Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Spanish Nominalizations And Case Assignment, Dr. Jeff Renaud, Tania Leal

Celebration of Learning

Nominalizations are syntactic structures wherein verbal roots co-occur with verbal and nominal properties, classifying them as verbal (VN) (El andar el niño tan tarde) or nominal (NN) (El andar errabundo del niño). While NNs mark agents genitive (del niño), VNs require nominative agents (el niño). NNs co-occur with adjectives (errabundo), whereas VNs co-occur with adverbs (tan tarde). Alexiadou et al. (2011) posit separate syntactic structures for the two. In this study, we investigate via self-paced reading task the types of case available in each structure, providing evidence of …

Assessing The Rock Island Community Garden Program, Christian Elliott, Hunter Ridley, Robert Burke, Alexander Disabato, Abby Huffman, Dr. Christopher Strunk

Celebration of Learning

As part of Sustainable Working Landscapes Initiative with Augustana College’s Upper Mississippi Center, students in Urban Design and Environmental Justice (Geography 325) conducted research on Rock Island’s community garden program this fall. The City of Rock Island currently has 21 vacant-lot community gardens and plans to expand the program to 24 gardens in 2019. The purpose of this project was to develop an initial assessment of the community garden program and provide general information about the benefits of urban gardens. Students worked with Dr. Strunk to conduct a survey with current garden program participants and tested soil from 14 gardens …

Analyzing Social Issues Within Rock Island’S Christian Communities, Daniel Warren

Celebration of Learning

This research asks how Christians within the Quad Cities Area understand prevalent American social issues. Through my research, I explored how homophobia, racism, and gender discrimination fit within the context of American Christianity. I conducted interviews and participant observation with two different communities within the Rock Island area: Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, and the Quad Cities Mainspring Ministry. My research examines several major themes: race, sexuality, gender, and socioeconomic status, and through my research I concluded that religion is a major factor in contributing to how my participants have viewed these themes.

Beware The Cat In The Hat: How Children's Literature Is The Modern Form Of Segregation, Lucy Kebler

Celebration of Learning

Every person grows up exposed to children’s literature. Unfortunately, much of the children’s literature that is published is racially discriminatory, historically inaccurate, blatantly offensive, or pure propaganda. The research for this presentation began in Augustana College’s library and has transitioned to a much broader space: The Saint Louis Country Library. Through this research, it has become obvious that diverse literature is hard to find and is often marketed as only readable for those in the minority race depicted. Many libraries mark literature that contains African Americans, as to help “guide” readers in their selections. Books labeled in this way make …

Avoidant Coping Mediates The Relationship Between Socioeconomic Status And Stress, Amanda Schar, Julia Fraterrigo, Emma Slattery, Alyssa Rogalski, Kathryn Steininger

Celebration of Learning

The current study will examine how socioeconomic status affects perceived social support and coping strategies and how these two factors affect stress levels and post traumatic growth. This could lead to developments in how to better educate people on the most effective ways to deal with stress and providing community resources to populations particularly vulnerable to stress. Perceived social support and coping have been shown to affect post-traumatic growth and stress. Differences in coping strategies and availability of support may be partly driven by an individual's socioeconomic status. Perceived social support is defined as the extent to which someone believes …

The Effect Of Economic Downturns On Mortality Rates, Bethany Koch

Celebration of Learning

My research attempts to show the effect that economic downturns have on overall mortality rates in the United States. I compare mortality rates for several states from 2000 to 2010, attempting to find a pattern in the individual states of lower mortality rates subsequent to the 2008 recession. I do so by running a regression equation to find any sign of correlations.

Sense Of Community And Space, Amanda Corona

Celebration of Learning

Sense of community (SOC) is defined as a person’s experience of a group or specific area (Kenkmann et al, 1996). Physical spaces can affect SOC; small colleges have higher SOC on average than universities (Lounsbury & DeNeui, 1996). A person’s identity, especially ethnic identity, can also influence SOC (Rivas-Drake, 2012; Liu, 2005). However, there is less work on the intersection of physical space and ethnic identity (Devlin et al, 2008). This raises the questions: how does the experience of a community space affect someone’s SOC, and would it vary by ethnicity?

The relationship between communal spaces and identity can be …

Space And Identity: Mexican-American Dance Halls In The Quad Cities, Crystal Salazar

Celebration of Learning

Community space has much influence in the creation and shaping of a person’s identity along with serving as a reflection of their identity. Space and identity are two important factors in understanding a person’s sense of self. Who you are can be determined by your chosen surroundings. Looking at community space within the Quad Cites' Mexican-American community the intersection of identity and community are closely looked at to see how they influence one another.