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The Impact Of An Inquiry-Based Learning Professional Development Has On Science And Agricultural Teachers' Intent To Use Animal Science Concepts As A Context For Teaching Science, Kasey Harmon

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

There is an emerging need for Tennessee and Nebraska high school students to increase their science proficiency. It is important that students are science literate to equip them with basic science skills needed for the workforce. Science literacy enables students to problem solve efficiently, appropriately assess societal issues, and make informed decisions. Inquiry-based learning (IBL) is a teaching strategy that has been shown to positively impact students’ ability to critically think and make informed decisions. Since IBL and agricultural education are centered around experiential learning, combining them gives students the opportunity to learn science in a real-world context. However, previous …

Emancipation: Centering Black Parent Voices In The New Orleans Charter School Experiment, Nicole Moliere

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This phenomenological study explored Louisiana legislative charter school policies and the extent to which those policies empowered Black public-school parents in the New Orleans charter school experiment (NOCSE). Parent empowerment, the sharing of power with parents, has been a missing component both in scholarly literature and in charter school policy and implementation (Ferlazzo, 2011; Hsiao et al., 2018, Murray et al., 2013). Using semi structured interviews, the results of this study yielded three themes related to Black parent empowerment (BPE) and the public-school struggles Black parents face in an all-charter district. Based on the research findings, this study revealed that …

Benefits Of Using The Montessori Method To Teach Literacy To Tk-2, Taylor Holter

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The focus of this senior capstone is to examine the benefits of using the Montessori method to teach literacy to TK-2 grade children. This encompasses children ranging from ages four to eight. Through the use of literature review on how the Montessori method developed, reviews of records, and interviews with Montessori professionals, the result findings indicate that the use of the Montessori method to teach literacy does indeed benefit TK-2 children. In addition, children educated in the Montessori method have a deeper understanding of literacy and possess the knowledge and skills of reading and writing when introducing the concepts of …

Identification Of Lacking Support Systems Relevant To The Job Performance Of School Counselors, Claire Patricia Selna

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This capstone report displays a comprehensive report about the struggles and demands of school counselors and how various factors such as: the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) code of ethics and standards, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), and school counselor advocacy and support, all play a part in school counselors daily lives. This report also describes the use of intersectionality theory with all of the previously stated factors, allowing researchers to better understand the complexity of the role of school counselor. Knowing these factors, this report asks: What support systems most impact the job performance of school counselors? In order to …

A Review Of Health Wearable-Based Physical Activity Interventions Among Children And Adolescents, Suryeon Ryu, Pablo Rodriguez-Gonzalez, Zan Gao

International Journal of Physical Activity and Health

Health wearable technologies have become popular in recent decades to improve individual physical activity (PA) behavior. Thus, this paper aims to examine the health of wearable-based PA intervention among children and adolescents and provide narrative overviews. This paper retrieved articles based on the following inclusion criteria: (1) experimental design; (2) studies among healthy children and adolescents aged from 5 to 18 years; (3) studies using health wearables as a medium to enhance PA or reduce sedentary behavior; and (4) studies with PA assessments as an outcome. Relevant articles were searched based on recent preceding review papers published in 2021 and …

A Review On The Dose Response Effect Of Regular Physical Activity On Cognitive Function Among Children And Adolescents, Weidong Li, Ping Xiang

International Journal of Physical Activity and Health

Purpose: Positive effects of physical activity on cognitive function among children and adolescents have been observed in previous studies. However, little is known about whether there is a dose-response effect of physical activity on cognitive functioning. Especially, the curvilinear relationship between regular physical activity and cognitive functioning remained unexplored. The purpose of this paper was to review the literature on the dose response effect of physical activity on cognitive function among children and adolescents. Methods: A literature search on key words, title, and abstract with the phrases “physical activity and executive function”, “physical activity and cognition”, and “physical …

Exploring A Bilingual Teacher Implementation Of Small Group Guided Reading Instruction Through Preview, View And Review, Vivian Pratts

Theses and Dissertations

Teaching and learning for emergent bilinguals is often based on monolingual instructional assumptions which ignore how emergent bilinguals use their entire linguistic repertoire to communicate and make meaning. Bilingual pedagogies such as Preview-View-Review have the potential to support the development of biliteracy and meaning-making of emergent bilinguals in dual language programs. The aim of this exploratory study was to investigate how a bilingual teacher in a two-way dual language program implements a Preview-View-Review through small group reading instruction. This strategy proposes the alternation of languages previewing and reviewing content in one language, while doing the view or main content teaching …

The Relationship Of Graduating Students (Alumni-To-Be)’S Sense Of Belonging And Their Intent To Give Back To Their Alma Mater At A Hispanic Serving Institution (Hsi) In South Texas, Lanlan Alvarado

Theses and Dissertations

Higher education institutions are increasingly relying on funding from the private sector (Council for Aid to Education, 2013) as state funding to higher education has decreased in recent years. Bridging the gap between university financial needs and available funding has become a high priority. In the process, higher education institutions have enlisted their advancement offices towards such bridging efforts by systematically bringing in financial support from donors, alumni, corporations, and foundations.

