Digital Commons Network^™

Quantitative Literacy Across The Curriculum: A Case Study, Benjamin Steele, Semra Kiliç-Bahi

Numeracy

We describe a quantitative literacy (QL) program at Colby-Sawyer College, a small, residential, liberal arts college in New Hampshire. This program has grown rapidly from a traditional math curriculum to a college-wide understanding of quantitative literacy and voluntary participation by many faculty members in all departments. More than 80% of the faculty agreed that it would be useful for students to be able to use quantitative skills in their courses, but only 24 % thought students were capable of doing very well in mathematics. Twenty-three faculty members attended a summer workshop, funded by NSF, DUE # 0633133, in which they …

Quantitative Literacy On The Web Of Science, 1: The Bibliography And Its Role In The History Of This Journal, H L. Vacher, Todd Chavez

Numeracy

Prior to deciding to propose in 2006 that the National Numeracy Network (NNN) publish a new journal for quantitative literacy with their support, the University of South Florida Libraries investigated the publication environment of the field on the Web of Science®. Reproducing part of that study in this paper, we present findings from topic searches (March 2008) for “numeracy,” “quantitative literacy,” and “statistical literacy.” These updated results include a combined bibliography of 338 peer-reviewed articles amongst 210 different journals, by 748 authors from 321 institutions in 25 countries, in a total of 87 subjects (34% of the subject classes in …

No Human Being Is Trash, Kathleen De La Peña Mccook

School of Information Faculty Publications

Erica Jong, writing at Huffington Post about GOP VPcandidate, Governor Sarah Palin: "White trash America certainly has allure for voters. Some people think rednecks are more American than Harvard educated intellectuals of mixed race." Jong's remarks indicate a violent classism among liberal intellectuals that leaves no room for the working class poor. Jong indicates that "Harvard education" is the top of the U.S. education experience and then demonstrates her sense of classist hierarchy that ranks people according to socioeconomic status and other class markers such as weapons.

The Social Construction Of A Special Needs Program For Hurricanes, Robert E. Tabler Jr., M.A., C.H.E.S.

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The overall purpose of this exploratory study was to comprehend how in the event of a hurricane Hillsborough County, Florida protected its elderly and disabled residents with special medical needs. This study used Social Constructionist Theory as a framework and Grounded Theory methodology in the collection of qualitative data.

To understand stakeholder knowledge and how they constructed the SpNP, three focus groups were conducted, with representatives from agencies on the Planning Committee. Through 30 in-depth, semi-structured interviews, clients of the SpNP, provided insight into their knowledge of the program and how society influenced evacuation decisions. Finally, 10 in-depth, semi-structured interviews …

Disgusted By Food: Explanatory Models Of Anorexia Among Young Taiwanese Adults, Donald E. Mclawhorn Jr.

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Anorexia as a nosological category has developed in a western context and is now being applied to people around the world. In order for researchers to know they are asking the right questions about AN as knowledge expands, it is important to understand what meanings Anorexia carries and how those meanings manifest locally. The present study to aid in that understanding by employing a mixed methods (survey and in-depth interviewing) research approach in answering the following question: In what ways are Taiwanese students' explanatory models of anorexia nervosa (AN) congruent with or different from professional understandings derived from the western …

The Role Of Lifestyle Factors In Cognitive Aging And Dementia, Tiffany F. Hughes

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

It is widely accepted that cognitive abilities decline with normal aging. At the same time it is also recognized that there is variability in the magnitude and rate of decline among aging individuals. A similar phenomenon exists for dementia, where individuals with similar neuropathologic burden present with varying degrees of cognitive impairment. Of importance is determining what factors account for this variability, and whether individuals can modify these factors in order to preserve their cognitive abilities with aging or delay the onset of dementia.

