The research presented explored the relationships between the purposeful use of humor by high school instructors and the development of immediacy, or relationships, with their students. This research compared the humor styles of high school instructors with the level of immediacy reported by their students via a quantitative study that utilizes…

Microaggressions remain a pertinent subject of study due to their subtle yet impactful nature, as evidenced by their potential to accumulate over time and yield negative consequences. Leveraging the Racial Microaggression Scale and the Teacher Sense of Self-Efficacy Scale, this study offers valuable insights into measuring both microaggressions…

This quantitative descriptive and correlational study aimed to explore elementary teacher beliefs about mathematics and its relationship with instructional practices. The Constructivist Learning Theory and the Guiding Principles for School Mathematics provided the theoretical framework for the study. Descriptive and correlational research…

This quantitative study aimed to explore the correlations between school teachers' cultural knowledge, teaching skills, and impact on the academic achievement of their students in the Southeast United States. The Multicultural Teaching Competence Scale (MTCS) was used as the test instrument to measure teachers' overall competence, cultural…

This study examined the use of immersive video modeling to teach students with autism spectrum disorder classroom social skills such as asking for attention, asking for help, asking for an item, and asking for a hug. The research sought the functional relationship between immersive video modeling and increased social interaction. An ABAB…

This qualitative practice-based study explores the efficacy of reformed-based science teaching approaches in fostering meaningful student engagement within elementary science classrooms, framed within the science-as-practice paradigm. Utilizing three theoretical frameworks, the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and Ambitious Science…

This study investigated whether the type of course materials used by instructors in postsecondary education had an impact on their teaching approach. The study focused on two approaches to teaching, teacher-focused and student-focused, and examined the use of Open Educational Resources (OER) versus commercial materials as the independent variable.…

This work was designed to provide insight into how a disaster of historical proportions, in this case the COVID pandemic, influenced the work foreign language (L2) teachers in an English as a foreign language (EFL) setting. The research was situated within the framework of positive psychology (Seligman, 2011), with the investigation of the…

A large extant research base documents the positive effects shared book reading (SBR) can have on children's language development, reading comprehension, and other reading-related outcomes. Most studies examined the effects of researcher directed SBR, with an assortment of components that go beyond simply reading the text. It is possible, however,…

Teacher educators play a multifaceted role in designing and implementing curriculum to nurture preservice teachers' growth in content knowledge, pedagogical skills, and teaching efficacy. Amidst evolving educational landscapes and diverse classroom environments, there's an increasing emphasis on fostering teacher agency and autonomy to navigate…

Scholars and educators are turning to culturally responsive education to create more inclusive and equitable educational experiences for an increasingly diverse student population (Gay, 2010, 2013, 2018; Ladson-Billings, 1995a, 1995b, 2014). However, despite its immense potential, challenges and pitfalls still exist (Sleeter, 2012; Warren, 2014,…

Neuroimaging research has transformed understanding of how the brain responds to instructional methods, with active instruction demonstrating exceptional learner benefits. This is valuable information for educators across learning formats in higher education, including in-person, hybrid, and online classrooms. Calibrating pedagogical practices to…

This study sought to explore the teachers' self-efficacy on STEM integration and 21st century skills within STEM-designated schools in Tennessee by (a) evaluating teachers' self-efficacy, (b) teachers' perception of students' use of 21st century skills, (c) the association of teachers' self-efficacy and teachers' perception of students' use of…

Laboratory activities are a prevalent and essential part of chemistry learning because of their potential to help students develop problem solving abilities, visualize chemistry concepts learned in lecture, and gain practical skills. However, learning in the laboratory environment is not without its challenges. For example, cookbook-style…

This dissertation examines the way novice social studies teachers learn to support multilingual learners in their social studies classes. I take a critical lens to practice-based teacher education (PBTE) to understand the decisions novice teachers make as they support multilingual students in their content classes. In this way, I bridge…