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Identifying Barriers To Sustainability Of Dual Language Immersion Programs In Utah Schools, Jennifer Leigh Rowley May 2024

Identifying Barriers To Sustainability Of Dual Language Immersion Programs In Utah Schools, Jennifer Leigh Rowley

Theses and Dissertations

Dual Language Immersion (DLI) educational programming began in Utah in 2008. Within three short years, DLI programs in Utah schools had grown from 5 to 58 programs statewide. Presently, Utah now has over 301 DLI programs, including instruction in Spanish, Chinese, French, Portuguese, Russian, and German. DLI programs have many benefits and have attracted many student families. However, not much research has been done on program planning, implementation, and the sustainability of DLI programs within individual school cultures and climates. This study will examine the satisfaction level of faculty, staff, administrators, and parents at DLI schools (including how supported/understood each …


Validating Boyness: How Art Education Allows Male Adolescent Students A Space For Authenticity, Vulnerability, Empathy, And Connection, Stephanie Behlke-Mcfarland Apr 2024

Validating Boyness: How Art Education Allows Male Adolescent Students A Space For Authenticity, Vulnerability, Empathy, And Connection, Stephanie Behlke-Mcfarland

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines societal norms and unwritten rules for boys as they mature. It is hypothesized that most boys deal with emotional suppression or dissociation in varying degrees of severity due to traumas during their developmental years. This dissociation creates an inability to express their own emotions adequately and therefore affects their ability to empathize with others. A lack of vulnerability may also be a common challenge among boys society still considers vulnerability weakness. This pattern continues into adulthood and is then perpetuated through posterity and future generations. This thesis explores through a qualitative case study how using art integration …


Marriage And Family Therapists' Perspectives Of Working With Couples Impacted By Aphasia: General Perceptions And Response To Relationship-Centered Communication Partner Training, Madison Rae Christensen Mar 2024

Marriage And Family Therapists' Perspectives Of Working With Couples Impacted By Aphasia: General Perceptions And Response To Relationship-Centered Communication Partner Training, Madison Rae Christensen

Theses and Dissertations

The psychosocial needs of couples impacted by aphasia are often unmet. Sixty-one marriage and family therapists' (MFTs) experiences, perceived knowledge, confidence, comfort, and barriers in working with couples impacted by aphasia, and their interactions with speech-language pathologists (SLPs) were investigated using survey methodology. All MFTs were licensed, practicing in the US, and had at least 3 years of experience. Participants completed the following in order: (a) a pre-intervention survey, (b) one of two intervention conditions, and (c) a post-intervention survey. Twenty-eight respondents were randomly assigned to an education-alone intervention and 33 respondents were assigned to an education plus Relationship-Centered Communication …


Progressive Education In C. S. Lewis's Prince Caspian, Voyage Of The Dawn Treader, And The Silver Chair: Narnia As A Remedy To The Green Book, Megan Marie Johnson Apr 2023

Progressive Education In C. S. Lewis's Prince Caspian, Voyage Of The Dawn Treader, And The Silver Chair: Narnia As A Remedy To The Green Book, Megan Marie Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

Recent scholarship has taken an interest in C. S. Lewis's political views and how they are manifested in his fiction. However, few have thoroughly analyzed the specific political implications of his children's series, The Chronicles of Narnia. Part of this may be because Lewis himself insisted his fiction was nonpartisan. The heavily religious allegories in the series can also overshadow the political commentary. This thesis contributes to the growing discourse on political commentary in Lewis's fiction by identifying four concerns he had with progressive education and then demonstrating how he criticizes them in Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn …


Acceptance Finds A Way: How To Teach And Use Evolution's Explanatory Power, Daniel George Ferguson Aug 2022

Acceptance Finds A Way: How To Teach And Use Evolution's Explanatory Power, Daniel George Ferguson

Theses and Dissertations

The theory of evolution is the central combing theory that brings together all the tenets of biology that bring about a solid understanding of life. It is also one of the most controversial scientific theories of all time and is widely rejected by about 40% of the general public in the United States. One of the biggest reasons for low evolution acceptance is the perceived conflict between evolution and religious beliefs. Educators and researchers have been working hard to improve how we teach evolution in the classroom; some methods, such as focusing on evolution knowledge, have shown to be mixed. …


Socioeconomic Potential: Predicting Income Through The Moderating Effect Of Socioeconomic Status On Social Capital, Virginia K. Leiter Jun 2022

Socioeconomic Potential: Predicting Income Through The Moderating Effect Of Socioeconomic Status On Social Capital, Virginia K. Leiter

