Sociology Commons^™

Gender In Bethel University’S Political Science Department: A Qualitative Study Of The Experiences Of Female Political Science Students, Sarah E. Bylsma

Library Research Prize Student Works

In one political science class I took recently, I noticed some interesting behaviors among myself and my classmates...This situation got me thinking about the role that gender plays in politics, and this course gave me the opportunity to closely examine how gender may be playing a role in the Political Science Department at Bethel. Currently, Bethel has no female political science professors, despite intentional efforts to look for female candidates during the most recent hiring process. Statistically speaking, the Political Science Department, which consists of three majors: Political Science, Business and Political Science, and International Relations, is comprised of 45% …

The Politics Of Gender, Caste, And Education In India, Vimala Ramachandran

Teacher India

India has a long history of gender and caste-based discrimination and subordination that influences access to education. The country has made significant advances but a lot more needs to be done.

Food Insecurity Prevalence On College Campuses, The Stigma Associated With Food Pantries And The Best Practices Moving Forward, Olivia Neff

Student Research

Food insecurity among college students is three times higher than nationally representative households (Nazmi 2018: 8). Literature estimates between 12% and 59% of college students experience some sort of food insecurity (Cady 2014). Food insecurity is prevalent on all types of college campuses. However, there is limited data on food insecurity on college campuses and the stigmas behind food insecurity. This article discusses the prevalence of food insecurity on college campuses, the stereotypes which reproduce food insecurity, the stigma behind pantry usage and potential solutions. The article will highlight best practices for food pantries obtained through eight interviews with pantries …

أسباب عزوف المواطنين الذكور عن الالتحاق بمهنة التعليم في امارة أبوظبي, وفاء عبد الله محمد الشحي

Theses

تُعد ظاهرة عزوف الذكور عن مهنة التدريس هاجسا يؤرق المسؤولين ومتخذي القرار في وزارة التربية والتعليم في دولة الامارات العربية المتحدة، لما لها من أثار بالغة في خطط التنمية الشاملة، وانعكاسات سلبية على واقع العملية التعليمية في المدارس، لذا جاءت هذه الدراسة سعيا في الاجابة عن التساؤل الرئيس التالي: "ما أسباب عزوف المواطنين الذكور عن الالتحاق بمهنة التعليم في إمارة أبوظبي؟ وما هي الحلول المقترحة لمعالجتها ولجذب المواطنين الذكور للعمل في هذا المجال؟. وقد تم استخدم المنهج الوصفي التحليلي )أو ما يسمى بالمسح الاجتماعي( الذي يعد أنسب المناهج العليمة لتحقيق أهداف هذه الدراسة والاجابة على تساؤلاتها، وقد تكونت عينةالدراسة من …

(W)Here Is Here?: Variations On Voice And Location In Environmental Education, Alexei Desmarais

Summit to Salish Sea: Inquiries and Essays

This paper revolves around the question “where is here?”, a question that has implications for the politics of self and politics of place. Implications for how we think about ourselves in place, in relationality to other perspectives and epistemic positions, and specifically in relationship to specific geographical, socio-political, and historical structures. Attending to place and emplacement can help us to uncover and celebrate the vitality of particular, incomplete knowledge(s). In working to unsettle universal and hegemonic conceptions of how and what we know, this paper employs a polyphonic and queer logic, which is to say that the many voices and …

An Examined Life Of A Language Teacher Of Chinese: An Autoethnographic Investigation Into Agency, Ying Zhang

Doctoral Dissertations

There is a paucity of research about and done by L2 Chinese educators regarding the theoretical construct of agency. It is also noted that the qualitative inquiry is marginalized in L2 Chinese research field, let alone the narrative study of the agency of experienced by L2 Chinese-teachers. In this dissertation research, I aim at filling in the gap by conducting a longitudinal autoethnography which captures over a decade (1997-2017) of my personal and professional development with an agency perspective. The highly personalized autoethnographic accounts open up my personal and professional life as an experienced, college-level, transnational, early 40’s female native …

Understanding China’S Discourse On South-South Cooperation And China-Africa Higher Education Exchange: A Field Research Study At Zhejiang Normal University’S China-Africa International Business School, Yi Sun

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation research attempts to distinguish China’s model from that of the traditional North-South relationship, with a focus on how China’s philosophy articulates its foreign policy and the nation’s higher education engagement with African countries. It examines the China-Africa higher education partnership in response to China’s discourse on South-South Cooperation (SSC), Africa’s human resource flows, and the benefits and constraints of current China-Africa cooperation. In order to achieve these goals, the dissertation uses one of the China-Africa partnership universities in China, Zhejiang Normal University (ZJNU) as a site for its field research. The fieldwork looks at both a student level …

