Digital Commons Network^™

How Does Teaching In Outdoor Classrooms Impact Secondary Student Learning Of Environmental Science Concepts?, Robert Cole

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Learning in context through experiential learning is a widely recognized method of teaching students of all ages new content that allows for better comprehension of new concepts and ideas. In spite of this, many environmental science courses are taught in classrooms without utilizing nature as an additional aid to better student understanding. This capstone project asks the question, how does teaching in outdoor classrooms impact secondary student learning of environmental science concepts a nd includes a review of literature relating to experiential learning and outdoor classrooms. The second part is a curriculum unit that utilizes the framework: “backwards design” (Wiggins …

Promoting Early Literacy Learning, Margaret Baird

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

This capstone addresses the importance of early literacy exposure for later literacy development and academic achievement. Literacy levels when students enter school have been shown to be related to later reading achievement and academic success. Caregiver involvement is a significant part of early literacy development. The influence of caregiver involvement is the primary focus of the project. The website created for this project provides caregivers of children birth to age 5 with activities to facilitate the development of early literacy, and community resources dedicated to promoting early literacy. The project is intended for anyone who spends an extended amount of …

Engaging Middle Schoolers: Teaching Strategies For Boosting Independent Reading Motivation In Middle School, Hannah Schrempp

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

This capstone investigates and describes the factors that impact adolescent reading motivation. With access to modern technology, limited resources at home, and a shift in teaching practices, adolescent readers do not find value in reading. Many guardians struggle with supporting their middle school readers at home due to social and economic factors. A combination of articles, studies, and assessments, help answer the question, What factors impact reading motivation in middle school students to help them identify as readers? Research concludes that creating a print-rich environment, giving access to high-interest books, building a positive relationship with family members, and giving students …

Facilitating Awareness Of Trauma For All Staff In An Educational Environment, Kelly Rygh

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

It is important to address the effects of trauma in the K-12 education system because those effects can have crippling effects on how students succeed academically and in life. The research uncovered in this review of literature pointed to the fact that there are inconsistencies in even defining trauma. There are multiple versions of how to categorize trauma and various ways they manifest, with only some of them being observable. The methods used for addressing trauma have their positives and negatives, however, those methods are inconsistent. This makes it confusing and difficult to evaluate their effectiveness. The capstone project sought …

Social Emotional Learning In Elementary Schools: A Professional Development Series, Brianna Strandberg

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this capstone project is to evaluate the impact social emotional learning has in elementary schools. There are several aspects that play key roles in social emotional learning, such as, Trauma Informed Instruction, the effectiveness of social emotional learning, and the teachers mental health. Each one of these key aspects are carefully reviewed and analyzed through an extensive literature review, to answer the capstone question, How can social emotional learning be implemented in elementary schools? This capstone project is a professional development series that dives into the effectiveness of social emotional learning. It is a series that …

The Public-School Environment And Day Treatment Programming Perceived Positive Environmental Supports As Antecedent Stimuli In A Public-School Day Treatment Classroom, Jessica Ann Clark

All Theses And Dissertations

The physical environment of a classroom can serve to meet the unique needs of students, but the focus on the specific tangible elements of the classroom is limited. There are minimal guidelines that inform teachers as to how to use these elements of the environment in teaching practices. The decision-making process for these situations is often left to inexperienced teachers and is not fully utilized as a resource within the classroom. The purpose of this qualitative research is to examine the environmental factors that contribute to a positive learning environment for public school students who exhibit challenging behavior. Based on …

Revisions 2021-2022, Saint Mary's College Of California

Faculty Handbook

No abstract provided.

Formative Assessment And Technology In The Mathematics Classroom, Albert Humes

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

This literature review investigates the use of formative assessment and technology in the classroom. There has been research to show that mathematics proficiency has dropped recently in the United States and researchers are looking to identify new strategies for student growth. Utilizing formative assessments, as well as targeted, immediate feedback for students, can help to improve student learning. As educational technology becomes more prevalent, more studies and research are focused around its effectiveness toward student achievement. The research found that formative assessment strategies, coupled with new technologies, can positively impact student achievement.

