Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Secondary Education / Diane McGrath / The purpose of this research and development study was to design, develop, evaluate and revise reusable online learning resources based on the principles of learning objects that would support instructional design students' learning and performance in the context of ATC in Saudi Arabia. Using a research and development model (Borg and Gall, 1989), Instructional Design reusable online learning resources (ID-RORs) were iteratively and collaboratively developed and revised based on feedback gathered through formative evaluation. Between each round of qualitative formative evaluation, the ID-RORs were revised based on analysis of the data. Seven main research and development phases were carried out: research and information collecting, a needs assessment, prototype development, expert evaluations, redesign, target user evaluations and redesign. The formative evaluation of ID-RORs consisted of three phases. The first evaluation group was comprised of four experts. The purpose of this evaluation was to conduct a needs assessment. The second phase, which used feedback from two experts and two instructional design teachers, was the expert evaluation. The purpose of this evaluation was to examine the validity of the ID-RORs. The third phase, based on feedback from 11 students, was the user evaluation. The purpose of this evaluation was to examine the practicality of the ID-RORs. The overall results of the needs assessment evaluation showed that the ID-RORs prototype met an important need at ATC. The overall result of the expert evaluation showed that the ID-RORs prototype were valid for the context of ATC. Finally, the result of target user evaluation showed that the ID-RORs as revised with expert and user input were practical for the intended target users. Based on the results of this R & D study, it was concluded that the answer to the research question is yes, it is possible to develop the ID-RORs to meet the specifications of the needs assessment. The characteristics of ID-RORs are very similar to the characteristics of successful (valid and practical) reusable online resources. The final version of the ID-RORs were found to be needed, valid and practical, in the context of ATC.

Doctor of Philosophy / Curriculum and Instruction Programs / Jennifer M. Bay-Williams / This study examined end-of-the-year seventh grade students’ rational number knowledge using comparison tasks and rational number subconstruct tasks. Comparison tasks included: comparing two decimals, comparing two fractions and comparing a fraction and a decimal. The subconstructs of rational number addressed in this research include: part-whole, measure, quotient, operator, and ratio. Between eighty-six and one-hundred-one students were assessed using a written instrument divided into three sections. Nine students were interviewed following the written instrument to probe for further understanding. Students were classified by error patterns using decimal comparison tasks. Students were initially to be classified into four groups according to the error pattern: whole number rule (WNR), zero rule (ZR), fraction rule (FR) or apparent expert (AE). However, two new patterns emerged: ignore zero rule (IZR) and money rule (MR). Students’ knowledge of the subconstructs of rational numbers was analyzed for the students as a whole, but also analyzed by classification to look for patterns within small groups of students and by individual students to create a thick, rich description of what students know about rational numbers. Students classified as WNR struggled across almost all of the tasks. ZR students performed in many ways similar to WNR but in other ways performed better. FR and MR students had more success across all tasks compared to WNR and ZR. On average apparent experts performed significantly better than those students classified by errors. However, further analysis revealed hidden misconceptions and deficiencies for a number of apparent experts. Results point to the need to make teachers more aware of the misconceptions and deficiencies because in many ways errors reflect the school experiences of students.

Doctor of Education / Department of Educational Leadership / Gerald D. Bailey / Online professional development has the potential to be a dynamic tool to construct knowledge and enhance professional performance. Online collaboration tools have accelerated learning and have made online professional development convenient, dynamic, and flexible. Yet access to powerful learning resources has not always ensured that quality online professional development has taken place or that authentic, transformational learning has occurred. This study has shown that technology has presented challenges that have proved difficult for online professional development facilitators and participants. Consequently, the facilitator's role in professional development has been even more critical in the virtual environment and the facilitator has had to be even more intentional in their actions, decisions, and expectations. The purpose of the study was to research, develop, and validate an online professional development facilitator's handbook that would clarify and demonstrate the knowledge, attitudes, practices, and skills utilized by exemplary online professional development facilitators. This study has also ascertained practical instructional strategies that are effective in planning, implementing, and facilitating online professional development. As a result of this study, an online professional development handbook was developed according to Borg and Gall's (1989) Research and Development (R&D) cycle and methodology using three panels that consisted of expert and novice online professional development facilitators. Findings include: Learning, defined as the process of constructing personal understanding through interactions with others while collectively engaging in challenges that are novel and transferable to other situations and settings, is transformational and has a sustaining impact when skillfully facilitated in the online environment. Online learning communities organized around collaborative inquiry and collective problem solving become co-creators of knowledge in a risk-free, trusting environment. Participants (teachers) become self-determining learners focused on engaging in appropriate endeavors to increase their classroom content knowledge and management skills by identifying their own needs and creating a plan to raise academic achievement and improve their own practices. When educational systems invest in honest dialogue about student work, candidly assess student and teacher needs, make changes based on data and research, and value individual and group contributions, these organizations become cultures of thinkers and communities of learners.

