Digital Commons Network^™

The Impact Of A K-8 Stem Program On Grades And Student Choice Of Stem And Advanced Mathematics And Science Coursework In High School, Astrid Rodrigues

Dissertations

The demands of today’s workforce call for schools to prepare their students to have problem-solving skills and be critical thinkers and collaborative colleagues. Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) learning has been known to cultivate, excite, and promote critical thinking and problem-solving skills in students from an early age.

This study explored the high school course selection of students who had participated in a compulsory Kindergarten to 8^th grade (K-8) STEM program, called Project Lead the Way (PLTW), while in middle school. Specifically, the study compared the number of STEM and advanced mathematics and science courses that students who …

Assigning Assessment Accommodations To English Learners: A Phenomenological Study, Heather May Villalobos Pavia

Dissertations

The English learner (EL) student population has grown steadily for the past 20 years. During this time, the use of standardized assessments has increased as well. Teacher understanding of assessment accommodations that best support ELs is low, despite the research that shows the unreliability of standardized achievement tests that measure the academic achievement of ELs. The purpose of this qualitative, phenomenological study was to examine how 10 teachers engage in the assessment accommodation selection process. Teachers were intentionally selected from intermediate elementary grades where the most native (primary/home) language accommodations are available on state assessments. Data were collected through surveys, …

English As A Foreign Language Preservice Teachers’ Technology Integration In Teaching Speaking Skills: A Study From Indonesia, I Putu Indra Kusuma

Dissertations

The novel coronavirus, namely COVID-19, has drastically forced schools and universities around the globe to implement emergency remote teaching (henceforth, ERT) in online forms. During this ERT, the personal computer, internet-accessible devices, and computer programs have expanded the opportunities of language learners to obtain more authentic materials and learning experiences. Moreover, technology enables students to record and store their speaking performance in digital forms, accommodating a new reform in English language teaching. Very little is known about how English as a foreign language (henceforth, EFL) preservice teachers, especially student teachers, implement technology in teaching speaking skills during their practice teaching. …

The Haitian Méringue Through Stylized Piano Compositions From 1880-1930, William Leroy Harned

Dissertations

This study primarily describes the Haitian méringue from a historical analysis and a collective musical analysis of digital editions published from 2016 to 2020 that include previously unavailable piano compositions from Haiti’s first composers. Secondarily, this study clarifies the performance practice of innovative rhythmic notations from Haiti and Puerto Rico to indicate a relaxed syncopation of the tresillo-based five-beat syncopated rhythm. The history of the development of the méringue involves the creolization of mainly European and African dances. Comparison with compositions of origin dances reveals common structures between them. The European salon style inspired these Haitian compositions that resemble Romantic …

Informing Cognitive Screening In The Young Adult Population, Samantha L. Mcdaniel

Dissertations

The clock drawing test (CDT) is a cognitive screening measure with sound psychometric properties which has been well researched over the past century. The CDT is a popular tool for many healthcare professionals to administer independently or as part of a more thorough cognitive evaluation. Given the drastic technological and social developments over the years since the CDT was developed as well as the persistent research focus on older adult populations, a gap in the CDT literature presented for young adults, who may have difficulty drawing an analog clock. Identifying cognitive impairment can improve health outcomes. The young adult population …

Teaching The Esl Nursing Student: The Relationship Between Nurse Educator Background Attributes, Beliefs Concerning The Esl Nursing Student And Instructional Strategies Used By Nurse Educators, Bonnie L. Fuller

Dissertations

As the U.S. population quickly moves toward linguistic diversity, it is essential that sufficient numbers of linguistically diverse nurses be available to provide care, and nurse educators play a significant role in the preparation of these nurses. Little information was found in the literature about factors that influence the practices of the nurse educator related to teaching the nursing student who has English as a second language (ESL). The purpose of this research study was to investigate the factors related to teaching ESL nursing students from the perspective of the nurse educator. A pilot study was conducted to validate the …

