Education Commons^™

Andre Jolivet's Fusion: Magical Music, Conventional Lyricism, And Japanese Influences Network To Create Concerto Pour Flute Et Piano And Sonate Pour Flute Et Piano, Kelly A. Collier

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

André Jolivet’s Fusion, represents his formative style period, post-World War II. Fusion is a combination of Jolivet’s two earlier style-writing periods for flute, “magical music” and conventional lyricism. This study presents detailed analyses of two compositions reflecting this style period, Concerto pour flûte et piano and Sonate pour flûte et piano, by André Jolivet. In order to acquaint the reader with Jolivet’s interest in ancient musical cultures, a brief biography offers information on Jolivet’s interests in ancient rituals and mysticism. As appointed Director of the Comédie-Française in 1945, Jolivet extensively travelled and experienced new musical phenomena. These musical phenomena, Japanese …

An Annotated Bibliography Of Beginning And Intermediate Solo Bassoon Literature, Kim Kehau Chai

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

A wind instrumentalist typically begins music study in a school band or orchestra. The instructors for these classes normally use method books, scales, and large ensemble pieces to teach and refine technique and musicianship. Unless the student has a private teacher, it is unlikely that they will study or perform solo music except on rare occasions. The serious study of solo literature typically begins on the college level, when all students have access to a professional teacher and private lessons.

Solo literature is critical for the evaluation of a student’s performance level and ability, and it helps the instructor specifically …

Theater Education: Thinking Outside Of The Black Box, Raheve Gray

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

A 2005 report by the Rand Corporation concluded that "Involvement in the arts is associated with gains in math, reading, cognitive ability, critical thinking, and verbal skill" (Smith). A 2012 report from the National Endowment for the Arts mirrored these findings, stating that “Students who have arts-rich experiences in school do better across-the-board academically, they also become more active and engaged citizens, voting, volunteering, and generally participating at higher rates than their peers” (Garelick 1). The above statements speak to the mounting evidence that arts in education provide extensive benefits for students fortunate enough to have them as part of …

The Role Of Adaptive Capacity On The Subjective Career Success Of Former D-I African-American Male Athletes: A Mixed-Method Study, Leon Antonio Jackson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

African-American male student-athletes who played a revenue-generating sport enter the labor market having relatively poor social networks, low grade point averages, few marketable skills outside of sports, restricted work experiences, and marginal subject matter knowledge; most of which are the result of their participation in sports (Singer, 2008). Therefore making the transition more difficult than even the average African-American male (Edwards, 1980). The purpose of this study was to: (1) Determine the factors that predict subjective career success for former D-I African-American male athletes who played a revenue-generating sport, and (2) Explore how former D-I African-American male athletes, who played …

A Study Of Elementary Teachers’ Conceptions Of Nature Of Science And Their Beliefs About The Developmental Appropriateness And Importance Of Nature Of Science Throughout A Professional Development Program, Elif Adibelli

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This qualitative study aimed to explore the changes in elementary science teachers’ conceptions of nature of science (NOS) and their beliefs about the developmental appropriateness and importance of NOS after participating in an academic, year-long professional development program (PDP) as well as the factors facilitating these changes. The PDP consisted of two phases. In the first phase, the participants received NOS training designed with an explicit-reflective instructional approach. In the second phase, the participants implemented several NOS training activities in their classrooms. Four elementary science teachers who volunteered and completed all components of the PDP (i.e., the NOS training and …

A Narrative Study Of Latinas' Experiences With The Leadership Pipeline In Higher Education, Ana Cecilia Marrero-Lopez

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this qualitative narrative study was to report the stories of Latina’s experiences with the leadership pipeline in higher education, and determine what venues within that pipeline facilitate or impede access to executive level administrative positions. The practical significance of this study would include expanding the quantity of academic research on Latinas’ interest and inclusion in obtaining executive leadership positions in higher education, where little has been recorded of their presence or successes (Lopez-Mulnix, Wolverton & Zaki, 2011). In addition, though many studies have been conducted on racial and ethnic minority faculty (Eddy, 2009; Moses, 2009; Green & …

From Paper To Podium: Exploring The Gap Between University Training And Professional Experience In Orchestral Conductors, Rachel L. Waddell

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In African polyrhythmic drum circles there is a proverb that exemplifies the necessity of common vision and community in group musical performance: “I am because we are.” This simple ideal is ostensibly mirrored in the western institution of the symphonic orchestra, an ensemble of many that nevertheless must arrive at one, shared interpretation of a piece of music. The structure of the orchestra is a complicated hierarchy with section players at its base, followed by principals, the concertmaster, and finally the conductor. Although conductors are the public face of leadership in orchestras, if they alienate the musicians they will have …

