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Adaptations And Transformations: Perceptions Of Change In Academic Motivation, Resilience, And Covid-19 Stress, Ella V. Gregorio

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Of concern to educators, post-COVID-19 assessments have revealed significant achievement gaps in student performance, as well as significant decreases in adolescent mental health. Less is known about changes in achievement motivation. Here we ask how students perceive their own motivation and whether it changed between “before” the pandemic to the present (Fall 2022 - Spring 2023), about three years after the beginning of the pandemic when many school routines were returning to “normal.” To understand how variance in these perceived changes might be related to pandemic-related stressors, trait resilience, and current mental health, we conducted a large survey study (N …

Examining The Influence Of The Classroom Environment On Motivation, Belonging, And Academic Confidence In Engineering Education: A Relational Developmental Systems Approach, Robert O'Hara

All Dissertations

This dissertation explores the impact of the classroom environment on undergraduate engineering students by integrating three manuscripts using the process-person-context-time (PPCT) model within Bioecological Systems Theory. Each manuscript focused on students’ sense of belonging, motivation, and academic confidence. The study confirms prior research suggesting a link between students' perceptions of the environment and their sense of belonging, motivation, and academic confidence. The findings highlight the complex nature of student and classroom environment relationships throughout their college experience. Moreover, the results are demonstrated across different engineering majors. Overall, this dissertation highlights the significance of understanding the complex interactions between students and …

The Effects Of An Intervention Using Pokemon Trading Card Game On The Decoding Abilities Of Children, Derek Emmett

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The present study focuses on illustrating the relationship between word decoding instruction and word decoding abilities within the context of a trading card game. Additionally, an argument for reading motivation and improvement of literacy skills is made. Three participants between the ages of 9 and 13 were recruited for participation in this study. Several decoding strategies such as phonemic awareness and morphological awareness strategies were implemented and trained over the course of several trading card games. Performance in decoding of several lists of compiled nonwords following treatment phases were systematically measured by the researcher. Two of the three participants demonstrated …

Small And Medium-Sized Enterprise Beauty Salon Employer Strategies Used To Improve Employee Retention, Angela Lynette Loyd

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Retention strategies are important to beauty salon leaders as they directly affect retaining a reliable workforce. Grounded in self-determination theory, the purpose of this generic qualitative case study was to explore retention strategies used by some SME beauty salon leaders in the United States to improve employee retention. The participants were five SME beauty salon leaders who retained at least two employees for 2 consecutive years. Data were collected using semistructured interviews and company documents. The four themes from the thematic analysis were leadership, psychological needs satisfaction, motivation, and engagement. A key recommendation is to have SME beauty salon leaders …

The Effects Of Motivationally Enhanced Digital Game-Based Learning On Undergraduate Students’ Learning Motivation, Mathematics Achievement, And Learning Retention In College Algebra, Dennis Ward

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to design, develop, and test the effects of digital game-based learning on undergraduate students’ learning motivation, mathematics achievement, and learning retention in a college algebra course. Digital games utilize interactive digital media that offer rules-based challenges and react to the individual’s choices. Digital games have been used in preschool, K-12, higher education, and workplace environments in a wide range of subject areas, including language arts, secondary language acquisition, social studies, science, and math. Specifically, the effectiveness of digital game-based learning on students’ learning and motivation has been studied in college-level mathematics courses. However, previous …

The Effect Of Separating Grades From Feedback On Student Motivation, Nora Rogers

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

There is often a disconnect around instructional feedback between how the instructor intends the feedback to be used and how students actually use it. Research shows that students tend to view feedback as a means to achieve a higher grade, not as a tool for learning. Frequently, this means that feedback is ignored. Students tend to be motivated by performance goals as opposed to mastery goals thereby focusing on point acquisition above all. Therefore, this study explores the question: What is the effect of separating grades from feedback on the motivation of secondary honors students? Learners in this research study …

The Role Of Motivation In Employee Disposition And Choosing To Act Among Manufacturing Employees: A Grounded Theory Of Discretionary Effort, Shawn Michael Andrews

Dissertations

Managers are often tasked to accomplish more with the resources at their disposal. Doing more with less is especially associated with the manufacturing industry providing a rich and relevant backdrop for study. Understanding discretionary effort as a resource, how it manifests, and when and how manufacturing employees choose to do more than is required is key to achieving results in an increasingly competitive and evolving industry. This constructive grounded research study investigated how 25 non-salaried manufacturing employees conceptualized how and why they chose to engage in activities that were considered above and beyond job role expectations. Extant literature was considered …

