The purpose of this research was to study a selection of elementary school classrooms during their normal instructional routines in order to observe, analyze, and describe the impact of educational technology on learner interactions. As a study grounded in the concepts of the qualitative research tradition, the research methods employed included observations, personal interviews of teachers, focus group interviews of students, and document review. The purposeful selection of teachers, who were disposed to distinctly different pedagogical practice and use of educational technology, provided a wide variety of experiences for the data collection process as the researcher interacted with the classroom occupants in the role of participant observer. The study was conducted by a researcher who was simultaneously serving as the school’s principal, providing an additional focus as the potential conflict of researcher and supervisor roles was explored and analyzed. The analysis and presentation of these three individual case studies provided a thorough description of the learning environments under study, and explored the different philosophies and pedagogical practices of the three teachers in addition to their level of comfort with incorporating educational technology into their classrooms. Findings indicated that educational technology, when incorporated into traditional teaching practice, resulted in little change in learner interactions but a discernable increase in student interest and motivation. When integrated into lesson presentations that were more constructivist in nature (e.g. student-entered or project-based) educational technology was observed to facilitate higher levels of communication and collaboration between students and teachers. Particularly of interest was a “students as teachers” model that occurred frequently as students shared their knowledge and interests with others, often coupled with teachers allowing students to have more control of the learning process. The findings of the study support the conclusions that integrating technology can positively impact the interactions of learners in elementary classrooms when used as a tool to support constructivist pedagogy. The conclusions also definitively speak to the powerful role of the individual teacher and how their daily instructional decisions are impacted by their personal philosophies, background, pedagogical preferences, and comfort with the technological tools at their disposal. / Thesis (Ed.D.)--Wichita State University, College of Education, Dept. of Educational Leadership / "May 2006." / Includes bibliographic references (leaves 164-178).

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

The multi-case study examined the role that social interaction plays in the writing development of fourth grade African American students in three different classrooms in a large Midwestern city. The study explored the nature of the students' interactions and the points during the writing process where interactions occurred. Also under investigation was how teachers facilitated the interactions within their classrooms. Each classroom was considered a case and cases within each case were then selected to allow for a more in-depth examination of the nature of students' conversations. Data collected included observations, student interviews, and artifacts. Information gathered from the study was analyzed using a constant comparative approach. Themes that emerged were compared across cases.Analysis of the data showed that there were many purpose for the interactions in which the African American students engaged. The interactions: (1) enabled students to get assistance from peers and teachers, (2) provided students with encouragement, (3) motivated students as writers, and (4) fostered a deeper understanding of writing. The data also showed that students engaged in verbal and nonverbal interactions at various points in the writing process with peers, teacher, and even themselves. While the teachers varied in their approaches to facilitating the interactions, even when they did not intentionally create opportunities for interactions, the students engaged with one another anyway. Based on the results of the study, teachers should consider affording African American students the opportunity to regularly interact with their peers during writing time, providing an audience that extends beyond the classroom teacher. / Department of Elementary Education

With the increase in emergent bilinguals and higher standards for all, the challenge for educational stakeholders is to fully utilize dual language programs as a prominent means toward meeting and surpassing rigorous state and national standards. Part of maximizing dual language programs’ impact, and the purpose of this study, was to provide detailed analyses of program models and student biliteracy development. Thus, the research questions sought to explore the level of understanding and implementation of dual language programs in general and the biliteracy component in particular at each campus, before documenting the second through fifth grade English and Spanish reading biliteracy trajectories of students at each school. Both campuses experienced more challenges in the implementation of the program structure, staff quality, and professional development rather than in curriculum and instruction. Furthermore, although both campuses’ students experienced positive trajectories towards biliteracy by the end of fifth grade, each campus was characterized by different rates and correlation between English and Spanish reading growth in each grade. Finally, the researcher conducted a split plot MANOVA to examine how much variance in the biliteracy trajectories was explained by school attendance, gender, initial English oral language and initial Spanish oral language; only school of attendance and initial English oral language levels explained the variance in biliteracy trajectories for students at these campuses.