This study examined the relationship between amount and type of reading of 5th grade students and their reading achievement. To generate answers to the research questions, four variables were investigated: students' gender, students' self-concept as a reader, students' value of reading, and students reading achievement. The type of reading and amount of reading were then related to these variables. Fifty students completed a Daily Out-of-School Time Activity Log for a one-week period. They completed the Motivation to Read Profile (MRP) (Gambrell, et al., 1996) and a questionnaire about topics of interest to 5th grade students. The Stanford Achievement Test (SAT10) was used to determine students' reading level. The five most frequently selected materials were: novels, directions, Internet sites, electronic games, and something that the student wrote. The reading logs were analyzed to determine how many hours each student read during the 7 day time period. Approximately 36% of the students read at least one hour per day or more during this study. Thirty-eight (76%) of the fifty students read from 0 to 2 hours during the weekend and 15 (30%) students read from 0 to 2 hours during the weekday time period. There were no significant correlations found between amount of reading and any of the variables of self-concept, value of reading, total score on MRP, or SAT10. Above average readers had a tendency to score higher on value of reading and self-concept as a reader. There were no significant differences found between boys and girls between amount of reading and any of the aforementioned variables. There was a tendency for girls to value reading more than boys. Boys identified the reading of electronic games significantly more often than did girls. Type of reading was not significantly related to any of the variables. There was not much difference between girls and boys in relation to total hours reading and any of the variables. A total of 14 boys and 17 girls read something from the public library during their 7-day period. The participants chose to read as their favorite topics: fantasy characters, sports, and characters who do amazing things. This study revealed the important place that technology has in the reading lives of adolescents.

This study examines the impact of a series of workshops intended to assist elementary interns in meeting the needs of mainstreamed students whose first language is not English. Throughout this dissertation, students whose first language is not English and who are in the process of learning English at school will be referred to as English learners or ELs. (Diaz-Rico, 2008). Selected elementary certification candidates enrolled in the University of Pittsburgh's internship program participated in the workshop series. The workshops were designed to be collaborative following a sociocultural perspective on learning. The workshops focused on two major issues. First, the workshops addressed English learners' socio-affective issues. Secondly, the workshops addressed teaching strategies designed for teachers with mainstreamed English learners. Interns were asked to participate in a series of eight workshops and to incorporate instructional strategies presented in the workshops into their lesson plans. During the workshop series, qualitative data were collected and analyzed. The primary tools of data collection in this study were surveys, a questionnaire, videotaped classroom observations and workshop sessions, interns' lesson reflections and workshop reflections, interns' lesson plans, and writing samples from the English learners. The data were analyzed for evidence of change in the interns' understanding of their English learners and change in interns' lesson planning and instruction. The results of this study show that the interns learned to identify their English learners, learned about their English learners' cultural background and developed a deeper sense of empathy for the socio-affective issues encountered by English learners. The interns also learned to identify content vocabulary relevant to their lessons and use visuals to teach vocabulary; however, the interns did not learn to modify their teaching practices in ways that specifically meet the needs of English learners, such as teaching linguistic structures. Various implications on the field of teacher preparation can be made as a result of this study including the importance of training teachers to think linguistically and training teachers to have a positive view of culturally and linguistically diverse students.

This study uses discourse analysis to examine how scientific concepts (Vygotsky, 1997) develop in an English Language Arts class over the course of one curricular unit. The study focuses on how two students in one 12th grade English Language Arts classroom develop towards the scientific concept of summary. The study examines the teachers classroom discussion of the concept of summary, and the students development of the concept of summary. The development is investigated using Systemic Functional Linguistics to analyze the classroom and interview talk from both teacher and students. The use of concept mapping and SFL analysis (Halliday, 1994) focus on transitivity, interpersonal metaphor, and clause linking devices to enhance, elaborate, or expand the concepts web of relations. Understanding the initial developmental level of the concept helped to examine how the teachers discourse surrounding the concept mediated the concept of summary. Language and schooling as a part of the teaching and learning context and pedagogical issues are discussed.

