Digital Commons Network^™

Revising Middleton's Model Of Mathematics Achievement And Exploring Ethnic Differences Across White, Black, And Hispanic Adolescents, James Michael Ford Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For decades, the achievement gap across White, Black, and Hispanic students has yet to be reduced, with White students consistently outperforming Black and Hispanic students on standardized mathematics assessments (National Assessment of Educational Progress, 2017). In order to reduce this gap, achievement motivation scholars have been studying the multifaceted ways in which cognitive factors may influence academic outcomes, especially for students who have traditionally been under-examined and underserved (Borman, & Overman, 2004; Borman & Dowling, 2010). Eccles, Wigfield (e.g., Eccles, 2007; Wigfield & Eccles, 2000), and Middleton and colleagues (Middleton, 2013; Middleton & Spanias, 1999; Middleton & Toluk, 1999) have …

An Examination Of Music Majors' Perceived Barriers To Complying With An Exercise Program, Matthew William Seitz

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation focused on a mixed-methods exploration of the barriers and motivation to exercise in a sample of music majors at a large southeastern university. Due to dietary concerns and other obstacles to engaging in regular exercise, musicians are at a greater dietary and cardiovascular risk than the general population. Previous research has revealed music majors, in general, do not identify as exercisers. This comes with its obvious health risks. Self-determination theory and exercise identity literature posits individuals who more strongly identify as exercisers and who are more intrinsically motivated to exercise will workout more often and more consistently than …

Agony Or Ecstasy: A Mixed Methods Study Of The Accelerated Reader Program And Students' Attitudes Toward Reading, Ladonna Stout Boone

Doctoral Dissertations

The impetus for this study was to determine how Accelerated Reader influences the reading attitudes of fourth grade students of varied reading proficiencies who had been exposed to Accelerated Reader since kindergarten. Interested in students’ attitudes and motivation toward reading, I examined fourth grade students’ reading motivation among two award winning Blue Ribbon Schools in East Tennessee, one of which used Accelerated Reader as the pathway to literacy success while the other did not. Comparisons between the two schools were made in order to determine if there were differences in students’ attitudes and motivation toward reading. This explanatory mixed methods …

The Student-Teacher Relationship: Impacting Student Intrinsic Motivation And Enjoyment In College Physical Activity Classes, Tyler M. Wozniak

Graduate Theses

The purpose of this research was to examine the association between the student-teacher relationship and the intrinsic motivation for physical activity exhibited by students (n = 127) in college physical activity classes.

Parental Workshops And Student Academic Success, Dwain C. Thompson Jr.

CUP Ed.D. Dissertations

This qualitative participatory action research study analyzed the perceptions and experiences of parents regarding the effectiveness of their involvement in parental workshops along with their perceptions of their engagement in parent involvement activities and their impact on student behavior and academic achievement. The study took place in a local church. The targeted population was low socioeconomic status (SES) and African American parents. Twenty parents with children attending grades K-12 participated in the study. The results of the study paralleled with the review of literature, in researchers suggested that there is a lack of opportunities for parent involvement among low SES …

Cultivating Community Interactions In Citizen Science: Connecting People To Each Other And The Environment, Bret Allen Finley

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Citizen science leverages a distributed user-base which participates in crowd-sourced scientific inquiry. Geotagger is a citizen science project that allows people to collaboratively investigate the natural world around them and share their findings. Citizens are rarely compensated for their work and individual contributors can feel isolated which leads to motivation problems. This thesis focuses on engaging citizen scientists and motivating their contributions via social interaction and engagement. As a part of this work, a number of social enhancements have been developed as extensions to the existing Geotagger project. These enhancements and their effect on social engagement were evaluated using in-field …

The Use Of Visual Arts In World Language Instruction To Increase Student Motivation And Attitude, Marilena Bevilacqua Martello

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Because of the complexity and changeability that characterize languages, language learners face a number of various factors in their quest to acquire a new language. Nevertheless, it is the level of motivation and personal attitude toward language learning that will determine their rate of success (Dörnyei & Csizér, 1998). The purpose of this study was to find out (1) whether there was a relationship between the use of visual art in world language instruction and student motivation, and (2) whether student writing skills improved when visual art was used for Content Based Instruction. The study used a mixed method research …

Variables Relevant To Self-Efficacy: Mexican-American High School Students With Specific Learning Disabilities, Matilde Barrera Alaniz

