The objective of this dissertation was to explore how the principles of culturally sustaining pedagogy (CSP) can inform the design of a junior high school curriculum to enhance science learning by providing meaningful learning experiences to all students. The transformative paradigm provided a framework used as a lens to emphasize the importance…

Education reform has been at the forefront of educational research for decades, depicted by government initiatives and policy, research, and pedagogical changes and recommendations. When considering elements of educational change, policy, best practices, and individual merit and retention have also been heavily in the spotlight, such as "A…

Research has illustrated the role visual design plays in effective communication and instruction. However, more research has yet to investigate how online course designers (i.e., anyone who designs online courses) add visual appeal to online courses. This study explored the visual design process in online course development. It examines how…

This paper reports the results of a randomized controlled trial evaluating "We Have Skills," a brief curriculum designed to teach early elementary students academic and social skills as well as improve teacher efficacy in classroom management. Intervention efficacy was tested with 127 teachers, randomly assigned to condition, and 2,817…

This dissertation presents the results and outcomes of an effort to design educational tools and curriculum to improve student learning in introductory programming courses. The work was conducted at the University of California, Merced (UC Merced), situated in the Central Valley of California, and home to a diverse student population. The findings…

This article describes the motivation and design for introductory coursework in computation aimed at midcareer professionals who desire to work in data science and analytics but who have little or no background in programming. In particular, we describe how we use modern interactive computing platforms to accelerate the learning of our students…

Over the last decade, secondary schools around the United States have rapidly adopted ethnic studies courses. For instance, California's governor mandated ethnic studies as a high school graduation requirement in 2021 (Magcalas, 2023). According to scholars, ethnic studies courses offer educational experiences that disrupt the erasure and…

This case study examines how an experienced secondary ESL teacher's personal and professional history is linked to his curricular choices in the classroom and how his enactment of critical educator identity interacts with ideologies within society. The analysis of the focal teacher's experiences that remain prominent in autobiographical memory…

Increasingly school districts are attempting to align curricula, assessments and standards, in an effort to eliminate inequities. Some approaches like Prek-3 initiatives call for coordination of instruction between preschool and later elementary grades that would resemble a coherent instructional system with clear learning goals for students…

The COVID-19 pandemic has emphasized the importance of designing effective methods for remote teaching. At the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of California, Santa Cruz, instructors adapted to the necessity of remote laboratory instruction by creating choose-your-own-adventure-style video-based online experiments introduced…

[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Curriculum Development: Theory into Design.] A level of curricular design, called "design tactics," is identified to fill a gap in the research literature between the broad principles that guide curriculum development and the detailed writing of specific activities and lessons. The use of…

In this study, we reflected on the process of designing and implementing a civics curriculum model focused on increasing upper-grade secondary students' involvement in local civic activity. We prioritized examining the challenges and possibilities of institutionalizing partnerships between teachers, students, community leaders, and local…

Study abroad (SA) provides a space and place for second language (L2) learners to be challenged in terms of their target language skills and intercultural awareness. In order to appropriately equip learners, a task-based approach seems ideal to identify learners' specific needs (Long 2015). The present study reports a multiphase needs analysis…

The traditional remedial, stand-alone reading and writing courses at one community college were redesigned to create a single integrated reading and writing developmental course (IRW). Unlike a truly accelerated course, this IRW course combined two courses at the same level and therefore highlights the impact of integrating reading and writing.…

The growth in the tech industry in recent years has increased business major students' interest in software programming and app development. However, the traditional way of teaching these courses involves intensive coding exercises and little interaction among students. These methods often discourage the students due to the slow learning curve and…