Over the last decade, STEM education research has reflected a turn towards framing disciplinary development in STEM as the repetition and stabilization of situated practices. In this dissertation, I turn further: towards "disciplinary relationships" as a potential focus of analysis. To centralize disciplinary relationships, I use a…

Scholars and educators are turning to culturally responsive education to create more inclusive and equitable educational experiences for an increasingly diverse student population (Gay, 2010, 2013, 2018; Ladson-Billings, 1995a, 1995b, 2014). However, despite its immense potential, challenges and pitfalls still exist (Sleeter, 2012; Warren, 2014,…

Historically, social studies teaching (and teacher education) discourses have focused on the cognitive registers, both in how teachers teach--their inquiries, objectives, and aims--and in how social studies teaching lives are imagined to be lived (and felt). This study departs from these discourses to focus on the affective registers, aiming to…

This qualitative study explored core and adjunct faculty members' transformational leadership and power usage in relation to students' affective learning in the classroom. Current research has focused on instructors in general and has not distinguished between types of instructors. The literature on transformational leadership, social power bases,…

This qualitative case study sought to understand how final round candidates for the honor of "Teacher of the Year" in a Midwestern region of the United States described and exhibited the use of affective behaviors and performance techniques to engage students in learning. Seventeen secondary-level educators who possessed teaching…

This project looked at faculty accounts of emotional experiences in the workplace. Specifically, this project examined how faculty in higher education spoke about emotions and teaching, the ways emotional labor manifested itself in higher education faculty, and the relationship between emotions and the environment. Participants (?n = 90) were…

The purpose of this study was to explore four elementary preservice teachers' (PSTs) learning outcomes based on "affective characteristics," "science knowledge," and "pedagogical content knowledge" during a science methods course that incorporated "explicit instruction on drawing-to-reason" about…

The increasing diversity in American public schools presents challenges to teachers and administrators. Current methods of reading instruction for English language learners (ELLs) have been ineffective to meet their needs in acquiring vocabulary. Meanwhile, the amount of time afforded ELLs to become proficient with grade-level vocabulary presents…

Attitudes and values are considered an important component of learning in higher education, but natural resources and environmental education programs typically emphasize cognitive gains in the design of instructional activities and subsequent assessments. This research suggests that greater consideration of affective learning outcomes should be…

The threats of the COVID-19 pandemic in January 2020 resulted in schools moving to online learning and impacted programs with cocurricular activities, especially band programs. Student retention, low enrollment, loss of interest, and lower motivation became liabilities for band programs during the pandemic. Therefore, having an engaging online…

Moving beyond purposes for reading as fixed outcomes, this dissertation project explores the possibilities of affect theory for decentering or weakening those purposes so they might be seen as one element among many interacting in the classroom space. Because these purposes become the expected outcomes of reading with youth in secondary English…

This study investigated teacher questioning practices and rationales in released-time seminary classes for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Church of Jesus Christ or the Church). Seminary teachers focus their questions on helping students learn course principles, value those principles, and apply them to their lives by…

This dissertation explores the area of student engagement. Precisely, the dissertation attempts to find out the importance, roles, significance and factors involved in online student engagement and their consequences in achieving a positive learning environment. The first stream of inquiry investigated the perceived links between students'…

Large class size as a growing phenomenon in developing countries is closely related to two reasons: initiatives to achieve universal education and rapid population growth (Bendow, Mizrachi, Oliver, & Said-Moshiro, 2007; Shehu & Tafida, 2016). Given the fact that the large class phenomenon cannot be eliminated within a reasonable amount of…

This study establishes the types of teaching experiences that graduate students have in graduate school, their teaching approach, and how these affect teaching efficacy. Data were collected from 327 graduate students from a variety of degree program disciplines at various stages in their degree programs. A sources of teaching efficacy…