The purpose of this study was to investigate the benefits of collaboration while cross-age students and teachers conducted research. The cross-age collaboration investigated ways that students assist each other with writing and concept development as they researched a topic. The collaborative teacher research explored ways that classroom teachers assist each other with their professional development while they are examining ways to assist their students. This was a participant-observational study which took place over a semester. The cross-age students conducted research on teacher selected topics. The teachers held meetings to share their questions, observations, reflections and plans regarding the cross-age collaboration. Data sources included student surveys, student interviews, teachers' reflective journals, and transcriptions of teachers' meetings. The methods of analysis were domain analysis and constant comparison. The findings suggested that students assisted each other with writing and concept development when provided the opportunity to collaborate. They used language for constructing and reconstructing knowledge as they researched their topics. As they used language for learning, they also assisted each other with language development by using scaffolding strategies. A major finding in this study is that the students and teachers place high value on the interpersonal relationship that develops through the collaborative process. They found that encouragement, listening to one another, and respecting each other's ideas were foundational for igniting the collaborative process. Findings also suggested that the collaborative process gave the classroom teachers opportunities to assist each other with professional development. The teachers were able to assist each other by sharing their beliefs and knowledge about teaching and learning. Sharing beliefs about teaching and learning caused harmony in planning, as well as tensions. Variances in belief systems caused tensions which led to rich discussions about professional knowledge. The teachers reconstructed their knowledge through collaborative research.

The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the processes fourth grade bilinguals use as they read in Spanish and English. Through miscue analysis, eye movement analysis and the integration of the two, EMMA, this study contributes to the field of biliteracy by expanding on what is already known about the reading processes of young bilinguals who are developing literacy in two languages. There are no known eye movement miscue analysis studies of bilingual elementary students. Four fourth grade bilingual participants read and retold the first two chapters of a short novel. The participants read the first chapter from the English version of the story and the second chapter from the Spanish version. The participants' oral readings and eye movements were recorded and analyzed for each reading. The analysis tools used were miscue analysis, eye movement analysis, and the integration of the two, Eye Movement Miscue Analysis (EMMA). Differences and similarities between the two languages and among the four readers were explored in order to answer the research question: What do miscue analysis, eye movement analysis, and Eye Movement Miscue Analysis (EMMA) reveal about differences and similarities of the reading in Spanish and English of fourth grade biliterate readers? The findings of this dissertation show that the four bilingual readers use similar strategies in each language to make sense of text. They make miscues in both languages which show that the readers integrate their knowledge of syntax, semantics and graphophonics in both their English and Spanish reading. The data from the reader's eye movements reveal that the readers sample text selectively as they read each language. The miscues, eye movements, and the patterns of eye movements around miscued words for each reader reveal that they are somewhat more efficient and effective reading their primary language, Spanish. The research also shows that the strategies these biliterate readers use to make sense of text in their primary language influences the reading of their second language, English. Thus, this dissertation provides further support for a universal, transactional socio-psycholinguistic model of the reading process.