The Escape Artists, Daniel Gene Hernandez

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

My thesis, “The Escape Artists”, is a collection of short fiction that represents most of the work I did as a creative writing master’s student. The title is taken from my longest story, a narrative about a young man’s struggle to avoid violence in a federal prison. As a title, “The Escape Artists” also captures major themes in my other stories; characters often pursue emotional escapism or literally seek to evade predators in my fiction. As a writer, I often explore breakdowns in social order, so my stories tend to be set in turbulent, oppressive political climates or else inside …

The Changing Role Of The Bass Clarinet: Support For Its Integration Into The Modern Clarinet Studio, Jennifer Beth Iles

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The bass clarinet of the twenty-first century has come into its own. Composers often treat it as a solo instrument and clarinetists are more often expected to play bass clarinet. In the last half of the twentieth century, the amount of literature for bass clarinet has grown and the quality of the instruments have improved exponentially. Still, most university studios focus primarily on B-flat clarinet. This document is intended as a pedagogical guide for the inclusion of the bass clarinet in the clarinet studio. As support for incorporating the bass clarinet into the undergraduate curriculum, this document describes three areas …

African American Student Theatre Organization Involvement And The College Experience At The University Of Nevada, Las Vegas, Crestcencia Lynn Ortiz-Barnett

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

There aren’t many studies pertaining to African American theater student organizations. This study examined the African American Student Association for Theatre and Film (AASATF) on the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Five undergraduates and one graduate student were interviewed for this study. The thesis gives an overview of the history of AASATF, the need for the organization, and how participant involvement in AASATF affected their college experience. Administrators within the Fine Arts Department can utilize these findings to better serve the needs of their diverse students.

Gestures As Mimetic Forms Of Identity In Post-Secondary Italian As A Foreign Language Classrooms: A Sociocultural Perspective, Ilaria Nardotto Peltier

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study investigates the use of mimetic gestures of identity by foreign language teachers of Italian and their students in college classes as a form of meaning-making. All four of the teachers were found to use a variety of Italian gestures as a regular aspect of their teaching and presentation of self. Students and teachers also were found to mirror each other’s gestures. None of the teachers had been video-recorded before the study and all were surprised to see the degree to which they appeared to be Italian, although at the same time all believed this to be an important …

Compass Rose, Rosemary Herman Powers

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This thesis explores the orientational power of language through a collection of poetry grounded in themes of place, landscape, and desire. Language organizes the raw material of existence into the humanizing possibilities of experience and connection. It interrogates, examines, exalts, orders and reorders continually. Much like a physical landscape, it is constantly shifting under various pressures, which operate at variable speeds. By working and reworking themes and images, these poems explore the twin processes of erosion and deposition.

The materials found in these poems are largely drawn from my own memory, perception, loss, and desire. I mean to use language …

Zwischenfach – A Distinct Voice Type: A Study Of Fach Through Specific Roles In The Works Of Richard Wagner And Richard Strauss, Stephanie Weiss

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The term Zwischenfach has been described in a small number of papers, with the emphasis on its paradoxes and its lack of research. However, in none of these papers is there concrete evidence that the Zwischenfach should be considered a separate voice category rather than simply an “in-between” Fach. The goal of this paper is to explore the thesis that the Zwischenfach should be considered a separate and distinct Fach. Supporting evidence includes studies on tessitura, range, vowel usage, and the orchestration of roles, as examined in the arias of five characters in the operas of Wagner and Strauss. Establishing …

No Prejudice Here: Racism, Resistance, And The Struggle For Equality In Denver, 1947-1994, Summer Marie Cherland

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study chronicles a story of civil rights that has been left untold until now. Recent scholarship contributing to the history of the "long civil rights movement" has reframed our understanding of civil rights beyond the years of the late 1950s and early 1960s. In addition, it has also demonstrated that civil rights activity occurred in regions other than the South. However, most work on the long civil rights movement demonstrates that activism among blacks began much earlier than the Brown v. Board Supreme Court case and instead, was a part of a longer freedom struggle that, in many ways, …

Impact Of A Grade Contract Model In A College Composition Course: A Multiple Case Study, Nayelee Villanueva

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Due to the complex nature of assessment in critical pedagogy practices, continued research is necessary in order to investigate the constantly evolving nature of education and the way we come to know how people learn. To research assessment in the critical classroom requires both instructor and students. This qualitative multiple case study investigated impacts of a grading contract as a form of assessment on student writing in a Basic Writing composition course. This study examined the impacts of a grade contract on students' writing, motivation for writing, revision practices, authorship and expectations of a Basic Writing composition course. Through a …

