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2015

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The Role Of A Residential Learning Community In The Faith Development Of Catholic College Students, Michael J. Stang Jan 2015

The Role Of A Residential Learning Community In The Faith Development Of Catholic College Students, Michael J. Stang

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The college years are a transformative period for undergraduate students, especially in their spiritual development. Fowler (1981) initially proposed the stages of faith model, and Parks (1986) clarified the unique faith journey experience of college students. There are many aspects in the lives of college students that influence faith development. Residence halls have long been known as having a great impact on student learning and development (Astin, 1993; Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005). This study examined college student spiritual development by exploring the impact of a residential learning community on the faith development of Catholic college students. This qualitative study examined …

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The Role Of Maternal Conversation In Children's Social Understanding During Middle Childhood, Raeanne Morgan Pearson Jan 2015

The Role Of Maternal Conversation In Children's Social Understanding During Middle Childhood, Raeanne Morgan Pearson

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation examines the relationship between maternal speech and children's social understanding during middle childhood. Research has demonstrated a relationship between maternal speech and children's social understanding during early childhood, but research has not examined the link among older children. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to identify whether maternal speech is related to advancements in social understanding during middle childhood as well as how maternal speech relates to children's age and gender.;Participants were 38 mother-child pairs. Child participants were divided into a younger group of 11 males and 9 females (M = 5 years, 11.5 months; range: 5 …

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The Socially Supportive Functions Of Religion And Spirituality, Michael D. Clary Jan 2015

The Socially Supportive Functions Of Religion And Spirituality, Michael D. Clary

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Social support has been shown to be a significant protective factor in the lives of adolescents and has been linked to numerous health and psychological outcomes. Spirituality and religion have also been demonstrated to have similar effects on a host of outcomes. The current study further analyzed the link between these two constructs from a strong conceptual framework grounded in social support. The role of spiritual and religious support was examined through the addition of two novel sources of social support, higher power and religious community, which were added to an existing measure of social support. Analyses were conducted utilizing …

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The Protective Role Of Social Support And The Relations Among Cyber And Traditional Victimization, Depression, And Suicidal Ideation, Stephanie Secord Fredrick Jan 2015

The Protective Role Of Social Support And The Relations Among Cyber And Traditional Victimization, Depression, And Suicidal Ideation, Stephanie Secord Fredrick

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The current study investigated the relations among the constructs of traditional victimization, cyber victimization, social support, depression, and suicidal ideation in a sample of adolescents. Although these constructs have been extensively studied in the literature, the relation among these constructs, especially among cyber victimization and social support, is not well known. Results indicated that both traditional victimization and cyber victimization were found to be positively related to depression. Traditional victimization, but not cyber victimization, was found to be positively related to suicidal ideation. Depression was found to fully mediate the relation between traditional and cyber victimization and suicidal ideation. Finally, …

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The Relationship Between Sense Of Community, Course Performance, And Persistence In Community College Distance Learning Courses, Pardess Mitchell Jan 2015

The Relationship Between Sense Of Community, Course Performance, And Persistence In Community College Distance Learning Courses, Pardess Mitchell

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if a relationship exists between sense of community, course performance, and college persistence in distance learning courses at a community college. Specifically, does sense of community improve course performance and college persistence? Course performance was measured using student self-reported end of semester grades. Furthermore, this study analyzed students short answer responses to help explain which distance learning classroom activities support sense of community. This correlational study was conducted at a community college in a large Midwestern suburb. Results from this study indicate sense of community has an impact on course performance, but …

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Factors That Affect The Development Of Writing Competence In Fifth-Grade Students, Ellen D. Weinstein-Blackman Jan 2015

Factors That Affect The Development Of Writing Competence In Fifth-Grade Students, Ellen D. Weinstein-Blackman

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation explores writing instruction in fifth-grade classrooms, focusing on the attitudes and behaviors of student writers of differing abilities and their teachers' activities during written language instruction. Assessment of student writing, classroom observations, and interviews with students and teachers showed that above-average, average, and struggling writers have different perceptions about the skills necessary to master the writing process and that their views differed from those of their teachers. While teachers attempted to model composing, editing, revising, and publishing for their students, it was challenging for fifth-grade students to integrate these skills to create high-quality writing products. Writers of different …

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First Clear The Way, Then Press Forward : Implementation Intentions And Job Search Behaviors, Christopher Joseph Budnick Jan 2015

First Clear The Way, Then Press Forward : Implementation Intentions And Job Search Behaviors, Christopher Joseph Budnick