This study examined the interactions that occurred in an on-line university course. The study used the verbal interaction categories identified in the Flanders Interaction Analysis Protocol (1970) and the Criteria for a Learning Community by Palloff and Pratt (1999). A qualitative research design was selected in order to analyze the content of the individual student posts, as well as to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the instruments used to measure interaction and community. The NVivo7™ research software was used to categorize and analyze the content of student interaction in threaded discussions for four individual cases. The results showed that students did form community to varying degrees and that the degree of community formed differed based on developmental factors and previous classroom experience. From the Flanders protocol, Lecturing-Citing Opinions and Agreement-Building on the Ideas of Others were the most common types of interactions. The study also identified several types of interactions that the Flanders instrument did not classify, such as Relating Personal Experience, Reflective Comments, Use of Flames/Emoticons/Text Message Language, and Expressions of Courtesy. The discussion text met many of the criteria identified by Palloff and Pratt (1999) for a learning community. The cases involving graduate students were more likely to meet the criteria for collaborative learning and socialization than the cases comprised of undergraduate students. None of the cases identified any instances of offers to evaluate the work of others, a Palloff and Pratt (1999) criteria. Recommendations were made for improving the design on on-line courses to be more intuitive and to allow for visual reinforcement of interaction types. Additionally, training for faculty utilizing on-line courses that identifies strategies to encourage and develop different types of interactions in the on-line classroom was recommended. Other recommendations included development of a series of Indicators that signify the development of community in the on-line classroom.

This study examined 56 middle school students' self-reflections and self-regulatory behavioral development in a project-based learning experience. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected providing a more comprehensive evaluation of 1) students' perceptions of their self-regulatory behaviors in the project-based learning experience and 2) both the teacher's and students' perceptions of what aspects of the project-based learning experience were beneficial in facilitating students' self-regulatory behaviors. The overall findings in this study suggest that students had success in using metacognitive processes to self-monitor the development of their self-regulatory skills. The self-monitoring process was a deliberate approach used to teach students to self-identify their weaknesses and strengths in terms of three self-regulatory skills: learning strategy use, goal setting and time management. These skills are instrumental in students' achieving success by independently completing a project. The outcomes of the study imply that students need scaffolding support in project-based learning in order to facilitate the development of self-regulatory skills. As students completed the social studies class project, they required careful guidance to learn to sift through and to synthesize information from a variety of resources. It was important to design a collaborative learning environment where students were encouraged to share in the decision-making process of the project outcomes and the curriculum. Students used the Student Weekly Reflection Form (SWRF) to engage in self-reflection throughout the project. NUD*IST N6 was used to quantify and analyze the data obtained from the SWRF. Students' pre- and post-test scores on the Goal Orientation Index (GOI) (Atman, 1986) showed a significant increase in the Reflecting and Planning Subscales at the .01 level of significance using a one-tailed t-test. The Bandura Self-Efficacy for Self-Regulated Learning Scale (as cited in Pajares and Urdan, 2006) was used to measure students' perceptions of their self-regulatory abilities to complete goals. There was no significant difference between the students' pre- and post-test scores as measured by a one-tailed t-test. This study adds to existing social cognitive understanding. In order for students to identify and develop self-regulatory skills in this project, they first had to experience the opportunity to participate as managers in their own learning.

