Digital Commons Network^™

The Importance Of Automaticity Development In Mathematics, Austin T. Baker, Josh Cuevas

Georgia Educational Researcher

This study examined whether students were reaching automaticity with single digit multiplication facts. A fourteen question interview was used to collect data. The first three questions asked the student basic information about themselves and their current math teacher. The next seven questions were math facts. The math facts chosen for the interview were a range of difficulty, starting with a simple problem like 1 x 9 and increasing in difficulty to 6 x 9. The last four questions were open-ended with the intent of gaining insight into whether the students were using strategies to complete the problems or if they …

Alternative Seating And Students' Perceptions: Implications For The Learning Environment, Alicia Stapp

Georgia Educational Researcher

Expectations placed on educators to improve academic performance continue to increase across the United States. One reason for this rise in expectancy is the enactment of The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015. Replacing the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2002, the ESSA mandates that “all students are taught to high academic standards” (ESSA, 2015). Subsequently, educators constantly seek best practices that foster effective learning environments. A component of the learning environment oftentimes excluded from research is the physical structure of a classroom, such as the type of seating in a classroom. Research suggests that students who …

Implementing An Lgbtq Training For Teen Pregnancy Prevention Facilitators, Christopher F. Drescher, Elizabeth Devon Eldridge, Elizabeth Wood, Alexis L. Rossi, Lara Stepleman

Georgia Educational Researcher

Teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections remain a major health concern and are linked to a number of poor outcomes. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) youth are particularly at risk for these issues. Although evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention (TPP) programs exist, they are not necessarily tailored to meet the needs of LGBTQ youth. This paper reports on the development and implementation of a LGBTQ training for TPP facilitators working for the Augusta Partnership for Children in Augusta, GA. The four-hour workshop covered a range of topics including terminology, identity, intersectionality, and risk/resilience factors through a combination of lecture, …

2018 Georgia Southern University Baseball Roster, Georgia Southern University

Men's Baseball Records

• Georgia Southern University Athletics 2018 Baseball Roster

2017-2018 Georgia Southern University Women's Basketball Roster, Georgia Southern University

Women's Basketball Records

• 2017-18 Women's Basketball Roster

2018 Georgia Southern University Football Roster, Georgia Southern University

Men's Football Records

• Georgia Southern University Athletics 2018 Football Roster

Capitalizing On Positive Emotional Experiences: A Gratitude Intervention As An Emotional Uplift Strategy, Amanda L. Walker

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Positive psychological interventions are well suited to build upon positive experiences to enhance positive affect and coping resources; however, experimental research is limited, especially regarding if and how gratitude practices can bolster positive affect and coping resources. As a result, the purpose of the current research was to determine (a) if self-reports of gratitude traits vary by important demographic categories (i.e., gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, rural status), (b) if gratitude interventions elevate reports of positive affect after accounting for the effects of positive memory recall, and (c) if gratitude interventions contribute to greater elevations on coping resources (i.e., resilience, coping …

Intrinsic, Future-Oriented Goal Awareness And Two-Year College Graduation, Brent A. Stubbs

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The two-year college graduation rate is at an all-time low. Curricular and program designs are not making the sweeping changes needed for the outcomes desired. While higher education continues to be sold as an economic good, research is pointing to the predictive nature of intrinsic, future-oriented goal (IFOG) awareness on sub-goal adoption and its relation to course success and intention to persist. This cross-sectional, correlational study desired to uncover the relation between IFOG and graduation. A modified version of the Aspirations index was provided to a group of new students and those on-target to graduate (last semester) in an effort …

Resilience, Glenda Militano

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

ABSTRACT

My objective for creating this body of work is to explore the complexity and beauty of the human brain. What inspired these works is my research on cognitive psychology and neuroscience. Cognitive psychology involves the study of internal mental processes, while neuroscience deals with nerves and nervous tissue that relate to behavior and learning. Neuroscience is where psychology meets biology. The series of paintings in Resilience, were created with the intent to connect these two fields of study, while charting my exploration and discoveries found linked with science and psychology. The brain and its components are portrayed in …

Novice Teachers' Perception Of Mentoring And Teacher Retention, Alissa Sasser

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Acclimating to the field of education, particularly during the first five years, is significantly challenging for novice teachers. In order to ease the transition into the field with the hopes of supporting retention, novice teachers are usually assigned a mentor. Typically, mentors are veteran teachers who have demonstrated a high level of proficiency as an educator and are assigned to the novice teacher in order to provide technical support in areas such as classroom management and lesson planning, as well to provide social and emotional support to novice teachers. An abundance of research exists to support the effectiveness of mentoring …

