Following a massive wave of school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic, educators found the need to be hyper-critical of how they spend their instructional time with students. Almost all students are expected to return nearly a full grade-level behind and would likely have to learn to navigate a completely new school environment. As a result,…

The purpose of the first study was to develop and validate a new self-report survey used to determine the level of agentic, behavioral, cognitive, and emotional engagement of eighth and ninth grade boys and girls in physical education. Much of the development was driven by work completed by Reeve and Tseng (2011), and by Reeve (2013). Two hundred…

The purpose of this study was to explain middle school teachers' decisions for planning a science unit of instruction (reflection on action) and their decisions when enacting this planned unit (reflection in action) using the new teacher professional knowledge and skill (TPK&S) model as a guiding framework. In addition, this study specifically…

Problem: Educators struggle with how to include the attacks of September 11th, 2001 in the nation's social studies classrooms. This study investigates how teachers engage in instruction about these events and the messages students take away from that instruction. Much of the research to date on the instruction of 9/11 focuses on resources and…

The majority of students in the urban setting are considered underrepresented. These students frequently perform below their proficiency level on standardized tests locally and nationally. If we treat education as the ticket out of the culture of poverty that underrepresented students find themselves, it is incumbent upon us to find pedagogical,…

The purpose of this qualitative exploratory case study was to determine the pedagogical value of Wiki technology-enhanced instruction for middle grade students. The sample consisted of three Wiki projects representative of work from 6th, 7th, and 8th grade middle school students. The examination of the data collected from the three samples of Wiki…

This applied dissertation was designed to provide a formative evaluation of junior high and high school curriculum reform as part of a state initiated pilot program in a rural school district in southwest Mississippi. The purpose of the program was to address and respond to the 8th-grade technology literacy requirements of the No Child Left Behind…