Digital Commons Network^™

Students And Graphic Novels: How Visuals Aid In Literary Term Recall And Students' Perceptions Of The Tools, Jacelyn Kit Liberto

Education Masters

This study examined how graphic novels can reinforce students’ understanding of literary terms and what students’ perceptions of using graphic novels as a learning tool are. The research was conducted with three reading clinic students who completed pre and post unit questionnaires on the literary terms used studied, filled out a questionnaire about graphic novels, created pre and post unit creative pieces based on the literary terms and were observed for behaviors and attitudes. The findings show that using graphic novels can enhance student recall of literary terms and they are a text type students enjoy. Teachers should use graphic …

History Losing Its Value: Representation Of Minorities Within High School History Texts, Taylor Giarrizzo

Education Masters

Textbooks have been viewed as unbiased and influential sources. This study posed the question: how does the representation of minorities in high school history textbooks impact student perception of those races? Research for the study was conducted in a Western New York State suburban high school within two classrooms: one 11th grade A.P. U.S. history class and one 9th grade AVID social studies class. Through textbook analysis, classroom observations, and student interviews, three findings appeared. Lack of information in textbooks caused students to question the source’s validity, students gained more information through multiple perspectives, and accurate portrayals of minorities allowed …

The Impact Of Teachers Of Different Genders Instructing Students Of Different Genders, Ashley Florack

Education Masters

This study aims to examine the effects of teachers of different genders instructing students of different genders. Data was collected through concept maps of classroom physical space, teacher interviews, student attitude surveys and classroom observational notes of sixth and seventh grade students and teachers. The study reveals that male and female teachers privilege students of the opposite sex, female students have more negative attitudes towards reading and physical space plays a role in student engagement and participation among male and female students. Teachers need to be conscious of their decisions and how assumptions and bias expectations can hinder student learning.

Differentiated Small Group Word Study Instruction: A Developmental Spelling Approach, Emily E. Pettit

Education Masters

This study examined if differentiated small group word study instruction would impact student achievement more than whole group instruction. I claim that small group instruction following a developmental approach more significantly affects student progress. Students were divided into homogeneous groups based on assessment results. Established weekly routines included a teacher lesson, word sorting, word hunts, and games. This study proves that word study instruction is most effective in small groups focused on developmental spelling progress instead of in a whole group setting. Homogenous small groups provide more individualized attention at each student’s instructional level and result in more positive student …

August 28, 1963: Building Community Through Collective Discourse, Jennifer Nestelberger

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The August 28, 1963 March on Washington is often remembered primarily for Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, which serves as the pinnacle of civil rights movement oratory. This thesis, in contrast, examines speeches of the leaders of the "Big Six" organizations that preceded King's well-known words in order to shed light on the complexities of the movement and the outcomes that can result from meaningful dissent. Occurring at a time of division, the March emerged as a symbol of hope for change in the nation. The addresses of the day reflected this hope and helped build …

Mothers, Sons, And The Gothic Family In Brown, Poe, And Wharton, Elizabeth Lain Lyon

Scripps Senior Theses

Within Gothic literature, the mother is frequently missing. In Charles Brockden Brown’s Edgar Huntly, Edgar Allan Poe’s “Morella,” “Ligeia,” and “Eleonora,” and Edith Wharton’s “Bewitched,” men are left without parents, and they attempt to recuperate a mother-figure. To do so, the men in these texts psychologically project the role of their mother onto other women. Wives, sisters, and daughters all have the potential to become mothers to these men. This is a catastrophe for the women involved, for male perception fails to distinguish females as autonomous, unique beings. By conflating roles in the family structure, men destroy women and …

Planting Seeds Is A Metaphor: Being Agrarian, Agricultural Activism, And Emergent Identity In New Mexico, Elise Trott

Anthropology ETDs

In recent years, small-scale agriculture and acequia (traditional ditch irrigation) practices have become a significant locus for the goals and agendas of multiple stakeholders in New Mexico, attracting political, scholarly, and popular interest from a wide variety of groups and individuals. For this reason, local acequieros (acequia irrigators) and farmers are constantly engaged in processes of boundary-making, identity formation, and negotiation over the limits, claims, and goals of their involvement in agricultural activism, as well as the involvement of others. This thesis addresses the content, meaning, and implications of the strategic identity formation and boundary-making practices of one organization at …