New Beginnings: A Discussion Guide Adaptation For Living With Diabetes Among An Urban American Indian Community, Eudora Lynette Claw

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Diabetes is a chronic disease where the body has the inability to control the sugar levels in the blood to convert into to usable energy needed to fuel the body's cells. Some common diabetic complications include heart disease, stroke, amputations, and possibly blindness. It can be successfully managed with routine care of monitoring of sugar levels, eating a healthy diet, and daily exercise. The occurrence of type 2 diabetes is rising rapidly worldwide, but is a burden for AI/ANs (American Indian/Alaska Natives) at a substantially disproportionate rate. The purpose of this pilot study was to participate in a one-day curriculum …

The Percussionist Bodybuilder: Optimizing Performance Through Exercise And Nutrition, Anthony Joseph Merlino

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Do preventive therapies have the potential to help avoid common injuries among percussionists? This document investigates physiological therapy and nutrition in relation to percussion performance. My interest in this subject matter is derived from my personal experiences with injuries related to the performance of percussion. Although I have studied and played percussion professionally for more than a decade, I was unaware of certain methods of rehabilitation that were available to me prior to my injuries. As I learned about the rehabilitation process through first hand experience, I discovered that my injuries were very common among percussionists. This raised the question: …

Technical Theatre: Bridging The Gap Between Academic And Vocational Training While Preparing Students For Careers And Life, Megan Morey

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Most people do not realize that Technical Theatre even exists, and of those who do, not many realize the great potential that Technical Theatre programs have for reforming education. Through an examination of the basic history of education in the United States, as well as of the current trends in student preparation for careers and the workforce, it is clear that Technical Theatre offers an educational model that addresses many of the difficulties experienced in today's educational systems. By integrating the core subjects with hands-on learning, technical skills, 21st century soft skills, and both learner-centered and group-learning methodologies, Technical Theatre …

A More Perfect World, Amy Katherine Mayo

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

A More Perfect Worldis the story of Gabriel Garcia Levine Connolly, an intelligent, charismatic, and idealistic man who invents "Thing," which quickly becomes indispensable to virtually everyone in the world. His new-found wealth presents him with the opportunity to create a community that suits his values and his creative process, taking several friends and co-workers with him. Their search for a new home leads them to the idyllic island of Luu Saabhel; for Gabe, the opportunity to protect this small island and its indigenous people while creating "a more perfect world" for his own community is the ideal situation.

The …

Black Teachers, White Schools: A Qualitative Multiple Case Study On Their Experiences Of Racial Tokenism And Development Of Professional Black Identities, Abigail Kathleen Hasberry

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

An emerging body of research shows that retention of minority independent school teachers creates a positive multicultural climate and increases the likelihood that minority families will enroll their children in the schools as well as preparing all students for a pluralistic society (Brosnan 2001b, AIMS 2010, Katz & Wishine 2001). However, retaining minority teachers in predominantly White and affluent independent schools has proved challenging (Brosnan 2001, 2001b, 2009). This qualitative multiple case study extends the current literature on Black private school teachers by not only examining the experiences, but also the coping strategies and professional identity development processes of nine …

African American Teachers And State Licensing Examinations In Metropolitan Atlanta: A Case Study, Michael Leroy Taylor

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The 2001 No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act legislation has had a profound effect on teacher rolls, especially African-American teachers. More than any other racial or ethnic group, African-American teachers disproportionately fail state teacher licensure examinations. This results in removing them from the classroom, while simultaneously preventing new teachers from entering it. The problem shows no signs of relenting under the current mandates, so as the diversity of the nation's study body continues to increase, the diversity of the teaching staff continues to shrink. This combined, multi-case study addressed the unexplained reduction in the numbers of African-American teachers due to …

Factors Contributing To The Educational Success Of Single-Mother Welfare Recipients At An Urban Southwestern Community College: Case Studies Of Six Success Stories, Rhonda Rose Faul

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study gave voice to the issues, needs, and concerns of economically disadvantaged single mothers and determined the motivational and institutional factors that helped lead them to their successful completion of a community college degree or certificate program while at the same time coping with the challenges of financially surviving on meager public welfare assistance, raising their children, and meeting welfare-mandated work activity requirements. While American society has a long tradition of regarding higher education as a means of achieving long-term financial security and self-sufficiency, current welfare policy unfortunately adds additional obstacles for welfare recipients who may be motivated to …

Antecedent Influences: Factors That Guide African American Men To The Field Of Education, Michael James Maxwell

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Over the last four decades black men have become increasingly underrepresented in all aspects of the teaching profession. Identifying the factors that influence African American men to enter or avoid the education field can help increase the recruitment of black men into the field of education. The dearth of black men in our classrooms can be reduced by collecting data as to the reasons that influence their decisions about the education field.

