Education Commons^™

The Horse's Ass: A Survey Of Comediology, William M. Fisk

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

What is comedy? Can someone learn to be funny? Are there rules or guidelines for the production of laughter, the universal language? This paper, which outlines an investigation of successful comedians and the production of a short film, determines to aggregate as many of the relevant prerequisites of inducing giggles as possible, especially as they relate to the audiovisual medium of cinema.

Introduction: Reading And Writing The T/Terror Narratives Of Black And Brown Girls And Women: Storying Lived Experiences To Inform And Advance Early Childhood Through Higher Education, Jeannine Staples, Uma M. Jayakumar

Occasional Paper Series

Staples and Jayakumar introduce this issue of the Occasional Paper Series that speaks to the #SayHerName social justice initiative. The movement aims to expose the experiences of Black and Brown girls and women who are subject to police violence in society and various violences in schools. In response to this movement, this issue includes stories of Black and Brown women from early childhood education through higher education.

Examining The Perceived Influence Of A Comprehensive Youth Development Program For Promoting Black Male High School Persistence, Richard Gray Walker

Dissertations

Black male youth in the United States drop out of high school at a rate consistently higher than their White counterparts. A lack of academic persistence contributes to lower workforce participation rates among Black Americans, which leads to lower national productivity and unrealized personal prosperity. Youth development research has developed an extensive body of knowledge regarding possible causes and contributing factors of minority high school dropout. Literature shows youth experience higher dropout rates when they grow up in adversity. Adversity risks such as dysfunctional families, cultural discontinuity between home and school, dysfunctional neighborhoods, or low-expectations from teachers contribute to graduation …

Housing Diversity In Children’S Literature, Carla Earhart

Charleston Library Conference

Previous studies have examined diversity in children’s literature: Gender diversity, racial diversity, religious diversity, and diversity in family composition. This project examines an often overlooked diversity issue in children’s literature: Housing diversity. In the stories they read and the accompanying images, children need to see a variety of housing environments and need to see the settings and the people portrayed in a positive manner.

Renting an apartment is an increasingly popular housing option for many families. However, many children’s books glamorize living in a traditional house. Using a rubric designed by the course instructor, students in a university immersive learning …

Why Do We Care?: A Natural History Of Noddings’ Ethical Theory, Walter Jason Niedermeyer

Between the Species

Noddings’ theory of caring, which is nearing its 35^th anniversary, has failed to garner the attention of the more classical theories of ethics. This slight may be due to its relative youth, or the historical support for other constructs, but if examined through the lens of evolutionary biology, the validity of Noddings might be tested. Using recent discoveries from the emerging fields of cognitive ethology and neuroscience, I have evaluated whether there exists evolutionary underpinnings for her theory. My analysis makes it apparent that the empathy and altruism required for the practice of caring are as much a product …

The Pleasure Of Resistance: Jouissance And Reconceiving "Misbehavior", Peter Taubman

Occasional Paper Series

Taubman offers an alternative to resistance theory through Lacanian psychoanalysis and Lacan's concept of jouissance - a term associated with intense pleasure. Through this perspective, it is important to understand why children resist on an individual level. An appreciation of the jouissance in schools would work against the impulse to domesticate, to control or to appropriate the subjectivities of students and children.

Everyday Tactics And The Carnavalesque: New Lenses For Viewing Resistance In Preschool, Joseph Tobin

Occasional Paper Series

Tobin builds upon Steve Schultz's argument that young children’s resisting authority in preschool is a rehearsal or training ground for resisting authority later in life. Using this perspective, this article turns to theories of power and resistance to help us understand everyday events in preschools, and to suggest implications for the choices we make as adults who work with young children.

Introduction: Rethinking Resistance In Schools, Jonathan G. Silin

Occasional Paper Series

This issue of Occasional Papers began as a Graduate School seminar honoring Steven Schultz, a much beloved and respected faculty member whose untimely death greatly impacted the Bank Street community. In 1989, Steve’s work was on the cutting edge of attempts to see acts of individual and collective resistance in preschool classrooms as potential precursors of political resistance among adults. The essays in Rethinking Resistance reflect a broad range of experiences and perspectives that prompt us to rethink the meaning and importance of resistance.

