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From Mechanic To Designer: Evolving Perceptions Of Elementary Students Over Three Years Of Engineering Instruction, Anastasia M. Rynearson

Open Access Dissertations

Due in part to increasing state standards that require engineering in K-12 curricula and the Next Generation Science Standards’ incorporation of engineering outcomes, inclusion of engineering into elementary classrooms is on the rise. Teacher development and experiences in learning about and implementing engineering have been studied, but elementary students’ experiences when learning about engineering have not been explored.

The purpose of this study is to address the question: How do elementary students’ knowledge of, attitudes toward, and overall conceptions of engineering evolve over three years of engineering instruction?

This study follows seven elementary school students through three years of engineering …

Parental Involvement During The College Transition: Trajectories And Associations With Academic Success, Well-Being, And Individuation, Katie Elizabeth Lowe

Open Access Dissertations

Guided by the developmental theory of emerging adulthood (Arnett, 2004) and life course theory (Elder, 1984), the goals of the current study were to investigate changes in parent involvement, changes in student outcomes, and links between changes in involvement and student outcomes across the first year in college. Parental involvement was defined as a multidimensional construct that included parent support, contact, and academic engagement. Purdue University domestic freshmen (N = 1279; 55% female; 84% Caucasian) participated in this study that included four online surveys that were evenly distributed across the first year. Through this design and the use of latent …

Parental Support Of Lesbian, Gay, And Bisexual Youth Following Disclosure: A Longitudinal, Cohort-Sequential Study, Hallie R. Bregman

Open Access Dissertations

Parent support is believed to be important for lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth, particularly in the context of parental acceptance in response to youth disclosure of their sexual identity. While preliminary research has examined the importance of parental acceptance at the time of disclosure using retrospective reports, few studies have examined if and how parental acceptance changes over time since disclosure, and no study has assessed paired youth and parent perspectives on parental acceptance. Furthermore, there is a limited understanding of the ways that family interaction patterns influence parent reactions to youth disclosure. The present study aimed to understand parental …