Doctor of Philosophy / Curriculum and Instruction Programs / Marjorie R. Hancock / The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (PL 107-110) drives today's teaching environment. With the pressure not to leave any student behind, classroom teachers often request struggling students to attend summer school. This qualitative case study sought to gain a deeper understanding of how visualization embedded in the writing process may influence struggling learners in a kindergarten through fourth grade summer writing camp. The 3 1/2 week summer writing camp was based on Donald Graves' (1983/2003) writer's workshop and writing process. The selected 19 students (K - 4) and 5 teachers in a Midwestern school district participated in the visual, learning, and literacy-rich environment. During the writing workshop, teachers gave Lucy Calkin's (1994) inspired mini-lessons to teach struggling students how to use visualization embedded in the writing process. Students participated in 4 community-based field experiences, which served as inspiration for drawing and writing. Mental imagery has powerful effects on reading comprehension (Sadoski, 1983, 1985) and students recalled information and images from the field experiences by observing digital photographs, and then drawing and writing. Thirty-nine student art/writing samples were analyzed using Lowenfeld and Brittain's (1975) stages of artistic development, Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (2004) writing levels, and Piaget and Inhelder's (1969/2000) stages of cognitive development. Drawing in the writing process created tangible images to help student authors in the primary grades increase their Six-Trait Analytical (Spandel, 2004) writing scores for Ideas, Organization, and Conventions. Students in the intermediate writing group also increased their writing scores in Ideas, Voice, and Conventions. In addition, the data revealed the student's stage of artistic development reflects his or her writing level and stage of cognitive development. The involved teachers believed aspects of the summer writing camp could be incorporated throughout the school year, and they wanted to learn more about using visualization in the writing process. This study provided insight essential to better understand how visualization embedded in the writing process influences struggling learners.

Master of Science / Department of Family Studies and Human Services / Ann D. Murray / This study investigated the effects of sound-producing toys on the social and cognitive levels of play in young children. Thirty-four pairs of children were observed (N=68), ages 3, 4, and 5 years, during 15-minute play sessions. The play conditions were: 1) farm set with sound, 2) farm set with no sound, 3) doctor set with sound, and 4) doctor set with no sound. Independent variables included age, gender, and the presence or absence of sound. Dependent variables included the percentages of time that children engaged in levels of social play (solitary, parallel, and group), levels of cognitive play (functional, constructive, and dramatic), and non-play. Overall, sound was marginally associated with more time spent in play. For group play there was a marginally significant sound by gender interaction, suggesting that sound doubled female group play. There was a significant sound by age interaction suggesting that 5-year olds engaged in group play more with sound than with no sound. A significant sound by gender interaction indicated that the presence of sound increased dramatic play in both males and females, but more so in females. A sound by age interaction indicated that 5-year-olds engaged in more dramatic play with sound than without. Three-year-olds also engaged in more dramatic play when sound was present. There was a significant sound by gender interaction indicating males engaged in more functional play than girls when sound was present. There was a significant sound by age interaction, indicating that 5-year-olds engaged in less constructive play when sound was present. In conclusion, young children were more likely to engage in play when sound was present. Sound enhanced the play of 5-year-olds who engaged in more group and dramatic play, but less constructive play, with sound-producing toys. Sound also enhanced the play quality of 3-year-olds, who engaged in more dramatic play when sound was present. Furthermore, sound enhanced the play of girls who engaged in more group and dramatic play with sound, and boys, who engaged in more dramatic play with sound. Limitations of the study along with implications for future research are discussed.

