Factors Impacting Students’ Perceptions Of Mathematics, Amber Souza

Honors Program Theses and Projects

I want to be able to present math in a positive light to all of my future students, regardless of race, gender, and math background. However, for teachers as a whole to be able to take this important step, they must first develop a deeper understanding of why math is a sore spot for many students.

Technology Criticism And Data Literacy: The Case For An Augmented Understanding Of Media Literacy, Thomas Knaus

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Reviewing the history of media literacy education might help us to identify how creating media as an approach can contribute to fostering knowledge, understanding technical issues, and to establishing a critical attitude towards technology and data. In a society where digital devices and services are omnipresent and decisions are increasingly based on data, critical analysis must penetrate beyond the “outer shell” of machines – their interfaces – through the technology itself, and the data, and algorithms, which make these devices and services function. Because technology and data constitute the basis of all communication and collaboration, media literate individuals …

Training Peer Mentors In Reinforcement And Modeling With Prompting (Ramp): Using Mixed Reality Simulation To Encourage Social Reciprocity Skills In Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Jasmine V. Sadler

Doctor of Education in Special Education Dissertations

Children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can face many challenges, including limited ability in social reciprocity, nonverbal communication, and restrictive and repetitive behaviors and interests as a result of the disorder (APA, 2013). This hinders their ability to build and maintain friendships in the same manner as their typically developing peers and affects their interactions, speech and language abilities, and emotional regulation (Whitman & DeWitt, 2011). Peer Mentors (PMs) are trained to support the development of these skills as part of the Peer Mediated Instruction and Intervention (PMII) evidence-based practice (EBP). However, and explicit training program is not always …

Mental Health Of Students: A Teacher Resource, Kathryn Seguin

Honors Projects

Mental Health of Students: A Teacher Resource is a professional website regarding the four main types of mental health disorders, which are anxiety, depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and substance use. The website also includes both a detailed list of legal responsibilities of teachers and a list of school personnel to be involved in improving the mental health of students. The objective is for the website to be used for the educational basis of teachers regarding mental health issues in their students and is a compilation of research information collected from several sites.

A Virtual Internship To Prepare High School Students For Civic And Political Action, Jason A. Chen, Jeremy D. Stoddard

School of Education Articles

We explored the impact of participating in a Virtual Internship (VI) computer-supported collaborative learning simulation, on high school students’ (n = 43) development of knowledge and skills for critiquing the political media with which they engage. Second, we evaluated the effect of this intervention on students’ self-efficacy for using specific media strategies to take political action. Finally, we explored the epistemic (knowledge-seeking) and non-epistemic aims that students set for themselves while participating within our VI, which was designed specifically to address students’ epistemic cognition. Analyses of both the quantitative and qualitative data revealed that students: (1) evinced gains in knowledge …

An Exploration Of High School Principals’ And Assistant Principals’ Perceptions Of Implementing Mental Health Curriculums In Schools, Jacqueline M. Billy

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

Mental health literacy is one’s knowledge of mental health conditions and their accompanying symptoms as well as their understanding of available treatments and mental health services. Virginia Bill SB953, signed into law in 2018, made mental health a mandated topic in health education for all ninth and tenth grade students. There are several Health Education Standards of Learning for Virginia Public Schools which are specifically aimed at increasing students’ mental health literacy. Many of the standards can be met through implementation of evidence-based curriculums focusing on mental health, known as mental health curriculums (MHC). MHC are designed to increase mental …

“I Missed A Lot Of Childhood Memories”: Trauma And Its Impact On Learning For Formerly Incarcerated Adolescents In The Age Of Zero Tolerance Policies, Alberto Guerrero

Doctoral Dissertations

The literature makes abundantly clear that trauma has a detrimental impact on students’ academic and behavioral efforts. It also challenges the notion of zero tolerance disciplinary practices being effective in redirecting student behaviors, making schools safer, and creating an environment that is conducive to learning. Yet, our current school climate consists of educators who have not been exposed to trauma-informed learning, while also incorporating disciplinary practices that are both draconian in nature and push students out of their learning spaces. This unfortunate reality is felt even more harshly by students who return to schools following an incarceration. This phenomenological study …

Within, Without, And Amidst: A Review Of Literacy Educators’ Perceptions Of Participatory Media Technologies, William T. Wright

Journal of Media Literacy Education

With strict no-cell phone policies in classrooms becoming commonplace, national and international electioneering campaigns eroding trust in social media platforms, and content posted years prior affecting students’ acceptance into the colleges of their choice, it is little wonder that educators often think twice about bringing participatory technologies into their instruction. This literature review seeks to address how literacy educators reckon with the risks and potentials of these participatory technologies in the midst of our current sociopolitical climate, through an examination of an array of factors and influences that shape and give rise to educators’ understandings of participatory technologies’ place in …

Student Perceptions Of School And Teachers In The Classroom, Sonji Jones-Manson

Dissertations

Much of the existing education research on student outcomes has focused on gaining a better understanding of student cognition and behavior, considering affect primarily as the role of a mediator or moderator to cognitive or behavioral outcomes. Student satisfaction with school is an affective outcome that is shaped by their relationships with their teachers. Though research on affect as an outcome has increased, it has not been well-understood and often ignored in models of understanding student outcomes. This qualitative study adds to the body of research on student affect as an outcome by collecting data from current high school students …

