Education Commons^™

Which Study Method Works Best? A Comparison Of Soar And Sq3r For Text Learning, Sarah C. Kasson

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

One hundred thirty-eight college students participated in a study comparing the SOAR (Select, Organize, Association, Regulate) and SQ3R (Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review) study systems to each other and to students’ preferred study methods. Though both systems have been researched independently, just one other study has compared these study systems to each other. College students were assigned randomly to one cell of a 2x2 factorial design (method: SOAR or SQ3R; material: supplement or no supplement) or to a preferred-study-method control group. Groups were trained in their respective system (SOAR, SQ3R, or control) and then given materials about educational measurement to …

Searching For The Right Way To Begin Class, Part Ii, John D. Lawry

Psychology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Neural Underpinnings Of Prosody In Autism, Inge-Marie Eigsti, Jillian Schuh, Einar Mencl, Robert T. Schultz, Rhea Paul

Communication Disorders Faculty Publications

This study examines the processing of prosodic cues to linguistic structure and to affect, drawing on fMRI and behavioral data from 16 high-functioning adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and 11 typically developing controls. Stimuli were carefully matched on pitch, intensity, and duration, while varying systematically in conditions of affective prosody (angry versus neutral speech) and grammatical prosody (questions versus statement). To avoid conscious attention to prosody, which normalizes responses in young people with ASD, the implicit comprehension task directed attention to semantic aspects of the stimuli. Results showed that when perceiving prosodic cues, both affective and grammatical, activation of …

The Effects Of The Family On Student Achievement: A Comparative Study Of Traditional Nontraditional Families, Melinda Fonteboa

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this quantitative, causal-comparative study was to test the interactive framework of social cognitive theory, attachment theory, and the theory of moral absolutism by comparing the academic achievement of over 200 high school seniors (as measured by the Georgia High School Graduation Test; GHSGT) based on the structures of their families. The independent variable of family structure was initially classified as either nontraditional or traditional. A nontraditional family was defined, for the purposes of this study, as any family that is not comprised in its entirety by two biological parents (or adoptive parents from birth), one male and …

Gender, Masculinity, Femininity And Help Seeking In College, Heath Marrs, Ellen A. Sigler, Robyn D. Brammer

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

The current academic performance struggles of college men is gaining increasing research attention (Sax, 2008a, 2008b), but few studies have explored the possible impact of gender-related attributes such as masculinity and femininity on academic help-seeking behaviors and academic performance. In this study of 567 college undergraduates, students who classified themselves as androgynous on the Bem Sex-Role Inventory were more likely to engage in academic help-seeking behaviors than those classified as male sex-typed, female sex-typed, and undifferentiated. No significant differences were found for academic performance. These results highlight the importance of exploring the potential influence of gender-related constructs on academic behavior …

A Theoretical Framework For Serious Game Design: Exploring Pedagogy, Play And Fidelity And Their Implications For The Design Process, Pauline Rooney

Articles

It is widely acknowledged that digital games can provide an engaging, motivating and “fun” experience for students. However an entertaining game does not necessarily constitute a meaningful, valuable learning experience. For this reason, experts espouse the importance of underpinning serious games with a sound theoretical framework which integrates and balances theories from two fields of practice: pedagogy and game design (Kiili, 2005; Seeney & Routledge, 2009). Additionally, with the advent of sophisticated, immersive technologies, and increasing interest in the opportunities for constructivist learning offered by these technologies, concepts of fidelity and its impact on student learning and engagement, have emerged …

The Long Term Effect Of Parental Involvement In A Child's Education: A Ten-Step Approach, Eraina Ross-Aseme

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Parental Involvement in a child's education is very important to the child becoming a productive citizen. Some parents find themselves getting in at the start of their child entering elementary school; parental involvement should begin before the school age years. Research has demonstrated the effectiveness of establishments such as schools, churches and businesses partnering in a child's education. The goal of this project is to empower parents to build stronger support systems with schools, neighborhoods, churches and communities. Its aim is to show parents, school systems and businesses that collaboration in the education arena can be strengthened to achieve a …

A Call To Integrate Religious Communities Into Practice: The Case Of Sikhs, Muninder Kaur Ahluwalia, Anjali Alimchandani

Department of Counseling Scholarship and Creative Works

Sikhs, an ethnic and religious minority group in the United States, have seen a significant shift in their social location since 9/11. They have experienced harassment and violence beyond race and ethnicity to the visible markers of the religion (e.g., turbans). In this article, we address how counseling psychology is uniquely positioned to work with Sikhs given these circumstances. We provide an overview of Sikh Americans, including specific experiences that may affect treatment such as race-based traumatic injury, identification as a part of a visible religious minority group, and the impact of historic community-level trauma. We discuss recommendations for practitioners …

