Digital Commons Network^™

Teacher Perspectives On A Teacher Mentorship Program And Its Influence On A Sense Of Belonging And Professional Growth., Hyun Kang Wilson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Teacher retention is crisis in the U.S. and globally. Literature suggests the first five years of teaching is a crucial time range to determine if teachers stay in the profession or quit. Teachers will leave the profession due to lack of support, poor school culture, feeling isolated, high work-related stress, poor compensation, and challenging student behaviors. Research suggests that new teacher mentorship programs are effective in addressing teacher support, ultimately improving teacher retention. Literature also suggests that employees are more likely to stay with a company if they feel belonged. To explore the further into a new teacher mentorship program …

"I Never Really Saw Anybody That Looked Like Me In A Book": A Positioning Theory Analysis Of Preservice Teachers' Critical Reflections., Melissa Lee Zipper

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative case study is to understand how preservice teachers develop their criticality within a semester long undergraduate course focused on children’s literature. This study addresses a well-documented practical knowledge gap in education research: although preservice teachers claim to understand the importance of a culturally relevant and sustaining curriculum, they do not know how to effectuate that curriculum when it comes to their future classrooms. Using Positioning Theory as a theoretical lens and an analytical tool, the study explores how preservice teachers position themselves in relation to developing their criticality through participation in a course curriculum purposefully …

Perceptions Of Unstructured Recess And Classroom Behaviors In Elementary School Settings., Allison Shockley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The priority on core curriculum areas such as math and reading has resulted in limited physical activity and regular recess routines. With the increased time spent on core curriculum, teachers and administrators have shifted their focus towards standardized student testing achievement. This focus has resulted in limiting or doing away with unstructured recess with the hopes that students will gain more core curriculum knowledge. This dissertation will focus on educators' perceptions of elementary school student behavior with varying recess time structures. This study began by examining the history of recess while analyzing the trickled- down historical inequities elementary students experience …

Evaluating The Relationship Between Musical Sophistication And Melodic And Harmonic Expectations., Anya Elizabeth Shorey-Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Expectations help us navigate our environment, especially in familiar contexts. Western tonal music offers one such context where expectations are at play. While implicit musical expectations occur in listeners without musical training, musical training can sharpen expectations. Two primary open questions are investigated here. First, explicit pitch-based expectations for less musical participants have been relatively neglected. Second, general musicality and formal musical training have not been well separated in previous research, making it difficult to understand if sharpening of expectations is associated with training itself or with broader musical interactions. Experiments 1 and 2 adapted an explicit music production task …

Advancing Speech Intelligibility Assessment: Comparing School-Based Speech-Language Pathologists, Laypersons, And Speech Recognition Software., Hannah Stewart

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This non-experimental study utilized a convenience sample (N = 86) to investigate the comparability of school-based speech-language pathologists (SLPs), laypersons, and speech recognition software in the assessment of speech intelligibility for children with phonological disorders. Eighty-nine percent of participants were female, and 92% were white. All participants completed a survey comprised of 25 audio recordings of single-word utterances from an AI-generated voice of a four-year-old male with a phonological disorder and were asked to select what word they believed was heard from a pool of 12 options. The survey also included a passage read by the same AI-generated voice, and …

Adolescent Externalizing Symptoms And Parent Emotion Socialization: An Examination Of Longitudinal Effects And Differences By Adolescent Sex, Cheston West

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Adolescence is an important developmental context with several changes in social and emotional functioning. Though adolescents are gaining independence from their caregivers, they still engage in dynamic interactions with their caregivers who remain key figures in their lives. When adolescents express emotions, caregivers engage in various behaviors in response to these expressions, a process known as emotion socialization. This process has mostly been examined as a parent-driven construct in which parent emotion socialization impacts child-level outcomes, namely internalizing symptoms, with limited research on externalizing symptoms. However, available literature demonstrates that child-level characteristics (e.g., externalizing symptoms) are linked to differences in …

Can Exploring Before Instruction Improve Underrepresented Stem Students’ Learning Compared To Traditional Methods? Investigating Psychosocial Factors., Katherine G. Golway

