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Browsing by Author "Dennis, Sheila R."
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Item Applied Educational Neuroscience in Elementary Classrooms: a Grounded Theory Study(2018-11) Dennis, Sheila R.; Lay, Kathy; Adamek, Margaret; Brown, James; Draucker, Claire; Glassburn, SusanEducational neuroscience (EN) is a transdisciplinary convergence of neurosciences, education, and psychology that has gained international momentum. Its purpose is to advance the application of neurosciences in P-12 education as a way to improve the design of instructional environments and practices that support the multidimensional social, affective, and cognitive learning needs of students. The potential integration of EN practices into school settings affects educators and school social workers who promote positive school climates and address barriers to learning. Despite the ascension of scholarly discourse proposing the integration of neuroscience knowledge with education practices, a shared conceptual framework remains elusive for the emergent discipline, and the translation of EN into education practices is unexamined. A constructivist grounded theory study was conducted to investigate the emerging conceptualization of EN practices and implications for promoting a positive classroom climate. Data collection included semi-structured interviews with two administrators, three teachers, and 48 students as well as four classroom observations from three different fourth and fifth grade classrooms in a US Midwest city. The data analyses generated a conceptual model that revealed how EN practices unfolded in the classroom to facilitate the co-creation of a positive classroom climate. The data indicated that a humanistic organizational structure facilitated the EN practice implementation, and the teacher’s regulatory state was central to the application process. Five themes emerged that characterized EN practices: teaching neuroanatomy, reflecting on emotions, selfregulating, adapting classroom boundaries, and honoring the whole student. Interactions resulting from these practices aligned with four established climate dimensions: teaching and learning, structure of the learning environment, safety, and relationships. The resulting classroom climate contributed to students’ resiliency, as observed by reduced office referrals, readiness to learn, empowered decision-making, greater empathy, and enhanced social connectedness. Findings from this study support a conceptual model for the application of EN practices in elementary classrooms and align with existing research that suggests positive climates promote healthy development, social-emotional learning, and academic success. The results of this study will inform future translational EN inquiry as well as educators and school social workers who seek to co-create positive classroom climates using transdisciplinary EN practices.Item Grievers, Skeptics, Pragmatists, Converts, and Champions: Social Work Educators’ Transition to Online Teaching(Taylor & Francis, 2022-01-18) Dennis, Sheila R.; McCarthy, Katherine M.; Glassburn, Susan L.Despite the surge in online social work education programs throughout the last two decades, the body of literature examining the pedagogical transition to virtual environments from social work educators’ perspectives remains nascent in form. To grow this area of inquiry, this interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) examined the lived experiences of 17 social work educators across the United States who transitioned from solely on-ground instruction to partially or completely online teaching prior to July 2019. Analyses of participant interviews generated a framework that organized social work educators’ perspectives into the typologies of Grievers, Skeptics, Converts, Pragmatists, and Champions. These typologies emerged as a result of the multi-systemic forces that generated new conceptualizations of educators' roles and identities as they transitioned into the virtual landscape. Amid the current pandemic necessitating abrupt shifts to online education delivery, this framework offers clarity to social work educators as they make sense of their own experiences adapting to online teaching.Item Transitioning to online teaching: A phenomenological analysis of social work educator perspectives(Taylor & Francis, 2021-01-06) McCarthy, Katherine M.; Glassburn, Susan L.; Dennis, Sheila R.Online education in social work has been proliferating and is now ubiquitous due to COVID-19. To optimize instructor pedagogical wisdom and ensure student benefit, critical reflection is needed on the transition to online education. Prior to the pandemic, 17 social work educators were interviewed about their perspectives on the transition from teaching on-the-ground classes to online. This interpretative phenomenological study identified three themes that influenced the educator’s experience: personal qualities, pedagogical beliefs, and macro and institutional factors. It is this unique mix of each participants’ pedagogical beliefs, personal qualities, and macro or institutional factors which influenced the individual educator’s experience of satisfaction. Each educator’s perspective of online teaching is arrived at through calculations of costs and benefits as they balance their own and their students’ needs within the demands and supports of their respective institutions. These perspectives can be characterized by one of four standpoints: mutual benefit, compromised learning, instructor reservations, and incompatibility. Implications include enhancing social work educators’ critical reflexivity while navigating the evolving technological context and providing administrators with points of intervention to support instructors and develop online delivery modes.