Not Cruel, Blessed, Or Merciful: Pratchett, Gaiman, And The Personification Of Death, Kiki V. Canon

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman helped to change the cultural view of Death personified through their work with the Discworld novels and Sandman comics. Despite taking seemingly different paths in portraying Death, these two authors presented a cohesive view of mortality that encourages readers to re-consider the long-held Western cultural notions of Death as a frightening figure to be tricked or avoided at all cost. Despite meeting Barthes’ criteria of the work of “bliss” that changes the mythology of the culture, academic circles frequently overlook the importance of “pop culture” writers, especially when dealing with underrepresented genres such as fantasy, …

The Manifestation Of Principal Training: Preparing Assistant Principals For Assuming The Role Of Building Leader, April S. Hodges

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Today’s school principals are required to lead in a new environment marked by unprecedented responsibilities, challenges, and managerial opportunities requiring them to be trained to face these challenges. Although a great deal of literature exists on the specific issues that should be addressed or considered when trying to redesign or restructure a leadership program, there was little that explicitly addressed the assistant principal or how that position specifically could be used to help better prepare aspiring leaders for the role of principal. Therefore, the purpose of this quantitative, correlational study was to provide a greater depth of knowledge and understanding …

Irrational Aggregates, Courtney N. Ryan

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This thesis paper examines the work included in my Master of Fine Arts thesis exhibition entitled Irrational Aggregates. The goal of this work is to facilitate a dialogue between our natural environment and the excessive consumer-based environments in which we live. Combining a variety of ceramic techniques including hand building, wheel throwing, and casting these sculptures appear to be grown from, and even taken over by nature itself.

Often drawing inspiration from my personal narrative, that of consistent upheaval, relocation, and adjustment to new places, my work can appear both grounded and in a state of motion. I believe …

The Relationships Among Trauma History, Disordered Eating, Body Dissatisfaction, And Social Anxiety, Rebekah Mitchell

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Eating disorders are highly prevalent and cause significant psychological impairment, up to and including death (Arcelus, Mitchell, Wales, & Nielson, 2011). This research examined how trauma history in the general population explains variation in eating disorder risk. The purpose of the current study was to provide further evidence for the relationship between abuse history and eating disorder risk. Disordered eating behaviors, body dissatisfaction, and social anxiety are all known risk factors for the development of eating disorders (Brewerton, 2007). Trauma history is related to all three of these known risk factors (Brewerton, 2007) with sexual trauma being more linked to …

A Phenomenological Study Of Teachers' Emotional Responses To Tkes, A High-Stakes Evaluation System, Kristina J. Hirsch

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Teachers experience a plethora of emotions relating to being evaluated and we are losing a lot of good teachers due to some of these emotions. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to investigate how teachers at one rural high school describe their emotional responses to evaluation and the implementation of TKES as well as if there were gender differences in their responses. This research is important because teachers need to understand that their emotions are not taboo and they are not alone in the evaluation process. Additionally, evaluators benefit from knowing how teachers respond to evaluation so that they …

Happy, Dontay Farley

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This thesis is an exploration of graphic design and how it can be used as tool to create awareness about mental illness and positive solutions to decrease its affect on individuals. Using the “simple things” in life as metaphors, this thesis attempts to use graphic design as a way to help decrease depression. Drawing on the emergent strands of enquiry associated with mental illness, this thesis will investigate how design and its basic principles can be used create positive experiences for the complex issue of mental illness.

This thesis will also review the body of critical and historical design thinking, …

An Experimental Assessment Of Empathy Compared To Perspective Taking On Minority Group Members In Intergroup Exchanges With Majority Group Members, Rain Marie Carroll

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This study sought to replicate and extend Vorauer and Quesnel’s (2016) research on the malleability of ingroup status perceptions. With a sample of White majority and Indigenous minority Canadians, Vorauer and Quesnel tested the impact of being the target of two common intergroup relation strategies (i.e., empathy and perspective taking) on perceptions of status in society. They concluded that when minority group members were the targets of empathy rather than perspective taking, the targets experienced a significant decrease in perceptions of ingroup societal status. In the present experiment, White participants were randomly assigned the role of actor or target, and …