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Increasing evidence suggests that active learning benefits students’ learning outcomes, while also helping to reduce or eliminate grade differences between historically underrepresented (UR) and non-underrepresented (non-UR) students in STEM courses. This dissertation investigates if, and when, a specific active learning strategy – exploratory learning before instruction – can have these learning benefits and impact students’ fundamental needs (i.e., security, belonging, competence, and self-efficacy) and curiosity/interest. In five experimentally-controlled studies conducted within undergraduate STEM courses (physics, engineering, and chemistry), students were randomly assigned to exploratory learning conditions (explore-first) or traditional instruct-then-practice conditions (instruct-first). After completing both the learning activity and lecture-based …

Volatile Organic Compounds And Their Relation To Sympathetic Activation And Autonomic Balance In Humans., Cameron Kyle Stopforth

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a multifaceted pathology that affects almost half of Americans ≥20 years old. One modifiable risk factor associated with CVD is air pollution exposure. The intricacy of air pollution exposure and CVD can make it difficult to elucidate on the multitude of mechanisms underpinning these associations. In this dissertation, we selected a relevant exposure (i.e., volatile organic compounds (VOC)) and an intermediate outcome (i.e., autonomic balance) that may represent one of these pertinent mechanisms. We tested the central hypothesis that higher VOC exposures would lead to increased sympathetic activation and autonomic imbalance. Aim 1 (Chapter III …

I'M Still Eating Crayons., Eisey Eisenhardt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

im still eating crayons serves as a reflection on past events experienced in trying conditions after many years of rumination. The title itself is derived from my childhood inclination towards physically experiencing color and texture via chewing on crayons. An inclination that I still experience today; a wish to chew on what captivates me and break it down over time within, so that I may discover a deeper connection with those objects, ideas, and concepts. Not all made discoveries were victories, nor do they place my conscious in a better position than it was at the height of my past …

Coalitional Belonging As Praxis: First-Year Writing And Student Community Creation In The Post-Dei University., Kendyl C. Harmeling

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation began as a study into how students interpret and engage language and actions from their institutions of higher education which allege to be supporting and supportive of universally diverse, equitable, and inclusive campus community belonging. Occurring within a locally and globally turbid context of exponential and variable challenges to diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts by institutions of power – like those of higher and public education – this dissertation seeks to understand how, within and without institutional support for DEI, students self-sponsor and community-sponsor their ways of knowing and being to claim space for their belonging on campus. …

A Causal Model Of Performance Shaping Factors For Human Reliability Analysis In Manufacturing., Prameet Ranjan Jha

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Human reliability analysis is a critical component of probabilistic risk assessment, aimed at predicting and mitigating human errors in complex systems. This dissertation develops a novel approach to human reliability analysis in manufacturing by integrating structural equation modeling and Bayesian networks to improve the estimation of human error probabilities. Traditional human reliability assessment methods, such as the Standardized Plant Analysis Risk-Human Reliability Analysis (SPAR-H) and the Technique for Human Error Rate Prediction (THERP), provide structured techniques for estimating human error probabilities. However, these methods often fail to capture the complex interdependencies among performance shaping factors (PSFs), limiting their applicability in …

Emotion Regulation, Reasoning, And Procedural Safeguards In Politically-Polarized Moral Dilemmas., Alanea Graci

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Societal disputes often stem from polarized moral dilemmas. Procedural justice and self-determination (PJSD) afforded by societal decision-making processes may influence cooperation and acceptance in these dilemmas. However, moral conviction can sometimes overshadow PJSD, causing morally-opposed individuals to avoid deliberation, become uncooperative, or reject decision outcomes. I conducted two experiments to explore the role emotions (emotion regulation) and procedural safeguards for democratic deliberation (e.g., equal discussion time, rules for civility) play in these situations. I examined the topic of abortion in the U.S. after the Supreme Court’s June 2022 reversal of Roe v. Wade. Undergraduates at a large, urban Midwestern university …

It Is Well: A Narrative Study Examining The Impact Of Community Cultural Wealth For Black Students Experiencing Grief During The Covid-19 Era., Daquarius Mahone

