Teachers' beliefs shape their daily instruction and the materials presented to students. The personal views of educators are especially relevant when socioscientific issues are involved. Preservice and novice teachers' mastery of the nature of science (NOS) and personal beliefs in and out of the classroom influence their worldviews and classroom…

Education is the foundation for the future, and a successful education begins with strong literacy skills. The 2013 National Assessment of Educational Progress reported that only 36% of eighth-grade students in the United States were classified as reading on a proficient level, and 22% of eighth-grade students were unable to read and comprehend…

Traditional teacher education programs focus on pedagogy and, to a lesser extent, assessments of knowledge (Siedlecki, 2012). Pedagogy and assessments should be fundamental components of any secondary teacher's curriculum planning (Knight, Shum, & Littleton, 2014). This study sought to consider the possible effects of three pedagogical…

The purpose of this program evaluation was to evaluate the Direct Instruction programs, Reading Mastery and Corrective Reading, from SRA McGraw-Hill Publishing Company, which were being used as a school-wide reading intervention. These programs were implemented at a small elementary school in the Piedmont area of North Carolina beginning in the…

No Child Left Behind Act created a paradigm shift in the education field for all students including students with disabilities. The act impacted students with disabilities because the expectation of education changed in many areas. The expectation of highly qualified teachers teaching utilizing research based strategies and the requirement of…

The purpose of this case study was to explore Teaching Presence in the undergraduate online Business course environment. This study explored the following three Research Questions: 1. How do undergraduate Business students perceive Teaching Presence in online courses? 2. What Teaching Presence components do undergraduate Business students find…

The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to investigate the use of a participatory instruction as a means of teaching Institute of Medicine (IOM) standards of a group module project, compared to the teaching of the same standards using direct instruction. The students' final perceived achievement score, instructional type (two levels),…

The purpose of this investigation was to identify strategies used by effective instructors of developmental mathematics, and to discover the perceptions developmental mathematics students have about these strategies. While there are research projects focusing solely on developmental mathematics achievement, this study fills a need by incorporating…

The hypothesis of the study was explicit gradual release of responsibility comprehension instruction (GRR) (Pearson & Gallagher, 1983; Fisher & Frey, 2008) with the researcher-created Story Grammar Code (SGC) strategy would significantly increase third graders' comprehension of narrative fiction and nonfiction text. SGC comprehension…

The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of scenario-based e-tutorials and direct instruction e-tutorials as a way for students to prepare for the flipped classroom. The main question was whether it was more effective, as measured by assessments, to have students receive scenario-based e-tutorials or direct instruction e-tutorials.…

Scientific explanation and scientific argument are important aspects of science inquiry and science education. Though students of all ages find construction of written scientific explanations and arguments difficult, explicit instruction in scientific explanation and argument can improve student ability. This quantitative research study used a…

Purpose: The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine the degree of effectiveness and preferences as it related to various computer-based training (CBT) and instructor-based training (IBT) types as perceived by baby boomer, Generation X, and millennial generational Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific (SSC Pacific) employees…

This qualitative single exploratory case study explored instructional practices of third, fourth, and fifth grade teachers to explore how Florida students with learning disabilities at the elementary school level perform on statewide mathematics assessments of learning following both cognitive and metacognitive skills development. Theoretical…

Growing gaps in reading and vocabulary achievement between minority and majority student subgroups have led to an intense focus on implementing effective classroom instructional strategies. Prior research concerning teachers' perceptions of using explicit instructional strategies to teach vocabulary to underperforming students has been…

Increased student achievement is the goal of all educators, and to that end, teachers must engage in professional development so that they are introduced to new strategies. Moreover, these professional development offerings must be sustained with a follow-up plan that allows teachers to practice strategies and reflect and collaborate with…