Education Commons^™

Relationships Between Participation In Extracurricular Activities, Act Scores, Gpa, And Attendance In Select Public High Schools In Mississippi, Lance Kelvin Reed

Dissertations

There are contemporary concerns about improving and sustaining positive student outcomes in secondary schools today. In light of student needs and limited time and resources available to address those needs, educational leaders are faced with making difficult decisions about what should and could be offered to students through their schools. In addition to the general curriculum, schools generally offer a variety of extracurricular activities. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between extracurricular participation and select student outcomes. The findings of this study can provide valuable insight to school leaders as they make decisions about how to …

An Assessment Of A 13-Week Teaching Gardens Intervention On Healthy Behavior Outcomes In 4th And 5th Grade Students At Crestwood Elementary School In Las Vegas, Nevada, Miranda Corgiat

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Nearly 13 million children and adolescents are considered to be obese in the United States, with children enrolled in Clark County School District showing elevated overweight and obese weight statuses compared to national averages. Carrying an excessive amount of weight can lead children to experience a multitude of complications with their physical and mental health as well as increase their risk of developing various chronic diseases. The American Heart Association's Las Vegas Teaching Gardens program implemented a school-based garden pilot study to target environmental causes of obesity in 4th and 5th grade students at Crestwood Elementary School. The objective of …

Determinants Of Users Intention To Adopt Mobile Fitness Applications: An Extended Technology Acceptance Model Approach, Kwak Jang Yul

Health, Exercise, and Sports Sciences ETDs

The present research was motivated by the recognition that the use of mobile fitness applications (MFA) is increasingly popular among sports and exercise participants in recent years. Using an extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) perspective, this study explored potential predictors of behavioral intention toward MFAs such as perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, personalization, personal innovativeness in information technology (PIIT), perceived enjoyment, mobile application self-efficacy, involvement in sports and exercise participation, and social influences (interpersonal and external influences). A theoretical model was developed and tested against the empirical data collected from 385 collegiate students enrolled in physical activity classes at …

Reflective Practice In A Coach Education Practicum, Clayton Roth Kuklick

Dissertations

Researchers have explored how practicing sport coaches learn through reflection (Gilbert & Trudel, 2001); however, there is a paucity of research that explains how and why higher education coach preparation students learn through reflection. The purpose of the current study was to understand how and why 21 coaching students enrolled in a practicum course at a southeastern United States institution engage in reflective practice. This research was conducted using a one group pretest posttest mix methods research design and draws upon Schön’s (1983, 1987) work on reflective practice, which underpinned a set of online structured reflective journaling prompts used as …

Improving Adjunct Nursing Instructors' Knowledge Of Student Assessment In Clinical Courses, Kelly Vowell Johnson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Utilization of adjunct nursing instructors to teach clinical courses is a common occurrence in nursing programs. Adjunct clinical instructors are often expert clinicians, but they have limited experience in teaching and lack the expertise needed to be successful in the educator role, such as knowledge of student assessment. Faculty development programs that focus on student assessment can provide adjunct clinical faculty members with the necessary knowledge to become effective educators and ensure student, faculty, and program success.

The purpose of this study was to examine to what extent a faculty development workshop on evaluating students in clinical courses affected adjunct …

Academic Clustering Of Student-Athletes: A Case Study Of Football And Basketball Programs, Matthew Brett Rowland

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the topic of academic clustering within the football and men's and women's basketball teams at the University of Arkansas. Given the prominence of collegiate sport in America, this paper examines a relatively understudied topic regarding student-athletes and education. Using a mixed methods approach, the topic of academic clustering is analyzed statistically, as well as through in-depth interviews with student-athletes and academic advisors in the athletic department. Statistical analysis shows significant over- and under-representation of student-athletes in certain University colleges (e.g., Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, Walton College of Business, and College of Engineering), the presence of …

Self-Determination Theory As A Pedagogical Foundation For Collegiate Physical Activity Courses, Scot Edward Long

Dissertations

Inactivity, obesity and associated medical, social and economic problems are pervasive in contemporary society. Modern science is aware of the preventative role physical activity offers in deterrence of these problems and the benefits physical education offers. Traditionally, physical education has focused primarily on physiological variables; however, physical activity begins with a behavioral change. Motivation is the necessary factor to initiate physical activity and self-determination theory (SDT) can be used to explain learner motivation in the world of collegiate physical education. Institutionalized schooling is typically performed in a controlling nature, which creates a poor environment for learning and motivation. The purpose …

Effects Of An In-Season Resistance Training Program On Lower Extremity Power Output In Collegiate Basketball Players, Kevin Lee King