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to ascertain if a relationship exists between self-efficacy and grade point average (GPA), age, gender, language proficiency, socioeconomic status, and failed grade levels during school career among Mexican-American high school students with specific learning disabilities (SLD) residing along the southwestern state of the Mexican border. Moreover, to learn if a relationship exists between motivation and the above variables. This study also observed if a relationship between motivation as measured by the Academic Self-Regulation Questionnaire (SRQ-A) (i.e., external regulation, introjected regulation, identified regulation, and intrinsic motivation) and GPA existed; it also observed the correlation between …

Student Expectations And Motivation In Spanish For Heritage Speakers Programs, Sergio A. Guzman

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The changing demographics in the United States and the growing need for multilingual individuals originated by globalization, among other reasons, have contributed to the emergence of a new field within the area of Applied Linguistics: The Teaching and Learning of Heritage Languages. Due to historical and geographic causes, Spanish for Heritage Speakers (SHS) is currently the largest and most established of these programs. However, the curricula, like those of most college courses, has been developed from professors’ perspectives, largely ignoring what students want to learn and/or their motives for enrolling in these classes. The lack of student input is especially …

Comparison Of Self-Esteem, Body Image, And Motives Of Physical Activity In College Students In Group And Solo Exercise, Isabella Mary Axelsson 5075558, Jody Langdon

Honors College Theses

Previous research has shown significant differences in the intensity of exercise performance and perceived body image between individuals with and without an exercise partner (Plante et al., 2010). Little research has been found which has compared the psychological factors between those who exercise with a group class and those who exercise alone. The purpose of this research study was to compare self-esteem, body image, and physical activity motives between individuals who engage in group exercise and those who exercise alone. It was expected that self-esteem, motivation and body esteem would be significantly higher in those that participate in group exercise …

Improving Reading Achievement In High Poverty, Rural Schools, Janet Tufts

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine what correlation exists between a student’s poverty coefficient and the daily number of minutes provided for independent reading and third grade reading achievement level as measured by California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) in small, rural school districts. An additional purpose of the study was to determine what correlation exists between teacher mindset on student achievement and reading achievement in the third grade as measured by CAASPP scores and teacher perception questionnaires, in small, rural school districts?

Methodology: This study employed quantitative, correlational study, by using data from …

Student Affairs Administrators' Motivations To Attain A Doctorate In Higher Education Administration, Matthew Tyler Binion

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Students are motivated to pursue education for various reasons and understanding those motivations can help administrators and faculty better serve graduate students who choose to participate in doctoral studies. This study analyzed qualitative data in an effor to better understand how student affairs administrators percieved thier motivations while discerning doctoral study in the field of Higher Education Administration (HEA). This study used Self Determination Theory as a framework for understanding how motivational factors influence students to participate in doctoral education. The results showed that there existed four major themes that described the particpants experience with considering purusing a doctorate in …

Self-Determination And Human Resource Retention: Employee And Volunteer Motivation To Stay In Rural Oregon Nonprofit Organizations, Nicole Richman

Doctor of Business Administration (DBA)

The present study used an existing model, the Volunteer Functions Inventory, to test the functional motives of volunteers and employees to engage in or continue service with a rural nonprofit organization. Self-Determination theory provides the underlying framework for the Volunteer Functions Inventory and the six motivational functions: understanding, values, enhancement, career, social, and protective. The model was tested using a sample of 168 employees and volunteers from Area Agencies on Aging located in rural Oregon. The results indicated that the protective function, reducing personal guilt by serving others in the community with less means, similarly motivates employees and volunteers to …

How Interacting With Teacher Feedback Impacts Students’ Writing, Kristen Bankers Saxhaug

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

The following research question is investigated in this paper: How does purposeful interaction with teacher feedback impact the writing outcomes of high school students? The literature review explored the topics of writing development, feedback, and motivation and self-efficacy in writing. A mixed methods approach was used to investigate whether purposeful, directed interaction with teacher feedback led to improved outcomes in students’ writing. Participants were a cohort of 36 racially diverse, at-risk students who were behind their grade-level peers in the development of age-appropriate literacy skills in a co-taught intervention English class. The data revealed that teaching students how to interpret …

Bridging The Gap: A Phenomenological Study Of Interpersonal Relationships To Foster Campus Community Among Nontraditional College Students, Ashvindar K. Singh

CUP Ed.D. Dissertations

This purpose of this phenomenological study was to investigate if the interpersonal relationships among nontraditional college students with each other, faculty, and staff play a role in fostering a sense of campus community at a private career and technical education junior college. Furthermore, the connection between a sense of campus community and students feeling a sense of belonging, increase their self-esteem, and achieving self-actualization as Maslow defined it was explored. In addition, the students reporting feeling a sense of community at a private career and technical education junior college and its relationship to motivating students to attend classes and complete …

