The use of simulation holds promise for the future of dietetics education in its ability to replace up to 30% of the 1,000 required supervised practice hours for the training of future Registered Dietitian Nutritionists. Even more so, simulation is a teaching tool. When done well, such alternate learning experiences can challenge students in a…

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted education systems across the world. High school Career and Technical Education (CTE) health science programs that rely on experiential learning activities for successful outcomes took a severe hit. Experiential learning opportunities such as internships, field experiences, and clinical rotations did not occur, and…

Even though the number of culturally and racially diverse students in the United States continues to rise, most teachers in our schools continue to be white females. When they enter classrooms without having critically examined the ways that they have been shaped by their own cultures or the ways that schools can perpetuate or disrupt…

This dissertation examines the role of reflective practice in the development of teacher candidates during their final internship in a teacher preparation program at a state college in Southwest Florida. Grounded in Dewey's and Schon's theories on reflective practice as well as Vygotsky's social learning theories, this mixed methods explanatory…

Many career and technical education (CTE) programs have moved from face-to-face to virtual internships (VIs) to train students who are expected to enter the job market. The problem was that many graduates of CTE VIs demonstrate 21st century soft skills during VIs, but upon entering the workplace, are unable to demonstrate the same soft skills. The…

This study addressed the challenge of connecting elementary teacher candidates' course work and fieldwork in order to foster a cohesive experience in learning to teach mathematics. In this study, a Mediated Field Experience was designed for five elementary teacher candidates in their internship setting. The study utilized qualitative methods to…

The purpose of this convergent mixed-methods study was to understand the extent to which inclusive practices were explicit in teacher residency curricula and the potential effects of four different urban teacher residency (UTR) programs on perceptions of teacher residents' self-efficacy for implementing inclusive practices in the general education…

To become successful readers, adolescents have to navigate multiple internal factors related to their literacy, namely their capability, identity, and self-efficacy as readers. They also must journey through the literacy demands of a school day, and their resulting experiences continuously shape their self-perceptions of identity and…

Many pre-service teachers (PSTs) face a common dilemma when completing their internships: they seek to display their own strengths and competencies in teaching while also adhering to the guidance of their mentor teachers and avoiding instructional risks. The underlying structure of the internship promotes a hierarchy which positions mentoring…

All human beings possess within them implicit and explicit theories which they use repeatedly throughout their lives to explain a wide array of experiences (Tracey & Morrow, 2017). In education, teachers use their theories about reading and learning to read to inform nearly every aspect of their instruction. These belief systems develop over a…

At the university level, peer instruction has been widely implemented as a means to offer additional resources through mentorship and academic support for courses with high enrollments and/or high levels of attrition. Peer instructors are students themselves who have typically demonstrated a proficiency in the course for which they serve. In the…

To seek out and find teachers who perform at a high level to meet the demands of education today, educational leaders need to possess the abilities, or a system, to identify those individuals with the natural ability to become leaders in the classroom, facilitate the learning process, and succeed in moving the practice of education into new…

During the past decade, college students have experienced increasing levels of anxiety, depression, and substance use, which impacts both academic performance and daily functioning. At the same time, declining levels of civic engagement among young adults highlights the importance of higher education's explicit goal of fostering the development of…

Elementary mathematics teachers in Maryland are required to teach according to the Maryland College and Career-Ready Standards (MCCRS). Implementation of these standards requires teachers to understand and implement instructional shifts that are unlike the way most of them were taught mathematics in elementary school. Consequently, educator…

Formal education--four walled classrooms with a single teacher and multiple children in a school setting--did not exist in traditional Hawai'i. Traditional Hawaiian learning resembled contemporary vocational schools or specialized institutions of higher learning. Within these structures, Hawaiians became strongly rooted in cultural and familial…