Barriers Teaching Environmental Justice Education, Jodi Devonshire

Dissertations

The idea of freedom in education has its roots in the social justice movements of the 1950s and 60s. Civil rights groups coalesced independently of other marginalized groups and movements of its time. While similar in nature, environmentalism and civil rights issues rarely crossed paths. As environmentalism made its way into science education and curriculum, social justice issues were restricted to historical perspectives in education. This research initially sought to create an understanding of purpose driven, social justice conscious, Environmental Education as it is related to marginalized learners and identify the barriers of creating and implementing culturally relevant environmental education …

The Predictors Of Cultural Competence In The Baccalaureate Degree Nursing Curriculum: Implications For Nursing Education, Angela E. Silvestri-Elmore

Dissertations

Health care providers are members of a helping profession and need to provide quality care to all members of society. As a result of current and projected demographic changes within the United States (U.S.), health care professionals are faced with the challenges of providing culturally competent care and fulfilling the role as the ";helping profession."; From 2000 to 2010, the Asian population increased by 43.3%, the Hispanic population grew by 43%, the Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander population increased by 35.4%, the American Indian or Alaskan Native population increased by 18.4%, and the African American population increased by 12.3%. …

The Lived Experience Of Students As English Language Learners In The Nursing Classroom: A Critical Hermeneutic Inquiry, Joann Mulready-Shick

Dissertations

This qualitative study explored the lived experiences of students as English language learners in the nursing classroom. The study is a direct response to the under-representation of students from linguistically diverse backgrounds in nursing education, the call for greater diversity in the nursing workforce and profession, and the issue of ever-increasing numbers of students entering college as English language learners. Employing interpretive phenomenological methodology, participants engaged, in open-ended, hermeneutic interviews which yielded new understandings of everyday concerns that impact their academic success. A critical theoretical framework applied during data analysis exposed power structures impacting student experience across language, culture, classroom …

Guided Online Coaching For Teachers Of Emergent Bilinguals In A Tesol Practicum Course During Covid-19, Dawn Thieman

Dissertations

Guided online coaching for teachers of emergent bilinguals (EBLs) is a job-embedded professional development model established from the educational policies and practices described in the No Child Left Behind Act and Every Student Succeeds Act. Having effective teachers who ensure an equitable, creative, and linguistically and culturally relevant education for all EBLs is of paramount importance in the ever-changing demography of schools in the United States. The guided online coaching for teachers of EBLs offers a collaborative, facilitative, dialogic, and reflective coaching process for positively influencing teacher transformation, thus providing a creative language teaching pedagogy for EBLs. The purpose of …

Teacher Leadership In The Context Of Chinese Education, Chudi Zhou, Qian Yang, Ying Dong, Xiaoying Wang

Dissertations

In response to addressing the increasing requirements to enhance the competencies of students and teachers, as well as the quality of schools in the global environment, the need for fostering teacher leadership has been proposed by many scholars and practitioners. School context is regarded as an important influence on the successful development of teacher leadership. While many studies related to teacher leadership have been reported in Western countries, a limited number of studies have been reported within the Chinese educational context. We also observed that among the limited studies, there was a lack of empirical research on how schools provide …

Elementary Educator Perceptions Of The Impact Breaks Have On Student Engagement, Sarah-Bo Kirchhoff

Dissertations

According to the US. Department of Labor, 1991, the United States education has shifted the focused to student performance and academic success (NCEE, 2006). School districts across the nation have increased students’ academic demands, including increased academic instruction time, while the allotted time for recess and academic breaks continuously decrease, significantly impacting the school day’s structure (Brusseau & Hannon, 2015; Ginsburg et al., 2007; Stonehill et al., 2011). However, research asserted that instructional time increase does not significantly impact student achievement. In contrast, the increase of academic instruction time could stimulate behavioral problems and sedentary behaviors, while the continuous decrease …

A Glimpse Into The Multilingual Experience: A Phenomenological Study On How Nonnative English-Speaking Students Leverage Personal And Academic Support In Completing The Doctoral Journey, John Pervez

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study is to use Activity Theory to identify and describe the personal and academic supports of multilingual doctoral alumni at a private, non-profit university in California.