The Foundations Of Hope In Therapy, John M. Winslade

Special Education, Rehabilitation & Counseling Faculty Publications

Hope is a necessary construct in narrative therapy but we need to be careful how we think about it. It does not lie in the essence of persons. There are not categories of people who are hopeful or hopeless. Rather, hope lies in the stories that we use to make sense of our lives but dominant stories from the world around us sometimes interfere with our access to hopeful stories. Therapy can help us reconnect with these stories, leading to the exercise of personal agency in our own lives. This presentation will explore how to help people do this through …

The Impact Of Distractor Duration On Spatial Working Memory In Early Childhood, Brian Keiser

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Spatial attention appears to act as a rehearsal mechanism in spatial working memory (Awh, 1999; Awh & Jonides, 2001) as adults have trouble maintaining spatial information in their mind when required to shift their attention to locations unrelated to the to-be-retained location. Futhermore, adults increase intentional directed attention to the to-be remembered location when warned ahead of time that distractors will be present during the memory delay (Awh, 2003). Our initial study looked at the presence of a distractor and its impacts on spatial working memory in children. We found that the distractor did impact three and six year old …

An Item Analysis Of The Child Behavior Checklist With Preschool Children With Autism, Heather Rhea Orten

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The diagnosis of autism is a comprehensive process that requires trained professionals and is often a time consuming process. Behavior rating scales are common components used by practitioners in evaluations to assess various social, emotional, or behavioral problems. With the rise of awareness, the steady increase of autism diagnoses, and the importance of early identification to increase the effectiveness of intervention, there is a need for screeners to identify the characteristics of Autism Spectrum Disorders. The purpose of the present study was to determine if there was a group of items on the Child Behavior Checklist/1.5-5 that reliably distinguished between …

Gender Differences In Written Expression At The Elementary Level, Ashley D. Melloy

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The use of Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM) in schools is increasing, as it is a useful indicator of students’ basic academic skills. CBM measures are often used for identifying students at-risk, monitoring their progress during interventions, and even making special education eligibility determinations. Much of the research has focused on CBM in the area of reading. Relatively few studies have examined the area of CBM-Written Expression. A couple of studies indicated there are gender differences on CBM-Written Expression measures. This study sought to determine if gender differences exist at the elementary level and, if so, at what grade level such differences …

A Needs Assessment Of Communicare's Children Mental Health Services, Shelley Greenwell Fentress

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This document is a review of literature on needs assessments and the benefits of conducting one. Communicare is a mental health agency that serves the Lincoln Trail Region. Currently, most of the revenue from their children programs comes from Medicaid, which is a fee-for-services payer source. The Kentucky Medicaid Program is in the process of contracting with managed care organizations to oversee services that have been paid directly from Kentucky Medicaid. With these changes, mental health organizations must identify specific community service needs as well as expanding revenue sources. Applying for grants is one way mental health agencies can expand …

Gifted Hispanic Identity: Exploring Relationships Among Resilience, Goals And Academic Orientation, Matthew Forrester

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological analysis was to explore the identity development of gifted Hispanic male students in the middle school setting. The study used a survey, multiple interviews and observations, along with focus group data to acquire data in four principle areas: academic orientation, ethnic identity, resilience and goals. Results indicate the importance of resilience as an interactive element in the process of identity development, as well as the importance of ethnic identity exploration and long-term goal setting in formulating a high achieving academic orientation. Other emergent themes such as language use and discrimination are also discussed in light …

Comparing Overexcitability Levels Between Stem Talented Students And Generally Gifted Students Using The Oeqii, Taylor Imburgia '13, Deborah Mcgrath, Christopher G. Kolar

Student Publications & Research

Gifted individuals have been shown to have higher developmental potential, making them more likely to exhibit overexcitabilities (OEs) classified as psychomotor, sensual, intellectual, imaginational, or emotional. The OE levels between IMSA males and females and between IMSA students interested in STEM and Ohio generally gifted students were examined using the Overexcitabilty Questionnaire-two. Data from 70 IMSA sophomores were analyzed using descriptive statistics, ANOVA, and Bonferroni Correction method. Results showed that IMSA females had significantly higher sensual and emotional levels than males. Both IMSA males and females exhibited significantly lower imaginational OE levels than the Ohio students. This study will hopefully …

The Relation Between High-Quality Prekindergarten Classroom Environments And Literacy Outcomes For Students Learning English As A Second Language, Allison Q. Osborn

