As global challenges such as climate change, shifting job markets, and technological advances intensify, educational systems must adapt to equip students with essential 21st-century skills. While countries like Singapore, Ireland, Australia, and Finland have created flexible education systems to meet these demands, the United States faces a…

In this three-paper dissertation, I examine three seemingly unconnected historical philosophers--Locke, Cockburn, and Kant--on questions concerning moral knowledge, human nature, and moral development. In the first chapter, my focus is on Locke's peculiar claim that a demonstrative science of morality is possible, and I address an interpretive…

Infants are born highly sensitive to the natural patterns found in languages. They use their perceptual sensitivity to acquire detailed information about the structure of languages in their environment. To date, most studies of infant perception and early language acquisition have investigated spoken/auditory languages and hearing infants (e.g.…

Emotional learning has become an important part of professional development. The problem, however, concerns the limited understanding of the effects of emotional intelligence (EQ) training for individuals in business settings. Emotional intelligence served as the theoretical basis for this research. The purpose of this nonrandomized…

Career and Technical Education (CTE) teachers have unique professional development needs due to their teaching content and route to teacher certification. A literature review revealed little to no research investigating CTE teachers' perceived needs for professional development in Texas. Additionally, the literature suggests that teachers who…

The purpose of this study was to determine how various security measures affect performance in two South Carolina middle schools, one high-performing, and one low-performing. This research study determined educators' attitudes toward safety in one high-performing and low-performing school in the low country area of South Carolina. There were five…

The traditional approach to teacher training has been receiving an undergraduate degree in education. However, the rise of alternative teacher preparation programs due to teacher shortages, an increased importance placed on testing, and the rise of charter and voucher schools have caused people to question the effectiveness of traditional…

Fewer than 10% of private and public school teachers implement instructional innovation following professional development sessions (Spelman et al., 2016). This qualitative interpretive phenomenological study addressed the problem of private school teachers' desires for effective professional development to improve student learning outcomes. The…

Leadership theories and their application to various leadership positions is a heavily researched field. Specific research has been conducted examining leadership theories of both middle level and senior level leaders individually (Amey et al., 2020; Eddy and Mitchell, 2017; Hernandez and Hernandez, 2014. However, an examination of leadership…

This study examined the relationship between life satisfaction and perception of educational and career-related barriers. Perceived barriers threaten career development and can subsequently enhance negative appraisals of personal worth and ability. Coping efficacy, an individual's belief or confidence in their ability to manage and overcome…

While there are a multitude of contributing factors, under-represented student success in STEM appears to be critically interdependent with teaching and learning practices that are responsive to diverse epistemologies and inclusive pedagogies. However, the professional literature has yet to identify a set of faculty development best practices that…

Becoming critical thinkers and collaborative learners is important for today's students as they develop the skills needed for success in the 21st century (National Research Council, 2012; Partnership for 21st Century Learning, 2019). One instructional strategy used to develop critical-thinking skills through collaboration is Socratic seminar. A…

The purpose of this quantitative comparative study is to analyze the demographic and program choice data of students who completed a study abroad program in the United States over a 10+-year period and to determine the impacts of those factors. The literature is well saturated with the benefits of students engaging in any type of study abroad…

The United States continues to grow in both population and diversity. The trigger for this project was the dramatic increase in patient diversity in Texas and the lack of adequate cultural competency training for providers at a Texas oncology clinic network. Clinicians must increase their self-awareness and knowledge to provide culturally…

Since Swain's (1985) Output Hypothesis, producing output in second language (L2) has been assumed to be a crucial cognitive process that promotes L2 acquisition, by actively facilitating various cognitive processes (e.g., noticing, hypothesis testing, conscious reflections of own language use, and automatization of the linguistic knowledge) (de…