Digital Commons Network^™

Rigor, Relevance, And Authentic Learning: A Quest To Align Projects And Activities With The Dubuque Community School District Information Literacy Standards., Cindy K. Wagner

Graduate Research Papers

The purpose of this research project is to create a database ofK-12 activities and projects submitted by and accessible to teacher librarians to assist in supporting the DCSD curriculum in all subject areas taught jointly with the AASL 21^st Century Information Literacy Standards for Student Learning.

Promoting A Desire To Read With Graphic Novels, Alexis Woodward

Graduate Research Papers

The purpose of this research project was to create a graphic novel to encourage reluctant 4th grade boys to become interested in reading. This research questioned the graphics in graphic novels that appeal to reluctant readers, the type of content that would appeal particularly to boys who lack interest in reading, and the method of balance needed between text and graphics to capture the interest of boys who lack motivation to read. The researcher focused on graphic novels and their use in the classroom, different ways graphic novels can motivate reluctant readers to become interested in reading, the concept of …

English Language Learners And Their Relationship To The Middle School Library, Ann Van Treeck

Graduate Research Papers

English language learners significantly impact the deployment of resources in U.S. schools, and their numbers are growing. While this population is often at risk academically due to the rigorous subject material delivered in secondary schools, educators continue to struggle with effective pedagogy. Public libraries have studied the nuances of this sub-group and have been successful in serving immigrant populations through the decades. Therefore, this focused study examined the relationship of secondary students and their school library. This study found that ELL students access materials from special collections more frequently than from the general collection. Students reported no negative stigma associated …

The Initial Validation Of The Vincent Goaltending Test, Jacob Vincent Gonnering

Graduate Research Papers

The purpose of this study is to measure the initial validation of a test, Vincent Goaltending Test, to assess the skills of hockey goaltenders. The Vincent Goaltending Test can be used to educate goaltender of his/her strengths and weaknesses. It can also be used to rank goaltenders in accordance to their skills associated with reaction time, cognitive skills, and quickness.

Identifying Sport Commitment Among College Football Players, Stephanie Jo Schmidt

Graduate Research Papers

The purpose of this research proposal is to describe sport commitment among college-aged Division l American football players.

The Use Of Psychological Skills And Benefits For Motivation To Workout, Shelby Kay Minard

Graduate Research Papers

The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of individuals participating in community-based fitness classes regarding the use of psychological skills. Specifically, this study was designed to examine participants' attitudes toward the importance of mental skills, their present use of psychological skills, and what strategies they feel would be most beneficial in order for them to stay motivated throughout a workout. In general, the motivation to workout and keep consistent with a fitness regimen can be difficult. Therefore, it would seem appropriate to incorporate psychological techniques and strategies during fitness encounters to enhance performance and motivation.

Participants for …

An Adult Comparison Of Perceived Exertion Versus Actual Exertion During Indoor Spinning Exercise, Anthony M. Loomis

Graduate Research Papers

The purpose of this study was to compare adults' ability to exercise within the THRZ with and without heart rate feedback provided by Polar Heart Rate Monitors.

Biology News, Winter 2010, University Of Northern Iowa. Department Of Biology.

Biology News

Contents:

-- Greetings from the Department of Biology
-- Focus on UNI Biology Alumni
-- Let us hear from you...
-- Faculty and Staff News
-- Trip to Chicago for Darwin Bicentennial
-- Botanical Center Wins Second Place
-- Focus on UNI Biology Students
-- Student Nature Society
-- Retirements
-- You Make a Difference! Messages from our donors....
-- New Advisor for Biology
-- Biology Video
-- You Can Make a Difference!
-- Scholarships and Funding
-- Support for students or department

The Wright Message, 2010, University Of Northern Iowa. Department Of Mathematics.

The Wright Message

Inside this issue:

-- Dear Department Alumni and Friends
-- 2010 - 2011 Tenure-Stream Faculty
-- Spotlight on Undergraduates
-- Projects and Grants
-- Secondary Mathematics Education Programs
-- UNI I-Teach
-- Crane Scholarship
-- Actuarial Science and the Actuarial Science Fund
-- Alliance Project
-- Mathematics Contribution Form
-- Additional Mathematics Funds
-- Around Wright Hall
-- In Memoriam
-- Dr. Ridenhour Retires

Cns Connections, Winter 2010-11, University Of Northern Iowa. College Of Natural Sciences.

