National science proficiency scores in America have failed to show significant improvement for years (www.nationsreportcard.gov, 2019). Although policy reforms have come and gone in attempt to influence these trends, Disciplinary Literacy (DL) theory currently stands center-stage as one of the most recently espoused approaches to improving…

For this dissertation, I had the opportunity to investigate a well-established university-based intensive English program in the northeastern United States as it transitioned from an integrated-skills to a paired-skills approach. My goal as a researcher was to investigate in what ways "listening," the second language (L2) skill…

The role of faculty in online education is critical to its sustainability and success. In "Time for Class: Lessons for the Future of Digital Learning in Higher Education," Tyton Partners (2017), a strategy consulting firm, asked administrators the most important factor for successful digital learning and the top response was…

Parents typically serve as the primary sexuality educators for their children. This qualitative research explored the experiences of parents from Arkansas in providing sexuality education to their children with intellectual disabilities. Semi-structured interviews were used to obtain the perspective of parents, followed by transcription and coding…

The purpose of this qualitative, single-case study was to examine teachers' perceptions of using guided notes to improve the proficiency rate of middle-grade students in mathematics number systems. This study was conducted in one school system in North Carolina where students were failing to meet the state standards for mathematics achievement at…

As technology becomes more advanced, it becomes more tempting for teachers to integrate it into their lesson planning. Although technology can be beneficial to student learning, there are issues that arise as barriers during this integration of technology into the classroom. Some of these barriers include students becoming distracted and using the…

This study examined the effects of rich vocabulary instruction (RVI) on reading comprehension in a second-grade classroom by comparing the RVI model with the non-rich vocabulary instruction (NRVI) model. The effects of RVI and NRVI on reading comprehension were analyzed by examining for a significant association between the RVI model or NRVI model…

Much research exists about adolescent reading, particularly young adult literature (Allington, 2014; Gallagher & Kittle, 2018; Krashen, 2009). Within that body of research are explorations of nontraditional reading experiences among today's adolescents. This research includes gaming narratives (Ellison & Drew, 2019; Hall, 2011; Sylven…

More than half of the students with visual impairment (VI) have an additional developmental disability (DD) in the United States. Young children with VI and DD are at risk for language delay and these children need planned learning experiences to increase their language skills. Teachers of students with VI (TVI) have received training and special…

The goal of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) is to move away from traditional science teaching that has been based on the transmission of ideas and memorization of concepts and vocabulary. However, teaching science differently is challenging because teachers tend to teach the way they were taught, and preservice teachers enter teacher…

Social studies education provides education researchers with a less common opportunity to discover multimodal instructional methods for disciplinary literacy. During a 12-week period in 2021, four social studies teachers with at least one history course in a large suburban Mercer County, New Jersey school district participated in a case study to…

Productive problem solving, concept construction, and sense making occur through the core process of abstraction. Although the capacity for domain-general abstraction is developed at a young age, the role of abstraction in increasingly complex and disciplinary environments, such as those encountered in undergraduate STEM education, is not well…

In most performing classes, such as dance or performing arts, students passively follow the scripts or demonstration provided by the teacher, and focus on imitating the acts and practicing repeatedly. Although researchers have begun trying out flipped learning to provide students with opportunities for self-learning and to increase the time for…

Can a new instructional approach influence lifelong learning and the development of competent lifelong learners? Blended and online learning provides a platform for learning that introduces technological affordance to enable learning. We seek to find an intersection between blended and online learning and lifelong learning through an instructional…

This qualitative embedded, single-case study examined the perceptions and experiences of four secondary-level preservice teachers leading whole class discussions in education classes in a private Midwestern college. Despite the research on the importance of dialogic instruction, preservice teachers are inadequately prepared to facilitate…