Education Commons^™

Girls In The Woods: An Exploration Of The Impact Of A Wilderness Program On Adolescent Girls' Constructions Of Femininity, Anja Whittington

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Historically, the wilderness and outdoor recreational activities have been portrayed as a masculine domain. In spite of this, women's participation in wilderness programs has increased, illustrating what research has proven-that women reap positive mental, physical, and spiritual outcomes from participating in outdoor experiences. Research on the benefits for female participants focuses primarily on women's experiences; however, little research investigates the outcomes of girls' participation. More specifically, the literature neglects the study of how participation in outdoor wilderness programs challenges conventional notions of femininity. The goal of this study was to 1) add girls' voices to the research on the outcomes …

The Church Music Program: The Effect Of Moving From Performance-Based To Education-Based Emphasis In A Church Music Program, Ronald Glynn Sherwin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research project sought to answer the primary research question: What occurs when the music program in a church changes its emphasis from performance to education? This qualitative study of a church choir included participant observation of Wednesday evening and Sunday morning rehearsals over a 12 week period, individual interviews, group interviews, written responses, and written and visual assessment of musical skills. The goal was a rich description of the participants and emerging themes resulting from the shift in emphasis. Analysis of data occurred through inductive processing. Data was initially coded and then the codes were categorized into sub-themes, and …

Migration Of University Of Maine 2002 Graduates, Ewa Jadwiga Kleczyk

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the context of today's tight labor market and increasing demand for highly skilled workers, Maine is considering how to attract and retain college graduates in the state. The educational system and economic opportunities such as the job market, wage levels, and taxes, as well as other factors impacting the migration trends of college graduates are evaluated. Understanding the patterns of educated people's relocation decisions, and the reasons influencing them, are concerns not just of government officials. Students with bachelor and advanced degrees are thought to be an asset to the community and the state since they add to the …

Crystallizing Alex: A Qualitative Case Study Of What Influences One Second Grade Teacher's Literacy Instruction, Jill Ostrow

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

New teachers face enormous pressure- to understand and assess student learning, to work well with parents, and to ensure their curricula are aligned with state and national standards. Nowhere is this pressure more evident than in literacy instruction, where competing notions of best practice can be confusing and overwhelming. This qualitative case study of an early career teacher, Alex Christopher, explores in-depth what influences her second grade literacy program. Her decisionmaking process during reading and writing instruction is analyzed within the context of local, state and national literacy reform initiatives, university/school partnerships, and professional development opportunities. Alex was selected for …

Lessons From Ellen: A Case Study Investigation Of Comprehension Strategy Instruction In Action, Suzanne Kaback

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the past ten years, reading comprehension instruction has received significant attention from educational researchers. Drawing on studies from cognitive psychology, reader response theory, and language arts research, current best practice in reading comprehension instruction is characterized by a strategies approach in which students are taught to think like proficient readers who visualize, infer, activate schema, question, and summarize as they read. Studies investigating the impact of comprehension strategy instruction on student achievement in reading suggest that when implemented consistently the intervention has a positive effect on achievement. Research also shows, however, that few teachers embrace this approach to reading …

Design, Implementation And Assessment Of An Earth Systems Science Course For Secondary Teachers, Jeffery C. Owen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the fall of 2002 the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Maine piloted an innovative course developed as a core offering for the new Master of Science in Teaching program. A team of four instructors comprised of two Earth Sciences faculty and two science educators developed the course and implemented it with nine students- six in-service teachers and three pre-service teachers. The course addressed multiple needs of secondary teachers through the integration of instruction in curriculum design, pedagogy, assessment, and classroom-level educational research, and earth systems science content. The components of instruction taught in the course included: …

Through Their Eyes: Five Maine Principals Explore Their Learning About Leadership, Anita M. Campbell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Rising expectations for school leadership are placing unprecedented pressures on school principals. No longer able to limit their work to the traditional management functions, principals must now lead the improvement of student achievement, staff learning, and community involvement Given the consuming nature of the principalshp, principals have a variety of learning needs. The literature on principals' learning is weighted with prescriptions written by those outside the principalship. Absent from this literature is the voice of the principal himself or herself. The purpose of this research was to explore principals' learning needs "from the inside out" in order to understand what …

Factors Influencing Grade Six Students' Perceptions Of Teachers, Susan Smith Laplante

