Education Commons^™

A Qualitative Exploration Of Food Literacy In International Schools In Egypt, Amy Pugsley

Theses and Dissertations

Food literacy is an essential part of good physical and psychological health, however, food literacy is not a mandatory part of K-12 education in all schools. Many factors can influence food literacy levels including familial culture, socioeconomic status, and education levels. This research seeks to examine perceptions of food literacy in high school students and educators at two private American international schools located in Cairo, Egypt. Through the use of observations and interviews, the researcher used a qualitative approach to understand the self-perceptions of food literacy in students studying the American curriculum. The study revealed that students from high-socio-economic backgrounds …

Investigating How Generation 1.5 Students Notice And Understand Direct Written Corrective Feedback (Wcf), Melissa Bustamante

Theses and Dissertations

The following research focuses on an underrepresented and understudied population in academia, Generation 1.5. Generation 1.5 encompasses a group of individuals who neither fit the categories of first-generation nor second-generation students and often feel caught between two cultures, the American culture and their family’s native culture (Serventy and Allen 1; Goldschmidt and Miller 11). These individuals are neither fully proficient in their L1 or L2 and consequently, share characteristics of L1 and traditional L2 writers (Singhal 2; Ferris 311). This research study examines how university Generation 1.5 students notice and understand direct Written Corrective Feedback (WCF) on treatable and untreatable …

Perceptions Of The Culinary Art Community On Their Higher Education Programs In Egypt: The Way Forward, Kadria Ali Abdel Motaal

Theses and Dissertations

Culinary art education used to have a narrow focus that forgoes its richness and ignores its infiltration into economic, political, and cultural aspects within society. Recently the world witnessed an evolution in this field of study as it reached tertiary education institutions. However, in Egypt, culinary art studies are integrated into hospitality education and are still confined to a shallow concept. This study aimed to explore the perception of the culinary art community in Egypt on their higher education programs from a sociocultural perspective. It also explored the possible new frameworks, and core competencies to improve culinary arts higher education …

Seeing Themselves: White Preservice Teachers As Raced Individuals And As Members Of Their Future School Communities, Laurie Koth

Theses and Dissertations

Students of color, of poverty, with disabilities continue to slide into the school to prison pipeline (STPP.) Very often, an antecedent step is harsh exclusionary discipline that removes them from the classroom. Teachers, who play a major role in the decision whether to keep students in or eject them from the classroom and the school, are among multiple forces driving students toward or away from the STPP. A salient feature of the issue is that nearly 80% of teachers are white and their most vulnerable students are not. Rooted in critical race and care theories, and buttressed by self determination …

The ‘Ezel Project’ Inquiry: Mesotransformative Praxis To Decenter Whiteness In Racialized Organizations And Schools, Justin Gerald

Theses and Dissertations

In this study, a Black scholar in the midst of understanding his neurodivergence and his identity as someone who has been dis/abled reacts to the prodding of white peers by creating a course on decentering whiteness. The scholar then interviews ten of the participants in said class to understand how they came to select such a course and what they might have accomplished in attempting to challenge the structure of whiteness in their institutions. Drawing on Critical Race Theory, Critical Whiteness Studies, Dis/Crit, and in particular the work of Victor Ray, this work seeks to examine the narratives that brought …

Critical Conversations In A Second-Grade Classroom Using Diverse Literature, Joanne Susan Brown

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify the effects of reading diverse texts during SEL morning meeting time and observe how 2nd grade students engage in conversations. Diverse texts were selected related to themes of identity, race, poverty, gender, sexual identity, and gender identity. Data collected included student conversations and journals. After analyzing the data collected, it was found that the inclusion of diverse texts during SEL morning meetings yielded positive results. Students engaged in more personal conversations when they could connect to the text and speak freely, students spoke more when they had control of the conversations, …

An Examination Of High School Students' Experiences As Anti-Defamation League Peer Trainers: A Case Study, David G. Knecht

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine students experiences as Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Peer Trainers at a predominately White, suburban high school in New Jersey, including in what ways students' experiences reflected transformative learning and empowered them as social justice allies. In addition, the study explored in what ways students' experiences could inform social justice education at their high school. The findings indicate that within this context, many participants experienced at least the beginning of perspective transformation, resulting in a shift from an exclusive to an inclusive perspective and an orientation toward social justice. Further, the findings …

Meet And Run, Gia M. Binner

Theses and Dissertations

A defense for Gia Binner’s MFA Thesis, Meet and Run, argues that accessible art, known in this paper as commercial dance, is a meaningful vehicle for social change and that it has the ability to dismantle the outdated, European concert dance dominance by modeling the interdependency of both worlds.

