Student Dissertations

Graduates of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction engage in complex research agendas supported by our award-winning faculty members. See examples of past student dissertations and research agendas, grouped by doctoral track.

Arts in Education

  • A Balanced Curriculum for Student-Oriented Learning in Art + Design Education: Toward Community-Based Participatory Design Research
    Mee Jekal, 2020
    Adviser: James Bequette

  • How does Creativity take shape in an arts classroom? A Post-intentional phenomenological and Arts-based study on the creation of artwork
    Shelagh Gamble, 2019
    Adviser: James Bequette

  • The Other Museum: The Experience of The Interior Space at The Adaptive Reuse Museum, where the institution meets its historically preserved building
    Abdulrahman (Ben) Albannaa, 2019
    Adviser: James Bequette

Culture and Teaching

  • Teacher Life: A Narrative Inquiry into the Storied Knowledge of Teachers
    Jake Knaus, 2020
    Adviser: Bic Ngo

  • Adviser: Bic Ngo Being and Belonging in America: Second-Generation Asian American Teachers’ Stories of Negotiating Identity & Culture
    Meghan Phadke, 2021
    Adviser: Nina Asher

  • How Service Learning Constructs Ideal Citizens for the Nation
    Colleen Rost-Banik, 2019
    Adviser: Vichet Chhuon

    • Elementary Education

  • Female Student Voice and Breaking the Silence: A Post-Intentional Phenomenological Exploration of the Lived Experiences of Females Using Digital Storytelling
    Halah Alismail, 2020
    Adviser: Mark Vagle

  • A Phenomenological Exploration of the Hegemonic Insider-Outsider in Teacher Education
    Younkyung Hong, 2021
    Advisers: Annie Mason and Mark Vagle

    • Learning Teachnologies

  • Examining Pre-service Teachers’ Technology Integration Perceptions and Practices
    Yu-Hui Chang, 2021
    Adviser: Cassie Scharber

  • Defining Active Learning in Online Courses Through Design Principles
    Christiane Reilly, 2020
    Adviser: Gill Roehrig

  • What Would Grace Hopper Do? Reclaiming Women's Place in Computer Science
    Kris Isaacson, 2019
    Adviser: Cassie Scharber

    • Literacy Education

  • Race Talk in the Classroom: Whiteness, Emotionality, and Antiracism
    Kevin Lally, 2020
    Adviser: Tim Lensmire

  • Rereading and Rewriting Teachers’ Stories of Felt Impossibilities
    Abby Boehm-Turner, 2020
    Adviser: Time Lensmire

  • Exploring Reading Motivation and Engagement in Discipline-specific Classes
    Yongjun Lee, 2020
    Adviser: David O’Brien

  • Beyond Urbanization: (Un)sustainable Geographies and Young People’s Literature
    Nick Kleese, 2021
    Adviser: Marek Oziewicz

Second Language Education

  • Traveling through spatial repertoires and mathematics: Dialogic nature of physics discourse practices and socialization activities
    Yi-Ju Lai, 2020
    Adviser: Kendall King

  • On Becoming the Peace Elephant Warrior Princess: Reclaiming Indigenous Rights to Spirituality, Creativity and Orality for the Vitality of Mbòg Bàsàa
    Veronica Quillien, 2019
    Adviser: Mary Hermes

  • Elementary Mandarin Immersion Students Learning Alphabetic Pinyin and Using Pinyin to Learn Chinese Characters
    Zhongkui Ju, 2019
    Adviser: Martha Bigelow

  • Bilingual educational language policies in context: A multidimensional examination of California’s bilingual teaching authorization
    Kathleen Mitchell, 2019
    Adviser: Kendall King

Social Studies Education

  • Essential Voices: The Lived Experiences of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Individuals in a Rural School.
    Heather Abrahamson, 2020
    Adviser: J.B. Mayo

  • “You Will See Yourself In This Class”: A Case Study of Rendering Absent Narratives Visible
    Daniel Bordwell, 2019
    Adviser: J.B. Mayo

STEM Education

  • Identity in Mathematics Spaces for Middle and High School Students: A Case Study Approach to the Revealing of Identities in Formal and Informal Mathematics Spaces
    Elena Gullickson, 2020
    Adviser: Lesa Clarkson

  • Growing North Minneapolis: Fostering Youth Leadership and Critical Mentorship Through Intergenerational Work and Community-University Partnerships
    Illana Livstrom, 2020
    Adviser: Gill Roehrig

  • Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching Proof in Secondary Mathematics Teacher Preparation
    Foster Graif, 2020
    Adviser: Erin Baldinger

  • Student Experiences Navigating Data Analysis Tasks in Fifth Grade Science and Engineering Settings
    Aran Glancy, 2020
    Adviser: Erin Baldinger and Tamara Moore

  • Understanding Sensemaking in Undergraduate Science Classrooms
    FangFang Zhao, 2020
    Advisers: Gill Roehrig and Anita Schuchardt