Educational Psychology Commons^™

Predicting Teachers' Awareness Of And Interventions In Classroom Episodes Of Gender-Based Bullying : Individual And Systems Factors, Evan David Slater

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Gender-based bullying (GBB) includes threatening behaviors based on gender/gender-role expectations, verbal/physical harassment, unwanted sexual attention and coercion, insults, intimidation, and assaults based on sexual orientation. In this study, 342 teachers completed an online survey to identify which variables predicted their rates of witnessing and intervening in GBB. Individual variables included teacher rates of homophobia and heterosexism. Systems variables included teachers' fear of angry backlash for reporting GBB, the comprehensiveness of districts' safe school policies (SSP), the timeliness of districts' responses to reports of GBB, and the consistency of administrative responses. Also included were the number of district trainings concerning their …

Grading Participation In College Courses : Instructor Attitudes And Practices, Susan L. Rogers

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

An exploratory study was launched to redress a gap in the literature that is expressed as an assumption that "most" college instructors grade participation in undergraduate courses. A sample of 521 instructors at a large, northeastern public university was surveyed to assess their attitudes and practices in grading participation in undergraduate courses of 50 students or less. A survey instrument was developed for the purpose of this study and subjected to principal components analysis, and this instrument yielded 7 subscales of acceptable reliability (Cronbach's alpha ≥ .70). Results suggest that the majority of instructors across disciplines incorporate a "participation" factor …

The Relationship Between Special Education Teachers' Mathematical Knowledge, Instructional Choices, And Beliefs About Teaching And Learning Mathematics, Virginia Rich Lee

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Thirty-four certified special education teachers completed four instruments in addition to viewing video recordings of students engaging in mathematical tasks. The mathematical beliefs of special education teachers were investigated through the use of the Mathematics Beliefs Scales (Capraro, 2005). Special education teachers' mathematical knowledge was measured using the Fraction Knowledge Assessment, which included a range of fraction tasks drawn from state and national elementary level mathematics standards. The proposed instruction of the special education teachers was examined through participants' written responses to video recordings of students solving fraction problems. Demographic information was obtained through the use of a questionnaire. Results …

Effect Of Parent Personal Experience On Views, Level Of Concern, And Reactions To Middle School Students' Bullying Behavior, Leigh A. Cooper

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This study sought to generate a base of literature pertaining to parent historical experiences with bullying. Specifically, parent history of bullying was examined as a predictor of current perceptions, level of concern, and strategies used to prevent and intervene with bullying for middle school students. Parents from a public school district in the Northeast were invited to complete an online survey through letters distributed to their student and media-based announcements. Two-hundred-sixty participants provided viable responses. A series of hierarchical regression analyses were used to determine if parent history of involvement in bullying was predictive of their current responses to bullying.

Using Cases To Examine Reflection, Joanne Malkani

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This study helped to clarify the definition of reflection in the literature while also contributing to teacher education curricula. Eleven graduate students enrolled in an educational psychology graduate level course at a university in the northeast completed course assignments, entitled My Thoughts and Follow-Up Reflection (Dai, 2006). The purpose of these assignments was to scaffold and assess process reflection and premise reflection (Mezirow, 1991). The assignments focused on the analysis (My Thoughts) and reanalysis ( Follow-Up Reflection) of two problem-based cases, Mary Ewing and Sarah Hanover (Silverman, Welty, & Lyon, 1996). An analysis of the data was conducted using methods …

Recent School Psychology Graduates : A Preliminary Survey Of Their Internship Experience, Satisfaction, And Support, Colleen Renee Klee

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The internship in school psychology acts as a bridge between graduate training and practice. Students spend several semesters engaged in classroom learning and field training experiences prior to beginning the internship. In the United Sates, school psychology training is regulated by agencies such as state departments of education and national professional organizations, with many similar training components across programs. Internships vary widely based on characteristics such as the setting, amount of supervision and support provided, and activities in which the intern engages. At this time, there are no current data which describe individuals' satisfaction with their internship experiences. This study …

Re-Seeing Story Through Portal Writing, S. Rebecca Leigh

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Findings suggest that portal writing can be used as an effective tool for helping young students focus and revise their narrative work.

