Psychology Commons^™

The Relationship Between Self-Directed Learning And Information Literacy Among Adult Learners In Higher Education, Tiffani Reneau Conner

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between self-directed learning and information literacy. Participants completed the Personal Orientation in Self-Directed Learning Scale ([PRO-SDLS], Stockdale, 2003) and the Information Literacy Test ([ILT], James Madison University, 2003). The PRO-SDLS is a self-report scale consisting of 25 statements about self-directed learning preferences in college classrooms. The ILT is a 60-item multiple-choice test that assesses the information literacy skills of college students. Correlation, ANOVA, and multiple regressions were used to test relationships and differences between self-directed learning and information literacy. Despite claims that teaching information literacy creates self-directed learners, composite scores …

Rapid Knowledge Assessment (Rka): Assessing Students Content Knowledge Through Rapid, In Class Assessment Of Expertise, Erin Margaret O'Connell

Theses and Dissertations

Understanding how students go about problem solving in chemistry lends many possible advantages for interventions in teaching strategies for the college classroom. The work presented here is the development of an in-classroom, real-time, formative instrument to assess student expertise in chemistry with the purpose of developing classroom interventions. The development of appropriate interventions requires the understanding of how students go about starting to solve tasks presented to them, what their mental effort (load on working memory) is, and whether or not their performance was accurate. To measure this, the Rapid Knowledge Assessment (RKA) instrument uses clickers (handheld electronic instruments for …

The Effects Of School-Home Notes On Teacher Reports Of Academic Productivity And Disruptive Classroom Behaviors Of Middle School Students, Nichol Frances Pritchard

Dissertations

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a schoolhome note (SHN) for increasing academic productivity and decreasing disruptive classroom behaviors of four middle high school students identified as at-risk for failure and/or dropout. Participants included four students from a middle school in a southern state referred for behavioral problems and low academic productivity. A changing criterion design with a withdrawal was employed to assess intervention effectiveness. Students’ levels of academic productivity and appropriate behavior were assessed using SHN point data. Percentage of disruptive behavior, weekly rates of office discipline referrals (ODRs), and frequencies of in-school …

Using The Good Behavior Game To Decrease Disruptive Behavior While Increasing Academic Engagement With A Headstart Population, Brandy Marie Hunt

Dissertations

The Good Behavior Game (GBG) has been widely supported as an effective intervention to alter a variety of target behaviors, in various settings, with varying age groups; however, there are areas warranting further investigation. Prior to the present study, no study has examined the GBG’s effectiveness in decreasing disruptive behaviors while increasing appropriate academic behaviors within a preschool population. The present study adds to the literature base by investigating the GBG’s effectiveness in simultaneously decreasing classroom disruptive behaviors while increasing appropriate behaviors. A multiple baseline design across three Headstart classrooms was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the GBG on …

Public Versus Private Praise: A Direct Behavioral Comparison In Secondary Classrooms, John Travis Blaze

Dissertations

The purpose of the present study was to compare the effects of teacher public and private praise on students’ appropriately engaged behavior (AEB) and disruptive behaviors (DB). Overall, four general education classrooms in southern Mississippi employed a multiple-baseline design across two pairs to assess the effects of public and private praise. Each classroom’s mean percentage of observed intervals of AEB and DB across public and private praise intervention phases was assessed and compared. Overall, visual analysis of the graphs, multilevel modeling, effect sizes, and odds ratios showed that both public and private praise were more effective than no treatment at …

Evaluation Of Performance-Based And Pre-Set Conventional Criterion For Reinforcement In Check In-Check Out, Lauren Lestremau Harpole

Dissertations

The purpose of the present study was to compare the effectiveness of two methods of criterion-setting, performance-based or pre-set conventional, as evidenced by improvements in children’s behavior. Participant behavior was evaluated through teacher reports of appropriate behavior and observed academically engaged behavior as well as decreases in problem behavior and disruptive behavior. Eight elementary school students in a Southeastern town referred for exhibiting behavior problems served as participants in addition to their teachers. The effects of the different methods of criterion setting on the dependent variables were evaluated. Teacher ratings of appropriate behavior were assessed through evaluation of Daily Behavior …

Predictors Of Latino Mothers' Involvement In Their Children's Education, Liza Maria Arango

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Parental involvement has a major influence on students' academic and overall success; however, Latino parents tend to be less involved than non-Latino parents. Additionally, Latino students have higher dropout rates than other ethnic groups, and their continued underachievement is of great concern to many educators. The purpose of this study is to better understand Latino mothers' involvement and identify the precursor factors that may influence these mothers' involvement in their children's education. Specifically, the study investigated specific family factors that may potentially impact Latino mothers' involvement at school and at home (i.e., mothers' number of years residing in the U.S., …

