The ability to self-regulate one's learning is crucial to the success of all college students, but is particularly important to those who are considered to be underprepared; it puts students on a path towards successful course completion, subsequent course enrollment, and eventual graduation from a postsecondary institution. Those enrolled in…

There continues to be a wide discrepancy in the views supporters and opponents of full inclusion have on how to best provide services for special education students. Although scholars have extensively researched teacher perceptions of inclusion, the specific examination of special education teacher perspectives are not as evident in the literature…

The purpose of this experimental research study was to investigate the effects of using academic science-term vodcasts to provide vocabulary instruction, and more specifically, comprehension support in science to middle-school adolescents with and without LD. A total of 105 suburban middle school students, of which 17 presented with LD, were…

This study examined laboratory experiments and traditional lecturing as an introductory teaching method in physics. In this participatory action research study, a qualitative and quantitative method were used to examine the level of achievement and the levels of engagement of high school students in introductory physics. The qualitative data was…

At Southern College (pseudonym), a liberal arts college in South Carolina, students were enrolled in an introductory civic engagement course. The purpose of this action research study was to examine how an introductory civic engagement course influenced students' perspectives on civic engagement. Additionally, the research focused on how a civic…

Classroom management is one of the most important factors contributing to positive learning outcomes for students. Despite its importance, many teachers report receiving no or insufficient pre-service training in evidence based classroom management practices (Darling- Hammond, Wei, Andree, Richardson, & Orphanos, 2009). New teacher attrition…

This study tested the hypothesis that exploratory learning, with and without analogous problems, would improve students' ability to make connections between conceptually-related topics. In this randomized experiment, undergraduates in introductory physics (N = 171) studied a new topic under three different instructional conditions. Order and type…

The present study used a multiple probe across participants design to examine the effects of systematic and explicit instruction to teach students with severe disabilities (SD) to comprehend and discuss grade-aligned literature. The text was adapted and formatted as a read-aloud on an iPad2®. Using a modified system of least prompts, participants…

This dissertation examines the thesis that implicit learning plays a role in learning about scientific phenomena, and subsequently, in conceptual change. Decades of research in learning science demonstrate that a primary challenge of science education is overcoming prior, naive knowledge of natural phenomena in order to gain scientific…

The aim of this study was to identify and implement research-based practices in reading comprehension that would enable deaf and hard-of hearing adolescents to monitor their comprehension actively to increase the reading level beyond fourth grade. Making meaning out of teachers' and students' reading comprehension experiences through their…

E-textbooks have generated attention in education and the expectation to use the technology has become a requirement rather than an option. The purpose of this mixed method explanatory sequential study was to explain the impact that direct instruction on comprehension strategy and e-textbook feature connection had on secondary student…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of explicit instruction combined with video prompting to teach text comprehension skills to students with autism spectrum disorder. Participants included 4 elementary school students with autism. A multiple probe across participants design was used to evaluate the intervention's…

Student reasoning on physics problems is often context dependent. A possible explanation is that salient distracting features (SDFs) in physics problems may cue students' "spontaneous" reasoning. This cued reasoning is often accepted without question, even though it may be unproductive and may even preclude the use of relevant knowledge.…

Access to advanced-level science courses can be difficult for those students who start in a tracked system. Tracking is an educational practice where students are assigned to different classes based on ability level. African American and Hispanic students are most at risk since most minority students are found in the lower level track (Burris,…

The leading characteristics of persons with autism spectrum disorder include challenging communication practices and asocial reactions which are the outcome of uncommon human sensory processes. As a result, adverse learning practices, outcomes, and greater dropout rates often outline the community college experience for students with ASD. The…