Secondary Education and Teaching Commons^™

Determining The Difference Between Nebraska Administrators’ And Nebraska Secondary English Teachers’ Perception Of The Teacher Evaluation, Michael Scott Musil

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

The purpose of this study was to determine the difference between Nebraska administrators’ and Nebraska secondary English teachers’ perceptions of the teacher evaluation. The study explored teacher and administrator perceptions of the teacher-evaluation process as it relates to Nebraska secondary English teachers. Teachers and administrators from across the state of Nebraska had equal opportunity to participate in this study.

Both groups of teachers and administrators responded by Likert scale to 42 online statements arranged by theme about their experiences regarding the teacher-evaluation process. Participants aggregated themselves by geography, school size, gender, experience, and socioeconomic status of students. Quantitative data was …

Supporting Representation-Rich Problem-Solving In High School Physics, Lyrica L. Lucas

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

The literature on physics education research (PER) promotes the use of multiple representations (such as pictures, diagrams, written explanations, and mathematical expressions) to enhance the problem-solving ability of students through instruction. The purpose of this study was to explore the use of a scaffolding strategy that involved the use of multiple representation tasks in problem-solving in a modeling physics class in high school. Another class with similar background was selected as a comparison group. In 12 in-depth problem-solving interviews of students drawn from the two classes, I investigated in detail how the students responded to the multiple representations tasks and …

Student Engagement And Action In Classroom And Community: Place-Based Education And Social Action For The High-Achieving Student, Rachel M. Jank

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This paper briefly discusses the work done in a college-preparatory, Senior English class to combat the disengagement present in many educational institutions. This disconnect does not allow for learning retention and, therefore, does not allow for students to apply the moment of learning to life outside of the secondary classroom. The work I do is based off of Jessica Singer Early, Bruce Bigelow, Linda Christensen, and many other master teachers who work with the educational designs of Place Consciousness and Social Action within their respective classrooms. The theories of John Dewey and Paulo Freire suggest that a non-traditional style of …

Spoken Spanish Language Development At The High School Level: A Mixed-Methods Study, Aleidine Kramer Moeller, Janine Theiler

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

Communicative approaches to teaching language have emphasized the centrality of oral proficiency in the language acquisition process, but research investigating oral proficiency has been surprisingly limited, yielding an incomplete understanding of spoken language development. This study investigated the development of spoken language at the high school level over five consecutive years, involving more than 1,500 students representing 23 school districts. Quantitative Standards-Based Measure of Proficiency speaking scores and student-produced qualitative spoken samples (n > 6,000 samples) contributed to an understanding of the development of spoken language. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) revealed a consistent growth trajectory of spoken language development, and results …

A Professional Learning Community Activity For Science Teachers: How To Incorporate Discourse-Rich Instructional Strategies Into Science Lessons, Elizabeth Lewis, Dale Baker, Nievita Bueno Watts, Michael Lang

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

In this article we describe current educational research underlying a comprehensive model for building a scientific classroom discourse community. We offer a professional development activity for a school-based professional learning community, providing specific science instructional strategies within this interactive teaching model. This design activity provides a quick and practical means of transforming science lessons to be more engaging for students. Through this activity teachers can redesign any science lesson by focusing on each of the five core components of a scientific classroom discourse community: (a) scientific inquiry, (b) oral discourse, (c) written discourse, (d) academic language development, and (e) learning …