Education Commons^™

Mindfulness And Teen Behavior: Teenagers' Perceptions Of Behavior That Led To Expulsion, Michelle L. Lee

LSU Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of teaching specific mindfulness techniques to teens who have difficulty functioning in the classroom, using the Mindful Schools Curricula; the course includes 18 lessons on being mindful of sound, breath, movement, thoughts, and emotions. Specifically, the study was designed to determine whether a mindfulness course would be beneficial for South Parish High School teens who are expelled. The study design was mixed methods. Participants were administered pre- and post- scientific validated survey scales that measure mindfulness characteristics as one data source. Participants’ parents were given a questionnaire to return and …

Social Class And Elementary Education: The Elementary Education Act Of 1870, Cameron Lowry

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

I Am Complicated, And So Is My Blackness: A Trifecta Exploration Of Educational Spaces And Identity Development, Kala Burrell-Craft

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Myriads of research studies have been written over the past 20 years highlighting the racial gap and disparities in educational opportunities and outcomes between Black and White students, but as revealed in a review of the literature, more studies need to be conducted that examine the intersection of race, space/place, and racial identity development. Using critical race theory as a framework, this study comprised of three separate, but related essays that explore the function of educational spaces in which Black Americans navigate, grow, and develop as it intersects with race, space/place, and identity development. Essay one is a critical narrative …

Course Design…Online: Helping Students Perform In The Digital Age, Joseph W. Harris

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The current study sought to test the relationship between course design, as described by the rubric produced by Quality Matters, and online university student performance. Due to the link between student motivation and active learning behaviors, and thus performance, it was predicted that the better-designed courses would facilitate student motivation. It was also predicted that goal orientation would moderate this relationship. While a significant relationship was observed between student motivation and course performance, no relationship was observed between course quality, as measured by the QM Rubric, and motivation, or performance. Only slight evidence was found for a moderating effect of …

Unpacking The Double Bind: Exploring How The Intersection Of Race And Gender Shape The Undergraduate Experiences Of African American Women In Engineering, Anissa Guerin

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This three-part qualitative study explored the factors that contribute to the success of African American female students’ persistence in engineering majors. This study also addressed obstacles African American female students face and overcome to persist in engineering majors. Examining African American women in engineering who persist would be an effective method to provide academic support and increase participation amongst this underrepresented group. In addition to exploring the challenges and barriers faced by African American women, this study also acknowledged the skills, perspectives and resources African American women bring to engineering and engineering education. Highlighting their distinctive contributions and attributes would …

Citizen Science In 4-H: Youth Volunteer Motivations, Participation, Retention And Scientific Literacy, Veronica Del Bianco

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the influence of volunteer motivation, participation, and citizen science project type on the retention and scientific literacy of 4-H youth volunteers ages 8-19 years participating in science projects. The conceptual model of participation in organized activities (OA) proposed by Bohnert, Fredericks and Randall (2010) was used as a framework for the variables included in the study categorizing them as predictors of participation, participation, program characteristics, or outcomes. A systematic review of volunteer motivations, retention, and scientific literacy in citizen science projects exposed that the literature contains silos of information published in …

Teachers As Leaders: An Autoethnographic Account Into The Way That Personal Spirituality Influenced One Teacher's Leadership In A South Louisiana High School, Scott Mckneely Blanchard

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this autoethnographic study is to better understand the role spiritual leaders have in both educational settings and in the motivation of students. An overarching question guides this autoethnographic study: Is spiritual leadership, influenced by Christianity, an appropriate form of mentoring-leadership relationships in public secondary schools? The specific research sub-questions for this study address the following: 1. How do servant leadership and spiritual leadership help create this autonomous learning environment identified by Deci and therefore reduce the number of amotivated students? 2. How can understanding the student as an individual help a teacher confront the issues with motivation …

Out Of The Shadows The Matriarch Rises: A Case Study Of Women Academic Deans At A Southern, Research One Institution, Jacob Lee Vaughn

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Abstract

This study examined the experiences of women in higher education as a career as well as the challenges women face in pursuing an appointment as Dean of a college. Selected participants were interviewed to gather data from their own narratives about the experiences and challenges as current women Deans in higher education. Each participant attributed their success to family support and proper mentoring, while highlighting institutional policies acting as a form of gendered oppression. Recommendations were suggested to higher educational representatives and legislators concerning the correction of the gendered environment favoring the advancement of men into a more equitable …

The Relationship Between The High-Impact Practice Of Communication-Intensive Courses And Undergraduate Degree Completion At A Research University (Ru/Vh), Rebecca Acosta Burdette

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

With a critical public lens on quality student learning inclusive of 21^st century communication skills, and organizational effectiveness à la retention and graduation rates, all amidst budget constraints and increasing enrollments, postsecondary institutions must adopt practices that are both efficient and effective. This study examined the educational practice of Communication‑Intensive (C-I) courses and its influence on the institutional outcome of undergraduate degree completion at a large, public research university.

