Concept inventories are widely used in physics education research, yet numerous studies show that concept inventories measure dramatically different learning gains in different demographic groups. Prior studies show that the performance gaps between demographic groups are already present in their preinstruction responses, suggesting that the…

The purpose of this quantitative study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the LearnEd Notebook curriculum when used with two groups of eighth-grade African American male students in teaching science. More specifically, the researcher sought to determine if there was a correlation between the utilization of the LearnEd Notebook Science curriculum…

This study used an in-depth qualitative multi-interview approach to explore the lived experience of associate in applied science (AAS) students at a community college in North Carolina. The purpose of this study is to explore the aspirations of community college students enrolled in career focused AAS programs to understand their stated goals, the…

The 4-H Youth Development Program, the youth development program for the United States Cooperative Extension service, is a nonformal education program with more than 100 years of history providing experiential learning activities for youth. As growing evidence supports the critical role of nonformal education in STEM literacy (National Research…

The purpose of this study was to explore the unique lived experiences of four middle school science teachers from North Carolina and South Carolina during and following the transition from in-person to online instruction due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Four predominant themes were identified from individual, semi-structured interviews of the…

Instructional coaching is a popular form of professional development for improving teacher instruction and student achievement. While there are numerous studies that have examined the impact of instructional coaching on student academic outcomes, very few studies have explored the influence of specific coaching models on student achievement.…

For decades, education policy has prioritized the need to improve reading and math achievement while science teaching and learning have received far less emphasis. In 2013, schools across the United States began implementing Next Generation Science Standards (or similarly structured, state-adopted science standards). These new science standards…

A teacher's sense of self-efficacy may have significant influence on the pedagogical decisions in the classroom. An elementary school teacher's sense of self-efficacy in teaching science may negatively influence student achievement in science. Negative beliefs concerning science or the ability to teach and promote student learning in science may…

This dissertation study concerned the lack of underrepresented minority students matriculating through the health professions pipeline. The term pipeline is "the educational avenue by which one must travel to successfully enter a profession" (Sullivan Alliance, 2004). There are a significant number of health professional pipeline…

This dissertation examines the sources of job satisfaction among 1,833 library and information science (LIS) master's program graduates in North Carolina from 1964-2009. Only respondents who identified themselves as librarians were included in the analysis. The study first examined the effects of traditional work-related variables such as income,…

This study examined the difference between the number of overall students, African-American students, and students with disabilities on a semester 4 x 4 block schedule who were proficient on the North Carolina Biology End-of-Course Test and the number of the same group of students on a traditional 45-50 minute yearlong schedule who were proficient…

This study investigates the relationship between technology use and student achievement in public high school across North Carolina. The purpose of this study was to determine whether a digital divide (differences in technology utilization based on student demographics of race/ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, and municipality) exists among…

A case study is conducted implementing the Dell Streak seven-inch android device into eighth grade science classes of one teacher in a rural middle school in the Piedmont region of North Carolina. The purpose of the study is to determine if the use of the Dell Streaks would increase student achievement on standardized subject testing, if the…

The purpose of this study was to examine the knowledge, skills, and dispositions enabled for elementary school participants in two summer herpetology programs, one in North Carolina and one in Florida. An additional purpose of this study was to examine the normative scientific practices in which participants engaged and to describe how these…

The purpose of this program evaluation was to investigate the impact over time teachers' self-efficacies and the outcome expectancies of those who participated in an inquiry-based, hands-on, constructivist professional development program to learn science content. The hope was that after active participation in this inquiry-based professional…