Elementary Education and Teaching Commons^™

The Assimilation Of Beginning Teachers Into An Established School Improvement Project: A Qualitative Case Study Examining Formats Of Job-Embedded Professional Development, Lynn A. Fuller

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This dissertation examined formats of job-embedded professional development that were experienced by beginning teachers at a high-poverty, high-mobility elementary school in the third year of a School Improvement Grant. A qualitative case study was conducted to examine formats of job-embedded professional development that were most useful to help beginning teachers assimilate into an established school improvement project and support gains in effective teaching practices and student achievement.

In an effort to define what good teaching is and how we can support it, this study informs education leaders about the power of instructional coaching as a way to provide support and …

Preservice Teachers' Knowledge Of Learning Technologies, Shannon Feagin, Krista Adams

UCARE: Research Products

The question driving my research is as follows: What kind of knowledge do preservice teachers have dealing with learning technologies, and specifically evaluating learning technologies (mobile applications) for classroom use? Learning technologies as defined by Krajcik and Mun (2014), "can involve multimedia, Web-based learning, computer assisted learning, e-books, and other new technology that supports student learning" (p. 337). My goal is to better understand if preservice teachers are prepared to appropriately select mobile applications that will support and enhance student learning their classrooms. This idea is something that has not been addressed to any large degree by current literature or …

Preservice Elementary Teachers’ Science Self-Efficacy Beliefs And Science Content Knowledge, Deepika Menon, Troy D. Sadler

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Self-efficacy beliefs that relate to teachers’ motivation and performance have been an important area of concern for preservice teacher education. Research suggests high-quality science coursework has the potential to shape preservice teachers’ science self-efficacy beliefs. However, there are few studies examining the relationship between science self-efficacy beliefs and science content knowledge. The purpose of this mixed methods study is to investigate changes in preservice teachers’ science self-efficacy beliefs and science content knowledge and the relationship between the two variables as they co-evolve in a specialized science content course. Results from pre- and post-course administrations of the Science Teaching Efficacy Belief …

The Case Of Three Karen Refugee Women And Their Children: Literacy Practices In A Family Literacy Context, Sabrina Dm Quadros, Loukia K. Sarroub

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

The lack of research about the Karen—one of 135 ethnic groups from Myanmar—limits literacy educators charged with educating this refugee population in public schools. In this case study the authors explore the literacy practices of Karen families when at school and in their homes and within an ESL family literacy program. The case of these refugee families and their experiences are analyzed within a sociocultural theoretical framework along with a focus on literacy adaptation through the lenses of crosscultural studies, adult and language teachers involved in literacy practices, and literacy studies. Four core themes emerged from participant observation, including adult/ …

Exploring Teachers’ Perspectives Of Cooperative Learning To Create Music In Orff Schulwerk Classrooms, Nicole A. Chapman

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, Student Creative Work, and Performances

The Framework for 21st Century Learning identifies four learning and innovation skills to prepare students for a changing world. The 4Cs identified are critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity (Framework for 21st Century Learning, 2015). With the adoption of this new teaching framework, it is important that music educators evaluate their own teaching methods to meet the needs of their students in a changing society. The purpose of this study was to examine how cooperative group learning is currently integrated in the Orff-Schulwerk certified teachers’ elementary music classroom as part of the creative music process. In this qualitative study, I …

Teacher Reaction To Change In The Lutheran Elementary School: A Grounded Theory Approach, Kim D. Marxhausen

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Schools, and the teachers and administrators who work in them, need the flexibility to adapt to current student needs. Past research has focused on organizations and plans for change; little research has been done on individual teacher reaction to change situations leaving a gap in the literature. The goal of this constructivist grounded theory study was to explore how individual teachers, in LCMS Lutheran elementary schools, react when presented with change. Data were collected through interviews involving an event history calendar to facilitate memory. A theoretical sampling process was used to collect and analyze data utilizing a constant comparative method. …

Using Group Video Self-Modeling In The Classroom To Improve Transition Speeds With Elementary Students, Matthew T. Mcniff

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Video self-modeling has been proven to be an effective intervention for individuals with a variety of disabilities and behavioral issues. Very few studies have addressed the impact of video modeling on behaviors that are displayed by groups of students and no studies have tackled the issue of group behaviors with video self-modeling as an intervention. This study focused on analyzing the effects of video self-modeling on students in an elementary classroom in order to increase the speed at which the students lined up and transitioned. Further, the study addressed the question of whether the intervention had a differential impact on …

