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Cultural Context Matters: Terry's "Seesaw Effect", Frank Rudy Cooper

Scholarly Works

This Article investigates why the enforcement of a given legal doctrine may vary with changes in the cultural context in which it is applied. It argues that officials apply the law along an "enforcement practices continuum" in accord with changes in the prevailing articulations of the meaning of cultural identity norms associating particular groups with crime.

Terry v. Ohio doctrine allows police officers to make "stops" and "frisks" of limited scope upon reasonable suspicion of crime rather than requiring the higher standard of probable cause. The Article contends the officer discretion resulting from this "scope continuum" approach permits cultural identity …

Out The Loop, Matthew Christian Anderson

LSU Master's Theses

Often referred to as resembling an architectural blueprint, the screenplay is known for its laconic style. Discarding the subjective abstractionism of a more flowery writing, the screenplay's brevity forces the writer to make use of the physical world of the text to display its underlying currents of thought. This trend in artistic representation, of which the influence has been heatedly discussed since the onset of the cinema, is not stagnant but evolving. The screenwriters of today produce their craft with an increased savoir faire not only in relation to plot and form but also in regards to the aesthetics of …

The Perceptions Of Effects Of A Study Skills Course, "Dynamics Of Effective Study," On The Academic Achievement Of African American Students At A Dedicated Academic Magnet High School, Josephine Ann Allen

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of students, teachers, and administrators on the effectiveness of a study skills course, "Dynamics of Effective Study," on the academic achievement of African American students at a dedicated academic magnet high school. Qualitative research methods were utilized in this study. Fifteen African American students who completed the study skills course, fifteen African American students who did not take or complete the study skills course, five former study skills teachers, and three administrators from the dedicated academic magnet high school volunteered to participate in the study. Open-ended interviews were conducted with …

C.C. Pat Fleming: Houston, Texas, Landscape Architect, Paige Allred Phillips

LSU Master's Theses

C. C. Pat Fleming practiced landscape architecture in Houston and the surrounding South from the 1920s through the 1990s. He came to be considered one of Houston’s preeminent landscape architects, and his role in the profession cannot be overlooked. This thesis traces the evolution of Fleming’s design style over the course of his career, analyzing a selected cross section of his works against three design movements that occurred during his lifetime: the Beaux-Arts tradition, the Colonial Revival movement, and the Modernist movement. For investigating the work of Pat Fleming, the method of historical research is used. A historical context study …

Phonological And Syntactic Processing, And The Role Of Working Memory In Reading Comprehension Among High School Students, John V. Holsgrove

Theses : Honours

The performance of 60 year8 students was examined on tasks measuring phonological processing, syntactic processing, and reading comprehension. The students were also administered several measures of working memory relating to the phonological loop and the central executive. A series of hierarchical regression analyses indicated that phonological processing and syntactic processing were both predictors of reading comprehension, and that the presence or absence of the latter distinguished good and poor comprehenders respectively. The phonological loop was found to play a small but significant role in the processes involved in reading comprehension, but not the central executive. Gender differences suggested that boys …

Les Illuminations D'Arthur Rimbaud : Reflexions Sur Neuf Traductions En Anglais (1946-2002), Brian R. Rundgren

Theses : Honours

The aim of the thesis is to analyse nine translations of the Illuminations by Arthur Rimbaud including the latest translation by Wyatt Mason. The objective is to highlight certain difficulties confronted by all translators of poetic texts. The work will highlight some of the qualities and defects in the nine translations. The thesis also aims to give some insight into the extraordinary variety of techniques used by these nine translators. The nine translations of the Illuminations that we have studied in the thesis are those by: Louise Varese (1946,1957), Olivier Bernard (1962,!997), Wallace Fowlie (1966), Enid Rhodes Peschel (1973), Bertrand …

The Practice Of Homework : A Critical Ethnography : The Story Of Four Families, Jacqueline Hubbard

Theses : Honours

This thesis explores the homework experiences of four students and their families through the lens of critical inquiry. The stories of the participants are told through conversational interviews with students and their parents/caregivers, as well as their classroom teacher, in a bounded study. Drawing on these stories, the issue of homework is 'problematised', and analysed in light of issues such as institutional power and hegemony. A critical review of the literature reveals a significant gap in the existing research on homework in relation to the inclusion of student and parent voices. The study addresses this silence by listening to the …

Identifying Complex Issues Surrounding The Construction Of Indigeneity In Film And Documentary, Debbie Carmody

