This dissertation explores the lived experience of nature-based educators in Duluth, Minnesota. Portraiture served as the methodological framework for learning about how teachers in Duluth got into teaching and why they remain on the job. Teacher turnover and attrition is a national problem exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, teachers who…

Medical schools in the United States have been incorporating biostatistics education as part of its core curriculum for over 75 years. During that time, while the discipline has drastically changed, the curriculum has seemingly for the most part stayed the same. Numerous national organizations have published documents of objectives and…

This study examined Open Educational Resources (OER) through a community college faculty perspective. Specifically, this study aimed to gain a deeper understanding of faculty motivations surrounding OER, faculty perceptions of OER's influences on students, and pedagogical changes that faculty have made in response to OER. A qualitative research…

The efficacy of the "integrated approach," which calls for the simultaneous integration of two varieties in teaching Arabic as a second language (L2), has not yet been rigorously examined, and the very few available studies suffer from many methodological limitations. The current study sought to bridge this gap in the literature by…

Joint attention (JA) is a pivotal prelinguistic skill critical to developing language and social repertoires. This behavior is often absent or delayed in children with autism spectrum disorder, commonly resulting in problematic communicative consequences. Behavior-based interventions have been used to teach autistic children to initiate and…

This study examined the use of immersive video modeling to teach students with autism spectrum disorder classroom social skills such as asking for attention, asking for help, asking for an item, and asking for a hug. The research sought the functional relationship between immersive video modeling and increased social interaction. An ABAB…

Problem: Academic institutions have employed online simulations in nursing education to meet the needs of the growing nursing student population and demands for distance learning. While some nursing educators have been trained to use simulation learning experiences, few have specific training in applying online simulation as a teaching strategy.…

Since its conception, the "Harry Potter" franchise has become a cultural phenomenon which transgresses national borders. As many "Potter" fans struggle with how to manage their fandom in the face of author J.K. Rowling's transphobic stance, the book series may ironically and more specifically be used to improve attitudes toward…

The time children spend indoors with nature-based children's literature is as important as the time they spend outdoors. Children's literature traditionally has been replete with pastoral, animal, and wilderness stories that nurture a sense of wonder and excitement about the world we share. Such literature encourages a high regard for the…

As college students adapt to new workloads and freedom while facing significant stressors and time management struggles, they need tools to assist their transition. Mindfulness practices have consistently been found to be beneficial to college students' mental health. Twenty-six students took the Brown & Ryan (2003) Mindfulness Attention…

Public school is viewed as an optimal setting to enhance a student's personal and social behaviors. Specifically, the school setting has potential to provide a positive influential environment to develop character (i.e., moral values), such as demonstrating respect, responsibility, honesty and integrity. Even though schools provide the framework…

As research on far-right climate change communication focuses on climate skepticisms, little is known about how the far-right justifies climate acceptance--and what this might mean for environmental education and counter-communication. To initiate a discussion of communicative strategies through which far-right actors might become more accepting…

Even in the age of spellcheck and other assistive tools, spelling remains an important skill. Learning how to spell can be challenging, especially for students with high-incidence disabilities. Fortunately, tools such as graphic organizers may assist students with spelling. In this study, we evaluated the effects of a novel flowchart tool on…

This study combined the principles of multimedia message design with an enclosing-rectangle scaffold to facilitate instruction on deriving the area of basic geometric shapes. A pretest/posttest/delayed-posttest design was used to compare the effectiveness of the enclosing-rectangle scaffold with that of conventional dissection/rearrangement…

Although critical thinking has been widely accepted as an educational goal for decades, clear evidence for the development of students' critical thinking is sparse. Critical thinking has been conceptualised as skill, knowledge, and disposition respectively in psychology, philosophy and critical theory, but which applies to education is unclear. In…