In this study, teachers explored their professional identities by reflecting on their teaching role(s) and contexts through elicitation of textual (written) metaphors and visual (drawn) metaphors of teaching. Participants created impromptu drawings emblematic of their conceptualized metaphor. Analysis of participants' written metaphors and…

One of the greatest challenges within education is a growing shortage of teachers (Epps & Foor, 2015). Various factors can be attributed to this phenomenon; however, two major factors that influence teachers to leave the profession are accountability and administrator leadership styles (Weinbaum, Weis, & Beaver, 2012). These two factors…

Collegiate athletics coaches play a vital role in the lives of student-athletes and regularly interact with the members of their teams more than faculty given the nature of athletics practice schedules compared to academic class schedules. Although the primary purpose of university attendance at all universities is pursuit of academic degrees,…

The purpose of this study was to explore the barriers and facilitators to participation in physical education (PE) for students with disabilities (SWD) from the perspectives of in-service physical educators. A convenience sample of 168 physical educators (72% female, 94% Caucasian) from the United States completed a short questionnaire. After data…

Team-based learning (TBL) is an instructional pedagogy that has gained recent popularity due to its effectiveness in disciplines such as medicine and business. However, TBL has not been widely adopted in teacher education based on reviews of research and practitioner based literature. The purpose of this case study was to assess the implementation…

The purpose of this study was to identify if special education teachers' self-efficacy beliefs are impacted by student engagement, instructional strategies, and classroom management. Specifically, this study focused on the self-efficacy of high school special education teachers in an urban setting. This was a correlational quantitative design…

Current approaches to gifted identification suggest collecting multiple sources of evidence. Some gifted identification guidelines allow for the interchangeable use of "performance" and "nonperformance" identification methods. This multiple criteria approach lacks a strong overlap between the assessment tools; however,…

Bullying is a significant problem in U.S. schools. Policies have been developed to reduce bullying, yet policy implementation by educators is an essential yet difficult and complex process. Few studies have investigated factors that act as barriers to or facilitators of bullying policy implementation and teacher protection of students. This study…

School is one of the important educational practices, in which children are actively involved. When we want to contribute to the development of young children's voices, we need deeper insight into the way children act as they do. Therefore, we have to distinguish how young children's voices are composed, as we proclaim that all voices are…

While research on EFL teachers' beliefs and the realization of these beliefs in their classroom practices has recently gained momentum in the field of applied linguistics, the study of teachers' beliefs as they relate to listening has received insufficient attention in the literature. This study was conducted to investigate Iranian EFL teachers'…

The overall goal of this dissertation was to examine teacher characteristics, teachers' beliefs, and contextual factors that may motivate teachers' decisions to engage in high quality teacher-child interactions. I use two complementary studies to meet this goal. These two studies provide insight into several aspects of early childhood teachers'…

This study examines the correlates of creative potential in preschool children, with a focus on children's social behavior. Ninety-four preschool-aged children, their mothers, and teachers participated in the study. Mothers completed a questionnaire measure of children's shyness, and teachers reported on children's levels of shyness, prosocial…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to develop descriptions of how teenage students remain engaged in learning while using mobile technology. Developments in technology have expanded learning contexts and provided learners with improved capacities to connect with others to exchange, gain, and construct knowledge. Developments in…

Problem-Based Learning (PBL) is well known for enhancing students' problem solving skills and teamwork, while the role of PBL tutors is to facilitate discussion rather than teach. This study used four focus groups to explore PBL tutors' motivation, challenges and support mechanisms, and the relationship between these. The study found that there…

With the increasingly ubiquitous nature of mobile devices among K-12 students, many argue for and against the inclusion of these devices in K-12 classrooms. Arguments in favor cite instant access to information and collaboration with others as positive affordances made possible through mobile devices. Self-directed learning, a process where…