The educational success of Native American students continues to be lower than both the general population and all other minorities, creating a learning gap that contributes to poverty. The use of mainstream pedagogies has not improved success rates, and there is limited research on how cultural practices impact learning. The purpose of this study…

This mixed-methods study is represented by three articles that examine student achievement. The articles were developed based on the following purposes: (1) to examine teachers' conceptions about student achievement; (2) to examine teacher practices for school improvement that reflects elements of a reform model; and (3) to examine teachers'…

Expectations for simulations in healthcare education are high; however, little is known about healthcare students' expectations of the learning process in virtual reality (VR) and simulation-based learning environments (SBLEs). This research aims to describe first-year healthcare students' (N=97) expectations regarding teaching, studying, and…

To say Earth systems are complex, is not the same as saying they are a complex system. A complex system, in the technical sense, is a group of -agents (individual interacting units, like birds in a flock, sand grains in a ripple, or individual units of friction along a fault zone), existing far from equilibrium, interacting through positive and…

Introduction: The results of a 2009-2010 program evaluation study that examined parents, teachers of students with visual impairments, administrators, and students regarding overall satisfaction with and effectiveness of the short-term programs at a residential school for students who are blind and visually impaired are described. The findings are…

The purpose of this participatory action research study was to develop a plan to improve a professional development program to change faculty members' andragogical instructional practices when teaching students enrolled in online courses at a community college. A quantitative and qualitative mixed method approach to data analysis was used in…

This paper reports on two research projects, one completed and a partial follow-up study in the early stages of investigation. The first study investigated a range of factors that directly affect the quality of web-supported learning opportunities. The outcome of that study is a taxonomy of critical success factors for quality web-supported…

This study documents and describes efforts to develop robust forms of pre-service teachers' pedagogical content knowledge through a culturally responsive mathematics teaching approach. Embedded in a university K-8 mathematics methods course emphasising the connections among mathematics, children's mathematical thinking, and children's…

This paper explores two different schools' approaches to implementing an iPad program and a Netbook program to a year level of students. The aim of the study was to determine how these mobile devices were being used in the classroom and whether they enhanced teaching and learning. The experiences of students and parents were obtained through…

This is a quasi-experimental mixed methods study of a curriculum intervention focused on the interdisciplinary teaching of history, literacy, and the visual arts. In this study I address three questions: (1) How does students' learning in history change following their participation in an interdisciplinary history-literacy-visual arts…

Similar to its neighboring countries of China, South Korea, and Japan, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) (also known as North Korea) has made English a compulsory subject for middle school to university level students, and teacher training programs based on the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach have also been…

Within the context of a nationwide shortage of teachers of color, stable enrollment of Native American students, and increasing enrollments of Hispanic students, the purpose of this study was to examine self-reported stress among Native American, Hispanic, and Caucasian K-5 teachers. This was a mixed-methods study, with both quantitative and…

The use of Blended Learning (BL) in higher education has increased significantly during the past decade. This dissertation investigates the use of BL with ESL writing students in an intensive English program. The purpose was to investigate how to prepare ESL teachers to create a productive BL environment for their ESL writing students. This…

The way in which education is taught is forever changing. Therefore, a new method in which content is delivered is a central component in examining areas for improvement. In this paper, participatory action research (PAR) was used to investigate authentic tasks in the inclusive tenth and eleventh grade classroom. The purpose of this study was to…

This study utilized data gleaned from on-line surveys of primary level teachers and elementary school principals to understand what principals need to know and be able to do to support teachers in their instruction of reading for English Language Learners (ELLs). A review of five areas of literature provided a theoretical foundation for this…