CNS Connections

Inside this issue:

-- Message from the Dean
-- Wind-solar hybrid power station in operation
-- Carver grants strengthen Biology, Chemistry and Biochemistry
--Google-funded workshop for teachers held at UNI
-- Applause
-- Transitions
-- CNS News in Short
-- CNS Students in the News
-- Conversation with a UNI graduate
-- Faculty Research
-- Three CNS grads awarded NSF Graduate Research Fellowships
-- North American Prairie Conference hosted by Tallgrass Prairie Center
-- Physics Department partners with Ankeny High School
-- From one generation to another...
-- Alumni News
-- Clifford McCollum, first CNS Dean, dies
-- CNS Advisory …

Writing Instruction : A New Approach, Sunni M. Hart

Graduate Research Papers

The teaching and learning of reading and math are high priorities in the Waterloo Community School District. The Waterloo Community School District committed many teacher hours and much money to develop curriculum and revise reading and math, provide professional development in best practice for it, and purchase new reading and math materials. Teachers have learned the new strategies, along with the language, and are teaching it to their students. They have worked their way through the new reading and math curriculum for five years now and are starting to become more effective teachers in the areas of math and reading. …

Mediation As An Effective Method To Transform Relationships And Resolve Conflict, Julie R. Kneip

Graduate Research Papers

Mediation has become a well-respected method of conflict resolution. It is currently utilized in a variety of areas including family situations such as divorce and custody concerns, employer and employee disputes, and individual conflicts. Mediation occurs on a global level as well, including intervention with countries engaged in conflict with one another and countries with governments at odds with their constituents. In the United States, mediation is often seen as a way to lower the burden on the courts by having parties resolve issues with the help of a mediator rather than further clogging the judicial system. While this is …

Cyberbullying : A Literature Review, Natalie Nesbitt

Graduate Research Papers

Technology is becoming more prevalent each day, with that a new form of bullying is happening. The new form is cyberbullying. It is form of bullying that takes place over cell phones, email, websites, and chat rooms. While cyberbullying is a form of bullying, there are differences between cyberbullying and normal bullying. Cyberbullying makes it hard for some students to escape from the bullying, because cyberbullying is through technology, so it allows the bullying to continue outside of the school walls. This literature review is going to give students, teachers, administrators, and parents some helpful tips as to how to …

Applying Cognitively Guided Instruction Through Word Problem Probes, James Jackson Ploen

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Professional development programs have the opportunity to engage educators with new knowledge and pedagogical implications. Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI) is a teacher professional development program focused on elementary mathematics instruction (Carpenter, Fennema, Franke, Levi, & Empson, 1999). The program's foundation is based upon research of how students learn to solve basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division word problems. Using children's common solutions strategies, CGI leads to teaching practices that support children in generating their own meaningful problem-solving skills while naturally learning mathematics. The paper reviews the literature on CGI and examines the initial findings of interrater reliability of CG I-based …

A Case Study Of The Perceptions Of Stakeholders From A School District In Iowa On The Impact Of No Child Left Behind On The Comprehensive High School, Brian Coppess

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The American comprehensive high school was designed for a diverse society (Wraga, 1998, p. 1 ). The concept originated in the 1920s as a result of a report entitled The Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education (Commission on the Reorganization of Secondary Education [CRSE], 1918). Since the adoption of The Cardinal Principles, the institution of the comprehensive high school has withstood years of continued review and reform efforts. Despite the many attempts to change it, the comprehensive high school has remained a constant of secondary education in America. The nation's most recent educational reform effort-the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB, …

Teachers' Perspectives On Changes In General And Special Education: Examining The Pieces Of The Puzzle, Janine Kane

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

To understand the impact of special education and educational changes that have occurred in rural schools in Iowa since 1975, this ethnographic qualitative inquiry examined the dispositions, beliefs, contexts, and recalled experiences of four teachers who began teaching around the time the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EAHCA) was enacted in 1975 and continued teaching until after the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was enacted in 2002. In addition, the research project explored the teachers' views of the impact various educational changes had on them, their colleagues, and the students they taught.