Effects Of Growth Mindset, Jessica Courtney

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

Growth mindset and mindset theory is a topic that is explored around the world and in different levels of education and careers. However, there are contradictive studies and many misconceptions about what growth mindset and interventions can achieve. Research leads scholars to believe that academic achievement may not be a direct result of growth mindset interventions, but it is also proven that motivation and self-efficacy are in fact improved. Research also shows that motivation and self-efficacy are required for academic growth. This literature review contains information about mindset theory, important historical research for mindset theory, assumption, and common misconceptions as …

High School Teachers' Experiences In Addressing The Challenges Of Written Expression Among Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Kevin James Hasinger

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to describe high school special education teachers’ experiences in teaching written expression to students with autism spectrum disorder in Parker County School District, located near the mid-eastern seaboard of the United States. At the onset of the study, written expression instruction was defined as instruction that facilitates the expression of feelings, thoughts, and ideas on paper to convey meaning to and/or persuade the reader (Flowers & Hayes, 1981). The theory guiding this study was Flower and Hayes’ (1981) cognitive process theory of writing which defined three essential elements of writing: the task …

Experiences Of Five Women Presidents In Higher Education: A Narrative Study, Mary Alexander

Theses and Dissertations

Extensive research has demonstrated that leaders aspiring to become women college presidents encounter many barriers, including gender-based leadership barriers. In higher education, women hold more degrees than men; however, women account for only 30 percent of all college and university presidencies. As the total number of women earning doctoral degrees and hired into faculty positions within the academy increases, the overall gap of the genders begins to narrow (Flaherty, 2016), and women are hired into lower status instructor positions compared to their male counterparts who are in tenured or tenure track position.

Even in presidential positions, women leaders face challenges …

A New Vision For Education Towards Fraternal Humanism, Vincenzo Zani

Journal of Catholic Education

This article considers three fundamental perspectives for Catholic education, all mentioned in the encyclical letter Populorum Progressio of Paul VI, which have also been present in the teachings of successive pontiffs. The first perspective is the need to build a new civilization and the idea that ”the world suffers due to lack of thought.” The second perspective is the idea that ”there is no true humanism but in the opening to the Absolute.” The third perspective is the idea that at the origin of injustice there is a lack of fraternity. The second Vatican Council stated that ”true education should …

Video Message To Participants To Oiec's World Congress In New York, Pope Francis

Journal of Catholic Education

In his video message sent on the occasion of the closing plenary of OIEC’s World Congress, Pope Francis expressed sincere gratitude for all those who work in Catholic education. “I thank you for this service, and through you I would like to convey my sincere gratitude to all those who work in Catholic education: lay people, men and women religious, and priests,” he said. He also conveyed his warmest greetings to millions of students who attend Catholic institutes in city centers, making special mention of Catholic school students who live in the peripheries of society. The Pope said young people …

Childhood Trauma And Substance Use: Differences By Race And Sex In Juvenile Justice Prevention Programs In Nebraska, Sophie Holtz

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

This study seeks to analyze whether demographic factors such as gender and race have a relationship to the reporting of trauma symptoms in juveniles. This study also examines whether higher substance use has a relationship to higher reports of trauma symptoms. To gather this data, surveys were administered to juveniles involved in juvenile justice prevention programs across the state of Nebraska. Overall, we found that juvenile girls reported significantly higher amounts of trauma symptoms than boys do. There was also a significant difference in how much juvenile girls report using cannabis compared to juvenile boys. Furthermore, there was not a …

Naturalistic Decision Making In First Sales Calls: A Narrative Study Of Experienced Technical Sales Professionals, Douglas Williams

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The first conversation between business-to-business sellers and new customers comes with the potential for both opportunity and risk. Sellers spend substantial effort gaining the right to engage in a first call with a potential customer. This study fills a gap in the literature by exploring the role of Naturalistic Decision Making (NDM) and how it impacts the way experienced technology sales professionals navigate first conversations with new customers. NDM explores how experienced professionals make decisions in high-stakes, real world situations that are ambiguous, time-pressured, and have poorly defined goals. While NDM studies have been performed in other professional disciplines, none …

Patient-Perspective Task Performance: Creating Contextually Relevant Student Clinical Training Through The Use Of Patient Experience, Candice L. Freeman

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

Patient-centered and patient-focused care purports that patients are at the center of all clinical decisions made for optimal medical outcomes. Optimal medical outcomes originate from accurately and reliably executed task performance by healthcare professionals trained to administer highly specific care for each patient condition. Many of these executed tasks are performed in the presence of the patient; this is defined as direct patient care. However, there are equally important tasks executed that are not performed in the presence of the patient; the performance of diagnostic laboratory testing is an example of such tasks.

