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The State of Arizona mandates that students with superior intellect or abilities, or identified gifted students, receive appropriate gifted education and services in order to achieve at levels commensurate with their intellect and abilities. Additionally, the State of Arizona adopted the Arizona College and Career Ready Standards (AZCCRS) initiative. This

The State of Arizona mandates that students with superior intellect or abilities, or identified gifted students, receive appropriate gifted education and services in order to achieve at levels commensurate with their intellect and abilities. Additionally, the State of Arizona adopted the Arizona College and Career Ready Standards (AZCCRS) initiative. This investigation explores if, according to the perceptions of gifted educators, the AZCCRS support a gifted mathematic curriculum and pedagogy at the elementary level which is commensurate with academic abilities, potential, and intellect of these mathematically gifted students, what the relationships are between exemplary gifted curriculum and pedagogy and the AZCCRS, and exactly how the gifted education specialists charged with meeting the academic and intellectual needs and potential of their gifted students interpret, negotiate, and implement the AZCCRS.

This study utilized a qualitative approach and a variety of instruments to gather data, including: profile questionnaires, semi-structured pre-interviews, reflective journals, three group discussion sessions, and semi-structured post interviews. The pre- and post interviews as well as the group discussion sessions were audiotape recorded and transcribed. A three stage coding process was utilized on the questionnaires, interviews, discussion sessions, and journal entries.

The results and findings demonstrated that AZCCRS clearly support exemplary gifted mathematic curriculum and practices at the elementary level, that there are at least nine distinct relationships between the AZCCRS and gifted pedagogy, and that the gifted education specialists interpret, negotiate, and implement the AZCCRS uniquely in at least four distinct ways, in their mathematically gifted pullout classes.
ContributorsDohm, Dianna (Author) / Carlson, David L. (Thesis advisor) / Barnard, Wendy (Committee member) / Moses, Lindsey (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
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Description
Learning academic vocabulary is part of the curriculum for elementary students. Many gifted students learn new words easily but do not necessarily feel positive about studying vocabulary at school. They also do not transfer these words to their own writing. This researcher used games in her own fifth-grade classroom to

Learning academic vocabulary is part of the curriculum for elementary students. Many gifted students learn new words easily but do not necessarily feel positive about studying vocabulary at school. They also do not transfer these words to their own writing. This researcher used games in her own fifth-grade classroom to teach vocabulary and measured the use of these words in the students' writing. This study also examined students' attitudes about learning vocabulary through games. This mixed-methods study used quantitative data to study the students' retention of the vocabulary words, their usage of the words in their writing, and their attitude toward playing games to learn vocabulary. The researcher also used qualitative data to measure the students' attitudes toward learning with games. Three different vocabulary games were used and one editing game was used during this 18-week study. Quantitative data from test scores and questionnaire responses were analyzed comparing pre and post responses. Writing samples and word tallies were collected throughout the study. Students learned the definitions of vocabulary words while playing games and retained the meanings after 18 weeks, achieving a mean score on the posttest of 71%. No significant usage of the relevant words in student writing samples was found. Qualitative data from questionnaires and field notes were coded and analyzed. A significant gain was shown in how students felt about studying vocabulary after playing games. This study showed positive results in all areas measured.
ContributorsRagatz, Carolyn Mae (Author) / Carlson, David L. (Thesis advisor) / Gee, Elisabeth (Committee member) / Stamm, Jill (Committee member) / Cash, Richard (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
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Description
This action research study examines what common perceptions and constructs currently exist in educating adult immigrants in Arizona and considers how might the integration of citizen science with the current English curriculum promote higher order thinking and educational equity in this population. A citizen science project called the Mastodon Matrix

This action research study examines what common perceptions and constructs currently exist in educating adult immigrants in Arizona and considers how might the integration of citizen science with the current English curriculum promote higher order thinking and educational equity in this population. A citizen science project called the Mastodon Matrix Project was introduced to a Level 2 ELAA (English Language Acquisition for Adults) classroom and aligned with the Arizona Adult Standards for ELAA education. Pre and post attitudinal surveys, level tests, and personal meaning maps were implemented to assess student attitudes towards science, views on technology, English skills, and knowledge gained as a result of doing citizen science over a period of 8 weeks.
ContributorsBasham, Melody (Author) / Carlson, David L. (Thesis advisor) / Jordan, Michelle (Committee member) / LePore, Paul (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
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Description
This study is a philosophical genealogy of the term “student engagement” as it has appeared in composition studies. It attempts to account for the fact that student engagement has become something of a virtue in educational and composition studies, despite the fact that the term is problematic due its lack