Theses : Honours

Indigenous identity can only be located within . a framework of historical dislocation from where white notions of assimilation are shattered. Therefore Indigeneity can only be defined in relation to the black experience within colonialism's hegemonic structures. I will argue this by looking at constructions of Indigenous Australians in the feature film Radiance (1998) directed by Rachel Perkins, and the documentary Sissy (2000) directed by Debbie Carmody (previously known as Debbie Gittins), which was made as part of this thesis. This raises questions: What is the black experience and the process of black survival within colonialism's hegemonic structures? How does …

Boys' Perceptions And Experiences Of Their Placement In A Secondary School Remedial Program : An Examination Of Self-Esteem, Attitude, Motivation And Reading Achievement, Angela Milmoe

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Remedial EngIish education has long focused on the development of students reading and writing skills, but research suggests that greater emphasis may need to be placed on affective factors such as self-esteem, motivation, attitude and perception. The influence of such 'non-cognitive' factors on any adolescent student's literacy development is often underestimated. For students experiencing difficulties in literacy, the interaction between perceived ability of degree of success in literacy and the affective factors often impact negatively on self-esteem, attitude and motivation. The relationship between self-esteem, attitude, perception, motivation and literacy needs to be explored, especially when dealing with students with literacy …

Database Development And Intranet Based Image Included Database Management System For Ballistic Firearm Identification System, Toni C. Jiao

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The process of imaging, collecting and searching a cartridge case to identifying its suspected firearm is a time consuming procedure. Within this study, a cartridge case identification database management system in an Intranet environment is designed and implemented, thus enabling firearm examiners from different forensic laboratories to engage firearm identification without the constraints of time and location. Specifically, the study investigates appropriate database management system for image involved and Intranet secured ballistics firearm identification database. The results demonstrated that a computerized firearm identification system could be implemented in Intranet with a secure, scalable, performable Intranet database management system.

Development, Implementation And Evaluation Of An Interactive Multimedia Instructional Model : A Teaching And Learning Programming Approach, Kacha Chansilp

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This study sought to explore the outcomes from the use of a dynamic interactive visualisation tool among novice programmers in an introductory computer programming course. The proposed model, Dynamic Interactive Visualisation Tool in Teaching C (DIVTIC), was designed to use multimedia and visual imagery to provide learners with a step-by-step representation of program execution in the C language as a means of enhancing their understanding of programming structures and concepts. DIVTIC was designed to support constructivist learning principles and combined collaborative and visualisation learning strategies with use of the Internet and the World Wide Web to support the learning of …

Reading Comprehension, And Attitude And Behaviour, Of Students Taught Esl By Cooperative Learning In Prathom (Grade)6 Classrooms In Thailand, Sutaporn Chayarathee

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

A system-wide educational change has been implemented in primary, secondary and tertiary education in Thailand. One major aspect of the change was the requirement for all students from grade I onwards to study English as a second language (ESL). The change requires new methods of teaching and learning, such as cooperative learning, to be introduced in Thai ESL classrooms. This study aims to determine if cooperative learning improves English reading comprehension, and attitude and behaviour to learning ESL, compared to a Thai communicative methodology. The study was conducted in three phases. Phase 1 involved creating a linear scale of English …

Caves And Karsts Of Northeast Africa, William R. Halliday

International Journal of Speleology

At least potentially karstifiable rocks cover much of the surface of Egypt and northern Libya. Study of caves and other karstic features of this region has been hampered by lack of roads, rapid disintegration of the surface of friable, poorly consolidated limestone, wind-blown sand and other factors. Interbedding with marly aquicludes hampers speleogenesis locally. Calcareous and evaporite karsts are present, however, and their waters are important albeit generally limited resources. Large quantities of fresh water are lost through submarine springs downslope from Libya’s Gebel al Akhdar range; the caves and karst of that range may be among the world’s greatest. …

Martel's Routes In Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, 1912, Trevor R. Shaw

International Journal of Speleology

Martel’s own copy of the Hovey 1912 guidebook to Mammoth Cave has his routes marked faintly in pencil on the printed cave plans. These plans are reproduced here, with his routes indicated on them. He generally followed the four standard tourist routes which now included Kaemper’s 1908 discoveries to Violet City, but instead of visiting the Maelstrom he went to Hovey’s Cathedral and Gerta’s Grotto.