Secondary English Teachers’ Experiences Of Agency: Connections To Shifting Educational Contexts During Covid-19, Kristina Lee

Theses and Dissertations

The COVID-19 pandemic caused schools around the world to enter uncharted territory. Due to the unprecedented nature of the educational crisis, it was important to examine how teacher agency may have been affected. Teacher agency can have important implications for school climate, policy, and the experience of stakeholders. The main focus of this study was to cultivate an understanding of secondary English teachers’ perceptions of agency as they navigated teaching throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. An ecological framework was used to examine teachers’ experiences of agency in the context of COVID-19. The study utilized a basic qualitative design with in-depth interviews …

Effects Of Simultaneously Integrating Sel And Culturally Responsive Pedagogy On Students' Perceptions About Themselves And Their Abilities, Daniele J. Jacob

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative research study was to understand what happens to students' perceptions about themselves and their abilities when social and emotional learning (SEL) and culturally responsive pedagogy (CRP) are simultaneously integrated into an elementary gifted and talented classroom setting. Prior to this research, a structured approach to addressing students' social and emotional learning needs did not exist. Additionally, culturally responsive practices were not being used purposefully or with intent. This left the researcher to wonder how the lack of these practices may be negatively impacting students. How SEL and CRP can positively affect students' perceptions about themselves …

Embracing The Kaleidoscope: Four Teachers' Journeys Towards Sociopolitical Development, Daniel Tulino

Theses and Dissertations

Taliaferro Baszile (2017) tells us, "Education can be revolutionary work." To that end, if education historically has been a means for "inculcating" students into a hegemonic code of beliefs and values (Gramsci, 1971), it is the educator's duty to concern themselves with developing a critical consciousness (Freire, 1970/1996; Freire, 1973/1998) in order to transform the world through acts of social justice. The focus of this research project was to uncover, from the perspectives of four teachers, how they came to understand their own critical consciousness and sociopolitical development at a middle school in southern New Jersey. By uncovering the ways …

Stigmatizing Labels, School Bonds, And Capital In The School Reentry Experiences And Educational Outcomes Of Justice-Involved Youth, Peter S. Willis

Theses and Dissertations

Research indicates that justice-involved youth who reenter public and alternative schools following contact with the juvenile justice system struggle to find a place in the school community and complete their educations. Because educational attainment affects recidivism rates, successful school reentry for justice-involved youth presents important research questions for policy and practice. This study examined school reentry through cases studies of adults who had been justice-involved youth and had experienced school reentry following contact with the juvenile justice system. Study participants’ school reentry experiences were examined through a theoretical framework comprised of labeling, social control, and field theories. Findings suggest that …

"It Goes Both Ways" : How White Teachers View And Respond To Culture In The Diverse Classroom, Danielle Martin

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine how white teachers in a diverse school district view, respond to, and bridge cultural differences in the classroom. A pre-question, survey, audio recorded discussions, notes in a teacher research journal, and a post question were all analyzed to determine how four white, female teachers incorporated culture into the classroom as well as their receptiveness to culturally sustaining pedagogy. Findings were that these four teachers had a rudimentary understanding of culturally sustaining pedagogy prior to the study and while they made attempts to include culture in the classroom, these attempts were limited and …

How Third Grade Students Respond To The Multiple Perspectives In Read Alouds Of Critical Texts, Kathryn Elizabeth Zeck

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine how students respond to weekly read alouds of critical literacy texts. The specific aim was to see what type of critical stances students adopt as they respond to the multiple perspectives present in the texts. Student written reflections, audio recording of student talk, and anecdotal notes are all analyzed. The implications for implementing weekly read alouds of critical literacy texts as it relates to students' social awareness are discussed.

Cultural Humility: A Qualitative Study On The Development Of Self-Awareness In Social Work Educators, Nicole Moore-Bembry

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine the faculty members' perspectives on their racial identity development and how these perspectives impact their cultural self-awareness and cultural humility in the classroom. White social work faculty members voiced their vulnerability and discomfort in addressing race, oppression, and discrimination in the classroom. This study included a total of 10 White social work faculty members from a medium sized northeastern university.

Key findings of the study indicate that White faculty members: were primarily clinicians who later became educators, were primarily raised in White communities and the Monoracial upbringing impacted their personal …

An Exploration Of Identity Negotiation In Adult English Learners’ Communities Of Practice, Kathleen D. Rolander

Theses and Dissertations

This study utilizes Lave and Wenger’s (1991) communities of practice (COP) model to explore how ELLs navigate their positions within and between their many language learning communities. Drawing on Norton’s (1995, 2013) work on ELLs’ identity negotiation and Wenger’s 1998 work on the reinforcing impacts of identities between multiple COPs, this study explores what adults consider to be their COPs, how they perceive themselves within and between them, and how past, current, and imagined or possible COPs impact each other.

