Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Women In Stem: Strategies And Recommendations For Academic Women And Institutional Leaders, Sarah Jensen

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Women still comprise a small number of full professors in STEM disciplines in research universities, which have historically been male dominated. The National Science Foundation (NSF) has recognized the challenge of getting more women to enter the professoriate, earn tenure, and advance to full professor. These women can then encourage more women to enter into STEM as educators and researchers. The purpose of this study was to recognize, explore, and depict strategies used by women full professors to overcome obstacles they faced while advancing in academic STEM fields. The study participants also offered recommendations for women faculty desiring to become …

Project Luminous: An E-Textiles Workshop Study To Increase Science Technology Engineering Mathematics/Science Technology Engineering Art Mathematics Interest In Middle School Girls, India Semone Callahan

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this research study, young middle schoolers engaged in a stimulating workshop that seamlessly merged fashion with technology and electrical engineering. Students learned how to use simple hand sewing skills to create wearable-tech items using conductive thread, sewable LED lights, and sewable battery packs. The objective of the study was to increase young women’s interest in Science Technology Engineering Mathematics/Science Technology Engineering Art Mathematics (STEM/STEAM).

Forty-eight middle school girls spent a day learning about the basics of e-textiles and building working products using their new knowledge. The day is split into three lessons. In lesson one students build a simple …

Designing Place-Sensitive Professional Development: A Critical Ethnography Of Teaching And Learning Argumentative Writing, Sarah N. Holland

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate the experiences of teachers participating in a two-year professional development program designed by the National Writing Project and funded by a U.S. Department of Education Investing in Innovation (i3) grant. Informed by New Literacy Studies’ ideological model of literacy as a Social practice and rural literacies’ notion of pedagogies of sustainability, this study employs critical ethnography and discourse analysis to analyze the discourse of teachers participating in the College-Ready Writers Program (CRWP) in order to understand how professional development might be adjusted to re-empower teachers. Data sources included field notes, interviews, lesson …

"Keep Funding Or Else... It's Mustaches": Building A Community Of Literacy At Owl Creek, Ian Whitlow

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The following research report on literacy practices presents an analysis of the data collected over the course of four months at Owl Creek middle school in Northwest Arkansas. Following a qualitative research protocol, I interacted with middle school students who participated in the Razorback Writers after-school literacy outreach program sponsored by the University of Arkansas. This report details the two major literacy practices encouraged in this after school program - the collective read-aloud sessions focusing on the graphic novel I Kill Giants, and the students' creation of their own graphic novels, which were developed in group workshops. In the following …

"We Can't Reclaim What We Don't Understand": Teachers' Perceptions Of Advocacy And Voice In A Rural Institute Of The National Writing Project, James Anthony Anderson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examines teachers' perceptions of advocacy and voice in a summer institute of the National Writing Project. The Rural Advocacy Institute, a first-time initiative through the Northwest Arkansas Writing Project, offered three weeks of professional development centered on rural education and teaching English language arts in rural public schools. The study is a grounded theory study; grounded theory forces the researcher to stay "close to the data," compare data sets, and use reflective writing to identify conceptual categories in the data. Data collection in the study included semi-structured interviews with six K-12 teachers participating in the Institute and twenty-seven …

Congruent And Incongruent Effects Of Ethnic Music On Ethnic Menu Item Selection, Ryan David Muniz

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated what impact ethnic music had on ethnic menu item selection. College students were randomly divided into three groups and listened to one randomly assigned sound treatment in sensory booths. Three hundred and five participants completed the questionnaire with measures of expected price value and willingness to pay value. One of the groups listened to an Italian folk music, the second group listened to a Thai folk music, and the third group listened to a restaurant background noise in order to examine if the music will impact each participant menu items selection and perceived price values. The result …

Contributing Factors That Affect The Achievement Of African-American Females Taught By Caucasian Teachers On The Arkansas Literacy Exam: A Case Study, Felicia Renee Smith

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative intrinsic case study was designed to assist Caucasian educators with the researched academic skills and behaviors to engage African-American females in the learning environment. The study provided strategies and recommendations to promote self-worth, self-motivation, self-efficacy, and morale in African-American females when they did not perform as well as or higher than their Caucasian peers in a high school English classroom on the state literacy examination instructed by a Caucasian teacher. The research site was a low socioeconomic urban high school with a majority of minorities with several native based home languages. The study took an in-depth approach to …

Recruitment And Retention Of Kindergarten Through Grade 12 African American Male Educators In Rural Environments, Shannon Tre'mario Jernell Lewis

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

African American male teachers represent a disproportionately low number of educators in the American public school system. This lack of representation has implications for understanding, interacting with and educating the growing population of students of African descent in public schools. In addition, all students benefit from experiencing African American males in classrooms for cultural and educational reasons. For these reasons, recruiting and retaining African American males for careers in education is imperative.