Methodology: This study was a phenomenological study that identified and described the lived experiences of 15 multilingual alumni that completed a doctorate program at a private, non-profit university. Participants were selected using criterion sampling. Data was collected, analyzed, and triangulated between interview data and artifacts. Data was then coded, themed, and organized with reference to Activity Theory.

Findings: Examination of the data found that multilingual …

Humanizing The Inhumane: The Meaning Of The American Indian Patient-Cancer Care Nurse Relationship, Natalie M. Pool

Dissertations

This study described the unique relationships that develop while providing cancer care to AI populations and the underlying meaning that nurses ascribed to these experiences. Methods: This was an interpretive phenomenological study with multiple data collections and analysis. Nine cancer care nurses with a minimum of three years of experience working with AI patients participated by engaging in 2-3 exploratory, open-ended, reflective interviews over a period of nine months. Thematic reduction was completed to explicate the fundamental structures of this particular relationship. I then engaged in extensive reflective writing resulting in a linguistic transformation illuminating the essential meaning for nurses …

Implementing The Richmond Agitation-Sedation Scale To Assess Delirium In A Pediatric Icu, Leigh Paridy

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this quality improvement project was to establish early identification of delirium in the intensive care setting to reduce the impact of long-term patient outcomes. Description of project: A retrospective-prospective medical chart review was completed. The retrospective chart review looked at fifty-two patients admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) between October 1, 2020 and December 1, 2020 for patient demographics and State Behavior Scale (SBS) and the Cornell Assessment for Pediatric Delirium (CAPD) charting compliance especially with children with developmental delay and those with a high susceptibility to delirium. The prospective chart review looked at …

The Meaning Of Immigrant Women's Experience Of Childbirth For The First Time In A United States Hospital, Carole A. Lorup

Dissertations

The increasing population of immigrants in the United States is largely comprised of immigrant women, whose first contact with the health care system is often to seek maternity care. The literature suggests that immigrant women frequently do not receive the same quality of care and satisfactory experiences from maternity care as their native population counterparts. This study described the experience of maternity care from the perspective of immigrant mothers who gave birth in the United States for the first time. A purposive sample of mothers, who were born outside of the United States, and who have given birth to a …

Newly Graduated Registered Nurses' Perceptions About And Use Of Principles Of Palliative Care In Acute Care Settings: An Interpretive Phenomenology Study, Latrina T. Geyer

Dissertations

The terms serious or life-threatening illness now included in current palliative care literature indicate the broadened scope of palliative care. However, the change in defining terminology has not consistently translated to a broadened understanding or advanced clinical practice for many healthcare professionals in acute care settings. The purpose of this research study was to discover NGRNs' perceptions, meanings, and use of principles of PC for seriously ill patients in acute care settings. The research question for this study was: What are NGRNs' lived experiences of providing PC for seriously ill patients in acute care settings?

Climate Control: Does Caring Really Matter?, Wendy A. Dubose

Dissertations

In an attempt to address healthcare disparities, nursing programs have been charged with increasing success rates of minority students to increase diversity within the profession. Despite an upsurge in enrollment numbers of minority students in nursing programs, attrition rates are higher for minority students as compared to majority students. Persistence is paramount for minority students to overcome barriers encountered while pursuing an education in nursing. Perceptions of faculty caring behaviors may heighten nursing students' academic self-efficacy.

Speaking Up Or Remaining Silent: Understanding The Influences On Nurses When Patients Are At Risk, Jennifer Boice Rainer

Dissertations

Objective: The purpose of this study was to understand speaking up behavior among RNs.