Immersion, Transformation, And The Literature Class, Christina Vischer Bruns

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

“Transitional space” helps teachers understand how a reader’s transformation happens, and why it is valuable.

Strictly Business: Teacher Perceptions Of Interaction In Virtual Schooling, Charles R. Graham, Abigail Hawkins, Michael K. Barbour

Faculty Publications

This study explored the nature of teacher-student interaction from the perspective of eight virtual school teachers in an asynchronous, self-paced, statewide, supplemental virtual high school. Using intensity sampling, eight teachers who varied across discipline, grade level, and course completion rates were student-initiated and instructional in nature. The main procedural interactions focused on notifications sent to inactive students. Social interactions were minimal and viewed as having little pedagogical value. Institutional barriers such as class size and an absence of effective tracking mechanisms limited the amount and types of interaction teachers engaged in. Study implications and future research are discussed.

Teaching Interactively Using Web-Conferencing: The Student Perspective, Pilar Pazos, Holly Handley, Shannon Bowling, Charles B. Daniels, Kim Sibson, Patrick Hester

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

The Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Department (EMSE) of Old Dominion University (ODU) Batten College of Engineering and Technology (BCET) has employed distance-learning technologies for well over three decades. Although the current technologies provide a valuable service for many geographically dispersed students, the faculty continues to explore additional distance learning tools, technologies and methods to promote more student participation and active learning. The goal of this paper is to describe and evaluate an innovative instructional approach using interactive web conferencing in hybrid courses. This paper will explore the use of web conferencing to teach graduate-level courses and explore the impact …

High School Teacher Attitudes Toward Implementing Positive Behavior Support Systems, Lauren Mcardle

Dissertations

Positive behavior support (PBS) is a systems change effort that entails explicitly teaching expected social behaviors and rewarding students for behaving appropriately. Additionally, PBS systems involve developing a hierarchy of consequences that are matched to the severity of behavioral infractions. While there is growing research support for the effectiveness of PBS systems in elementary and middle school settings, there is very limited research about positive behavior support implementation at the high school level. Preliminary studies suggest that teacher and staff buy-in and attitudes toward implementation practices are critical to implementation success at the high school level. Additionally, the some theoretical …

The Use Of Virtual Environments In Teacher Preparation, Sharon Judge, Petros Katsioloudis, Theo Bastiaens (Ed.), Martin Ebner (Ed.)

Communication Disorders & Special Education Faculty Publications

While virtual technology for training in the simulation field has had a long history in medicine and the military, the application of emerging and innovative technologies in teacher preparation and education has been limited. TeachME™ (Teaching in a Mixed Reality Environment) is an innovative mixed-reality environment (the blending of real and synthetic content) where prospective teachers can interact with a group of virtual students. The purpose of the virtual teaching environment of TeachME™ is to positively impact teacher recruitment, preparation, and retention in education by allowing teachers to improve their skills with virtual students, providing a more ethical approach to …

Value Added By Mixed Methods Research: A Multiphase Mixed Methods Design, Courtney Haines

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

The overall purpose of this study was to examine the perceived value of mixed methods research for graduate students at a Midwestern university. A multiphase mixed methods design was used to measure graduate students perceptions of the value of a study’s methodology. The study consisted of three phases. Phase I was conducted in order to construct passages and the goal of Phase II was to create a survey. These two phases were then combined to create Phase III. Part one of Phase III was an experiment that looked at the effect of a study’s methodology on the value of the …

Peer Relationships: Links Between Victimization, Participation, Depressive Symptoms And Achievement In The Classroom, Tiffany R. Murray Sydzyik

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

This study examined the relationship between forms of victimization on participation, achievement, and depressive symptoms. Participation was hypothesized to mediate the link between victimization and achievement and internalizing symptoms such as depression. Two forms of victimization (overt and relational) were hypothesized to predict participation. Participation was also hypothesized to predict achievement and depression. Conducting a model estimation using structural equations modeling (SEM) showed that overt victimization had a significant negative relationship with participation, which means that for example, as overt victimization rates were higher, participation tended to be lower. These results also indicated that participation and achievement had a significant …

