With increasing concern over the state of the education system in the United States, more and more emphasis is being placed on teaching methods. Internet related infrastructure has become cheaper and more powerful, and online learning environments are taking a stronger presence in most higher education institutions with more video content being sought for these environments. However, the effectiveness of using video as a teaching tool is still uncertain. Without additional research, video remains an expensive gamble for an already struggling system. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact on student learning outcomes of video content as a primary teaching method compared to more traditional lecture based classes.

Objective. To assess the impact of a case-based toxicology elective course on student learning in related required courses and student performance on the Pharmacy Curriculum Outcomes Assessment (PCOA) examination. Design. A case-based clinical toxicology elective course that contained topics from 2 required courses, Pharmacology III and Pharmacotherapy II, was offered in the spring 2009 to second- and third-year pharmacy students. Assessment. Scores on the Toxicology subsection of the PCOA of students enrolled in the elective were higher than those of students not enrolled (91.3% ± 4.1 vs. 67.2% ± 5.7). Enrollment in the elective was related to increased examination scores among Pharmacotherapy II students (89.5% ± 2.0 vs. 83.9% ± 1.8). Students indicated on course survey instruments that they were satisfied with the new elective offering. Conclusions. A toxicology elective provided a clinically relevant, active-learning experience for pharmacy students that addressed a curricular need within the college and increased examination scores.

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Literature examining the impact of the student learning accountability movement on faculty perspectives is insufficient, as little is known about how faculty perceive the requirements related to federal, state, and institutional accountability initiatives. This case study investigated the threat posed by the accountability movement on the stability of faculty engagement, while exploring how faculty perceptions of the movement will impact institutional and state policy. Using Levin's system of accountability as the framework for this study, the central research question explored how understanding faculty perspectives on the student learning accountability movement could promote policy within an institution. Data were gathered via a qualitative survey of 140 instructional faculty and from 21 semi-structured interviews with instructional faculty, accountability specialists, and state coordinating board officials. Data from the surveys and interviews were inductively coded, and then analyzed through detailed categorical aggregation. Findings indicated a discord with what Levin calls the feedback loop in an accountability system. Transparency related to institutional governance, not distinctively academic freedom and faculty engagement, was found to be a key component of a successful accountability system. Results of the study contribute to positive social change by providing higher education institutions with practical recommendations to address accountability pressures through a model for a faculty-driven accountability system.

The purpose of this study was to explore the development of students' understanding through writing while immersed in an environment where there was a strong emphasis on a language-based argument inquiry approach. Additionally, this study explored students' spoken discourse to gain a better understanding of what role(s) talking plays in the development of understanding through writing. Finally, the study proposed a new concept of Discourse Space, which enabled researchers to improve their understanding of the characteristics of the development of student cognition through writing, and of the roles talking plays in cognitive development through writing. This study was guided by the research question: What patterns of the development of fifth grade students' cognition over time emerge in their private and public negotiations under a teacher who is ranked as a low-level implementer of the SWH approach? This question was divided into two sub-questions: (a) Throughout a unit, Ecosystems, what patterns emerge regarding the development of six fifth grade students' understanding through writing, and b) What patterns of the development of Discourse Space emerge through talking in three different contexts. In order to answer these questions, this qualitative research employed a generic qualitative study. Twenty-one fifth grade students participated in this study, and six students were purposefully selected through which to further investigate the development of an understanding of science through private negotiation while immersed in a language-based argument inquiry approach. Major data sources included students' writing samples, informal conversations with the teacher, researcher's field notes, and classroom videos. Additionally, the teacher's modified RTOP scores and semi-structured interviews were used to deepen the contextual understanding of the learning environment and the teacher's instructional performance. The data analysis was conducted by utilizing discourse analysis of writing and talking. The results showed (1) students' low level of engagement in evaluation impacted their reasoning and use of sources for making meanings, as well as their understanding of the topic. Compared to the results of a previous study, students' complexity of reasoning was relatively less developed, and similarly students' use of reflective sources was generally observed relatively less often. (2) The teacher and students in this study engaged in limited public negotiation, which focused more on articulating than on evaluating ideas. The limited public negotiation that was represented by the dialogical patterns in this study cannot support the development of understanding through writing or the practice of the roles of constructor and critiquer, which play a core function in the comprehension of scientific practice. This study has several implications for teacher education and research. Teacher education needs to be centered more on how to encourage students' engagement in the process of evaluation, since this plays an important function not only in the development of understanding, but also in providing opportunities to perform the roles of both constructor and critiquer. Teachers can use writing as an argumentative activity to encourage or foster students' engagement in the process of evaluation or critique. Additionally, this study provides insight into the importance of the learning environment in which the teacher and students create and develop; this learning environment needs to provide not only opportunities but also demands for students to engage in both constructing and critiquing ideas.

