Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Education, Teaching-Learning Processes

Date of Defense

4-22-2024

Graduate Advisor

Dr. Theresa Coble

Committee

Dr. Keith Miller

Dr. Laura Westhoff

Dr. Shea Kerkhoff

Abstract

ABSTRACT

This study explores how high school and college history instructors’ perspectives of experiential learning opportunities and high-impact practices influence their epistemic beliefs as history teachers. The research considers educators’ pedagogical practices to align inquiry and historical thinking with experiential learning opportunities and high-impact practices (HIPs). This study promotes the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) notion that college success is not determined by earning a degree but by becoming a civic-minded, engaged graduate. Kuh (2008a) and the AAC&U created the HIPs framework to transform higher education and prepare students to meet the challenges of a changing global world. Kuh (2008a) states that although high-impact practices will differ, each approach supports experiential learning. Experiential learning couples activities and experiences to facilitate learning by doing; hands-on learning is the source of knowledge and is a lifelong process (Kolb, 2015).

This explanatory sequential mixed methods (QUANT → qual) study investigated the extent to which experiential learning opportunities and high-impact practices (HIPs) (Kuh, 2008a) were instrumental in the educational experiences of current high school and college history instructors. Experiential learning and high-impact practices create opportunities to facilitate various approaches to learning. This study examined experiential learning and high-impact practices via a criterialist orientation to historical inquiry in high school and college history courses to propose a theory of change model supporting professional practice and targeted outcomes. The study developed a purposeful sample of 5,195 current Missouri and Illinois high school and college history instructors who were invited to participate in the survey via email. I analyzed 183 surveys and interviewed ten educators.

Study results revealed strong, positive relationships between current high school and college history instructors’ formative experiences with experiential learning (Kolb, 2015) and high-impact practices (HIPs) (Kuh, 2008a) and (1) their views of themselves as history learners, (2) their use of a criterialist approach to historical inquiry (Maggioni et al., 2009), and (3) their professional commitments to using experiential learning and HIPs in their classrooms. An analysis of the qualitative interviews identified four themes: (a) history instructors’ formative learning experiences, (b) history instructors’ experiential learning and HIPs, (c) fostering a criterialist orientation to historical inquiry, and (d) developing learners through positive educator relationships and the value of history. During the interviews, instructors revealed a deep love of history education, a passion for teaching, and an emphasis on building relationships via compassion, empowering students, and supporting student efficacy, motivation, collaboration, and engagement. Taken together, this research found a connection between instructors who express a professional commitment to using experiential learning and HIPs in their classroom and their use of a criterialist approach to historical inquiry.

These findings provide initial verification for a theory of change model that undergirded this research, i.e., A Conceptual Model Exploring History Instructor Formative Experiences, Epistemological and Pedagogical Beliefs, and Professional Commitments, which integrates the criterialist approach to historical inquiry with experiential learning and high-impact practices in high school and college history courses as a pathway to transforming student learning experiences. This model is a tool for current and future history educators to advance the epistemological foundation of experiential learning, HIPs, and the criterialist approach to historical inquiry.

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