Initial research approaches to investigating the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in education have been largely constrained by the ongoing acute nature of pandemic circumstances in which that research has occurred. This qualitative study examines how different phases of the pandemic have impacted the instructional practices of teaching faculty in…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of phenomena-based inquiry on students' engagement levels in my science classroom. This action research study took place in the fall of 2021 with six student participants. Participants were enrolled in an 8th grade honors science course in a middle school in South Carolina. The research was…

The need to improve math instruction in the United States has led to a variety of reactionary reform efforts. Often, these reforms require teachers to step away from deeply embedded instructional practices, which are difficult to change. Professional learning communities (PLC) are a common form of professional development in education that have…

This exploratory phenomenological dissertation research evaluated students', instructors', and administrators', definitions and perceived value of experiential learning pedagogies. The research comprised interviews in late 2018 and early 2019 within a program run by a large public American university on its Singapore campus (pseudonym AmUAsia). At…

The purpose of this research project was to investigate the effect of the Think Through Math (TTM) online tutorial on student achievement in mathematics and student self-perception in mathematics ability. The treatment group consisted of 140 fifth grade students who received general instruction and daily access to TTM. The control group consisted…

Angle measurement is a significant topic in almost all areas of mathematics learning and also in many disciplines outside mathematics education, such as engineering and architecture. According to the literature, there are three common conceptions of angles--as union of rays, rotations, and wedges. Researchers argued that students must consider…

This dissertation seeks to address limitations of Practice-Based Teacher Education (PBTE) in relation to (1) narrow conceptions of practice and teacher learning, and (2) peripheralization of equity and justice. After aiming to understand the landscape of limitations in PBTE, this study situates itself within specific manifestations of these…

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…

This study examined the practices of a mathematics coach by analyzing coaching moves over multiple coaching cycles with two teachers. The coach, guided initially by a content-focused model of coaching (West & Staub, 2013), engaged teachers in cycles that consisted of co-planning, teaching, and debriefing conversations to help teachers reflect…

Research indicates that readers break down complex words into their smallest, meaning-based units (morphemes) when spelling (e.g., Senechal, 2000). However, it remains unclear how morphemes are formed and whether newly formed morphological knowledge (i.e., knowledge of morphemes) is strong enough to support word learning. The current research…

Dolls have accompanied children with a variety of activities, including the practice of reading. However, the current literature has neglected to provide empirical support that reading to dolls has influenced reading fluency or the child's belief in their reading ability, known as reader self-efficacy. This study sought to answer the questions of…

This Action Research study investigated adult (i.e., teachers and parents) use of picture books with children as tools to support the exploration of their individual cultures and ethnicities. Participants in Cycle 1 consisted of educators (i.e., teachers, administrators, and librarians). Data was collected through interviews, lesson plans, and…

This study looked at the impact of Ignatian spirituality and Ignatian pedagogy on staff in student-facing units at Jesuit colleges and universities. It also explored how leaders of student-facing departments and divisions operationalize components of Ignatian spirituality and pedagogy to create an Ignatian organizational culture. Qualitative data…

Low student engagement and high attrition rates in online classes were observed at community colleges in a Western U.S. state. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore online faculty members' perceptions of student engagement and how they described their teaching practices and experiences. The study was grounded in the community of…

Necessary skills for a 21st-century workforce have evolved from an Industrial Age skill set to a knowledge-based, Fourth Industrial Revolution, skill set. As a result, we must consider how we develop teacher efficacy in instruction aligned with these identifiable 21st-century competencies. If teacher efficacy has a high impact on student learning…