The purpose of this dissertation was to examine three potentially modifiable lifestyle factors' association with age-related …

State Dominance And Political Corruption: Testing The Efficacy Of An Alternate Configuration Of Institutional-Anomie Theory Cross-Nationally, Carol L. S. Trent

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Extant assessments of Messner and Rosenfeld's institutional-anomie theory (1994) have generally supported the thesis that, in social collectives where the economy dominates, non-economic institutions (i.e. the family, education, polity) are rendered feeble, unable to exert their normative controls. The cultural values of these societies place primacy on "making it" (monetary success), while at the same time placing a much weaker emphasis on the licit means of achieving these goals. The resultant state is one of anomie, conducive to crime. Messner and Rosenfeld have extended their argument stating that it is not economic dominance per se that contributes to high crime …

The Autoethnographic Call: Current Considerations And Possible Futures, Kendall Smith-Sullivan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research examines the increase of personal narratives in the past several decades, particularly the autoethnographic approach. The project begins with a historical contextualization of personal writing and autoethnography in relation to the crisis of representation and other diverse socio-political shifts. One outcome of these cultural transitions was a proliferation of illness narratives, narrative therapy, therapeutic writing, and narrative health communication. Also included in this research are data from interviews with emerging autoethnographers and participant observation that occurred at the Third International Qualitative Inquiry Congress. The conference served as prism through which to view qualitative scholarship as a whole, as …

Narratives And Sensemaking In The New Corporate University: The Socialization Of First Year Communication Faculty, Andrew F. Herrmann

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

I examined what brand new Ph.D.s in Communication experience when they start their first, entry-level, tenure-track assistant professor position at a new university. Through the lens of scocial construction, I review vocational and organizational socialization, individual agency by newcomers, academic socialization processes, and the concept of the academic career in the current climate of university change and transformation. Then, I present the method of research, including the population and sampling method, and rationales for utilizing a narrative approach, interactive interviewing, and autoethnographic writing. After presenting the participants' narratives, I revisit both within- and between-case issues, beginning with socialization from the …

Life On The Campaign Trail: The Political Anthropology Of Local Politics, E.J Ford

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This document is an ethnographic account of one researcher's experience during an election season spent with one candidate. The document considers the history of political anthropology as a subfield of anthropology, the deployment of ideology and hegemony as theoretical concepts, and includes a brief history of Tampa and Hillsborough County politics. The document attempts to make connections between the practical necessities of campaigning, with reference to the processual approach of examining micro-political process, and theoretical issues related to the subject of political anthropology, notably the concepts of ideology, hegemony, and the subject of elites in human social organization.

An Exploration Of The Sensemaking Process During The Implementation Of Academic Tracking Systems At Three Public Universities, Jean Mccarthy Gonzalez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Policy tends to be formulated at the upper level of an organization and handed down to policy actors on the frontline for enactment. Since policy can be vague, ambiguous, or send conflicting messages, it can create uncertainty about its meaning. Moreover, policy is rarely accompanied by explicit instructions for implementation. Therefore, when frontline workers, or streetlevel bureaucrats, are pressed to make sense of policy's meaning in realistic terms, they engage in what Weick describes as sensemaking (1995). Sensemaking is a cognitive process entered into during times of uncertainty or change. Streetlevel bureaucrats engage in sensemaking by drawing on cues in …

The Effects Of Depressed Mood On Academic Outcomes In Adolescents And Young Adults, Robert Christopher Jones

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The following dissertation investigates the relationship between depressed mood and academic performance (measured in terms of grade point average) in U.S. middle and high schools.

Utilizing data from AddHealth, the dissertation establishes Ordinary Least Squares, Two-Stage Least Squares (2SLS), and individual and sibling fixed effect regressions that attempt to control for confounding factors, including student motivation, personality characteristics, and parental inputs that are unobserved but may influence both mental health and achievement.

Study findings indicate that students who report feeling depressed do not perform as well academically as non-depressed students. Additionally, the degree of GPA impact increases with the severity …

The Weekly Challenger, May 29, 2008, The Weekly Challenger, Et Al

Weekly Challenger Newspaper Collection

The May 29, 2008, issue of The Weekly Challenger.

