Digital Commons Network^™

Concussion Reporting Rates At The Conclusion Of A Collegiate Athletic Career, Frances C. Gilbert

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Context: Concussions are common sports-related head injuries, with an estimated 1.6-3.8 million sport-related traumatic brain injuries occurring each year. Proper diagnosis of a concussion often lies in self-reporting symptoms, however, an estimated 50-80% of concussions remain unreported. More than half of college athletes indicate they have no head injury knowledge including potential consequences, however, more than 80% would have reported a head injury if they had understood the potential risks. This lack of knowledge may create the potential for unrecognized concussive injury, therefore causing vast underreporting. Objective: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the current reported …

Folklore For A New Generation: Charles Chesnutt's Updated Trickster Figure, Peter Mccollum

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Amidst a surge of plantation fiction writing during the era of American Realism, Charles Chesnutt was arguably one of the most controversial yet prolific authors to address the recent advent of slavery. The Conjure Woman was a publication of seven frame narratives that employed the traditional style of a former slave telling tales of “the old days,” and though Chesnutt's work may have mirrored such authors as Thomas Nelson Page, the tales broke from tradition with surprisingly stark accounts that are clearly based on Chesnutt's own conversations with former slaves. Much like another contemporary, Joel Chandler Harris, Chesnutt looks backward …

Childhood Trauma, Self-Esteem, And Helping Behaviors: Does History Of Trauma Predict Helping?, Adriana B. Joseph

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

There is insufficient evidence from the available research to fully determine the relationship between self-esteem and helping behaviors. Specifically, some findings indicate that those with lower self-esteem are less likely to help others than those with higher self-esteem (Michelini, Wilson, & Messe, 1975), while others show the opposite trend (Briggs, Landry, & Wood, 2007). Individuals with a history of childhood trauma are more likely to report low self-esteem than those with no history of childhood trauma (Valerio & Lepper, 2009); also, those with a history of trauma are more likely to help others (Frazier, Greer, Gabrielsen, Tennen, Park, & Tomlich, …

A Mixed Methods Case Study Exploring The Outcomes Of Implementing A Digital Learning Management System In A Fourth Grade Language Arts Classroom, Sarah C. Mayberry

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Classrooms of today are in continual flux and state and local mandates are constantly reforming the curriculum in order to help prepare students to compete in a global society; in addition, advancements in technology have greatly impacted today’s students and how they learn as well as the way teachers instruct. As educators, we need to recognize what our students need to become successful citizens in today’s society, which often requires students to be critical evaluators of various types of information and requires them to become literate across a wide range of literacies. Not only is it critical that classroom teachers …

Development And Support Of Dual Language Policies, Hollis Derek Cone

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Teaching a second language is not a new idea. Bilingual education has gone through a metamorphosis over the years. The most current bilingual program is the two-way or dual language program. Dual language programs educate students that speak a different language in the same classroom. The idea is that one group is strengthened in its native language; the other group acquires the second language.

Each local school board must implement its own policies to create a dual language program; unfortunately, few, if any, research studies exist that identify how local school boards can implement a dual language program. School districts …

Embracing A Diverse Curriculum In University Teacher Preparation Programs, Stascia R. Hardy

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Student diversity in public schools has escalated dramatically, and it is a reality that must be accepted by university teacher preparation programs. Teacher candidates need to be taught the necessary skills to successfully teach diverse student populations. Children come from many different cultures and backgrounds and pre-service teachers must be equipped to effectively teach them all. Culturally relevant teacher preparation programs are crucial to preparing teachers to teach across diverse boundaries and have culturally responsive classrooms. Teacher education programs must recognize the necessity to provide learning experiences for pre-service teachers to receive different perspectives of diversity. Demographic differences between teachers …

The Caring Beliefs And Practices Of Effective Teachers, Barbara D. Mccollum

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Current educational reform tends to emphasize an impersonal test-driven approach to teaching while the present research maintains this reform is inequitable because it neglects the personal component of teacher caring, which is necessary to reach all students, especially disaffected underachievers. The purpose of the present multi-case study was to determine the caring beliefs and practices of six effective teachers in two Title I Elementary schools in a central Georgia school system, how these beliefs and practices manifested in the classroom, and in what ways the teachers’ beliefs and practices may have been influenced by their own cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds …

Tactical Escape Behavior And Performance Of A Small Sceloporine Lizard In Two High Risk Habitats, Seth Parker

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The negotiation of uneven and complex terrain has implications for many small terrestrial vertebrates. Variation in the running surface due to obstacles like woody debris or vegetation can alter escape paths and running performance. Additionally, these microhabitat features can influence behavioral tactics in complex environments. The ability to negotiate physical barriers in dense environments likely influences survivorship through important ecological tasks, such as finding mates, foraging, and evading predators. The Florida scrub lizard (Sceloporus woodi) is a small, rare species endemic to two distinct and structurally complex environments in Florida, i.e. sand-pine scrub and longleaf pine-wiregrass sand-hills. The …

Instructional Technology Integration And Situational Interest In Math, James A. Thompson Iv

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Motivating students to be engaged in learning, especially in math, has been a perennial challenge for educators. Over the past 20 years, instructional technology has become an increasingly prevalent teaching tool that, according to many educational observers and researchers, can have a transformative effect on teaching and learning because of the way that it engages today’s students. The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine the relationship between students’ perceptions of technology integration and situational interest in middle school math so that educational planners will be better informed when making instructional decisions concerning the use of technology in the …

Untold Stories And Silenced Voices: Lives Inside A North Georgia Elementary School, Donna S. Troupe

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This is an inquiry into the lived experiences of Southern, white, female teachers who teach their overwhelmingly Southern, white student populations in a rural/suburban North Georgia elementary school. I explore the obstacles and challenges they face as they experience the negative and crippling effects of the policies and practices forced upon them in their teaching and learning environments. Drawing upon the theoretical works of Dyer (1997), McIntosh (2012), Anderson & Collins (2007), Morrison (1992), Jupp (2013), Sleeter (1993, 2003), Smith (1944,1949), and hooks (1992) on race and critical white studies; the works of Apple (2001,2008), McLaren (1998), Foucault (1977), Freire …

Creating Socialization And Empathy Through Athletics In Chris Crutcher’S Fiction, Joseph P. Korwin

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This thesis aims to highlight the ways participation in athletics promote greater physical, psychological, and social health for adolescents in Chris Crutcher’s fiction. In his novels, Ironman and Whale Talk, published in 1995 and 2001 respectively, Crutcher uses athletically minded protagonists and the teams which form around them to display the benefits of being involved in athletics, especially team sports. In Ironman, a mandatory high school anger management group embodies all the aspects of team support and camaraderie in their attempt to assist Bo in achieving his athletic goals. Crutcher’s Whale Talk depicts the ways that official team …

Shifting The Center: Piloting Embedded Tutoring Models To Support Multimodal Communication Across The Disciplines, Dustin Hannum, Joy Bracewell, Karen J. Head

English and Technical Communication Faculty Research & Creative Works

Beginning in its third year, the Georgia Tech Communication Center began investigating embedded tutoring as part of the overall slate of tutoring services already in practice. Because our center remains in a nascent period of identity, we continue to enjoy an unusual amount of flexibility in how we are exploring new ways to work within the tutoring milieu—that is, we have not had time to become complacent in providing services in particular ways. Additionally, because we are somewhat unusual given our professional staff of postdoctoral fellows, we have a broader ability to work across disciplines with instructors who are more …