This dissertation examined factors that may impact the teaching of mathematics in the elementary classroom. A discussion of the influence of the Arizona accountability system on mathematics, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Teaching Standards, and recent student results on the high-stakes test provide the rationale for the study. The research focused on content-pedagogical issues and mathematics anxiety that may have an effect on attitudes and aptitude in the teaching of mathematics. The purpose of this study was to examine the level of mathematics anxiety and preparedness of elementary pre-service teachers in the teaching of mathematics. This study investigated mathematical anxiety levels of pre-service teachers at The University of Arizona. The quantitative data was collected from 87 pre-service teachers registered in a methods class at The University of Arizona. Data was analyzed using statistical tests that assessed the relationships between mathematical anxiety and factors of content knowledge, motivation, and perceptions of confidence and competence in conjunction with the Arizona Mathematics Standards. The following findings emerged from this study relevant to mathematics anxiety in pre-service teachers. It revealed that University of Arizona students with higher mathematical backgrounds reported significant lower levels of mathematics anxiety. Pre-service teachers also reported three areas within the Arizona Mathematics Standards that were sources of more anxiety than other areas. These were Functions in Algebra, Geometry, and Measurement and Discrete Mathematics. Pre-service teachers perceptions of competence and confidence in teaching the Arizona Mathematics Standards proved to be a significant predictor of their level of mathematics anxiety. Recommendations emerged from this study to better understand perceptions of pre-service teachers in the area of mathematics anxiety. The findings indicate that considerations of the following should be instituted into the pre-service program: re-evaluation of course requirements, profiling pre-service teachers, creation of a common vision and goal setting inclusive of a continuous evaluative process of instructional strategies, and evaluation of curriculum content based on pre-service teacher needs.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of critical thinking instruction on the music listening skills of fifth grade students as measured by written responses to music listening examples. It was hypothesized that music listening instruction including opportunities for critical thinking (Critical Thinking Instruction, CTI) would be more effective than parallel instruction without critical thinking instruction (Activity-Based Instruction, ABI). CTI consisted of four components: musical terms and concepts, repeated music listening examples, responding activities, and opportunities for critical thinking. In contrast, ABI consisted of three components: musical terms and concepts, repeated music listening examples, and responding activities; ABI did not include opportunities for critical thinking. Both CTI and ABI treatments were taught concurrently by the same music teacher at the same school in a series of sixteen (16) forty-five (45) minute lessons. Two intact classes of subjects were randomly assigned to the CTI and the ABI treatment groups (n = 41 and 40, respectively). "Thinking and Listening," a researcher-designed dependent measure, was administered as a pretest and a posttest. Subjects' written responses were classified into three categories (i.e. musical, affective, or associative) and scored by three independent judges. Additionally, the Musical Aptitude Profile (Gordon, 1967/1995) was administered as a covariate. Significant disordinal interaction effects in subjects' responses by test by treatment were found such that CTI subjects demonstrated greater gains in musical term, associative, and total response scores from pretest to posttest than did ABI subjects. Additionally, significant main effect differences between treatment groups were found such that CTI subjects demonstrated higher musical term, affective, associative, and total response scores than did ABI subjects. Significant main effect within group differences were also found such that CTI subjects demonstrated significantly higher musical term, affective, associative, and total response scores on the posttest as compared to the pretest, while no significant main effect differences were found in ABI subjects' response scores. The positive effects of the CTI treatment, however, should be interpreted with caution based on larger than expected standard deviations and departures from normal distributions. Implications include designing music listening instruction to incorporate critical thinking skills.

In this dissertation I examine how preservice teachers explore cultural identities when using mapping and children's literature. Twenty-four preservice teachers enrolled in a one-semester children's literature course looked at their own cultural identities and the cultural identities of others. The preservice teachers were mostly white, middle class women. During the study they explored various aspects of their cultural identities, interacted with issues of culture, and reflected upon how class engagements influenced their understandings of culture and cultural identities. Data sources for the study included the following: several kinds of written reflections; student artifacts, such as physical and conceptual maps; and interviews that were conducted with seven preservice teachers after the semester ended. Data from four preservice teachers was highlighted in the findings. This research shows that these preservice teachers had difficulty moving from an individualistic view of their identities to considering issues of group membership. The preservice teachers preferred to discuss individual characteristics such as personality and how they spent their free time. This shifted somewhat over the course of the semester as I asked them to focus on aspects of cultural identities such as racial-, ethnic-, gender-, and class-based group membership. The preservice teachers exhibited high levels of ethnocentrism and often lived out attitudes of white privilege. Their interactions with other cultures proved complex and sometimes contradictory. They promoted learning about other cultures as a way to reduce prejudice and discrimination and believed that they had a responsibility as future teachers to help their students understand other cultures. They saw our semester long theme of cultural identities as valuable, and highlighted using multiple avenues to explore the theme, such as multicultural children's literature, mapping, written and sketched reflections, and literature discussions. This study emphasized the need for considerations of cultural issues to be integrated throughout the teacher education program. Preservice teachers need to understand their own cultural identities before they can understand their students as cultural beings. Explorations of whiteness and white privilege also need to occur.

