Digital Commons Network^™

Enhancing Student Academic Performance And Overall Health Through Standards-Based Physical Education, Haley Elizabeth Marcoux

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

Standards-based physical education may have an impact on students’ academic performance. Many studies support this notion. In many schools, physical education curricula are being greatly reduced. They may be removed or replaced with other programs. It is a common perception that physical education is an extra curricular activity and can be characterized as “free time” or recess. The purpose of this study is to analyze quality indicators of standards-based physical education programs in a select setting in an urban middle school. The research literature yields studies with mixed results. However in a meta analysis of the research in this area, …

Preparing Future School Leaders To Ensure Racial, Ethnic, Linguistic, And Socio-Economic Equity In Education: The "Third Way", Deborah S. Peterson, Amy Daggett Petti, Susan Carlile

Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

Preparing educational leadership to ensure equity in our schools has become a focus of principal preparation programs with some programs relying on a conventional approach, others using a critical approach, and some using a combination of approaches. Despite a focus on equity, students' race and ethnicity continue to predict the educational attainment of students in our schools and their subsequent economic prosperity. As demographics in European countries and the United States change, the need to educate children of all racial, ethnic, and linguistic backgrounds is no longer only of moral importance, it is of urgent economic significance. To ensure economic …

Dispossession, Estrangement, And Fragmented Identities In William Faulkner’S Absalom, Absalom! And Toni Morrison’S Beloved., Kimberly Katrina Fain

Theses (Pre-2016)

William Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom! and Toni Morrison's Beloved depict the humble beginnings of protagonists who are haunted by dispossession, estrangement, and fragmented lives. Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom! is a bildungsroman about a modem man who has a grand design for an empire, but disenchantment in the post-Civil War south disrupts Thomas Sutperi's plans. When the South loses the Civil War, his dynasty deconstructs itself. Multiple narratives reiterate the story of this enigmatic man whose dynasty becomes an American tragedy because of his family's nostalgia for the Old South, incest, and miscegenation. In contrast, Toni Morrison's Beloved is a modem stream of …

Guided Reading Instruction: How Literacy Candidates Understand And Instruct Using Guided Reading In A Literacy Clinic, Nicole Ackerman

Education Masters

Guided reading is an instructional method that is used in various classrooms around the country. This study asked the question: In a literacy clinic, how do literacy candidates understand guided reading, and what characteristics do effective literacy candidates exhibit? Research was done in in Plaintown, New York (a pseudonym) with four literacy candidates in a literacy clinic. Through interviews with literacy instructors and candidates, observations of instruction in the clinic, and by reviewing student work, it was found that there is a distinct difference between what literacy candidates and instructors understand about guided reading instruction and how it should look. …

A Lesson In Speech Or Debate Jurisprudence, Matthew Patrick Dolan

Student Works

No abstract provided.

Proscribing Hate Speech In A Post-September 11 World: Enacting Effective Regulation Of Anti-Muslim Invective In Order To Stem Domestic Terror Threats, Rabia Mariam Hassan

Student Works

No abstract provided.

Solving The Macedonian Question: Avoiding War In A Bi-Ethnic State, Gorgi L. Popstefanov

Student Works

No abstract provided.

Voices Of Young Adults With Autism And Their Perspective On Life Choices After Secondary Education, Susan Galler

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative research study was to explore how young adults who have an autism spectrum disorder perceive their life choices after secondary education. The focus participants in the sample were young adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). For the purpose of this research, ASD includes autism and Asperger's Disorder. Participants between the ages of 18 and 33 were located through purposive sampling in the states of Minnesota and Tennessee, as the author has previously worked in these states. Participants were asked five open ended focus questions during the span of two face to face interviews. Questions …

A Study Of Latino Parent Involvement Practices In The United States, Marcia Lawrence

