Educational Psychology Commons^™

Using Freewriting In Public Speaking Courses To Remedy Student Apathy: An Unconventional Solution To A Common Problem, Flora Keshishian

Journal of Communication Pedagogy

Student apathy—a lack of motivation or mental presence in the classroom—is common in many academic institutions and courses of study. In Public Speaking courses, speech anxiety can be a factor that contributes to student apathy. To solve this problem, I suggest implementing an unconventional approach—in-class unguided longhand freewriting—that requires students to write nonstop about anything that comes to mind, without censoring or editing, during the first five minutes of each class session. I base this recommendation on my own observations of the students’ body language during the freewriting period, as well as my qualitative analysis of 95 students’ written feedback …

Integrating Service-Learning In The Public Speaking Course, Elizabeth A. Munz, Roger D. Gatchet, Matthew R. Meier

Journal of Communication Pedagogy

This best-practices article endorses incorporating service-learning into the foundational public speaking course. The article explains connections between service-learning and the rhetorical tradition, highlights pedagogical approaches that would benefit from a service-learning component, and discusses the benefits of service-learning for community partners and students. The remainder of the article focuses on how to implement servicelearning in a public speaking course, including reflection and assessment recommendations.

Involvement And Campus Climate On The Academic Success Of Black College Students, Tyries Delemar

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

There has been an increasing number of Black students entering into higher education, but they continue to have disparities in academic achievement when compared to White students. An institution's campus climate has been found to influence student success. This study seeks to examine the factor of campus climate, specifically negative campus racial climate (NCRC), as it relates to the GPA and university satisfaction of Black students at a rural institution. The study adds to the literature by exploring the degree to which involvement (Faculty (FOI) and Club/Organization Involvement (COI)) may act as a moderating force within the relationship.

Three surveys …

The Effect Of Elaborative Interrogation On The Synthesis Of Ideas From Multiple Sources Of Information, Omer Farooq

Criss Library Faculty Publications

The new Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education (ACRL, 2016) highlights the ability to synthesize ideas from multiple sources of information as one of the key knowledge practices as students navigate an increasingly complex information landscape. With the introduction of this new document, there is a strong need for evidence-based guidance for information literacy instruction in academic libraries. There is little generalizable empirical research based on cognitive science principles to guide information literacy instruction practice. The present study examined the effectiveness of elaborative interrogation instructional strategy on integration and transformation of ideas from multiple sources of information. 86 participants …

Exploring Lifelong Influence Of Participating In The Junior Audubon Club During Childhood, Amy Weidensaul

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

There is limited research looking at the role that specific programs play in the formation of environmental identity, or lifelong influences of specific environmental programs. This study looks to address this gap by exploring the salient and memorable experiences of past Junior Audubon Club members who participated in the program as children, and how they describe the influences of the program on their environmental identities. Based on this study, there were specific components of the Junior Audubon Club that proved most influential and lasting for the participants, including active learning in nature, supportive adults who shared similar interest and passions, …

The Mckinney-Vento Act: Moving Beyond Aspirations To More Effective Implementation, Michael Cermak

Dissertations

The purpose of this quantitative research study is to investigate teachers' knowledge of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (McK-V; the Act) and their perceptions of how to best meet the needs of the population of homeless students in schools. The literature base has shown that implementation of the Act has been largely inconsistent due to the lack of formal implementing regulations and a lack of awareness on the part of many educators. A professional development presentation was developed for teachers in order to increase their knowledge, and following the use of a pre/post/ delayed post-test survey, ascertain the impact of …

Life Is A Lab: Developing A Communication Research Lab For Undergraduate And Graduate Education, Autumn P. Edwards, Chad Edwards, Patric R. Spence

Journal of Communication Pedagogy

Tips offered center on classroom discourse, curriculum choices, and potential assignments. In this article, we present tips for creating a thriving undergraduate and graduate communication research lab. Based on our experiences developing and co-directing the Communication and Social Robotics Labs (CSRLs), we offer 10 best practices for acquiring resources and recognition, building a strong lab community, and attaining faculty and student goals for scholarship and beyond. Our overarching approach is framed by Dewey’s (1916) pragmatist educational metaphysic, which stresses student- and subject-centered learning, enlarging experiences, and the co-construction of meaning and knowledge. Although our labs are focused on human-machine communication …

Metacognition As A Mental Health Support Strategy For Elementary Students With Anxiety, Kathi Weight

Education Dissertations

Mental health issues affect learning and performance in profound ways. Schools tend to lack a comprehensive approach to address the needs of students with anxiety, due to the limited training staff receive in mental health identification and support. As teachers work to address barriers to learning, schools must develop a system to fully address the growing needs of students with anxiety. Metacognition plays a significant role in clinical psychology and is used as a mental health intervention and support in clinical settings. The possibility of the application of a specific cognitive strategy to classroom settings in order to support elementary …