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the intersection of grief, race, and resilience among Black college students navigating grief during the COVID-19 pandemic at Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs). Through the lens of Community Cultural Wealth (CCW) and employing Narrative Inquiry methodology, this study amplifies the voices of Black students who experienced profound loss during an era marked by both personal grief and societal upheaval. By analyzing their lived experiences, the research reveals how students draw upon cultural assets—such as familial, social, and aspirational capital—to endure and thrive in the face of grief. The study identifies five pivotal themes: personal connection to lost loved …

Student Perceptions Of School Climate And Safety After The Collective Trauma Of Covid-19 And Racial Injustice Syndemic., Amy Catherine Lyons

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For people in marginalized communities, particularly the Black and African American community, the combined, disproportionate damage and loss from of the pandemic and a cacophony of racial injustices offer cause for labeling the phenomenon a syndemic. Syndemic is defined as “a conceptual framework for understanding diseases or health conditions that arise in populations and that are exacerbated by the social, economic, environmental, and political milieu in which a population is immersed” (Singer et al., 2017, p. 881). The purpose of this study is to explore, describe, and analyze Kentucky students’ perceptions of school climate and safety by demographic groups, racial …

Healthcare Access And Agency In Material Culture: A Specialized Analysis Of Pharmaceutical Artifacts From Louisville’S West End., Sara Marian (Deurell) Ignacio

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The American Victorian Period of the 1870s to 1920s was a time of significant transitions in medicine. In Louisville, Kentucky, this period saw an influx of Black healthcare professionals and the founding of Louisville National Medical College, the state’s first medical school open to people of color. A number of these professionals lived and/or practiced in the Beecher Terrace study area, which was excavated between 2017 and 2020. Patent medicine brands and archival records were examined qualitatively in order to understand neighborhood and case study household health concerns and consumer choice. Statistical analyses of the medicine bottles recovered during the …

A Sacrifice On The Altar Of Unity: The Loss Of Black Identity In The Unification Of Kynett And Lagrange First Umc., Rebecca Sue Wishnevski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the 1996 merger of Kynett United Methodist Church, a historically Black church, and LaGrange First United Methodist Church, a traditionally White church in LaGrange, Kentucky. The study provides insight into nonurban Black churches, showing that while they may have smaller congregations in smaller towns, the Black church remains central to Black life and connection like its urban contemporaries. Methods for collecting primary source material relied heavily on oral histories performed by the researcher with Black and White individuals attending said churches and their experiences during the merger. The study reveals that although unification promised a modern building …

Exploring The Impact Of Social Interactions And Representation On The Development Of Engineering Students' Sense Of Belonging In A Summer Program., Liliana Martinez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research has shown that engineering students from underrepresented minority (URM) populations experience significant retention gaps compared to their majority peers (Dickerson et al., 2014). One factor that can significantly promote academic success, retention, persistence, and psychological adjustment is a sense of belonging (Hausmann et al., 2007; Hoffman et al., 2002). There is evidence showing that Summer Bridge Programs (SBPs) can foster students’ sense of belonging (Strayhorn, 2019); however, little is known about the mechanisms through which an SBP impacts URM engineering students’ sense of belonging. This study addresses this knowledge gap by investigating the impact of the Brown Forman …

Multimodal Emotion Recognition For Human-Robot Interaction Across Neuro-Diverse Populations., Ruchik Mishra

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores the integration of multimodal data streams and artificial intelligence pipelines to understand human affect in neurotypical and children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). This dissertation captures human affect in the context of human-robot interaction. For this, multiple studies have been presented with both children with ASD and neurotypical adults. This dissertation makes four contributions: 1) The first study introduces autonomy during perspective-taking teaching sessions by making verbal content generation through large language models (LLMs). This system is the first of its kind for teaching perspective-taking in a semi-autonomous manner under the supervision of domain experts. Furthermore, this …

Advancing Research On Retinitis Pigmentosa: An Investigation Of Natural History, Visual System Plasticity, And Mutation-Independent Treatment., Cecilia A. Attaway

