Digital Commons Network^™

Examining Elementary Students' Purposeful And Ancillary Prior Knowledge Activation When Reading Grade Level Texts, Courtney Hattan, Daniel L. Dinsmore

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Prior knowledge activation is a crucial component of reading comprehension. Previous studies have examined students’ prompted (or solicited) purposeful knowledge activation, which occurs when the explicit goal is to activate knowledge, as well as ancillary knowledge activation, which is when students indirectly use their prior knowledge to fill in gaps in the text, form an opinion, or question the author. However, little is known regarding elementary students’ unprompted (or unsolicited) purposeful and ancillary activation of prior knowledge while reading grade level texts. The purpose of the current study was to (a) examine differences between third and fifth grade students on …

Breaking Through The Noise: Literacy Teachers In The Face Of Accountability, Evaluation, And Reform, Catherine M. Kelly, Sara E. Miller, Karen Kleppe Graham, Chelsey M. Bahlmann Bollinger, Sherry Sanden, Michael Mcmanus

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

In an era of increased accountability, it is important to understand how exemplary teachers navigate the demands placed on them by their schools, districts, and states in order to support student learning aligned with their beliefs of effective instruction. To understand these negotiations, tensions facing exemplary literacy teachers were examined through a qualitative interview study. Participants included nineteen experienced PK-6th grade teachers from across the U.S. Results of the study indicate that teachers experience discrepancies between their beliefs and state and local mandates, and they discuss a variety of strategies for negotiating these discrepancies. Findings suggest that schools can support …

The Impact Of External Audience On Second Graders' Writing Quality, Meghan K. Block, Stephanie L. Strachan

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

The overarching purpose of writing is to communicate; as such, the intended audience is a critical consideration for writers. However, elementary school writing instruction commonly neglects the role of the audience. Typically, children are asked to compose a piece of text without a specific audience that is usually evaluated by the classroom teacher. Previous studies have found a relationship between audience specification and higher quality writing among older children; this study examines the impact of audience specification on young children’s writing. Using a within-subjects design, the study compared writing quality when second-grade students wrote for internal versus external audiences and …

Architectural Rhetoric In Shakespeare And Spenser, Jennifer C. Vaught

Research in Medieval and Early Modern Culture

Jennifer C. Vaught illustrates how architectural rhetoric in Shakespeare and Spenser provides a bridge between the human body and mind and the nonhuman world of stone and timber. The recurring figure of the body as a besieged castle in Shakespeare’s drama and Spenser’s allegory reveals that their works are mutually based on medieval architectural allegories exemplified by the morality play The Castle of Perseverance. Intertextual and analogous connections between the generically hybrid works of Shakespeare and Spenser demonstrate how they conceived of individuals not in isolation from the physical environment but in profound relation to it. This book approaches …

Using Photovoice As Pedagogy, Regina L. Garza Mitchell

Instructional Development Grants

Photovoice is a research method that, with some work, can be adapted for classroom use at both the undergraduate and graduate levels in a variety of disciplines. I see its greatest potential as elevating the students’ voices into teaching and learning conversations, which can help us improve our pedagogy for better learning.

Lessons Learned: Experience At A Vestibular Teaching Conference, Robin Criter

Instructional Development Grants

Over June 13-15, 2019, the University of Pittsburgh hosted its biennial communication sciences and disorders teaching conference. The topic this year was “Teaching Vestibular Assessment & Rehabilitation Across the Lifespan in the Classroom and Clinic”. I was fortunate to receive an Instructional Travel Grant Award to support my attendance.

As an audiologist with expertise is in vestibular and balance sciences, I was especially interested in learning new and innovative ways to teach our students in the Doctor of Audiology (Au.D.) program. In this poster, I outline my three main objectives for attending this meeting and share some of what I …

Technology And College Student Mental Health, Glinda Rawls

Academic Leadership Academy

College counseling centers have observed increases in the prevalence and severity of mental health issues that student experience. One strategy is to address the increased demand for services is the use of online therapy. Online therapy can be accessed through the internet. Online therapy provides people with a platform to seek help with their mental health issues. There are many different forms of online therapy or counseling. They include video chat, messaging, video conferencing and chat rooms.

Sanford Center For Financial Planning And Wellness, Onur Arugaslan

Academic Leadership Academy

In partnership with Arbor Financial Credit Union and The Michigan Credit Union Foundation, Sanford Center hosts a Financial Reality Fair to support, assist and educate local high school students in an effort to advance community members' financial well-being. The Financial Reality Fair is a fun, fast-paced, interactive session that makes a lasting impact on the financial understanding of participants.