Clinical training of healthcare laboratory professionals begins …

The Role Of Athletic Identity In General Mental Health And Alcohol-Related Help-Seeking Intentions Of College Students, Michael Grant Young

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Young adults are vulnerable to a range of mental health concerns and tend to drink in high quantities and tend to not seek help for these concerns. Specifically, college students involved in athletics tend to have low help-seeking rates—though help-seeking research for this population is relatively limited. Athletic identity (i.e., identification with the athlete role) is a relevant construct for examining this population, however little is known about its association with help-seeking beliefs and ideas. This study examines: (1) the association between athletic identity and help-seeking intentions for both mental health and alcohol use concerns, (2) the association between …

A Comparison Of Students’ Interest In Stem Across Science Standard Types, Brienne Kylie May

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study is to determine whether students enrolled in ninth and 10th grade science classes implementing the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) have significantly different interests in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) compared to students enrolled in classes structured around alternate state standards unrelated to the NGSS. The study also investigates how such interests may differ among genders. No research has been conducted to date to determine the potential effects of the NGSS on student interest in STEM or whether these standards impact student interest at all. This study utilizes a causal-comparative design to study the …

Faculty Member Experiences When Identifying And Addressing Prohibited Speech In The Classroom, Scott Jeffrey Bye

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to describe faculty member experiences related to identifying and addressing prohibited speech in the classroom. The researcher studied faculty members at University of North Carolina (UNC) system institutions using a multiple case study research approach based on the constructivist paradigm. For the purposes of this study, prohibited speech was defined as behaviors that fall into any category deemed not protected or prohibited in case law by the Supreme Court of the United States. These prohibited behaviors included Harassment, Obscenity, Defamation/Libel, Incitement, and True Threats.

Researchers found that faculty members are unable to determine if …

Life In The Army: A Case Study Of Junior-Enlisted Soldiers And Their Families With Deployment Resources And Experiences, David Estrada

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this case study was to illuminate the challenges that junior-enlisted soldiers and families endure when preparing for a deployment. This study sought to answer the research question: What are the experiences of military families before and during the deployment of a junior enlisted soldier to include challenges or successes with existing deployment resources and programs? A total of 10 participants were selected utilizing criterion sampling for this study and solicited volunteers from junior-enlisted soldiers and their families in the U.S. Army. The Relational Turbulence Theory served as the theoretical framework for this study and utilized the following …

Long-Term Impact Of Growing Up In A Blended Family: Emotional And Attachment Issues, Sarah Lucille Sloan

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Research indicates that three out of four people who go through a divorce may marry again, and more than half of all marriages today are at least the second marriage for one partner. Recent studies estimate that 65% of remarriages involve children from a prior marriage creating a blended family or stepfamily during their lifetime. This study explored the lived experience of individuals raised in a blended family or stepfamily and what, if any, was the impact on their development and adult attachments. It also explored why adults often report adjusting to communication styles, abandonment, self-esteem, and individual behavior issues …

Understanding The Importance Of Ambition In The Workplace, Jeff Bean

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Though a common term, ambition is a multifaceted concept that is vastly under researched despite it being labeled necessary for success in the workplace. Of even greater irony is that several sources indicate a significant majority of the reason that employees leave organizations is due to a perceived lack of career development or opportunity, a problem that speaks directly to talent management practices. In light the costly nature of this problem and the presence of sophisticated talent management professionals in large and medium-sized organizations which comprise half or more of the workforce, it causes one to question the assumptions that …

Overcoming Learning Anxiety In Workplace Learning: A Study Of Best Practices And Training Accommodations That Improve Workplace Learning, Ann-Marie Piscitelli

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S. and affect 40 million adults, or 18.1% of the population each year. Anxiety plays an essential role in encouraging productive learning outcomes; however, uncontrolled anxiety could result in heightened emotions that create barriers to learning. Employees who have anxiety disorders may experience these barriers to learning when in traditional training programs and may require support or accommodations to boost their unique learning needs for development in the workplace. Human Resource Development (HRD) professionals’ challenge is how best to intervene when an employee exhibits behaviors of learning anxiety to nurture …

Riverology: Promoting Stewardship Of Rivers Through Youth Participation In Science And Art, Robin R. Dunbar

Institute for the Humanities Theses

This project focuses on mentoring children to help reduce marine debris in their local river by implementing one of ten lessons from an inquiry-based Riverology curriculum to empower youth voice, increase geo-literacy, and spatial thinking. Eighteen participants aged seven and eight, piloted Riverology Lesson 2: What Do I Know or Imagine about the Elizabeth River? that includes six steps: inquire, visualize, draw, share, act, and reflect. The children were asked to make drawings before and after viewing an Elizabeth River Story Map presentation (Dunbar, 2021a). The drawings were then compared to see if the participants included marine debris, stewardship solutions, …

