Digital Commons Network^™

Walk Like An Egyptian: Belly Dance Past And Present Practice In England, Siouxsie Cooper

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

How Belly Dance practitioners in England construct a sense of self-identity, social-identity and identity-in-practice in a border-crossing Belly Dance ethnoscape is of interest for this research project. What kinds of identities-in-practice do Belly Dancers in England construct in order to authenticate their performance? By applying social theories of education and identity formation, in particular Holland et al’s “figured worlds” (2001), it is possible to critically frame the development of a practitioner’s Belly Dance identity over a period of time. The research presents the case that Belly Dance in England has an identifiable past and present practice, one that continually wrestles …

The Construction Of National Identity In Post-1918 Poland, Bartosz Lyszkiewicz

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

This thesis analyses the construction of the modern national identity in Poland following the state’s creation in 1918. Its central aim is to argue that although much of Poland’s national identity was, in fact, the product of the revolutionary eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, in the twentieth century, ethnocultural foundations proved essential in the process of nation building. In order to offer a novel approach to this issue this thesis will evaluate the programmes of the émigré organizations and political parties to demonstrate the role of the two national currents: ethnic/organic and civic/territorial, which developed during the nineteenth century and shaped …

A Postcolonial Critique Of Industrial Design: A Critical Evaluation Of The Relationship Of Culture And Hegemony To Design Practice And Education Since The Late 20th Century., Taslima Begum

School of Art, Design and Architecture Theses

A Postcolonial Critique of Industrial Design: A critical evaluation of the relationship of culture and hegemony to design practice and education since the late 20th century. This thesis specifically focuses on the professional practices and training of Western industrial designers using postcolonial theory to inform working practices in a complex global ecology. It investigates the culturally hegemonic construction of design solutions in man-made products. By adopting key ideas from postcolonial and cultural studies as a lens to evaluate fields of industrial design discourse, practice and pedagogy, the work proceeds from the premise that design is not intrinsic to a product …

Attitudes Towards Marine Energy: Understanding The Values, Jiska Reinarda De Groot

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

Marine Renewable Energy (MRE) in the form of wave, tidal and offshore wind has emerged as a potentially major component of strategies to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and combat climate change. One factor influencing the implementation of MRE technologies is acceptance by people living near developments. This study investigated (i) attitudes towards MRE in small island communities as likely host communities for MRE developments; (ii) the underlying factors and values shaping these attitudes; (iii) how communities viewed MRE with regard to their place attachments; (iv) the inclusion of communities attitudes into MRE decision-making; and (v) contributions to policy and practice …

Reanimating The Wound: Dermatilliomanic Practice And The First World War, Camilla Nock

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

This research project uses an exploratory painting practice to examine a melancholic shadow cast by the First World War. The mode of inquiry is predicated upon the persistence of the past in the present, and upon a personal need to purge a persisting familial grief. To inform this stance there is systematic engagement with cathartic and redemptive artworks of the twentieth century, and with the poetry of the First World War. Developments of process and emotional register are specifically prompted by the writings of William Morris, Edmund Blunden, and Ivor Gurney, and reflections on practice are sub-divided accordingly. Wilfred Owen’s …

Natural Strange Beatitudes: Geoffrey Hill's The Orchards Of Syon, Poetic Oxymoron And Post-Secular Poetics And An Atheist's Prayer-Book, Jonathan Wooding

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

Geoffrey Hill’s The Orchards of Syon (2002) occupies a contradictory position in twenty-first century poetry in being a major religious work in a post-religious age. Contemporary secular and atheistic insistence on the fundamentally crafted and flawed nature of religious faith has led Hill not to the abandoning of religious vision, but to a theologically disciplined approach to syntax, grammar and etymology. This dissertation examines Hill’s claim to a poetics of agnostic faith that mediate his alienation from a cynical and debased Anglophone contemporaneity. The oxymoronic nature of a faith co-existent with existential loss is the primary focus. The semantic distinction …