Neurophysiologic Investigation Of The Auditory What And Where Pathways In Young And Middle-Aged Adults, Ann Marie Olson

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

When a sound is heard, individuals intrinsically attempt to identify the sound and its location. This automatic and parallel processing is known as the auditory “what” and “where” pathways. The present study involved the neurophysiologic investigation of the auditory dual pathways in an attention and working memory task as a function of age. Using identical stimuli, event-related potentials were measured in young and middle-aged adults with normal hearing for both pitch identification (“what” pathway) and location (“where” pathway). Results showed differences in cortical processing of the “what” and “where” pathways as a function of age and task instruction. Although processing …

The French Community At Uri: A Study Of Cultural And Linguistic Identity, Kayla L. Butts

Senior Honors Projects

The French Community at URI: A Study of Cultural and Linguistic Identity

Kayla Butts

Sponsor: Karen DeBruin, French

Growing up in a bi-racial family has always brought upon me the question of identity. To which culture do I belong and which values do I adopt? To make matters even more complex, I have fallen in love with the French culture and language and have chosen to major in it. Am I allowed to feel a part of this culture as well?

Whether it is part of ones ethnic background or not, human beings question if it is possible to truly …

Palliative Care Consultation Trajectories, Elissa Kozlov

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

In 2008, the Veterans Association: VA) mandated that all VA hospitals have a palliative care consult team: PCCT) to provide services to veterans with life-limiting illness. PCCTs within the VA are new, so little is known about their efficacy and utilization. The purpose of this study is to examine the timing of PCCT consultations and responses; document and categorize types and rates recommendations; determine rates at which recommendations are implemented; and identify factors related to if recommendations are made and implemented. This electronic medical records review study examined 200 initial palliative care consultations conducted in one VA hospital between January …

Constructing Depth Through Jane: Contemporary Interactions Between Austen And Interiority, Nicole Catherine Peters

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

The world is saturated with Jane Austen. She is in the movies, in bookstores, and in college courses. For years “lowbrow” and “highbrow” readers have fought over the “proper” way to read her work. Ian Watt, a popular literary critic, argued that Austen’s value resides in her use of interiority. For years, interiority was held as the measure of a novel’s worth or depth. Deidre Lynch exposed this interiority Watt spoke of as a cultural taste—one which Austen and Watt emerged from and helped to create.

In this project, I look at two contemporary manifestations of Austen—one that is considered …

Chinese International Students' Cross-Cultural Adaptation And Online Communication, Chen Wei Wu

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study explored Chinese international students' computer mediated communication with both Americans and Chinese during their studying in the U.S. based on a Cross-Cultural Adaptation theory. The specific purpose of this study was to test five theorems of the theory with a sample of Chinese international students and to explore how Chinese international students' intercultural transformation, adaptive personality, host communication competence, and their interpersonal and mass communication with both host and ethnic groups associate together.

East Of The Tracks: Grassroots Environmentalism In South Mississippi, Heather Kay Sanchez

Master's Theses

Environmental justice literature challenges the disparity and oppression regarding the quality of life associated with residential environments among communities of color. Recent disasters, such as hurricane Katrina, the Tennessee coal sludge disaster (December 2008), and the BP Oil Spill (2010) have garnered visibility for environmental issues, particularly in the south. Nevertheless, the topic has largely been ignored in Mississippi among academia, many advocacy groups, and at the state level despite the emergence of several community based grassroots environmental groups throughout Mississippi in recent years. From Columbia, to Crystal Springs, to Hattiesburg, a coalition of environmental groups is forming with Hattiesburg …

Career Choices And The Influence Of Third Culture Kids On International Relations, Morgan Byttner

International and Global Studies Undergraduate Honors Theses

In a study of approximately 258 third culture kids (TCKs), I examine the effects that TCKs have on the field of International Relations through their educational, career, and lifestyle choices.

Confessions: Past, Present, And Future (Reformed Matters), Karin Maag

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

An article on the importance and role of confessions within Christian traditions.