The Power Of Nature: Developing Prosocial Behavior Toward Nature And Peers Through Nature-Based Activities, Ibrahim H. Acar, Julia C. Torquati

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

An early childhood teacher nurtures children’s perspective taking and respect for another living thing. These interactions happen daily at the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center (SANC) Preschool in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Experiences like this promote children’s development of prosocial behavior, consistent with the Early Childhood Environmental Education Programs: Guidelines for Excellence (NAAEE 2010). This article examines the research question, How can teachers nurture the development of prosocial behavior for preschool-aged children through nature-based play and activities? To address this question, five researchers (including the second author) conducted 74 running record observations of children’s behavior and social interactions over the course of two …

Imagination: Active In Teaching And Learning, Christopher Cunningham

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Theses and Other Student Research

This autoethnography tells the story of the author’s endeavor to examine my teaching during a sculpture lesson in three 2^nd grade art classes in a mid-western suburban Title I elementary school. I analyze my planning, teaching, reflecting through the lens of Stuart Richmond’s Characteristics of Imaginative Teaching as well as noted educational theorists’ conceptions of imagination and imaginative teaching and learning. These theorists include but are not limited to Maxine Greene, Kieran Egan, John Dewey, and The Lincoln Center Institute’s Capacities for Imaginative Learning. I conclude that imaginative teaching is an intentional act and that there is no …

Rural Nebraska Elementary Students' Aspirations To Attend Institutions Of Higher Education, Brock T. Rezny

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Numerous studies exist on college and career readiness in the middle and high school grades, but these studies often exclude the elementary grades. Even less research has been done regarding this topic in rural education. With more research indicating a need for college readiness beginning in elementary school, this study adds to the literature by seeing if rural elementary students in Nebraska have aspirations for continued education and who influences those aspirations. The sample population of this quantitative study were fourth graders in five rural schools in an athletic conference in Nebraska. The survey was created with collaboration from two …

The Study Of Pre-Service Teachers Participating In Candidate Learning Communities: A Mixed Methods Study, Barbara Sunderman

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of instructional skill and professional dispositions of pre-service teacher education candidates’ understanding of their own teaching skills. The research examined perceptions before and after the clinical experience while participating in a Candidate Learning Community. In this mixed-methods study, perceptions were quantitatively measured with a pre-survey and a post survey of 17 participants and qualitatively described by 11 participants in follow up interviews; each intensely studied teaching skill and professional pedagogy in coursework and cooperative classrooms.

The research revealed significant increase in personal perception of teaching skills and dispositions during the …

Elementary Teacher Education Program- Vital Statistics, Guy Trainin, Mary Masur

Research and Evaluation in Education, Technology, Art, and Design

This inforgraphic presents data about the students in UNL's Elmentary Teacher Education Program based on data from Academic Year 2013-2014.

Vehicles On The Road To Reform, Julie Thomas, Sandra B. Cooper

Discipline-Based Education Research Group Speaker Series

Though elementary teacher educators introduce new, reform‐based strategies in science and mathematics methods courses, researchers wondered how novices negotiate reform strategies once they enter the elementary school culture. Given that the extent of parents’ and veteran teachers’ influence on novice teachers is largely unknown, this grounded theory study explored parents’ and teachers’ expectations of children’s optimal science and mathematics learning in the current era of reform. Data consisted of semi‐structured, open‐ended interviews with novice teachers (n=20), veteran teachers (n=9), and parents (n=28). Researchers followed three stages of coding procedures to develop a logic model connecting participants’ discrete designations of the …

Icontact: The Digital Feedback Process In A University Setting, Kathleen M. Wilson, Laurie A. Friedrich

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

This practitioner research in the form of a case study examined the digital feedback process related to teacher growth in learning and instruction. Graduate students fulfilled course requirements utilizing iPad applications to generate assignments, coach undergraduate preservice teachers, and tutor low performing readers. Course instructors provided online written feedback on all written assignments. An analysis of data through the perspective of the formative process allowed four themes to emerge: (a) teacher learning through iContact, (b) immediate digital feedback and enduring learning, (c) creating an affinity space, and (d) transfer with a ripple effect.