Social Dimensions Of Student Debt: A Data Mining Analysis, Dirk Witteveen, Paul Attewell

Journal of Student Financial Aid

Media commentary on undergraduates' loan debt portrays a crisis in which many students are unable to pay back their loans, having borrowed large sums and lacking sufficient post-college income to repay. Several scholars have questioned the media accounts, noting that indebtedness is highest among students from high income families, while defaults predominate among low debt students. Using a data mining technique known as CART, we analyze national data on the indebtedness of recent baccalaureate graduates, to uncover combinations of social characteristics that are associated with loan pressure: the ratio of indebtedness to post-college earnings. We find that students from lower …

The Campus Human Rights Index: Measuring University Commitment To Human Rights, Charles Crabtree, Volha Chykina, Kiyoteru Tsutsui, Michelle Bellino

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

To what extent do universities respect human rights? Despite the prevailing view that universities are bastions of progressive ideas with a bias for rights protection, anecdotal evidence suggests that they diverge significantly in their commitment to promote and protect human rights, even within the U.S. To this point, though, there exists no systematic measure of university human rights commitments. In this manuscript, we introduce the first such indicator - the Campus Human Rights Index (CHRI). We describe the measure and introduce our initial ranking of universities. We then formally assess the construct validity of our measure by comparing it to …

Best Practices Of Team Cohesion In Small Schools, Patricia Jean Shaw

Doctor of Education (Ed.D)

This study investigates the best practices of team cohesion in small schools. The conclusions from the study assist future educational leaders with using best practices to influence team cohesion within school settings that have small groups of staff. If faculty can achieve team cohesion, goals can be achieved and success can be attained. Research for large organizations and team cohesion is documented; however, this study fills a gap in research by focusing on small schools. The study’s conclusions help prove that small schools benefit from team cohesion and outline the best practices for reaching team cohesion. This study is a …

Como La Mejora De La Educación Especial Depende De La Sociedad, Peyton Locke

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Utilizando la observación participante y no participante, este estudio examina los factores que contribuyen a una educación exhaustiva para los niños y adultos con necesidades especiales. El objetivo de este estudio es investigar los diferentes tipos de educación especial que se ofrecen en la Ciudad de Buenos Aires y, por último, descubrir cómo la educación especial puede ser mejor para garantizar un sistema de educación especial igual y fuerte. Después de pasar un mes observando cinco escuelas diferentes dentro de cada escalafón, además de hablar con diferentes directores y docentes de educación especial, los resultados de este estudio llegaron a …

Los Proyectos Educativos Alternativos Para Terminar Con La Desigualdad, Samuel Christensen

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Esta investigación se centra en la presencia de pedagogía crítica y educación integral y popular en el sistema educativo en Chile y Argentina y los intentos de establecimientos escolares de usarlas para liberar a sus estudiantes de ciclos de segregación, discriminación y desigualdad. Hay una brecha larga en el sistema educativo actual donde un grupo de estudiantes en alta condición de vulnerabilidad social han sido etiquetado fracasos sin esperanza. Cuatro instituciones escolares fueron estudiadas a través de entrevistas, conversaciones y observaciones participantes. Mientras estos proyectos muestran un gran esfuerzo para crear espacios para cada tipo de estudiante, todavía falta mucho …

Exploring Students’ Agentic And Multidimensional Perceptions Of Oppressive Campus Environments: The Development Of A Transformational Impetus, Elvira J. Abrica, Deryl K. Hatch-Tocaimaza

Department of Educational Administration: Faculty Publications

The campus climate literature obscures the complexity of individuals’ perspectives in relation to multiple dimensions of the broader learning environment. Unexamined are the ways students from marginalized backgrounds may respond to oppressive dimensions of the campus climates in unique ways that moderate observed outcome differences. To fill this gap, we leverage survey data to reveal multiple latent facets of the campus climate perceptions and explore how they potentially relate to students’ development of a transformational impetus, proposed as an agentic measure of students’ responses to perceived oppression in the form of a desire to change the world in the …

Luchando Por El Derecho A La Educación. Un Estudio Sobre Las Relaciones Existentes Entre La Educación Popular Y La Efectivización Del Derecho A La Educación Desde La Perspectiva De Docentes Y Trabajadores De Bachilleratos Populares., Madeline Samson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Las políticas neoliberales basadas en el mercado aplicadas en Argentina y que concluyeron con las devastadora crisis económica de 2001, dejaron una cantidad significativa de jóvenes expulsados y excluidos del sistema educativo secundario. En la búsqueda de una alternativa para que el derecho a la educación se viera efectivizado, muchas organizaciones sociales abrieron escuelas secundarias populares en toda la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, conocidas como bachilleratos populares. Este escrito analiza la conceptualización del derecho a la educación en Argentina y, desde las perspectivas de docentes y trabajadores de dos de estos bachilleratos, se propone conocer la historia y las características …

