Three College of Education Doctoral Students Win Awards for Scholarly Work During NC State’s Annual Graduate Research Symposium

Three students from the NC State College of Education were recognized for their scholarly work during the 16th annual Graduate Student Research Symposium on April 6 at NC State. 

The Graduate Student Research Symposium included poster presentations from 185 NC State graduate students with the goal of showcasing the outstanding quality and diversity of graduate-level research at the university. 

In judging by faculty and students, College of Education doctoral students Joey Marion, Danielle Scharen and Jeanne McClure took home the first-, second- and third-place prizes in the education category, respectively.

You can read more about their research and experiences in the College of Education below:

Joey Marion

Ph.D. in Learning and Teaching in STEM Science Education concentration

As a physical therapist and educator, Joey Marion knows the pathway to healthcare careers can be difficult, especially for students from historically underrepresented populations. 

As a doctoral student and future researcher, he wants to make that journey a little bit easier, by exploring the connection between foundational sciences and healthcare education as well as student motivation and innovative pedagogy. 

“Navigating academia and healthcare education takes a lot of energy, and there are disparities in how individuals pursuing healthcare careers expend their energy. I hope to bring such issues to the forefront of healthcare education and contribute to advocacy and equity for underrepresented students, including non-traditional, racial and ethnic minority, LGBTQ+ and first-generation students,” Marion said. “I am also interested in bridging the research gaps between healthcare, postsecondary foundational sciences, and primary and secondary education because aspirations for healthcare careers can ignite at any point during an individual’s education journey.”

Marion’s presented research, entitled “Development and Validation of the Relatedness and Autonomy Scale for Human Anatomy and Physiology Students,” stemmed from his desire to create a method to capture and quantify the experiences of aspiring healthcare providers at the undergraduate level. 

The study details the development and validation of his Relatedness and Autonomy Scale for Human Anatomy and Physiology Students, which examined students’ autonomy, sense of belonging and peer connection. 

“I wanted to explore constructs that perhaps aren’t always the direct points of focus of sometimes rigid science coursework,” Marion said. “My working ideology is that belonging can be developed in the science classroom through the intentional promotion of other constructs, such as autonomy.” 

Marion said the College of Education provided the flexibility he needed in order to fully explore his research interests and incorporate his unique background into his research, and he felt honored to have his work recognized with a first-place award at the Graduate Research Symposium. 

“Being nominated meant someone paid attention to my work and connected with its value. To actually place in the competition is beyond incredible,” he said. “For me, it means that I was able to communicate the passion that I have for the work, which is validating and motivating. On a bigger scale, it is also a reflection of my journey. I didn’t do this on my own, and I have amazing guidance from my professors in the Department of STEM Education and a solid committee that always encourages my ideas and intentions.” 

Danielle Scharen

Ph.D. in Teacher Education and Learning Sciences Elementary Education in Mathematics and Science concentration

As a former elementary school teacher, Danielle Scharen personally experienced the struggle that time constraints, limited resources and lack of professional development for science teaching practices placed on science teaching in schools. 

Wanting to make a change for K-12 students, she made the difficult decision to leave her fifth grade classroom and pursue her Ph.D. in order to make a greater impact in the field of science education.

“It was a very difficult decision to leave the classroom, and I miss teaching elementary school students every day. However, I felt so passionately about improving science education in elementary school and advocating for in-service and pre-service teachers’ science teaching practices, and I didn’t feel I could make enough impact from my role as an elementary classroom teacher,” she said. “I wanted to better understand the current research and areas of need in elementary science education, and working on my Ph.D. felt like the next step towards that goal.”

It was during Scharen’s time as a master of education student in the College of Education that she first began her research journey, exploring the role of blending active science learning experiences, student-to-student discourse, and the use of reading and writing in science with her students. 

This experience ultimately shaped her Ph.D. research, where she formalized the Touch-Talk-Text science instructional model alongside College of Education faculty members.

Her presented research, “Examining Elementary Pre-service Teachers’ Use of the Touch-Talk-Text Science Instructional Model: An Exploratory Case Study Analysis,” evaluated the Touch-Talk-Text interdisciplinary approach in elementary schools. Findings showed the model may enhance existing science instructional models by intentionally blending science and literacy practices to focus on students’ development of science skills, discourse practices, language development, and reading and writing skills. 

“I have found that pre-service teachers using the Touch-Talk-Text model in their teacher preparation program feel more confident about teaching science and advocating for improving science in their future classrooms,” Scharen said. 

It was this research that earned Scharen the second-place prize in the education category of the Graduate Research Symposium. It’s an honor, Scharen said, that recognizes years of collaborative work with researchers and pre-service educators in the College of Education.

“I am grateful that others find value in this work and recognize the critical need to improve elementary science education. It was a wonderful experience to be surrounded by so many NC State graduate students as they shared their valuable research with the NC State community,” she said. 

As a soon-to-be three time graduate of the College of Education, Scharen said she has always felt strongly connected to and supported by the college community. 

As a doctoral student and recipient of the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, Scharen said she was given opportunities to teach and conduct research but, most important to her, was the support she felt from faculty, staff, students and alumni throughout her Ph.D. journey. 

“I am eternally grateful for the experience and connections I have had in the College of Education and, while I am about to graduate from the college for the last time, I feel that I will always be part of NC State’s incredible College of Education community,” she said. 

Jeanne McClure

Ph.D. in Teacher Education and Learning Sciences Learning Design and Technology concentration

While earning her Master of Education in Learning, Design and Technology, Jeanne McClure noticed the College of Education’s strong commitment to research, as well as to giving students opportunities to engage in research projects and collaborate with faculty members.

“I knew the College of Education offered many professional development opportunities for students, including internships, field experiences and networking events. I wanted to be a part of that and be trained by the best faculty and staff who are as passionate about education as I am,” she said.

It was for that reason that she elected to remain in the College of Education to earn her Ph.D. and explore the role of language and linguistic processing in various psychological and social phenomena.

Her presented research, entitled “Linking Cognitive Engagement to Deep Learning through Linguistic Synchrony in Open Ended Questions,” investigates the link between cognitive engagement and deep reading through linguistic synchrony. 

Using data from Assistant Professor Shiyan Jiang’s StoryQ project, McClure and her project team assessed student’s open-ended questions from three modules on machine learning practices and evaluated their cognitive engagement. Results showed that scaffolded reading with engagement tasks, like open-ended questions, can produce higher levels of cognitive engagement and linguistic synchrony in teaching and learning on machine learning practices. 

“My curiosity to investigate the role of language and linguistic processing in various psychological and social phenomena was exciting and innovative for this research project. I am passionate about analyzing student behavior, performance and engagement data using learning analytics techniques to help researchers and educators understand how students learn and identify areas where they may need additional support,” she said. “Learning analytics techniques, like the ones we used here, can provide a wealth of insights into student learning and educational outcomes.”

It was these insights that earned McClure the third-place recognition in the Graduate Research Symposium. It’s an accomplishment that she said would not have been possible without the support of her research team.

“To have been recognized by the judges for our work indicates that the research presented was highly regarded and distinguished among a highly competitive group of peers. It is a recognition of the hard work, dedication and innovation that went into the research and affirms my academic and professional potential. I am truly honored,” she said.