Educational Psychology Commons^™

The Impact Of E-Readers On The Domains Of Reading Comprehension In High School Students, Erika Zeidler

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

n this quasi-experimental static comparison group design, a homogenous sample of 128 American Literature (high school juniors) students were placed in a comparison and treatment group to determine whether e-readers can improve decoding skills and language comprehension, the two main domains of reading comprehension. Both groups took a pre- and posttest that measured their reading comprehension skills in both areas. The comparison group read a class assigned novel in a traditional paperback version while the treatment group read the novel on either a Kindle or a Kindle app on his or her smart phone or device. The treatment group was …

The Relationship Between Gaming Addictive Behavior, Satisfaction, And Success In Computer-Based Learning, Marlene Carrilho

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this quantitative, correlational study was to examine the association between college students’ levels of gaming addictive behavior and their levels of student satisfaction and student success in a computer-based learning environment. Additionally, gender was investigated as a moderator of the association between gaming addictive behavior and student success and between gaming addictive behavior and student satisfaction. Data was collected through online surveys from a convenience sample of undergraduate students enrolled at a large, Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS)-accredited, evangelical Christian university located in Virginia. The statistical program SPSS 22.0 was used for the analyses. Hierarchical …

An Initial Meta-Analysis Of Acceptance And Commitment Therapy For Treating Substance Use Disorders, Eric B. Lee, Woolee An, Michael E. Levin, Michael P. Twohig

Psychology Faculty Publications

Background: In the past decade, multiple studies have examined the effectiveness ofAcceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for substance use disorders relative to other active treatments. The current meta-analysis examined the aggregate effect size when comparing ACT to other treatments (e.g., CBT, pharmacotherapy, 12-step,treatment as usual) specifically on substance use outcomes. Method: A total of 10 randomized controlled trials were identified through systematic searches. Results: A significant small to medium effect size was found favoring ACT relative to active treatment comparisons following treatment. Effect sizes were comparable across studies for smoking cessation (k = 5) and for other drug use disorders …

The Impact Of Sexual Violence On Intimate Relationship Dynamics: A Grounded Theory Study, Nicole M. Lozano

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study intended to develop a theory that explains the relationship dynamics of opposite-sex couples in which the female partner has been sexually victimized as an adult outside of the couple relationship. Four couples participated in the study sharing their experiences of disclosing the assault, communicating about the assault, physical intimacy, and salience of the assault to the relationship. Using a constructivist grounded theory approach the model emerged from the data. Overall, the women decided to disclose because they felt secure in their current intimate relationship. Disclosure happened for one of two reasons: (a) either to test the relationship and …

Faculty Members’ Perceptions Regarding The Role Of Assessment In Developmental Writing Courses, Doreen Danielson

All Theses And Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore teaching faculty members’ perceptions regarding how they design and implement writing assessments to evaluate Student Learning Outcomes in developmental English/writing courses. The study identified teaching faculty members’ pedagogical beliefs about the purposes of writing assessment and instructors’ attention to Student Learning Outcomes when designing assessment plans in developmental English/writing courses at a California community college. Using Moustakas’ (1994) phenomenological approach, the study drew data from interviews with full-time faculty members at a Central Valley community college in California. Focusing on the participants’ experiences and perceptions about the purposes of assessment in developmental …

Maternal Communication During A Deployment With School Staff: A Phenomenological Study, Carolyn Davis

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe the experiences of maternal soldiers’ in communicating with school staff during a military deployment. The increasing number of deployments since 2001 has affected the family unit, especially the children. The primary focus of the research on military deployments has been related to the effects on children and the family. This study used purposeful sampling to select seven maternal veterans who experienced a military deployment within the past five years lasting six months or longer. Participants shared their experiences with a deployment through a semi-structured interview. Prior to the interview, participants completed …

Special Educators’ Perceptions Of Using Educational Rap Music To Build Phonemic Awareness Skills For Students Identified With Mild Intellectual Disabilities: A Phenomenological Study, Martha Plumlee

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this qualitative transcendental phenomenological study was to understand special educators’ experiences and perceptions of using rap music to teach phonemic awareness skills to students with mild intellectual disabilities, in three Smith County (pseudonym) public school self-contained special education classrooms. A purposive sample utilized six participants in data collection comprised of semi-structured interviews, observations, documents, and one focus group. Data was analyzed using phenomenological reduction. Using Vygotsky’s (1978) sociocultural theory, Gardner’s (1983) multiple intelligences theory, and Kolb’s (1984) experiential learning theory, the essence of the shared experiences and perceptions were reported. An analysis of the data from semi-structured …

