Dissertation objectives included investigating how environment and plant life history influence aspects of leaf vascular infrastructure that supports photosynthesis, as well as photoprotection of the photosynthetic process. Additionally, I aimed to engage students in science and plant biology through innovative teaching methods. In summer annual…

The purpose of this case study was to examine the utility of Digital Video Reflection (DVR) as a mediational tool to self-analysis; an investigation if DVR is an effective means of reflective practice for first-year teacher's adaptive expertise development. Participant was formally enrolled in a graduate-level education literacy specialist…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive case study was to explore and describe middle school teachers' perspectives on their level of expertise and confidence in using available educational technology for daily instruction associated with how they perceived their students to engage in a lesson that integrated educational technology. The…

Instructional designers and professional trainers conduct many different types of training. However, some topics are job- and- task-specific and are more effectively taught by subject matter expert (SME) trainers. In some cases, these SMEs are given training and/or instructional design (ID) resources, and in other cases they have to learn best…

School districts across the United States have been faced with the challenge of teacher shortages (Carver-Thomas & Darling-Hammond, 2017), which have been attributed to various factors such as inadequate teacher salaries, poor working conditions, retirements, and those who leave the profession early in their careers (Becker & Grob, 2021).…

Gifted students are multifaceted, and they come from all different racial, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds. They perform at a much higher level than their peers. As a result, it requires a specific type of teacher to instruct them in the classroom. The purpose of this qualitative narrative study was to explore how teaching a gifted self-contained…

Psychological assessment has been a cornerstone of clinical psychology since the establishment of the field. The duties involved in the practice of psychological assessment are integral to the identity of the clinical psychologist and have been the subject of decades of empirical research and clinical consequence. While the historical importance…

Federal and state accountability obligates public schools to improve standardized test scores for students in certain grades and in certain content areas from year to year. In the name of school improvement district and campus level administrators implement professional learning communities (PLCs) and set expectations for data informed instruction…

Although extensive research has focused on young children's writing and identified the importance of early writing experiences, there is a limited amount of writing occurring in some early childhood classrooms. Furthermore, existing research on teacher supports for emergent writing in preschool classrooms is limited. This study examined how one…

Today's students spend an unprecedented amount of time using technology in comparison to any other generation. With increased access to technology, music-making has changed for the 21st-century music student. How are music teachers then keeping up with the needs of today's technology-hungry music students, and how are they leveraging music…

Graphics in the form of video have been shown to be useful in presenting information to students. When designing graphic videos to optimize student learning, designers must take into consideration which elements will enhance student learning and which ones will hinder the process. In this study, the researcher presented two groups of engineering…

Because teaching is inherently interpersonal and relational work, teachers use expressive behaviors such as voice, body language, and facial expression as they interact in the classroom. Yet the effects of the expressive dimensions of teachers' practice on their relationships with children and their instruction are not well-understood in…

The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the decisions and adaptations that literacy specialists make before, during, and after literacy intervention instruction. The theoretical framework for this study included social constructivism (Dewey, 1933), metacognition theory (Flavell, 1976), and adaptive expertise (Hatano & Ingnaki,…

This study examined the principles and practices of award-winning instructors in the classroom. This study creates a perspective of what constitutes teaching expertise in a higher education classroom. The purpose of this study was to examine what they perceived is needed to meet the various needs of college age students. This research examined…

Recent calls in education have emphasized the critical need for curricula in the sciences to support student development of the general and disciplinary-specific practices that are relevant to modern scientific research and careers, as well as foundational scientific knowledge that reflects recent advances. In this regard, the life sciences,…