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The Relationship between Teachers' Self-Efficacy and the Integration of Web 2.0 Tools in K-12Pan, Shu-chien 22 September 2010 (has links)
No description available.
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A Study Of A Museum-School PartnershipWojton, Mary Ann 26 August 2009 (has links)
No description available.
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How is children’s learning experience affected by instructions being given by a human-looking AI instructor instead of a human instructor? / Hur påverkas barns lärandeupplevelse av instruktioner som ges av en mänsklig AI-instruktör istället för en människa?Tällberg, Kajsa, Morelius, Josefin January 2022 (has links)
Our society is becoming more and more digital and the outbreak of COVID-19 has stressed this process even more. Thus, the need for online teaching and learning has increased and many new advancements in technology have been made. These advancements have enabled the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and recent years have consequently witnessed increased attention to the use of AI for educational experiences, not least in K-12 schools. However, today little is known about how students perceive AI-based teaching which makes this area interesting to explore further. This study investigated childrens’ perception and learning experience of videos of a human-looking AI instructor, in comparison to videos of a human instructor. If there would appear to be no negative effects on childrens’ learning experience of an AI instructor, this could be used as a basis for developing the growing field of online education applications for children. The study has undertaken a case study approach. Data were collected through user tests and interviews with six children. The respondents were given video instructions by an AI generated instructor and a human instructor in order to evaluate how their perceived learning experience differs between these two. Primary findings indicate that the respondents notice only small differences between the two instructors. However, the answers from the respondents were very diverse, indicating that some respondents preferred the AI instructor while some preferred the human instructor. A lot of interesting findings, such as that children do not seem to be very observant with small malfunctions, are being discussed, indicating that children's learning experience might at least not be negatively affected by an human-looking AI instructor instead of a human instructor. / Vårt samhälle blir allt mer digitaliserat och utbrottet av COVID-19 har påskyndat denna utveckling ännu mer. Således har behovet av onlineundervisning ökat, och likaså har många nya framsteg inom tekniken gjorts. Dessa framsteg har sedan möjliggjort användningen av artificiell intelligens (AI), och följaktligen har man på senare år sett en ökad uppmärksamhet kring användningen av AI inom utbildning, särskilt i grundskolor. Idag är det dock relativt outforskat hur elever uppfattar AI-baserad undervisning vilket gör detta område intressant att utforska vidare I denna studie undersöks barns uppfattning och lärandeupplevelse av videor med en AI-instruktör med mänskligt utseende i jämförelse med videor med en riktig mänsklig instruktör. Om det inte verkar finnas några negativa effekter på barns lärandeupplevelse av en AI-instruktör kan detta användas som en grund för att utveckla det växande området för onlineutbildning applikationer för barn. Studien genomfördes genom en fallstudie. Data samlades in genom användartester och intervjuer med sex barn. Respondenterna fick videoinstruktioner av en AI-genererad instruktör och en mänsklig instruktör för att utvärdera hur deras upplevda lärandeupplevelse skiljer sig mellan dessa två. Resultatet visade på att deltagarna märkte även små skillnader mellan de två instruktörerna. Svaren från deltagarna varierade dock mycket och antyder att vissa deltagare föredrog AI-instruktören medan andra föredrog mänskliga instruktören. Många intressanta insikter diskuteras i denna studie, t.ex., att barn tenderar att inte vara så observanta på små felfunktioner, vilket indikerar på att barns lärandeupplevelse åtminstone inte verkar påverkas negativt av en AI-instruktör med mänskligt utseende istället för en människa.
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Computational Thinking Skills: Teacher Readiness for ChangeDeepti Chandrashekhar Tagare (18136462) 18 April 2024 (has links)
<p dir="ltr">This dissertation includes three manuscripts that explore the construct of teacher-readiness for integration of computational thinking (CT) skills in their teaching. The first manuscript is a retrospective observational study that builds a binomial regression model to predict teachers’ competence in CT procedural skills using factors such as number of professional development trainings taken, time since last training, subject taught, educational background, teaching experience, and whether they currently teach CT. This study provides insights for professional development providers to better design CT trainings. Some of these insights are then incorporated in the second study which is a design case of an online gamified professional development for K-12 teachers. The second paper provides design precedents for professional development providers of CT for better CT integration in K-12 education. The third study is a phenomenological multiple case study that investigates teachers’ CT self-efficacy, autonomous motivation, and goal relevance beliefs towards CT. It captures teachers’ understanding of what CT is and what its value is to the subjects that they teach. Together, the three studies holistically understand teacher readiness for integration of CT through teachers’ own perspective and provide key insights into how they can be better prepared for this change.</p>
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<b>Design, Implementation, and Evaluation of a Quantum-Infused Middle-School Level Science Teaching and Learning Sequence</b>Zeynep Gonca Akdemir (19166221) 18 July 2024 (has links)
