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Articles 1 - 12 of 12

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Rethinking Human-Local Wildlife Relations, Yin Chan May 2022

Rethinking Human-Local Wildlife Relations, Yin Chan

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

The plight of suburban wildlife receives considerably less attention than that of exotic or endangered species despite facing similar threats due to the decline of their natural habitats as humans expand upon them. From the perspective of a reflective practitioner, this paper provides new avenues to rethink current views on human-local wildlife relations and answer some of the difficult questions surrounding the topic. The methodology of Action Research is employed to explore concepts relevant to human-local wildlife relations. A synthesized practical framework integrating Action Research with Permaculture Design is proposed to create models for mutually beneficial coexistence between local wildlife …


On A Mission: Examination Of Graduate Resources For Multicultural Women At The University Of Massachusetts Boston, Annmarie Mccluskey May 2022

On A Mission: Examination Of Graduate Resources For Multicultural Women At The University Of Massachusetts Boston, Annmarie Mccluskey

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

This paper discusses significant issues affecting Multicultural Women Graduate Students at the University of Massachusetts Boston, a Predominately White Institution, for creating a centralized graduate resources weblink on the Office of Graduate Studies website. The intervention seeks to address navigating gender and race inequalities that create a double bind experience of stress within a dominant academic culture that reinforces isolation, intersectional barriers, microaggressions, and pressure to assimilate to the dominant culture. Facilitation of this proposal will impact Multicultural Women Graduate Students, the Office of Graduate Studies, the Provost’s Office which oversees the OGS, and the entirety of the University of …


Reimagining The Role Of Physical Space In Future Human Thriving, Adrian Young May 2021

Reimagining The Role Of Physical Space In Future Human Thriving, Adrian Young

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

As a positive psychology practitioner and residential planner, I divide energy and effort into two distinct fields; one focused on human welfare and the other on optimal aesthetics and functionality of our physical surroundings. This text explores a philosophical shift in motivation for space design prompted by the experience and new potential that result from COVID-19. Rather than space as a means to epitomize style and serve utility, I urge considering the full complexity of the human experience and what would be most conducive to general well-being as a new leading priority. What influence can environmental design bring to generalized …


Developing A Theater Skills-Based Workshop To Facilitate Exploration Of Self-Identity For Young People, Natasha N. Goss May 2021

Developing A Theater Skills-Based Workshop To Facilitate Exploration Of Self-Identity For Young People, Natasha N. Goss

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

This synthesis will explore the premise of a working outreach platform comprised of experiential methodology, and practical tools and strategies to serve the intended audience. The paper presents an in-depth example of a workshop curriculum created for middle-school aged youth, (12-14 years old), who may struggle with self-esteem, understanding their self-worth, and making responsible decisions. The work explores two intersecting ideas that 1) poor self-concepts and misperceived thinking can lead youth to behave negatively and make detrimental decisions, and 2) theater involvement can produce a theater-based skillset capable of combating those poor self-concepts and misperceived thoughts and changing the trajectory …


Developing An Online Health Community For Autoimmune Disease Patients Through Self-Managed Diet, Rachel Greene May 2020

Developing An Online Health Community For Autoimmune Disease Patients Through Self-Managed Diet, Rachel Greene

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

Part I, Autoimmune Disease Management and the Need for Intervention, discusses current and standard Autoimmune Disease- (AI/AID) management and the shortcomings within. Typical AID-management led by healthcare professionals lacks a holistic, symptom-based approach, thus further contributing to the daily chronic pain of the afflicted. This analysis indicates the need to connect those suffering with AID’s to scientific research that has determined strict dieting can significantly reduce symptoms associated with AID’s. Part II, Synthesizing A Model For Online Health Community Engagement, examines the website prototype of Greenebean, which is an online community developed via user-centric design, in a theoretical, physical, and …


Social Action Teaching: Engaging Middle School Students In Knowing And Doing In The Social Studies Classroom, Alyssa Hinkell May 2009

Social Action Teaching: Engaging Middle School Students In Knowing And Doing In The Social Studies Classroom, Alyssa Hinkell