Education Doctoral

Historically, parental involvement has been viewed as a vehicle for academic success, especially in addressing the ever-widening achievement gap of Latino students. Despite this, minority parents frequently remain reluctant to engage in school programs. The reluctance to be involved can be attributed to several factors such as language barriers, lack of child care, low levels of education, and low English proficiency. The purpose of the dissertation was to explore the reasons for Latino parents’ reluctance to engage in their children’s school. Ecological Theory and Integrative Model of Family Involvement influenced the direction of this study. The research methodology was qualitative. …

Bridging Race And Deafness: Examining The First-Year Experiences Of Black Deaf Students At A Predominately White Hearing College, Mary Karol Matchett

Education Doctoral

Despite increasing enrollment of Black deaf college students in recent decades, graduation rates have not improved. This study clarifies Black deaf students’ experiences and highlights strategies that facilitate student persistence in college. This qualitative phenomenological study used a triangulated method of data collection to enhance credibility and gain participant trust. It included demographic surveys and in-depth interviews supplemented by field notes. After data analysis, findings were identified based on Tinto’s student integration theory (1993). Three major themes are identified, including Peer Connectedness, which participants considered the most important factor in Black deaf student retention; Defining Black Deaf Identity, which considered …

The Birth Of A Real Right: An Overview And Analysis Of The Recent Revision Of Book Iii, Title X Of The Civil Code, Bradley Schwab

Louisiana Law Review

The article examines the revised articles in Title X, Book III, of the Louisiana Civil Code which is regarding rents of lands and annuities. It explains the revisions to Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 of Title X, Book III that pertains to the annuity contract and the annuity charge respectively. It discusses some economic benefits created by these new articles including bankruptcy protection and Medicaid benefits.

President Barack Obama And The Commencement Of A New Perspective On Epideictic Speeches, Milene Ortega Ribeiro

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Commencement speakers are typically expected to praise students and motivate them. When the commencement speaker is a President, the expectation is different. This thesis investigated the functions of epideictic address in light of the rhetorical presidency doctrine. Close textual analysis of the three most controversial commencement speeches delivered by President Barack Obama revealed that the challenge of fulfilling the expectations of a commencement address, while responding to rhetorical problems, required the President to adopt complex rhetorical strategies. The predominant strategies included humor, strategic use of rhetorical presence, and ideological identification. The President used strategies that allowed him to be the …

Equity Through Education: Adapting The Us Education System To A 21st Century Student Body, Meghan Nyman

Public Administration & Policy

As policies surrounding immigration are in the forefront of our political discourse, this paper seeks to address the experience of Latino students in the US education system and the resulting impacts. After a thorough review of scholarly literature on the matter as well as data from the US Census Bureau and research institutions, this paper finds that Latino students are being left out of the US education system. Latino students across the country are dropping out of high school at rates greater than their white counterparts. This disparity in high school graduation rates has created a barrier in the education …

Transforming Schools Through Positive Youth Development, Briana Young

Political Science

Many of our schools in the United States are struggling to produce high school graduates due to many challenges such as poverty, lack of community support, drug and crime stricken areas, disengagement of youth, and the list goes on. Educational reform is necessary and crucial at this time in order to lessen the achievement gap. Although some policies, such as No Child Left Behind, have made some headway into reform, greater change is needed. I propose that educational policy needs to implement a positive youth development approach. Research has shown that PYD practices have the power to transform some of …

In Desperate Need Of Sleep: Teenagers And School Start Times, Cristin Marie Allen

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

School start times have the potential to be damaging to students academically. Several studies have linked sleep to the transfer of knowledge into long term memory, while others show how the lack of sleep is disruptive to learning. If school start times truly have an impact on the functionality of the teenage brain, educators should be doing everything in their power to make sure schools begin at a proper hour. The purpose of this study was to extend research done in other parts of the country, traditionally in urban areas, that attempted to show a link between student achievement and …

Igeneration: The Social Cognitive Effects Of Digital Technology On Teenagers, Eugenia A. Ives

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

Into today’s world, digital technology changes so rapidly and integrates into our society at such an accelerated rate, it is hard to keep up with it, let alone reflect on the effects it has on our lives. Although Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, did not exist a mere decade ago, they are now ubiquitous forms of media and communication in our culture. Today’s generation of teenagers, born in the 1990s, aptly labeled the “iGeneration”, are the most connected generation ever. These iGen teens are digital natives growing up in an era of a massive influx of technology. They do not know …

The 2013 Trout Scholars, Unh Communications And Public Affairs

UNH Today Archive

No abstract provided.