This research was conducted to determine if students receiving complex systems instruction in the form of software simulations recognize patterns and underlying elements of complex systems more effectively than students receiving traditional instruction. Complex systems were investigated with an analytic (reductive) approach in a control group and with a synthesis approach in the treatment group. Exploration of this top-down approach to learning complex systems counters traditional bottom-up methodologies, investigating systems and subsystems at the component level. The hypothesis was that students experiencing complex systems scenarios in a computer-based learning environment would outperform their counterparts by constructing a greater number of explanations with emergent-like responses. A mixed method experimental, pretest posttest, control group triangulation design research study was designed for high school students enrolled in an Introduction to Technology and Engineering course. A pretest consisting of one open-ended near transfer problem and one far transfer problem was administered, investigating the generation of reductive (clockwork) and complex (emergent-like) mental models. A stratified sampling procedure was used to assign students to control or treatment groups. Following treatment, an analysis of covariance failed to reveal statistically significant evidence supporting the hypothesis. However, qualitative data in the form of student transcriptions, daily lab reports, and data entry worksheets revealed evidence of emergent-like response and behaviors.

This capstone project was part of a team project completed by two school principals in Hillsborough County, Florida. The project began because of our passion for meeting the needs of our students in urban high poverty schools being supported by varying district turnaround initiatives. We looked at our district’s previous and current attempts to increase student success in high poverty schools. We questioned the ways in which supports and resources were provided, and we explored ways through which success in high poverty schools might be increased by redefining the supports and resources provided. Our appreciative exploration of the topic was guided by the question, what successful examples of services and supports have contributed to an increase in success for students in high poverty schools? More specifically, I was interested in school-based health centers (SBHC), their benefits, and their impact on student academic outcomes. I looked for literature using the following keywords: wrap around services, school based health centers, health and student achievement. School-Based Health Centers improve access to healthcare, which can help to identify and address health risk behaviors and contribute to more stable attendance at school. More instructional seat time can contribute to improved academic outcomes. The preventative role played by SBHCs can reduce barriers to learning, such as treating undiagnosed mental and physical illnesses. School-Based Health Centers provide wraparound services so that issues impacting students such as obesity or asthma can be addressed on a school’s campus where key mental health, medical and school professionals can collaborate to meet the needs of students.

This graduate project was part of a group project completed by five school and district administrators in Hillsborough County, Florida. The project began because of our passion for teachers who are able to establish a culture of care in their classrooms that support students academically but transform their learning through experiences that enable them to be more highly engaged and productive students, regardless of ethnicity, socioeconomic status, perceived academic abilities, and backgrounds. My project component looked at research on teacher expectations and their effects on student success. Why does the color of a child's skin tone trigger lower expectations by some teachers? Why does this occur? How can school leaders and teachers confront preconceived notions that create barriers for high expectations for marginalized students? Selected literature was reviewed that concentrated on perspectives on teacher attitudes, systemic biases, and teacher expectations. I applied what I learned to exploring gaps in district emphasis on diversity and equity and potential approaches to engaging teachers and school leaders in collaborative and challenging conversation. In an examination of four major district documents, the terms ‘diversity of students’, ‘cultural diversity’, ‘high expectations for all students’, ‘multicultural awareness and equity’ each appeared only once. Professional development for teachers and school leaders was needed to focus on inquiry, self-reflection, curriculum development, and instructional approaches to surface and address implicit biases that contribute to low expectations for marginalized students.