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

For the past three years I have had countless opportunities to engage in rich thinking around teaching and learning. As a member of the Critical and Creative Thinking Program (CCT) at the University of Massachusetts, Boston I have been able to reflect on these experiences in the context of my own teaching, applying what I have learned to enrich my own craft. Over the past eight months I have devoted this thinking to a teaching method I call Social Action Teaching. This method has helped to engage and motivate my seventh grade students and I believe, if applied elsewhere, can …


Incorporating Service-Learning Into The Esl Curriculum: What Aspiring Practitioners Need To Know, Andres R. Reyes May 2009

Incorporating Service-Learning Into The Esl Curriculum: What Aspiring Practitioners Need To Know, Andres R. Reyes

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

As an ESL teacher at a community college, my constant goal is to synergize teaching approaches and strategies so that in addition to maximizing students' language learning, their critical thinking skills, cultural competence, and reflectivity - as members of an increasingly growing multicultural society - are heightened. Most recently, I have been pursuing service-learning as a philosophy, pedagogy, and practice that can help students connect their classroom learning to concrete, exciting, and challenging learning situations beyond the classroom. This paper is an attempt to highlight service-learning as a powerful tool that can make a difference in students' lives as they …


Original Curriculum For Encouraging Meaningful Community Service In High School Students, Elizabeth H. Naylor Dec 2008

Original Curriculum For Encouraging Meaningful Community Service In High School Students, Elizabeth H. Naylor

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

In this paper I have explored the importance of community service experiences and ultimately created a guide for implementing a high quality and meaningful community service program at the high school level. This paper begins with an initial discussion of my personal experiences in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, when I discovered firsthand the importance of personal reflection and sharing. I have defined community as a group of people with common place and common interest. Community service is an action within the community that betters the community in some way. The reader will find examples of communities coming together to …


Fighting Traffic Congestion In Metropolitan Phoenix By Making Public Transportation A Success, David Frias May 2007

Fighting Traffic Congestion In Metropolitan Phoenix By Making Public Transportation A Success, David Frias

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

The past two years in the Critical and Creative Thinking Graduate Program have been a time of learning and life changing experiences. I found the confidence to make a career change and gained the knowledge and tools necessary to study the complex problem of traffic congestion and attempt to solve it by utilizing public transportation. My plan to move to Phoenix, Arizona in 2009 motivated me not only to learn about the area and its attempts to fight urban sprawl and traffic congestion, but also to attempt to find solutions to these problems. I utilized creative thinking and critical thinking …


An Immigration Unit: Appreciation And Tolerance, Linda A. Dacorta Dec 1997

An Immigration Unit: Appreciation And Tolerance, Linda A. Dacorta

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

In a pluralistic society like America, some of the most important dispositions for students to develop are open-mindedness, tolerance, and a valuing of the contributions of persons from a variety of different backgrounds. In this interdisciplinary unit entitled: An Immigrations Unit Appreciation and Tolerance, I offer one set of procedures by which to develop these dispositions along with other significant learnings in critical and creative thinking. Following a description of the fifth grade suburban classroom setting in which I did the work, I offer a selective review of relevant literature in the field of in order to detail my conceptual …


Critical Thinking In The Workplace, Gloria Asselta Cairns Jun 1997

Critical Thinking In The Workplace, Gloria Asselta Cairns

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

Richard Paul, a leading figure in the critical thinkng movement, and Robert Reich, Secretary of Labor in the Clinton Administration report that the need for applying critical thinking skills in the workplace is essential, if America is to remain competitive in the global economy. The degree to which employees think insightfully and are able to resolve complex problems will determine how competitive a business remains. In the past two decades, an unprecedented number of American businesses have been bought out, merged with another, or downsized.


Family Resemblance: A Study Of Linguistic Conformity Within Family Systems, Rebecca L. Garnett Dec 1991

Family Resemblance: A Study Of Linguistic Conformity Within Family Systems, Rebecca L. Garnett

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

This thesis reports the results of an empirical study designed to test two hypotheses from the early psychiatric work of C. G. Jung: first, the existence of a "family disposition" toward the word association test (WAT), and second, the theory that there is interference between the "thinking" and the "feeling" functions in an individual's cognitive processing. The experiment involved 52 normal subjects from 15 families, ranging in age from 12 to 65. Subjects were tested using an association instrument adapted from the WAT developed by Jung (Jung, 1973). Response commonalty was examined along several dimensions: identical verbal response, identical category …