Understanding Human Abilities In Sub-Saharan African Settings, Elias Mpofu, Kayi Ntinda, Thomas Oakland

Online Readings in Psychology and Culture

Cultural communities define and promote human abilities they perceive to give expression to their core values. Indigenous sub-Saharan African communities place a high premium mainly on abilities that promote or give expression to the value of social interests. This article considers human abilities from a cultural psychology perspective, one that reflects the understandings of culturally competent informants of valid and valued abilities in their context together with ways of knowing about such abilities. This article describes the utilization of an appreciative inquiry approach to understand human abilities among sub-Saharan African communities, including increasingly important abilities associated with schooling or modernization …

Principles Of Learner Autonomy In Action: Effects And Perceptions In A College-Level Foreign Language Class, Heiko Everwien Ter Haseborg

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This study was designed to investigate how college learners of a foreign language perceived learner autonomy, its effects on student motivation, and its benefits to different parts of language learning. It utilized a mixed-methods design. Participants were 90 undergraduate students in German courses of different levels. During the course of instruction, principles of learner autonomy were implemented in the instruction. Qualitative as well as quantitative data were collected in the form of a self-assessment survey, learning journals, reflective statements, and an autonomous learning survey. The analysis was focused on (1) how students perceived the ability to make autonomous learning choices, …

Inquiry Into Place-Based Education In Art, Marie L. Drexler

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

A place-based pedagogy is a call for educators to utilize local environs in content curricula to build upon and enrich instruction for students. This study examines the potential for K-12 schools in West Virginia to reasonably adhere to place-based art education methods in visual arts curricula. Data collection consisted of interviews conducted with three West Virginia public school art educators and three community specialists who work in the fields of art, ecology, and art education. Using qualitative analysis, the open-ended responses from both the teachers and the community specialists were analyzed. The conclusion section reviews limitations to placebased education expressed …

Persuasion And Manipulation: Relevance Across Multiple Audiences, Kevin Sparks

Theses and Dissertations

A speaker who is addressing multiple audiences has split intentions. In order to derive the optimal benefit toward accomplishing her intentions, the speaker crafts her utterance to be relevant to her various audiences in different ways and to differing degrees. Similarly, the hearer will infer meaning based largely on how much he thinks that the speaker intended her utterance to be relevant to him, while also considering how the utterance may have been intended to be relevant to others. The goal of this paper is to describe how the presence of multiple audiences affects both the speaker's formation of an …

An Examination Of The Perception Of Special Education Teachers In The Mississippi Delta Toward Their Transition Competencies, Vickie Elaine Curry

Dissertations

Transition from high school to post-school activities is recognized as a serious challenge for students with disabilities (Shandra & Hogan, 2008; Wehman, 2006). The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) (2006) outlines the development of the IEP and transition plan as an essential task. However, the preponderance of secondary special educators lacks self-assurance in the ability to address students’ transition desires (Prater, Sileo, & Black, 2000). Little is known about how special education teachers proffer transition services to students with disabilities and the scope to which teachers are equipped and pleased with the services they provide. This quantitative descriptive study …

A Model Of An Effective Approach To Studio Voice At The Undergraduate Level: The Vocal Method Of Dr. Raquel Cortina, Kathleen Gorman Westfall

Dissertations

In her forty years of teaching voice at the college level at the University of New Orleans, Dr. Raquel Cortina has developed a method and process of teaching that yields exemplary results in her students. This study will provide a detailed description of her methods, her process of teaching, and the way she communicates information to her students. It will also provide a model for teachers of classical voice at the undergraduate level. The aspects of her method included in this study are limited to breath and support, resonance, issues with register, articulation, and musicality. A context of Cortina’s methods …

The Effect Of The Parent Liaison On Latino Student High School Completion And Parent Involvement, Jeanne Thompson Walker

Dissertations

The graduation rate for Latinos in the United States has consistently lagged behind the high school completion rate of White and Asian students in the United States. Efforts to bring equity to schools and improve high school success among Latinos have been inconsistent even after the implementation of No Child Left Behind Legislation. The use of a Spanish speaking parent liaison is gaining momentum as an intervention strategy in elementary schools, often funded by Title 1 grants to schools with large populations of socio-economically disadvantaged students. The Parent Liaison position is also being utilized in some high schools to encourage …

Teacher Perception Of Their Initial Traditional Or Alternitive Teacher Training Program, Daphne Yolanda Lowe