Funding from private sources fluctuates with changes in the macro-economic environment, laws, and regulations, as well as shifts in philanthropic interests in the public. Alumni giving constitutes a substantial …

Faculty Perceptions Of Online Instruction And Educational Technology In Higher Education, Raul Nick Cabrera

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to obtain faculty perceptions of online instruction and educational technology in higher education. Data was collected from eight participants through interviews and open-ended questions at a higher education institution. Results showed that faculty consider that online instruction is only possible for certain programs and that it’s only for certain student populations. In addition, faculty perceive online learning environments as a repository for class information and serve as a communication medium between instructor and student. Furthermore, faculty believe that there is no substitution for traditional teaching methods regardless of the educational technology available. Theoretical and …

Perspectives Of Esl Teachers On Translanguaging Pedagogy In Supporting The Literacy Engagement Of Emergent Bilingual Students In A Texas Charter School, Gemma Olson

Theses and Dissertations

The interconnectedness of the world today through advanced technology and travel allows students exposure to a diverse cultural landscape. Combined with a fast-changing computer technology-driven education, and culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms, there cannot be just one way to teach and learn. This study explored the perspective of ESL teachers on translanguaging pedagogy in supporting the literacy engagement of emergent bilingual (EB) students in an urban elementary charter school in Texas. Through Participatory Action Research (PAR), data was collected from three ESL teacher participants using the spiral-action cycle. Findings that emerged included (a) intrinsic motivation that translanguaging pedagogy support emergent …

Effective Inclusive Strategies For Students With Disabilities: Guides For General Education Teachers, Lynda Hawkins

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The Disability Education Act 2004 (IDEA) and Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) had given students with disabilities the right to be included in the general education classroom. With that comes a challenge for teachers as they must find ways to reach every student. The purpose of this project is to provide a way of achieving that goal.. The Buddy System, for example, is a supportive method for teachers. General education students are paired up with students that need assistance. These students take on the role of assistant teacher/mentor to help guide their peers through classroom activities and assignments. With everyone …

Finding The Path To College Completion: A Qualitative Exploration Of The Experiences Of First-Generation Students At A Technical College In Rural West Tennessee, Jacquene Rainey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study focused on the experiences of first-generation students attending a technical college in rural West Tennessee. The results of this study may identify barriers faced by students from these special populations and may also provide insight into the support systems that motivate these students to persevere. Although significant research has been conducted on first-generation and underrepresented students attending community colleges and four-year universities, there is a gap in the published literature pertaining to the lived experiences of students attending technical colleges, especially those living in rural areas.

First-generation college students face many challenges as they …

Advising Minority Pre-Med Students: Perceptions Of Pre-Med Advisors At Institutions In The Southeastern Association Of Advisors In The Health Professions Region, Victoria Street

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore pre-medical advisors’ perceptions on their role in the pathway to medicine for students historically underrepresented in medicine (URiM) and to gain insight into barriers these students face. While a small amount of research exists on the perspective of URiM pre-medical students on the pathway to medicine, no analysis has been conducted on the role pre-medical advisors play. The underlying framework of this research study focused on the experience of advisors through the lens of academic advising approaches, self-authorship theory, and capital theory to make a strong collective framework to begin understanding …

Perceptions Of Primary Caregivers About Managing Their Child’S Transition To Kindergarten: A Mixed-Methods Study, Kristy Lynn Castanon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The study aimed to explore the perceptions of primary caregivers as they manage their child’s transition to kindergarten. The study used a mixed-methods explanatory sequential design consisting of two phases. In phase 1, 64 primary caregivers of children transitioning to kindergarten completed the Kindergarten Caregiver Perceptions survey. Phase 1 participants were recruited from K-Camp, a program designed to support families and children during the transition. Descriptive statistics were analyzed to identify the concerns of caregivers, investigate their desired information and support, examine their involvement in transition activities, and understand caregivers’ perceived level of self-efficacy in managing their child’s transition to …

Selecting Classroom Grading Practices: A Qualitative Study Exploring Teacher Experiences, Tallye Gass

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative research was to understand the experience of selecting grading practices for a high school math or English classroom. There is no existing research related to understanding this phenomenon. This phenomenological study included three participants who were purposefully selected based on specific criteria: They must teach math or English in grades 9, 10, 11, or 12 and have at least three years of teaching experience. The participants were interviewed using videoconferencing software, and the interviews were recorded and transcribed. Open and axial coding was used to analyze the data. The theoretical framework applied for the interpretation …

