In higher education, the entry-level, not-for-credit courses in Developmental Education play a pivotal role for incoming degree-seeking students. Focusing specifically on Developmental Writing, at two- and four-year public and private institutions across the country, a common requirement to pass the course is a summative argumentative essay that…

This dissertation seeks to investigate how digital gestures connect to students' mathematical understanding when playing "From Here to There!" (FH2T). This investigation explores the intersection of three fields, game-based learning, embodied cognition, and mathematics education. I used three studies which break down the different…

The General Educational Development (GED) is a high school equivalency credential sought after by millions of Americans who do not hold a traditional high school diploma. This program evaluation offers insight to a local adult GED program as it seeks to increase the retention and GED completion rates of the students in their program. The…

This applied dissertation was designed to analyze the effect Melodic Based Communication Therapy has on minimally verbal children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, particularly tact responses and their generalization in the natural environment. MBCT is a replicable protocol for pairing melodies with target words to elicit speech in children…

Collaboration skills and critical thinking skills are two real-life competencies in the 21st century. These two skills are believed to be related to one another. However, research on the magnitude of the correlation between the two skills is rarely investigated. Empowerment of these two skills cannot be separated from the learning model. This…

There is a critical need to understand the factors that influence the development of students' skills for using the Internet to search for and locate information. Teachers play an important role in this process and there is a related impetus to identify the dynamics of instruction in information-seeking activities. This study investigated German…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to conduct a scoping review of literature focused on the effects of developmental language disorder (DLD) on writing skills across the life span to highlight gaps in our knowledge of how to support writing for this population. Method: We adopted the five-step framework for conducting scoping reviews outlined…

In this article the author describes an intervention program for students who were approximately six months behind expected standards. The program, "Prepare 2 Learn," had four components: building prior knowledge; developing mental computational fluency; encouraging a growth mindset; and meta-cognitive strategies. The qualitative data…

This exploratory phenomenological qualitative study investigated the role of the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) social-emotional competencies in five first-generation doctoral students' experiences in higher education. Data were collected via a written open-ended questionnaire and one-on-one in-depth interviews…

Having paraprofessional providers, such as youth mentors, deliver evidence-based services, has been posited to increase the reach of youth services given the affordability and ubiquity of mentors in school settings. Further, examinations of mentor-delivered Motivational Interviewing (MI) have shown promise in increasing youth mentees' academic…

Students in elementary school have trouble grasping skills in mathematics due to a lack of foundational skills including adding, subtraction, multiplication, and division. When students struggle with mathematics skills, it may impact their standardized assessment. The purpose of this triangulation mixed-method study was to identify the…

Persistently low-performing schools across the United States are tasked with meeting state benchmarks and address the needs of their students. Every developed country has had to address the issues surrounding declining graduation rates, state benchmark results, and schools identified as underperforming. These schools have made attempts to engage…

Because of the condition of limited gross motor learning, especially in basic movements based on the play method for children aged (5-6 years) is the main problem in this study. This study aims to develop a learning model for non-locomotor, locomotor and manipulative basic movements as an effort to improve basic movement skills in students and…

Karate martial arts is one of the full body contact martial arts. In karate martial arts there are two types of categories namely Kata (art) and Kumite (fighting). In the kumite/fight (fighter) class, its success is greatly influenced by kime. The "kime" process occurs due to movements performed with speed, explosive power and strength…

The expansion of research data availability and production has highlighted the need for proper training in data stewardship. Recent years have seen both incentivized and mandated research data management plans enacted by institutions and funding agencies as a way of supporting more open and integrated data-intensive research. Despite the…