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

U. S. students’ early English literacy skills are critical for their later reading and subsequent school success (e.g., Badian, 2000; Collins, 2010; Molfese et al., 2001; Storch & Whitehurst, 2002). Children’s literacy skills are stronger when they attend high-quality prekindergarten classrooms, especially classrooms with strong instructional supports (Hamre & Pianta, 2005). Moreover, some research has suggested that students who enter school with the weakest skills and with higher risk of academic difficulty (including students who speak English as a second language) benefit the most from high-quality instruction and interactions in early literacy and reading (Connor, Morrison, & Petrella, 2004; Downer …

Autism Spectrum Disorders In Hispanics And Non-Hispanics, Virginia Chaidez, Robin L. Hansen, Irva Hertz-Picciotto

Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences: Faculty Publications

Objectives: To compare differences in autism between Hispanics and non-Hispanics. We also examined the relationship between multiple language exposure and language function and scores of children. Methods: The Childhood Autism Risks from Genetics and the Environment (CHARGE) study is an ongoing population-based case-control study with children sampled (n = 1061) from three strata: those with autism (AU) or autism spectrum disorder (ASD); developmental delay (DD); or the general population (GP). Results: Non-Hispanic cases demonstrated higher cognitive composite scores for the Mullen Scales of Early Learning (MSEL). There were significant associations between multiple language exposure and MSEL subscales for receptive …

A Phenomenological Investigation Of The Origination And Manifestation Of The Cyberbully/Cyberbullying Victim Relationship From The Perspective Of Cyberbullying Victims, Michael Boyd

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Cyberbullying has gained a considerable amount of media attention in recent years (Kowalski, Limber, & Agatston, 2008). However, little is known about the details of cyberbully/cyberbullying victim relationships within the lived experience of victims. This phenomenological study investigated the origination and manifestation of the cyberbully/cyberbullying victim relationship. The study is phenomenological in order to examine the origination of the cyberbully/cyberbullying victim relationship and how the relationship is manifested in the lived experience of participants who were cyberbullying victims. The study examines the impact of the cyberbully/cyberbullying victim relationship from the theoretical perspective of Vygotsky's (1986) sociocultural learning theory and Maslow's …

"This Is Exactly What This Study Is All About And It Is Happening Right In Front Of Me!" Using Participatory Action Research To Awaken A Sense Of Injustice Within A Privileged Institution, Brett G. Stoudt

Publications and Research

Rockport is an elite, all boys, day school in the northeast United States. It educates mostly white, wealthy, young men. Student researchers, faculty researchers and I collaborated to study bullying at Rockport using an approach to research known as participatory action research (PAR). In the process we also gained a better understanding of how privilege, especially gendered privilege, was socialized and (re)produced. The participatory research spaces that emerged in our project - grounded in the experiences of students, teachers, and administrators - facilitated critical awareness of self and context that Deutsch (2006) referred to as "awaking the sense of injustice." …

A Phenomenology Of Nonparticipation In Extracurricular Activities By Hispanic Middle School Students, Janelle Garner

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological study is to examine the reasons why Hispanic middle grade students choose not to participate in school-based extracurricular activities. Extracurricular activities have been recognized to have a positive influence on the educational success of students. Despite the positive effects, Hispanic students have been shown to participate in extracurricular activities at school less than other groups of students. The lack of participation by students in extracurricular activities is related to student disengagement and ultimately dropping out of school. This study uses three methods of data collection: analysis of documents and artifacts, a scaled survey, and a …

Honors Retention: The Persistence Of Juniors And Seniors In The Honors Program Through Examination Of Commitment To Completion Of Honors Thesis, Amy A. Holland

Honors Scholar Theses

The goal of the Honors Program is to engage intellectually stimulated students in a unique, challenging experience culminating in the writing of an undergraduate thesis, a piece of scholarly work. The four elements to the mission of the Honors Program include challenging academics, a scholarly environment, a supportive community, and on-campus engagement. This study conducted a qualitative assessment of the Honors Program through written questionnaires and oral interviews of ten juniors or seniors either completing an Honors Thesis or not committed to the Thesis. This research did not find significant differences between these two groups due in part to small …

Promoting Healthy Body Image In College Men: An Evaluation Of A Psychoeducation Program, Justin Henderson

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Current psychological research indicates that men are increasingly dissatisfied with their bodies (e.g., McCabe & Ricciardelli 2004; Olivardia, Pope, Borowiecki, & Cohane, 2004). The consequences of body image concerns range from mild discontent (e.g., body dissatisfaction) to the more pathological (e.g., muscle dysmorphic disorder, steroid use, and eating disorders). College-age men are at particular risk of body image disturbances. Drawing from body image research and theory, a one session prevention intervention was designed for college men to address this growing concern. The prevention intervention was intended to serve as a preliminary step into men’s body image prevention programming. The intervention …

Generativity In Young Adults: Comparing And Explaining The Impact Of Mentoring, Lindsay J. Hastings