Doctor of Philosophy / Curriculum and Instruction Programs / Margaret G. Shroyer / While there has been much quantitative research done in the area of attitudes and self-efficacy beliefs, this study sought hear the voices of the middle school child. Therefore, this qualitative study investigated the attitudes toward mathematics and mathematics self-efficacy beliefs of middle school students in one middle school in western Kansas. The conceptual framework for this study is supported by the research of Albert Bandura on Social Cognitive Theory. This study used a naturalistic inquiry approach and data were collected from multiple sources, including short-answer questionnaires, classroom observations, and one-on-one interviews. Coded data were examined for patterns, themes, and relationships. Middle school students in this study exhibited positive, negative, and variable attitudes toward mathematics, and both positive and negative mathematics self-efficacy beliefs. Students attribute their high mathematics self-efficacy beliefs to the teacher or the high grades they receive on daily assignments, as well as the scores they receive on state and local assessments. Conversely, middle school students have low mathematics self-efficacy beliefs when they feel unsuccessful or distressed, and they attribute those beliefs to the low grades they receive on daily assignments and assessments, as well as the distress of not understanding the mathematics. Middle school students told their mathematical stories of the change in attitudes toward mathematics and mathematics self-efficacy beliefs, and attributed positive changes to the mathematics teacher. Negative changes in attitudes toward mathematics and mathematics self-efficacy beliefs were attributed to the amount of homework expected at the middle school level, as well as the lack of hands-on activities. The influence of the teacher, grades, and hands-on activities impact middle school students’ attitudes toward mathematics and mathematics self-efficacy beliefs. There is a relationship between attitudes toward mathematics and mathematics self-efficacy beliefs. Low mathematics self-efficacy beliefs and poor attitudes toward mathematics are related since low mathematics self-efficacy beliefs and poor attitudes toward mathematics are highly connected. Conversely, high mathematics self-efficacy beliefs and good attitudes toward mathematics are highly related. Middle school students’ experiences impact both mathematics self-efficacy beliefs and attitudes toward mathematics. Students’ mathematics self-efficacy beliefs impact their attitudes toward mathematics.

Doctor of Philosophy / Curriculum and Instruction Programs / Gail Shroyer / David Allen / This study was designed to gather input from early career elementary teachers with the goal of finding ways to improve elementary mathematics methods courses. Multiple areas were explored including the degree to which respondents’ elementary mathematics methods course focused on the NCTM Process Standards, the teachers’ current standards-based teaching practices, the degree to which various pedagogical strategies from mathematics methods courses prepared preservice teachers for the classroom, and early career teachers’ suggestions for improving methods courses. Both qualitative and quantitative methodologies were used in this survey study as questions were of both closed and open format. Data from closed-response questions were used to determine the frequency, central tendencies and variability in standards-based preparation and teaching practices of the early career teachers. Open-ended responses were analyzed to determine patterns and categories relating to the support of, or suggestions for improving, elementary mathematics methods courses. Though teachers did not report a wide variation in the incorporation of the NCTM Process Standards in their teaching practices, some differences were worth noting. Problem Solving appeared to be the most used with the least variability in its frequency of use. Reasoning, in general, appeared to be used the least frequently and with the most variability. Some aspects of Communication, Connections and Representation were widely used and some were used less frequently. From a choice of eight methods teaching practices, ‘Observing in actual classrooms or working with individual students’ and ‘Planning and teaching in actual classrooms’ were considered by early career teachers to be the most beneficial aspects of methods courses.

