<div>The purpose of this study was to examine the factors attributed to teacher candidates’ perceptions of self-efficacy throughout their student teaching semesters. This study used a narrative inquiry methodology to enhance the researcher’s understanding of variables attributed to teacher self-efficacy among a group of secondary content area teacher candidates. In this study, the purpose of using a narrative inquiry methodology was to share the stories of content area teacher candidates’ student teaching experiences and inform teacher educators about the extent to which teacher education preparation affects the self-efficacy of beginning content area teachers, as well as which recurrent elements of teacher education affect the self-efficacy of beginning teachers, regardless of their respective content areas. The findings of this study suggest that teacher education preparation affects the self-efficacy of secondary teacher candidates across the content areas; accordingly, the findings of this study provide insight for teacher educators to consider the areas where teacher education programs are failing to provide adequate preparation. The 10 teacher candidates who participated in this study emphasized the value of adequate preparation throughout their teacher education programs to help inform their student teaching experiences. In order to feel prepared for student teaching and effective as teacher candidates, the 10 participants referenced the following areas as requiring further implementation within teacher education curricula: increased opportunities to apply the practical application of their teaching skills prior to the student teaching experience, the incorporation of classroom management strategy coursework into their curriculum, and opportunities to explore the extensive demands of the teaching profession ranging from time management to dealing with difficult parents, to name a few.</div>

The United States continues to become increasingly more diverse, demanding civic engagement that extends beyond personal responsibility such as obeying laws and voting and requiring a citizenry capable of disrupting the status quo and enacting social change that contributes to a more equitable and just society. Education plays a vital role in this civic development; therefore, preservice teachers must be prepared to teach for critical citizenship education. Using narrative inquiry, this study explored how five preservice teachers with more critical civic identities made sense of their teacher education experiences in relation to civic identity development. The findings of the study revealed how teacher education programs fostered uncomfortable, but transformative, learning experiences that promoted the preservice teachers’ senses of understanding and empathy for those whose identities and lived experiences were different than their own. Additionally, the findings illuminated the preservice teachers’ understandings of the interplay between identity and power as they examined how their own civic values and engagement contributed to patterns of privilege and/or oppression in society. The study builds on the literature base that explores preservice teacher civic identity and continues the conversation regarding what type of teacher education experiences foster the construction of more critical civic identities.

University writing programs increasingly serve student populations of growing diversity: more international students, first-generation students, disabled students, racial and ethnic minority students, and LGBTQ+ students, for example. Instructors thus teach in classrooms with many cultures and subcultures represented. Amid increasing demographic diversity, many writing programs seek to internationalize. In this dissertation, I investigate the current state of Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT) in a university writing program as a potential avenue for internationalization. Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT) is a social-justice-oriented, transformative approach to education that views cultural diversity as a resource, restructuring education settings to affirm students’ identities and home cultures. I evaluate CRT among a sample of 10 instructor participants and their students, propose a CRT assessment method, and suggest implementation of CRT as a sustainable, just, and resource-efficient method for writing program internationalization. I implement a mixed-methods research design that draws on both observational and self-report measures of CRT. Results indicate that instructor capabilities for CRT fall along a developmental spectrum. This developmental spectrum provides a useful model for assessment of CRT in a writing program context, as well as a basis for developing the CRT capabilities of instructors at both individual and programmatic levels. <br>

The purpose of this study is to explore the writer identity of four preservice teachers from a large midwestern University. I utilized the narrative inquiry methodology. I interviewed participants four times: Once in January 2019, January 2020, March 2020, and May 2020. I also asked participants to submit a visual metaphor and reflection. Additionally, I observed participants teach in the secondary classroom. Primarily, the findings reveal that participant writer identities largely influence their secondary writing pedagogy. The findings also indicate that participant writer identities were strongly influenced by their k-12 English teachers. Lastly, the findings suggest that participants experienced trouble navigating tensions in writing instruction. The implications suggest that teacher educators can highlight identity work in teacher education courses to strengthen writer identity. Similarly, I recommend in the Implications section that teacher educators design activities to strengthen preservice teachers’ writer identities so they can strengthen the writer identity of future secondary students. The implications also underscore how teacher educators can highlight the tensions that preservice teachers may encounter as a secondary writing instructor, and how to navigate such tension. This study complements the research on writing teacher education and provides new possibilities to effectively prepare writing instructors.