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Less than one percent of U.S. school districts have invited student feedback in the school improvement process (Matthews, 2000). Students have valuable perceptions of how teachers interact with them and these perceptions can be a usefbl tool to improve schools (Tyack & Cuban). The purpose of this study was to examine sixth grade students' perceptions of teachers and the relationship of these perceptions to achievement, gender, socioeconomic status and grade configurations. This study utilized sixth graders' responses to sixteen items selected fiom the Students Speak: My Education and My Future Aspirations survey developed at the National Center for Student Aspirations …

Perceived Attributes To The Development Of A Positive Self-Concept From The Experiences Of Adolescents With Learning Disabilities, Charles P. Bernacchio

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Perceived Attributes to Positive Self-concept Study examined the experiences of adolescents with learning disabilities to determine the ways in which living with a disability may have shaped their development of a positive self-concept. This study considered the perceptions held by adolescents themselves, their parents, and their teachers as valuably contributing to their own development of a positive self-concept. The research questions for the study included: "How does the experience of living with a disability affect the perceptions of adolescents with learning disabilities held by themselves, their parents and their . teachers? " "How do the experiences of living with …

Coherence And Historical Understanding In Children's Biography And Historical Nonfiction Literature: A Content Analysis Of Selected Orbis Pictus Books, Sandip Leeanne Wilson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate a selection of children's historical nonfiction literature for evidence of coherence. Although research has been conducted on coherence of textbook material and its influences on comprehension there has been limited study on coherence in children's nonfiction literature. Generally, textual coherence has been seen as critical in the comprehensibility of content area textbooks because it concerns the unity of connections among ideas and information. Disciplinary coherence concerns the extent to which authors of historical text show readers how historians think and write. Since young readers are apprentices in learning historical content and conventions …

Grading The General Chemistry Laboratory: A Constructivist Approach., Barbara Stewart

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Constructivist theories of learning posit that instructors cannot transfer their knowledge to students; students must actively construct their own understanding. The Inter-Chem-Net project uses technology and instrumentation to provide an individualized experience within the large general laboratory course, effectively establishing a constructivist methodology. A grading rubric was developed to communicate course expectations and provide an easy and reliable method of evaluating student work in the general chemistry laboratory. The grading rubric separates the learning outcomes into a checklist of skills associated with each particular grade. This checklist provides detailed feedback for individualized choices of experiments, a key component of the …

The Effect Of Direct Experience On Generating Insight Into And Deepening Understanding Of Academic Topics Studied By High School Seniors In The Field, Lowell W. Libby

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Progressive educators have long criticized many traditional teaching methods at the secondary level as intellectually stultifying and irrelevant. The current wave of progressive secondary school reform, including in Maine, seeks to improve learning for all students by actively engaging them in the learning experience. The focus, however, is primarily on classroom practices, with little written about the potential importance to academic study of one practice - field-based learning - which has an established record for engaging students actively in learning. The reasons for this omission are varied, including a lack of understanding of field-based learning at the secondary level. This …

Making The Transition To Curriculum Integration: A Curriculum Design In Middle Level Schools, Wallace Martin Alexander

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate middle level teachers' transitional process as they move from an interdisciplinary/multidisciplinary curricular format to curriculum integration. This study was designed to identify key stakeholders in this transitional process and determine the role each played, and to identify and investigate the key steps and obstacles along the way. The primary participants in this study were identified as teachers in the process of transitioning to a curriculum integration model. They and two other teachers on their five-teacher team, five students, three parents and the school principal were interviewed. Teacher interviews were most extensive, delving …

Aspiring To The Superintendency: Factors That Influence The Decision, Regina P. Campbell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates and identifies the factors impacting the superintendency and examines them, positive and negative, as they influence potential and current superintendent certificate holders to complete the process of applying for a superintendency. Three sample groups were used in this study: current Maine superintendent certificate holders, students enrolled in graduate administration classes, and currently practicing superintendents. These three groups were selected because of their unique positioning on the career ladder to the superintendency (Burnham, 1988). The aggregate sample included 236 respondents, comprising 82 superintendents, 90 certificate holders and 64 students. Three survey instruments were designed for this study specifically …

Collective Efficacy And Collaborative Climate In Maine High Schools, Sarah Mackenzie