During the hands-on experience, students identify a career choice and are provided a budget sheet showing their monthly salary and expenses for basics such as housing, utilities, transportation, clothing and food. With the many temptations for additional spending, students must learn …

Interdisciplinary Projects Help Fulfil Psychological Needs Of University Students, Hamid Mehmood Pasha

STEM Instructional Graduate Teaching Assistant Posters

Every scientific discipline is based on a specific body of concepts and presumptions. These concepts are crucial for understanding the design and implications of a situation.Therefore, it is believed that an interdisciplinary approach to research projects will help in generating a successful change to encourage an evolution in higher learning at University level.

Student retention can be increased by introducing interdisciplinary study projects which may involve students from the engineering, economics, social, history, language and/or human sciences departments. This is done to increase the basic psychological needs of the students in helping promote the academic engagement. Such projects can contribute …

Wmu Board Of Trustees Formal Session September 11, 2019, Wmu Board Of Trustees

WMU Board of Trustees Meetings

• Acceptance of the Agenda
• Approval of the Minutes
• Remarks by the Chair
• Remarks by the President
• Comments by the Faculty Senate President
• Comments by Western Student Associate President
• Comments by the Graduate Student Association President
• Title IX Process Review
• The Power of the Mentorship
• Public Comments Regarding Action Items
• Adoption of a Land Acknowledgement Statement for Western Michigan University
• Conflict of Interest Policy for the Broad of Trustees and Senior Administrative Officials
• WMU Foundation Investment Committee Oversight of Defined Contribution Plan
• Sale of Parcel in WMU BTR Park 2 to Lapeer Development, LLC
• State Capital Outlay Priority List
• Consent Items …

Theorizing About The Self In Panpsychism And The Extended Mind Using The Dao De Jing (道德經) And Zhuangzi (莊子), Ryan Lemasters

The Hilltop Review

In this paper, I begin by briefly showing how the problem of self has been understood and approached historically in Western philosophy. I follow this by focusing on some of the recent literature in the philosophy of mind that suggests that the self is extended, meaning it is not solely located within the boundaries of the brain (Clark and Chalmers 1998). It will be evident that this is in conflict with the traditional Western understanding of the self. Since it seems to be the case that there are strong arguments for endorsing the view that the self is extended (to …

Acceptability Of Social Media Incentives To Increase Physical Activity, Amanda Devoto, Anthony Defulio

The Hilltop Review

Background: Contingency management can be effective in promoting physical activity, but the change frequently does not sustain after the intervention is withdrawn. A feasible and sustainable physical activity intervention is needed. Social media may meet the criteria for a sustainable intervention, as it is free to use and enormously popular.

Introduction: The goal of the current study was to assess acceptability of using social media as an incentive for a physical activity intervention.

Materials and Methods: The current study surveyed 102 Mechanical Turk users on their social media use, physical activity habits, and interest in a proposed physical activity intervention. …

The Hilltop Review, Vol 11, No 2, Spring 2019

The Hilltop Review

No abstract provided.

Writing Across Campus: Using Authentic Writing Experiences To Help Pre-Service Teachers Learn To Teach Writing, Jennifer A. Knight, Meghan K. Block

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

This study demonstrates the impact asynchronous discussion boards had on cross-college preservice teachers writing and writing instruction understanding. Participants from two universities in writing methods courses participated in discussion boards to learn about writing instruction. Students in the groups not only asked higher-level depth of knowledge questions to each other, but they also began to focus their responses and comments about their future teaching and instructional practices. Students built a stronger community of writers than students in previous courses that read, responded, and replied to peers.

The Importance Of Teacher Self-Efficacy In The Implementation Of A Middle And High School Science Writing Initiative, Michelle P. Whitacre

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

This study focuses on the experiences of two science teachers who worked to implement a writing-focused, science literacy project in their classrooms. More specifically, I uncover the ways these teachers’ experiences differed and how these differences influenced their implementation. Findings confirm the importance of content teachers’ sense of self-efficacy as writers and writing teachers. In order to foster writing initiatives at the middle and secondary levels, we must honor and nurture content teachers’ sense of self-efficacy and give them multiple opportunities to develop mastery experiences.

The Motivation To Write Profile-College: A Tool To Assess The Writing Motivation Of Teacher Candidates, Ernest Solar, Angela Marie Mucci-Guido Ph.D., Carolyn Cook, Barbara Marinak

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

Writing is an important aspect of literacy regardless of the grade or discipline. State standards have defined the writing genres, crafts, and skills that are to be taught by teachers in PK-12 classrooms. However, in addition to standards, research indicates that a teacher’s own conception of writing is crucial to establishing classroom conditions necessary for young writers to grow, explore and take risks. If this is the job of PK-12 educators, then it is essential for higher education instructors to understand and explore the writing conceptions of teacher candidates. One of these critical conceptions is the motivation to write. The …