<p>  </p> <p>With the passing of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), schools must look for proactive strategies to help struggling learners stay in the classroom environment. Schools across the United States are turning to restorative practices to build school community, resolve conflict peacefully, and repair harm caused to the community. With restorative practices, students and staff are given an implicate framework for self-regulating behavior, developing positive interactions with teachers and peers, and building self-efficacy skills. The purpose of this qualitative ethnography was to examine how staff members at one suburban middle school perceive the process of community building through the use of restorative practices. This study included building-level leadership along with certified and classified staff members. The findings indicate that school leadership modeling effective and intentional use of restorative practices provides an explicate framework of practices that give staff and students tools to build community. In addition, students and staff learned how their personal impact affects the school community. This study provides information that can guide the practices of many professionals and students in education. There are specific implications to this study that can impact how school administrators lead a school building in a way that develops a sense of belonging for all members. </p>

This study investigated the viability of a Digital Badge system to deliver professional development to teachers working with English language learners. The study asked several research questions to determine if Purdue’s Passport system was effective at delivering ELL teacher PD. First, the study asked, is a digital badge system a viable tool for delivering professional development to in-service teachers of English language learners? This question helped determine if the in-service teachers participating in this study would be able to obtain the training materials and navigate the online system on their own to obtain the digital badge.<div><br> <div>Then, the study asked, what types of training do ELL teachers think could be converted to digital badges? This question was asked to identify the types of trainings the participants in this study believed could be transferred to an online system such as Purdue’s Passport system and delivered as individual badges teachers could complete with little to no assistance. This question also helped investigate how teachers perceive the current training they attend in face-to-face sessions. <br></div><div><br></div><div>The final question the study asked was, what are ELL teachers’ perceptions of digital badges and their role in professional development? The final question was asked to determine if the participants’ attitudes toward digital badges changed throughout the study and what the participants believed digital badges’ role could be in delivering ELL teacher professional development. <br></div><div><br></div><div>The data collected in this study included the participants’ written reflections within the digital badge system, pre and post-surveys and interviews after they completed the running record badge. The results of this qualitative study suggest that for in-service teachers there are some benefits to delivering ELL teacher PD through digital badges. Results indicate that the participants enjoyed the ability to complete the training on their own schedule and had no issues viewing the content within the running record digital badge. The participants also had numerous recommendations for the types of training they believed could be converted to digital badges and how a digital badge system could be implemented at their school.<br></div></div>

<p>This dissertation consists of three journal articles about using open digital badges to improve learning performance and facilitate students’ goal setting processes. In the first study, we investigated the impact of instructional ODBs on pre-service teachers’ perceived technology capabilities and their actual learning performance in a large undergraduate technology integration course. A positive relation between using ODBs and academic learning performance was found in the study. The second study conceptually argued that the use of ODBs can positively impact learning because it helps optimize the effects of goal-setting on learning which then indirectly impacts learning performance. In the third study, we explored college students’ experiences of using ODBs as an innovative approach to facilitate their goal-setting processes in a large undergraduate technology integration course. We found that ODBs could support college students’ goal-setting processes by helping students connect different types of goals, improving goal commitment, controlling task complexity and providing prompt personalized feedback. </p>

<div>New special education teachers beginning their career field have many job-related responsibilities and activities to adjust to and learn about. The most important success factor of special education teachers' job is collaboration.Collaboration happens constantly when teaching students with disabilities. In particular, collaboration is an important job responsibility of a special education teacher (Rapert, 2018). The purpose of the current survey study was to provide guidance and explore various collaboration strategies and areas new special educators struggle with. The ultimate purpose of this research was to aid in the development of a collaborative handbook, describing the core components collaboration and providing resources to help support new special education teachers in those identified core components.</div><div><br></div><div>This study had twenty four potential teacher participants in a Midwestern junior high school. Fourteen teachers voluntarily completed a needs assessment survey. The survey includes twelve questions about collaboration and communication in their school. Fourteen teachers provided their viewpoints of collaboration and communication in their school. Results showed that teachers see the following as core collaboration and communication components for successful collaboration: (1) an equal partnership between special education and general education teachers, (2) adequate preparation time, (3) consistent collaboration, and (4) effective communication strategies. Another interesting finding is that only three out of fourteen teachers indicated they agreed that special education teachers and general education teachers were viewed as equal partners in the classroom. Other findings are about lack of time, the existence of a regular collaboration and communication method. Twelve teachers indicated they had a lack of time in order to collaborate and plan with the special education teachers. Six out of fourteen teachers reported that regular collaboration happened between both general and special education teachers. Eleven teachers indicated e-mailing is the easiest way to communicate. </div><div><br></div><div>Based on the survey responses and receiving wide responses about teacher’s viewpoints regarding collaboration and communication in their building, a guide to help new special education teachers successfully collaborate with all teachers would be beneficial. Giving a new teacher the tools to be successful in an already challenging position, can increase their confidence and understanding of what is expected in the building. Outlining the best way to communicate, and collaborate with all teachers in the building including teachers who many not directly work with special education students daily. The handbook guides and walks through how to set up conferences and meetings with staff and parents of the student. Given a guide on who to contact, when to contact, and having a checklist prior to setting up one of the various meetings a special educator conducts can help a new teacher tremendously in feeling confident and understanding the building procedures. With the approval from the junior high schools principal this handbook was created to guide new teachers at the specific junior high school. <br></div>

