The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the perceptions of practicing nature-based educators and to find how classroom educators can become skilled in providing students with opportunities to learn in nature. In the study, there were 13 participants who represented a variety of individuals, with impressive educational…

Oral communication skills are vital for adult English language learners, especially in daily activities and when securing employment (Parrish, 2015). Pronunciation instruction has been shown to improve learners' intelligibility and communication abilities (Darcy & Rocca, 2022; Thomson & Derwing, 2015), underscoring the significance of…

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore freshmen community college students' lived experiences as 10th-grade students in the 2020-2021 school year during online math learning. Positive experiences in math learning increase math success. Negative experiences in math learning decrease math success, leading to avoidance of…

Mathematics scores on the 2019 National Assessment of Education Progress increased by only two points for both fourth and eighth grade students since 2007, indicating that students continue to struggle in mathematics (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2007; U.S. Department of Education, 2019). The development of both conceptual and…

The purpose of this study was to determine how secondary mathematics education changes in Hungary between 1867 and 1956 were reflected in journal articles of that time. In an attempt to accomplish this purpose, the researcher sought to identify which major political and socioeconomic factors affected the role and content of periodicals, how the…

The digital age has profoundly changed the film industry and how consumers are able to access media. To foster language development, this mixed methods study takes advantage of this technological progress and investigates how an audiovisual media-based curriculum can be designed for and implemented in an intermediate German language course. In…

This dissertation consists of three papers. In each paper, I leverage a different quantitative method to study a downstream effect of technology on educational outcomes. In the first paper, I study the impact of an online math learning program on 3rd through 5th grade math achievement in Louisiana. Employing Zearn Math usage metrics and…

The purpose of this study is to explore elementary educators' perceptions regarding what it means to conceptually understand mathematics, the emphasis teachers place on utilizing evidence-based teaching processes, as identified as effective by National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), and how these perceptions influence their…

Second language (L2) writing teaching and research in China have enjoyed a rich history and have had remarkable achievements. However, the extensive L2 writing literature created in China has not yet been analyzed comprehensively from theoretical, methodological, and philosophical perspectives. This research synthesis provides a metadisciplinary…

The purpose of this exploratory collective case study is to discover how geospatial education can meet the geospatial workforce needs of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the emerging intelligent web mapping era. Geospatial education uses geographic information systems (GIS) to enable student learning by increasing in-depth spatial analysis and…

High-stakes testing policies have reduced elementary-level instructional time for untested subjects, raising questions about the extent to which students' content knowledge in social studies has been compromised. This research project compared social studies assessment performance of two student cohorts from the same school district, one required…

A comparative study was conducted to explore faculty perceptions regarding the infusion of global perspectives into the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) curriculum at Iowa State University. King (1991) provided the original base for the study which enabled a comparison with data recently collected. This study may fill a void in the…

Preparing college students to be contributing members of local and global societies requires educators to analyze the capabilities and needs of their students and to adjust instructional content and practice. The purpose of this mixed-methods study was twofold: (a) to explore how classroom approaches designed to facilitate students' questioning of…

Ecological ideas have been manifested in diverse ways in American high schools since the early twentieth century. Core scientific concepts in ecology--the study of the relationship between organisms and their environment--include adaptations, plant succession, ecosystem ecology, and population ecology. This dissertation argues, however, that there…

Postsecondary remedial mathematics courses often have relatively low pass rates compared to other courses (Bahr, 2008; Virginia College Community System, 2011) and have contributed to the view that mathematics is a gatekeeper for college success (Epper & Baker, 2009). This study addressed this situation by exploring recommendations made by…