<p dir="ltr">This dissertation explores the integration of Quantum Information Science and Engineering (QISE) into formal K-12 curriculum through a Design-Based Research (DBR) approach. The overarching purpose is to develop a NGSS-aligned quantum-infused science curriculum unit for middle school students, aiming to enhance student understanding and engagement in quantum randomness. The study emphasizes the sequential introduction of concepts (from radioactive decay to quantum computing), interdisciplinary inquiry-based learning, and alignment of content and assessment strategies by leveraging Learning Progressions (LPs) and Hypothetical Learning Trajectories (LTs). Methods employed in this DBR study included iterative design processes, teacher feedback, and teaching experiments with 10 participant in-service middle school science teachers as well as quantitative assessment and evaluation of students’ learning and engagement data. Also, it is aimed to focus on professional development for teachers, incorporating NGSS and the Framework as the foundational guidelines. Findings highlighted the importance of teacher feedback in refining educational strategies, the challenges of teaching advanced quantum concepts at the middle school level, and the benefits of using classical physics as a gateway to introduce quantum concepts. This study is also manifestation of a structured teaching-learning pathway, guided by validation and hypothetical LPs, to support students' progression of understanding towards more sophisticated knowledge in QISE. Implications included the potential for enhancing coordination and sequencing of QISE teaching at the K-12 level, contributing to the cultivation of a diverse and quantum-savvy workforce. This DBR study hoped to set a foundation for future research endeavors, emphasizing the need for comprehensive teacher training in K-12 QISE education and the transformative power of education in fostering deeper comprehension and engagement with complex subjects.</p>
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Understanding the influence of lobbying on decisions made by the Kansas House Education Committee, 1995 - 2006Horst, Deena L. January 1900 (has links)
Doctor of Education / Department of Educational Leadership / Robert J. Shoop / Lobbying and lobbyists have been a part of the national policymaking landscape since the inception of this country. In addition, lobbying and lobbyists play a similar role in the policymaking in every state in the Union. Recent and past media reports of dishonest politicians in Washington, D.C. who have accepted expensive gifts from powerful and unscrupulous lobbyists do little to cause the general public, including legislators in Kansas, to trust those individuals whose role includes being a source of information legislators can access when making decisions about issues.
The purpose of this study was to discover the nature of the influence on Kansas K-12 education policy that each type of registered education lobbyist had from 1995 – 2006. The influence lobbyists have had on Kansas K-12 education policy was identified through interviews with each type of registered education lobbyist and with legislators who have served as the chief leadership of the Kansas House Education Committee, as well as through an analysis of documents related to bills the Committee considered from 1995 – 2006.
A qualitative method of inquiry, in the form of a case study, was selected by the researcher as the methodology around which to structure the research. The focus of this case study was to learn how lobbyists influenced the decisions made by members of the Kansas House Education Committee from 1995 – 2006. The study identifies the significant education issues of the Committee as determined by an expert panel of educators, the strategies registered lobbyists indicated they used in their attempt to influence legislators’ decisions, and the information sources which were perceived to influence the positions lobbyists and legislators took on education policy. As a case study, the research is “based on one person’s encounter with a complex case” (Creswell, p. 187); and includes analysis of the data; a discussion of the implications of the understandings drawn from the analysis of data, and suggestions for future research.
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THREE ESSAYS EVALUATING CHOICES OF TEACHERS AND ADMINISTRATORS IN KENTUCKY PUBLIC SCHOOLSBarrett, Nathan 01 January 2011 (has links)
Public K-12 education is a large enterprise in the United States. Through local, state and federal sources, the U.S. allocated over $610 billion to K-12 public education in 2009 (NCES). Not only is the commitment of public funds for education substantial, the provision of K-12 education is primarily administered by the government in non-market settings through local school districts. It is this institutional environment that generates the impetus for evaluating how those in education make choices in the absence of markets.
Like traditional markets, non-market solutions often fail because the incentives facing individuals and agencies elicit choices which produce outcomes that are divergent from those which could be considered Pareto optimal. Examining these incentives and the resulting choices allows researchers to identify unintended consequences of policy and better inform policy design and reform. This dissertation endeavors to identify some of these incentives and to empirically examine their effects on the choices made by teachers and administrators.
Chapter two recognizes that teaching effectiveness may motivate teacher choice into relatively more rigorous professional development. The empirical results suggest that teachers with a past history of relative ineffectiveness are selecting into the professional development program examined. The subsequent effectiveness of the in-service training is mixed.
High stakes testing and school accountability are an increasing part of our K-12 education system. Chapter three acknowledges it is plausible that administrators may choose to place more students into class rooms of more effective teachers to maximize school performance. However, because of tenure and salary constraints they may choose to place fewer students into the class rooms of more effective teachers to reward their performance. Results overall indicate that more effective teachers have larger classes.
Chapter four examines school district budget uncertainty and its relation to contingency funds. The institutional ambiguity of the definition of contingency funds allows a significant amount of choice for administrators to determine fund size and use. This chapter finds that administrators may be less sensitive to budget uncertainty and more responsive to the desire for budget fungibility. This dissertation concludes by addressing implications and future research.