In this longitudinal study, the researcher applied a quantitative ex post facto research design to analyze six years of official university data on undergraduates who entered the selected university as …

Project Narrative: Examining The Interplay Of Experiences Of Participants In An After-School Writing Club, Courtney A. Brown

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Writing is a vital part of literacy development. It affords the opportunity for the expression and analysis of comprehensive thought, while simultaneously being a modality for unique and creative communication. In order for productive dialogue about the study of writing to be engaged, the contemplation of its many dynamic parts occurring across a diversity of contexts must be considered in such a way that one writing strategy, process, product or environment is not privileged above another. Each constituent part of writing construction contributes meaningfully to the existing body of research for this field, and when carefully disaggregated can offer specific …

Exploring The Interdependence Of Trust And Communication In The Teacher-Principal Relationship, Jon Oliver Downs

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This research explored teacher and principal perceptions of trust and communication in the teacher-principal relationship. Through in-depth interviews, research participants provided perceived characteristics needed for effective teachers, principals, and teacher-principal relationships, and pointed out characteristics detrimental to the effectiveness of the teacher-principal relationship. The research utilized past research in organizational communication, trust, and trust and communication within the teacher-principal relationship and other important components of effective teacher-principal relationships to provide a literary foundation for the study. The research identified perceptions of teachers and principals with respect to communication and trust in the teacher-principal relationship, and identified what priorities successful first-year …

Development, Validation, And Testing Of A Self-Determination Theory Instrument Called The Motivation To Prepare Healthy Foods Questionnaire, Ariana Delong Bailey

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The objectives of these studies were to validate and confirm the structure of a previously developed questionnaire that measures the psychosocial constructs defined by the Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and then test this questionnaire in a nutrition education setting. The instrument, titled the Motivation to Prepare Healthy Foods Questionnaire (MPHFQ), included items that measured intrinsic motivation, perceived competence, relatedness, autonomy, and autonomy support. These studies evaluated the questionnaire’s validity and ability to measure changes in the SDT construct scores.

The MPHFQ is a previously developed and reliable instrument intended to measure adults’ intrinsic motivation and perceived competence to prepare healthy foods, …

Young Adult Book Review - Americanized: Rebel Without A Green Card, Danielle M. Butcher

The Journal of Balanced Literacy Research and Instruction

No abstract provided.

The Literary Canon: Virtue, Vice, Or Both, William P. Bintz

The Journal of Balanced Literacy Research and Instruction

This article evolved from recent conversations with middle and high school English/Language Arts teachers about the literary canon. The conversations were based on a question posed by one teacher in a professional development workshop: “To teach or not to teach the literary canon? That is my question.” Other teachers quickly stated that they have always struggled with this question and still do today. As a former English/Language Arts teacher, I recognized the importance of this question and afterwards spent time asking myself: Is the literary canon a virtue, vice, or both? This article shares my current best thinking about this …

The Power Of Pictures: Drawing On Visual Sign-Systems To Teach Inference In Gerstein’S The Man Between Two Towers, Shannon Howrey

The Journal of Balanced Literacy Research and Instruction

The ability to infer while reading is a critical part of meaning-making. Readers who infer go beyond the literal words on the page by adding information to the text and making implicit connections between the text and their prior knowledge (Barr, Blacowicz, Bates, Katz, & Kaufman, 2013). This skill allows them to establish causal relationships between story events, connect the events to their personal experiences, and determine relationships, motivations, and emotions within and between characters. Drawing on dual coding theory and visual literacy principles, the author demonstrates how the lines in the illustrations of The Man Between Two Towers assist …

The Response Strategies Of Proficient Readers When Correcting And Attempting To Correct Miscues On A Complex Scientific Text, Stephen B B. Kucer Dr.

