This research examines the perceptions of children after reading about low socioeconomic circumstances in children's literature. Low socioeconomic status involves more than just income; it encompasses access to resources, education, family well-being, opportunities, and quality of life. Students in today's classrooms are faced with many of these…

The purpose of this study was to create a culturally relevant, inquiry-based science lesson plan and examine how I can become a more culturally relevant educator. This was done first through the use of seminal frameworks in both pedagogies to examine similarities and differences. Secondly, eight experts in the fields were interviewed to gather…

This study sought to explore the relationship among gender, age and prior digital game-based learning (DGBL) experience amongst high school teachers in determining the suggested content and interest of DGBL professional development. The ultimate goal of this study was to find ways to increase the preparedness of teachers to effectively implement…

A small college in the Midwestern United States has a prior learning assessment (PLA) program that has never been evaluated from the perspective of the faculty and staff. The problem is that campus leaders have a limited understanding of faculty and staff knowledge and their role in the PLA program. The study was approached from an appreciative…

The purpose of this study was to explore parents' views about elementary age children regarding the role that prior knowledge and availability of resources play in relation to students' achievement on the New York State math exam. This qualitative study included interviews with ten mothers (one Indian, one Caucasian, one African American, and…

Computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) presents postsecondary educators with a conundrum: how to design and support small-group activities without stifling deep and meaningful learning. The literature indicates that students are not consistently practicing higher-order cognitive activities, educators are not reliably designing or…

The purpose of this research study was to examine the influence African American students' prior music experiences and peer mentoring relationships had on persistence in undergraduate music programs at Historically Black Colleges or Universities (HBCUs). There is minimal existing research that focuses on African American students from urban music…

The purpose of this study was to explore the variables that might affect the learning outcomes of a serious game for disaster preparedness. Literature review in the field has revealed a number of variables that might have effects on the learning outcome with serious games, including: prior knowledge, in game guidance, gaming frequency, and playing…

This dissertation includes two independent research projects, one in astronomy education research and the other in planetary science/astrophysics research. In the first research effort, we investigate college students' conceptual and reasoning difficulties on the topic of planet formation pre-instruction. Through an analysis of over 1,000…

All human beings possess within them implicit and explicit theories which they use repeatedly throughout their lives to explain a wide array of experiences (Tracey & Morrow, 2017). In education, teachers use their theories about reading and learning to read to inform nearly every aspect of their instruction. These belief systems develop over a…

This dissertation describes an experiment to investigate how learners with different levels of background in computer science learn core concepts of computer science, in particular, algorithms. We designed a study to focus on cognitive task analysis for eliciting the empirical mental elements of learning two graph algorithms. Cognitive workload…

Integrating reading instruction and content area curriculum has been suggested as a method of improving students' reading comprehension and access to content knowledge. Less clear are the specific practices that should be used across the curriculum to improve comprehension and build knowledge simultaneously. The two studies in this dissertation…

Learning in the sciences is difficult for students from elementary school to university due to misconceptions, or incorrect prior knowledge, interfering with the acquisition of new knowledge. The process of replacing previously incorrect ideas with new and accurate ones is referred to as conceptual change. Which factors and to what extent they…

This qualitative case study examined the contribution a year-long professional development in the science of reading had on 10 first-grade teachers' knowledge of how reading develops and their instructional practices. Data for this research study was collected through a longitudinal interview process, from pre- and post-knowledge inventory…

While it is well established that pedagogies purposefully linking subject matter to students' cultural contexts and prior knowledge can help students learn subject matter, little is known about practices for so doing in undergraduate biology courses enrolling substantial numbers of racially, culturally, and otherwise diverse students. This study…