The group of four participants, with …

The Impact Of Mathematics Professional Development On Elementary Teachers' Mathematics Content Knowledge For Teaching And Implementation Of Innovative Pedagogical Practices, Vicki Oleson

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This study sought to understand the process of change elementary teachers experienced as they participated in mathematics professional development. This investigation explored the impact of mathematics professional development on teachers' content knowledge for teaching, their ability to implement innovative pedagogical practices, and the relationship between these two components of teacher change. Data collected from a semester-long professional development course involving 20 teachers from rural southwest Iowa was analyzed for this study.

Data was collected from six teachers involved in the professional development course. Data collected during the professional development course included a pre and post test of teachers' content knowledge, …

Leisure And Aging: A Content Analysis Of Leisure Textbooks And Leisure Academic Journal Articles, Leila Rod-Welch

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This study will review literature related to leisure and aging. We live in an aging society. People are expected to live healthier and longer. Therefore, there is a need to analyze how older adults are portrayed in leisure textbooks and academic journal articles which are typically used to educate and train recreation professionals. This study explores whether leisure textbooks published in the United States addressed the topic of aging and, if so, to what extent. In addition, any differences between leisure textbooks and specialty leisure and aging textbooks were analyzed. A content analysis of 54 leisure textbooks from six U.S. …

Obscenity And Pornography: A Historical Look At The American Library Association, The Commission On Obscenity And Pornography, And The Supreme Court, Gretchen Brooke Gould

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

There was a time when accessing pornographic and obscene materials was much more difficult than it is today. Prosecuted in 1868, Regina v. Hicklin was the first known obscenity case tried under the Obscene Publications Act in Great Britain. The United States Supreme Court first addressed obscenity in the 1957 case of Roth v. United States and grappled with setting standards or creating criteria by which obscenity could be defined. In the 1960s, multiple proposals for federal legislation to crack down on obscenity were offered. The American Library Association (ALA) stepped in to voice its concern and provide professional input …

Language Exclusionary Behavior And Attitudes Toward Immigrants, Christine L. Bennett

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Immigrants often speak languages that natives do not understand, leading to intentional or inadvertent ostracism, which in turn may increase perceptions of threat. For example, English language participants excluded from a conversation in Spanish report more negative reactions than participants excluded in English (Hitlan, Kelly, & Zarate, 2010). Integrated threat theory (ITT) suggests that there are four threats that lead to prejudice toward outgroups such as immigrants: realistic threat, symbolic threat, intergroup anxiety, and negative stereotypes (Stephan, Ybarra, & Bachman, 1999). The current study expanded upon prior research by ostracizing participants in English, Spanish, or Arabic and then measuring participants' …

Helping Adolescents Forgive: The Use Of Forgiveness Education At An Inpatient Mental Health Facility, Tiffany R. Everding

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Understanding the concept of forgiveness has demonstrated to be a complex process (Walker & Gorsuch, 2004; McCullough & vanOyen Witvliet, 2002). Enright and the Human Development Study Group (1991) developed a process model of forgiveness as a way for people to constructively deal with their anger and improve overall psychological well-being after experiencing a deep hurt. Due to the reported benefits illustrated by forgiveness intervention studies, future research is needed to examine the effectiveness of forgiveness education with adolescents in a clinical setting. The current study implemented a forgiveness education intervention with adolescents at local inpatient mental health facility examining …

Performance-Based Assessment Of School Psychology Interns : Analysis Of Problem-Solving Skills As Demonstrated In Comprehensive Case Examinations, Kimberly Suzanne Hansen

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

School psychologists are integral partners in the facilitation of the problem solving process, especially when the process is embedded within a tiered service delivery system incorporating response to intervention philosophies. Therefore, it is important that new school psychologists entering the field be competent in the skill areas needed to produce positive student outcomes. It is important for school psychology training programs to assess these competencies to improve individual student competencies as well as to improve the training provided by the program in the future. Comprehensive case studies are performance-based assessments that can be utilized to evaluate individuals, as well as …

Baby Boomer And Genx Elementary Principals : Differing Perspectives On Schooling, Lisa M. Fry

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Studies on generational analysis inform us that each generation is shaped by the influences they share during their formative years. The common experiences and historical circumstances experienced during this time influences their generational identity and results in a world view that is unique to that generation. This world view and generational identity impacts their belief system and practices as they emerge as leaders in mid-life.

