The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 put a focus on each child in a school being proficient. Since 1957 when Sputnik was launched, the United States has been attempting to improve its schools. The existing literature has a gap as to how to turn around an underperforming school in a fairly short period of time. A qualitative case study methodology…

This three article mixed methods dissertation is titled "Three Studies on the Leadership Behaviors of Academic Deans in Higher Education." Each article is based on a sample of 51 academic deans from a three state region in the Southeastern United States. In the first study, the results of the statistical analyses reinforce the gender…

Recent research has indicated that when individuals recognize and gain understanding of their own problem-solving style preferences, personal learning and group performance can be enhanced (Treffinger, Selby, Isaksen, & Crumel, 2007, "An Introduction to Problem-Solving Style"). Further, adult learning theory suggests adults prefer a…

Today's businesses rely on the effective functioning of self-directed work teams to learn how to solve complex problems and take action. A key factor in a team's ability to perform in this manner is a group climate characterized by psychological safety. Psychological safety must often compete with a climate of evaluative pressure frequently found…

The purpose of this study was to determine the ways in which cooperative problem solving in physics instructional laboratories influenced the students' ability to provide qualitative responses to problems. The literature shows that problem solving involves both qualitative and quantitative skills. Qualitative skills are important because those…

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effectiveness of a constructive strategic training program on improving students' performance in solving multiplication problems. The participants were three third graders with math learning difficulties. In this teaching experiment design study, microgenetic approach was employed to analyze…

A key challenge of the learning sciences is moving research results into practice. Educators on the front lines perceive little value in the outputs of education research and demand more "usable knowledge". This work explores the potential instead of usable artifacts to translate knowledge into practice, adding scientists as stakeholders…

Helping students to construct robust understanding of physics concepts and develop good solving skills is a central goal in many physics classrooms. This thesis examine students' problem solving abilities from different perspectives and explores strategies to scaffold students' learning. In studies involving analogical problem solving…

The purpose of this study was to explore teaching styles and how frequently teachers with a variety of teaching styles incorporate multiple representations, such as manipulatives, drawings, counters, etc., in the middle school mathematics classroom. Through this explanatory mixed methods study it was possible to collect the quantitative data in…

This study explored how the process of Response to Intervention (RTI) has changed the roles of three veteran special educators. The background knowledge of these teachers that helped make the initiative successful, as well as the "building blocks" that were present in the initial implementation of RTI models in their settings, were…

Prior research of rough-and-tumble play (RTP) has shown mixed results--different definitions, varying functions, and positive and negative outcomes. Few researchers have studied interventions to address RTP in school settings. With unclear evidence of RTP outcomes and the extent school interventions are addressing RTP in school settings, this…

The purpose of this study is to impact the teaching and learning of math of 2nd through 4th grade math students at Porfirio H. Gonzales Elementary School. The Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI) model serves as the independent variable for this study. Its intent is to promote math instruction that emphasizes problem-solving to a greater degree…

Research in the field of Automated Planning is largely focused on the problem of constructing plans or sequences of actions for going from a specific initial state to a goal state. The complexity of this task makes it desirable to find "generalized" plans which can solve multiple problem instances from a class of similar problems. Most approaches…

The purpose of this study was to identify the preferred instructional design strategies for the preparation of pre-service teachers who will deliver integrated STEM lessons. The research objectives were threefold and included identifying a preferred definition of integrated STEM education, developing its purpose statement, and creating a list of…

Concepts of Mathematics (21-127 at CMU) is a course designed to introduce students to the world of abstract mathematics, guiding them from more calculation-based math (that one learns in high school) to higher mathematics, which focuses more on abstract thinking, problem solving, and writing "proofs." This transition tends to be a shock:…