Theses and Dissertations

Social capital is an important predictor of socioeconomic attainment, defined here as household income, but it is less clear how this relationship may vary by socioeconomic status (SES). Coleman's (1988) theory of social capital suggests that context is likely to influence exchanges of capital. Indeed, theory and research suggest that SES may either intensify or compensate for social capital in its relation to socioeconomic attainment. I seek to identify and understand these potential interactions using data from 101,163 participants of the European Social Survey (ESS). Results indicate that while social trust and both absolute and relative social involvement--two common measurements …


The Impacts Of Local Schools On Experience Of Community, Ciera M. Galbraith Jun 2022

The Impacts Of Local Schools On Experience Of Community, Ciera M. Galbraith

Theses and Dissertations

This study expands upon the research regarding the role of schools in the local community to include how they impact experience of community. Current literature and school-related legislation focus on schools as facilities for education and socialization; little research has been done to look at how schools may influence how individuals experience community. To look at the possibility of this relationship, this study uses the 2017 Rural Utah Community Study to examine how residents view local education, schools, and degrees in addition to their experience of community through community attachment, community satisfaction, and community desirability. I find that residents' views …


An Investigation Of The Impact Gender-Specific Course Grouping Has On Female Middle-School Students' Concept Of And Interests Toward Technology And Engineering, Thomas Broderick Walsh Aug 2021

An Investigation Of The Impact Gender-Specific Course Grouping Has On Female Middle-School Students' Concept Of And Interests Toward Technology And Engineering, Thomas Broderick Walsh

Theses and Dissertations

Attempts to improve retention, interest, and enrollment of females in Technology & Engineering Education courses have included a variety of approaches including female-only classes. However, the implications of such courses have not been thoroughly investigated. Therefore, an investigation of female-only classes was undertaken; the findings revealed that the overall enrollment of females went up in the course and in subsequent classes, these students maintained their interests and attitudes towards Technology and Engineering, their perceptions of an engineer's gender changed from that of mostly male to mostly female, and their concepts of what an engineer does changed from mostly building or …


Stakeholders' Perceptions Of Available Services In A Rural Community To Effectively Educate Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Candice Walker Jul 2021

Stakeholders' Perceptions Of Available Services In A Rural Community To Effectively Educate Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Candice Walker

Theses and Dissertations

Prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has increased 150% over the last 20 years, affecting all communities, with future projections of further rise. This is a particular concern for the public education system, where laws mandate that schools provide meaningful education to all students. Resources must be in place to provide the level of support children with ASD require for a successful educational experience. These resources are often expensive and require specialized training to secure. Rural schools face unique barriers meeting the standards set forth through federal law. To determine the most productive use of available resources as well as …


Holistic Approaches To State School Grading Systems, Darryl Bond Denhalter Aug 2020

Holistic Approaches To State School Grading Systems, Darryl Bond Denhalter

Theses and Dissertations

The United States education system has experienced an evolution of school accountability systems that has led to changes and variation in state school grading systems. This study shows that the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015, a recent reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965, provides greater autonomy to individual states in evaluating and reporting school accountability than in preceding years and provides opportunities for states to implement a more holistic or well-rounded approach to school grading. ESSA policy and this study encourages states to choose to evaluate schools more holistically by implementing a wider …


Observing The Impact Of An Engineering-Based Unit Of Instruction On 6th Grade Students' Attitudes Towards Engineering As Theyengage In Building Electric Bikes, Gregg Allred Olsen Jun 2020

Observing The Impact Of An Engineering-Based Unit Of Instruction On 6th Grade Students' Attitudes Towards Engineering As Theyengage In Building Electric Bikes, Gregg Allred Olsen

Theses and Dissertations

In the past few decades, science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education has become a driving force for innovators throughout the world (Atkinson & Mayo, 2010; Bybee, 2010). STEM education has also become an economic factor in developing countries (Kennedy & Odell, 2014). Currently, many countries are struggling with how to effectively promote STEM education. The United States (U.S.) provides an interesting case study. Despite being one of the global economic leaders, it is behind in STEM education compared to other nations (Atkinson & Mayo, 2010; Dugger, 2010). STEM education helps to build world leaders including marketable and knowledgeable employees …


What Are Stakeholders' Perceptions Of Rural School District Needs To Effectively Educate Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Kari Lyn Pugh May 2020

What Are Stakeholders' Perceptions Of Rural School District Needs To Effectively Educate Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Kari Lyn Pugh