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

School reformers contend that a collaborative climate is conducive to effective schools. Collective efficacy is logically connected to collaborative climate and has the potential to enhance understanding of the psychosocial aspects of schools as organizations. This study's purpose was to examine the relationships among teacher efficacy, collective efficacy, and collaborative climate and to determine how, if at all, these three indicators of teacher and school effectiveness were statistically linked. I The study involved surveying 21 high schools. Teachers (n = 384) responded to a 40-item instrument consisting of variables related to their individual and collective efficacy, sense of collegiality, beliefs …

Whole-School Elementary Literacy Programs: Variation In Implementation And The Relationship To Student Literacy Achievement, Lucie C. Boucher

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research suggests that whole-school early literacy program reform should take precedence in our schools (Pikulski, 1994; Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998). Discovering how the components of a whole-school early literacy program interact to affect student achievement is the next step in planning for program development. Studies focusing on effective schools have not yet provided information about the impact of a whole-school program on student achievement or about the contribution of each the individual components to the whole program (Anderson & Pellicer, 1998; Creemers, 1997; Creemers & Reezigt, 1996; Wong & Meyer, 1997). However, descriptive studies spanning several decades conducted in …

A Study Of The Causes Of Racial Friction As Represented In The Detroit, Beaumont, And Harlem Outbreaks, Evelyn B. Knight

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study has to do with the causes of racial friction as represented in the Detroit, Beaumont and Harlem outbreaks occurring in 1943. It will be pointed out that the incidental causes of such riots are symptoms leading to the exploratory job of finding the disease of "scapegoatism”. A survey of literature on the problem will bring about some understanding of the importance of racial prejudices and their relation to an international understanding. The opinions of experts in such fields as anthropology, economics, sociology, and psychology will be analyzed in an effort to determine how such friction may be eliminated …

The Origin And Development Of The Open Air School, Marion Frances Quinn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Open Air Schools came into existence because people had found a need for them. Some children were for one reason or another not profiting by a regular school routine. There were several causes for this. One cause was that some children had come in contact with tuberculosis and scientific studies showed that the tuberculosis germs could be best treated by out-of-door rest and good nourishing food. Other children were malnourished so didn’t have the resistance to fight off colds and tiredness. Still others had had operations and were not strong enough to attend a regular school.

Open Air Schools are …

Negro Training In An Industrialized Democracy, Willard Potter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study has to do with the training of the Negro in an industrial democracy in which the national government once assumed the direct responsibility for such training, as well as with the results which were incurred when this government relinquished its role as administrator. It will be pointed out how the lassitude of able and gifted minds during the past century in regard to the Negro question led to haphazard efforts, on the part of inspired philanthropists and zealous home missionaries, to educate the Negro; and how such attitude brought about a Negro psychology of "accommodation’’ in the South …

The Development Of A Course Of Study In Homemaking For Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, And Eighth Grade Girls, Viola Iydelle Munyan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For some time, the author has been pondering the values of the course given in her school in relation to (1) present day theories, (2) courses offered in other schools, (3) the children in the community in which she works, (4) the carry-over in the homes, and (5) the extent to which it contributes to better daily living for them as individuals. The purpose of this study has been to find, from the children, from the mothers, and from personal observations, the greatest needs and interests of the children of the Horace Mann Training School in Salem, Massachusetts, in order …

The History Of Education In Windsor, Connecticut, Ervin Sylvester Farrington

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Thesis (M.S.) in Education--University of Maine, 1939.

The purpose of this study is to show three hundred years of educational progress in Windsor, Connecticut, from 1614, when the earliest records are found, through the colonial period, the period of parish control of schools and the period of town and private control of schools.

This thesis is based almost entirely on original records and documents. All show intimate glimpses of one of the most interesting and most historic communities in all New England.

A Study Of The Cost Of Instruction Of The Various High School Subjects In Maine, Ava Harriet Chadbourne

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The problem to be worked out in this brief paper is the determination of the costs of the unit of instruction in the various High School subjects as taught in a number of cities and towns in the State of Maine.

The purpose is first (1) to begin the establishment of standards of High School costs in Maine (2) to determine the comparative costs of the same subjects in different schools in our state and to judge whether we are wasting our money or not (3) and to determine the comparative costs of these different subjects of instruction in our …