Littoral Dripstone And Flowstone--Non-Spelean Carbonate Secondary Deposits, Danko Taborosi, Kevin Stafford

International Journal of Speleology

Speleothem-like dripstone and flowstone deposits can form in the non-spelean environments of marine notches on tropical carbonate coastlines. Hereby termed “littoral dripstone” and “littoral flowstone” to distinguish them from genuine cave deposits, they reflect the basic speleothem types: draperies, stalactites, stalagmites, and columns. Nevertheless, these formations lack the luster and crystallinity of cave analogues, and are not nearly as well-developed, dense, and massive. They are composed of layered microcrystalline aragonite and calcite, are generally highly porous, and invariably overlie dissolutional and bioerosional karren. Because true speleothems, often found in the remnants of solution voids breached by coastal erosion, are also …

Implementing A Plan For Prekindergarten Teachers To Use Developmentally Appropriate Practices Consistently In The Classroom, Luisa P. Martin

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was designed to establish a method to increase the transfer of learning from on-site training to the classroom in order to increase the use of developmentally appropriate practices (DAP). The major goal was to have teachers consistently use DAP in the classroom, which would lead to establishing higher quality services to children at the writer’s work site.

The writer developed strategies to work with two prekindergarten teachers and one assistant teacher. On-site training, classroom observations, a system of daily communication, and a revised school budget were strategies used to address the problem. Monthly meetings were used to …

Resiliency Training Of Sixth-Grade Students In An Educational Setting, Matthew K. Boggan

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This study was designed to investigate the effects that resiliency training had upon a selected group of students in a rural school with a student population of approximately 600. Planned solution strategies included staff development training and implementing activities to establish the school climate and student readiness.

Resiliency Skills and Abilities Scale was used as a pretest, a 45-item survey to determine resiliency scores, before implementing resiliency skills. Training from The Resiliency Training Program, a Training of Trainers by Nan Henderson, M.S.W. was used as an intervention strategy. The intervention strategies involved a section of sixth-grade students, teachers, counselor, administrators, …

Closing The Achievement Gap One School At A Time: Reading Achievement And Hispanic Children, Nereida Inocencia Santa-Cruz

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

Research indicates that the importance of learning to read is critical. An inability to read stands as an enormous barrier to one’s potential knowledge and social participation. Florida’s System of School Improvement and Accountability Act (1999, F.S.) also known as Florida’s High-Quality Education System rates schools in terms of performance on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT). Reading is the focal point of this accountability system. In Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS), 29 elementary schools have been designated grade category F since the inception of the Florida’s High-Quality Education System. James H. Bright Elementary School was one of the originally …

School Resource Officers: Effective Or Ineffective In Reducing Discipline Referrals And Increasing School Safety?, Cornelius B. Leach

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This report describes a program for reducing the number of discipline referrals for fighting, threats, and possession or use of weapons. The total school population was involved in this intervention program. All middle schools in the school district had 2 School Resource Officers (SRO) on campus to produce a safer school environment. The problem with the discipline referrals was documented through the archival data of discipline referrals from the 2000-2001 school year.

An analysis of probable cause data gathered indicated that low or moderate supervision, lack of parental involvement, and lack of knowledge about writing discipline referrals were factors leading …

Is Enrollment In Algebra An Effective Strategy For Helping African American Students Pass The Mathematics Section Of The California High School Exit Exam?, Deborah Bradshaw

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

Beginning with the class of 2004, all students in the state of California must pass the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) to graduate from high school with a diploma. This study sought to determine if a statistically significant difference existed between the mean score of 10th-grade African American students who took an algebra class prior to taking the CAHSEE and the mean score of a matched group of their peers who did not take algebra prior to taking the exam.

Results provided by the California Department of Education showed that at both the state and district level, passing the …

Improving Behavior And Academic Achievement For Students At Sandersville Elementary School, Fate R. Simmons

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was designed to improve discipline and academic achievement at Sandersville Elementary School. This school, located in the Washington County School System, serves students in Grades 3-5. An analysis of data collected in the 2001-2002 school year revealed that 53% of the teachers were dissatisfied with student discipline, and 55% were dissatisfied with the academic climate at Sandersville Elementary School.

Planned solution strategies included a 2-part discipline and academic achievement improvement program. The program focused on helping teachers to understand and address the needs of Early Intervention Program students. The program included in-service training for teachers on specific …

Effects Of The Phoenix Program On Behavior And Academic Performance Of Participants, Grace Y. Wyatt

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This report is a formative evaluation of the Phoenix Program, an alternative program for high school students who are at risk of dropping out of school. A 1-year follow-up study of 75 of its participants indicated that the program had positive effects on students’ behavior and attendance. The study indicated that the greatest positive impact of the program was on students’ behavior. The program had minimal but positive effects on students’ academic performance.