Making The Past: The Concepts Of Literary History And Literary Tradition In The Works Of Thomas Gray, Raheem Rashid Mnayit Albu-Mohammed

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

This study explores Thomas Gray’s concepts of literary history, tradition, and the past. It proffers critical examinations of Gray’s literary and historical thoughts, illustrating the extent of the complexity of the mid‐century cultural and intellectual climate in which Gray and his contemporaries were writing. It shows the aesthetic, cultural, and political dimensions of canonicity in the course of examining the ideological motivation behind Gray’s literary history. Though much of Gray’s poetry is private and written for a narrow literary circle, his literary history seems engaged with issues of public concerns. Gray’s literary history must not be understood as a mere …

Petit Trianon And Marie Antoinette: Representation, Interpretation, Perception, Denise Cristina Ioana Maior-Barron

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

This interdisciplinary thesis belongs to Marie Antoinette studies. The contemporary dissonant commodification of the controversial historical character of the last Queen of France, detected at her former home, Petit Trianon, drives the course of the thesis research. Considering the complexity and controversy of the subject, the thesis seeks to make a contribution to extant scholarship by clarifying important modern history issues through a fresh approach: by using art history as an indicator in assessing the historical truth of the narrative of Petit Trianon, the residence identified as home to the last Queen of France. The thesis examines Petit Trianon and …

New Routes To Hci - A Transdisciplinary Approach, Marcio Rocha

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

Abstract This thesis bring together different disciplines – philosophy of mind, artificial intelligence, cognitive science, cybernetics and the performing arts – in a transdisciplinary investigation that raises new questions about the human mind and our relationship with computers and machines in a way that contributes to and helps elucidate the human computer interaction(HCI) debate. It chooses transdisciplinarity as the methodology best able to mobilize new ideas and generate a different approach to HCI, one that will develop fresh insights and produce critical ways of thinking about the problems of contemporary life in relation to our interaction with technologies (in the …

Tactical Encounters:Material Rhetoric And The Politics Of Tactical Media, Anthony Michael Stagliano

Theses and Dissertations

Tactical Encounters: Material Rhetoric and the Politics of Tactical Media articulates the concept of material rhetorical tactics, discrete rhetorical moves effecting political and social change, however ephemeral. I argue that material rhetorical tactics do not necessarily originate or conclude with a human subject, and that to understand this, we must reorient our conceptions of rhetorical action, agency, and, ultimately, its relationship to the demos, to include actions, actors, agents, and events that are not, in themselves, human. I build on recent work in rhetorical theory that has conceptualized the function and nature of rhetoric as involving agents human and nonhuman, …

“Tal Vez Sueña De Estas Cosas/ Maybe He Dreams Of These Things:” Envisioning Possibilities For Multilingual Learners In The Culturally Responsive Rural Classroom, Evelyn Spradley Stockdale

Theses and Dissertations

Meeting the needs of multilingual learners is a growing concern for many classroom teachers across the nation as school-age populations in the United States continue to become more ethnically, culturally, and linguistically diverse. Teachers often have little understanding of diverse learners and frequently express misconceptions about these students and their cultures. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore the social, cultural, and linguistic resources multilingual learners draw upon and the literacy practices they enact during reading and writing workshop when culturally responsive pedagogy (CRP) is implemented. This study also examined how culturally relevant (CR) texts and …

Advance Care Planning In 21st Century Australia: A Systematic Review And Appraisal Of Online Advance Care Directive Templates Against National Framework Criteria, T Luckett, P Bhattarai, J Phillips, M Agar, D Currow, Y Krastev, P Davidson

Nursing Papers and Journal Articles

Objectives A drive to promote advance care planning at a population level has led to a proliferation of online advance care directive (ACD) templates but little information to guide consumer choice. The current study aimed to appraise the quality of online ACD templates promoted for use in Australia.