Aacp Basic Resources For Pharmacy Education, Jason Guy, Ivan Portillo, Robert D. Beckett, Leslie Ann Bowman, Daisy De La Rosa, Vern Duba, Juanita Draime, Kayce Gill, Neyda Gilman, Rebecca Hoover, Alison Kosnieczny, Scott Perkins

Library Association/Organization Work

"The AACP Basic Resources for Pharmacy Education is produced as a guide for those developing or maintaining the library collections that serve colleges and schools of pharmacy. The goal of the Basic Resources list is to make recommendations of books and other works to be included in pharmacy libraries, but not all titles are required to be purchased. Each pharmacy college has its own mission and its own program(s), and so each college’s library collection must reflect that mission and support the college’s program(s). Excellent library collections are built by knowledgeable librarians and drug information specialists using their professional judgment …

Keeping The Course: Nursing Student Motivation During A Pandemic, Travis William Storey

OTS Master's Level Projects & Papers

Nurses have always been at the frontline of any disaster or health crisis to hit the country, yet, as the United States battled the coronavirus pandemic, the nation saw its nursing shortage worsen. The emotional and physical toll faced by frontline nurses often became unbearable, leading to a skyrocketing of occupational and facility turnover. Concern grew that the pandemic would have an impact on nursing students as well, particularly on the supply of new graduate nurses. Yet, even in the face of such hazardous working conditions, nursing students persisted in their academic studies. The purpose of this quantitative non-experimental study …

Racial, Ethnic Differences In Complementary And Integrative Health Use Among Adults With Mental Illness: Results From The 2017 National Health Interview Survey, Lee Za Ong, Karisse A. Callender, Kacie M. Blalock, Jerome J. Holzbauer

College of Education Faculty Research and Publications

The purpose of this study was to examine the patterns of complementary and integrative health (CIH) use among adults with a racial/ethnic minority background and a mental illness. A secondary data analysis of 2017 National Health Interview Survey (N = 793) was conducted using chi-square, multivariate logistic regression, and multinomial logistic regression. Overall, Black/African Americans and Hispanic/Latinx groups remained the least proportional of CIH therapies utilization. Being a male, Black/African American or Latinx/Hispanic and had work experience were predictors of the least use of the CIH therapies. Research is needed to bridge the gaps on the CIH use among a …

The Influence Of Participation In A Multi-Disciplinary Collaborative Service Learning Project On The Effectiveness Of Team Members In A 100-Level Mechanical Engineering Class, Stacie I. Ringleb, Pilar Pazos, Julia Noginova, Francisco Cima, Orlando Ayala, Krishnanand Kaipa, Jennifer Kidd, Kristie Gutierrez

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

Engineers need to develop professional skills, including the ability to work successfully in teams and to communicate within and outside of their discipline, in addition to required technical skills. A collaborative multi-disciplinary service learning project referred to as Ed+gineering was implemented in a 100-level mechanical engineering course. In this collaboration, mechanical engineering students, primarily in the second semester of their freshman year or first semester of their second year, worked over the course of a semester with education students taking a foundations course to develop and deliver engineering lessons to fourth or fifth graders. Students in comparison engineering classes worked …

Engaging The Disengaged: The Zone Of Proximal Distance Between Deliberately Silenced Educators And Preferably Unheard Latino Immigrant Parents, Jose Antonio Velazquez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The five Latino parents in the three ethnographic case studies presented in this document were experienced with stepping into third space zones of discomfort as undocumented immigrants unwelcome to the United States. They could have chosen to remain silent and invisible. Instead, they entered third space visibility that amplified their presence and voice as immigration reform activists. They recognized and accepted the risks of amplified outspoken visibility: possible deportation and family separation. They also acknowledged the risks of silent submission and invisibility: vulnerability to exploitation and generational disempowerment. They created disruptive third space forms of civic engagement that synergistically produced …

The Used New Pedagogical Technologies In Lesson Of Discipline “Biology And Ecology Of Medicine Plants”, Khazratkul Kilichevich Karshibaev

Bulletin of Gulistan State University

Thisarticle is devoted to improving the system of teaching the subject "Biology and Ecology of MedicinePlants" on the basis discipline of new pedagogical technologies. The methods used in teaching the biological and ecological properties of plants, as well as the formation of specific skills and special competencies of students in the cultivation and creation of plantations of medicinal plants are analyzed. The main conceptual approaches to the development of educational technologies are identified, as well as interactive methods used in training sessions. When teaching the subject "Biology and Ecology of MedicinePlants”, in the lecture lessons, it is recommended to use …