Master of Arts / Department of Geography / John A. Harrington Jr / Analysis of polling documents indicates how little most Americans know about the world. Geography education is the key to offsetting geographic illiteracy. Fortunately programs designed to improve K-12 geography education are growing in number and strength. How can we teach more and better geography within the school system? Given the dominant role of history in the K-12 social studies curriculum, use of the psychological theory of dual-encoding to integrate geography and history lesson planning is one approach to bring more geography into the classroom. As part of Kansas Geographic Alliance programmatic activity, Kansas history and geography standards, with emphasis on the tested standards, were assessed to identify candidate themes for development of dual-encoded educational units and associated lesson plans. Three workshops were delivered to share these dual-encoded units and lesson plans. The workshops were for education faculty, teachers getting in-service professional development, and for a group of pre-service teachers in a social studies methods class. Attendees at the workshops provided assessment and feedback of the material. Based on informal comments and written responses from the workshop attendees, it is concluded that dual-encoding will enable considerable progress in geography education. Not only will the knowledge provided demonstrate the impact and significance of geography to history teachers and their students, but dual-encoded lessons will advance teacher content and pedagogical knowledge, and most importantly students will learn both geography and history better.

Doctor of Philosophy / Curriculum and Instruction / Debbie K. Mercer / This phenomenological study explores the lived experiences of two elementary pre-service teachers in a Mid-western rural university in an attempt to heighten the quality and depth of those experiences as they pertain to pre-service teacher preparation prior to student teaching. The study analyzed the pre-service teachers’ descriptions of their lived experiences in elementary schools during internship experiences and how those experiences contributed to their personal growth as educators. Flick’s (2009) recommendations for phenomenological data analysis of personal journals and face-to-face interviews was used as a methodological framework for exploration of the two pre-service teachers’ lived experiences while Van Manen’s (1990) journal and interview methodologies were used for data collection. The findings were represented in thematic format and revealed transformational learning experiences for both participants. The six phenomenological themes captured the essences of teacher and student relationships and how classroom experiences contributed to personal learning opportunities for the pre-service teachers. Moreover, the findings of this study bolstered the necessity for pre-service teachers to reflect upon and evaluate interpersonal and intrapersonal lived experiences as they relate to the basic tenets of phenomenology in order to gain a fuller appreciation for how lived experiences of pre-service teachers, and their students, contribute to professional growth and improved decision-making skills. This study argues for a more attuned investigation of the basic tenets of phenomenology to increase student achievement through improved teacher and student relationships, and to enhance pre-service teachers’ personal and professional learning.

Master of Arts / Department of Modern Languages / Douglas K. Benson / This thesis answers the questions: How should the terms interaction, individualization, and personalization be applied to Computer Aided Language Learning (CALL) software? What progress has been made in their implementation? How can CALL software developers better incorporate them in the future? For each of the three terms, I explain how it is applicable to the CALL software environment by defining it, describing the pedagogical research supporting it, and then giving general guidelines for incorporating it into a CALL software program. I measure the progress of the implementation of the three terms in CALL software through compiling and analyzing data from reviews of 44 software titles. The publication dates of the software titles are from 1981 to 2008. I propose through description and a proof-of-concept software program ways to improve the incorporation of the terms in question into CALL software. As a result of answering the three questions, this thesis shows that the current accepted definitions and ways of implementing interaction, individualization, and personalization need to be improved in order to comply with pedagogical research and make full use of current technology. The general guidelines given in the explanation of each term relative to CALL and the attributes under each term in the analysis of the compilation data provide examples of areas on which to focus development. Additionally, I specifically comment on pedagogically supported attributes within each term that have a weak representation in the software compilation and therefore need more development. In addition, this thesis is accompanied by “Mis vacaciones”, a proof-of-concept software program, which demonstrates ways to improve the incorporation of interaction, individualization, and personalization into CALL software. In “Mis vacaciones”, the learner takes a virtual trip to Nuevo Leon, Nicaragua. The multimedia sent to the learner by a previous traveler shows Nicaraguan city people and the La Gigatona festival. After visiting, the learner is asked to describe the Nicaraguans that they saw. If the learner needs help, Structured Input activities lead the learner to develop the third person singular imperfect form. Buttons in the software environment provide access to internet sources. The learner is able to draw and take photos to create a visual prop to aid in the description task.