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to evaluate changes in muscle power performance in a horizontal (forward movement), vertical, and lateral directions in collegiate basketball players due to the presence of an in-season resistance training program (ISRTP). Four basketball teams were recruited for this study. Two women's basketball teams and two men's basketball teams participated with one team in each gender participating in an ISRTP and one team not participating in an ISRTP. Fifty-three collegiate basketball players (Females= 29, Males= 24) were successfully recruited for this project. Subjects were assessed for lower extremity muscle power and muscle strength at pre-season, …

Dissociation Of The Effects Of Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor Fluoxetine In Prelimbic Cortex On Disruption Of Timing And Working Memory For Time By Neutral And Negative Emotional Events, Chance Christensen

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Learning and memory abilities are altered in disorders of the serotonergic system, in disorders such as such as depression, phobias, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Among the processes impaired by emotional distracters, and whose dysregulation is documented in affective disorders, is the ability to time in the seconds-to-minutes range, i.e., interval timing. Presentation of distracters during timing tasks result in delays in responding suggesting a failure to maintain subjective time in working memory, as proposed by the Relative Time-Sharing (RTS) model. We investigated the role of the prelimbic cortex in the detrimental effect of anxiety-inducing distracters on the cognitive ability …

Regularity Of Performance On A Computer Tracking Task Is Different Between Concussed And Non-Concussed Individuals, Kedric James Glenn

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Concussion in athletics has raised public interest as more is learned about the damage done to the athlete. Some of the current field methods of assessing concussion do not look at neuro-cognitive recover, which can remain impaired long after the symptoms of concussion have passed. Other direct methods of assessing concussion are extremely expensive and are not easily portable.

We created a new assessment for concussion that is relatively inexpensive and portable using non-linear time series analysis of performance on a visual-motor tracking task. Approximate entropy (ApEn) is a tool that enables us to calculate the structure of variability form …

A National Investigation Of Pre-Activity Health Screening Procedures In Fitness Facilities: Perspectives From American College Of Sports Medicine Certified Health Fitness Specialists, Aaron C. Craig

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

It is well established in the literature that the morbidity and mortality rates due to chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, hypertension, and diabetes in the U.S are alarmingly high. Likewise, there is ample data which demonstrates that participating in physical activity can help prevent and control many types of chronic diseases. Though the benefits outweigh the risks of participation in physical activity, the risks must be acknowledged.

Published standards and guidelines in the health fitness field have been established to address operational practices of fitness facilities, increase safety of participants and mitigate these risks. The present study was …

The Impact Of Different Types Of Core Training In Stable And Unstable Environments On Markers Of Athletic Performance, Gerry Fitzpatrick

Theses

Background: Research suggests that core stability and strength is important in facilitating athletes to effectively transfer force to the lower and upper extremities of the body. The purpose of the current research was to evaluate the impact of an eight week intervention of core training on stable and unstable surfaces, and in vertical and horizontal alignments, on markers of athletic performance relevant to team sports.

Methods: The athletic performance markers selected were bounce depth jump, counteiTnovement Jump, agility (T-test), 10 meter sprint, 30 meter sprints, and IRM leg strength as identified by Cressey (2007). Core stability and strength were measured …

A Pilot Study Examining The Impact Of A Brief Health Education Intervention On Food Choices And Exercise In A Hispanic College Student Sample, Julie Ann Blow

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

It has been suggested that intervention efforts should focus on prevention of weight gain and the adoption of healthy eating and physical activity behaviors. There is a dearth of literature as to what theoretically-based interventions would be most amenable and efficacious in a Hispanic college student sample. This study assessed the impact of a pilot intervention based on components derived from Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and the Transtheoretical Model (TTM) that focused on increasing healthy eating and physical activity in Hispanic college students. Measures in the study included demographics, theoretical constructs from SDT and the TTM, eating behavior, and a food …

Coaching Relationships With Walk-On Athletes, Cortland Blake Dubose

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to discover what communication practices coaches used on walk-on athletes and to determine whether the coach was successful or unsuccessful from the athletes' perspective. 15 present and former walk-on athletes who played for The University of Texas at El Paso football team served as the participants for the present study. In order to obtain data, the researcher interviewed the walk-on athletes using the phenomenological approach (Sparks, 1993) which utilizes open-ended questions to find out what kind of experience(s) the walk-on athletes shared in relationship to their coach. Results suggested that six major themes surfaced …

The Effects Of Physical Activity And Movement On Learning, Alexandria Lemos

Honors Theses

After performing research into the effects of physical activity and movement on learning, I was asked to present my findings at a school-wide colloquium. This gathering was well-attended by students and faculty members alike. The university professors seemed highly interested in what I had discovered and asked many in-depth questions. The majority of the questions dealt with the same major issue: implementation.

No one questioned whether the presented information was true or not. The questions that came were how it would be possible to incorporate movement in the classroom in ways that were not distracting from the content. While the …