Using Brain Research To Aid Reading Comprehension, Mia Alyssa Claretto

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

"Does it matter to learning if we pay attention? ...You bet it does" (Medina, 2007, p. 74). Studies John Medina, Richard Mayer, and numerous others prove the more attention the brain gives to a certain stimulus results in better retention of the information due to the fact that the information is more elaborately encoded. The more attention grabbing something is, the more emotion that is involved, means the better that information is remembered. As a future teacher, this detail has many implications for me. If I want students who are learning, then I need to design lessons that invite the …

College Students With Claustrophobia In The Classroom And Quality Of Life: A Literature Review, Andrew W. Nielsen Sr.

M.A. in Professional Counseling

Claustrophobia can be defined as the fear of enclosed spaces such as small rooms, tunnels, elevators, and basements. Some of the symptoms a student with claustrophobia may experience are both physiological and psychological. Claustrophobia affects three out of every one hundred people. For example, a college with a population of 2500 undergraduate students could have on average 75 students that would be claustrophobic. Of those 75; there is a chance that some may not even be aware of their claustrophobia. One of the purposes of this thesis is to assess if alleviating the occurrence of claustrophobic incidents could possibly improve …

Parenting Stress, Behavior, Treatment Satisfaction, And Hope In Caregivers Of Children With Developmental Disabilities, Paige Cristin Schultz

Dissertations

Parenting stress has been shown to be related to both negative parenting behaviors and child behavior problems in the general population as well as with children with developmental disabilities. With the majority of children with developmental disabilities participating in multiple treatments, little is known about the effect of treatment satisfaction on caregivers. Hope has also been shown to reduce stress in caregivers, yet little research has examined this relationship with respect to parenting stress specifically or in parents with children with developmental disabilities. Treatment satisfaction has also been associated with less parenting stress in other populations; however, no study has …

Home-School Collaboration: Concurrent Home And School Reading Interventions Within A Response To Intervention System, Qi Zhou

Dissertations

The current study investigated the effectiveness of reading interventions in the form of home-school collaboration on increasing oral reading fluency in elementary students exhibiting reading fluency deficits. Specifically, student participants were receiving Tier II reading interventions at their school. Additionally, parents were trained to implement an individualized intervention identified by brief experimental analysis with each student at home. Home-school notes were used to facilitate support and communication between the home and school. Results demonstrated that three of four students’ oral reading fluency improved. Furthermore, parents rated the interventions as acceptable. Parent treatment integrity was found to be adequate.

Teaching Online Social Skills To Students With Emotional And Behavioral Disorders, Joseph John Morgan

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Students with emotional and behavioral disorders often lack appropriate social skills. This deficit can lead to negative outcomes including peer and teacher rejection, increased behavioral problems at school, and decreased academic achievement. In order to improve the social outcomes of students with emotional and behavioral disorders, teachers will often implement direct and explicit instruction of appropriate social skills in the natural environment. Increases in the use of technology for academic and social interaction have created a new natural environment where students participate. This environment has its own set of social rules and norms that users must understand. No published results …

Factors Affecting Talent Development: Differences In Graduate Students Across Domains, Stephanie Hartzell

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

There is an abundance of literature on young individuals who show early signs of talent and on older individuals who have demonstrated their abilities throughout the years. This research aims to look at those individuals who are in between, that is, graduate students who have the demonstrated potential to achieve within their fields of study. This study explored backgrounds of talented individuals in their adolescent period and their current measures of cognitive abilities. A total of 38 graduate students majoring in the areas of art (n= 12), science (n= 12), and education (n= 14) were used as examples of individuals …

A Comparison Of Bias In Four Measures Of Monitoring Accuracy, Fred Kuch

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Typically in calibration research, subjects perform a task and make a judgment about the success of the task. Accurate findings help subjects improve self-calibration. In addition, researchers rely on the accuracy of findings to make inferences about underlying metacognitive processes. Consequently, it is important that the measures used to assess monitoring accuracy are as free of bias as possible. Bias indicates whether an observed value of monitoring accuracy over- or underestimates the true value.