An Examination Of The Relationship Between Adolescent Depression, Anhedonia, And Behavioral Therapy, Alison A. Delizza

Dissertations

Adolescent depression is a significant public health problem, however the current characterization of depression as a categorical label is problematic for understanding individual phenomenology, interindividual variability, and best treatment practices (Lewinsohn, Solomon, Seeley, & Zeiss, 2000). Anhedonia has been posited as a process underlying depression that may contribute to poorer outcomes (Gabbay, 2015). The current project examines large samples of adolescents diagnosed with depression to identify common features at a symptom level and the relationship these features have with behavioral therapy outcomes. Four phases of analyses were completed to 1) examine symptomology of multiple depressed adolescent samples in order to …

Sexual Coercion: The Role Of Communication And Heteronormative Beliefs, Brianna Lindley Forbis

Dissertations

Sexual assault is a pervasive issue on college campuses, with large numbers of students experiencing sexual assault during their college careers (Fisher, Cullen, & Turner, 2000). Sexual assault is often perpetrated by a known offender, which has brought increased attention to forms of sexual assault that do not necessarily include violence or the direct threat of violence. Sexual coercion is one such construct that has received increased attention in the literature, with several studies finding associations between heteronormative beliefs and sexual coercion (Eaton & Matamala 2014; Haworth- Hoeppner, 1998; Vanwesenbeek, 1998). Aims of the current study included further exploring the …

A Phenomenological Investigation Of Women’S Infertility And Miscarriage Grief Experiences, Tristan Mcbain

Dissertations

Infertility and miscarriage are reproductive losses that often produce grief reactions in affected women. This phenomenological study investigated the grief experiences of infertility and miscarriage through the ambiguous loss and disenfranchised grief frameworks in order to better understand both the obscurity of reproductive loss and how the resulting grief may be invalidated.

Sixteen women volunteered to participate in this study and each fell into one of the following three categories: women affected by infertility without miscarriage (4); women affected by miscarriage without infertility (4); and women affected by infertility and miscarriage (8). A phenomenological hermeneutic approach was utilized to uncover …

College Adjustment, Belongingness, Academic Self-Efficacy, Persistence, And Academic Success Among First-Generation College Students, Heather R. Highhouse

Dissertations

Previous research has compared the impacts of college adjustment, belongingness, and academic self-efficacy on first-generation and continuing-generation college students. However, the impacts of these factors on academic success (GPA) and persistence of first-semester, first-generation college students have not been investigated. The primary purpose of this study was to examine college adjustment and belongingness for first-semester, first-generation college students, with a focus on race and gender. This study also examined the impact of academic self-efficacy (i.e., course self-efficacy and social self-efficacy), college adjustment, and belongingness for academic success (GPA) and persistence of these students. The roles of race and gender in …

Deep Imprints 20th-Century Media Stereotypes Towards East Asian Immigrants And The Development Of A Pan-Ethnic East-Asian-American Identity, Christopher Maiytt

Masters Theses

Existing scholarship on ethnic representation in the American film industry most prominently features Black and Latinx subject matters, with little attention devoted to Asian American depictions. In contrast, this study tracks the use of persistent stereotypes in the American film industry directed at East-Asian immigrants and the influence American racism in popular media has on the emergence of a Pan-ethnic East-Asian American identity. The first appearance of a cooperative Pan-ethnic minority group materializes during the Yellow Power Movement of the 1960s, which is followed by the emergence of East-Asian film direction en force. Analysis of these films and in the …

A Single Session Of Acceptance And Commitment Therapy To Promote Health-Related Behavior Change: A Randomized Controlled Trial, Monica Barreto

Dissertations

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have identified physical activity, nutrition, and sleep as three key health-related behaviors that can help the prevention of chronic disease. Only a fraction of the population met the recommended guidelines across these domains. It is important to develop interventions that can be simultaneously focused, flexible, efficient, and efficacious as a means of impacting population health. This study examined the efficacy of a single 60-minute Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) session targeting health-related behavior change and compared it to an information-only wait-list (WL) control condition. Forty-five collegians (Mage = 22.35 [6.91], 78% female, 56% …

From The Boots On The Ground: A Comparison Of The Attitudes And Beliefs Of Military Members And Mental Health Professionals Regarding The Moral Injury Construct, Karis L. Callaway

Dissertations

An increasing amount of research conducted in recent years indicates that, in addition to Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, moral injury is a key concept to recognize when considering the deployment experiences of service members. Although related to Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, which is a fear-based mental health diagnosis, moral injury is a distinct concept. It acknowledges the possible prolonged negative psychological, social, and spiritual consequences that may occur after experiences that challenge and transgress one’s deeply held moral beliefs. Events such as perpetration of harm, failing to protect or prevent harm, and witnessing or learning about distressing acts committed by influential others …

Examining The Effects Of Cell Phone Use On Caregiver Supervision And Child Injury Risk, Mckenna Corlis

Dissertations

Unintentional injuries are the leading killer of children in the United States. Research indicates caregiver supervision decreases child injury risk, but has not examined how different distractions may affect this relation. Specifically, research has not considered if and how caregiver cell phone use affects child injury risk. Given the prevalence and distracting effects of cell phones noted in previous studies, it is imperative to examine how caregiver cell phone use and child injury risk relate.