Xinachtli: Exploring The Experiences Of Young Resilient Latinas In A Rural And Under-Resourced Community, Deborah Hernandez

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This interpretive phenomenology study aimed to explore the lived experiences of young Latinas in a rural and under-resourced community. The analysis of the messages received by young women in educational institutions, at home, and in science and math classes was necessary due to the underrepresentation of Latinas in STEM fields. Using an interpretive phenomenology lens, the researcher collected journals from seven participants. Additionally, semi-structured interviews were conducted with all seven participants every week for 16 weeks by the Xinachtli facilitator. The data collected from the journals were transcribed in a line-by-line analysis and affirmed using qualitative analysis. The codes were …

Uplifting An Invisible Population: How We Can Combine Psychology And Policy To Improve The Educational And Mental Health Outcomes Of Homeless Youth, Melissa Hamilton

Washington Semester Program

The goal of this thesis is to a) explain why homeless youth are frequently linked to poor mental health and education outcomes, and b) offer evidence-based suggestions that ought to be considered when developing any intervention aiming to improve the education and mental health of homeless youth. To accomplish this, prominent theories in both the psychology (ex: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs) and political science (ex: failed implementation of the McKinney-Vento Act) fields that pertain to student homelessness were reviewed, and a comparative analysis of existing intervention models was conducted. Three key trends were identified across successful homeless youth intervention models …

An Investigation Of Emotional Intelligence Among African American College Students Enrolled In A State College In Florida, Wayne Brown

Theses and Dissertations

Due to the small number of research studies that have explored emotional intelligence (EI) in African-American (AA) samples (i.e., twelve studies, with six involving college students), the first purpose of this study was to describe conceptual and empirical dimensions of EI within a sample of AA college students (Research Question 1). To date, only one EI measure has been developed for use with AA samples, the African American Emotional Intelligence Survey or AAEIS (Funderburk, 2007), so the second purpose was to further explore the validity and reliability of the AAEIS (Research Question 2). The third purpose was to explore the …

Exploring Environmental Sensitivity And Significant Life Experiences Of Selected African American And Hispanic American College Students: A Mixed Methods Study, Danielle Pastor

Theses and Dissertations

This study explored Significant Life Experiences (SLEs) and the development of Environmental Sensitivity (ES) in a sample of African American and Hispanic American College Students. In the field of Environmental Education, SLEs and ES have been researched for the past 40 years. Specific factors associated with the development of ES have been identified (e.g., Chawla, 1998; Peterson, 1981; Tanner, 1980), and ES was found to be a predictor of environmental action (e.g., Marcinkowski, 2005; McBeth et al., 2014). Despite its importance, few studies have explored the development of ES among individuals who are majoring or working in an environmental field, …

Parents' Perception Of Speech-Language Pathologists In Secondary Transition, Madelyn Hunt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Speech-Language Pathologists provide services to youth with Down syndrome. The purpose of this study was to (a) determine if parents are aware that speech-language pathologists can provide services to prepare their children for secondary transition; (b) identify the parents’ perceptions of the services provided by speech-language pathologists; and (c) determine if in the parents’ opinion, the speech-language pathologist provided a vital role in preparing their child for transition. Using nonprobability snowball sampling, this cross-sectional mixed-method survey study included 85 parents of youth (ages 14-22) with Down syndrome across the United States. Parents rated their experiences and described their beliefs and …

Approaching Trans Healthcare Competency: The Implementation Of Trans Health Education For Medical Providers In Appalachia, Rebecca Altschuler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Barriers to competent and safe healthcare disproportionately impact people who are marginalized because of their race, ethnicity, gender, or socioeconomic status. It is well documented that transgender patients in particular experience barriers to both accessing care and receiving high quality, non-discriminatory care (Hatzenbuehler & Pachankis, 2016; James et al., 2016; Rahman et al., 2019; Safer et al., 2016). This lack of access to culturally competent healthcare services contributes to health disparities that disproportionately impact the trans community. Literature on barriers to competent care for trans patients indicates that providers experience discomfort related to their ability to provide competent care (Safer …

Impacts Of Attribution Style On Academics, Personal Relationships, And Extracurricular Activities: A Mixed Methods Study Of Learned Helplessness In Secondary Students, Joslyn Vendola

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

The phenomenon of learned helplessness is the state in which an individual no longer views their outcomes as contingent upon their effort in response to previous failure outcomes and stressful events which were out of their control. Learned helplessness symptoms are often observed amongst students who experience other challenges simultaneously, such as low academic achievement, emotional disability (ED) diagnosis, and/or low-socioeconomic status (low-SES). The existing LH research focuses on identification, labeling, and offering interventions, such as learned optimism (LO) and attribution retraining. The lack of qualitative data, specifically student input, is a gap in the current body of research that …