Online learning (web-based education) continues to have a significant impact on higher education. Increasingly, students seek fully online programs in a broad range of disciplines at the undergraduate and graduate levels. College faculty have produced increasingly more research focusing on how to teach online, including best practices and appropriate web-based course pedagogy. Faculty and college administrators regularly discuss what curricula is appropriate for online learning versus what curricula does not adapt well into online courses. This is especially true for course content in the psychomotor domain which is typically taught in live lab-based courses and traditional hands-on focused classroom presentations. A few of the significant challenges for instructors teaching psychomotor skills in the online course environment include: how to appropriately assess student learning of hands-on skills, how to confirm psychomotor skill acquisition, and how to verify the student can teach the skills to other individuals. This research provides a qualitative focus within a problem solving case study that introduces a possible solution for assessing fitness assessment and exercise training techniques learned in a web-based course. This paper presents background information on the use of web-based learning in the general sphere of higher education and outlines the current range of online education courses in fitness, exercise science, health, and wellness education. This inquiry focuses on a case study analysis exploring the utilization of webcam videos as new assessment tools implemented in a fully web-based course, PRF 711: An Integrated Approach to Fitness and Wellness, offered in an Exercise Science and Health Promotion Graduate Program at California University of Pennsylvania. The web-based graduate program offers several psychomotor skill based courses, recently developed at the University. The research results are analyzed supported by survey data, mining data from assessment documents, online classroom observation, and interviews of several students, the instructor, and three subject matter professionals. One goal of this study was to identify the entry-level technology skills, professional experience, client accessibility, and confidence with technology of students enrolled in the PRF 711 course. Another goal was to analyze the experiences and feedback of five students, who used webcams to submit online video/audio course assignments focused on hands-on content in the psychomotor domain, more specifically, fitness assessment and exercise activities. The five students were asked to describe experiences, suggestions, and questions regarding the processes and protocols used during video set-up, video recording, project submission, and instructor feedback. An additional goal was to analyze the experiences of the instructor who implemented the video project protocols, evaluated student video projects, and faux-graded student performance. The study also analyzed interview data collected from a variety of stakeholders who made observations and suggestions regarding the video assessment protocol, the assessment instruments, as well provided feedback at the end of the course regarding summative evaluation of the video assessment intervention. The stakeholders interviewed included the Director of Training and, the Director of Content Development for the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM), who were jointly responsible for designing much of the curriculum used in the PRF 711: An Integrated Approach to Fitness and Wellness course. Additionally, feedback and insight were analyzed from an instructional designer. Constant comparison of stakeholder feedback and analytic induction were used to organize and categorize the data. Study results show that the new webcam video assessment protocol is a viable solution for assessing hands-on skills in the PRF 711 online course. Several challenges, issues, and solutions are addressed. The study results will be used at California University of Pennsylvania to enhance assessment protocols using webcam videos in courses that require the learning of hands-on and psychomotor skills. The study results may also be used as a conceptual framework to examine how web-based courses in several disciplines, with a significant amount of psychomotor objectives, could include online video assessment techniques. The implications of this research for healthcare/fitness educators, students, college administrators, and instructional designers is reviewed in the discussion. Suggestions for areas of further research and future practice are included.

This study is an exploration of participation, community, and mathematical understanding in an open, online, calculus help forum. These forums, populated by members from around the world, are locations where students post queries from their coursework and receive assistance from volunteer tutors. The site under investigation has a spontaneous participation structure, meaning that any forum member can respond to a query and contribute to an ongoing discussion. From earlier work, we know that such forums foster mathematical dialogue, contain exchanges with sophisticated pedagogical moves, and exhibit a strong sense of community. In this study, we delve deeper into the functional aspects of activity (such as student positioning and pedagogical moves), the benefits that accrue from participation in tutoring as a communal activity, and the mathematical understanding that is evident in the way problems on limit and related rates are framed and solutions constructed. Based on an observational methodology, we find that the forum provides tutoring for students and support for tutors that is unique from our expectations of other learning environments, such as one-on-one tutoring and computer-based tutoring systems. Students position themselves with authority in the exchanges by making assertions and proposals of action, questioning or challenging others proposals, and indicating when resolution has been achieved. Tutors, who generally have more experience and expertise than students, provide mathematical guidance, and, in exemplary exchanges, draw the student into making a mathematical discovery. The dedication of tutors to the forum community was evident in the presence of authentic, honest mathematical practices, in the generous provision of alternative perspectives on problems, and in the sincere correction of errors. Some student participants picked up on these aspects of community and expressed excitement and appreciation for this taste of mathematical discourse. The primary contribution of the tutors was their assistance in supporting students as they constructed productive framings for the exercises, and this was the help that students were most in need of. As a result of eavesdropping on this public conversation, we conclude that the forums are a public conversation that should be listened to by educational researchers, teachers, and designers of tutoring systems.