This qualitative study examined the experiences and perspectives of African American men serving as classroom teachers to identify common factors that may influence African Americans, in general, to …

A Historical Case Study Of School Desegregation And Resegregation In Las Vegas, Nevada, 1968-2008, Felicia Forletta

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this study was to document and examine the perspectives of members of a historically African American community located in Las Vegas, Nevada (historic West Las Vegas) concerning equal education and school desegregation and resegregation in the Clark County School District from 1968 to 2008. Using historical case study methods, this study sought to provide a historical description and analysis of the social, political, and cultural contexts that shaped decades of school desegregation and resegregation in this historically African American community. Data sources included: legal cases and court documents; archived news, newsletters, newspaper and magazine articles; (3) Clark …

Community Perspectives On Black Parent Engagement In West Las Vegas Before And After Desegregation: A Case Study, Tonia Faye Holmes-Sutton

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

According to research on parent engagement in K-12 schools, disconnects often exist between parent involvement as defined by school leaders and the African American families and communities they serve (Delgado-Gaitan, 1991; Tillman, 2009). Unfortunately, these competing definitions and conceptions of parent involvement often result in school leaders and administrators perceiving that Black students do not achieve as well as their White peers because Black parents are not involved or engaged in the education of their children (Cooper, 2010; Cooper, 2009; Fields-Smith, 2005). This perception undermines the development of positive home-school relations between school leaders, educators, and Black parents, and in …

A Father's Hands: African American Fathering Involvement And The Educational Outcomes Of Their Children, Theodore Samuel Ransaw

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Although there is a great deal of research on hegemonic masculinity, fathering involvement and a father's influence on his children's educational outcomes, little empirical research has linked these practices to African American fathers. Because they are typically depicted as ineffective, irresponsible and non-present, African American fathers who are involved in their children's lives must do so in ways that affirm their identity, ways that are contrary to the common social conceptions and media representations of Black men. Using the framework of hegemonic masculinity, this study examined how the increase of women in the workforce translates to both the amount of …

The Influence Of Peer Tutors And Technology-Actuated Reading Instruction Process On Third-Grade Students' Self-Perceptions As Readers: A Multiple Case Study, Brenda Shill Daw

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Driven by Lev Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory (1986), my study investigated the self-perceptions and interactions of seven underperforming, third-grade readers while using Technology-Actuated Reading Instruction (TARI). Partnered with same-age peer tutors, readers used digital tools to listen to, read/record, and playback oral reading passages. They practiced, peer- or self-edited, and selected their best reading products as part of the iterative process. As reading is a complex cognitive skill (Reinking, 2005), TARI incorporated higher cognitive learning activities via a synthesis of Gagné's (1985) nine conditions of learning and the Four-Component Instructional Design Model (van Merriënboer & Kester, 2005).

Much of the current …

The Impact Of Regulating Social Science Research With Biomedical Regulations, Brenda Braxton Durosinmi

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The Impact of Regulating Social Science Research with Biomedical Regulations Since 1974 Federal regulations have governed the use of human subjects in biomedical and social science research. The regulations are known as the Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects, and often referred to as the "Common Rule" because 18 Federal agencies follow some form of the policy. The Common Rule defines basic policies for conducting biomedical and social science research. Almost from the inception of the Common Rule social scientists have expressed concerns of the policy's medical framework of regulations having its applicability also to human research in …

Prayer In Jewish Community High Schools: Generation Y Jews In An Era Of Unlimited Choices, Yonatan Yussman

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine and analyze tefilla (prayer) programs in three Jewish community high schools, as well as professional leadership practices in these schools as they related to prayer. The questions that guided this research were: (1) What does prayer education and practice look like in Jewish community high schools? (2) How is prayer education and practice perceived by key constituencies in Jewish community high schools? (3) How do educators and students in Jewish community high schools describe authentic prayer?

Site observations, interviews with students, faculty, and administration, as well as data collected from sources …

Factors Influencing Music Teacher Retention: A Mixed Method Study, Charles W. Cushinery

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to determine what internal and external factors influence the retention attributions of secondary level music teachers who participated in this study and identify what interactions exist between those factors. Phase one of this study was a survey of a group of secondary music teachers (N=260). The survey was used to quantify those factors that influenced music teacher retention and how those factors were ranked by the survey group. Phase two of this study employed case study methodology, specifically, interviews of six secondary music teachers selected from the initial survey pool, to provide a …