Dissertations

This study was conducted to identify if there was a need for reform within initial traditional teacher and/or alternative route teacher training programs. The purpose of this study was to gather data about teachers’ perceptions of their initial teacher training program (traditional undergraduate or alternative route) as adequate training to prepare them to complete their actual teacher job tasks. The study compared the perceptions of teachers with varying years of teaching experience (one to two, three to four, and more than five) to identify if there was a difference and/or how years of teaching experience impacted teachers’ perceptions of their …

Determinants Of Tax Effort: A Cross Country Analysis, Mark Alan Mccoon

Dissertations

This paper analyzes the determinants of tax effort. Tax effort is defined as the aggregate tax level of a country divided by its Gross Domestic Product. A country‘s tax effort is an expression of the tax burden the government imposes on the economy. One of the most fundamental issues confronting a society is the size of the governmental sector. How large should the government be relative to the size of the economy? The nations of the world have crafted many different answers to that question as evidenced by the fact that tax effort and the size of government sectors varies …

The Relationship Between School Leadership And Graduation Coach Interventions In Rural And Urban Settings, Christopher Nicholas Amos

Dissertations

The primary purpose for the Graduation Coach intervention is to increase the graduation rate and help schools produce a student that can be a productive citizen. The increasing dropout rate in the United States of America, coupled with the recent addition of some legislation, has forced schools and districts to implement programs to combat this deficiency. The economic and social impacts that dropouts have on society are vast and can be devastating for some communities. The setting in which a school resides and the leadership style of the school principal are factors that could have a significant impact on the …

The Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence And Leadership Effectiveness Among Sponsored Research Administrators, Ventez Derrell Jones

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of emotional intelligence, as perceived by senior level university sponsored research administration professionals and their perceived leadership effectiveness, as measured by the Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory and the Kouzes and Posner Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) for Self. Senior research administrators are now more than ever being faced with profusely, increasingly, difficult issues within the scope of their daily work processes.

The relevant review of literature focused on four key areas: theoretical rationale for examining emotional intelligence, the link between emotional intelligence and leadership effectiveness, effective leadership practices within education, and …

The Beat Goes On: The Connections Between Pitch Matching And Beat Competency In The Reading Proficiencies Of Third Graders, Lori Conlon Khan

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Children who are poor readers in their early years generally remain poor readers in their later years. Research questions explore positive connections between learning music and learning to hear, understanding the spoken word, and, ultimately, reading the printed word. A series of 12 lessons created to improve internal rhythmicity and practice pitch matching skills were administered by general music specialists to a treatment group of third grade students (n=15) reading below grade level, over a period of 12 weeks. Treatment group results were compared to a control group (n=10) who did not receive musical intervention. The research examined the reading …

Can Esl Teachers Teach Reading Metacognitive Strategies?, Adil Bentahar

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Metacognitive knowledge has been linked to use of metacognitive strategies and effectiveness in reading (e.g., Flavell, 1979). In the present research, I evaluated whether teaching three metacognitive strategies (planning, monitoring, and evaluating) would (a) improve English as a Second Language (ESL) students’ metacognitive knowledge, which in turn would (b) improve their comprehension. Eight non-English speaking students completed the Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategy Inventory (MARSI) (Mokhtari & Reichard, 2002) and a reading test at the beginning of a reading-writing course and again at the end of the course. The results revealed an increase from pretest to posttest in all three …

Special Feature: The Future Of Lay Adjudication In Korea And Japan, Hiroshi Fukurai, Valerie P. Hans

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Three years after Korea introduced the jury system for the first time in its history, and two years following the Japanese introduction of a mixed court in which citizen and professional judges decide serious criminal cases, the Second East Asian Law and Society Conference was held on September 30th and October 1st, 2011 in the vibrant city of Seoul, South Korea. This Special Issue of the Yonsei Law Journal offers an opportunity to present work on some of the key issues that were discussed and debated at this remarkable conference. In particular, the special issue offers new research on the …

The Null Patent, Sean B. Seymore

William & Mary Law Review

Failure is the basis of much of scientific progress because it plays a key role in building knowledge. In fact, negative results compose the bulk of knowledge produced in scientific research. This is not a bad thing because failures always produce valuable technical information—whether it be a serendipitous finding, an abundance of unexpected technical data, or simply knowledge that an initial hypothesis was totally wrong. Though some have recognized that the dissemination of negative results has many upsides for science, transforming scientific norms toward disclosure is no easy task. As for patent law, the potentially important role that negative results …