A constructivist, multiple case study design was used to focus on participants’ perceptions of their identity negotiation processes through their …

"We Are...": Creating Discursive Spaces For The Construction Of Counter Narratives Through Photovoice As Critical Service Learning, Amanda F. Hall

Theses and Dissertations

Broader social issues that affect students’ lives manifest in the classroom and the current neo-liberal reform structures in education (e.g., the accountability movement combined with punitive discipline measures and structural classism/racism) fail to acknowledge the impact of these issues on student identity within school and community. While this era of standardized testing has brought about anti-democratic realities in schools of all sorts, it is also the case that schools that pass tests often enjoy a more liberatory climate while schools struggling to meet testing requirements are more likely to possess oppressive qualities. Not coincidentally, the more oppressive schools are often …

Language, Literacy, And Conscientização In American Public Schools, Julie Ward

Theses and Dissertations

Language, Literacy, and Conscientização in American Public Schools synthesizes poststructural language theory to critique literacy teaching and assessment norms in American public schools in order to theorize a pedagogy of racial and economic justice that embraces globalization and immigration. Chapter I creates a theoretical framework for language that rests firmly on both Lev Vygotsky’s and Jacques Lacan’s sociohistorical approach to language acquisition and language use. Mikhail Bakhtin’s work demonstrates the heteroglossic nature of discourse, while Antonio Gramsci politicizes this framework through an understanding of hegemony. Chapter II sketches ethnographic research on teaching practices of various American communities, focusing on ideology …

Multimodal Pedagogies, Processes And Projects: Writing Teachers Know More Than We May Think About Teaching Multimodal Composition, Jessica B. Gordon

Theses and Dissertations

Multimodal writing refers to texts that use more than one communicative mode to convey information. While there is much scholarship that examines the history of alphabetic writing instruction and the alphabetic composing processes of students, little research explores the historical origins of multimodal composition and the processes in which students engage as they compose multimodal texts. This two-part project takes a fresh approach to studying multimodal writing by exploring the multimodal pedagogies of ancient Greek and Roman rhetoric and writing teachers, analyzing the role of mental and physical images in modern writers’ composing practices, and investigating contemporary students’ processes for …

Recovery From Design, Cassandra J. Ellison

Theses and Dissertations

Through research, inquiry, and an evaluation of Recovery By Design, a ‘design therapy’ program that serves people with mental illness, substance use disorders, and developmental disabilities, it is my assertion that the practice of design has therapeutic potential and can aid in the process of recovery. To the novice, the practices of conception, shaping form, and praxis have empowering benefit especially when guided by Conditional and Transformation Design methods together with an emphasis on materiality and vernacular form.

Wise Choices? The Economics Discourse Of A High School Economics And Personal Finance Course, Tamara L. Sober

Theses and Dissertations

Today’s high school students will face a host of economic problems such as the demise of the social safety net, mounting college student debt, and costly health care plans, as stated in the rationale for financial literacy provided by the Council for Economic Education’s National Standards for Financial Literacy. These problems are compounded by growing income and wealth inequality and the widespread influence of neoliberal ideology. Although one of the major goals of economics education is to teach students to make reasoned economic choices in their public and private lives and provide the skills to solve personal and social …

Experiences Of Lgbtq Students At A Primarily White Institution In The South, Leia Kristin Cain

Theses and Dissertations

In the United States, often Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and/or Questioning (LGBTQ) students are targets of verbal harassment and violence due to their sexual orientation or gender identity and gender expression. Further, 31 states do not offer protection against sexuality- or gender identity-based discrimination (ACLU, 2015). Schools are particularly vexing places, where L, G, B, T, and/or Q-identified students face difficulties due to the privileging of heterosexual students and heternormativity. In universities across the nation, suicide rates continue to climb for LGBTQ populations due to heterosexist policies, procedures, and practices, which lead to negative campus climates (Gortmaker & Brown, …

Framing In Crime News, Gabriele Ward

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate if televised news programs overrepresent or underrepresent certain races as perpetrators or victims. Three weeks of crime news programming were surveyed. The races of perpetrators and victims were identified and coded. Those findings were then compared to 2014 crime statistics obtained from the Philadelphia Police Department. It was hypothesized that (a) Blacks would be overrepresented as perpetrators, (b) Blacks would be underrepresented as victims, (c) Whites would be overrepresented as victims, (d) Whites would be underrepresented as perpetrators, (e) Hispanics would neither be underrepresented or overrepresented as perpetrators, and (f) Hispanics would …

Food Landscapes: A Case Study Of A Cooking And Art- Focused Program For Teens Living In A Food Desert, Jessica R. Norris

Theses and Dissertations

This study constructs themes and propositions about the experiences of youth participants in the fall 2013 Food Landscapes program at the Neighborhood Resource Center in Richmond, Virginia. During the program, youth participated in cooking-based volunteerism with adults with disabilities and created short videos about their experiences. In this study, I analyzed pre- and post-program participant interviews, twice-weekly program observations, and facilitator reflections to understand how Food Landscapes affected youths’ conception of community engagement and communication strategies. This case study offers insight into how youth experience after-school programming of this design. Based on my findings, youth develop and rely upon a …