Education Commons^™

The Design And Validation Of A Rhythm Span Task, Elizabeth Hofschulte Collins

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this study was to design and validate a rhythm span task. Existing rhythm span tasks do not address important elements of rhythm and music such as tempo (speed), length (duration in beats per minute), and complexity (level of syncopation). This rhythm span task includes every combination of these criteria. The rhythmic sequences were presented with a piano sound from computer audio speakers. To align with traditional simple span tasks, the rhythm span task required participants to reproduce the rhythmic sequence. Results from this study showed that length was a significant factor for difficulty. Short rhythms were found …

The Impact Of Supportive Parenting On Career Confidence Of Young Adults, Salma Ettefagh

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Despite freedoms for women in modern economies, there remains a large disparity between female graduation rates and women achieving high-ranking positions in the business world. Confidence may be one factor why women are underrepresented in the executive class.This

exploratory research investigated if supportive parenting has an effect on self-reported career confidence among undergraduates. A quantitative ANOVA analysis found that instrumental support factors (for example, money and tuition) overall were significant in predicting performance-based confidence, particularly for males. However, qualitative results showed that supportive parenting and confidence are not always correlated.

Teachers’ Perceptions Of Motivational Support In Middle School Classrooms: A Multiple Case Study, Cherie Marlene Gibson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Student motivation is central to educational outcomes such as achievement, engagement, well-being, and educational attainment. Current trends in education show that students’ overall level and quality of motivation decline throughout the years of schooling, particularly in middle school. Framed by Self-Determination Theory (SDT), the purpose of this multiple case study is to understand how teachers support the fulfillment of student’s basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness which is required for active engagement, positive school functioning, and self-determined forms of motivation. Teachers’ sense of efficacy and conceptualizations of their role in supporting their students’ motivational needs were also examined. …

An Examination Of Differences In Division I Fbs Student-Athlete Academic And Athletic Performance, Marissa Katherine Nichols

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The student-athlete literature if rife with studies that examine the factors that appear to improve or inhibit academic or athletic performance. However, internal characteristics that may influence variations in performance have been understudied, and athletic performance tends to be examined separately from academic performance. This study examined how different types of Division I FBS performers – high academic, high athletic; high academic, low athletic; low athletic, high academic; and low academic, low athletic – differ on three theoretical and conceptual frameworks representing internal factors. Each of the frameworks, Mindset, Personal Growth Initiative, and Student-Athlete Experiences, have positive attributes relative to …

More Bang For Your Buck: Bolstering Learning Via Refutation Text With Refutation-Based Elaborated Feedback, Jacqueline R. Cordova

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The current study examines the effects of refutation text and refutation-based elaborated feedback on conceptual understanding, self-efficacy, interest, beliefs, attitudes, and knowledge, within the context of learning about climate change. The study also tests whether elaborated feedback moderates the refutation text effect through an interaction. One hundred and fifty nine undergraduate students were recruited to participate in this study, which was administered via computer. They completed measures of their self-efficacy and interest in learning about climate change, as well as climate change beliefs, attitudes, and knowledge. Approximately half of the participants read a refutation text and half read a comparison …

Examining The Affordances Of Dual Cognitive Processing To Explain The Development Of High School Students’ Nature Of Science Views, Luke Jackson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This mixed method study was aimed at examining the influence of dual processing (Type 1 and Type 2 thinking) on the development of high school students’ nature of science (NOS) views. Type 1 thinking is intuitive, experiential, and heuristic. Type 2 thinking is rational, analytical, and explicit. Three research questions were asked: (1) Do the experiential process (Type 1) and the logical process (Type 2) influence the development of students’ NOS views? (2) If there is an influence on students’ NOS views, then what is the nature of relationship between the experiential process (Type 1) and the development of NOS …

So It’S Not Like The Movies? An Analysis Of The Links Between Popular Culture, Motivation And Expectations In First-Year College Students, Kelle Snow

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The rising concern regarding the graduation rates of university students in the United States has led to research being conducted in order to establish possible relationships between environmental factors and the high attrition rates for first-generation college students pursuing a Bachelor’s degree at a four-year university. One factor to be examined is the portrayal of higher education in popular culture and the impact this has on students’ perceptions, and therefore motivation and expectations, when entering into a four-year program at a university. This study seeks to empirically identify if any such connection exists between the portrayal of higher education in …

The Effects Of Doodling On Recall Ability, Jason Bruce Boggs, Jillian Lane Cohen, Gwen C. Marchand

Educational Psychology, Leadership, and Higher Education Faculty Research

Previous research has documented a positive effect of doodling on individuals’ ability to recall information. However, previous research is limited to structured doodling tasks, such as shading in basic shapes. The present study extends the extant research, and increases the external validity of the previous findings, by considering the effects of multiple forms of doodling on recall. In this experimental study, ninety-three undergraduate participants were randomly assigned to one of 4 conditions (control, structured doodling, unstructured doodling, or note-taking). Participants listened to a fictional dialogue between 2 friends discussing a recent earthquake and then completed a fill-in the blank quiz …

Cumulative Exams (With A Twist), David E. Copeland

UNLV Best Teaching Practices Expo

When first hearing about cumulative exams, students generally have a negative reaction – their impression is that cumulative exams are more difficult because knowledge has to be retained for longer periods of time.