Focus, Drive, And Motivation In Secondary School Populations, Lakeshia Cook

Dissertations

This study, Focus, Drive, and Motivation in Secondary Populations, addresses the topic of middle and high school student motivation to succeed in school. The aim was to discover what motivates and inspires student success. In this study, I delved into issues of low levels of student motivation, drive, and focus and the relative effect of these issues on school performance. The central purpose of this research was to find ways to foster greater levels of student focus, drive, and motivation during their middle and high school experience. The context of the study was a medium-sized charter middle school and a …

Development And Validation Of A Scale To Measure Songwriting Self-Efficacy (Sses) With Secondary Music Students, Patrick K. Cooper

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Social cognitive theory was developed to explain how individuals learn, in part, by witnessing the behavior of others. Self-efficacy is a construct within social cognitive theory which indicates the beliefs that an individual can be successful at a task under specific situational demands. The sources of self-efficacy include self-evaluating past experiences to predict future success, comparing our abilities to those around us, the verbal and social feedback we get from others, and the physiological feelings we experience when engaged in or thinking about the task. Measures of self-efficacy have been shown to be accurate predictors of successful learning outcomes, achievement, …

Enhancing Adult Refugees’ Metacognition, Motivation, And Multiliteracies: Metacognitive Instruction Within An E-Learning Environment, Imelda V. Bangun

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Adult refugees without print literacy are a diverse group. The reasons adult refugees lack print literacy varies widely among individuals. While meeting the needs of these adults is indeed important, instructors who work with these learners are frequently challenged to provide suitable e-learning environments in which these learners can thrive. Accordingly, the present study aimed to achieve four goals. First, it investigated the effectiveness of explicit metacognitive instruction within an e-learning environment in enhancing the motivational profile of adult refugees with limited literacy. Second, it researched the effectiveness of explicit metacognitive instruction accompanied with an e-learning environment in enhancing the …

“What Makes ‘Em Tick?” The Impact Of Parenting Style And Parent-Initiated Motivational Climate On Student Athletes’ Motivation Orientation In The Context Of Intercollegiate Athletics, Logan Kateryna Lyons

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Motivation has become a widely studied construct in intercollegiate athletics, as coaches and administrators have sought to maximize the socioemotional and performance aspects of athletic competition. While researchers acknowledge parents as having an important role in the socialization of motivation, research in this area has largely focused on sport-specific parenting practices, failing to account for the broader components of global parenting style that may influence parent-initiated motivational climates, and subsequently the motivational profiles exhibited by developing student athletes. The present study was designed to investigate the relationship among global parenting style, parent-created motivational climate, and student-athlete motivation within the context …

Strategies Insurance Company Managers Use To Retain Employees, Christopher Ramel Robinson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Insurance business managers who fail to retain employees experience reduced profitability and productivity. Employee retention issues in the insurance industry negatively affect recruitment and training costs, employee engagement, and operational efficiency. Grounded in Herzberg’s 2-factor theory of motivation, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies that insurance company managers use to retain employees. Data were collected through semistructured interviews with 5 insurance managers in New York and a review of company documents on employee retention strategies. Data were analyzed using Yin’s 5-step process of compiling, disassembling, reassembling, interpreting, and concluding data. The 3 themes that …

How Do Social Comparison And Self-Efficacy Influence Diabetic Patients’ Motivation Toward A Nutrition Regimen?, Youngjee Ko

Theses and Dissertations

Social comparisons are useful for patients with chronic illness giving them a reliable information about others dealing with same illness. Patients with chronic illness may benefit from social comparisons. Learning about how others with the same disease manage self-care behavior can lessen uncertainty and anxiety about their health. Effects of social comparisons are subject to contexts. However, social comparison is relatively less understood in the context of diabetes patients. Considering the importance of nutrition regimen as a prime concern for diabetes patients, the current study examined how social comparisons along with self-efficacy influence motivation toward nutrition regimen. Results indicated that …

Games For Change: High School Students’ Learning Experiences And Motivation To Learn Climate Change Science Through Educational Computer Games, Metin Besalti

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to explore high school students’ perceptions of learning climate change science through educational computer games. Further, it is aimed to investigate what roles educational computer games play in motivating students to learn climate change science. A qualitative case research design is used in this research to better understand and describe how educational computer games influence students’ perceptions of learning the climate change science and what roles these games play in motivating them to learn climate change science in the learning environment. A purposefully selected a high school teacher and her eight students are the …

Behavioral, Affective, And Cognitive Engagement Of High School Music Students: Relation To Academic Achievement And Ensemble Performance Ratings, Joel E. Pagán