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) is an inherited retinal disease characterized by rod and then cone photoreceptor degeneration. ~25% of cases are caused by a genetic mutation that results in autosomal dominant RP (adRP). There has been a lack of exploration of the progression of degeneration in adRP models. In Chapter Two, I examined visual acuity (VA) changes, retinal structure, and function from early to late-stage disease in a murine P23H Rho ‘knock-in’ mouse model (Rho^P23H/+), the most common form of adRP in North America. To establish a natural history, I evaluated behavioral VA, using the visual water task, …

Affective Teacher Tok: A Sociomaterial Analysis Of Teachers’ Digital Literacy Practices On Social Media., Jessica Nicole Gottbrath

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mass media often depicts teachers in oversimplified terms, as heroic saviors or dangerous agents of indoctrination, flattening the complex realities of their daily work and lived experiences. This polarization contributes to the ongoing deprofessionalization of teaching, where educators’ expertise is increasingly questioned and politicized. In response to these reductive portrayals and the everyday pressures of the profession, some teachers have turned to short-form social media videos as a creative outlet to share personal and professional insights. To explore how teachers reclaim agency through their digital literacy practices, this study employs mixed-methods research to investigate how educators use networked microvideos to …

Everything And Nothing Found In The House Of Leaves: A Multiliterate Analysis Of Multimodal Writing., Jennings Collins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The postmodern horror novel House of Leaves engages in a bevy of discourses across the humanities, a complex work that invites readers to engage with several multimodal forms of reading and writing to experience it fully. This thesis hopes to explore the novel’s place in various sites of discourse including film theory, philosophy, and horror genre theory; applying a multiliterate perspective to the work to study how the novel encourages multimodal and multiliterate thinking by applying studies of typography, experimental literature, and literary ontology. This thesis will emphasize a filmic analysis of text-within-text The Navidson Record, to address a …

Predicting Resilience Among Treatment-Referred Youth With A History Of Trauma Exposure: An Exploration Of Risk And Protective Factors., Prabathi Mandara Gunathilake

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

While many children and adolescents experience negative outcomes following exposure to traumatic events, some demonstrate remarkable resilience. Understanding the factors that contribute to this positive adaptation is essential for developing effective interventions. Using secondary data from 199 treatment-referred youth (ages 5 to 18) with histories of maltreatment, refugee experiences, or military-related trauma, collected between 2016 and 2021 by the Metro Louisville’s Center for Promotion of Recovery and Resilience (CPRR) program, this study examined predictors of resilience in trauma-exposed youth and how resilience is conceptualized across different informant perspectives. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed distinct predictive patterns: for youth, personal strengths …

“Nothing Can Prepare You For It”: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis Of The Lived Experiences, Well-Being, And Relational Connections Of First-Time Mothers Navigating Intensive Mothering Ideals And Expectations., Mona A. Dajani

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Becoming a mother is a life-changing experience that alters how mothers view and experience their emotional, familial, occupational, and relational worlds. As mothering stories tend to be underrepresented and largely absent from the field of social work, this qualitative study utilized Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to center the voices of eleven first-time mothers navigating a culture of intensive mothering ideals and expectations. As a result, the main research questions of this study are: 1) What are the lived experiences of mothers navigating a culture with deep-rooted intensive mothering expectations and ideals? 2) How is well-being experienced and described in the …

Movement On The Ladder: The Lesbian Avant-Garde In America., Sarah Melloy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project examines the role of the periodical magazine in artistic production of avant-garde ideology, focusing on the ability of print as a medium to distribute poetry, art, literature and discourse of the avant-garde in an underground manner. More specifically, it places the earliest American lesbian periodical, The Ladder, in conversation with the surrealist magazine, Minotaure and the New York Dadaist magazine, Blind Man in order to examine the overlaps in how each publication functioned within their respective movements. I use this positioning to argue that The Ladder is as worthy of scholarly attention as the Surrealist and Dadaist …

College Readiness In Mathematics Related To Student Academic And Belonging Mindsets, Tabitha Sherrell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

