This dissertation contributed to ongoing conversations about reflection and writing transfer. This study was guided by a main research question: How might asking students to reflect collaboratively, rather than individually, about their writing, help them make connections between first-year writing and other contexts? While other scholars have…

This dissertation explores the implementation of classical education in a non-classical charter high school, with a focus on science education using classical methodologies. Employing techniques like copy work, history-based science teaching (HBST), the Socratic method, and the Progymnastmata, astronomy, and chemistry were taught. To identify…

The purpose of this study was to explore the ways graduate students' interpretive lenses manifested in reflective storytelling of their collaborative object-based learning (OBL) experiences with Andean textiles in the John and Mary Carter Collection. This occurred in the context of visitor-centered exhibition (VCE) development. Adapted Feminist…

The use of Virtual Reality (VR) as an educational tool is gaining attention due to its potential to provide immersive and authentic learning experiences. However, most schools cannot afford to provide individual access to VR, making VR-mediated group learning a promising solution for those with limited access to educational resources. Despite its…

This dissertation investigates how collective process-oriented documentation tools, combined with Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques, can enhance knowledge construction in hands-on, open-ended learning environments, such as makerspaces. Through a three-year design-based research, the study developed and tested a collective documentation…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive single case study was to understand how college instructors across a variety of discipline areas described the development of their instructional strategies to embed sense of community and cognitive presence in a blended class environment at a university in the Midwest United States. The Community of…

The aim of this action research study is to link research to action in order to meet individual learner needs through the creation of collaborative inquiry based teams that seek to provide equitable learning experiences through differentiated instructional practices. Key findings include the results of the primary goal of this study, which was…

Critical thinking (CT) is widely recognized as an important component for effective instruction and learning. Numerous researchers have studied critical thinking and its impact on students and educational institutions at all levels (Pithers & Soden, 2000). Puig et al. (2019) acknowledged that very little research had been done to capture…

Recent reforms in science education call for efforts to engage students in authentic and sustained science practices. In order to engage students in authentic science practices, students need to enact epistemic agency over the processes of inquiry in line with how knowledge is constructed and practiced in the real world. A critical research…

This practitioner inquiry dissertation is situated within the context of U.S. education policy that persists in defining literacy as print-based and privileges standardized literacy assessments as the singular measure of what students "know". Decades of literacy research have shown that such orientations to education policy and resulting…

The purpose of this action research study was to link together theory and educational leaders' practice to give form to and improve their ability to make ethically sound decisions. The questions that guided the study included: 1. How can I, as a superintendent, lead the principals I work with to use all four ethical paradigms in their own decision…

Today's college classrooms are often comprised of many generations. Millennials, the newest generation to enter higher education, are enrolling in college in larger numbers than other generations. Growth within nontraditional programs, coupled with the increase of millennial students, underscores the need for understanding the learning preferences…

Graduate student travel continues to reflect the desire for more intentional and immersive ways to engage in travel experiences for the purpose of learning. This basic qualitative study explored how graduate students made meaning of their cultural immersion experiences. The study invited twenty-three graduate students enrolled in three Christian…

Cross-community collaboration which expands community members' interaction to a larger social scale plays a crucial role in increasing information exchange and extending inquiry learning. This dissertation uses a design-based research approach which aims at testing a multi-level emergence design in multiple learning communities. This design serves…

Notwithstanding the limitations of traditional student evaluations and the increasing interest in instructional improvement for student learning in STEM education, there has been relatively little research on practices used by STEM faculty for gathering formative student feedback that enhances teaching-for-learning. Using a grounded theory…