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Boredom is an aversive internal state that increases task-irrelevant thinking, decreases task-directed concentration, and hinders task performance. Job seekers often struggle with boredom while completing job search tasks. Implementation intentions -- goal-directed action plans -- might prove an effective means of coping with boredom during task completion. Prior research has incorporated various forms of implementation intentions but has not yet examined which forms are most effective during the job search. Using a laboratory experiment, I randomly assigned 151 undergraduate student participants to one of four conditions: (1) a superordinate goal only, (2) an implementation intention to reduce distraction, (3) an …

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Food Sovereignty, Food Security, And Community Gardens In Rockford, Il, Walter William Furness Jan 2015

Food Sovereignty, Food Security, And Community Gardens In Rockford, Il, Walter William Furness

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Urban agriculture projects seek to ameliorate issues of food access and food sovereignty for people living in areas with low access to fresh foods, including food deserts. Within this discourse, community gardens have been promoted as vehicles to reclaim unused urban space, produce food locally, and connect populations to their food sources and larger community. A variety of community garden models exist, and the efficacy of different models is the subject of some debate. In Rockford, many community gardens grow food for donation to food pantries as part of a program to benefit socioeconomically disadvantaged persons in the city. However, …

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Gifted Learners' Motivational Outcomes In Cluster Versus Ability-Grouped Reading Instruction : An Ex-Post Facto Study, Julie Esparza Jan 2015

Gifted Learners' Motivational Outcomes In Cluster Versus Ability-Grouped Reading Instruction : An Ex-Post Facto Study, Julie Esparza

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This post hoc study focused on gifted programming in language arts for students in fourth through eighth grades in one large (n=12,229) diverse school district. One group of gifted students experienced cluster grouping, while the other group of gifted students experienced ability grouping for language arts instruction. The study examined whether motivational processes reported by gifted students differed by gender, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic level. The study also investigated whether gifted students who were ability grouped for reading instruction differed in self-efficacy, achievement goal orientation, achievement, and challenge seeking in language arts when compared to gifted students who were cluster grouped. …

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Illinois' Performance Evaluation Reform Act (Pera) Examined Within The Context Of The Federal Government's Expanding Role In Public Education, Hillary A. Nasso Jan 2015

Illinois' Performance Evaluation Reform Act (Pera) Examined Within The Context Of The Federal Government's Expanding Role In Public Education, Hillary A. Nasso

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This study examines the ever-expanding role of the federal government's involvement in the American public education system to put the 2010 Illinois Performance Evaluation Act (PERA) into context. Understanding the history of federal education policy and the federal government's involvement in public education (historically the domain of the states) helps illuminate the current situation in Illinois. The 2010 Performance Evaluation Reform Act (PERA) changed the method of evaluating the performance of public school teachers. This alteration incorporated student academic growth data into the evaluation calculation. This is the first time Illinois teacher performance evaluations will be based in part on …

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I'M Ready Warden : An Examination Of The Rhetoric Of Death, Zac Wendler Jan 2015

I'M Ready Warden : An Examination Of The Rhetoric Of Death, Zac Wendler

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation examines the rhetorical context, preservation, and dissemination of the final statements of American felons executed between 1985 and Spring 2012, as well as the history of these items in the West generally and America specifically. This examination found little variance in final statement genre incidence rates with respect to ethnicity, gender, date of utterance, or any other temporal or demographic factor. As a result, it examines in detail the cultural context which stabilizes and centers this type of utterance, and explores how such statements move through American society and are transformed in the process. It argues that such …

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Individual Differences And The Effect Of "Because" On The Evaluation Of Explanations In Science, Lillian K.E. Asiala Jan 2015

Individual Differences And The Effect Of "Because" On The Evaluation Of Explanations In Science, Lillian K.E. Asiala

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The inclusion of causal connectives like "because" has been shown to influence the perceived quality of an explanation (Wiemer & Asiala, under revision). This study tested the effect of individual differences on the evaluation of explanations containing causal connective "because". Participants were recruited from programs of study in psychology and the natural sciences, and read 24 texts describing various scientific phenomena. Each text was followed by a "why" question about the causal mechanism of the phenomena, and a corresponding answer to be evaluated in terms of its quality as an explanation for that question. All answers overlapped equally with the …

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Family And School Activation Of Cultural Capital In The Individualized Education Plan (Iep) Process, Christine Nelson Jan 2015

Family And School Activation Of Cultural Capital In The Individualized Education Plan (Iep) Process, Christine Nelson

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation examines the interactions between parents and school teams in the IEP process.