Facilitating Collaboration Among School And Community Providers In Children's Mental Health, Holly J. Curran

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Interprofessional collaboration among school-based and community-based mental health providers in children's mental has been studied in relation to specific providers and as part of program evaluation; however, limited information exists as to how to overcome barriers to collaborative relationships. This study describes the experiences of school and community mental health service providers and those who supervise them. Using phenomenological methodology, three focus-group interview transcripts were analyzed by identifying recurrent themes relevant to the experience of collaboration from school and community providers' perspectives. Although participants viewed aspects of collaboration positively, barriers frequently interfered with collaborative relationships. Support for collaboration from state, …

A Study On Science Achievement And Motivation Using Computer-Based Simulations Compared To Traditional Hands-On Manipulation, Stacey L. Hannel, Joshua Cuevas

Georgia Educational Researcher

This study was conducted to investigate whether or not computer-based simulations had a greater impact on science achievement compared to traditional hands-on methods for middle school students in an on-level science course. The study also sought to determine if either method had an impact on retention as well as motivation. The participants in the study were 6^th grade students attending a public middle school in suburban metro-Atlanta. A variety of statistical analyses were utilized to measure science achievement, retention, and motivation. Results indicated that there was no significant difference on science achievement between the traditional hands-on method and the …

Does Self-Help Increase Rates Of Help Seeking For Student Mental Health Problems By Minimizing Stigma As A Barrier?, Michael E. Levin, Jennifer Krafft, Crissa Levin

Psychology Faculty Publications

Objective: This study examined whether self-help (books, websites, mobile apps) increases help seeking for mental health problems among college students by minimizing stigma as a barrier. Participants and Methods: A survey was conducted with 200 college students reporting elevated distress from February to April 2017. Results: Intentions to use self-help were low, but a significant portion of students unwilling to see mental health professionals intended to use self-help. Greater self-stigma related to lower intentions to seek professional help, but was unrelated to seeking self-help. Similarly, students who only used self-help in the past reported higher self-stigma than those who sought …

Differential Relations Between Delay Discounting And Distress Tolerance As A Function Of Opportunity Cost And Alcohol Use, Jillian M. Rung, Patrick S. Johnson, Gregory J. Madden

Psychology Faculty Publications

Delay discounting refers to one process by which an individual devalues delayed outcomes. Typical discounting tasks provide no information about events during delays to larger-later rewards. Imposing opportunity costs during the delay increases how steeply delayed rewards are discounted (P. S. Johnson, Herrmann, & Johnson, 2015). The present research evaluated whether distress tolerance (i.e., one's ability to tolerate distressing emotions and events) is related to discounting rates when opportunity costs are low, high, or unspecified. In a sample of predominantly female college students, we partially replicated that delay discounting was related to distress tolerance when opportunity costs were unspecified (significant …

The Role Of Experiential Avoidance In Problematic Pornography Viewing, Michael E. Levin, Eric B. Lee, Michael P. Twohig

Psychology Faculty Publications

Research suggests that online pornography use can have harmful consequences for some individuals, but the psychological processes that contribute to problematic viewing are unclear. This study sought to evaluate the role of experiential avoidance in the negative consequences of online pornography viewing in a small cross sectional survey sample of 91 male college students who reported viewing. Results indicated that viewing pornography for experientially avoidant motivations was related to more frequent viewing and predicted self-reported negative consequences of viewing over and above other motivations (e.g., sexual pleasure, curiosity, excitement seeking). Although more frequent viewing was related to more self-reported negative …

Tailoring Acceptance And Commitment Therapy Skill Coaching In-The-Moment Through Smartphones: Results From A Randomized Controlled Trial, Michael E. Levin, Jack Haegar, Rick A. Cruz

Psychology Faculty Publications

There is growing evidence for the efficacy of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) interventions delivered through smartphones, but research has not yet focused on how to optimize such interventions. One benefit of mobile interventions is the ability to adapt content based on in-the-moment variables. The current randomized controlled trial evaluated whether an ACT app that tailored skill coaching based on in-the-moment ecological momentary assessments (EMAs) would be more efficacious than the same app where skill coaching was random or an EMA-only condition. A sample of 69 adults interested in using a self-help app were randomized to one of three app …

Assessing Psychological Inflexibility In Hoarding: The Acceptance And Action Questionnaire For Hoarding (Aaqh), Jennifer Krafft, Clarissa W. Ong, Michael P. Twohig, Michael E. Levin

