If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music... I get most joy in life out of music.--Albert Einstein In the spirit of recent legislation, educational leaders are in search of ways to ensure a quality education for all students in America, vowing to leave no child behind. Unfortunately, most of the rhetoric surrounding quality in education fails to acknowledge the impact of the arts in standards-based reform initiatives. In fact, some school districts have discussed cutting the arts entirely from the curriculum. The purpose of this study is threefold: (1) to examine the impact of music education on high school students' achievement in mathematics, and (2) to examine the relationship between schools with music programs and their graduation rates, (3) to explore the personal impact of music participation through auto-ethnographic study. The results of this study revealed that participation in a music program can have a positive impact on mathematics retention of high school students. This study revealed information about the need for student participation in order to make a clear determination. However, the auto-ethnography shows a clear example of the impact music can have on student academic success.

Outlets for students to develop mathematical ideas and skills to solve real-life problems and applicable situations have been neglected in secondary classrooms (Gainsburg, 2008). Designing curricula that applies real-life situations has been promoted by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (2000), the National Research Council (1998), and the Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education (2000) and also is an expectation of state standards for student learning (Texas Education Agency, 2009). Contrary, evidence has shown low benefits to classroom real-life examples perceived by students. This study served dual purposes: 1) Determine the relationship between place-based education and mathematics learning, and 2) Investigate teacher conceptions of place-based education opportunities in high school, mathematics curriculum. This study employed two methodologies. A mixed-methods approach was employed for the meta-analysis of place-based programs and the second employed qualitative methods of structured interviewing to determine teachers’ conceptions of place-based pedagogy. Upon completion of the study, I concluded: 1) Place-based pedagogies align toward more foundational mathematic skills (e.g. measurement, number sense) when implemented, and 2) Teachers’ conceive place-based as a general effective tool for student engagement and real-world context of how mathematics functions in society.

TITLE: Healthy lifestyle in the educational reality of a selected school AUTHOR: Vladimír Doležal DEPARTMENT: Department of Education SUPERVISOR: MUDr. Bc. Rostislav Čevela, Ph.D. ABSTRACT: This diploma thesis deals with the education and healthy lifestyle in the category of teenagers. The aim of the diploma thesis is to map out the important issues that affect the lifestyles of teenagers, mainly in relation to the secondary school environment, school documents, such as ŠVP, RVP and the effects of high-risk behavior. The diploma thesis also focuses on the important aspect of this topic, the interaction teacher - pupil, the aim of this section is to document and analyze whether the students perceive their teacher's approach to a healthy lifestyle and whether it's something that personally affects them. The current approaches to the education and healthy lifestyle in the secondary school environment are documented and analyzed in the diploma thesis. A brief excursion into the history of these key concepts is also included in the diploma thesis. KEYWORDS: Education, lifestyle, high school, student, teacher, ICT.

TITLE: Theimpatofeducation on healthofteenagers and teachingofmathematics AUTHOR: Vladimír Doležal DEPARTMENT: Department of Education SUPERVISOR: MUDr. Bc. Rostislav Čevela, Ph.D. ABSTRACT: This diploma thesis deals with the education and healthy lifestyle in the category of teenagers. The aim of the diploma thesis is to map out the important issues that affect the lifestyles of teenagers, mainly in relation to the secondary school environment, school documents, such as ŠVP, RVP, high-risk behavior and the influence of subcultures. The special topic of this diploma thesis is to analyze the teaching mathematics at a particular secondary school related to the healthy lifestyles of the current student's population. The diploma thesis also focuses on the important aspect of this topic, the interaction teacher - pupil, the aim of this section is to document and analyze whether the students perceive their teacher's approach to a healthy lifestyle and whether it's something that personally affects them. The current approaches to the education and healthy lifestyle in the secondary school environment are documented and analyzed in the diploma thesis. A brief excursion into the history of these key concepts is also included in the diploma thesis. KEYWORDS: Education, lifestyle, subcultures, high school, student,...

The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to investigate the effect of using Twitter by high school mathematics students learning linear equations in Algebra 1. This quasi-experimental study used ninth grade Algebra 1 classes that were learning linear equations for 18 school days. First, the nonequivalent control group design, a pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design, was used in this quasi-experimental study. The research hypotheses were tested using a factorial analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) with the pretest on linear equations score as the covariate. The control group had three classes (n = 73) and the experimental group had three classes (n = 78). The experimental group received tweets on a daily basis as students learned linear equations. The tweets contained mathematical content, classroom logistics, or both. Lastly, the control group received the same information in class. The quantitative findings of this quasi-experimental study show that overall Twitter, content tweets, logistics tweets, and tweets containing both (content and logistics) did not have a statistically significant effect on the mean linear equations posttest score. Second, this quasi-experimental study looked at students’ performance on various subtopics throughout the unit. The ANCOVA showed that there were no statistically significant differences between the control group and the experimental groups in most of the quizzes. However, statistically significant differences were found in Quiz #2 and Quiz #4 among the logistics groups. Third, the experimental group took a 10-item survey. The purpose of survey was to understand the students’ opinion of using Twitter as they learned course content in Algebra 1. It can be concluded from the results of that survey that students had, for the most part, a positive attitude towards using Twitter as part of learning mathematics in high school. In conclusion, the use of Twitter is not likely to show an increase in students’ mean posttest linear equations score. However, the findings of the survey conducted after the study did show that the use of Twitter might be able to increase student motivation. The results of this quasi-experimental study made major contributions to the literature by investigating the effects of using Twitter in high school Algebra 1.

The objective of this research is to explore the perceptions of UCF Upward Bound Program participants using focus groups and pre-posttest surveys in order to assess students' level of understanding of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) related coursework, secondary education preparation in science and mathematics, and their perceptions of barriers to a STEM college education. Also, this study centers on the summer 2010 science and mathematics residential portion of the Upward Bound Program. Program outcomes and effectiveness were evaluated based on the change in student insight of the Upward Bound Program's stake in their secondary education. In addition, pre-posttest measures and interviews allowed a greater understanding of teacher and parent involvement in high school coursework success. Factors that involve self-efficacy, same or other group orientation and perceptions of student college environment were also analyzed. This research facilitated the understanding of first generation, low income and multicultural student's perceptions and what they view as a benefit or a hindrance to entering and successfully completing degrees in post-secondary institutions, specifically in STEM-related disciplines.