Education Commons^™

Science Attitudes Of Students Enrolled In An Introductory Environmental Science Course, Rajan Brar

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This study examines attitudes towards science for 198 students enrolled in an introductory university environmental science course. Conceptual frameworks include the theory of planned behaviour and the tripart model of attitudes to assess science attitudes. A quantitative research design, using secondary data, is used to address this purpose. Within this study, Enjoyment of Science and Science Anxiety factors of attitudes towards science, components of the affective domain of attitude are compared to student gender, faculty, and academic year using a modified mATSI:2 questionnaire. It is found that faculty displays the most significant association with science attitudes, with students from science …

Teacher Professionalism, Embodiment, And Surveillance: An Autoethnographic Study, Melanie Cloutier-Bordeleau

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This autoethnographic study entails using my own situated knowledge and experience as a white bisexual secondary school teacher from a low socioeconomic background as a basis for data generation and analysis. Attention is given to examining the current enforcement of specific norms governing behavioural and physical conduct, and the role these norms play in constructing and reinforcing hierarchical structures of identity related to race, gender, socioeconomic status and sexuality. The main question the study explores is: How does the performativity and performance of educator “professionalism” contribute to constructing/reinforcing hierarchies of identity with respect to gender, sexuality, social class and race? …

Improving The Education Of Leaders: An Exploratory Case Study In An Undergraduate Business Leadership Course Focused On Gender, Kanina Blanchard

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This exploratory case study is conducted in an undergraduate leadership course at a business school in Ontario. The research develops an understanding of how former students value and are influenced by leadership education that teaches a breadth of knowledges (instrumental, hermeneutic and emancipatory) and focuses on participants’ perspectives of how gender and inequality continue to impact the practice of leadership in Canada. By using document analysis and semi-structured interviews, findings emerge which provide insights into how changes in curricula and pedagogy may better prepare students of leadership to navigate the ethical and social complexities in today’s workplace.

"What About The Boys" In Tights: Beyond The "Boy Crisis" And Into The Literacy Potential Of Superhero Fiction, Jacob Cassidy

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Comics and, to a lesser extent, superhero fiction have been gaining popularity in schools over the past decade. However, the potential for these texts to improve literacy curriculum across education has been limited by lingering traditional notions of literacy and the implementation of these texts as resources for helping struggling and disinterested readers, namely boys. Based on the thoughts and experiences of six, high school English students in Ontario, Canada, this qualitative case study investigates how a broader, more inclusive focus on literacy pedagogy, which includes the use of comics and superhero fiction, can foster greater interest in literacy learning …

Women In Science And Engineering: The Impact Of Gender Equity Policies In Mexican Higher Education, Elida Sanchez Cruz

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In a globalizing world, Mexico’s higher education system is undergoing significant transformations. One of the more hopeful, positive transformations is the emergence or strengthening of gender equity policies in many education institutions. The equity-oriented policies, packaged in transnational policy spheres, are interpreted and set in motion based on the interplay of national, local and institutional contexts. While this emergent equity-friendly policy environment represents a positive movement for equity, its manifestations and effects remain understudied.

Considering that there is at least a policy environment supportive of gender equity, this study examines how gender equity plays out at the ground level. It …

Interplay Of Masculinity And Schooling In Rural Zimbabwe, Alfred Masinire

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis investigates the interplay of masculinity and schooling in postcolonial rural Zimbabwe, which has been affected by both local influences that have antecedents in colonization and by the external, current forces of globalization.

By focusing on the construction of masculinities, this study contributes to a deeper understanding of the complicated relations between boys, girls and implications on schooling. This is significant because much research on gender in Zimbabwe has excluded boys’ experiences and how they are implicated in unequal and unjust gender relations.

A partial ethnographic study methodology was employed and in-depth interviews, informal conversations and observations with ten …

The Power Of Silence And The Price Of Success: Academic Achievement As Transformational Resistance For Aboriginal Women, Dawn M. Harvard

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Using an anti-racist feminist framework, and revised concepts of resistance, this qualitative study utilizes traditional Aboriginal Sharing Circles and personal interviews for a culturally sensitive exploration of the experiences of successful Aboriginal women in mainstream post-secondary institutions. The research focuses on two questions. What barriers confront Aboriginal women in mainstream post-secondary institutions generally, and how were these particular Aboriginal women able to overcome the challenges they faced, i.e. what coping strategies and support mechanisms had, in their experience, facilitated academic achievement and persistence? Analysis revealed how experiences of discrimination, and an awareness of societal inequities, in combination with a belief …