Societal shifts increasingly demand that people work across social and geographic borders, often virtually, to solve complex problems in the areas of education, environment, healthcare, poverty, technology innovation and ethics, and more. This collaboration requires critical and emancipatory dialogue and problem-solving. This qualitative multiple…

Recognizing the ethical implications of computing, leading computing organizations advise integrating ethics within traditional technical and theoretical courses. Yet, many instructors feel unprepared or unqualified to introduce ethical concepts, fail to see their relevance to technical topics, or lack the time to cover ethics without sacrificing…

Project-Based Learning (PBL) in middle school math classrooms is a topic that has not been well-researched, even though math scores in the United States have been declining. In a school district in the Southcentral United States, the local problem was that teacher buy-in for PBL in middle school math classes was unknown, as current literature…

Project based learning (PBL), a well-known pedagogical approach, is becoming more widely recognized for creating and sustaining student engagement and motivation in 21st-century learning while improving academic achievement. Teachers support this hands-on, collaborative approach and see it as beneficial for students of all learning modalities, but…

In response to decreasing motivation in high school math classrooms, teachers are transforming classrooms with various instructional techniques. Traditional math instruction relies on direct instruction and memorization of content, processes, and skills. Teachers are transitioning to more constructivist student-led approaches. Utilizing multiple…

This dissertation focuses on implementing problem-based learning as an instructional intervention in a middle school civics classroom. This action research study responds to the observations of the teacher-researcher who noticed that her students were not make meaningful connections to the practice of citizenship. The problem of practice was…

Because non-cognitive constructs can influence student success in education beyond academic achievement, it is essential that they are reliably conceptualized and measured. Within this context, there are several gaps in the literature related to correctly interpreting the meaning of scale scores when a non-standard response option like I do not…

Problem based learning is a teaching methodology that utilizes patient scenarios to facilitate student learning that may improve clinical reasoning. While problem based learning has been adopted in many medical schools, the transition to other health profession schools, including physical therapy schools, has been slow and often criticized. The…

To address the challenge of low academic results in mathematics the district adopted a new curriculum. After three years of utilizing a problem-based learning mathematics curriculum resource, there is a varied degree of utilization and teacher buy-in with regards to a district implemented problem-based curriculum. During this time, there has been…

The projected number of engineering professionals will increase in the next decade. Implementing instructional technology to support engineering students in creating design solutions to authentic problems may lead to a more significant number of engineering graduates. The problem is knowing the extent to which parametric 3-dimensional…

For over a century, teacher-centered learning occurred as the most prominent method of teaching students (Medve, 2023). The student-centered classroom provides students the opportunity to focus their learning on curriculum which is interesting to them. "Problem-Based learning (PBL) is a type of student-centered learning heavily influenced by…

When instructing very large groups of students in science, it can be difficult to engage all students in the content and measure their understanding. A major unaddressed challenge in science instruction is how specifically to design and implement strategies that engender active learning particularly in high-enrollment undergraduate courses. Active…

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…

Education has begun to look beyond the traditional methods of didactic teaching, lectures, and clinical based instruction within their program curricula to address the gap between theoretical and real-life situations (Walker, Langton & Thomson, 2011). Problem Based Learning (PBL) has been seen as an alternative method of instruction that is…

This multiple paper dissertation addressed several issues revolving around the estimation of effect sizes for computer-based scaffolding in problem-centered STEM education. STEM jobs are outpacing all other jobs and STEM workers are expected to solve complex problems. However, students often struggle with complex problem activities. Research on…