Predicting Student Learning: The Roles Of Rapport, Immediacy, Learning Alliance, And Citizenship Behavior, Susan A. Talley

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Rapport, immediacy, learning alliance, classroom citizenship behavior, and observed classroom citizenship behavior were examined for their prediction of both affective and cognitive learning. The measure of observed classroom citizenship behavior was created for the purposes of the current study. Observed classroom citizenship behavior positively correlated with classroom citizenship behavior. Specifically, the involvement, affiliation, and courtesy subscales correlated with overall classroom citizenship behavior and their respective subscales but not with other citizenship behavior subscales. This suggests that only certain types of citizenship behaviors relate to the engagement or observation of those behaviors. Observed citizenship behavior was also found to be correlated …

Embracing The Bounty: Countering The Curriculum Of Deficit, Diana Bishop

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Embracing the Bounty: Countering the Curriculum of Deficit (2018) addresses the restrictive nature of neoliberalism and offers alternative perspectives and possibilities for change by countering the curriculum of deficit now prevalent in the United States – a curriculum reflective of neoliberalism’s invasion of public schools and the rationality that reduces students, teachers, and schools to statistics emphasizing economic value above all else. In this dissertation, the impact of neoliberalism on public schools and its destructive effects are discussed as are alternative philosophical frameworks. Through a series of essays, I explore how a curriculum of deficit infiltrated American public schools and …

Emotionally Connected: The Role Of Emotional Intelligence In The Work Of School Leaders, Tanzy Lewis Mason

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

During this era of accountability and standardized testing, school leaders have been inundated with reform models that seek to increase student achievement. However, without effective leadership at the school level, most of these reform efforts will likely fail. The purpose of this study was to examine the practices of school leaders and the role of emotional intelligence in their work in establishing a school culture. Qualitative methods were used to gain insight into the events, processes, and structures that school leaders encountered as they enacted leadership practices. Semi-structured face-to-face interviews were conducted with four school leaders. Teachers who worked with …

Who Says Man Wasn't Meant To Fly: History Of Air Jordan Advertising, Portrayal And Race From 1984-2003, David C. Rehder

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

WHO SAYS MAN WASN’T MEANT TO FLY:

HISTORY OF AIR JORDAN ADVERTSING, PORTRAYAL AND RACE FROM 1984-2003

by

DAVID C. REHDER

Under the Direction of Craig H. Roell

ABSTRACT

Michael Jordan became one of the most influential figures in history through his success in basketball and from his endorsements. The most significant of those endorsements was his partnership with Nike in the formation of the Air Jordan brand. During the height of his prominence and success, the United States was going through an era of racial tensions and violence. The friction allowed for the rise of many outspoken African-American figures. …

The Formation And Promulgation Of Institutional Ethos By New University Presidents, Charles F. Ziglar

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

New university presidents face many challenges when leading an institution, and it seems a daunting professional effort to prepare for the contextual problems they will face (Alexander, 2014; Siegel, 2011). Recent episodes dealing with presidential tensions at universities illustrate the difficult issues new presidents face when entering an institution. Birnbaum (1992) stated that new university presidents are most effective when they seek to offer an interpretation of institutional life using language, symbolism, and ritual. Research by Trachtenberg, Kauvar, and Bogue (2013) and Vyas (2013) noted that understanding the ethos of an institution is essential for effective presidential leadership. This research …

The Significance Of The Game Of Pool In Ernest Hemingway’S “Soldier’S Home”, Molly J. Donehoo

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

In his 1929 A Farewell to Arms, American Author Ernest Hemingway provides the thesis for all of American Modernism when he writes, “the world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places” (216). If the world breaks everyone Hemingway’s focus becomes not in the breaking but in the solutions for becoming strong at the broken places. Throughout his canon Hemingway presents the healing rituals and therapeutic patterns that govern sports and game as a solution to becoming strong at the broken places. While critics have closely analyzed and scrutinized some of his most recognized short-stories, stories …

Saccadic Eye Movements Between Strategic, Interceptive, And Non-Athletes, Brian Szekely

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Introduction: Athletes have differences in object tracking, search strategies, number and duration of fixations, dynamic visual acuity (DVA), and predictive eye movements than non-athletes (NON). However, these eye functions have not been assessed between athlete groups during a task that encompasses antisaccade and DVA characteristics. Purpose: To evaluate the oculomotor control sport paradigm differences between interceptive (INT) and strategic (STR) Division I collegiate athletes, as well as NON with an antisaccade task (AS) and a sport-like dual task (SDT). Methods: Fifty-seven participants (19 STR, 19 INT, and 19 NON) performed 2 trials of an AS and a SDT. Participants stood …