This dissertation investigated the reasons African American males do not select careers in education given the history of this career and its prominence for people of African descent. …

The Effects Of Summer Reading Programs On The Academic Achievement Of Elementary Students, Renee Deshommes

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Children with weakened academic skills face the possibility of having less access to higher education, or advanced career opportunities later in life. Such disadvantages, if not addressed, may result in a series of diminished opportunities that may affect a child's overall quality of life. Several educational experts suggest that the negative effects of the academic achievement gap are cumulative, and many educational experts also believe that the achievement gap between high and low socioeconomic students continues to be a persistent problem for which few solutions have materialized. The potential for summer reading programs to be implemented as a mechanism to …

Subtle Messages: An Examination Of Diversity In The Illustrations Of Secondary Level One French Textbooks, Stephen Richard Adamson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Textbooks in all content areas have been criticized for the hidden curriculum that subtly teaches messages, which elevate some cultural groups while diminishing the efforts and contributions of other cultural groups. Research into the hidden curriculum and inclusion of diversity in French textbooks has been limited. The present study focused on the inclusion of diversity in terms of race/ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, disability, and body size present in the illustrations of the three newest French One textbooks. Results indicate that diversity has increased but the diversity within the illustrations does not always mirror the actual demographics of the United States …

Learning Experiences And Perspective Transformation In Evangelical Faith-Based Adult Nonformal Education Programs, Philip Gerke

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The study adapted an existing instrument to examine perspective transformation and its associated factors in participants of evangelical faith-based adult nonformal education in the Midwestern United States. Stratified random one-stage cluster sampling of 11 churches produced a nonprobability sample (N = 597) that was significantly (p < .05) different from the population of the geographical location of the study. An 86% majority self-reported a level of agreement or stronger of perceived transformation of perspectives, but differences predicted by gender were insignificant. The difference in perceived perspective transformations between respondents aged 40-59 that had the highest levels and respondents aged 60 and above that had the lowest levels was significant. The factors of influential individuals, personal reflection, and thought-provoking learning assignments significantly predicted all four factors of perspective transformation; the Writing Assignment factor was a significant negative predictor of only the Perception of Change factor, and a significant positive predictor of only the Future Benefits factor. The study recommended that additional research on faith-based frames of reference and age category differences. The study also recommended that faith-based practitioners consider emphasizing transformative learning experiences and personal reflection in their programs for adults.

Reading And Religion: Reconciling Diverse Reading Patterns And The First Year Composition Classroom, Evelyn Baldwin

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

While tolerance is the supposed standard of the first-year composition classroom, the writing patterns and argumentation skills of self-identified Christian students often frustrate teachers and create classroom dissonance and interpersonal divergence. This work looks at what apologetic and devotional texts these students are reading before they enter the classroom and then analyzes these works to see how well their content aligns with Composition I reading and writing requirements. To do this, the study takes information from two very distinct groups: religious leaders of young adults and Composition I instructors. The study begins by surveying religious workers to identify the top …

The Self-Efficacy Beliefs Of Black Women Leaders In Fortune 500 Companies, Latonya R. Jackson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Black women are underrepresented in leadership positions within organizations. The extent to which self-efficacy influences the advancement potential of Black females is unknown. The purpose of this study was to examine the self-efficacy beliefs of black women in leadership positions and to determine how Black women leaders' careers are influenced by their self-efficacy beliefs. Participants for the study were determined using convenient random sampling. The objectives of this study were to determine the profile and level of self-efficacy, and leadership practices of participants based on tenure (length of time in a leadership position), age comparison and work experience (total number …

A Proposal For A Writing Center And A Peer Tutor Training Course At Fayetteville High School, Katie Colleen Stueart

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The following thesis is a proposal to begin a writing center at Fayetteville High School. The first part of the thesis document describes the research supporting the implementation of a writing center. The rest of the thesis provides the syllabus for the peer tutor-training course.

Single Mothers In College: The Effect Of Selected Variables, Rickey Booker

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Single parent mothers who are currently in poverty may find it difficult to find routes out of poverty and/or even to enrolling in college. Little empirical research has been conducted on low-income single parent mothers who attempt to enroll, persist and graduate college. The current research has shown that single parents are at a high risk of dropping out of college because of many barriers including poverty related issues. This study examined women who had at least one child or dependent, were in poverty, and were first time beginners in college. The purpose for conducting this study was to identify …