Teachers' perspective of technology integration with pedagogical practices and their perceptions of the correlation with student success were examined in this study. One hundred and ninety-two southwestern elementary school teachers volunteered to be a part of the study. Quantitative and Qualitative research methods were conducted. Relationships between teachers' attitude toward computers and computer usage were considered. Regression analysis was employed to examine the results of the two part survey. Telephone interviews were conducted to augment the study. While most of the findings were not statistically significant, they provided insight into how teachers used computers at elementary schools. The results suggest that effective instructional computer use at the elementary school level should implement effective teaching practices. Data were drawn from elementary school teachers completing surveys and interviews. Data includes information on computer usage in the classroom, access to computers in school, and the kinds of instructional uses of computers in the schools. The results of this study find evidence that teachers were using computers regularly, and the ways in which they are used. There were differences in the frequency of computer use in elementary classrooms. The major barriers to curriculum integration by elementary teachers were time and lack of upgraded computers in classrooms. The findings also indicate that computers are not a panacea for problems facing the schools. When used adequately computers may serve to enhance the educational environment and improve student success. Findings from this study offer practical implication for school districts and teacher education college programs working toward supporting and promoting change in teaching roles and practice that use new technologies.

The content of this dissertation will be an analysis of the acceptance of the American Association of School Librarians and the Association for Educational Communications & Technology Information Literacy Standards for Student Learning (1998) by members of the education community, including school library media specialists. The purpose of this analysis is to provide understanding of the standards' acceptance in various areas of education, and to provide direction in developing strategies that will assist in the understanding and implementation of these new standards throughout the learning community. The research design is a modified electronic Delphi study using a panel of experts from the education community to indicate their professional beliefs about the standards' validity and to suggest additions, deletions, and modifications. The panel of experts is determined by nomination from national professional associations and by participant acceptance. The data from the Delphi questionnaires will be analyzed in composite and disaggregated forms to determine group and sub group acceptance. Sub grouping will be determined by profile data provided by the participants. The relevance of this dissertation to education will be to provide a directed approach in developing understanding, acceptance, and implementation of new national information literacy standards in the K-12 education community. It will also suggest potential willingness of education professionals to work with the school library media program and professional in integrating information literacy processes within diverse content areas of the K-12 learning community.

In the past five to ten years, state financial support for public colleges and universities has been reduced in relative terms. As direct state funding has declined, colleges and universities have sought alternate forms of support to replace the lost funds, mostly through an increased emphasis on securing contracts and grants. This increased grant seeking behavior has been accomplished through individual departments, the main economic and administrative units within higher education. Administrators at all levels actively encourage faculty members to seek out external sources of funding that will support research directly and sustain departmental administrative functions indirectly through overhead charges. Pfeffer & Salancik's (1978) resource dependency theory is the conceptual framework used to examine whether changes in departmental revenue support patterns affect undergraduate education at major public research universities. Specifically, whether faculty undergraduate productivity is reduced in proportion to the amount of external research financing acquired by academic departments. Resource dependency might explain the behavior of faculty in this regard, revealing that external agents of resource supply and rewards have a significant impact on undergraduate instructional production. To test the theory that resource dependency can explain variation in departmental undergraduate instructional productivity, data from the 1994 survey results of the National Study of Instructional Costs and Productivity (NSICP) is examined. This sample data contain information on 27 Research I and II institutions, 93 departments, and 955 data points. Traditional statistical procedures explore the interrelationships between research spending and student credit hours/class sections taught on a per faculty member basis. The primary finding is that the resource dependency framework linking separately budgeted research expenditures (a proxy for external resource provider influence) and faculty undergraduate instructional productivity (a proxy for internal organizational behavior) is not supported. Other factors not evaluated by this study, such as faculty training, faculty and departmental culture within higher education, departmental power and influence, and internal reward structures of departments may hold greater weight in determining faculty undergraduate instructional productivity.

The purpose of this study was to extend the research of Matousek (1996). In his study he identified fourteen character traits, that public school teachers felt should be taught in public schools. This study was designed to look at how fifth grade teachers who teach social studies describe character education and how character education is enacted in their social studies classes. The second part of this design involved a comparison of two teachers in their social studies classes at two different schools. To accomplish the purpose of this study the following methodology was used: eight teachers were interviewed, four were selected for an initial observation, a second interview of these four teachers was conducted, two teachers were selected for in-depth observations and a final interview; data were collected using interviews and observations. The findings on how the teachers in this sample describe moral/character education are grouped into six categories. Those categories are: inculcation, values analysis, praise and rewards, the use of literature, teacher being an example, and community. Observations in the two fifth grade social studies classes produced findings on how character education is enacted in the classroom. In the final chapter I put forth some questions to ponder. This was done to stimulate further thinking and research in the field of moral/character education.