Methods A systematic review of online Australian ACD templates was conducted in February 2014. ACD templates were identified via Google searches, and quality was independently appraised by two reviewers against criteria from the 2011 report A National Framework for Advance Care Directives. Bias either towards or against future medical treatment was …

Wide As The Waters: Comparing Student Performance In Alabama And Florida From 1992-2011, Kellie Slappey Nothstine

Master's Theses

The school choice movement has been making significant traction within the United States in the last decade and a record number of states have implemented school choice programs that introduce competition to the traditional public schools and treat education like a market. The marketization of education and making traditional public school truly compete against alternative schooling options is more often discussed in theory but in reality is infrequently applied on a large scale. In an attempt to truly gauge the advantages, disadvantages, and real life application of what can result when market forces are applied to a state’s education system …

Autonomy Support, Elaborativeness, And Problem Solving During Families’ Building Construction In A Children’S Museum, Tayler Grashel

Master's Theses

The current study aimed to promote parent-child interactions that could foster children's early STEM learning. Specifically, the current study focuses on four dimensions of family interactions that have been found in prior work to support children's learning and development: problem solving, parents’ and children’s elaborative talk, and parental autonomy support. This study examined how levels of support on each of these dimensions related to children's abilities to build and fix skyscrapers made out of plastic building materials in the Skyline exhibit at the Chicago Children's Museum. The participants were 74 families with 4- to 8- year old children (M = …

Examination Of Script And Non-Script Based Narrative Retellings In Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders, Elizabeth Ann Hilvert

Master's Theses

This study compared the narrative abilities of 19 children with Autism Spectrum

Disorder (ASD) and 26 neurotypical children (NT), between 6 and 12 years of age, on two story retelling tasks: a script-based story and a non-script based story. The script- based story contained the structural aspects of a narrative, but also had the internal framework of a script (Hayward et al., 2007). Given the reduced cognitive and linguistic demands of the script-based story, it was expected that the script-based narrative measure would minimize narrative differences between children with and without ASD. Additionally, the relation between narrative production, theory of …

The Relation Between Implicit And Explicit Self-Esteem Predicting Inconsistent Parenting, Bethany Otto

Master's Theses

Recent research has begun to examine insecure high self-esteem, which is characterized by low implicit (unconscious) and high explicit (conscious) self-esteem. However, little work has investigated its possible origins. Examining its origins is important because empirical findings have linked insecure high self-esteem to defensiveness, narcissism, in-group bias (Bosson et al., 2003; Jordan et al., 2003; Trumpeter et al., 2008), and anxiety (Bos, Huijding, Muris, Vogel, and Biesheuvel 2010). The current research investigated the possible origin of insecure high self-esteem in inconsistent parenting based on relevant research and theories that link parenting to the development of implicit and explicit self-esteem. Contrary …

Iranian Efl Teachers’ Challenges With The New Elt Program After The Reform: From Dream To Reality, Parvin Safari, Rahman Sahragard

Khazar Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

There is no doubt concerning the interdependence of educational progress with human development, socio-economic growth, greater opportunities, welfare, and political stability. Hence,for further development and growth of education,transformations and refor ms in curriculum are required to reflect the latest changes in theories and praxis of the modern world (Fterniati, 2006). In Iran, due to the inadequacy of the preceding ELT education policies in developing students’ communicative skills and capabilities, a reform occurred in the ELT program as new communicative based textbooks entitled as “English for School Series” and CLT pedagogywere introduced into the context of public schools. However, implementation of …

There Is Another Way: The Life Of Galia Golan Of Israel, Claire Doran

Kroc IPJ Research and Resources

In the following pages, you will find narrative stories about a Woman PeaceMaker, along with additional information to provide a deep understanding of a contemporary conflict and one person’s journey within it. These complementary components include a brief biography of the peacemaker, a historical summary of the conflict, a timeline integrating political developments in the country with personal history of the peacemaker, a question-and-answer transcript of select interviews, and a table of best practices in peacebuilding as demonstrated and reflected on by the peacemaker during her time at the Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice.