The purpose of this inquiry was to investigate the development, implementation, and sustainability of collaborative educational practices among special educators, general educators, and members of a university community. Defining characteristics of collaboration in schools, sustained practices, and a rubric developed from features of Vygotsky's (1978) zone of proximal development (ZPD), create an integrated framework that informs the study. The ultimate outcome goals of the study were to determine: (a) how collaboration functioned during the time of initial intensive support, (b) how collaboration was sustained after initial intensive supports were removed and (c) ways in which the ZPD informed and sustained collaboration throughout the study. A two-phase case study design was utilized for this study. In Phase I educators participated in a four-month long collaboration project with the goal of integrating students from a Kindergarten--1st grade bilingual cross-categorical special education classroom into a bilingual 1st grade classroom. During this period, the teachers, specialists, paraprofessionals, administrators, and university collaborators provided collaboration and support to one another. Phase II consisted of a three year follow-up period investigating the classroom, in which intensive formal support from the original collaborators was no longer directly provided Research methodology utilized for this study was qualitative. Data sources used to obtain information for the analyses included: Phase I, focus group interviews, teacher journal entries, observations, and teacher lesson plans; Phase II: follow-up interviews, classroom observations, and supporting documents. Analysis of the data revealed that during the implementation phase novice teachers were provided with a support network, there were cross-training opportunities for all participants, focus group interviews fostered participant collaboration, teacher resources were reallocated, and power differentials among participants were redistributed. Findings for the second phase of the study indicate that although collaboration was sustained after the initial four-month intervention for more than three years, it varied from the onset of the original intervention. Formal and informal partnerships among the participants sustained collaboration, especially those linking the university to the classroom. Based upon the ZPD rubric developed, there are implications for integrating sociocultural theory into future research studies that involve special and general educators and learners in culturally and linguistically diverse learning environments.

The Children's Self-Perception Scale (CSPS), an instrument to measure self-perceived gender identity in school age children, was developed based on the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI; Bem, 1974). The children's scores on the CSPS were correlated with two measures of educational achievement, grade point average (GPA) and Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS; Hieronymus, et al., 1986) to determine the relationship between femininity and masculinity in males and females and educational achievement. The subjects were 950 third, fourth, and seventh grade students from two school districts. The majority of students was Hispanic. The CSPS was not able to differentiate reliably between masculinity and femininity; reliabilities for the CSPS ranged from .17-.78. Although results were inconsistent across grades, significant (p<.05) positive correlations were found between femininity and GPA, .25, and masculinity and achievement (.23-.31) for seventh graders in only one district. Several possible explanations for the non-significance and inconsistencies are explored.

The dismal national statistics of academic achievement by Native American students in the Anglo-American educational system has long been a source of federal and academic concern. Studies and literature suggest that Native American culture and language highly influence academic achievement. This thesis investigates this influence by analyzing Hopi Indian experiences within the Anglo-American educational system to understand the larger processes of how federal Indian policy has impacted Indian people. Parents and teachers in Hopi Reservation schools were interviewed about their personal educational experiences and perceptions of present Hopi education. The interviews focused on the unique educational situation Hopi students are placed in as a result of their culture and language. The findings confirm the influential role of culture, yet it continues to be tragically undermined and overshadowed by how the bureaucratic processes of the educational system and institutions continue to operate in educating Hopi and other Indian children.

The primary question addressed in this study was whether or not fourth graders who participated in Reading Workshop would show a greater improvement in reading comprehension and attitudes toward reading than fourth graders who did not participate in Reading Workshop, but received only basal-guided reading instruction. Two reading classes participated in the Reading Workshops and were used as experimental groups. One of the experimental groups was comprised of average ability readers, and the other of low ability readers. The control group contained both average and low ability readers in the same grouping. A significant difference between the experimental and the control group was found for attitudes toward reading and some aspects of reading comprehension in the average ability readers. The Reading Workshop group demonstrated significant positive effects in these areas. However, no significant differences between treatment groups were found when both low and average ability readers' scores were included in the analysis.

This study addressed four questions about first graders' oral and written retellings. First, how did their retellings change over the period of one school year? Second, how did their own written and oral retellings of the same text compare and contrast? Third, did written retellings influence oral retellings? Fourth, did oral retellings influence written retellings? The retellings were scored using a holistic measure. Twelve students in the same first grade classroom participated in this study. The students were ranked based on teacher observation and were placed in experimental groups. The groups contained a heterogeneous mix of students, and were similar to each other. The first graders' oral and written retellings improved over the school year. Their oral retellings consistently scored higher than their written retellings. However, the evidence from this study does not indicate an influence of either written retellings on oral retellings or oral retellings on written retellings.