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Fan Fiction : An Analysis Of Genre And Success, Jory C. Keller Jan 2015

Fan Fiction : An Analysis Of Genre And Success, Jory C. Keller

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This thesis project contains the study of four works of fan fiction based on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Through analysis of authorial intent, attribution to the source material, and faithfulness to the original in plot, theme, characterization, and style, this paper finds a correlation between the level of transformation and the work's commercial success.

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Leadership Development Of High School Varsity Basketball Captains With Mentoring By Their Coach, Jason Mead Jan 2015

Leadership Development Of High School Varsity Basketball Captains With Mentoring By Their Coach, Jason Mead

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This qualitative study combined the techniques of person-centered ethnography and self-study to follow four varsity boys' basketball team captains and their coach throughout a season. The focus of the study was on the leadership characteristics and leadership development of the captains and the coach, with a particular focus on the mentoring relationships between the captains and their coach. This study filled several gaps in the literature concerning athlete leadership development by providing in-depth analysis of the leadership perceptions of athletes as they encountered situations throughout a season. Among the findings of this study are that each captain found specific areas …

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Maternal And Paternal Contributions To Child Internalizing And Externalizing Problems : An Actor-Partner Interdependence Framework, Kyle Wayne Murdock Jan 2015

Maternal And Paternal Contributions To Child Internalizing And Externalizing Problems : An Actor-Partner Interdependence Framework, Kyle Wayne Murdock

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Prior studies evaluating associations between parent and child characteristics have focused largely on mother-child, but not father-child, dyadic relationships. Theoretical and empirical evidence suggests that research including fathers is needed because knowledge about how maternal, paternal, and child characteristics may be interrelated is lacking and there is theoretical work suggesting that paternal behavior may be more sensitive to interpersonal factors than maternal behavior. These gaps in the literature were addressed in the present study through evaluation of hybrid actor-partner interdependence models in which maternal, paternal, and child characteristics were included. Specifically, maternal and paternal harsh/negative behavior were evaluated as mediators …

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Maternal Anxiety And Infant Fear : Indirect Links Through Parenting Behaviors, Erin Shishilla Edwards Jan 2015

Maternal Anxiety And Infant Fear : Indirect Links Through Parenting Behaviors, Erin Shishilla Edwards

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Previous work has demonstrated links between early fearful temperament and risk for the subsequent development of anxiety disorders; thus, factors that may influence the development of early fear are important to consider. Maternal anxiety has previously been linked to child anxiety, though limited work has examined potential relationships between maternal anxiety and infant fear. Anxious mothers have been observed to be more critical/rejecting and intrusive/overcontrolling in their interactions with their children, and these parenting behaviors have been related to greater risk for childhood anxiety. Again, the relations between these parenting behaviors and early expressions of temperament, particularly fear, are less …

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Mathematics Beliefs And Teaching Practices Of Preschool Teachers, Kristine L. Black Jan 2015

Mathematics Beliefs And Teaching Practices Of Preschool Teachers, Kristine L. Black

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine preschool teachers' beliefs about teaching mathematics to preschool students and how teachers help preschool students acquire math skills and knowledge in the classroom. The research was conducted in two parts: focus groups and classroom observations. The focus groups occurred over two sessions. The sessions focused on building a sense of teachers' beliefs about which mathematics skills should be taught to preschool children and which teaching strategies, if any, were currently used to teach the skills. The researcher recorded the focus groups and transcribed them. Coding was done to identify themes. The second …

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Middle School Girls And One Stem Ost Program, Andrea Holba Jan 2015

Middle School Girls And One Stem Ost Program, Andrea Holba

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation examines motivation in middle school girls involved in one STEM OST program. Specifically, motivation is examined through four distinct components. These components are attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction. Although these components are unique, they cumulatively create a holistic picture of motivation in program design. The middle school girl participants were observed at program workshops and personal interviews. Exploring program design elements through this lens of motivation was a qualitative effort to both understand how participants respond to design elements, and what might encourage future participation in STEM activities.