Toward A Cleaner Whiteness: New Racial Identities, David Ingram

David Ingram

The article re-examines racial and ethnic identity within the context of pedagogical attempts to instill a positive white identity in white students who are conscious of the history of white racism and white privilege. The paper draws heavily from whiteness studies and developmental cognitive science in arguing (against Henry Giroux and Stuart Hall) that a positive notion of white identity, however postmodern its construction, is an oxymoron, since whiteness designates less a cultural/ethnic ethos and meaningful way of life than a pathological structure of privilege and narrowminded cognitive habitus.

Parental Influence On Second Generation Chinese-American Youth’S Career Choice And Development, Yingli Huang

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

A large body of literature supports the claim that the role of parents in shaping Asian-American youth's career development is significant (Leong & Serafica, 1995; Leong & Hardin, 2002; Yuan, 2012; Sandhu, 2017; Qin, 2011). When considering the family impact on Asian-Americans’ vocational choices, researchers should examine the phenomena through culturally specific lens so that variables that are more cultural relevant are captured. This is a pilot study with the goal to provide a preliminary understanding of the ways in which first-generation Chinese immigrant parents influence the choice and development of a career to their second-generation young adult children. In …

The Construction Of “Discomfort Psychological”: An Exploration Of Italians Teachers' Reports, Antonio Iudici, Matteo Fabbri

The Qualitative Report

Although there are several studies on youth problems in school, there are few studies on how teachers report psychological discomfort of the students and on what criteria does their procedure. Considering that schools increasingly make such reports to social or neuropsychiatry services, we wanted to find out whether it is flawless (bias, etc.) and how it can affect a student's career. This research presents an investigation on how the practice of signaling "psychological discomfort" at school is set up. Objects of the survey are the procedures used by the teachers to submit the psychological problems. The research subjects were Secondary …

Perceptions Of Belongingness In Stem Subjects And Career Development For Middle School African American Girls, Anya Woronzoff Verriden

Theses and Dissertations

This study addresses the hypothesis that African American girls’ early perceptions of support in middle school influences their narrowing or broadening of interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) subjects and careers. As previously researched the belief that boys excel at math and science while girls do well in the humanities is not supported by findings. Therefore the purpose of this study is to investigate the interaction of contextual factors such as teacher, parent, and peer support for African American middle school girls and their interest in STEM subjects utilizing a qualitative research method. Students are making decisions about their …

Capturing Peers', Teachers', And Parents' Joint Contributions To Students' Engagement: An Exploration Of Models, Justin William Vollet

Dissertations and Theses

Building on research that has focused on understanding how peers contribute to students' engagement, this dissertation explores the extent to which peer group influences on students' engagement may add to and be contextualized by qualities of the relationships they maintain with their teachers and their parents. To focus on how each of these adult contexts work in concert with peer groups to jointly contribute to changes in students' engagement, the two studies used data on 366 sixth graders which were collected at two time points during their first year of middle school: Peer groups were identified using socio-cognitive mapping; students …

‘Speaking Truth’ Protects Underrepresented Minorities’ Intellectual Performance And Safety In Stem, Avi Ben-Zeev, Yula Paluy, Katlyn L. Milless, Emily J. Goldstein, Lyndsey Wallace, Leticia Márquez-Magaña, Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, Mica Estrada

Publications and Research

We offer and test a brief psychosocial intervention, Speaking Truth to EmPower (STEP), designed to protect underrepresented minorities’ (URMs) intellectual performance and safety in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). STEP takes a ‘knowledge as power’ approach by: (a) providing a tutorial on stereotype threat (i.e., a social contextual phenomenon, implicated in underperformance and early exit) and (b) encouraging URMs to use lived experiences for generating be-prepared coping strategies. Participants were 670 STEM undergraduates [URMs (Black/African American and Latina/o) and non-URMs (White/European American and Asian/Asian American)]. STEP protected URMs’ abstract reasoning and class grades (adjusted for grade point average [GPA]) …

Entertainment-Education Videos As A Persuasive Tool In The Substance Use Prevention Intervention "Keepin' It Real", Youngju Shin, Michelle Miller-Day, Michael L. Hecht, Janice L. Krieger

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

Based on social cognitive theory and narrative engagement theory, the current study examined hypothesized indirect effects of engagement with keepin’ it REAL (kiR) curriculum entertainment–education (E–E) videos on youth alcohol use via youth drug offer refusal efficacy. Students in 7th grade (N = 1,464) at 25 public schools in two Midwestern states were randomly assigned to one of the two versions of the kiR curriculum, the kiR urban version and the kiR rural version. Each version had their own set of five culturally-grounded E–E videos depicting communicative skills to refuse drug offers. Differential effects for engagement components …