The Journal of Balanced Literacy Research and Instruction

This study examines the strategies that proficient fourth grade readers employ when responding to their miscues. Thirty-four students orally read a complex expository scientific text. The text was part of the fourth grade science curriculum. Reader response strategies to their miscues—corrections and attempts to correct—were identified. It was discovered that response strategies were either graphic or contextual in nature. As measured by Chi-squares, readers varied their use of these strategies. This variation was statistically significant at the p < .001 level for both correction and attempt to correct strategies. For both, the primary focus was on the word level. Existing research documents that as text complexity increases, readers have a tendency to rely on sounding out as a default strategy. As readers progress across the grades, teachers will therefore need to prompt the use more than graphic strategies when readers respond to their miscues. This is particularly the case due to the implementation of the Common Core State Standards. Students are being introduced to complex disciplinary texts in which the use of context is critical to …

What Counts As Common Core Aligned? An Examination Of A Reading Program's Agreement With The Common Core State Standards, Kim Skinner, Alecia Tate, Emily France, Gina Stocks

The Journal of Balanced Literacy Research and Instruction

Passage and implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) created numerous difficulties for educational stakeholders. One such difficulty, determining the alignment of previously utilized curricula to the CCSS, forced many states, districts, and schools into purchasing “new” curricular resources marketed as “Common Core Aligned” without any available auditing process to validate the claims made by publishers. Since initial implementation of CCSS, measures for determining alignment have been developed. This study examined the alignment of a widely used reading program, Adventures Common Core (pseudonym), to the Common Core State Standards using a modified version of the Educators Evaluating the Quality …

Editor's Introduction For Volume 4 Issue 1, Estanislado S. Barrera Iv

The Journal of Balanced Literacy Research and Instruction

No abstract provided.

Advanced College Credit Pathways: Six Undergraduates Reflect On Their Journeys As Writers, Candence Malhiet Robillard

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study explored the writing habits and behaviors of six undergraduate students who earned advanced college credit from the International Baccalaureate diploma, Advanced Placement exam scores, or through dual enrollment partnerships with accredited colleges. Using narrative and case study methods, the study investigated the relationship between high school advanced credit composition courses and the requirements of undergraduate writing. At the time of the study the participants had already completed a minimum of three semesters of study on a college campus.Participants met a total of three times over the course of one semester. Inreflecting on their experiences and in sharing their …

Mymathlab Educational Intervention To Enhance Student Performance In Calculus I At Historically Black Colleges And Universities, Sheila Duplechain Derouen

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

According to the Obama Administration, we need a workforce that is going to be STEM ready because this is the only way that the U.S. will be able to compete on a global level with other nations. Louisiana will demand a total of 66,250 STEM jobs by 2018, up from 61,610 in 2008, according to Georgetown University (Carnevale, Smith, & Melton, 2014). By 2020, sixty-five percent of the nation’s jobs will require post-secondary education. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the attrition rate between first- and second-year college students is 24.5% (2017).

The purpose of this study is …

We Are One: A Phenomenological Study Of The Self-Perceived Experiences Of Black Students In The National Pan-Hellenic Council At A Predominately White Institution And Historically Black University In The Southeast, Loryn M. Taylor-Johnson

LSU Master's Theses

For the purpose of this study, the researcher examined the self-perceived experiences for Black students in the National Pan-Hellenic Council on the campus of at a Predominately White Institution (PWI) and a Historically College/Black University (HBCU) in the Southeast, specifically examining the support provided by Student Affairs professionals. After examining current literature, the researcher sought to understand students’ perception of support offered by Student Affairs professionals in Greek Life Offices.

Mathematics Course For Elementary Teachers In An Alternate Certification Pathway, Rachael Cramer Williams

LSU Master's Theses

In the current alternate certification program for elementary teachers at McNeese State University, students receive course work from only one of the elementary mathematics methods courses required in the traditional certification program. To assure that candidates in the alternate path learn all the math they need, I have created a course that combines the most important concepts from the two courses in one. In this thesis I will describe how the new course was designed, present an outline of the course, detail the content at the unit level and provide a template for the final exam.

Science Inquiry In Informal Settings, Michelle Elizabeth Gomez Ms.