A time series analysis was used to examine program impact. Data were collected from students, teachers, counselors, and administrators. Data that described attendance, discipline, and grades were …

A Parental Involvement Initiative At Fews Alternative School, Lorenzo Harrison

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

The major purpose of this study was to improve parental involvement at an alternative school in Montgomery, AL. Eighty-nine percent of the students indicated prior to the intervention that they believed their parents were not involved in their schooling. The intervention consisted of launching a media campaign to target and invite parents to the school and hiring a parent coordinator.

The design that was most conducive for this applied research is a descriptive design. Pre and post survey data was compared to determine if the students perception regarding their parents involvement improved. Logs of all parents contacted and how many …

Assessing The Kids’ Breakfast Club Nutrition Program At John Muir Elementary School, Marlena E. Uhrik

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was designed to assess The Kids’ Breakfast Club nutrition program and how it has impacted the lives of participating families. The results of a parent survey were used to help guide The Kids’ Breakfast Club in evaluating the effectiveness of the program and to assist the organization in providing the most appropriate educational experiences for the participants.

The Kids’ Breakfast Club is a nonprofit organization designed to improve the quality of life for children and their families. The organization is dedicated to the empowerment of young children and their families through nutrition, education, positive educational and social …

Transition Of Ninth-Grade Students To Tenth Grade Using A Mentorship Program, Maryann Joanna Giacchino

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

Falcon Family was a peer mentoring project implemented at Dunedin High School in the 2001-2002 school year as one method of improving academic performance by ninth-grade students. The project was based, in part, on research showing that ninth-grade students are frequently unprepared for high school and that teachers generally prefer not to teach ninth-grade classes. The literature showed that peer mentorship can act as a deterrent that might result in reducing the retention rate.

As part of the Falcon Family project, an upper-class student was assigned to a ninth grader to assist in developing strategies for completing the ninth grade …

Improving Science Education For Middle-School Students By Integrating Mathematics Into The Scientific Method Process, Robert L. Wells

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was designed to improve student success in science by integrating mathematics into the scientific method process. Students were routinely asked to perform experiments that required mathematical computations in measurement, numeration, geometry, and statistics; however, they were largely unable to perform these calculations because of their inability to apply mathematical concepts outside the mathematics classroom. The mathematics curriculum did not afford the student the opportunity to apply mathematics to real-life situations, nor did the science curriculum consistently apply mathematics to experiments.

The writer developed a series of science experiments that incorporated these four mathematical concepts into earth science …

Improving Homework Completion Of Grade 6-8 Students Through Responsibility And Time Management Skills, Lisa A. Turissini

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was designed to increase the homework completion rate of Grade 6-8 students through the teaching of responsibility and time management skills. Students’ lack of preparedness in the classroom was concerning to parents and staff. An analysis of the problem evidence indicated that there was a lack of organizational skills by the middle school students.

The writer developed a course in time management and organization skills to assist the students with balancing their school and out-of-school activities, keeping track of long and short term assignments and tests as well as daily homework requirements. Other interventions to assist with …

Development And Evaluation Of A Prototype E-Learning Site To Train Japanese Elementary School Teachers How To Teach English To Children, Curtis H. Kelly

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was designed to provide Japanese elementary school teachers assigned to teach English, the skills and tools to do so. Their training needs were assessed in order to develop a prototype e-learning site to provide that training. Seven research questions were answered: 1) What are the educational needs, both perceived and predicted, of Japanese elementary school teachers preparing to teach English to children? 2) What are appropriate systems of delivery for an educational program to satisfy these needs? 3) What are the criteria for the educational contents and format of an educational Web site to satisfy these needs? …

Parental Involvement In A School Setting, Heather Zevator Lebensburger

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was designed to provide parents with the education necessary to facilitate speech and language enriched environments at home. The problem to be resolved was that minimal parental participation delayed the students’ progress with their speech-language goals. The writer created a parent education program for parents who have children with a speech or language eligibility.

Parents were asked to attend three 1-hour 30-minute seminars on the topic of speech and language services. The first seminar introduced the foundations of speech and language. The second seminar introduced specific information about the treatment process. The last seminar allowed parents to …

Addressing Retention, Discipline, And Achievement Problems Among High School Freshmen, John Rhett Harris

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

Problems with ninth grade retention, discipline, and achievement and the attempts to correct those problems were examined as a part of the practicum assignment for Nova Southeastern University. The creation of a ninth grade academy patterned around research describing schools within- schools (SWAS) served as the vehicle for reform aimed at correcting these dilemmas. Statistical evidence revealed that our retention and discipline rates school wide were worsening, particularly among freshmen. Consultation between the researcher and the school principal lead to the creation of a new learning setting whose priority was to reverse the negative trends we were seeing through new …