What Is Equity? Ways Of Seeing, Christa Jackson, Cynthia Taylor, Kelley Buchheister

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Prospective teachers must be prepared for their role in providing equitable access for learning high quality mathematics. Therefore, it is imperative that mathematics teacher educators provide opportunities to develop an equity-centered orientation in teacher preparation courses. In this study, we begin to address this issue by identifying what prospective teachers attend to in a classroom vignette of an African American male student who is above grade level in mathematics and exhibits disruptive behavior during instruction. The results of the study indicate that while participants are beginning to attend to cultural influences, most responses are focused on classroom management strategies

Tech Edge Use Of New Literacies In Elementary Classrooms Today: A Partnership To Enhance Student Learning Through Teacher Preparation And Professional Development, Qizhen Deng, Laurie A Friedrich, Guy Trainin

Research and Evaluation in Education, Technology, Art, and Design

Tech EDGE has been able to capitalize on past funding to create significant impact across multiple public and private schools. Support from UNL’s resources have enabled us to operate far beyond the official end date so we can keep building on our successes and the energy the project provided for school change. We have trained hundreds of practicing and new teachers to integrate technology and while the work is not done it did a lot to boost the capacity in all the participating districts and teacher education programs. We would like to thank the Post Secondary Commission for the generous …

Tech Edge Student Rubric Grades 2-3, Laurie A. Friedrich, Guy Trainin

Research and Evaluation in Education, Technology, Art, and Design

This rubric can be used to evaluate formative and summative assessments of technology integrated products across the curriculum for grades 2-3.

Tech Edge Student Rubric K-1, Laurie A. Friedrich, Guy Trainin

Research and Evaluation in Education, Technology, Art, and Design

This rubric can be used to evaluate formative and summative assessments of technology integrated products across the curriculum for grades K-1.

Tech Edge Student Rubric Grades 4-5, Laurie A. Friedrich, Guy Trainin

Research and Evaluation in Education, Technology, Art, and Design

This rubric can be used to evaluate formative and summative assessments of technology integrated products across the curriculum for grades 4-5.

The Business Of Learning To Teach: A Critical Metaphor Analysis Of One Teacher’S Journey, Lauren Gatti, Theresa Catalano

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

This article analyzes the learning to teach process of one novice teacher, Rachael, enrolled in an Urban Teacher Residency (UTR) in Harbor City, United States. Building on Loh and Hu’s (2014) scholarship on neoliberalism and novice teachers, we employ Critical Metaphor Analysis (CMA) to make visible the ways in which Rachael contends with conflicting frames of learning to teach—TEACHING IS A JOURNEY vs. TEACHING IS A BUSINESS— within her program. Rachael encounters three primary obstacles: programmatic incompatibility, pedagogical paralysis, and, ultimately, programmatic abandonment. The discussion explores the potential consequences of learning to teach in neoliberal contexts.

Includes Supplementary appendices (Interview …

Pre‐Service Teachers’ Use Of Content Knowledge To Inform Formative Assessment Strategies In An Integrated Life Sciences Methods Course, Jaime Sabel, Cory Forbes

Discipline-Based Education Research Group Speaker Series

Pre‐service elementary teachers should learn essential science concepts, how to apply those concepts to practice in elementary science learning environments, and how to effectively connect students’ ideas to appropriate instructional strategies. In order to effectively engage students in scientific practices and connect students’ ideas about science to appropriate instructional strategies, teachers should learn to engage in high‐leverage instructional practices, such as formative assessment. However, teachers may not understand formative assessment or possess enough science content knowledge to effectively engage in related instructional practices. To address these needs, we developed an innovative course for elementary pre‐service teachers built upon two pillars—life …

Bringing Literacy Home: Latino Families Supporting Children's Literacy Learning, Stephanie Wessels, Guy Trainin

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

DUAL LANGUAGE LEARNERS (DLLS) are part of the educational landscape across the United States. Public school enrollment of dual language learners increased by 51 percent from 1997 to 2008 (NCELA 2011). At the same time, students who are DLLs meet the same academic standards as English-only students after an adjustment period (Goldenberg 2008). The challenge for our schools and communities is educating all students while helping DLLs close the gap in language and cultural understanding so they can succeed in the American educational system. Research suggests that working to close the achievement gap during regular school hours only is not …

New Literacies Integration By Student Teacher/Cooperating Teacher Dyads In Elementary Schools: A Collective Case Study, Laurie A. Friedrich

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Situated in Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) and collaborative inquiry, this collective case study examines new literacies integration by student teacher/cooperating teacher (ST/CT) dyads supported by a coach in elementary schools. The study took place at a large Midwestern public school district where many STs from a large Midwestern public university complete their student teaching experience. Through detailed vignettes of five ST/CT dyads, this study provides an explicit view of varieties of dyad collaboration when a new literacies emphasis is included in the student teaching semester. Research questions prompt the examination of dyad new literacies integration through (a) enacting professional …