The Effect Of Standardised Learning Diaries On Self-Regulated Learning, Calibration Accuracy And Academic Achievement, Avanelle Joseph-Edwards

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

The online learning environment is a dynamic yet complex learning modality. Students are physically separated from their peers, they grapple with feelings of isolation, and they may be unable to self-regulate their learning. Studies have shown that self-regulation is related to academic achievement and student metacognitive monitoring in online settings. The present study investigated the effects of a standardized diaries on students’ self-regulatory behaviors, calibration accuracy and academic achievement within an online learning environment. Using this self-monitoring and evaluation tool, forty online graduate students enrolled in a research methods course at a southeastern university in the United States participated in …

Let’S Talk: An Examination Of Parental Involvement As A Predictor Of Stem Achievement In Math For High School Girls, Nicol R. Howard, Keith E. Howard, Randy T. Busse, Christine Hunt

Education Faculty Articles and Research

This research was conducted to examine the influence of parental involvement, in the form of parent conversations, on mathematics achievement for high school girls. Data from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09) public-use file provided a sample of 13,694 students, including 6,592 girls for our analyses. A scale for measuring parent conversations was developed and regression analyses were conducted to examine whether this scale variable predicted mathematics achievement. Results indicated that conversational parental involvement was a significant predictor of mathematics achievement for Black and White girls, but not Hispanic and Asian. Implications for research and policy initiatives are …

A Culture Of Aggression: School Culture And The Normalization Of Aggression In Two Elementary Schools, Brent D. Harger

Sociology Faculty Publications

Since the late 1990s, increased public and academic attention has been focused on topics related to bullying and peer aggression in schools, yet these behaviors have proven difficult for schools to address. Using data from an ethnographic study of two rural elementary schools in the Midwestern United States, I make both methodological and theoretical contributions to the literature on this topic. Methodologically, I show that examining ‘minor’ aggressive behaviors in schools reveals the way that more serious issues are also normalized. Theoretically, I show that students and adults actively construct shared understandings in these schools regarding the normalization of aggression, …

Faculty Senates And College Presidents: Perspectives On Collaborations, Daniel P. Nadler, Michael T. Miller, Eid Abo Hamza, G. David Gearhart

Journal of Research on the College President

Colleges and universities have historically provided faculty members access to sharing authority, and this has been manifest in recent decades through the creation and use of a formal body called a faculty senate. These formal bodies have at times been highly effective at articulating faculty member interests, yet there are few formal definitions or boundaries concerning what areas senates are most appropriately engaged. College presidents similarly recognize that senates have a role in institutional decision-making, yet often lack a clear understanding of where and how they should be engaged. The current study explored faculty senate leader and college president perceptions …

Class Matters: School Affluence And Other Predictors Of Attainment For Wealthy And Poor Students, Alison Brockhouse

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Public schools in the United States are becoming increasingly segregated by socioeconomic status. Though the educational consequences of socioeconomic segregation are well researched, segregation is often ignored or exacerbated by education reform. To learn more about the wider implications of socioeconomic segregation, this study utilizes theoretical frameworks derived from Max Weber’s theory of social stratification to analyze over 10,000 students’ experiences from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Education Longitudinal Study (ELS) 2002, 2004, and 2012 waves of data collection. More specifically, this research explores the impact of attending an affluent high school on long-term educational attainment. It finds …

Transforming Through Power: Teachers And The Negotiation Of Authority In Schools, Madhu Narayanan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Schools are unique institutions where structural and cultural dynamics shape the actions of humans. Teachers work within structures of power to establish themselves as legitimate figures of authority worthy of the right to command respect. Such efforts are complicated by the multi-faceted and swirling relationships of power that exist everywhere in schools, defining and guiding individuals. In this study, I interview and observe the practice of seven secondary teachers working in New York City public schools. All in their third year of teaching, they were at an interesting time in their development, not novice teachers and not quite veteran. Using …

“It’S About Whose Voices Matter”: Reflections On Insider/Outsider Status In Prison Classrooms, Rachel Rose Tynan

Journal of Prison Education and Reentry (2014-2023)

Based on the author’s experience of teaching on a higher education project in two English prisons - one for men aged 18-30 and one for women aged over 21 - the article considers how critical reflection on prison norms encourages authenticity and respect in the classroom. These elements provide a foundation for students to negotiate conflicting subject positions and meanings and build critical thinking skills. Both prisons and universities are risk averse and bound by structured approaches to risk and authority that may impact the development of such relationships. The author reflects on how conflicts and collaboration in both classrooms …

On The Margins Of Friendship: Aggression In An Elementary School Peer Group, Brent D. Harger

Sociology Faculty Publications

This article uses qualitative data from a larger study of two elementary schools in a rural city of about 15,000 people in the Midwestern United States. Here, I focus on a single peer group and those who are on its margins to provide insight into the intersection of friendship, aggression, and masculinity. In doing so, I address the lack of research examining how aggression functions within peer groups and why those who are victimized choose to remain in these groups.