Women's Advancement To U.S. Higher Education Executive Leadership: An Intersectional, Secondary Data Analysis, Ann Marie Alexander

All Dissertations

This study focused on the issue that women are underrepresented in higher education executive and senior leadership roles at four-year colleges and universities in the United States (Dominici et al., 2009; Ginsberg et al., 2019; Gomez, 2020; Hannum et al., 2015; O’Conner, 2019; Smith, D., 2017; Teague 2015). A theoretical framework of intersectionality was used. Significant literature review findings were that the majority of studies on women in U.S. higher education leadership were qualitative and located at one university or in a single region of the country. Another finding was that more studies examining the races and ethnicity of these …

Physiological Response To Political Messaging, Kelsey Wright

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

The overall goal of this study was to understand if individuals who politically identify as Democrats or Republicans have a statistically significant difference in their emotional response to congruent and incongruent political media clips. I used physiological measures of arousal, valence, and emotional control to understand threat response while participants watched congruent and incongruent political media clips. There was no significant difference between the response to congruent and incongruent media in individuals who identify as Democratic or Republican. There was no significant difference in physiological measures when individuals viewed congruent media clips than viewing incongruent media clips. However, there was …

The Effects Of Telehealth On Access To Palliative Care In Rural Communities, Ryleigh Hanson

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Patients with serious and life-limiting illnesses are in need of palliative care which allows for both the patient and their family to learn how to live a relatively quality life in spite of their illness. Current access to palliative care is limited to urban areas leaving those in rural communities to face their illness without proper care. To understand why these limitations exist and to determine possible solutions, several articles were analyzed that focused on the benefits and stigmas of palliative care, why rural communities struggle to gain access to palliative care, and if telehealth is a possible solution to …

Diageo Strategic Audit: A Deep Dive Into The Management Strategies Of Diageo, Hailey Hoogers, Maria Alessandro, Joel Myers, Abigail Grimm, Harrison Gates

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Diageo is a multinational premium drink producer and supplier with over 200 brands and sales in over 180 countries. A conglomerate since its founding, Diageo controls and operates some of the world’s well-known and loved drinks, like Guinness, Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff, Bailey’s, Captain Morgan, and Crown Royal. The firm is an industry leader in consumer insight, innovation and creativity, and sustainability efforts. Diageo believes pursuing sustainability, efficiency, and positive drinking allows them to compete, now and in the future. This audit analyzes the history, leadership, business model, mission, external environment, internal environment, core competencies, recent performance, competitive dynamics, business level …

History Doesn’T Repeat Itself, But Often Rhymes: An Analysis And Extension Of Models Influencing Special Education, Rebecca Owens

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

The American special education system is largely hailed as a beacon for inclusion and support of students with disabilities, but was developed on the back of a deep, complicated history of isolation, fear, and ignorance. This historical analysis examines special education in the context of parallel-developing models of how those with disabilities are perceived and treated in the United States. Rather than juxtaposing the widely-discussed models of disability (moral, medical, and social) with the development of special education, I argue that they are consistent with a wave pattern, initially proposed by disability scholar and advocate Wolfensberger (1969), that traces the …

Empowering Female College Students In Pursuing Careers In Science, Technology, Engineering And Mathematics (Stem), Jordan Armstrong

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

As the STEM field continues to grow, it is evident that there is a need to close the gender gap between males and females. This senior capstone examines the evolution of the acronym STEM and how programs have attempted to narrow the gender gap, but it is not easy to completely close the gap. Through a literature review and surveys with educators at the high school and university levels, this research project looks at the factors that have empowered female students to pursue careers in STEM. The findings provide insight into what has led female college students to pursue careers …

Slow Down. A Sound (E)Scape. A Sound Idea For Life, Nicholas Blackman

Postgraduate

What are the possibilities of 360 audio to enhance the benefits of sound and music? This paper and its accompanying audio piece explores the potential deepening of immersion through adding an attentional element via movement to the sounds and music in an audio soundscape. The paper will argue through literature review and reflection, and demonstrate through its audio content, that adding this spatial element to audio material gives the brain additional attentional anchors to follow and assists in deepening immersion as a result. Why does immersion matter? Listening to music has multiple effects on the structural and functional arrangement of …

Taking Science Museums To The Edge: How Science Museums Can Advocate For Social Justice, Education And Inclusivity Through Their Exhibits, Sasha C. Naples

Museum Studies Theses

Science museums have often associated affluent populations and quality education with access to scientific material and content. While these institutions have become more accessible in many ways, they can and should increase their efforts to include BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) communities and individuals. As the need grows for diversity in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields so does the demand for science museums to include these communities’ needs and wants. This thesis discusses the need for and importance of BIPOC representation in science museums and what museums have already done to include them in their programming and …