Embodying Rhythm Nation: Multimodal Hip Hop Dance As A Site For Adolescent Social-Emotional And Political Development, Lauren M. Roygardner

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This exploratory study employed qualitative methodology, specifically values analysis, to learn more about how being involved within Hip hop dance communities positively relates to adolescent development. Adolescence was defined herein as ages 13-23. The study investigated Hip hop dance communities in terms of cultural expertise (i.e. novice, intermediate and advanced/expert) to look specifically at dance narratives (i.e. peak experience narratives and “I dance because” essays) and hip hop dance performances. The primary purpose of this dissertation was to (1) explore how adolescents use multimodal Hip hop dance discourse for social-emotional development and critical consciousness, and to (2) understand how values …

Student Censorship In The Social Work Classrooms, Lisa Kozlowski

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Through the evolution of the field of social work, a divide in its ideologies has emerged and certain political and ideological groups such as the religious and conservatives have become underrepresented. As a result, over the years the liberal philosophies have emerged as the dominant group. This has led to a decrease in diversity within the field. Recognition of biases in the field of social work is difficult. Through a qualitative analysis method, this study was meant to explore if social work students feel they are free to share openly in the classroom, and if they are accepting of all …

Girls Are Us: A Collection Of Oral Histories From The Jmu Community, Anne M. Sherman

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

On a campus where women make up a majority of the student population, it is especially important that female voices are heard and given a platform on which they can control their own narrative. I wanted to give those female-identifying voices that platform. I conducted a series of interviews to examine how college-aged female-identifying students feel about their identity and how they construct that identity within the climate of the JMU community. I was particularly interested in the intersections of gender, race, ethnicity, class, sexual preference, and ability. I asked each person to share their stories of times when they …

Monolingual And Bilingual Children's Language-Based Social Preferences In A Predominantly Monolingual Environment, Rachel Marie Stevens

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Monolingual children consistently display Social preferences for individuals who speak their native language with a native accent compared to individuals who speak a foreign language or speak their native language with a foreign accent. Two explanations have been proposed for these language-based preferences. The first explanation is that language cues a child to in-group membership and children prefer to affiliate with individuals who are members of the same in-group. The second explanation is that children display preferences for their native language and accent because that is what they are most familiar with, and children prefer familiarity over the unknown. The …

“The Golden Rule”: A Portable Escape Room Designed To Promote Empathy And Playfulness In Challenging Social Contexts, Isabella Gomati

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

The development of a Portable Escape Room (PER) board game aims to promote empathy as one of the key skills that, for a society in constant change, is necessary to face and solve complex social challenges. The development of a PER is a way of addressing the need for both innovative and accessible tools that can be used in different sectors of the economy. The PER not only encourages creative collaboration, but it also introduces the possibility of playfulness as a bridge for learning and problem-solving in a variety of scenarios. The product itself encompasses an excellent example of a …

The Goal-Driven, Resilient, And Influential Teens Program In Kentucky High Schools: The Impact On Social And Emotional Learning And Influencing Factors, Brant Von Goble

Dissertations

In order to assess the effects of the Goal-driven, Resilient, and Influential Teens (GRIT) program on social and emotional learning and academic performance in high schools throughout Kentucky, data from several sources were compiled and analyzed. These sources included results from the Student Engagement and Performance (STEP) survey, an instrument developed by the Rock Solid Evaluation Team at Western Kentucky University and administered yearly to high school students and teachers, and school-level academic and socioeconomic data from the Kentucky Department of Education. Additional data on fidelity of GRIT program implementation were obtained from FranklinCovey, the GRIT program’s developer and publisher. …

The Influence Of Culture On The Use Of Healthcare Services By Refugees In Southcentral Kentucky: A Mixed Study, Chika N. Ejike

Dissertations

The world as a global village has become a ubiquitous trope in the popular discourse, and Bowling Green, Kentucky, with its substantial immigrant population, may be considered an exemplar of this idealized community. It has become an ideal location for research regarding the challenges faced by immigrants. Due to the diverse cultural identities of the refugee/immigrant population, it is particularly well suited for studies into complex culturally dependent healthcare utilization patterns.

