Education Commons^™

The Influence Of Advanced Cognitive Ability On The Development Of Psychological Defenses And In Understanding And Managing Affect: A Study Of Latency-Aged Gifted Students, Kahlila Ife Robinson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The present study examines the influence of advanced cognitive ability on the development of psychological defenses and in understanding and managing affect, using the lens of Emotional Intelligence (EI). Theories of psychological defense maturity state that defense mechanisms are influenced both by the cognitive level of the individual and by the cognitive complexity of the defense itself (Cramer, 1999; Cramer, 2009). Individuals with exceptional cognitive ability may therefore show a corresponding "match" with complex defense use. In addition to defense use, how well one is able to identify, understand, manage and use emotion to facilitate thought, abilities often labelled Emotional …

Developing A Culture Of Citizenship In Elementary School Classrooms: How Democratic Schools Teach Children About Rules, Rights And Responsibilities, Mindi Reich-Shapiro

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The purpose of this study was to explore development of civic participation in children in primary grade (K-2) classrooms. Young children are accorded neither the rights nor responsibilities of adolescents or adults, nor given many opportunities to participate meaningfully in the decisions that directly impact their lives. The public school classroom is, in a sense, the first opportunity for children to develop a sense of how to participate in a diverse community organized to address the needs of many. As such, it is a microcosm of the larger society within which children are learning to engage as active participants. The …

Internalizing Disorders In Early Childhood: Professional Development Framework For Teachers, Danielle Guttman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Recent research indicates that internalizing disorders such as depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) manifest in young children. Since early childhood teachers spend a substantial portion of their day with young children, it is important to examine their beliefs and behaviors surrounding these disorders. The role of the school psychologist has come to include providing support for educators such as presenting up-to-date research through professional development (PD). The current investigation implemented an intervention designed to compare different forms of PD seminars ("Information" and "Strategies") designed to increase teachers' awareness of internalizing disorders in early childhood. Ninety-nine participants comprised the …

Between Sites: Critical Convergences At The Personal, Interpersonal, And Institutional Levels In A Service Learning Course, Kendra Rashaun Brewster

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Set within the context of the increasing emphasis on civic engagement and transformative education, this work addresses service learning as a form of civic engagement that holds both the risks of acriticality and critical potential. This study examines the capacity for the critical consciousness and relationality that define the primary commitments of critical service learning (see Kinefuchi, 2010). Thus, this study is grounded in the ways that the circuits of privilege and dispossession were breached in a service learning course where college students travelled to mentor adolescent girls who were in a secure residential facility. The narratives of former service …

Conditional Discriminative Functions Of Meaningful Stimuli And Enhanced Equivalence Class Formation, Roxana I. Nedelcu

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Two experiments explored how the formation of two 3-node, 5- member equivalence classes by college students was influenced by the prior acquisition of conditional discriminative functions by one of the abstract stimuli, designated as C, in the class. In Experiment 1, participants in the GR-0, GR-1, and GR-5 groups attempted to form classes after mastering 0, 1 or 5 conditional relations between C and abstract stimuli that were not included in the to-be-formed classes. Participants in the GR-many group attempted to form classes that contained four abstract stimuli and one meaningful, familiar picture that served as the C stimulus. In …

In And Out Of Uniform: The Transition Of Iraq And Afghanistan War Veterans Into Higher Education, Vienna Messina

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

IN AND OUT OF UNIFORM:

THE TRANSITION OF IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN WAR VETERANS INTO HIGHER EDUCATION

by

Vienna Messina

Advisor: Professor Colette Daiute

With the exit of US combat troops from Iraq in 2011 and the subsequent drawdown of forces in Afghanistan, much public attention became focused on the reintegration of veterans of these wars into all aspects of civilian life. Record numbers of returning veterans enrolled in higher education. Abramson (2012) reported that, since 2009, when the Post-9/11 GI Bill became effective, more than 860,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans had used its generous provisions for further education and projected …

Child Development Theory As A Mediator Of Novice Teachers' Ethnotheories To Increase Learning And Justice In The Classroom, Nancy Michele Cardwell

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Many urban public schools use teaching methods that isolate and silence children to compel compliance (Schwebel, 2004; Saltman & Gabbard, 2003; Baumrind, 1991). In these contexts, black and brown children are disciplined more often and harshly than white, sent through the court system 70% of the time (Alexander, 2012). Novice teachers, appearing expert without expertise, use unconscious personal theories or ethnotheories to compel compliance, projecting an illusion of expertise without understanding the consequences for children's development and achievement (Elliott, Stemler, Sternberg, Grigorenko & Hoffman, 2010; Skovholt, 2004). An advance in the field would be to learn how ethnotheories interact with …