Galia Golan of Israel knows …

Reform Through A Student Lens: The Experience Of Latino A Students In An International Baccalaureate Diploma Program In Chicago, Sandra Arreguin

Dissertations

This dissertation is a study of Latinos participating in the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program in Chicago. Phenomenological interview techniques were used to explore the experiences and perceptions of Latino students in IB. By looking at Latino/a students separately the study captured the strengths, challenges, and needs unique to this group, which will inform the future of this rapidly growing curriculum reform effort.

Tuteo O Ustedeo: Un Estudio De Las Formas De Tratamiento En Las Publicidades De Escaparates / Tutoiement Ou Vouvoiement: Une Etude Des Formes D'Adresse Dans Les Publicités Des Vitrines, Charlotte M. Klein

Senior Independent Study Theses

In both French and Spanish, there exist two pronouns of the second person singular form of address: tu/vous and tú/usted, respectively. While the first of each pair is typically considered the ‘informal’ pronoun of address, the second is more ‘formal’, creating a complicated distinction that every person must resolve when speaking. This project analyzes the difficulty of choosing between the two forms of address through the lens of politeness theory, emphasizing the concepts of solidarity and power as well as other important factors that contribute to this complex decision. To show how the pronouns are …

Learning Emotions: A Software Engine For Simulating Realistic Emotion In Artificial Agents, Douglas Code

Senior Independent Study Theses

This paper outlines a software framework for the simulation of dynamic emotions in simulated agents. This framework acts as a domain-independent, black-box solution for giving actors in games or simulations realistic emotional reactions to events. The emotion management engine provided by the framework uses a modified Fuzzy Logic Adaptive Model of Emotions (FLAME) model, which lets it manage both appraisal of events in relation to an individual’s emotional state, and learning mechanisms through which an individual’s emotional responses to a particular event or object can change over time. In addition to the FLAME model, the engine draws on the design …

Exploring Links Between Pedagogical Knowledge Practices And Student Outcomes In Stem Education For Primary Schools, Peter Hudson, Lyn English, Les Dawes, Donna King, Steve Baker

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education is an emerging initiative in Australia, particularly in primary schools. This qualitative research aimed to understand Year 4 students’ involvement in an integrated STEM education unit that focused on science concepts (e.g., states of matter, testing properties of materials) and mathematics concepts (e.g., 3D shapes and metric measurements) for designing, making and testing a strong and safe medical kit to insulate medicines (ice cubes) at desirable temperatures. Data collection tools included student work samples, photographs, written responses from students and the teacher, and researcher notes. In a post-hoc analysis, a pedagogical knowledge practice …

Epistemological Considerations For Approaching Teaching In An On-Line Environment Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander Teacher Education Program: Reconsidering Tpack, Brian Ellis Lewthwaite, Cecily Knight, Max Lenoy

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This research inquiry explores teacher educator knowledge, understandings and beliefs informing their teaching in a web-based Australian teacher education program for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. Through the use of a phenomenologically aligned interview process, the study investigates instructors’ consideration of practice for teaching in an on-line environment. Using the TPACK framework (Mishra & Koehler, 2006) as a lens for analysis, what emerges from the data is how lecturers’ knowledge and beliefs about students influences the roles they adopt as educators, and how this influences, in turn, what and how technology is used to support student learning. The …

In Defence Of The Lecture, R. Scott Webster

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

In response to the lecture format coming under ‘attack’ and being replaced by online materials and smaller tutorials, this paper attempts to offer not only a defence but also to assert that the potential value of the lecture is difficult to replicate through other learning formats. In this paper some of the criticisms against lectures will be challenged, in particular that they are monological and promote a banking concept to learning. To make this argument I shall be drawing upon Freire’s ‘banking concept’ and Vygotsky’s notion of ‘inner speech’ and shall claim that listening is a virtue to be encouraged …

Learning To Become Teacher Educators: Testimonies Of Three Phd Students In China, Rui Yuan

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

While there has been an increasing number of graduate students who enter teacher education after obtaining a higher research degree (e.g., PhD or EdD), scant attention has been paid to their professional learning as prospective teacher educators in higher education. To fill this gap, this study, informed by the social theory of learning, investigates how three PhD students learned to become teacher educators in a university in China. Drawing on the data from interviews and the participants’ personal reflections, the study shows that the participants engaged in professional learning by interacting with different others (e.g., teachers and teacher educators), negotiating …