This narrative inquiry study examines the stories told by seven adult students about learning cognitive therapy and how they experienced being both the subject and the writer of their own case study. At the time of being interviewed, some were completing a Bachelor of Counselling or Alcohol and Drug Studies, while others had completed their counsellor training and had employment in their profession. The students completing the Alcohol and Drug Studies are also trainee counsellors with a particular specialisation. All students completed a ten day, introductory course in Cognitive Therapy. There has been limited research exploring the learning experiences of students on cognitive therapy training. There does not appear to be any research on either the use of self case study in Cognitive Therapy education or the student experience of self case study. The purpose of this study was twofold: firstly, to explore the students’ perspectives on what it was like to learn cognitive therapy and secondly, to explore the students’ experiences of completing a case study on themselves. In this study, narrative interviews were used to invite participants to tell their story. The interviews were audio taped and transcribed. The participants’ in depth stories when analysed, produced clear thematic content as well as unique accounts of personal learning journeys. Analysis involved rewriting each interview as a core narrative, structured to show each participant’s position when they began learning, the essence of the story line, their unique voice, the plot direction, the story’s climax, including the impact on their identity and finally, their core message. These narratives are represented by six short pieces of prose and a poem. The narrators and cognitive therapy are central characters in all stories. Thematic content was depicted as steps in a learning process. All core narratives were sent to each participant for checking that it captured their original story and its meaning. The findings were that adult counselling students found brief introductory training courses in Cognitive Therapy to be very effective for enabling them to learn the cognitive therapy model, to refine their cognitive therapy skills and to enhance their own personal development. Self case study has the potential to provide a complex, multi-dimensional learning opportunity facilitating deep learning. Self case study can result in transformative learning and the development of new stories of identity for the writer (and subject) of the case study. Individual student accounts suggest that Cognitive Therapy can be usefully adapted for some Maori and self case study can be a means of strengthening cultural identity. In addition, for some counselling student trainees, the process of doing a self case study may provide a means of working through childhood trauma. The findings provide some preliminary support for including use of self case study within the counselling curriculum. Self case study can provide opportunities for deepening learning about theory and practice, which is all the more potent when related to students’ own selves. Given support, students might be encouraged to complete self case study as a means of gaining significant personal development. Such curriculum changes would require additional expertise on the part of counselling educators. The narratives analysed in this study suggest that particular support may be needed to enable the safe self development of students from ethnic minority groups and also to provide well for those who had experienced childhood trauma. This is recommended as an area for further research. Given that Counselling education has the task of developing and preparing students for the Counselling profession, students’ perspectives on this experience, are an important and relatively underdeveloped area of research. There is a need for further research specifically on students’ learning experiences in Cognitive Therapy. Ongoing research is needed about the use of self case study as a learning opportunity for student learning and personal development.

This thesis presents a study on how fourth graders can learn and use metaphor to create meaningful and expressive artworks. It is intended to investigate how students can understand the idea of metaphor and how they can use it to illustrate their own thoughts and ideas within their artworks. Jean Piaget believes much abstract thinking does not occur until the Formal Operations Stage of eleven to thirteen years of age. This study sought to question the ideas of Piaget by introducing the abstract thought of metaphor to fourth graders who are at the approximate age of nine. It set out to demonstrate that students may understand the idea of metaphor while applying it to create meaningful artworks that demonstrate their own opinions, thoughts and beliefs. Concepts about metaphor were introduced to the students through a number of interactive lessons to develop their ability to implement metaphor into their own artworks. This unit taught students how to interpret metaphor and apply the use of metaphor to their own artworks.