An Investigation Of The Online Learning Environment In Higher Education Through The Observations And Perceptions Of Students Of Color, Marie Adele Boyette

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A need exists to gain a better understanding of how the online learning environment found in higher education is perceived by students of color. The research completed for this dissertation explored student participation in the online learning environment in higher education by examining the observations and perceptions of students of color. Along the way, the process of the research journey drew attention to the lack of inclusion of students of color in the literature and data collected about online learning, and pointed to the existence of the digital divide and its impact on graduate students of color and their participation …

Police Officers’ Perceptions Regarding Persons With Mental Retardation, Danielle M. Eadens

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the attitudes held by police officers towards persons with mental retardation with regard to the domains of knowledge, social willingness, affect and contact. It also investigated relationships among group membership and perspectives towards mental retardation. An analysis of relationships between the four domains was also completed. A descriptive correlational design was employed to survey police officers, pairing the Social Distance Questionnaire with a researcher-designed instrument consisting of open-ended questions aligned with each domain. The sample included one hundred and eighty police officers from five different bureaus in one county in Central Florida.

Results of the study indicate …

The Effects Of Pre-Writing Strategy Training Guided By Computer-Based Procedural Facilitation On Esl Students’ Strategy Use, Writing Quantity, And Writing Quality, Darunee Dujsik

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Pre-writing strategies are conscious thoughts, actions, or behaviors used by writers when they plan before writing. Research in second language writing suggests that specific writing strategies related to writing purposes, audience, brainstorming, and organizing ideas are teachable and have a potential to improve the quantity and quality of writing produced by English as second language (ESL) learners. This study investigated the effects of computer-based pre-writing strategy training guided by procedural facilitation (Bereiter & Scardamalia, 1987) on intermediate ESL students' writing strategy use, writing quantity, and writing quality.

A sequential mixed methods design was utilized with an initial quasi-experimental phase followed …

High-Rise Neighborhood: Rethinking Community In The Residential Tower, Benjamin Hurlbut

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Within the United States, a growing sense of detachment exists. Conditions in both urban and suburban contexts have created a sense of social detachment where spaces do not exist which encourage social interaction. Without this social activity, neighbors become almost a disposable commodity as relationships never fully develop. This thesis will be an examination of environments which do and do not foster community relationships and an implementation of community into an urban multi-family residence.

A major part of the problem is the recent move to the suburbs, but urban buildings also exhibit a lack of spaces which help encourage a …

Personal Epistemological Growth In A College Chemistry Laboratory Environment, Linda S. Keen-Rocha

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The nature of this study was to explore changes in beliefs and lay a foundation for focusing on more specific features of reasoning related to personal epistemological and NOS beliefs in light of specific science laboratory instructional pedagogical practices (e.g., pre- and post- laboratory activities, laboratory work) for future research. This research employed a mixed methodology, foregrounding qualitative data. The total population consisted of 56 students enrolled in several sections of a general chemistry laboratory course, with the qualitative analysis focusing on the in-depth interviews. A quantitative NOS and epistemological beliefs measure was administered pre- and post-instruction. These measures were …

Commencement Convocation Program, Lakeland Campus, May 5, 2008, University Of South Florida

USF Graduation and Convocation Programs

Outstanding Senior - Amanda Robinson; King O'Neal Scholar - Mari Nichole McKinley

Commencement Convocation Program, Sarasota - Manatee Campus, May 4, 2008, University Of South Florida

USF Graduation and Convocation Programs

King O'Neal Scholar - Linda Gabriel; Outstanding Professor - Michael Sheldon; Sarasota-Manatee Outstanding Senior - Ashley Morey; Golden Bull Award - Aaron Wiseman

Commencement Convocation Program, St. Petersburg Campus, May 4, 2008, University Of South Florida

USF Graduation and Convocation Programs

King O'Neal Scholars - Jacquelyn Renee Hicks, Ashley Nicole Hopping, and Zoe Rita Placiotis; Outstanding Graduate - Susan M. Herbert

Script, Commencement Convocation, May 4, 2008, University Of South Florida St. Petersburg

USF St. Petersburg Graduations and Commencements

A script for the University of South Florida St. Petersburg commencement ceremony on May 4, 2008.