This study examined gamma and three other viable statistics, d', C, and the G Index, currently used to measure monitoring accuracy. Using Monte Carlo simulation techniques, …

The Acquisition Of Cultural Competence: A Phenomenological Inquiry Highlighting The Processes, Challenges And Triumphs Of Counselor Education Students, Douglas L. Garner

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Although research has effectively isolated and identified the key characteristics of a culturally competent counselor, there are few studies regarding the acquisition of these characteristics. To close the gap between theory and practice, studies are needed researching the emergence and, acquisition of these characteristics. This study explores how Masters-level Counselor Education students narrate the encounters, challenges, triumphs and epiphanies associated with their preliminary attempts to practice in a culturally competent manner. This phenomenological inquiry seeks to shed light students attitudes, beliefs and dispositions; defines the processes related to the acquisition of cognitive awareness and learning, skills and abilities; and illuminates …

Interactive Effects Of Working Memory Self-Regulatory Ability And Relevance Instructions On Text Processing, Nancy Jo Hamilton

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Reading is a process that requires the enactment of many cognitive processes. Each of these processes uses a certain amount of working memory resources, which are severely constrained by biology. More efficiency in the function of working memory may mediate the biological limits of same. Reading relevancy instructions may be one such method to assist readers in utilizing working memory resources more efficiently.

This study examines the relationship between perspective relevance instructions and participants' ability to regulate their working memory resources. In a 3 x 2 x 2 design the study extended the literature by utilizing a measure of fluid …

Adaptive Behavior Malingering In Legal Claims Of Mental Retardation, Renee M. Kadlubek

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In 2002, the Supreme Court ruled that it is unconstitutional to put people with mental retardation to death for capital crimes (Atkins v. Virginia, 2002). Justice Scalia dissented, suggesting that mental retardation is a condition easy to feign. The current study examined whether participants provided with the definition of mental retardation and adaptive behavior ("informed malingering group") are any better at malingering having mental retardation than participants not provided with the definitions ("malingering group"). Three groups of participants participated in this study: the control group, the malingering group, and the informed malingering group. All participants completed an intellectual assessment and …

Consulting Cultural Informants: A Look At The Extent To Which Students Use Informants And Other Strategies To Learn From Their International Experiences, William Scott Leroy

Capstone Collection

This study explores the extent to which students from the United States consult with cultural informants while abroad when experiencing what Taylor (1994a, 1994b) refers to as “cultural disequilibrium”. The study also explores how this strategy compares to other learning strategies and which informants students most frequently consult.

Two research methods were used: a survey of 85 students who recently returned from an international program and interviews with nine students from the same sample. The survey sought to explore strategies students employ when facing cultural disequilibrium while the interviews aimed at uncovering why students preferred some learning strategies over others. …

Can Goal Specific Self-Efficacy Measures Predict Goal Choice: Understanding The 2x2 Achievement Goal Framework Through Self-Efficacy Theory, Richard James Lucido

Wayne State University Dissertations

The achievement goals that one adopts in an academic context have been shown to be associated with, as well as causally related to, important outcomes. Currently, the most widely accepted theory holds that achievement goals are the result of one's implicit

theory of intelligence. However, there is a lack of empirical support for this assertion. The current study tested the hypothesis that goal specific self-efficacy (self-efficacy measured separately for a mastery or performance outcome) is the primary driver of achievement goals. Two studies were conducted among a combined sample of 274

community college students. As was the case with most …

An Examination Of The Role Of School Climate In Adolescent Test Anxiety, Lea Ann Imasa

Wayne State University Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine intrapersonal and contextual variables in relation to test anxiety among adolescents. Participants (n=298) were students in grades seven and eight from a middle school in a suburb in southeastern Michigan. Academic self-concept was found to fully mediate the relation between academic performance (as measured by GPA) and test anxiety. The intrapersonal variables of perceived threat of tests, effortful control, and academic self-concept significantly predicted test anxiety. The contextual variables were unrealistic parental expectations and school climate. Unrealistic parental expectations was a predictor of test anxiety in a regression model including only those …

A Model Of Student Engagement And Academic Achievement: The Role Of Teacher-Student Relationships And Teacher Expectations, Aja C. Temple

Wayne State University Dissertations

A MODEL OF STUDENT ENGAGEMENT AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT: THE ROLE OF TEACHER-STUDENT RELATIONSHIPS AND TEACHER EXPECTATIONS

by

AJA C. TEMPLE

MAY 2012

Advisor: Dr. Jina Yoon

Major: Educational Psychology

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

The purpose of this study was to examine patterns of academic achievement among minority students and investigate teacher-student relationships, teachers' classroom and future educational expectations for students, and students' levels of classroom engagement in order to better understand their patterns of academic achievement. Participants (n=522) were students in grades four through six from a suburban district in Michigan. Student achievement varied according to both gender and ethnicity …