The present study examined how distractions influenced caregivers’ ability to tend to their child and their child’s engagement in risky behavior. Using a within-subjects design, …

Measuring Contextual Factors Associated With Experiential Avoidance Using A Behavior Analogue Paradigm, Meaghan M. Lewis

Dissertations

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between levels of state and trait experiential avoidance across two different contexts using behavior analogue methodology. Performance on the cold pressor task (threshold, tolerance, endurance, and intensity; Zettle et al., 2012) was compared to performance on a modified version of the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST; Kirschbaum et al., 1993) to obtain a behavioral measure of experiential avoidance that was standardized across these four behavioral indices. Data were collected from a convenience sample of undergraduate students (N = 133) from college classrooms on the campus of Western Michigan University. …

A Comparison Of The Effects Of Sustained Silent Reading And Reciprocal Reading On Reading Motivation For Middle School Students With Reading Delays, Margaret Uwayo

Dissertations

Research suggests that secondary students with reading delays may lack reading motivation, which can be defined as the temporal reinforcement value of texts for an individual. However, reading motivation may be a critical component of their acquisition of reading proficiency. The purpose of the current study was to compare the effects of two research-based reading interventions - sustained silent reading and modified reciprocal reading - on the reading motivation of middle school students with reading delays. Participants were four 6th-grade students who were grouped into dyads in a reading intervention classroom. The primary dependent variable was book engagement under pairing …

Community-Working Occupational Therapists Serving As Fieldwork Supervisors: Characteristics And Associated Factors, Tore Bonsaksen, Anne-Stine Dolva, Sissel Horghagen, Unni Sveen, Cathrine Hagby, Cathrine Arntzen

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

As enrollment numbers grow in occupational therapy academic programs in Norway, the need for more fieldwork placements and supervisors increases. More knowledge about factors of importance for occupational therapists’ decisions to take on the role of fieldwork supervisor may promote easier access to supervisors who are ready for the task, and it may assist in addressing the barriers for those who are not. We recruited a sample of 561 community-working occupational therapists for an electronic survey conducted in 2017. Quantitative survey responses were obtained and used in the current study. The differences between supervisors and non-supervisors were examined with independent …

A Preliminary Historical Report On Embracing Online Education In Occupational Therapy, Janel Anne Belarmino, Angela Bahle-Lampe

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

The relevance and popularity of online occupational therapy education have been increasingly recognized. This paper describes the historical development of online occupational therapy education. Findings revealed three shifts in occupational therapy education, namely shifts in perception, in mode of instruction, and in the roles of teachers and students. The inception of online education in occupational therapy was a product of technological advancement and the demand for improved access to occupational therapy online education. The early phase of occupational therapy online education was confronted with challenges related to hesitance in the development and implementation of online programs and to negative perceptions …

Challenging The Status Quo: Infusing Non-Western Ideas Into Occupational Therapy Education And Practice, Wanda J. Mahoney, Anne F. Kiraly-Alvarez

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

The authors of this Topics in Education article, who are both occupational therapy educators, reflect on challenging concepts related to decolonizing occupational therapy education, an idea they first encountered at the 2018 World Federation of Occupational Therapists Congress. They acknowledge that Western views heavily influence the occupational therapy concepts they teach to their students. The downside of approaching occupational therapy education and practice primarily from a Western worldview is that occupational therapy students and practitioners may perpetuate societal inequities through their practices and are not well-prepared to address the occupational needs of individuals and communities around the world. This article …

Gardening As A Meaningful Occupation In Initial Stroke Rehabilitation: An Occupational Therapist Perspective, Grete Patil, Mona Asbjørnslett, Kristin Aurlien, Nina Levin

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

Background: Initial rehabilitation after stroke is demanding for patients whose primary aim is to regain their functions. The literature indicates that gardening may provide medical rehabilitation opportunities and health resources. This study explored occupational therapists’ own observations and descriptions on how participation in a gardening group may support inpatients’ initial rehabilitation following acute stroke.

Methods: The authors analyzed notes written by occupational therapists during a 6 month-period that reflected their observations and descriptions after sessions with a gardening group. The therapists were trained in stroke rehabilitation and offered two sessions with gardening groups per week. The sessions were …