Background: Speaking up is the use of one's voice to share information or alert those in authority of one's concerns about patients, and is primarily influenced by organizational culture, personal culture, and workforce generation. Failure to speak up can lead to moral distress; speaking up can lead to moral courage.

Methods: A cross-sectional electronic survey was distributed to several thousand RNs resulting in 303 surveys providing usable data.

Results: We found that organizational culture was a strong predictor of speaking-up behaviors, and that speaking up partially …

Two For The Price Of One! A Study Of Persistence Of Adult Education Students Pursuing A High School Equivalency Credentiial And A Study Of The Researcher's Experience Conducting That Study., Jacqueline Lynch

Dissertations

This two-in-one study was an exploration of persistence. The quantitative study explored the relationship between the self-efficacy and persistence of adult learners pursuing a high school equivalency credential. Bandura’s theory of self-efficacy and Lewin’s Force Field Analysis offered an effective framework for considering this relationship. The findings of this study were statistically insignificant due to the low response rate.

The second study, a qualitative study, was added to understand my experience trying to gather data during the quantitative study and to explore the implications of data collection, sharing, and use in the adult education field. Resource Dependence Theory (RDT) and …

Predictors Of Quality Of Life In Thai Adults With Early-Stage Chronic Kidney Disease, Warissara Sorat

Dissertations

The incidence and prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) are increasing worldwide. Persons with CKD constitute a large population with a high prevalence of morbidity and mortality in Thailand. Treatment of CKD generally involves a multidisciplinary team and requires a comprehensive assessment and aggressive treatment plan to improve the health status of persons with CKD to slow the disease progression. This study aimed to examine factors that influence quality of life among Thai adults with early-stage CKD and test the constructs of a complex model identifying individual and family factors, knowledge, depression, and self-efficacy related to self-management behavior and quality …

"It Was A Season..." Postpartum Depression In American Indian/Alaska Native Women, Jennifer Leigh Heck

Dissertations

Postpartum depression (PPD) is linked to diminished maternal, pediatric, and family health outcomes and is designated as the most common childbirth complication. PPD is found in most populations, and touts international status as a major public health concern. Clinicians define PPD as an episode of major depressive disorder with a "peripartum onset" that occurs within the first year after delivery. Studies suggest that American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) women suffer higher PPD prevalence (14% to 29%) than other United States' women, revealing a racial/ethnic disparity. Health disparities research is a national public health priority and substantiates the need to explore PPD …

Best Teaching Practices For Providing Culturally Sensitive And Inclusive Nursing Education: Nurse Educators' Perspectives, Christine L. Sommers

Dissertations

This paper explored problem-based learning and cultural diversity, critical thinking and clinical judgment and cultural diversity, and nurse educators' perceptions of implementing culturally diverse and inclusive nursing education. The results of this exploration are presented in three articles (Chapters 2-4). In Chapter 2, a synthesis of literature regarding strategies for problem-based learning with culturally diverse students was described. Studies in nursing literature have not specifically focused on the needs of culturally diverse students when implementing problem-based learning. Nurse educators need to consider their own culture and their students' culture when implementing problem-based learning. They also need to dialogue together about …

You’Ve Got Mail: A Sequential Mixed Methods Linguistic Investigation Of Faculty And Advisor Email, Kevin A. Manley

Dissertations

Email is one of the most prolific forms of communication in the world. As colleges and universities move more student experiences online, faculty members and advisors need to understand how to best communicate with students. In an attempt to understand how faculty and advisors write, and, more importantly, how students read, I developed this two-phase mixed methods investigation. In Phase I, I collected nine writing samples from 19 faculty and advisor participants and dissected the samples with Pennebaker Conglomerate’s 2015 Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) program. In a transition phase, I leveraged Phase I data to create an instrument …

A Quantitative Content Analysis On K-12 Public Education In The News Media: An Analysis Of Word Sentiment And Tone In Different Media From 2015 To 2020, Thomas Butler