Parental Influence On Adolescent’S Academic Performance, Jessica Schmuck

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

The purpose of this survey research was to uncover how the relationship of parental involvement and parenting styles influence their adolescent’s academic performance and success. Parents need to be actively involved in their adolescent’s life, support and provide assistance with school and help instill motivation and confidence. This research was conducted by personally distributing surveys to a class of students at the Brookings High School in October 2010. The survey found that half of the participating adolescent’s stated that their parents had a strong influence on their academic performance. This was critical information because it supported previous research conducted regarding …

Evaluating The Effects Of A Job-Aid For Teaching Visual Inspection Skills To University Students, Candice M. Jostad

Dissertations

Visual inspection is the primary method of data analysis used in behavior analysis. Thus, it is important that behavior analysts have the skills necessary for accurate visual inspection. Research has shown that visual inspection can sometimes be unreliable, which has broad implications for the evaluation of treatment effects using this method. Traditional lectures have been shown to be ineffective in teaching visual inspection skills to a satisfactory level, although improvements in visual inspection have been accomplished using statistical methods and aids such as celeration lines superimposed on graphs. However, these methods are not effective when the aids are removed and …

White Male College Students: An Examination Of Identity Development, Masculinity, And Institutional Connections, Randy Ott

Dissertations

White, male college (WCM) students have been a central focus of researchers in higher education throughout its existence, but have not been studied as a group whose identity development is a key issue. This study looked at WCM, their masculinity levels, and how their past connections with peers, instructors, or staff influenced their White identity development. In this study I utilized a phenomenological research approach to learn about the lived experiences of eight WCM. The eight WCM were at least junior status at a medium size, Midwestern, public university.

The results point to multiple conclusions and themes. This study supported …

An Examination Of Demographic Variables And Their Relationships With Perceived Stress Among Caregivers Beginning A Parent Training Program, Amy Heath Patenaude

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate how levels of stress among caregivers beginning a behavioral parent training program are related to caregiver and child variables. Research questions were answered using archival data collected from 474 caregivers who participated in HOT DOCS, a behavioral parent training program, between January 2009 through July 2010. The three objectives of the study were to (a) examine caregivers' perceived stress in relation to caregiver demographic variables (i.e., gender, marital status, level of education); (b) examine caregivers' perceived stress in relation to child demographic variables (i.e., levels of externalizing and internalizing behavior and …

Increasing Adolescents' Subjective Well-Being: Effects Of A Positive Psychology Intervention In Comparison To The Effects Of Therapeutic Alliance, Youth Factors, And Expectancy For Change, Jessica A. Savage

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the variance in subjective well-being (SWB) of early adolescents (n = 54) exposed to a positive psychology intervention aimed at increasing positive affect and life satisfaction as well as decreasing negative affect through intentional activities (e.g., gratitude journals, acts of kindness, use of character strengths, optimistic thinking). Understanding how to increase SWB among youth is important because of its associations with positive indicators of psychological and academic functioning. However, prior research is limited regarding interventions targeting SWB in youth and excludes the relation of common factors of therapeutic change. Based on the literature regarding therapeutic change, youth …

Links Between Parents' And Children's Levels Of Gratitude, Life Satisfaction, And Hope, Brenna D. Hoy

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Positive psychology encourages a focus on identifying and promoting wellness in individuals rather than analyzing psychopathology. Although decades of research shows that mental illness is in part environmental and hereditary, little is known about the relationship between parental levels of positive emotions such as gratitude, life satisfaction, and hope, and their children's levels of the same constructs. This study utilized a past, present, and future framework of positive emotions to explore parental and child levels of gratitude, life satisfaction, and hope. This quantitative study analyzed correlations between self-reported levels of gratitude, life satisfaction, and hope among a sample of 153 …