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Spatial Ability Development in the GeosciencesBaldwin, Tammy Katherine January 2003 (has links)
We designed an experiment to evaluate change in students' spatial skills as a result of specific interventions. Our test subjects included high school students in earth science classes, college level non-science majors enrolled in large enrollment introductory geoscience courses and introductory level geoscience students. All students completed spatial tests to measure their ability to mentally rotate three-dimensional objects and to construct a three-dimensional object from a two-dimensional representation. Results show a steady improvement in spatial skills for all groups. They also indicate that students choosing science majors typically have much higher spatial skills as they enter college. Specific interventions to improve spatial skills included having a subgroup of the non-science majors and high school students complete a suite of Geographic Information System (GIS) activities. The intervention at the high school level was more extensive and resulted in significant improvements in both categories of spatial ability. At the college level, the non-science majors that received the intervention showed no significant difference from those that did not, probably because the time spent on the intervention was too short. The geoscience majors had nearly three times the improvement of non-science majors in both categories of spatial ability attributed to hands-on weekly laboratory experiences. These results reveal a wide range of abilities among all groups of students, and suggest that we evaluate teaching strategies in all courses to ensure that students can interpret and understand the visual imagery used in lectures.
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The Instructional Technology Resource Teacher: A Descriptive Case Study of Deployment, Use, and PerceptionsSepelyak, Mary 01 January 2016 (has links)
This case study describes one professional development approach to support technology integration at all public schools in one large county in central Virginia. Using data obtained from daily time logs, the frequency of Instructional Technology Resource Teacher (ITRT) use by classroom teachers was analyzed. Descriptive statistics were used to describe overall percentage of ITRT use, the various types of professional development requested by teachers, the consistency of those activities over time, and if the frequencies of activities varied as a function of school level, Title I status at the elementary level, or subject area taught by teachers at the secondary level. Qualitative data was collected via focus group interviews of the involved ITRTs, and an exploratory attempt to understand the reasons behind their use was made. Data indicated that ITRTs were used 52% of the time offered with 5% variation over 3 years. Across school levels, ITRT time was used more at the secondary level and use varied no more than 9% over time. Google Apps for Education and web-based programs represented 73% of the training requests. Over time, fluctuations in the number of requests for assistance with different applications were explained by contextual factors. Elementary schools classified as Title I accounted for 23% of the total time elementary ITRTs were used. At the secondary level, teachers of science and language arts requested ITRT assistance more often. ITRTs made sense of these results by identifying first order barriers as more influential than second order barriers. Of these, access barriers were the most frequently cited barrier by the ITRTs followed by subject culture, institution, assessment, attitude and beliefs, and knowledge and skills. Elementary ITRTs cited more instances of barriers than secondary. Recommendations for practice and future research were made.
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A longitudinal study of selected state school aid formula changes in Kansas 1992-2017, with emphasis on the Classroom Learning Assuring Student Success (CLASS) Act of 2015Vincent, Shiloh John Daniel January 1900 (has links)
Doctor of Education / Department of Educational Leadership / David Thompson / This present study extended the longitudinal perspective begun by DeBacker (2002) and Jordan (2012) and, when considered wholly, provides insights into the educational experiences offered by districts in the state of Kansas from the years 1992 through 2017, as well as the impacts that changes to school funding had on those experiences.
This study assessed selected fiscal and pupil performance variables and examined the impacts that changes to school funding had on those variables, paying close attention to the shift from per pupil funding under the School District Finance and Quality Performance Act (SDFQPA) of 1992 to block grant funding under the Classroom Learning Assuring Student Success (CLASS) Act from 2015 to 2017.
In the first phase of this study, Kansas school districts were ordered from wealthiest to poorest based on their assessed valuation per pupil for 2001. To narrow the study population and to ensure that longitudinal analysis could occur, districts that had closed or consolidated by 2016 were removed. For the remaining districts, decile analysis was applied to the population by ranking all 289 school districts from wealthiest to poorest based on 2001 assessed valuation per pupil (AVPP) and by further dividing the population in to ten equal parts (i.e. each decile representing 10% of the population). The population was again narrowed to the representative sample of 112 school districts, with Decile 10 representing the wealthiest 10% of districts, Decile 1 representing the poorest 10%, and Deciles 5 and 6 representing the average wealth districts found in the middle (each representing 10% of the population respectively). This process was repeated for 2011, 2014, and 2016. For this study, 2001 and 2016 served as the bookend years, as DeBacker (2002) had done (1992 – 2001) and Jordan (2012) had repeated (2002 – 2012). Establishing the beginning year as 2001 ensured overlap of years examined by both previous studies and extending through the most recent year of audited data, i.e., 2016.
Once the study population was established, data analysis was conducted in two phases. First, fiscal and pupil performance data were analyzed to provide insight into overall health of each district during the years 2001- 2016. Second, survey and interview data were collected and analyzed to glean insights from district leaders for contextual perspective of the impacts that changes to school funding had on districts and their leaders, paying close attention to the years of block grant funding under CLASS.
The present study resulted in a critical examination of fiscal and pupil performance variables and the impact that changes to school finance in Kansas had on the educational experience of Kansas pupils.
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