Early field experiences (EFEs) are common in teacher education; yet, there is conflicting evidence regarding their value as educative experiences. As the need for preparing prospective teachers for diversity becomes more urgent, research that attends to the context, content, and experiences of preservice teachers in EFEs in diverse schools is necessary. In this study, qualitative case study methodology was used to understand the experiences of preservice teachers, and the meanings they constructed of these experiences, in a reconceptualized EFE in teacher education. The EFE consisted of a team-taught, integrated combination of a general methods course (with a classroom, school, and community-focused field experience), and a foundations of education course, situated in the context of an urban middle/elementary school with a diverse student population. The sample consisted of four preservice teachers: a Mexican-American woman, an American Indian man, and two White women. Data were collected over a period of five months using participant observation, document analysis, interviews, and focus groups. Constant comparison and analytic induction were used to analyze data. Cases of the experiences of the participants revealed three major themes: (a) participation in varied communities; (b) use of multiple literacies to make sense of experience; and, (c) transformations in practices, understandings, and voice. Implications for teacher education from these cases address curriculum and pedagogy in EFEs, experiences that follow EFEs, admissions criteria, and recruitment of members of under-represented groups into teaching.

For more than a decade, little research has been done regarding the Cranmer abacus and its use. Attention to the Cranmer abacus and review of its potential as a learning aid has been minimal. Lack of recent abacus related study is addressed in this dissertation in two ways. First, some of the ideas previously examined from research conducted in the sixties, seventies, and early eighties is expanded on. Information is updated, and current facts and ideologies are summarized. Second, topics not mentioned in earlier studies are examined. Information pertaining to the Cranmer abacus was gathered in two ways. (1) A survey (Appendix B) was distributed to teachers in the United States who regularly teach mathematics with the abacus. (2) Part two was a semester long endeavor consisting of two components. A series of videotape sessions and student assessments (Appendix D) were analyzed. The primary goal of this dissertation was to explore the present status of the Cranmer abacus' use in teaching mathematics to students with visual impairments in the United States. The responses to the survey reveal that most teachers feel they are successfully teaching mathematics to visually impaired students with the abacus. The videotapes are further evidence that teachers are doing a good job, while not necessarily having an extensive mathematical background (teachers of the visually impaired are not required to take extra mathematics classes). The four teachers who participated in the videotape study achieved varying degrees of success. Three cases resulted in nice progress throughout the semester. The fourth teacher had two students, one of which enjoyed little success. Generally speaking, all four teachers taught the abacus diligently. Also, these teachers' responses to the survey questions were common amongst the forty-five teachers who participated in the survey. In reviewing both parts of this study, it is clear that teachers of the visually impaired are successfully incorporating the abacus into the curriculum for students with visual impairments. The only improvement that can be made is an increase in these teachers familiarity with mathematics education.

Architectural archives contain cultural records that are valuable to researchers and students of architecture. According to a national survey conducted for this thesis, many of these valuable records are not accessible. Architectural records that are not accessible may become neglected, thereby jeopardizing their long term preservation. This thesis proposes that architectural records will become more accessible when the archives containing these records are linked to curricula in schools of architecture. The thesis outlines the change in mission, the educational programs, and the planning criteria required to transform these archives from expensive repositories to centers of education.

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.

<p> A learning center in the southeastern part of the United States used the Singapore mathematics curriculum (SMC) to support student learning of a wide range of mathematics skills. However, a study had yet to be conducted to gain an understanding about the administration and implementation of the program. This case study was conceptually based on constructivist pedagogical theory, where learning is constructed between the teacher and students. The research questions explored how the learning center staff administered and implemented the SMC. Data for this study were collected through multiple in-depth interviews and observations of 2 educators at the learning center. These data were analyzed through typological and inductive analyses in order to discover the underlying meaning of the data. The typologies for this study were bar modeling, textbooks, workbooks, teacher edition, activities, and games. The findings that were derived from these analyses focused on 10 themes, which became the basis of a professional development training project. These themes focused on bar modeling, manipulatives, and stages of learning: concrete, pictorial, and abstract, place value, number bonds, visualization, mastery, and games. The project will support positive social change by increasing educators' insight into how to administer and implement the SMC in order to improve student mathematics achievement.</p>

<p>Digital games are marketed, mass-produced, and consumed by an increasing number of people and the game industry is only expected to grow. In response, post-secondary institutions in the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US) have started to create game degree programs. Though curriculum theorists provide insight into the process of creating a new program, no formal research contextualizes curriculum planning for game degree programs. </p><p> The purpose of this research was to explore these processes when planning undergraduate game degree programs. The research methodology included an explanatory mixed-methods approach, using a quantitative survey of participants in the UK and the US, followed by an interview of several participants selected on the basis of their institution's demographics. The study provides insight into the curriculum planning process, including factors that influence the final program content, and a list of recommendations for educators, trade associations, and the games industry to improve game degree programs. </p>