Student Wellbeing And Open Studio Process In The School Curriculum, Maria Kim

Expressive Therapies Dissertations

This study aimed to explore whether Open Studio Process (OSP) increased wellbeing of middle and high school students when facilitated by teachers as a part of the regular art curriculum. It was hypothesized that OSP might increase the sense of wellbeing among middle and high school students as well as facilitating teachers. The research was conducted as a mixed methods study in South Korea where students need preventative interventions for their wellbeing. The researcher trained eight teachers to facilitate OSP and five of them implemented it with their classes for seven sessions. Quantitative data (K-YSR; pre- and posttest) were collected …

Systemic Racism In Education: Perspectives Of Teachers Of Color, Stephany Vallejo

Education | Master's Theses

Many strides have been made in addressing equity, diversity and social justice in the field of education. However there has remained a gap in the representation of the voices of Teachers of Color. Current literature reveals that there is underlying systemic racism deterring People of Color from pursuing a career in education for a variety of reasons including social, financial, racial and political barriers. Applying Critical Race Theory, critical studies of Whiteness and Microaggressions this study analyzes the experiences of Teachers of Color through their educational career. This research uses a qualitative methods approach with an emphasis on a constructivist …

Teacher Turnover And Teacher Retirement, Dillon Fuchsman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Teachers have an important impact on students in the short- and long-term, but only teachers’ experience consistently predicts high teacher quality. This dissertation, divided into three chapters, investigates two topics that are related to teachers’ experience levels: turnover and retirement.

The first chapter studies the relationship between voluntary beginning teacher turnover and teachers’ levels of conscientiousness. It uses the data from the Beginning Teacher Longitudinal Study and the effort that teachers put on a survey taken during their first year in the profession as a proxy for teachers’ levels of conscientiousness. The results of this chapter indicate that teachers putting …

College Students And Their Political Participation, Emily Williams

Honors Projects

Historically, college students have had a low voter turnout despite having particularly high political engagement. This is a problem because it is instilling a bad habit of not politically engaging to the extent that a productive United States citizen should. By not voting, Americans are losing their rights to representation that reflects their views and beliefs. In this paper I discuss why this low voter turnout is negative and what the United States can do, via the government and educational institutions, to increase voter turnout. In this research, the reader will discover the reasons for low voting rates among college …

Elementary Teachers' Perceptions Of The Development And Implementation Of A Comprehensive School Safety Plan, Rachina Holman Heron

Dissertations

Abstract The problem addressed within this qualitative study involved exploring the limited research regarding kindergarten through fifth grade teachers’ perceptions of the implementation of the school’s Comprehensive School Safety Plan (CSSP). The purpose of this study was to explore six kindergarten through fifth grade teachers’ perspectives of their school’s safety plan. First, the study described how elementary teachers perceived the professional development or training received in preparation for implementing their school’s safety plan. Second, the study explored six elementary teachers’ perceptions of their ability to implement their school’s safety plan using semi-structured interviews. Finally, areas where elementary teachers perceive they …

Strategies Exemplary Social Studies Teachers’ Implement When Facilitating Discussions About Race, Candice Nicole Jasmer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Teachers experience difficulty in introducing some sensitive and controversial issues in the classroom environment. The purpose of this qualitative instrumental case study was to identify strategies that exemplary secondary social studies teachers implement when facilitating classroom discussions about sensitive and controversial issues, specifically, racial issues framed within Singleton and Linton’s 4 agreements of courageous conversations: stay engaged, speak your truth, experience discomfort, and accept and expect nonclosure. This study utilized qualitative data collection. Semi-structured, online one-to-one internet-based interviews were used to document the lived experiences of exemplary secondary social studies teachers and the strategies they use when facilitating discussions about …

Acts Of Meaning, Resource Diagrams, And Essential Learning Behaviors: The Design Evolution Of Lost & Found, Owen Gottlieb, Ian Schreiber

Articles

Lost & Found is a tabletop-to-mobile game series designed for teaching medieval religious legal systems. The long-term goals of the project are to change the discourse around religious laws, such as foregrounding the prosocial aspects of religious law such as collaboration, cooperation, and communal sustainability. This design case focuses on the evolution of the design of the mechanics and core systems in the first two tabletop games in the series, informed by over three and a half years’ worth of design notes, playable prototypes, outside design consultations, internal design reviews, playtests, and interviews.

Moments Of Reflection: A Phenomenological Study Of Preservice Teacher Reflection, Jane Ferris

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

Transitioning from their training programs to their own classrooms, new teachers may feel a disconnect between what they learned and what they experience. To help with this transition and to promote teachers’ abilities to respond to the varying and unique needs of their students and schools, teacher training programs, beginning in the 1980s, have incorporated the use of reflective practice. Reflection provides teachers an opportunity to engage with their experiences in such a way that prereflective understandings, assumptions, biases, and beliefs may be identified. Reviewed literature suggests that teacher training programs do not clearly define and implement reflection instruction into …

Enabling And Threatening Factors Affecting Persistence. A Qualitative And Quantitative Study On Rural First-Generation Stem Students’ And Stem Faculty's Perspectives., Travis A. Miller

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

This study focuses on the factors that enable and threaten rural first-generation STEM students’ persistence. Limited empirical studies are available that focus on rural first-generation STEM majors’ persistence. Quantitative analysis was conducted using Kruskal Wallis H and Mann-Whitney U tests to determine any significant differences with the survey results. Content and thematic analysis was conducted on the student and faculty interviews to determine themes of enabling and threatening factors affecting persistence.

Enabling factors affecting persistence were found to be: Drive or Motivation, Experiences and skills, and Support. These were both faculty and student interview themes whereas a …