned …

Intergenerational Conversation: Authentic Learning Through Critical Reflection Of A Community Engagement Learning Experience, Amy Davison

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The purpose of this study was to determine the type of reflection students are using in their final reflection stories to see if there was evidence of reflection in relation to authentic learning. Assignments from four Human Relations courses that included a community engagement learning component provided the data for a qualitative content analysis to determine authentic learning through the reflective writing assignments. Levels of reflection outlined in Kember, McKay, Sinclair, and Wong’s (2008) four category scheme for coding and assessing the level of reflection was applied to students’ written work. The student’s final essay written about their intergenerational community …

The Exploration Of Teacher Efficacy And Influences Of Context At Two Rural Appalachian High Schools, Justin Aaron Blevins

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation

This study examines teachers’ sense of personal and collective efficacy in two similar schools in Appalachian communities that achieved different results regarding students’ accountability test scores. Prior work in teacher efficacy, which is predominantly quantitative, is extended by the addition of teacher interviews that explore how teachers define the problems they face regarding student performance and how they work individually and collectively on strategies to support students’ success. The findings support that teachers with higher levels of efficacy in their work are associated with higher levels of student success. Further, the study offers insights into how teachers perceive problems and …

Using Student Characteristics, Student Spatial-Content Knowledge, And Teacher Spatial-Content Knowledge To Predict Student Spatial-Content Knowledge Of Lunar Phases, Kyle A. Curry

Theses and Dissertations--Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education

Student demographic characteristics of gender and race/ethnicity, students’ spatial-content knowledge as measured by pre-instructional performance on the Lunar Phases Concept Inventory (LPCI) (Lindell & Olsen), and post-instructional performance on the Purdue Visualization of Rotations Test (PSVT) (Bodner & Guay, 1997), and teachers’ spatial-content knowledge as measured by the two assessments were considered to predict students’ overall understanding of lunar phases as measured by post-instructional results on the LPCI. A mixed modeling approach was used in a hierarchal manner to evaluate the student learning outcomes. Results showed that student gender was not a significant predictor of post-instructional student performance, but students …

Do The Arts Play An Essential Role In Stem Subjects? How Steam Professional Development Affects Teacher Intent To Teach Subjects In An Integrative Manner., Stacy N. Young

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

STEAM, an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics, is an approach to teaching that integrates these subjects together for deeper inquiry and innovation. I surveyed teachers prior to the region 1 STEAM conference in January 2017 and after to determine if they intended to change their teaching practices to integrate what they learned at the conference. Follow-up interviews were conducted to clarify survey results. Research suggests that professional development is a key component to changing teacher practices. This study seeks to extend the assertion that a conference can be the catalyst professional development tool to change teacher practice. …

The Effects Of Adapted Physical Education On Students With Down Syndrome: A Meta-Analysis, Christopher Ij Bolt

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Objective: The purpose of this study was to synthesize findings from physical activity interventions on children and adolescents with Down syndrome.

Design: The present study employed a quantitative research synthesis design. The overall conclusions of past research highlight important issues related to physical activity interventions performed on children and adolescents with Down syndrome.

Methods: Standard meta-analytic procedures incorporating inclusion and exclusion criteria, literature search, coding procedures, and statistical methods were used to identify and synthesize 24 studies with 258 independent samples. Cohen’s (1988) criteria for effect sizes were used to interpret and evaluate results.

Results: The average treatment effect for …

Consequences Of Job Stress For The Psychological Well-Being Of Teachers, Irvin Sam Schonfeld, Renzo Bianchi, Peter Luehring-Jones

Publications and Research

This chapter examines research on the relationship between job stressors and mental health (depressive symptoms, burnout, and mental disorders such as depression) in teachers. Teachers are exposed daily to job stressors (e.g., student disruptiveness) that have been linked to adverse mental health effects. Epidemiologic research indicates that when compared to members of other groups, teachers experience higher rates of mental disorder, although some studies question that conclusion. Large-scale studies indicate when compared to members of other occupational groups, teachers are at higher risk for exposure to workplace violence, with its adverse mental health consequences. Longitudinal research has linked teaching-related stressors …

Full Issue: Volume 1

The Touro Teacher

No abstract provided.

Exploring The Impact Of Postgraduate Preservice Primary Science Education On Students’ Self-Efficacy, Christina Maria Norris

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The effectiveness of science teaching in primary school is dependent upon teachers’ self-efficacy to teach science. Low self-efficacy has been linked to avoidance of teaching primary science; therefore, preservice teacher self-efficacy requires fostering to have graduates keen to teach primary science. Through an embedded mixed method intrinsic-case study, this research explored the impact of postgraduate preservice primary science education on students’ self-efficacy. This research examined the postgraduate students’ self-efficacy as the lens to determine the effectiveness of the design and pedagogical instruction of the unit and its tutors. Data sources included the use of pre/post surveys encompassing the Science Teaching …