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to determine the relation between student engagement, academic achievement, and music ensemble performance ratings. The study was guided by two research questions: how do students’ varying degrees of student engagement relate to their academic achievement and their ensemble’s performance rating, and to what extent do behavioral, affective, and cognitive engagement predict ensemble performance ratings? Participants were 259 high school band students who completed the Classroom Engagement Inventory in Music. They were also asked to report their GPA, and the researcher recorded their ensemble’s performance rating. Results suggested that higher levels of student engagement were …

Competition: Motivating Or Declination Of Academic Success, Nicholas Mazza

Honors Projects

This study examines if competition in the classroom is more of a motivating or declining factor. I am examining the positive and negative effects of competitions on students. Games and individual worksheets will be employed to explore influence on academic achievement. Through my research, I did not find competition to be motivating for students. However, I did find the competition intervention to provide higher average quiz scores.

Animated Pedagogical Agent’S Roles And English Learners’ Prior Knowledge: The Influence On Cognitive Load, Motivation, And Vocabulary Acquisition, Fadwa Yasin Flemban

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Researchers and educators have always strived for creating appropriate instructional tools and resources that help students to acquire knowledge. Animated pedagogical agents (APAs) embedded within multimedia learning settings are one of the emerging technologies that provide a powerful and supportive learning environment. According to previous studies, APAs can effectively promote learning and support social interaction with learners (Johnson & Lester, 2016; Lane, 2016). However, APAs also may cause cognitive load without providing motivational benefits in some cases and distract learners during the learning process. In other words, the results of previous studies on APAs do not provide enough evidence to …

Students’ Perception Of The Self-Assessment Process In High School Physical Education, Caitlan Peyton

Theses and Dissertations

According to SHAPE America’s Executive Report (2016), the goal of physical education is to address the needs of the whole child, by helping students exercise both their bodies and minds, ultimately impacting all aspects of health. Within education, students are becoming significantly and detrimentally disengaged, specifically within the assessment process. An implicit aim of education is to enable students to become better judges of their own work by engaging in self-assessment. The purpose of this study was to understand students’ perception of the self-assessment process in physical education. Qualitative data was collected using a questionnaire consisting of items relating to …

Predictors Of Identified And Introjected Religiosity In Upper Elementary Age Children, Heather Ingersoll

Education Dissertations

The rise of research investigating children’s spirituality along with the emerging

view of children as social actors in their development provides the impetus to expand research investigating children’s voices around their religious experiences. A significant number of children regularly attend Christian education in church and yet there is limited research investigating how those programs support children’s faith (Bunge, 2006). The investigator designed this study to fill a gap in the literature by investigating the church as a context which supports children’s religiosity. The study was guided by theological reflection on the human spirit and self-determination theory as the theoretical framework. …

Autonomy Supportive Teaching Strategies And Student Motivation In Middle School Physical Education, Amanda Lynn Savage-Speegle

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many U.S. adolescents struggle with obesity and a lack of motivation to be healthy and physically active, which affects individual as well as public health. The purpose of this mixed-method study was to evaluate students' motivation to participate in physical education class and better understand the teaching strategies currently used by physical education teachers who participated in an interview and 2 observations. Self-determination theory framed the research questions, which focused on students' intrinsic motivation to participate in physical education class and physical education teachers' use of autonomy supportive teaching strategies. Learning Climate and Basic Need surveys were administered to 6th-8th …

The Immigrants In The Central Coast Of California Need Motivation To Attend Classes And Learn English As Their Second Language, Martin Rodriguez-Juarez

Master's Projects and Capstones

This field project shows that the immigrant community that works in the fields from the Central Coast of California need the motivation to attend adult school to learn English as their second language. A six-week courses is included.

Motivational Factors Impacting Youth Participation In West Tennessee 4-H, Crystal Paige Pipkin

Masters Theses

The 4-H Youth Development Program is an organization that is offered through the Cooperative Extension System. 4-H is mandated to provide youth with opportunities for experiential learning in the field of agriculture and home economics. The purpose of this study was to investigate factors that motivate high school youth participation in 4-H programs in West Tennessee. The central research question guiding this study was: What motivates high school youth to participate in the 4-H program after 8th grade? The findings of this study can be broken down into three themes (a) Why 4-H members continue participation into high school, (b) …