Bully/Victim Power Inventory: Measuring The Power Imbalance In The Bully/Victim Relationship, Marybeth Plonkey-Lehto

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The empirical study of the power imbalance in the bully/victim relationship has impeded research synthesis, and the need for a quantitative measure of this key component has been well established in the literature. Lack of differentiation between victimization with and without power imbalance has been cited as a possible cause for imprecise measurement. Increased precision in bully victimization measurement is needed to accurately inform research investigating psychosocial health, treatment and positive outcomes, in addition to prevention and intervention programs. Therefore, the purpose of this dissertation was the initial development and validation of the Bully/Victim Power Inventory aimed at differentiating perceived …

Bilingualism And Social Cognitive Development: The Effect Of Dual-Language Acquisition On Nonverbal Communication, Melanie Elizabeth Ordinario Weil

Senior Independent Study Theses

No abstract provided.

Investigating Young Children's Music-Making Behavior: A Developmental Theory, Paul G. Morehouse

CGU Theses & Dissertations

We have many developmental theories contributing to our understanding of children as they meander steadfastly toward maturation. Yet, none have reported on how young children interpret the qualitative meaning and importance of their own music-making experiences. Music created by average, not prodigious, young children is perceived by adults as “play” music rather than “real” music. But do young children take the same view as adults? When Piaget speaks of the young child’s qualitatively unique view and experience of the world (Ginsberg & Opper, 1988), can we assume that his statement encompasses young children’s predispositions related to music-making?

Music is understood …

The National Survey Of Student Engagement As A Predictor Of Academic Success, Paul Michael Fursman

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Student engagement measures have been shown to be excellent predictors of desirable educational outcomes, and in some cases, these measures are being used as a means of institutional accountability. The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) is one of the most widely used measures of student engagement. In this study, I examine the relationship between NSSE subscale scores and measures of student academic success. I also examine the extent to which pre-college ability and ethnicity moderate the relationship between engagement scores and academic outcomes. Results indicate that the benchmark academic challenge was a significant predictor of freshmen GPA and the …

How We Seem "To Be": English- And Spanish-Speaking Children's Susceptibility To The Fundamental Attribution Error And Actor-Observer Bias, Mary E. Dixon

Senior Independent Study Theses

No abstract provided.

Self-Modeling As An Intervention For Stuttering In Elementary Students, Jason Northrup

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Stuttering is a disorder involving disruptions and disfluencies in speech that impacts overall communication and affects approximately 1% of the population. In addition to speech disfluency, stuttering is often related to physical tension, embarrassment, fear, anxiety, and other negative social-emotional problems, especially for children and adolescents. Fortunately, research indicates that stuttering can be alleviated before becoming more advanced and complex as individuals enter adolescence and adulthood. Self-modeling, an intervention that involves individuals watching themselves engage in exemplary behavior, appears to be particularly effective for individuals who stutter and can be implemented in a school setting. The purpose of this study …

A Study Of Birth Weight As A Predictor Of Cognitive Ability In Childhood : Applications Of Loess Regression And Generalized Propensity Score Methods, Xiaoyuan Tan

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This study applied nonparametric loess regression to describe the predictive association between birth weight and cognitive ability in childhood and generalized propensity score methods to control the confounding of multiple covariates that summarize prenatal differences.

The Influence Of Gender, Empathy, Group Norms, And Prosocial Affiliations On Bullying Roles, Danielle M. Taylor

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

School bullying is a common social phenomenon associated with a number of deleterious short and long term effects (Andreou, 2000; Brown & Taylor, 2008; Olweus, 1993). Despite awareness that bullying is deeply rooted in the social context in which it occurs, little is known about how social norms and friendships influence bullying behavior (Espelage & Swearer, 2003; Salmivalli & Voeten, 2004). This study examined the relationships among gender, empathy, perceived group norms, prosocial affiliations, and bullying behaviors. Two hundred and sixty-two students from six different schools along the east coast participated in this study.

Teacher Stress And Coping: Does The Process Differ According To Years Of Teaching Experience?, Jeffry Childs Beers

Dissertations and Theses

Teaching is stressful. The demands placed on teachers can result in emotional exhaustion and burnout, causing many to leave the profession. Teachers early in their careers seem to be at special risk, with desistence rates estimated as high as 40% in the first five years. This study was based on the notion that constructive coping can be a resource for teachers, and that teachers later in their professional lives may provide a model for adaptive ways of dealing with professional demands. The goal of the study was to examine whether the coping process utilized by teachers (including reported demands, appraisals, …