Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Date

2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Educational Psychology & Research

Committee Chair

Susan Nordstrom

Committee Member

Alison Happel-Parkins

Committee Member

Denise Winsor

Committee Member

Wessam Salem

Abstract

This dissertation explores the intertwined relationships between K–5 educators and the external environments of their schools. Drawing on post-qualitative inquiry, the study rejects traditional linear methodologies in favor of walking-with, a practice of movement, noticing, and attunement that foregrounds affective intensities and material encounters. Through walking-with, artifact-based reflections, and journaling, this research maps how teachers experience, interpret, and are shaped by the spaces that surround their schools. The dissertation presents vignettes and poetic fragments as affective offerings that illuminate how space, pedagogy, and community intermingle. These moments reveal tensions and possibilities around safety, visibility, infrastructure, play, and cultural connection, while also raising questions about what educational environments do, how they feel, and how they participate in educators' and students' lives. Theoretically, this project is guided by the work of Deleuze and Guattari, Braidotti, Nordstrom, Stewart, and St. Pierre, emphasizing relationality, assemblage, and the vibrancy of matter. Practically, it suggests that educational research and leadership must account for affective responsibility: an ethical orientation that acknowledges the agency of environments and the entangled role of teachers within them. By reimagining inquiry as a collaborative movement with human and nonhuman actors, this dissertation contributes to post qualitative scholarship. It opens new possibilities for understanding educational spaces as dynamic, affective, and pedagogically significant.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.”

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to ProQuest.

Notes

Open Access

Download

Share

COinS
 

Archival Statement

This item was created or digitized prior to April 24, 2026, or is a reproduction of legacy media created before that date. It is preserved in its original, unmodified state specifically for research, reference, or historical recordkeeping. This material is part of a digital archival collection and is not utilized for current University instruction, programs, or active public communication. In accordance with the ADA Title II Final Rule, the University Libraries provides accessible versions of archival materials upon request. To request an accommodation for this item, please submit an accessibility request form.