Nailing Jell-O To A Tree, Jayson Lozier

Master of Arts in English Plan II Graduate Projects

This portfolio contains papers addressing writing instruction, women's studies, queer theory, and literary analysis. “Mr. L 2.0 or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love English Composition” details the implementation of more effective techniques to teach writing in the secondary English classroom. “Educating Women in Afghanistan: Power, Revolution, and Rebellion” examines the feminist struggles around education and the efforts of the Afghan Institute of Learning to bring about change. “Out of the Closet and into the Classroom: Introducing Queer Reading Strategies to the Secondary English Classroom” examines the importance of queer theory and queer reading techniques in high school …

Qualitative Case Study On Challenges Recoupled Parents Encounter Raising Step Children With Asd, Sonia Ruth Cann-Milland Ms, Penny Round Dr

The Qualitative Report

The purpose of this study is to address the lack of research into the challenges and issues recoupled parents face when raising their step/biological children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) together in a stepfamily environment. Data shows clinicians, community support services, and policy makers are recognising that stepfamilies are the fastest growing family form to date and hypothesising stepfamilies will become the norm as the most prominent family form in most western countries. Ongoing research recognises the importance of understanding parents’ experiences and perspectives of having a child with ASD, and resourcing and managing their child’s everyday needs, behaviour and …

Emerging Adult Career Pathways: Understanding Aspirations And Switching, Tasmiah Amreen

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Emerging adulthood is a stage of life characterized by a high degree of fluctuation in identity formation and future decision-making (Arnett 2015). During this life stage, emerging adults make decisions about their future career by assessing whether they want to continue with their current career pathway or whether they intend to switch. The present study investigates this process in terms of its overall prevalence – or how often emerging adults intend to switch career trajectories – and the correlates of it. Previous studies on career switching have focused largely on educational switches. This quantitative study operationalizes career pathway by using …

Choosing Information Systems As A Major: Factors That Influence Selection, Carole L. Shook

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine student perceptions of factors affecting the decision to select information systems as an undergraduate major. Additionally, information systems students were compared to other business students to see if significant differences existed between groups. The four factors studied included: (a) personal interest in the major, (b) student competence, (c) value and utility, and (d) external influences of other people and academic experiences.

A convenience sample was used at a public university in the Southeastern region of the United States. Two hundred junior/senior students were selected as participants. One hundred of the students were …

Dropping The Invisibility Cloak: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis Of Sense Of Belonging And Place Identity Among Rural, First Generation, Low Income College Students From Appalachian Kentucky, Brenda Abbott

Doctoral Dissertations

In a country that once was 95% rural in the late 1700s, only 19.3% of the population of the United States now live in rural areas (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). The shift in population from rural to urban areas is not simply demographic; it imbues a shift in who and what matters. Only 13.6% of adults over 25 in Appalachian Kentucky have earned bachelor's degrees, 18.9% below the national average (Appalachian Regional Commission, 2016). This phenomenological study seeks to understand how rural, first generation, low income college students from Appalachian Kentucky experience a sense of belonging in their first year …

When Healing And High-Stakes Meet: Restorative Justice In An Era Of Racial Neoliberalism, Dani O'Brien

Doctoral Dissertations

Based on a 3-year ethnography, this dissertation documents the story of Presente, an explicitly critical youth-led restorative justice group attempting to dismantle the school-prison nexus and create a more youth-centered culture at their high-reform high school. This dissertation addresses the questions: How does serving as a restorative justice peer leader impact students? What challenges and opportunities arise as the school tries to transition to more restorative practices? And how do the values central to restorative justice come up against, challenge, and get challenged by neoliberal education reform?

Stigma In Class: Mental Illness, Social Status, And Tokenism In Elite College Culture, Katie R. Billings

Masters Theses

The majority of mental illness on college campuses remains untreated, and mental illness stigma is the most cited explanation for not seeking mental health treatment. Working-class college students are not only at greater risk of mental illness, but also are less likely to seek mental health treatment and hold more stigmatized views toward people with mental illness compared to affluent college students. Research on college culture suggests that elite college contexts may be associated with greater stigmatization of mental illness. This study bridges the social status and college culture literatures by asking—does social status and college context together predict students’ …

Break, Marí Lopez

CouRaGeouS Cuentos: A Journal of Counternarratives

No abstract provided.