Policy Implications Of A Predictive Validity Study Of The Specialized High School Admissions Test At Three Elite New York City High Schools, Jonathan James Taylor

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Although admission to New York City's elite public high schools has been controversial because of the disproportionate representation by ethnicity and gender of students admitted, there has been no research on the Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT), the sole admissions criterion. This dissertation had four primary questions: (1) What is the predictive validity of the SHSAT? (2) Would the use of NYC achievement test scores improve prediction? (3) Does the SHSAT exhibit equal predictive validity across gender? and (4) Do disadvantaged students admitted to the Discovery Program with test scores below the cutoff earn grades comparable to regularly admitted …

The Relationship Between A Norm Referenced Measure Of Theory Of Mind And Preschoolers' Social Skills In The Classroom, Sarah Ellen Birch

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study sought to examine the effect of Theory of Mind (ToM) performance as measured by a norm-referenced assessment on the social skills of a multicultural group of preschool students. This study extends the current research in this area. Most previous studies examined the relationship among ToM, other social cognitive skills and social skills using participants from predominately Caucasian middle class families (Slaughter et al., 2015). Additionally, earlier research relied primarily on homemade measures of such skills (Cassidy et al., 2003; Disendruck & Ben-Eliyahu, 2006; McAlister & Peterson, 2013; Watson et al., 1999; Walker, 2005).

Participants included 67 children between …

Effectiveness Of A Partial Read-Aloud Test Accommodation To Assess Reading Comprehension In Students With A Reading Disability, Michelle Marie Giusto

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study explored the potential effectiveness of a partial read-aloud accommodation on the reading comprehension scores of third grade students classified as poor decoders. Past research has explored the use of an accommodation in which the test items are read aloud to students. These studies have demonstrated that reading an entire test aloud results in gains for both students with reading disabilities and their peers reading on grade level, thus invalidating this procedure as an appropriate test accommodation. To be appropriate, a test accommodation must benefit only the students with reading disabilities, not their grade level peers. Previous research has …

Collegiate Competition And The Propensity For Gender Bias, Deborah H. Lester, Aberdeen Leila Borders, Terry W. Loe, Keith Tudor

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

Since the dawn of time gender has played a starring role in human behavior. The behavioral implications of an individual’s sex have permeated research findings in a wide variety of academic disciplines. This preliminary investigation will explore the concept and definition of gender, gender bias, and gender stereotype on actions and conduct. Specifically, this inquiry will determine the scope and types of gender bias/stereotypes that exist in the business world with a primary concentration on the area of professional sales. The ultimate objective is to discover the type and level of influence a person’s gender contributes to evaluation, performance and …

Visualizing Abolition: Two Graphic Novels And A Critical Approach To Mass Incarceration For The Composition Classroom, Michael Sutcliffe

SANE journal: Sequential Art Narrative in Education

This article outlines two graphic novels and an accompanying activity designed to unpack complicated intersections between racism, poverty, and (d)evolving criminal-legal policy. Over 2 million adults are held in U.S. prison facilities, and several million more are under custodial supervision, and it has become clearly unsustainable. In the last decade, there has been a shift in media conversations about criminality, yet only a few suggest decreasing our reliance upon incarceration. In meaningfully different ways, the two novels trace the development of incarceration from its roots in slavery to its contemporary anti-democratic iteration and offer an underpublicized alternative.

Critical and community …

Revision In The Multiversity: What Composition Can Learn From The Superhero, David Hyman

SANE journal: Sequential Art Narrative in Education

Constant and ongoing revision is the compositional tactic through which many contemporary superhero narratives negotiate the powerful struggle between reiteration of the genre’s past, and creative expression of its future. Instead of a gradual succession of improved renditions of a text, each one effacing and superseding the imperfections of its predecessors, revision is revealed as the production of multiple versions whose differences and diversities are “capable of being in uncertainties”, as Keats describes the creative attitude which he terms Negative Capability: ontologically equal textual variations that wear their inconsistencies openly, and reject the pressure to resolve their multiplicities into the …

Pim Pedagogy: Toward A Loosely Unified Model For Teaching And Studying Comics And Graphic Novels, James B. Carter