Theses and Dissertations

The prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has continued to rise each year. This fact has significance in the area of education. The rise in prevalence of autism means an increase of students with autism in schools. Educators have the need to be prepared to provide an appropriate education for these students but may not have training or resources to be effective. Rural communities may have even more concerns about education for students with ASD due to geographic isolation and the lack of available educators in their area trained to support the specific needs of these students. To determine the …


"Fidelity And Ripeness": The Telos Of Milton's Mature Christian Learners, Steven Mckay Hansen Apr 2020

"Fidelity And Ripeness": The Telos Of Milton's Mature Christian Learners, Steven Mckay Hansen

Theses and Dissertations

In this paper, I argue that Milton envisions a long view of education in which continual encounters with evil allow created beings to prove themselves and gradually approach a state like God’s—a state marked by constant righteous habits and by a dilation of subjective time with increased access to past and future knowledge. I discuss the roles of opposition in Miltonic education, illustrating how non-examples may result in apophatic revelation about the divine. Acts of rebellion in Paradise Lost demonstrate, however, that the timetable for introducing opposition proves complex, since created beings, the devil among them, act on their own …


State Requirements For Mandatory Vaccine Education Prior To Exemption, Chelsea Lynn Schult Jun 2019

State Requirements For Mandatory Vaccine Education Prior To Exemption, Chelsea Lynn Schult

Theses and Dissertations

Background: To prevent the spread of Vaccine Preventable Diseases (VPD’s), school-aged children in the United States are required to receive vaccinations. In certain states, parents have the option to exempt their child from becoming vaccinated due to medical, religious, or personal reasons. The purpose of this research was to identify which states require mandatory vaccination education prior to granting vaccine exemptions and to identify the various types of required vaccination education.Methods: Immunization program managers from states requiring parents seeking exemptions to receive mandatory vaccination education were asked a series of open-ended questions. The interviews were conducted via telephone. The education-related …


A Framework And Exploration Of A Cybersecurity Education Escape Room, Justin Charles Snyder Jul 2018

A Framework And Exploration Of A Cybersecurity Education Escape Room, Justin Charles Snyder

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents a review of educational-escape-room literature followed by a design-oriented framework (the Snyder Escape Room Framework or SERF) and demonstrates the potential efficacy of escape-rooms in cybersecurity education. Several authors have proposed frameworks and guidelines for game and educational design regarding escape rooms. This work coalesces some of those ideas into a more substantial and comprehensive framework (SERF) that designers can use when developing educational escape rooms. The Snyder Escape Room Framework provides heuristics for goals and objectives, players, activities, context, trajectory design, and evaluation. Additionally, this work describes and analyzes the novel prototyped BYU GCC escape room …


Does Race Matter? School Decision Making Among White, Latino, And Polynesian Families, Maria Daniela Barriga May 2018

Does Race Matter? School Decision Making Among White, Latino, And Polynesian Families, Maria Daniela Barriga

Theses and Dissertations

Low-income parents value excellent schools, yet often enroll their children in low-performing schools. The literature is inconclusive when examining how low-income families go through school choice decisions. It is important to understand the school decision-making process among different racial groups because choosing a good school improves later academic outcomes. Choosing a good elementary school is especially important because this is a critical period in a child's development and can affect performance in subsequent educational institutions. I am interested in understanding how race/ethnicity shapes how low-income parents make decisions about schools. Using interview data from an extensive qualitative study, I examine …


Opioid Prescription And Use After Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy, Valynn Christina Haslam Jun 2017

Opioid Prescription And Use After Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy, Valynn Christina Haslam

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Opioid abuse has become a serious public health issue. While adequate pain management is an ethical responsibility for health care providers, responsible stewardship of controlled substances is of equal concern. Opioids are often prescribed for treatment of acute pain post-operatively. The purpose of this study is to examine opioid prescription practices and use of opioids after laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Methods: A convenience sample of 42 patients scheduled for laparoscopic cholecystectomy were enrolled in the study. Using a descriptive study design, patients were interviewed by phone 6-10 days post-operatively using a scripted questionnaire. The average number of excess prescribed opioid medication …


Identifying United States And Territory Requirements For Childhood Vaccination Exemptions, Emily Groth Dunn Jan 2017

Identifying United States And Territory Requirements For Childhood Vaccination Exemptions, Emily Groth Dunn