What Are Effective Strategies To Enhance Motivation And Engagement Of Secondary Struggling Readers To Grow Reading Achievement?, David Hemmesch

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The question addressed in this project was, what are effective strategies to enhance motivation and engagement of secondary struggling readers to grow reading achievement? Research was done on current reading instruction trends for secondary students and on the principles of motivation and engagement for students and people in general. The findings suggest that teaching struggling readers about cognitive strategies is more important than specific reading strategies. An e-learning curriculum project was created based on fixed and growth mindsets with the goal being for learners to discover his or her current mindset, to learn to recognize the difference between the two …

The Effects Of Group-Based Context Personalization On Learning Outcomes And Motivation, Jessica J. Resig

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

The rise of online course enrollments in higher education has highlighted the need to establish and validate effective online instructional strategies focused on improving learning outcomes and affective responses towards instruction. One such strategy, group-based context personalization, frames instructional materials within contexts relevant to shared interests among groups of students. This study sought to investigate the effects of group-based context personalization on learning outcomes and motivation towards the instruction when materials were contextualized based on a learner’s academic major.

This study employed a true experimental design to explore the effects of group-based context personalization on learning outcomes and motivation for …

What Alternative Reading Curriculums Are Available For Students Who Have Not Made Adequate Progressing Using Tier 1 And Tier 2 Interventions?, Lorinda Unger

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The research question addressed in this project was: What alternative reading curriculums are available for students who have not made adequate progress using Tier 1 and Tier 2 interventions? The purpose of this inquiry was to create a system to provide students who are below their grade level peers in reading an intervention that matches their specific reading need. Current research confirms there are five essential reading elements that students need to master to become efficient readers. Each reading element is explored with curriculums, interventions, and learning activities provided.

A Business Plan Outlining Strategies To Effectively Motivate Individuals To Develop Clean, Sustainable Lifestyles, Kelsey Depew

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

With an ever-growing worldly human population, our current frivolously lavish lifestyles will need to change to sustain a balance on Earth. The purpose of this study was to craft a business plan with accompanying tools to build a solid foundation for the small business called Cut Fluff. The mission of Cut Fluff is to educate and inspire individuals to create their own clean, sustainable lifestyle to lower their impact on earth. A clean, sustainable lifestyle not only decreases an individual’s ecological footprint, but it also brings wellness, purpose, and abundance into their lives with the three core pillars. The core …

Measures Taken At The Institutional Level To Prepare And Motivate Students To Perform Well On The Associate Constructor Exam, Abhya Anjan Sinha

All Theses

Construction education is relatively young as a discipline in academia. Due to the combination of the diverse curriculum offered by different construction programs and the unique nature of every construction project, it is very challenging to standardize the skill set demands of industry. A certification exam has the potential of acting as a bridge between the requirements of both industry and formal college education. As observed, the student AC exam pass rate varies for every construction program by a relatively large margin. The objective of this research was to identify the factors responsible for this variation in results and make …

Language Learning And Metacognition: An Intervention To Improve Language Classrooms, Rebecca Elise Knoph

MSU Graduate Theses

In the USA, the trend of increase in foreign language enrollments at the college level has suddenly begun to decline since 2009, despite the notion that learning multiple languages is becoming essential for effectively communicating with others from diverse native language backgrounds. This new decline may be due in part to inefficient and outdated foreign language courses. The current study examined the effect of how we assess our current knowledge and learning techniques (metacognition) on educational outcomes in hopes to improve the effectiveness of the university classrooms. College students were exposed to new metacognitive strategies that could benefit their language …

A Phenomenological Study On The Motivating Factors Influencing Participation In Tennessee’S Governor’S Academy For School Leadership, Amy B. Horton Mrs.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Educational administration is such a demanding field, so it is important to understand why an aspiring principal would self-select to commit to an optional yearlong, intensive professional development activity with very little compensation and no promotion. Motivation may prove to be a key component of the recruitment and sustainability of professional development activities. By discovering the factors affecting both personal and professional motivation of beginning administrators to participate in a professional development led by the collaboration among the Tennessee Department of Education, Vanderbilt University, and Governor Bill Haslam, the researcher hopes to gain an understanding that may apply to future …

Psychosocial Mechanisms Of Outcome In Pediatric Psychiatry, Alessandro S. De Nadai