La Barbe: Feminine Beards And Other Mysteries Of French Grammatical Gender, Robin F. Keller

Senior Honors Projects

Grammatical gender in French language is one of the biggest guessing games for a native English speaker. Why a table is feminine and a book is masculine is a question that plagues those learning French as a second language. In French, all nouns have gender, masculine and feminine. The complication: only a small percentage of the nouns are assigned gender semantically leaving the remaining which are assigned gender seemingly arbitrarily. For English native speakers, the distinction of these basic parts in a foreign language is not a natural skill. The simple fact that nouns are either feminine or masculine is …

It's Not So Simple: The Role Of Simplicity In Science And Theory., C. R. Gregg

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The principle of simplicity (parsimony) has long been invoked as a regulative principle that helps guide theory selection in science. However, it is unclear if there is justification for a globally applicable criterion of parsimony. This paper briefly reviews the salient features of what it means for something to be simple, as well as argues for simplicity as relevant only to a set of background assumptions.

Considering Kranzhügeln: An Exploration Into The Structural Variation And Environmental/Spatial Distribution Of The Third Millennium "Kranzhügel" Sites, Elise Jakoby

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

First named by von Oppenheim over a century ago, the distinctive third millennium BC kranzhügeln, or "wreath-mound," sites of the Syrian Desert remain a poorly understood phenomenon. While archaeological investigations have been undertaken at a handful of kranzhügel-like sites including Tell Chuera, Tell al-Rawda, and Tell Beydar, the overall number, geographic distribution, and morphological variation of so-called "kranzhügel" sites remains largely unexplored.

1960s-era CORONA satellite imagery available through the CORONA Atlas Project (http://corona.cast.uark.edu/) now enables more systematic documentation of the kranzhügel sites and the production site-scale visual and quantitative analysis. Analysis of kranzhügel distribution and morphology …

Teacher Professional Learning Communities For Sustainability: Supporting Stem In Learning Gardens In Low-Income Schools, Sybil S. Kelley, Dilafruz R. Williams

Educational Leadership and Policy Faculty Publications and Presentations

In order to address the ecological and social problems of sustainability in our modern times, citizens need to be empowered with an understanding of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) concepts and practices. Furthermore, STEM must be democratized and taught in life-giving and life-sustaining ways that include all students instead of the small fraction of "high achievers" and limited to the "potential" scientists, engineers, and mathematicians. At present, K-12 students and their teachers rarely have the opportunity to learn beyond their concrete school walls and to reconnect with nature, exacerbating their disconnection of STEM from real life and hence sustainability. …

Identifying Subjective Statements In News Titles Using A Personal Sense Annotation Framework, Polina Panicheva, John Cardiff, Paolo Rosso

Articles

Subjective language contains information about private states. The goal of subjective language identification is to determine that a private state is expressed, without considering its polarity or specific emotion. A component of word meaning, “Personal Sense,” has clear potential in the field of subjective language identification, as it reflects a meaning of words in terms of unique personal experience and carries personal characteristics. In this paper we investigate how Personal Sense can be harnessed for the purpose of identifying subjectivity in news titles. In the process, we develop a new Personal Sense annotation framework for annotating and classifying subjectivity, polarity, …

The Explosion Of Ethnic Retributive Violence In Czechoslovakia At The End Of The Second World War, Bryson David Taylor

