Within the broad, interdisciplinary field of adult education, affective aspects of experience and the roles they play in learning have, thus far, not been properly theorized or researched. This dissertation first explores how John Heron's whole person theory (WPT) conceptualizes feeling as an expansive affective capacity at the root of all human…

The purpose of this qualitative narrative multiple case study was to address gaps in the research by exploring student engagement in a nature-based school in Georgia and a Missouri school moving to nature-based education. By considering three key dimensions of student engagement, behavioral, cognitive, and emotional, this in-depth investigation…

This study explored the dynamic interplay of social constructivism, game-based learning, and communities of practice in the context of teachers using Minecraft as an educational tool. This study used a teacher survey to collect insights from teachers who use Minecraft and are members of the Minecraft Teachers' Lounge. The research investigated how…

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…

In 2016, the CCC Maker initiative provided the California Community Colleges with an influx of resources and energy designed to foster maker-centered learning (MCL). These hands-on practices have the potential to support the broader CCC mission by providing opportunities for engaged, empowering, and collaborative learning for the system's diverse…

In this dissertation I explore the fugitive technology practices of Black high-schoolers in a tech-rich after-school makerspace. To do so, I invoke ontologies from two cyborgs to make sense of these Black teens' practices. First, James and Costa Vargas (2012) offer the Black Cyborg-- the rebel intellectual rejecting victimization through…

In 2005, Dale Dougherty and O'Reilly Media founded "Make Magazine," and coined the term Makerspace, which is broadly defined as a community workspace where people come together to solve problems using materials and tools they might otherwise not have access to (Dougherty, 2012). Recently, schools have allocated funding and resources into…

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…

Although there has been an abundance of empirical inquiry into making in recent years, interestingly, and despite growing interest in the integration of making into N-12 education, little seems to be known empirically about the ways in which teachers are implementing making and creating makerspaces in their own classrooms. Very little direct…

The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between learning modes and the use of social media for learning in undergraduate college students. Social media use among students has continued to grow for the past 10 years, yet, not many have been exposed to using it in an academic setting. The study was guided by Kolb's (1984)…

Education leaders often list professional development sessions in school improvement plans to support teacher learning and consequently student achievement. Teachers often attend professional development sessions and file or dispose of content learned, never transferring content knowledge into instruction. This study aimed to identify strategies…

Despite the wide-spread discussions describing makerspaces and making in school library practitioner publications and conferences, there is a lack of research related to making, makerspaces, and fablabs in PreK-12 school libraries in the United States. (Mersand, 2020). This study examined current virtual makerspaces to discover insights into…

"Service-learning" (SL) is an experiential pedagogy that engages students in working for, with, and in communities in need. While prior research has explored the effects of SL on second language (L2) users' (perceived) language development (e.g., Gaugler & Matheus, 2019), intercultural awareness (e.g., Sa´nchez-Naranjo, 2021), and…

In an effort to interest more students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics classes (STEM), more school systems have implemented maker education in the formal school setting. However, many teachers assigned to implement the maker curricula met difficulties due to their unfamiliarity with the maker mindset and lack of the…

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…