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This study used a quasi experimental design to compare two groups of African American and Latino middle school students' pre- and post engagement after exposure to one of two STEM-related opportunities to learn: one with culturally relevant pedagogy anchored by elements of cognitive apprenticeship; the other without. African-American and Latino middle school students (n=121) recruited from 29 of the lowest performing middle schools in a large urban school district participated. Results indicated no statistically significant change in pre- or post levels of engagement as a result of the different instructional formats. Students exposed to STEM using culturally relevant pedagogy maintained and slightly improved math performance weeks after the program ended; the later group showed a sharp decline in math achievement after the program ended. While it is inconclusive which elements of culturally relevant pedagogy, or cognitive apprenticeship directly affected student math outcomes, this study sets the stage for continued empirical research on how the culture of the learning environment can be adjusted to support minority student engagement and persistence in STEM domains. / Educational Psychology

Grounded in theories of culturally relevant and hip-hop pedagogies, this ethnographic study of a demographically diverse "community nominated" cohort of urban public high school teachers who integrate hip-hop pedagogies into their English/language arts classrooms responds to the methodological and theoretical shortcomings of a burgeoning body of research known as "hip-hop based education" (HHBE). HHBE has argued that curriculum and pedagogy derived from hip-hop culture can be used to transmit disciplinary knowledge, improve student motivation, teach critical media literacy, and foster critical consciousness among urban students in traditional and non-traditional K-12 learning environments. However, the field's overreliance on firsthand accounts of teacher-researchers, the vast majority of whom position themselves as members of the "hip-hop generation," discounts the degrees to which teachers' cultural identity informs hip-hop based curricular interventions, pedagogical strategies, and minority students' academic and socio-cultural outcomes. I argue that the hip-hop pedagogies evidenced by non-researching "hip-hop based educators" were diverse and reflected different beliefs about hip-hop, pedagogy, and the politics of education. Three primary findings emerge from 280 hours of classroom participant-observations and ethnographic interviews (January-June 2010): (1) teachers psychologically and discursively construct and perform individual hip-hop cultural identities through "necessary and impossible" politics of difference, (2) teachers' respective curricular approaches to hip-hop as literary texts are closely linked to their respective hip-hop cultural identities, and (3) hip-hop pedagogues employed hip-hop methodologies and literacies that reoriented conceptions of self and other, teacher-student relations, and notions of knowledge around "pedagogies of hip-hop." Study findings are salient to the fields of hip-hop studies, critical multicultural teacher education, and English/language arts education as they provide robust portraits of the instructional and relational nuances, as well as cultural-political implications of HHBE for a largely White, middle-class prospective teacher workforce and an increasingly diverse hip-hop nation. / Urban Education

This study explored best practices for teaching creative movement to twenty-four urban second graders by examining their perceptions of self and others. Creative movement education programs rarely focus on the exploration of self and group identity through the lens of diversity. More importantly, few studies have examined how to implement creative movement programs through pedagogies best suited to urban children. Over 12 weeks of practice, observation, and reflection, extensive data were collected regarding the children's interactions and creative processes. The curriculum focused on individual and group identities and examined the experiences of the children with the aim of developing pedagogical methods that best suited their urban cultural backgrounds. The study sought to answer the following research questions: 1) What are the children's perceptions of themselves and others throughout the creative movement learning process? ; and 2) How can teachers use this knowledge to devise creative dance pedagogy for urban children and create holistic curricula that develop these perceptions? During bi-weekly dance sessions, the students and teachers explored the concepts of "self" and "group" by moving, discussing, sharing different dance styles and images, using props and being actively involved in creative movement and expression. The project culminated in a school performance, in which the children presented dances that they had developed that represented the content explored in the sessions. The data collected included video recordings of the children's actions and comments, reflective drawings and texts that the children created, and observational notes recorded by an assistant teacher and the children's homeroom teacher. The video recordings of each session were transcribed and analyzed. The children's drawings and written texts, and the teacher's observational and reflective journals, were also reviewed. All data collection involved in the study was approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) for human subject protocol. A qualitative research approach guided the analysis, with a focus on Action Research and ideas drawn from the philosophical doctrines of Phenomenology and Phenomenography. The recorded video sessions and resulting transcriptions were used to create narrative descriptions that shed light on the children's experiences and uncovered specific elements that were of use in the development and refinement of creative movement teaching practices. Despite presenting occasional challenges as a group, the children spontaneously improvised and developed movements that expressed their preferences. They used the class as a creative outlet-aesthetically, physically and, at times, emotionally. The children danced to express their individual and group cultures as well as their movement preferences, their personal traits, and their perceptions of others. The pedagogical approach to the class promoted identity and diversity in the teaching and learning environment, providing teachers with insight into best practices for teaching urban populations. The study's Action Research methodology involved a reflective cycle of planning, action, and result. It investigated students' perceptions of themselves and others through their responses to creative movement education, and studied how these perceptions impacted creative movement facilitation. It discovered best practices that take into account students' unique cultures and learning styles. These practices can be used as a foundation for facilitators of creative movement classes involving urban children, enabling the development of curricula that explore experience, promote cultural expression, and foster diversity in learning. They also offer disciplinary strategies that cater to the environmental standards and unique needs of urban students. / Dance