Commencement Convocation Program, St. Petersburg Campus, May 4, 2008, University Of South Florida St. Petersburg

USF St. Petersburg Graduations and Commencements

King O'Neal Awards: Jacquelyn Renee Hicks, Ashley Nicole Hopping, Zoe Rita Placiotis; Outstanding Graduate: Susan M. Herbert

Commencement Convocation Program, Usf, Graduate, May 3, 2008, University Of South Florida

USF Graduation and Convocation Programs

President's Fellow Medallion - Antonia Novello

Commencement Convocation Program, Tampa Campus, May 2 And 3, 2008, University Of South Florida

USF Graduation and Convocation Programs

King O'Neal Scholars - Shawn Curtis, Emily Jane Koby, Katherine A. Dorf, Cassandra L. Ernst, Kelly Marie Foyle, Adam King, Jonathan David Miller, Andrew Felipe Quecan, Carol H. Bierschenk, Sara Elizabeth Harrison, and Gabriel Antonio Lopez; Outstanding Senior - Ojas Rawal; Honorary Doctor of Visual and Performing Arts - Trisha Brown

Facilitating Communication And Effective Interpersonal Relationships At Work: A Theoretical Model Of Socio-Affective Competence, Adam C. Bandelli

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The research reported here provides an introduction to a theoretical model of socio-affective competence. This conceptual model of social effectiveness consists of four competencies that are related to the development of effective interpersonal relationships in the workplace. These competencies include: establishing rapport, promoting acceptance of differences, developing trust and cultivating charismatic influence. The socio-affective competence model was formulated in an attempt to integrate research on social and emotional skills that have been linked to performance in organizations. The current research proposed the model and defined its competency areas, designed a socio-affective competence situational judgment test (SAC-SJT), identified the variables that …

The Weekly Challenger, May 1, 2008, The Weekly Challenger, Et Al

Weekly Challenger Newspaper Collection

The May 1, 2008, issue of The Weekly Challenger.

Evaluating Costa Rica’S Program For Environmental Services Payments In The Monteverde Region, May 2008, Nathaniel F. Meyer

Monteverde Institute: Tropical Ecology and Conservation

Costa Rica’s environmental services payments or “PSA” (“Pagos por servicios ambientales”) program was created to provide an economic incentive for landowners to conserve forest, thus compensating them for the ecosystem services their conservation activities provide. This study was conducted to evaluate the program’s performance twelve years after its inception. By interviewing 20 private landowners in the Monteverde region, I ask (1) whether certain demographic parameters or property size affect participation, (2) whether the government is effectively informing farmers of the PSA opportunity, (3) what obstacles are preventing potential participants from successfully obtaining contracts, and (4) whether the program is functioning …

The Role Of Occupational Values And Support In Career Choice: An Emphasis On Women In Science, Heather Meikle

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine how occupational values and social support for career pursuits influenced career choice, with a specific focus on women in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM). A sample of 62 college graduates participated in telephone interviews that addressed gender differences in seven occupational values and three sources of social support. Results showed that differences in occupational values differ by both gender and between individuals in STEM and non-STEM careers. The strength of STEM values better predicted a career in STEM than did gender. Finally, women in STEM received the least amount of social …

Whose Life Is It Anyway ?, Matthew Ryan Giba

USF St. Petersburg campus Honors Program Theses (Undergraduate)

This thesis reflects upon what elders have experienced in their lives. When looking at the past, the entire account of events which transpired is rarely, accurately portrayed. Since it is not possible to experience all events personally, knowledge is limited to individual studies and assessments. Elders share their insight and intimate understanding about their experiences. "Visiting" with the past gives a unique comprehension of it, finding a unique identity, and provides valuable perspective navigating into the future.