This study examined cognitive relationships between the fair-share and center-of-balance conceptualizations of the arithmetic mean. It also hypothesized the use of these conceptualizations as blending spaces for the mathematical and statistical domains within a proposed knowledge structure for the arithmetic mean. Twenty-nine undergraduate liberal arts students completed pre/post verbal protocols with written solutions to arithmetic mean problems. The problems emphasized either the fair-share or center-of-balance conceptualization, or mathematical concepts related to the arithmetic mean. The participants were divided into three groups: those that received fair-share instruction, those that received center-of-balance instruction, and a control group. The data was analyzed using statistical methods, including contingency tables and ANCOVA, to investigate the effects fair-share and center-of-balance instruction had on knowledge of fair-share, center-of-balance, and mathematical concepts regarding the arithmetic mean. A qualitative analysis of the verbal protocols helped explain any statistically significant connection between the fair-share and center-of-balance conceptualizations, or between either conceptualization and mathematical concepts related to the arithmetic mean. Analysis of the data indicated participants increased their knowledge of the fair-share conceptualization after receiving instruction that was focused on center-of-balance. Similarly, participants increased their knowledge of the center-of-balance conceptualization after receiving instruction that was focused on fair-share. In either case, the concept, 'the sum of the deviations from the mean is zero,' was used to transfer knowledge between the conceptualizations. In addition, instruction in either the fair-share or center-of-balance conceptualization increased knowledge of the mathematical concepts related to the arithmetic mean. However, only specific mathematical concepts were impacted by each of the conceptualizations. The results suggest that both the fair-share and center-of-balance conceptualizations are pertinent to pedagogical decisions regarding the arithmetic mean. Furthermore, the concept, 'the sum of the deviations from the mean is zero,' is a viable cognitive connection between the fair-share and center-of-balance conceptualizations.

Researchers have long acknowledged the important role that vocabulary plays in assisting in reading comprehension. Because of the importance of vocabulary, it is necessary to determine how to ensure that all students are making adequate vocabulary gains. The purpose of this study was to determine the necessary amount of instruction for students from low socioeconomic backgrounds to make vocabulary gains. This study considered if providing additional robust vocabulary instruction was beneficial for students. In addition, this study looked to determine if there was a correlation between students standardized vocabulary test scores prior to instruction and amount of instruction provided to make gains in vocabulary knowledge and if there was a correlation between students posttest scores and amount of instruction provided. The results of the study indicated that additional vocabulary instruction was beneficial for all students who received it. In addition, this study revealed that there was a significant negative correlation between students standardized vocabulary test scores and amount of instruction and there was also a significant negative correlation between students posttest scores and amount of instruction. There are several implications for both the classroom and future research deriving from this study. In the classroom, teachers must be prepared to provide additional vocabulary instruction for students who do not master the taught words at the conclusion of initial instruction. Future research must consider guidelines to determine the appropriate amount of vocabulary instruction to provide for students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. In addition, continued research is necessary in the area of ameliorating the proven vocabulary differences in students from low socioeconomic backgrounds and their more affluent peers.

The Effects of Rich Vocabulary Instruction on Students Expository Writing Lisa Marie Yonek, Ed.D University of Pittsburgh, 2008 Two approaches to vocabulary instruction, rich instruction and traditional instruction were examined to compare their effectiveness in assisting students in developing word knowledge and transfer of that knowledge to use of target words in expository writing. Fourth grade students in an urban school district were taught twelve Tier Two words over the course of five days using either rich instruction or traditional instruction. Rich instruction consisted of exposing students to both definitional and contextual information, multiple exposures and active or deep processing of each word. Traditional methods included dictionary definitions, matching activities, cloze sentence activities and sentence writing. Outcomes were measured on tasks of word meanings, depth of word knowledge, writing quality and number of target words used in writing. There were no differences between groups on knowledge of word meanings but students who received the rich instruction outperformed students who received the traditional instruction on all other measures suggesting that rich instruction is more effective in helping students to deepen word knowledge and utilize newly learned words in complex literacy acts such as writing. Interpretations and implications are discussed.