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this embedded explanatory sequential mixed methods study was to examine the impact of mentoring relationships on generativity in college students. Generativity refers to concern for establishing and guiding the next generation The first, quantitative phase compared generatvity levels among general college students, college student leaders who do not mentor, and college student leaders who mentor through a program called Nebraska Human Resources Institute (NHRI) at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln. Data were collected via surveys (N = 273) using the Loyola Generativity Scale (LGS), the Generativity Behavior Checklist (GBC), and the Personal Strivings measure. A multivariate …

School Change: Adolescents Transitioning From Conventional Schooling To Home-Based Online Education, Harvey Klamm

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This hermeneutic phenomenological research explored the lived experiences of six recently graduated adolescents to extrapolate the valued essence of their transitional encounters in changing from conventional school to home-based online schooling. The homeschool research shifted the emphasis from the outcome-based academic achievement studies prevalent during the past 20 years to a focus on internal and external factors impacting student learning within this technological instructional process. Findings produced from analysis and interpretation of reflective adolescent lived experiences revealed rich truth regarding the internal emotions, environmental adaptations, academic ramifications, and social adaptations encountered when changing from conventional schooling to home-based online school. …

Adult Perceptions Of The Experience Of Being Identified "Talented And Gifted" As Children: A Phenomenological Study, Bradford Summers

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This is a phenomenological study of adult perceptions of the experience of being identified "talented and gifted" as children. Data were gathered by transcribing the video recordings of adults who were students of the Talented and Gifted (TAG) education program in Fairfield, Ohio during 1978-1983. The phenomenological method was used to discover perceptions of a unique population of adults who shared life experiences during elementary and middle school. Analysis of the data resulted in the identification of four main themes: Growth, Interpersonal, Future, and Thankfulness. Three facilitating and three challenging subthemes were identified under each main theme. These were: Internal …

The Seditious Class, Donelson R. Forsyth

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

I never saw it coming. My students and I had just shared a splendid semester-long educational experience. I had deftly mixed original readings, engaging class discussions, illuminating lectures, and thoughtful assessments with a community-based project that gave students the opportunity to apply course concepts in a real-world setting. Or had I? You would think that, after some 30 years of opening packets of students’ evaluations at the semester’s end (and now, downloading them from the University’s evil evaluation website), that the thrill would be gone—no more disappointment, elation, or surprise.

Not so.

My course was a required one, populated with …

Psych 430 – Undergraduate Internship In Psychology, Kathryn Kogan

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

This is a 6-credit Capstone course, Psychology majors intern 15 hours/week at a wide variety of human service agencies around Massachusetts. They in a weekly seminar to share their experiences, course readings, and have case presentations that complement the learning experience. In addition, this course also a service and learning components. Service: Students provide much needed assistance to clients in agencies that are often under-funded and under-staffed. The intern offers 1-1 support and caring to children, adolescents, and adults struggling to improve their lives. Learning: The experience of joining a professional staff in a hospital or agency offers a chance …

Teachers Engaging Parents As Tutors To Improve Oral Reading Fluency, Sara Kupzyk

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This dissertation examined the application of evidence-based tutoring for oral reading fluency (ORF) to a natural setting, using teachers as parent trainers. Measures used to determine the impact of parent tutoring included treatment integrity, student reading outcomes, attitudes towards involvement and reading, and social validity. Six teachers (second through fourth grade) were trained in a 3-hour workshop to develop individualized tutoring programs with parents. Following training, the teachers trained seven parents and students to use individualized tutoring programs. Training followed a behavior skills training model and incorporated video modeling and printed instructions to increase efficiency. A multiple-baseline design was used …

School Psychologists' Self-Perceptions Of Multicultural Competence: The Relevance Of Experience And Training, Jacquelyn B. Wright, Kevin J. Filter, Julene Douty Nolan, Sarah K. Sifers

Psychology Department Publications

A national survey of 216 school psychologists' perceptions of multicultural competence indicated that multicultural competence significantly increases as a function of hours of training and frequency of experience working with individuals from cultures different from their own. Results are discussed in the context of measurement limitations for multicultural competence and implications for trainers of school psychologists.

A Heuristic Inquiry Into The Stress That Home Educators Experience, Jennifer Rathmell

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of the stress that families incur when they choose home education as their primary educational method. Extensive studies exist regarding stress that traditional education teacher's experience. However, the research on stress experienced by parents who are the primary educators of their children is limited. This study endeavored to provide insight and add to the home-education body of research. Using a heuristic inquiry research design, nine home educators participated in four data collection methods: a homeschool questionnaire, The Occupational Stress Inventory - Revised (OSI-R), a focus group, and individual interviews. …