Learning from the experiences of Black adult learners within the Black church provides an opportunity to learn from a culturally relevant space that has deeply rooted historical ties in the Black community. The over-arching research question in this study is: How does the Black church meet the needs of its adult learners, and what can higher education institution learn from these practices to retain Black students while creating a more inclusive environment? While research on adult learners is plentiful, the intersection of the Black church as a lens in which to design more culturally relevant spaces and pedagogy has not been as prominent. These experiences provide insight into how higher education institutions can provide a more learning centered and welcoming environment for Black students. This mixed methods study centered on the experiences Black adult learners who engaged in educational programs within the Black church. The quantitative analysis focused on preset motivational dimensions to measure how they impacted the adult learners' reasons for participating in church based adult education using a survey instrument. The qualitative analysis centered on their experiences during their engagement in the educational programs and their reasons for engaging through utilizing semi structured interviews. The findings suggest that adult learners perceived their experiences within the Black church as ones in which they developed a greater sense of empowerment and achievement. The participants' construction of their experiences was guided by their conceptualizations of what it meant to be Black student in an educational setting, and more specifically in the Black church. There were four major themes that highlighted the experiences of these adult learner learners, which included: (1) The Black church shielded learners from negative identity association, (2) Advocacy from the Black church was considered significant to learner engagement, (3) Trust in the educational spaces contributed to the learners' success, (4) Culturally relevant learning spaces positively influenced learner engagement. The findings of this study continue the discussion on how adult learners make sense of their experiences related to the Black church and higher education, and more importantly how create more inclusive learning spaces that remove barriers for Black students. / Doctor of Philosophy / Learning from the experiences of Black adult learners within the Black church provides an opportunity to learn from a culturally relevant space that has deeply rooted historical ties in the Black community. The over-arching research question in this study is: How does the Black church meet the needs of its adult learners, and what can higher education institution learn from these practices to retain Black students while creating a more inclusive environment? While research on adult learners is plentiful, the intersection of the Black church as a lens in which to design more culturally relevant spaces and pedagogy has not been as prominent. These experiences provide insight into how higher education institutions can provide a more learning centered and welcoming environment for Black students. This mixed methods study centered on the experiences Black adult learners who engaged in educational programs within the Black church. The quantitative analysis focused on preset motivational dimensions to measure how they impacted the adult learners' reasons for participating in church based adult education using a survey instrument. The qualitative analysis centered on their experiences during their engagement in the educational programs and their reasons for engaging through utilizing semi structured interviews. The findings suggest that adult learners perceived their experiences within the Black church as ones in which they developed a greater sense of empowerment and achievement. The participants' construction of their experiences was guided by their conceptualizations of what it meant to be Black student in an educational setting, and more specifically in the Black church. There were four major themes that highlighted the experiences of these adult learner learners, which included: (1) The Black church shielded learners from negative identity association, (2) Advocacy from the Black church was considered significant to learner engagement, (3) Trust in the educational spaces contributed to the learners' success, (4) Culturally relevant learning spaces positively influenced learner engagement. The findings of this study continue the discussion on how adult learners make sense of their experiences related to the Black church and higher education, and more importantly how create more inclusive learning spaces that remove barriers for Black students.