LSU Master's Theses

This qualitative research study aims to answer the question of whether or not informal learning settings, such as museums and zoos, are beneficial to students’ understanding of new science concepts and the nature of science. The researcher uses the term, “informal educators,” to refer to the participants because they are educators who teach in settings outside of a school setting. This study focuses on four informal educators that are employed at four different informal learning settings in South Louisiana, but specifically how the informal educators’ instruction complements classroom instruction, how informal educators incorporate inquiry within their science instruction, and what …

The Use Of Expansions To Increase The Mean Length Utterance Of Preschool Students, Kaitlyn Carley Geffen

LSU Master's Theses

Language is an important area of development addressed in preschool, as it is the foundation for literacy development and the way children express their thoughts and understandings. Mean length utterance (MLU) can be used as a measure of a child’s expressive language development. One intervention that has been used to increase MLU is expansion. Expansion is when an adult responds to a child’s utterance by expanding their sentence to form a more complete or complex sentence. This study used an Expansion Intervention to increase the MLU of preschool aged students. The subjects consisted of three preschool children attending a …

Investigating Early-Career Teacher Propensity For Arts-Based Pedagogy, Jamie Allison Hipp

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study investigates the factors which support the use of arts-based pedagogy in elementary settings. To address the lack of a current profile of an early-career teacher (ECT) with a propensity to use the arts – music, theatre, dance, and visual art – this study illuminates ECT attitudes and behaviors related to arts-based pedagogy. The researcher administered Oreck’s (2001) Teaching with the Arts Survey (TWAS) and employed a non-experimental survey design using purposive sampling. The ECT population studied included currently employed elementary (1-5) teachers who completed the compulsory arts-based pedagogy class at a large Louisiana university in the fall of …

Investigating Elearning Continuance Through Expectation Disconfirmation Theory, Susana Reyes Lee

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study set out to investigate the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) eLearning participation and completion phenomenon of learners and to explore motivation of CPD eLearning intentions and completions. This study focused on why learners choose CPD eLearning and why they continue in CPD eLearning. Based on the Expectations Disconfirmation theory (EDT) and the DeLone and McLean Information Systems Success Model (1992), a survey was developed and then sent to a cross-section of registered CPD eLearners from the first responder community. After the data was collected 217 responses were analyzed with SPSS correlational techniques and through PROCESS which is a modeling …

Predictors Of Graduate Students' Self-Efficacy For Working With Persons With Autism Spectrum Disorder And Their Families, Cassie M. Dinecola

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

As diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) continue to climb, the need for knowledgeable and competent professionals is critical. Research has shown that child symptoms and behavior are related to parent stress and mental health and that this relationship is bidirectional, suggesting the need for the use of a family-centered care model (FCC) that addresses both child and parent needs. While social workers are well-prepared to provide FCC to persons with ASD and their families, few social workers enter the field of developmental disabilities. Professionals more involved in the ASD field, such as special educators, often are equipped to work …

The Impact Of Responsive Partnership Strategies On The Satisfaction Of Co-Teaching Relationships In Early Childhood Classrooms, Caroline Lee Hulin

LSU Master's Theses

BACKGROUND: Lack of coordinated action between two adults in the classroom can lead to disjointed instruction for young children and teacher stress (Masterson, 2015; Nilsson, 2015). OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the present study was to measure the effects of a Responsive Partnership Strategies intervention (Masterson) on teacher satisfaction with their co-teaching relationship. METHODS: Teachers were observed within the context of their classroom and during weekly planning sessions to record Responsive Partnership Strategies. Following baseline observations, teachers completed the Teaching Models Identification (Appendix B), Relationship Satisfaction Questionnaire (Appendix C), and the Responsive Partnership Strategies Checklist (Appendix D). The Responsive Partnership …

"Fifty Shades Of Black": The Black Racial Identity Development Of Black Members Of White Greek Letter Organizations In The South, Danielle Ford

LSU Master's Theses

It could be argued that one of the most segregated settings on a college campus today can be found amongst the sprawling mansions that line a university’s Fraternity and Sorority Row. While many Black students join Black Greek-letter organizations (“BGLOs”), a small number decide to rush and pledge White Greek-letter organizations (“WGLOs”). According to Matthew Hughey, a professor at the University of Connecticut who studies race in Greek life, only 3 to 4 percent of members of WGLOs are nonwhite (Hughey, 2007).

Historically, many WGLOs’ constitutions and policies included official “race clauses” that banned non-White students from membership; those clauses …

Brewed Awakening: Re-Imagining Education In Three Nineteenth-Century New Orleans Coffee Houses, Robyn Rene Andermann

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In dominant narratives of the history of education in America, the icon of the American educated citizen has traditionally been rooted in Jeffersonian Democracy, eventually taking shape in the Northern, Anglo-Protestant, Common School Movement in which the availability and acceptance of state-supported public education was a key measure of democratic progress. Within the institution of common schools, individuals were taught how to participate in a democratic society.

This dissertation reimagines the dominant narrative by suggesting that the multiethnic and multilingual nature of New Orleans, which some early American leaders had framed as discordant and disorderly, was vital to constructing an …