My quantitative study investigated the differences and correlations between students’ academic (growth vs. fixed) mindsets and belonging mindsets when enrolled in a college-level mathematics course or enrolled in both the college-level mathematics and learning support mathematics courses. The study was conducted at a Tennessee community college in the Fall 2021 semester. Sixty-two students completed the paper survey, which consisted of 17 items that measured academic (growth vs. fixed) and belonging mindsets and included demographic items (age and gender) and ACT mathematics scores. I conducted independent t-tests to find any significant differences between academic (growth vs. fixed) mindset scores and belonging …

Immersive Influence: Examining The Impact Of Virtual Reality On Brand Perception Among The Innovation Generation, Holden Gaylor

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Now more than ever, brands must create innovative and engaging experiences to enhance perception and build consumer trust. Virtual reality (VR) offers an opportunity for brands to achieve these goals by providing immersive, interactive experiences that, when done right, can strengthen key brand metrics. Despite the growing use of VR in experiential marketing, research on VR’s effectiveness in shaping brand perception and influencing authenticity remains limited. Grounded in media richness theory, this study examined how VR impacts brand perception and whether media richness influences authenticity.

Using a mixed-methods approach, 20 participants engaged with the “Wendyverse,” a branded VR environment. Pre-, …

Why Teachers Stay: A Multiple Case Study Of Retention In Small To Midsized Schools, Karen Shaw Ewton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Teacher retention presents a critical challenge for small to midsized school districts, often compounded by limited resources and unique community dynamics. Using Herzberg’s twofactor theory, this qualitative study explored factors influencing teacher retention in districts with retention rates exceeding 85%. Semistructured interviews with nine teachers examined the impact of hygiene factors, such as administrative support and compensation, and motivators, like autonomy and professional growth. Thematic analysis revealed that administrative support and equitable workloads prevent dissatisfaction, while motivators such as meaningful relationships, recognition, and relevant professional development drive commitment. Professional development emerged as both a motivator and a hygiene factor based …

Non-Suicidal Self-Injurious Behavior In Higher Education: Examining Its Prevalence And Correlates, Kacie Nicole Lancaster

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The prevalence of non-suicidal self-injurious behavior (NSSIB) among college students has notably escalated despite advancements in mental health treatment. NSSIB is defined as intentional destruction of body tissue without suicidal intent. There is a growing need to understand NSSIB in the context of college students who experience unique stressors that influence their mental health. This study (1) determined the prevalence of non-suicidal self-injurious behavior among an undergraduate college student sample, (2) examined the relationship between NSSIB and sociodemographic variables (age, gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status), (3) examined the relationship between NSSIB and the variables of psychiatric comorbidity, history of trauma, and …

Social Identity And Eating Behaviors: How Cultural Norms Impact Disordered Eating, Cierrah Jesi-Rae Fulenwider

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Disordered eating behaviors (DEBs), such as frequent dieting, emotional eating, and obsessive “clean eating,” are increasingly prevalent in our society and have been linked to significant physical and psychological health risks. However, the role of sociocultural influences, such as discrimination and social media, are often overlooked. This study examined the relationship between disordered eating behaviors and perceived discriminatory experiences, social media use, physical self-description, and attitudes toward eating among undergraduate college students. The sample consisted of 110 undergraduate students. Participants completed an electronic survey comprised of the Everyday Discrimination Scale-S (EDS-S), Social Media Usage Scale (SMUS), Eating Attitudes Test-26 (EAT-26), …

Longing For The Prodigal: Nonviolent Communication And The Journey From Estrangement To Understanding, Amelia D. Little

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study explores how parents who practice nonviolent communication (NVC) navigate conflict with their adult children, offering insights into how collaborative conflict resolution can transform intergenerational relationships. Drawing on family systems theory and sanctification theory, this qualitative study examines how parents shift from coercive and avoidant conflict strategies to become more empathetic and collaborative. Semi-structured interviews with ten NVC-practicing parents demonstrate that NVC extends traditional conflict styles theory (Kilmann & Thomas, 1978) by emphasizing emotional awareness as essential components of effective collaboration. Additionally, narrative analysis highlights how family storytelling reframes past conflicts, fostering relational healing. The study contributes to family …