This autoethnography explored my experiences in designing a nature-based literacy unit in Hawai'i. Whereas a small body of research highlights a positive relationship between nature-based experiences and literacy outcomes, there is minimal research on the planning process. I wanted to understand the experience of planning for nature-based literacy…

Teachers with less than 5 years of teaching experience in low socioeconomic status schools are more likely to leave education than those who have taught in a higher socioeconomic school, often leaving schools in low socioeconomic areas struggling to fill vacancies and to keep a full teaching staff. Many students are high-risk if they attend a…

The COVID-19 pandemic had significant effects on schools during the 2020-2021 school year, with many districts transitioning from traditional in-person instruction to virtual learning. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive phenomenological study was to evaluate how K-5 teachers describe their self-efficacy and how K--5 principals describe…

This dissertation contributes to the fields of (German) second language teaching and applied linguistics by critically examining ideologies of culture learning that manifest in the German integration course, a language/culture program established by the state for arriving refugees, asylum seekers, and third-country nationals (nationals from…

Acquiring computational modeling and simulation skills has become ever more critical for students in life sciences courses at the secondary and tertiary levels. Many modeling and simulation tools have been created to help instructors nurture those skills in their classrooms. Understanding the factors that may motivate instructors to use such tools…

Purpose: The present study has attempted to examine the connection between health literacy (HL) and subjective well-being (SWB) amongst university students in North India. In addition, the present research also sought to establish the role of "gender" and "absence/presence of health professional in the family" as a…

The outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) promoted online teaching on an unprecedented scale, raising researchers' attention to the importance of faculty's acceptance of this urgent teaching shift. This study aimed to explore the influence of organizational factors on faculty's acceptance of online teaching in terms of behavioral…

Processes of globalisation, sustainable development, the COVID-19 pandemic, and other current circumstances influence the development of higher education. Higher education institutions in Ukraine also face challenges related to the military aggression by the Russian Federation since 2014, martial law since February 2022 and efforts to prepare for…

When thinking of wellness in dance, we often think about addressing mental or physical health-related challenges facing performers, although when looking at community dance, there are additional considerations to ensure the wellness of citizens and neighbors participating in dance programming. Gaps remain in dance education training to prepare…

Movements have been the driving force of social change through most of human history. Yet despite the important impacts that movements had in the past that led to a more just present, most Americans generally hold low opinions of movements. The authors see this as a major failing of history education. The authors argue for a need to center the…

For over three decades now, the use of digital devices and media has had a growing impact on educational and teaching practices in schools. Though ethnographic research has documented some of these effects, it has often done so from the neutral perspective of a non-partisan participant-observer and recorder-reporter of the events that unfold. The…

The purpose of this study was to investigate physical therapy students' attitudes toward working with older adults. A basic qualitative design geared toward discovering physical therapy students' attitudes, where themes emerge from the findings, was used. The setting was a CAPTE Accredited Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program in a 4-year,…

This dissertation study uses an alternative dissertation format to deliver two separate but interrelated studies. As a whole, the dissertation is connected by a single overarching research question: "What are the characteristics of effective, meaningful, and equitable science instruction through modeling and how do teachers' pedagogical…

The engineering education community in the United States has witnessed a tremendous increase in broadening participation initiatives as they wrestle with issues regarding inclusion. To date, these initiatives have targeted several goals, including access, belonging, and retention of students from underrepresented backgrounds. However, these…

The lack of formal grading policies within individual schools and school districts results in differential grading across classrooms. In many secondary schools, an individual course may be taught by multiple teachers. This study aimed to determine if the existence of differential grading results in disparate outcomes for students based on their…