The central research question for the study was as follows: What are the healthcare-seeking behavioral patterns (as influenced by culture) among refugees at their nearest healthcare facilities? This mixed …

Preference Organization, Danielle M. Pillet-Shore

Communication

Conversation analytic research on “preference organization” investigates recorded episodes of naturally occurring social interaction to elucidate how people systematically design their actions to either support or undermine social solidarity. This line of work examines public forms of conduct that are highly generalized and institutionalized, not the private desires, subjective feelings or psychological preferences of individuals. This article provides a detailed and accessible overview of classic and contemporary conversation analytic findings about preference, which collectively demonstrate that human interaction is organized to favor actions that promote social affiliation (through face-preservation) at the expense of conflict (resulting from face-threat). While other overviews …

Beyond Black And White: Infusing Restorative Practices Into Student Discipline, Louis L. Fletcher Phd, Peter Hilts

National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference

As a reaction to school violence, zero-tolerance became the rule in many school districts. The latter practice silenced student voices and institutionalized the overrepresentation of minority students in discipline situations. An over-reliance on punishment has not significantly changed behavior; therefore, it is time to explore proactively using restorative practices to allow students to value the reasons behind rules instead of simply complying to avoid punishment.

Stop Truancy Before It Starts: Getting Every Kid To School, Everyday, Brittany Roulette, Hannah Twedt, Paula Skala

Master of Social Work Student Policy Advocacy Briefs

Attending school consistently builds a foundation for academic achievement and social success in the future. Students missing an excessive number of school days throughout childhood for any reason experience increasingly negative outcomes as they grow older. When truancy leads to dropping out of school, this costs individuals money in lost wages associated with reduced education levels. Truancy also costs society as a whole in reduced tax collection, increased crime, and increased need for public services. Research demonstrates that minority students and youth with other risk-factors are more likely to experience school disengagement leading to truancy. Punitive school policies such as …

Levels Of Teacher Emotional Intelligence In Selected "Beat The Odds" Schools: A Descriptive Study, Nathan L. Schmutz

CUP Ed.D. Dissertations

This study sought to describe selected “beat the odds” schools in Washington state based on the levels of emotional intelligence of classroom teachers. In total 5 schools were selected to participate, and 3rd-5th grade teachers were invited to complete the EQ-i 2.0, a validated emotional intelligence assessment. Participants also completed the validated School Culture Triage survey to assess teachers’ perspectives of school culture. In total, 20 teachers participated in the study, completing both survey instruments. A descriptive analysis of the EQ-i 2.0 results found that this sample of teachers had a mid-to high mean level of emotional intelligence on all …

Graduate Bulletin, 2017-2018, Minnesota State University Moorhead

Graduate Bulletins (Catalogs)

No abstract provided.

“I Wonder What You Think Of Me”: A Qualitative Approach To Examining Stereotype Awareness In Appalachian Students, Chelsea G. Adams

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Historically, Appalachia has been stereotyped as being a culture bred in poverty and ignorance. Much research has shown that stereotyping reveals a pattern of behavioral change and an impact on psychological well-being for the stereotyped (e.g., Pinel, 1999; Woodcock, Jernandez, Estrada, & Schultz, 2012), and has largely been centered on race and gender (e.g., Byrnes, 2008; Tuckman & Monetti, 2011). Less is known about the development of culture-specific stereotypes such as those related to Appalachians – a highly stigmatized group (Daniels, 2014; Otto, 2002). The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of how adolescents in rural Appalachia …

Predictors Of Academic Achievement Of Non-Traditional College Students: Opportunities To Catch-Up And Succeed, Angela Bardwell-Owens

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Non-traditional students make up approximately 20% of the undergraduate student population nationwide and are one of few segments of the student population that are not provided with targeted programs and services. To help this cohort achieve their goals whilst universities can increase their retention rates, this research begins a review of the non-traditional student literature to gain an understanding of what this population faces as far as barriers to their education. The literature also provides recommendations and further information in retention efforts to support the student during their academic years. Next, an analysis of non-traditional student support services at 4-year …

The Bamboo Ceiling: A Study Of Barriers To Asian American Advancement, Emily Cheng

Undergraduate Research Posters

The idea of cultural diversity in the workplace is a popular one, generating much discussion about the inclusion of and affirmative action toward minorities. However, these conversations rarely involve Asian Americans, who despite above-average levels of educational achievement, household income, and employment, find themselves underrepresented in and shut-out of upper-level management positions. In this project, I investigated the stereotype of East-Asian Americans as a model minority (created by non-Asians) to find out why East-Asian Americans are underrepresented in upper-level management in corporate workplaces, a phenomenon known as the “bamboo ceiling.” I explored a variety of scholarly sources that analyzed the …