Psychology Faculty Publications

Psychological inflexibility is a psychopathological process referring to the tendency for behavior to be overly controlled by internal experiences to an extent that interferes with quality of life. Some studies indicate that psychological inflexibility is linked to hoarding, but findings have been mixed. This inconsistency may be due to reliance on general measures of psychological inflexibility in prior research as there was previously no validated measure to assess psychological inflexibility as it relates to hoarding. The present study developed and validated a measure of hoarding-related psychological inflexibility, the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire for Hoarding (AAQH) in a college student sample …

The Acceptance And Action Questionnaire – Ii: An Item Response Theory Analysis, Clarissa W. Ong, Benjamin G. Pierce, Douglas W. Woods, Michael P. Twohig, Michael E. Levin

Psychology Faculty Publications

Psychological flexibility is the act of being open to internal experiences while pursuing valued life directions and has been implicated in positive mental health. A lack of psychological flexibility has been implicated in a wide range of mental health problems. In most research, assessment of psychological (in)flexibility has been done with the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire – II (AAQ-II), yet researchers have noted that items on the AAQ-II may not adequately discriminate between responses to experiences and the experiences themselves. Furthermore, little research has examined whether items on the AAQ-II function as intended in terms of assessing psychological (in)flexibility, and …

Scaling Out Evidence-Based Interventions Outside The U.S. Mainland: Social Justice Or Trojan Horse?, Melanie M. Domenech-Rodriguez, Ana A. L. Baumann, Alejandro L. Vázquez, Nancy G. Amador-Buenabad, Natalie Franceschi Rivera, Nydia Ortiz-Pons, J. Rubén Parra-Cardona

Psychology Faculty Publications

Global health disparities continue to widen as professional standards for effectiveness of mental health services provision become more precise and difficult to achieve across varied economic and social contexts. Within the U.S., health disparities are evident in Latinx populations. Globally, the health disparities are also evident in Latin America as compared to the U.S. and other economically affluent nations. The diversification of psychology in content and persons has led to a unique opportunity to build bridges that can help reduce disparities in- and outside of the U.S. mainland. Collaborations can be of great use in addressing health disparities internationally but …

Motivation As A Complex System: Semester-Long Recursive Dynamics Of Expectancy-Value Constructs In Undergraduate Biology, Avi Kaplan, Xi Hang Cao, Ting Dai, Zoran Obradovic, Tony Perez, Jennifer G. Cromley, Kyle Mara, Michael J. Balsai

STEMPS Faculty Publications

The predominant aggregate-statistical analyses in motivational research manifest assumptions that stand in tension with understandings of motivational phenomena as dynamic, contextual, and variable among individuals. Using constructs from expectancy-value theory, we collected 13 weekly waves of data from 145 undergraduate students during one semester of an introductory biology course. We analyzed the data using dynamic autoregressive mixed-effects modeling, which captures the individual-level recursive processes among constructs, and then examined patterns across individuals’ motivational trajectories to discern general principles by which the expectancy-value system operates. The findings contribute to robust theoretical understandings of expectancy-value processes, and demonstrate the application of an …

Promoting Preschoolers’ Emotional Competence Through Prosocial Tv And Mobile App Use, Eric Rasmussen, Gabrielle Strouse, Malinda Colwell, Collen Russo Johnson, Steven Holiday, Kristen Brady, Israel Flores, Georgene Troseth, Holly Wright, Rebecca Densley, Mary Norman

School of Education Faculty Publications

This study explored the relationship between preschoolers’ exposure to Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood television programming and its accompanying mobile app and preschoolers’ emotion knowledge and use of emotion regulation strategies. An experiment involving 121 parent-child dyads from 3 US metro areas found that children who played with the Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood app, and those who both played with the app and watched episodes of the program, employed the emotion regulation strategies taught by Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood media more frequently 1 month later than children in a control condition. Preschoolers (3- and 4-year-olds) also exhibited higher levels of emotion knowledge 1 month …

Socio-Ecological Moderating Factors In The Grit-Academic Achievement Relationship, Keeshawna Brooks

Dissertations

There has been a recent focus in research on a concept that centers on an individual’s ability to be persistent in the pursuit of their goals. This concept, referred to as grit, is an addition to the conversation about noncognitive measures that show promise to positively affect student academic performance. However, with the salient focus on the individual qualities that contribute to student success, it is important to avoid looking at these student qualities in isolation from the socio-ecological milieu (Ysseldyke, Lekwa, Klingbeil, & Cormier, 2012). Situating individual student qualities within Bronfenbrenner’s socio-ecological framework can be particularly helpful when seeking …