SANE journal: Sequential Art Narrative in Education

The article debuts and explains "PIM" pedagogy, a construct for teaching comics at the secondary- and post-secondary levels and for deep reading/studying comics. The PIM model for considering comics is actually based in major precepts of education studies, namely constructivist foundations of learning, and loosely unifies constructs inherent therein with other available frames and frameworks for studying comics. As such, the article fills a dire need in the scholarly literature on comics pedagogy and paves a way for those who seek to teach comics courses in the future but who need direction and for those who seek to study/read comics …

Mallory Makes Meaning: How One 8th-Grader Made Meaning With A Graphic Novel, Aimee A. Rogers

SANE journal: Sequential Art Narrative in Education

This article presents how one 8^th-grader, Mallory, made meaning with Amulet: The Stonekeeper’s Curse by Kazu Kibuishi. Data was collected via a think-aloud procedure, a retrospective think-aloud, questions specific to the book and an interview. The data analysis indicates that Mallory was able to use a breadth of reading strategies, applied to both the visual and textual modalities, in order to make meaning with the graphic novel text.

Closing The Gap Between Two Countries: Feasibility Of Dissemination Of An Evidence-Based Parenting Intervention In México, José Rubén Parra-Cardona, Elizabeth Aguilar Parra, Elizabeth Wieling, Melanie M. Domenech-Rodriguez, Hiram E. Fitzgerald

Psychology Faculty Publications

In this manuscript, we describe the initial steps of an international program of prevention research in Monterrey, México. Specifically, we present a feasibility study focused on exploring the level of acceptability reported by a group of Mexican mothers who were exposed to a culturally adapted parenting intervention originally developed in the United States. The efficacious intervention adapted in this investigation is known as Parent Management Training, the Oregon Model (PMTO®). Following a description of our international partnership, we describe the implementation of the pilot study aimed at determining initial feasibility. Qualitative data provided by 40 Mexican mothers exposed to the …

Bullying And Victimization Among Children Raised By Grandparents, Oliver W. Edwards

GrandFamilies: The Contemporary Journal of Research, Practice and Policy

Increasing numbers of school-age children are being raised by their grandparents. Yet, a dearth of research investigates the children in these families. The few studies suggest the children experience higher levels of academic, behavioral, and emotional difficulties than their peers. These behaviors are often associated with involvement in bullying, but no empirical research investigates bullying among children raised by their grandparents. This current study helps to fill the noted lack of research in this area and the gap in the literature by investigating the intersection of these two important phenomena – bullying and children raised by their grandparents. This study …

Phenomenology Of Transformation Through Participation In A General Education Development Program, Sherrie Mitchell

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this qualitative, phenomenological study was to describe how young adults experience transformation through participation in a federally funded General Education Development (GED®) program located within a small urban area in the southeastern region of Georgia. Specifically, transformative learning theory and its overarching themes was applied to the perspective of the individuals who shared the experience of transformation. The queries of the study were to determine: (a) how the participants understood transformation, (b) how the participants described their experience of transformation in a federally funded GED program, (c) what transformation(s) were described and perceived from the GED program, …

Examining The Effectiveness Of The Early College High School Model In The Rural Appalachian Region Of Western North Carolina, David Robinson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The Early College High School (ECHS) model of education became a reality in North Carolina in 2002, and although some rich data resulting from research targeting the success of ECHS is starting to emerge; the focus is primarily broad in its comparisons of subjects attending ECHS with those attending traditional high schools (THS). This quantitative correlational research study utilized archived student achievement data and data collected from AdvancEd student surveys to explore possible relationships that exist between school setting, student achievement on required standardized tests, and feelings of school connectedness for students. The study revealed statistically significant positive relationships between …

Tiers 2 & 3 Intervention: Suspension, Scott Fluke, Natalie Hoff, Ana Cathcart, Reece L. Peterson

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Conclusion School suspension has been used for many years as a disciplinary consequence. Research has shown that Zero Tolerance Policies are associated with increasing use of suspension, often for minor violations such as tardiness, dress code infractions, and minor classroom misbehavior. Suspension has been shown to be relatively ineffective, failing to change student behavior, leading to future suspension, lower academic achievement, and eventual dropout. Moreover, suspension has been used disproportionately with minorities and students with disabilities. As a result a variety of efforts are underway to develop strategies to identify alternative disciplinary consequences, and to implement other procedures which have …