Motivation Of Adult, Auditioned Community Choirs: Implications Toward Lifelong Learning, David James Redman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Knowledge of motivation factors can assist conductors and music educators at all levels in planning and implementation of musical goals. The purpose of this study was to identify motivational factors to join the choir and maintain membership in the choir as well as the role of stress/anxiety in maintaining choral membership. In addition, the role of musicianship was evaluated in terms of music aptitude and vocal ability. Participants (N=135) from four adult, auditioned community choirs participated in this study. Data was collected using Advanced Measures of Music Audiation, Singing Coach, measure of vocal ability and a questionnaire relating to topics …

Effect Of Vocabulary Test Preparation On Low-Income Black Middle School Students' Reading Scores, Ingrid Nadia Mitchell

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Black middle school students in the United States perform poorly on standardized reading achievement tests in comparison to other racial and ethnic groups. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a vocabulary-focused test preparation program for underachieving Black middle school students. Thorndike's concept of test-wiseness, a test-taking capacity, provided the theoretical foundation for the study. Research questions investigated the difference in reading test scores on the Discovery Education Assessment of underachieving Black middle school students who participated in a key vocabulary test preparation program and those who did not. An intact-group comparison was used in which …

Identities And Motives Of Naturalist Development Program Attendees And Their Relation To Professional Careers, Jennifer A. Mraz

Dissertations

In recent years, there has been much concern over the decline of biologists who actually identify themselves to be naturalists, which negatively impacts the field of conservation and the study of biology as a whole. This could result in a decrease in individuals who participate in naturalist-like activities, such as informal environmental education and environmental volunteerism. The purpose of my study was to determine what discourse identities were held by naturalist development program participants, how these discourse identities related to their volunteer motives in environmental settings, and how discourse identity related to professional careers. I defined identity through the lens …

The Process Of Musical Acquisition For Traditional String Musicians In The Homeschool Environment, Keith R. Williams

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study examined how three accomplished traditional string musicians learned music in their homeschool environments. Data were derived from formal interviews of the three musicians. The research framework for this qualitative study is based upon the socio-educational model of second language learning motivation developed by R. C. Gardner (1959, 1985, 2004, 2010) and applied to the study of instrumental music learning motivation by P. D. MacIntyre (2012). Structured interview questions, triangulated by additional informal dialogues, field observations, externally documented sources, and collaboration with an expert review panel were the data collection activities utilized in the research. Five overarching themes …

Instructional Approaches That Increase Reading Achievement For Boys, Grades 3-6, Tiffany M. Rudek

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

An achievement gap persists in many educational settings with females outperforming males in reading. In a Southern California school district, reading scores for boys average 10 percentile points below those of girls. A qualitative case study was conducted to explore which instructional approaches can help close this gender gap. The conceptual framework for this study was based on engagement theory, which proposes that students who are engaged in learning tasks achieve at higher levels. The guiding question asked how reading achievement for boys in Grades 3-6 could be improved in the district under study. Semistructured individual interviews were conducted with …

The “What E.L.S.E.” Resource Guide For E.S.L. Students, Marc A. Santamaria

Master's Projects and Capstones

This field project is a resource guide for ESL students who want to study English on their own. This resource guide is ideal for motivated students who are at least high intermediate to advanced English students. This guide helps students create learning strategies that help them learn efficiently. There are three main sections of the resource guide: 1) vocabulary; 2) reading; and 3) writing. These three main sections provide students with exercises that also teach them how to further their English studies after finishing the resource guide.

Creativity-Based Music Learning: Modeling The Process And Learning Outcomes In A Massive Open Online Course, Nicholas Michael Stefanic

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

While developing creativity is an important goal of many educational endeavors, creating music, from a music education perspective, is a powerful pedagogical tool. Beyond comparing the relative creativity of individuals' musical creative products (e.g., melodies, songs, lyrics, beats, etc.), research in musical creativity must consider how engaging in the creative process can be an effective teaching tool, what I have termed creativity-based music learning. If music teachers are to develop students' abilities “to experience music as meaningful, informed by sensitive discernments and broad understandings, in each particular musical role engagement in which one becomes involved” (Reimer, 2003, p.214), then we …

Bay Area Student Involvement In The Environmental And Food Justice Movements: A Narrative Of Motivations, Experiences, And Community Impact, Laura E. Solof

Doctoral Dissertations

Many California public school students lack exposure to any formal, academic curriculum that emphasizes environmental awareness and activism. This may result in a population of adults who believe they know more about the environment than they actually do, lack the skills to compete in an expanding green job market, lack creativity and the ability to problem-solve, suffer from obesity, depression, anxiety, and attention disorders, and unknowingly contribute to the ever-increasing problems of air and water pollution, land and habitat destruction, and other environmental injustices. Community organizations and university programs are filling this much-needed gap in student environmental education, as they …