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Nearly half of all youths experience a mental health disorder at some point during childhood (Merikangas et al., 2010). Pediatric psychopathology is associated with a substantial amount of impairment in the school, social, and home domains, and such symptoms can have adverse impacts on subsequent development (Beauchaine & Hinshaw, 2013; Patel, Flisher, Hetrick, & McGorry, 2007). Fortunately, a number of medications have demonstrated efficacy in treating a number of mental health conditions (Martin, Scahill, & Kratochvil, 2010). Despite these demonstrated effects, treatment response is often incomplete, and the mechanisms by which pharmacotherapy lead to behavior change are not well understood. …

A Motivational Interviewing Intervention To Increase Utilization Of Smoking Cessation Services Among Veterans Undergoing Substance Use Treatment, Nicole S. Menzie

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Smoking remains the single most preventable cause of death worldwide and primary cause of several types of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and respiratory illness (USDHHS, 2014). Although the prevalence of smoking among the general population continues to decline, the prevalence of smoking among the veteran population remains high. In addition, the prevalence of smoking among veterans with substance and alcohol use disorders is 2 to 3 times higher than in the general population. Over the years, the VA has implemented empirically-based treatments for smoking cessation to address the cigarette smoking epidemic. These services, however, are greatly underutilized. Motivational interviewing (MI) has …

How Does An Environmental Based Service-Learning Project In An Non-Science Classroom Affect Student’S Values And Motivate Them To Be Better Stewards?, Nathan Fritz

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

This study addressed the question: how does an environmental based servicelearning project in an non-science classroom affect student's values and motivate them to be better stewards? The participants of this study were tenth grade AVID students in a suburban high school setting. Quantitative and qualitative data was collected, analyzed and compared to accurately measure student’s attitudes towards the environment. The quantitative data was collected using the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) Likert Scale Survey. The students were surveyed prior to their service-learning project and then again after the project's completion. Qualitative data was obtained through one-on-one interviews and a short writing …

How Integrating Digital Formative Assessment Impacts The Learning Of Sixth-Grade Science Students, Sara E. Potter

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

The research question addressed in the project was, How integrating digital formative assessment impacts the learning of sixth-grade science students? The motivating factor for this capstone was the increased use of electronic devices in the classroom. In this study, qualitative and quantitative data was collected using student surveys and summative assessment results of a science unit after using either traditional or traditional and digital formative assessments. In one year, exclusively traditional formative assessment was implemented, and in the other, both traditional and digital formative assessments were used. It was found that whether traditional formative assessment or a combination of traditional …

Factors That Influence Motivation To Read With African American Middle School Males, Brandon Tuttle

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

The research question addressed in this project was, what factors influence motivation to read with African American middle school males? Current research suggests that many African American males are performing poorly nationwide in reading. As the author researched the topic, four recurring categories emerged in searching for factors that would influence motivation in reading with African American middle school males. These categories included culturally relevant instruction, choice with literacy, building relationships and parental involvement. These four categories helped build the framework for a strategy guide that educators could use in reading intervention classes to help build proficiency in reading with …

Using Knowledge Of The Adolescent Brain To Increase Motivation And Build Relationships, Courtney Elizabeth Anderson

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The research question addressed in this project was, how can we use knowledge of the adolescent brain to increase motivation and relationships? Adolescents are experiencing a plethora of changes that impact their ability to learn. Therefore, it is crucial to consider ways to provide them with optimal success in their academics and beyond the walls of the classroom. This Capstone provides literature supporting the value in developing the adolescent brain and using the knowledge to help increase motivation and build relationships. In addition to the literature, this Capstone provides a project that implements brain-based strategies into a curriculum in order …

Pedagogy-Minded Use Of Web-Based Technology In The Classroom, Jeff Mcgie

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The research question addressed in this project was: How can teachers use web-based technology in the curriculum to increase student engagement and enrich learning? It documents a teacher’s creation of a technology-infused curriculum that uses valid research and pedagogically-minded practices as its foundation. In addition to the curriculum, the author created a web technology toolbox that assists teachers in effectively and strategically implementing the technology into their classroom. The author describes the project’s challenges as well as the implications for students and teachers. He concludes that: 1) technology enhances learning only when used in alignment with pedagogy and instructional strategies; …

Sense Of Belonging And Community In An Alternative Education Program: Perceptions Of Former Graduates And Teachers, Elizabeth A. Janey

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

A qualitative research design was used to inform the question: How do graduates and educators in a former alternative education program describe their sense of community and how did it inform their experiences? Four graduates and four educators, as members of an alternative education program, participated in semi-structured interviews. All participants were White. This study used the central concepts of two motivational theories: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory and self-determination theory as analytical frameworks. Six themes emerged from these eight interviews. These themes identify the importance of meeting students’ basic needs, especially their need for community and belonging. Results of …