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The end of the Second World War was not the end of the explosion of human rights abuses from the Nazi occupation of Eastern Europe. In Czechoslovakia as well as Poland, there were outbreaks of retributive violence driven toward the German ethnic minorities present within their liberated boundaries. In both cases, the governments of Poland and Czechoslovakia began a state sponsored, and Potsdam Conference approved program, of "orderly and humane" expulsions. While most twentieth and twenty first century historians have attributed these actions in Czechoslovakia as a continuation of the historical relationship between the Czechs and Germans of Bohemia and …

The Impact Of Technology Attitudes And Skills Of Rural Health Clinic Nurses On The Level Of Adoption Of Electronic Health Records In Mississippi, Jennifer Lynn Styron

Dissertations

The evolution of health information technology continues to reform the delivery of efficient, safe, and equitable healthcare in the United States. One such example is the emergence of electronic health records (EHRs) and the discerning emphasis placed on using this technology in meaningful ways. While the integration of EHRs into daily practice impacts all healthcare professionals, nurses remain a prominent driver in the successful adoption and usage of these systems. It is therefore imperative to understand the impact of nurses’ technology attitudes and skills on the level of EHR adoption in Mississippi.

This quantitative study examined the technology attitudes and …

Ornithology And Apparent Magnitude, Sarah Michelle Wynn

Dissertations

Ornithology and Apparent Magnitude is a collection of poems with a critical preface.

Educating Students To Become Culturally Competent Physical Therapists: Issues Of Teaching And Assessment, Lisa Jayroe Barnes

Dissertations

With the growing multicultural population within the United States, healthcare providers need to be prepared to care for and educate adult clients from various cultural backgrounds. The purpose of the study was to examine the teaching and assessment methods being used by faculty in the education of future physical therapists in teaching the construct of cultural competence, how these methods may vary according to the educational background of faculty in relation to the use of concepts specific to adult education that may lead to transformational learning, and faculty opinions about teaching and assessing this abstract construct.

Survey methodology was used …

Teacher Dialogue And Its Relationship To Student Achievement, Heather Norton Montgomery

Dissertations

Many studies have been conducted to analyze the different methods and structures of teacher conversations. Researchers realize how complex the study of teacher dialogue may be and have concentrated their efforts to study discourse within the context of teaching teams. Some of the literature has focused on what topics and factors of dialogue contribute to improved student achievement. The purpose of this research was to determine whether some factors or themes of dialogue are discussed more frequently than others within third, fourth, and fifth grade-level teams, and if those themes and factors of dialogue had a relationship to academic achievement. …

The Role Of Service-Learning On College Students' Environmental Literacy: Content Knowledge, Attitudes, And Behaviors, Joanna Lynn Bush Singletary

Dissertations

This study evaluated the relationship of environmental service-learning on environmental literacy in undergraduates. The subjects were 36 undergraduates at a small liberal arts university enrolled in an environmental biology course.To determine the role of environmental service-learning on college students’ environmental knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, and environmental literacy, this study utilized concurrent mixed methods approach for qualitative and quantitative analysis. A quasi-experimental repeated measures approach was the design of the quantitative component of the study.Data were collected on attitude, behavior, and content knowledge aspects of environmental literacy as measured by the Environmental Literacy Survey (Kibert, 2000). Hypotheses were tested by independent samples …

The Problem Of Literature In Composition Classes, Gregory Shafer

Language Arts Journal of Michigan

No abstract provided.

Your Love Is Public Now: Questioning The Use Of Personal Information In Authentication, Payas Gupta, Swapna Gottipati, Jing Jiang, Debin Gao

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Most social networking platforms protect user's private information by limiting access to it to a small group of members, typically friends of the user, while allowing (virtually) everyone's access to the user's public data. In this paper, we exploit public data available on Facebook to infer users' undisclosed interests on their profile pages. In particular, we infer their undisclosed interests from the public data fetched using Graph APIs provided by Facebook. We demonstrate that simply liking a Facebook page does not corroborate that the user is interested in the page. Instead, we perform sentiment-oriented mining on various attributes of a …