Self-Efficacy, Implicit Theories Of Ability, And 2 X 2 Achievement Goal Orientation: A Mediation Analysis In Collegiate Athletics, Cory Cottrell

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Achievement goal theory encompasses the adaptive and maladaptive responses to achievement situations and has a strong background in sport research. (Dweck, 1986; Nicholls, 1984; Senko, Hulleman, & Harackiewicz, 2011). A 2007 meta-analysis established self-efficacy and implicit theories of ability as antecedents of achievement goal orientation (Payne, Youngcourt, Beaubien, 2007). Using the 2 x 2 achievement goal paradigm the purpose of the study looks to evaluate antecedents of self-efficacy and implicit theories of ability on achievement goal endorsement in collegiate student athletes. The current study examined implicit theories of ability as a mediator between self-efficacy and each of the 2 x …

The Mediation Of Perfectionism And Rumination On Mindfulness And Burnout In Collegiate Athletes, Nicholas S. Mcmillen

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Several positive and negative sport-related experiences can occur throughout an athlete’s career, which can affect the continuation or termination of said career. Although research has associated sport participation with positive outcomes (e.g., increases in motivation, autonomy), there are also negative sport-related outcomes such as burnout (Akhrem & Gazdowska, 2016; Garcia, 2015). Specifically, burnout has been identified as a multidimensional construct that includes three dimensions. Furthermore, mindfulness has been studied to minimize the risk of experiencing burnout (Kabat-Zinn, 2003). While several studies have examined mediators between mindfulness and burnout, there has been a dearth of research on perfectionism and rumination as …

Induced Moods, Warning Messages, And Gambling Behavior, Lindsey Bradley

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Gambling behavior is maintained by cognitive biases (Ladouceur & Walker, 1996; Sharpe, 2002) which stem from an automatic level of thinking, referred to as System 1 (Kahneman, 2011). System 2 thinking is more deliberative than System 1, but requires more cognitive effort. System 2 is only activated when necessary. Positive affect increases reliance on System 1, often leading to an increase in risky behavior. Negative affect increases reliance on System 2, often leading to a decrease in risky behavior. Researchers argue that mandatory warning messages should be implemented in gambling venues to caution patrons against the dangers of problem gambling …

The Role Of Relatedness In Youth Athlete Burnout, Megan Wittenberg

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The Aspen Institute’s 2016 State of Play report projects a decline in youth sport participation that is more pronounced in adolescent athletes. Although there are numerous potential benefits for youth sport participation, there are also potential consequences including burnout (chronic psychological syndrome consisting of emotional and physical exhaustion, reduced sense of accomplishments, and sport devaluation (Raedeke, 1997). Approximately 1% to 9% of adolescent athletes experienced elevated levels of burnout, with current research suggesting that relatedness could have an influence on athlete burnout. In this instance, relatedness was defined as the extent to which individuals perceives significant others are genuinely invested …

The Effects Of Preceding Stimuli Formats On Proportional Reasoning Ability In Elementary School Students, Natalie D. Branch

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The National Mathematics Advisory Panel (2008) described fraction knowledge as the most important, yet most underdeveloped foundational skill among students. Due to the complex nature of fraction education, this study sought to understand the underlying fraction problem-solving skill of proportional reasoning in the hopes of gaining insight into children’s problem-solving strategies in order to implement more focused educational designs. The current study examined the effects of stimuli formats on children’s proportional reasoning ability by presenting four conditions involving two formats (continuous and discrete). Previous research indicates that students perform better on continuous stimuli and the goal of this study was …

The Effects Of Alcohol Priming On Age Perception And Attractiveness Ratings, Brooks B. Kolberg

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Sexual assault and alcohol have often been linked together (Abbey et.al, 2004; Collins & Messerschmidt, 1993). Also, 29% of rape victims are between the ages of 12 and 17 (Greenfield, 1997). Research suggests people who are more impulsive are more likely to be sexually aggressive (Mouilso, Calhoun, & Rosenbloom, 2013); however, less is known regarding the underlying mechanisms of the relationship between alcohol and sexual assault of minors. This study addressed this knowledge gap by (1) examining the effects of alcohol priming on attractiveness ratings and age perception of individuals who could be perceived as adolescent, and (2) investigating the …