Dissertations

The researcher used quantitative content analysis techniques and explored how the media used language, sentiment, and tone, when reporting on United States K-12 public education (USPE) in four different media types and over a five-year period. The researcher used positive and negative word frequencies on stories in four different news media: New York Times (print & online), Huffington Post (online), ABC/NBC broadcast (TV), and Time/ Newsweek magazine (magazine); across a five-year period. The researcher converted positive and negative word frequencies in each news story to an overall tone rating scale from 1 to 5 indicating an overall positive or negative …

A Mixed Methods Analysis Of The Relationship Between Independent Study Teachers’ Emotional Intelligence And At-Risk Students Academic Success, Stephanie Niemeyer

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this sequential explanatory mixed methods study was to determine the relationship between independent study charter schoolteachers’ emotional intelligence (EQ) scores, as measured by the Schutte Self-Report Emotional Intelligence Test (SSEIT), and the number of credits earned in a learning period by their students. An additional purpose was to describe how independent study high school teachers perceive their ability to model the EQ attributes of self-awareness, self-regulation, internal motivation, empathy, and social skill (Goleman, 2006) influences student credit completion.

Methodology: This study used a mixed methods approach to collect quantitative and qualitative data from highly qualified independent …

The Necessity And Possibility Of Decolonizing The Understanding Of Chinese-Ness, Tao Zhang

Dissertations

In this dissertation, I explore how crossing national borders has made me aware of the many identity borders that I have crossed as a transnational Chinese, and how I am caught up in identity politics between the “Chinese,” who do not necessarily always identify as “Chinese” in the transnational context. However, as a racialized group in the U.S., transnational Chinese are perceived as a homogeneous population, usually through racially (“Yellow Peril” or “Chinese Virus”) and politically (“Red Scare”) charged lenses measured by Western/U.S. binaristic and hierarchical standards. Therefore, in this research project, I problematize dominant U.S. race logic, i.e., the …

Tasting Tea, Tasting China: Tearooms And The Everyday Culture In Dalian, Yingkun Hou

Dissertations

Tea is a beverage that has long been taken to symbolize a key aspect of Chinese tradition and history. However, it is one of many beverages drunk in contemporary China, where in recent times knowledge of wine has come to stand for the West and as a much-desired cultural capital. This dissertation examines everyday tea drinking and tea tasting in Dalian—a northeastern city in Liaoning Province, China. Through ethnography of practices, processes, and interactions taking place in daily events of tea drinking and tasting, this dissertation provides a window into social conflicts, ideas and desires, historical consciousness, and national identity, …

Life Is Complicated: The Urgent Call To Support Student Wellbeing Through Social Emotional Learning, Taya Kinzie

Dissertations

Abstract:

Students face increased mental health challenges, including depression, anxiety, trauma, racial trauma, and suicide risk, in addition to opportunity gaps. Despite educators’ work to support students through mental health services and despite the existence of social emotional learning (SEL) programs within the school environment, the impact on student learning and long-term post high school outcomes can feel overwhelming. There is also a perception that the responsibility for SEL belongs only to social workers, psychologists and counselors. The primary research question is; how does embedding of SEL practices vary within instructional, non-instructional, and leadership roles? The related questions are: to …

A Description Of Cultural Humility As Perceived By Nursing Faculty In Baccalaureate Nursing Education, Linda Webster

Dissertations

In diverse populations, health inequities can exist, thereby contributing to health disparities. A lack of knowledge regarding unfamiliar cultural patterns and practices by health care providers can contribute to miscommunication and mistrust. The willingness to adopt the practices of self-awareness and self-reflection with critique is cultural humility. This concept may help to reduce health inequities and suboptimal health outcomes when a mutual respect for culture and diversity is present.

A foundational, qualitative descriptive study was proposed to investigate cultural humility as perceived by nursing faculty. The purpose of this study was to describe the concept of cultural humility from the …