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Children are required by law to receive vaccinations to enter school. States and territories offer exemptions for parents who refuse to vaccinate their children. Types of exemptions vary by state or territory, as does the exemption claiming process. The purpose of this research was to identify the various education-related processes implemented by states and territories which allow parents to exempt children from vaccinations. Methods: A questionnaire was distributed to immunization managers in the 50 United States, District of Columbia, the United States Indian Health Service, and eight United States territories. Managers reported vaccination requirements for their jurisdiction (collectively referred …


A Semi-Automatic Grading Experience For Digital Ink Quizzes, Brooke Ellen Rhees Jan 2017

A Semi-Automatic Grading Experience For Digital Ink Quizzes, Brooke Ellen Rhees

Theses and Dissertations

Teachers who want to assess student learning and provide quality feedback are faced with a challenge when trying to grade assignments quickly. There is currently no system which will provide both a fast-to-grade quiz and a rich testing experience. Previous attempts to speed up grading time include NLP-based text analysis to automate grading and scanning in documents for manual grading with recyclable feedback. However, automated NLP systems all focus solely on text-based problems, and manual grading is still linear in the number of students. Machine learning algorithms exist which can interactively train a computer quickly classify digital ink strokes. We …


Creating And Automatically Grading Annotated Questions, Alicia Crowder Wood Sep 2016

Creating And Automatically Grading Annotated Questions, Alicia Crowder Wood

Theses and Dissertations

We have created a question type that allows teachers to easily create questions, helps provide an intuitive user experience for students to take questions, and reduces the time it currently takes teachers to grade and provide feedback to students. This question type, or an "annotated" question, will allow teachers to test students' knowledge in a particular subject area by having students "annotate" or mark text and video sources to answer questions. Through user testing we determined that overall the interface and the implemented system decrease the time it would take a teacher to grade annotated quiz questions. However, there are …


Group Flow In The Byu Animation Studio, Jana Lynn Duncan Jul 2016

Group Flow In The Byu Animation Studio, Jana Lynn Duncan

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation encompasses three articles concerning Sawyer's (2007) theory of group flow in the context of higher education, including a literature review, and two interpretive studies. In the literature review and in the first interpretive research article, the results of the research illuminated the applicability of themes of group flow in collaborative settings in higher education in themes of vision, ownership and contribution, and communication. The final article provides a description of the roles of student lead and professor in this environment and the unique ways that they may have encouraged those themes in the studio. The context for this …


Computing Research In Academia: Classifications, Keywords, Perceptions, And Connections, Sung Han Kim May 2016

Computing Research In Academia: Classifications, Keywords, Perceptions, And Connections, Sung Han Kim

Theses and Dissertations

The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) recognizes five computing disciplines: Computer Science (CS), Computer Engineering (CE), Information Technology (IT), Information Systems (IS), and Software Engineering (SE). Founded in 1947 the ACM is the world's largest society for computing educators, researchers, and professionals. While Computer Science has been a degree program since 1962, the other four are relatively new. This research focuses on understanding the graduate research in four of the five ACM disciplines (CS, CE, IT, and IS) using a large body of thesis and dissertation metadata. SE is not found in the metadata and graduate work in SE is …


More Than Constraints: How Low Socio-Economic Parents Make Judgments Concerning Their Children's Schooling, Michelle Heather Lucier Mar 2016

More Than Constraints: How Low Socio-Economic Parents Make Judgments Concerning Their Children's Schooling, Michelle Heather Lucier

Theses and Dissertations

As school choice opportunities have become more prevalent and information about schools more readily available, there is still a lack of understanding of how parents use information to evaluate schools. The discussion around school judgment-making predominately focuses on whether parents know about school choice and the constraints parents face which limit choice, but I investigate, using 91 interviews of parents living in a low socio-economic community, how parents make judgments and evaluate schools past the discussion of what schools are available to parents and the constraints those parents face. The results of this study are that parents use heuristics—specifically familiarity, …


A Comparison Of Instructional Strategies For Teaching Entry-Level Welding At The High School Level, Jared Paul Massic Mar 2016

A Comparison Of Instructional Strategies For Teaching Entry-Level Welding At The High School Level, Jared Paul Massic

Theses and Dissertations

The traditional method of teaching welding has remained unchanged for decades. In this model, an instructor gives demonstrations to a class of students and then helps them individually as they practice the techniques of welding. This traditional instructional method has been effective but is time consuming. Due to a significant increase in the demand for skilled welders within the United States, efforts have been made to develop more efficient methods of providing welding instruction. Various electronic welding guidance systems and virtual welding systems have recently been developed. In this study, the researcher addressed two questions 1) Does the use of …