Elementary School Teachers' Interpretation And Promotion Of Creativity In The Learning Of Mathematics: A Grounded Theory Study, Yinjing Shen

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Creativity is important for young children learning mathematics. Comparing the investment theory of creativity and national standards and principles for early mathematics shows that doing mathematics is more than applying rules and procedures; rather, learning mathematics takes a lot of creativity. However, much literature claimed that creativity for young children in the learning of mathematics was not adequately supported by teachers in the classroom due to teachers’ poor college preparation in mathematics content knowledge, teachers’ negativity towards creative students, teachers’ occupational pressure, low quality curriculum, and the like. The purpose of this grounded theory study was to generate a model …

Students’ Perceptions Of Academic Self-Efficacy And Self-Regulation While Learning In A 1:1 Laptop Environment, Joan M. Carraher

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Theses and Other Student Research

1:1 Laptop initiatives continue to grow throughout Nebraska schools. There are many questions regarding their effectiveness in improving student learning, justifications for expenses, and the process to guide such an initiative.

The purpose of this case study was to explore students’ perceptions of academic self-efficacy and self-regulation while learning in a 1:1 district where students in grades 7 through 12 have 24/7 access to a school-issued laptop. Students in their first (8^th grade) and third-year (10^th grade) of learning in a 1:1 environment at a Nebraska school district participated in this study. Data was collected from an online …

Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge In Teacher Preparation: Impact Of Coaching Professional Development And Mobile Devices, Guy Trainin, Laurie A. Friedrich

Research and Evaluation in Education, Technology, Art, and Design

This presentation explores the process of change for a teacher preparation program as it attempted to teach pre-service teachers how to integrate new technologies into instruction in elementary schools. The aim was to impact the instruction of preservice and inservice teachers in a way that would reach their current students. This study shows that it is possible to significantly increase the technological pedagogical content knowledge of pre-service teachers. This positive result is a clear indication that the approach of improving the quality of technology integration in Teacher Education, hand in hand with changes in technology integration in schools, had a …

Preparation For Practice: Elementary Preservice Teachers Learning And Using Scientific Classroom Discourse Community Instructional Strategies, Elizabeth Lewis, Oxana Dema, Dena Harshbarger

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Despite historical national efforts to improve elementary science education, science instruction continues to be marginalized, varying by state. This study was designed to address the ongoing challenge of educating elementary preservice teachers (PSTs) to teach science. Elementary PSTs are one of the science education community's major links to schools and science education reform. However, they often lack a strong background in science, knowledge of effective science teaching strategies, and consequently have low confidence and self-efficacy. This investigation explored the initial learning of elementary PSTs using an interdisciplinary model of a scientific classroom discourse community during a science methods course. Findings …

Planning And Enacting Mathematical Tasks Of High Cognitive Demand In The Primary Classroom, Kelly Georgius

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Theses and Other Student Research

This study offers an examination of two primary-grades teachers as they learn to transfer knowledge from professional development into their classrooms. I engaged in planning sessions with each teacher to help plan tasks of high cognitive demand, including anticipating and planning for classroom discourse that would occur around the task. A detailed description of the planning and teaching that took place during the study provides information about how a teacher can learn and what a teacher learns to consider in order to plan and implement meaningful mathematical lessons. This design experiment describes the work of two teachers who participated in …

Drawing Their Way Into Writing: Culturally And Linguistically Diverse Students Finding Voice Through Mini-Novelas, Stephanie Wessels, Socorro G. Herrera,

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Writing can be a difficult task for many students in today’s classrooms; however, for students who are culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD), writing can be especially difficult. These students often are in the process of developing their facility with the English language, and they possess cultural backgrounds that differ from those of many of their peers and teachers. In addition to these challenges, they face the typical difficulties of selecting ideas to write about for their stories. One way to tap into the cultural backgrounds of Spanish-speaking CLD students is through the use of a strategy called the mini-novela. A …

Finding The Connections Between Art And Teaching: A Case Study, Tareq Daher, Stephanie A Baer

The Nebraska Educator: A Student-Led Journal

Finding the connection between art and teaching can be a difficult task for pre-service teachers who do not have a background in the arts. This qualitative case study explores the journey of a group of pre-service elementary teachers in an art methods course considering what it means to teach and to be an artist. The way in which these students defined the arts and teaching changed over the course of the semester and found connective threads, productively tying together the work of teaching and the creative process. Findings from pre-service teacher course work indicated three important themes: connections between art …