Investigating First Year Education Students’ Stress Level, Gretchen Geng, Richard Midford

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper investigated the stress levels of first-year education students who undertake teaching practicum and theory units during their first year of teacher education program. First, 139 first-year and 143 other years’ education students completed the PSS-10 scale, which measures perceived level of stress. Then, 147 first-year education students completed an online questionnaire to identify the particular stressors in their learning experience. The first-year education students had significantly higher stress levels than other years’ education students, (p < .01). Contributing stressors included academic work commitment; completing placement and related performance assessments in schools and at university; having a good understanding of the requirements of professional teaching, such as classroom management, and working with mentor teachers; and conflicting work and family commitments. These findings provide greater understanding about the stressors experienced by first-year education students and usefully inform ways to help this group achieve their study and career goals.

The Relationship Between University Learning Experiences And English Teaching Self-Efficacy: Perspectives Of Five Final-Year Pre-Service English Teachers, Ksenia Filatov, Shane Pill

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

No literature exists on English teaching efficacy or self-efficacy or on pre-service teachers’ English teaching self-efficacy and its relationship to pre-service teacher education. This project addressed this conceptual and methodological gap in current teacher efficacy research literature. Five pre-service English teachers in their final year of double degree Bachelor of Education/Bachelor of Arts teacher education programmes at an Australian university were interviewed about their self-efficacy for specific English teaching skills. Results suggest that the pre-service teachers see a significant relationship between their self-efficacy to teach English and their degree. The data suggests that the relationship between university learning experiences and …

Factors In Instructional Decision-Making, Ratings Of Evidence And Intended Instructional Practices Of Australian Final Year Teacher Education Students, Mark Carter, Jennifer Stephenson, Toni Hopper

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

There has been increasing interest in an evidence-based approach to education in Australia but relatively little research has provided relevant data on knowledge of the evidence base for instructional practices among teachers preparing to enter the profession. Final year teacher education students (N = 290) in 15 Australian tertiary institutions were surveyed on their understanding of the strength of evidence for 14 instructional strategies and their intended frequency of use of the strategies following graduation. They were also asked to rate the importance of factors they considered in instructional decision-making. Empirical evidence was important in selection of instructional practices but …

What Benefits Can Be Derived From Teaching Knowledge About Language To Preservice Teachers?, Michael D. Carey, Michael Christie, Peter Grainger

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper evaluates the validity of teaching English grammar to preservice teachers in a teacher education course at a regional university. The course was delivered in blended mode using the grammar component of My Writing Lab Global (MWLG) and face-to-face instruction. The aim of this study was to establish if there are benefits to derive from teaching knowledge about language (KAL) to preservice teachers. Our quasi-experimental study found MWLG was well-received by participants who believed it had improved their KAL; this improvement was confirmed by 10% improvement on a pre and post KAL test (p < .001). MWLG scores and the KAL test also reliably predicted other academic competencies: the students’ accumulated GPA and their final written assessment scores for the course (r= .4 to .54; p < 0.01). Collectively, these findings suggest that explicit KAL is valued and valid knowledge and should be included in teacher education programs.

Examining The Effects Of Reflective Journals On Pre-Service Science Teachers' General Chemistry Laboratory Achievement, Canan Cengiz, Faik Özgür Karataş

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The general chemistry laboratory is an appropriate place for learning chemistry well. It is also effective for stimulating higher-order thinking skills, including reflective thinking, a skill that is crucial for science teaching as well as learning. This study aims to examine the effects of feedback-supported reflective journal-keeping activities on first-year pre-service science teachers’ achievement. The pre-service science teachers were observed for eight weeks by collecting their journals. At the beginning and end of this process, an achievement test was administered. At the end of the study, the participants were also interviewed. It was found that feedback-supported reflective journal-keeping activities improved …