<p>The ability to make informed decisions is a skill considered as one of the 21st century skills and is crucial as part of the critical thinking and problem-solving process in science and engineering. Despite its importance, students (e.g., beginning designers) often struggle with making informed design decisions that are well supported by relevant scientific principles. It is not uncommon to see disconnection between students’ design decisions and their scientific knowledge. This type of disconnection is also described as the “design-science gap”. Different approaches such as scaffolding have been done in trying to bridge this gap, however there is still limited scaffold that could seamlessly help students connect their scientific knowledge to their design experiences, and consequently help them make scientifically informed design decisions. </p> <p>In this dissertation, we proposed argumentation as a scaffolding framework and investigated if the use of argumentation as a meaning-making scaffolding approach during scientific experimentation, facilitated students’ generation of informed design decisions while completing a CAD-based design challenge. Specifically, we looked at the impact of the argumentation scaffold on the quality of decision-making arguments made by students, the types of claims made by students and the types of evidence and reasoning they used to back up their claims, as well as their level of performance in a final design challenge. </p> <p>This study took place in a Physics for Elementary Education course in a Midwestern University in Indiana, USA. This study was part of a four-week unit that focused on the topic of heat transfer, as well as the practices of science and engineering design. The participants of this study included 54 groups of pre-service teachers (i.e., 2 to 4 students in each group) with a background in Elementary Education, from three academic semesters: Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019. In this study, these pre-service teachers were divided into two conditions – with and without argumentation scaffold. The data analysis involved looking at the quality of students’ decision-making arguments, the types of claim, evidence, and reasoning they used, as well as their final design performances. </p> <p>The results of this study indicate that students in the argumentation condition were able to transfer their argumentation skills from science experimentation to design decision-making by demonstrating better ability to justify their decisions using relevant scientific evidence and reasoning, as compared to students without argumentation scaffold. Specifically, students engaged in the argumentation scaffold generated decision-making arguments of higher quality, devoted more attention to scientific principles when they made their decision claims, used more variety of combinations of evidence and reasoning to support their claims, utilized more scientific principles to back up their claims, as well as achieved slightly better performance in their final design in terms of fulfilling the size and energy consumption requirements. Implications from this dissertation include pedagogical scaffold and assessment materials that can be easily adapted by other educators, along with suggestions based on what we learned. In addition, findings and lessons learned from this study open door to more research opportunities such as expanding and adapting the scientific argumentation framework to better fit in an engineering design context. </p>

<p>  </p> <p><strong>Abstract</strong></p> <p>According to the Center for Disease Control, approximately one in 44 children are identified with Autism Spectrum Disorder or ASD at the age of 8 in the United States (Centers for Disease Control, 2022). As the number of children with ASD is increasing, so do the concerns of early childhood educators about how to help them (Schafer Whitby et. al, 2015). The generally accepted criteria for ASD includes a deficit in communication and/or language, restricted and/or repetitive interests, indicators started manifesting young, the symptoms cause diminished functioning. Communication difficulties in children with ASD can be challenging for educators to handle (Grygas Coogle et al., 2018). Educators in a general education early childhood classroom may not be prepared to handle the influx of students with ASD due to their lack of knowledge and skills about appropriate communication strategies.</p> <p><br></p> <p>The master’s degree special project contains two separate elements: a survey and the development of a handbook. The purpose of the IRB approved study was to investigate common communication strategies and research-based strategies being used with students with ASD in an early childhood setting. The survey sought licensed teachers’ responses on their levels of understanding about communication strategies and recommendations for future professional learning and training materials. </p> <p>Twelve early childhood educators (PreK-2) from one urban elementary school, in a midwestern state were sent the anonymous 11 question Qualtrics survey, including rating questions and open-ended questions. Nine educators completed the survey. The results revealed teachers’ lack of familiarity and knowledge about communication strategies for students with ASD. All nine participants answered they had no previous specific training on ASD and communication strategies in college and zero hours of professional learning on communication strategies for students with ASD during the current school year. Educators also rated themselves as poorly or moderately prepared to teach children with ASD and their communication deficits. Not a single participant rated themselves as well prepared or very well prepared.</p> <p><br></p> <p>The study results and previously published research indicated the need for the professional learning handbook to provide early childhood educators with research-proven communication strategies written in a teacher friendly manner. The special project handbook has six sections: play strategies, environmental adaptation, visual supports, motivation, sensory integration, and collaboration with parents. ASD is multifaceted and complex for educators, and many of their struggles are rooted in the area of communication. These strategies were designed for students with ASD but can also be applied with all students.</p>