This study is a philosophical genealogy of the term “student engagement” as it has appeared in composition studies. It attempts to account for the fact that student engagement has become something of a virtue in educational and composition studies, despite the fact that the term is problematic due its lack of definitional clarity and circular understanding of pedagogy (explained in greater detail in chapter two). Inspired by Foucault, this study employs a genealogical analytic to create a counterhistory of student engagement, suggesting that its principles have existed long before educational theorists coined the term, tracing its practices back to the 1940s in composition studies. Far from being the humanistic and student-centered practice that it is commonly viewed as, this study situates student engagement practices as emerging from various discursive and political desires
eeds, especially as a way to ideologically counter the rise of Nazism and fascism in pre-World War 2 Europe; in short, rather than evolving out of best practices in education, the concept of student engagement emerged out of an intersection of educational, psychological, and even medical prescriptions set against a specific political backdrop. This study also examines the ways that power dynamics shift and teacher-/student-subjects occupy new roles as engagement becomes a prominent force on the pedagogical landscape, addressing specifically the ways teachers and their assignments enact a disciplinary and pastoral function, all with the intent of molding students into interested, interesting, and democratic subjects. This study closes by considering some of the implications of this new understanding of engagement, and suggests potential directions for the term as well as abandoning the term altogether.
ContributorsCruz, Joshua Michael (Author) / Carlson, David L. (Thesis advisor) / Graham, Steven (Committee member) / Goggin, Maureen D. (Committee member) / Hanna, Mark (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
Only in the world of acting can an individual be denied a job simply on the basis of their appearance, and in my thesis, I sought to explore alternatives to this through the concept of nontraditional casting and casting against "type", which included the presentation of a full-length production of

Only in the world of acting can an individual be denied a job simply on the basis of their appearance, and in my thesis, I sought to explore alternatives to this through the concept of nontraditional casting and casting against "type", which included the presentation of a full-length production of the musical "Once on this Island" which I attempted to cast based on vocal quality and skill alone rather than taking physical characteristics into account. I researched the history and implementation of nontraditional casting, both in regards to race and other factors such as gender, socio-economic status, and disability. I also considered the legal and intellectual property challenges that nontraditional casting can pose. I concluded from this research that while nontraditional casting is only one solution to the problem, it still has a great deal of potential to create diversity in theater. For my own show, I held the initial auditions via audio recording, though the callback auditions were held in person so that I and my crew could appraise dance and acting ability. Though there were many challenges with our cast after this initial round of auditions, we were able to solidify our cast and continue through the rehearsal process. All things said, the show was very successful. It is my hope that those who were a part of the show, either as part of the production or the audience, are inspired to challenge the concept of typecasting in contemporary theater.
ContributorsBriggs, Timothy James (Author) / Yatso, Toby (Thesis director) / Dreyfoos, Dale (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Music (Contributor)
Created2014-12
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Description
This study was designed to introduce specific activities/lessons to students in an online university gender and communication course. It was also designed to determine how participants made meaning of and felt about learning about intersectionality of gender and cultural identities, using arts-based data collection. Previous research on the symbolic nature

This study was designed to introduce specific activities/lessons to students in an online university gender and communication course. It was also designed to determine how participants made meaning of and felt about learning about intersectionality of gender and cultural identities, using arts-based data collection. Previous research on the symbolic nature of language, ground-breaking work on intersectionality, and work on arts-based research were instrumental frameworks in guiding this study. Participants were asked to create poems in response to their readings of class materials and vignettes about cultural identity issues that were provided to them. The researcher was able to determine how individuals from disparate cultural backgrounds made meaning of what they read and then how they articulated their feelings relative to learning about intersectionality, their experiences with arts-based data collection, and their perceptions of their futures application of the lessons learned. The poetic expression about those experiences provides a valuable initial base for future research with regard to more narrowly focused studies of gender intersected with identities associated with socioeconomic status, age, ableism, religious affiliation, and other cultural identities.
ContributorsEdmonds, Leonard M. (Author) / Caterino, Linda (Thesis advisor) / Carlson, David L. (Committee member) / Sumner, Carol (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017