While the current structures and policies that guide today's educational system were established by the Baby Boomer generation, we could see significant changes as the Baby Boomer behemoth begins to leave the workforce. Around the …

Educational Applications Of Achievement Goal Theory, Michelle Hinzman

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

In the past two decades, achievement goal theory has been found particularly useful in explaining student motivation (Kaplan & Maehr, 2007; Kaplan, Middleton, Urdan, & Midgley, 2002). The purpose of this study was to analyze differences between the achievement goals espoused by middle school and elementary teachers. A mixed-method approach was utilized that required teachers in an urban, eastern Iowa school district to complete a survey regarding their motivational beliefs. Select teachers were then identified based on survey results to be observed and interviewed in an attempt to further analyze instructional practices as they related to student motivation. Results of …

Service Learning : A Vehicle To Reflective Thinking, Janelle Lynn Hawk

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Education reform is a topic that has been around for a long time. With the passage of No Child Left Behind in 2002, states set out to set high standards for students. While setting high standards is a worthwhile goal, the method to reach those high standards has not been mandated. This research study sought to determine if exposing students to a service-learning project would increase reflective thinking, communication, and social interaction skills.

The questions that guided this study were:

1. Does engagement in a service-learning project impact the individual's development of reflective thinking? If so, what is that impact? …

Do Pull-Out Programs Create A Mirage Of Long-Term Results For At-Risk Youth?, Varotta Mi'chele Johnson

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Educators and researchers cannot afford to ignore the achievement gap between at-risk students and their counterparts. The review examines educational practices for this targeted population. Historically, educational experts have supported the belief that teaching in isolated settings is one of the most effective practices for improving student achievement. Smaller class sizes are proposed as reform methods to substantially impact student performance (Odden, 1990). However, class size reduction must be coupled with research-based instructional strategies proven to further academic development. Traditionally, at-risk students receive instruction through pull-out interventions. A pull-out program in this study shall be defined as the removal of …

Middle School Teachers' Implementation Of Differentiated Instruction : The Complexity, Tonya Rae Vitense Keefer

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The needs of students in American schools are increasingly more varied as the school population becomes more diverse. Ensuring that all students receive access to an appropriate education becomes vital to our future. Differentiated instruction has been suggested as one way to provide that access. Differentiated instruction does this by using planning that explicitly addresses students' diverse interests, learning preferences, and abilities. There is plentiful information on what differentiated instruction is and what it looks like in the classroom, but there is little research on the process of teachers implementing differentiated instruction.

Over a seven-month period, this research sought to …

Sticks And Stones: Fracture Analysis Of The University Of Iowa-Stanford Collection, Diane Eddie

Honors Program Theses

Bones are an integral part to the human body. They support the entire system, help produce blood, and serve as places for muscles to attach. The condition of bones can say something about the conditions a person lived in. When and how bones warp and fail can also reflect upon the living conditions of a person. Fractures in bones prior to death can show the types of stressors the person had to put up with in life or if there was a particular type of stressor for a certain population. The number of individuals in the University of Iowa-Stanford Collection …

Creating University And Community Connections Via Social Media: Cedar Valley Focus, Cassandra Ann Loecke

Honors Program Theses

The upcoming generations of graduating college students are those that grew up on technology, witnessed the launch of Face book, and posted the first Y ouTube videos. These young adults are engaged in social media each and every day, but when it comes to removing themselves from their on-line social networks and becoming involved in their local community or even on-campus, they tend to be rather apathetic. As these students become local leaders and community members, their involvement will be critical to community growth, development, and enrichment. It is best that students cultivate the mentality and skills needed to fulfill …

A Collection Of Original Music, Kelsey Staudacher

Honors Program Theses

No abstract provided.