Accepting Evolution And Believing In God: How Religious Persons Perceive The Theory Of Evolution, Katherine F. Manwaring Feb 2016

Accepting Evolution And Believing In God: How Religious Persons Perceive The Theory Of Evolution, Katherine F. Manwaring

Theses and Dissertations

Students frequently hold an incorrect view of evolution. There are several potential barriers that prevent students from engaging evolutionary theory including lack of knowledge, limited scientific reasoning ability, and religiosity. Our research provides tools for overcoming barriers related to religiosity and diagnoses the barriers preventing students from fully engaging in learning the theory of evolution. This was a two-part study. The first part of our study addressed two hypothesized barriers to learning evolutionary theory among members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS or Mormon): (1) religious views stemming from incorrect understanding of the Church's neutral stance …


The Nature And Function Of Professional Support Networks For Teachers Of English Language Learners, Betsy Lynn Ferguson Dec 2015

The Nature And Function Of Professional Support Networks For Teachers Of English Language Learners, Betsy Lynn Ferguson

Theses and Dissertations

The English learner (EL) population in the United States continues to grow. To improve their pedagogy in working with this population, many educators have received training in English as a Second Language (ESL), but the gap between ELs and their native English speaking peers persists. When teachers engage as members of professional support networks, they are more likely to successfully implement the strategies learned in their ESL professional development (Echevarria, Richards-Tutor, Chinn, & Ratleff, 2011). This study considered the nature and function of the professional support network of a district's ESL-endorsed teachers. Using network theory methods, 257 teachers and other …


What's Good About Failing Schools?, Maika Malualelagi Tuala Jun 2015

What's Good About Failing Schools?, Maika Malualelagi Tuala

Theses and Dissertations

Education policies tend to target failing schools that are often located in disadvantaged communities. However, the use of high-stakes testing to identify and punish failing schools has become increasingly controversial. An overemphasis on test scores to determine school quality has led to unintended consequences and overshadows other valuable school-based resources that parents feel meaningfully contribute to students' academic experiences. To better understand how low-SES parents describe their children's low performing schools, I interviewed 92 families in an under-served community. Through these interviews I illuminate the school-based resources that contribute to school quality. In fact, these additional elements were often more …


Who Benefits From Income Inequality? An International Examinationof The Relationship Between Income Inequalityand Student Achievement, Christina Ruth Edmunds Jun 2015

Who Benefits From Income Inequality? An International Examinationof The Relationship Between Income Inequalityand Student Achievement, Christina Ruth Edmunds

Theses and Dissertations

This study directly tests the relationship between income inequality and student mathematics achievement. Furthermore, I examine the degree to which the relationship between income inequality and student achievement is moderated by student SES. To test these relationships, I created a database of national wealth measures and linked it with student achievement data from the 2009 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). The results of multilevel models indicated that income inequality is negatively related to student achievement scores. Additionally, this relationship is not moderated by student SES, indicating that the relationship between income inequality and student achievement is the same for …


Navajo Nation Brain Drain: An Exploration Of Returning College Graduates' Perspectives, Quintina Ava Adolpho Jun 2015

Navajo Nation Brain Drain: An Exploration Of Returning College Graduates' Perspectives, Quintina Ava Adolpho

Theses and Dissertations

American Indian tribes face the phenomenon known across the world as the brain drain. They invest millions of dollars in educating their members, only to have little return on their investments. Many nation members leave reservations to get postsecondary education but never return, contributing to the brain drain. Those who get education off the reservation and choose to return are the exceptions to this rule. Although there is an abundance of literature regarding the brain drain across the world, there has been little research done with American Indians. In order to begin to understand the brain drain phenomenon this study …


Cultural Models Of Latino Immigrant Parent Knowledge Of Their Children's Specific Learning Disabilities, Harriet Faith Welling Jun 2015

Cultural Models Of Latino Immigrant Parent Knowledge Of Their Children's Specific Learning Disabilities, Harriet Faith Welling

Theses and Dissertations

The author investigated shared cultural models among nine Latino immigrant parents of children with specific learning disabilities aged 6-12 years old. Interview questions addressed what participants thought it meant to be educated, their descriptions of specific learning disabilities, and their reports of effective teaching methods for their children. Although many varying themes emerged from the interview data, three distinct cultural models surfaced from the data on education and disability. Implications include cultural beliefs informing IEP content, knowledge of cultural models enabling increasingly open communication between school and home, and culturally sensitive classroom instruction.