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Moderating Factors Between Self-Efficacy And Role Stressors For High School Counselors, Nathan Gene Underwood Jan 2015

Moderating Factors Between Self-Efficacy And Role Stressors For High School Counselors, Nathan Gene Underwood

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine potential moderators of high school counselors' self-efficacy and role stress. The study provides an overview of the sources of school counselor role stressors, the history of school counseling, self-efficacy, and the Indivisible Self wellness model. Quantitative data was collected on 141 high school counselors who completed a demographic survey, the School Counselor Self-efficacy Scale (SCSE), the 5F-Wel, and the Role Questionnaire (RQ). The RQ measures three role stressors: role ambiguity, role conflict, and role incongruity. Research question one measured the general regression model with each of the role stressors placed as the …

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Panic And Implicit Theories, Lindsay Mae Miller Jan 2015

Panic And Implicit Theories, Lindsay Mae Miller

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This thesis examines the roles of anxiety sensitivity, related constructs, and implicit theories constructs in uniquely predicting state anxiety in response to an interoceptive challenge. Because anxiety sensitivity appears to be a target of treatment for panic, it is important to understand anxiety sensitivity and related constructs (distress tolerance, intolerance of uncertainty, experiential avoidance, and discomfort intolerance). Implicit theories constructs were also examined (implicit theories of emotion, implicit theories of physiological arousal, and implicit theories of sensation transience). It was hypothesized that anxiety sensitivity and related constructs would mediate the relationship between implicit theories constructs and state anxiety. Participants completed …

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Portable Responsive Instructional Materials 1957 To 1982 : A Historical Content Analysis Using Failure Mode And Effect Analysis, Bettylynne F. Gregg Jan 2015

Portable Responsive Instructional Materials 1957 To 1982 : A Historical Content Analysis Using Failure Mode And Effect Analysis, Bettylynne F. Gregg

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This historical content analysis study examined portable responsive instructional materials used by United States teachers and students in primary, secondary, and higher education instructional settings for the period of 1957 through 1982---the beginning of the space race with the stimulus of educational funding from the National Defense Education Act (NDEA) to the introduction of classroom computers into the mainstream education population. During this period, a plethora of instructional materials was implemented in classrooms, which supported the audiovisual movement to improve performance and knowledge. This study focused on the pedagogical and functional uses of instructional materials from the specified period of …

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Preparing Elementary Pre-Service Teachers To Integrate Stem : A Mixed-Methods Study, Erin Marie Evans Jan 2015

Preparing Elementary Pre-Service Teachers To Integrate Stem : A Mixed-Methods Study, Erin Marie Evans

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This mixed-methods study longitudinally examined 12 elementary pre-service teachers' perceptions, attitudes, confidence, and abilities to integrate STEM into their instruction. In three phases spanning two semesters, the pre-service teachers from a small, private, Midwestern university were studied as they completed a combined science and social studies methods course, during which they designed and implemented an Integrated STEM Unit at a local elementary school. Phases I and II of this three-phase study took place before the methods course and after the methods course, while Phase III of this study took place during the final student teaching semester in order to gain …

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Edps 859: Statistical Methods—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Matthew S. Fritz Jan 2015

Edps 859: Statistical Methods—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Matthew S. Fritz

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

The key goal of creating this benchmark teaching portfolio is identifying what my course objectives for EDPS 859 really are and to revise my current course materials, activities, and evaluations to emphasize what I consider to be important in the class in order to better meet the course objectives. I would like this portfolio to serve primarily as a way for me to identify and address issues with my particular section of EDPS 859. The secondary purpose of this portfolio is to provide information regarding the purpose and placement of EDPS 859 as a service course within CEHS and the …

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Teac 921b: Seminar In Literacy Studies (Special Topics: Schooling And The Multilingual Mind)—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Theresa Catalano Jan 2015

Teac 921b: Seminar In Literacy Studies (Special Topics: Schooling And The Multilingual Mind)—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Theresa Catalano

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This portfolio will document the creation and implementation of a new doctoral seminar in my department. This introductory course to multilingualism and schooling (TEAC 921B) will cover topics related to teaching and learning in the multilingual classroom. The key goals for creating this portfolio are to aid me in creating this new doctoral seminar that reflects and builds on departmental goals for graduate students. In particular I would like to document and address the implementation of two new activities to my teaching ; a language study/journal, and the creation of a documentary film. I foresee using this course portfolio as …

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Reforestation, Renewal, And The Cost Of Coal: Opposing A Manichean Worldview In Central Appalachia, Elizabeth R. Hansen Jan 2015

Reforestation, Renewal, And The Cost Of Coal: Opposing A Manichean Worldview In Central Appalachia, Elizabeth R. Hansen

Pomona Senior Theses

Surface coal mining is a major form of land change and environmental degradation in Central Appalachia. Traditional mine reclamation iresults in unmanaged, unproductive grasslands that fail to mitigate many of the environmental costs of coal mining and are of minimal use to communities. Forestry reclamation is an alternative reclamation tactic that has the potential to address both environmental and socioeconomic concerns in Central Appalachia. A case study of Laurel Fork Mine in Eastern Kentucky is included.

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Discovery Islands, Earth Islands: The Theory And Practice Of Island Imagery In Environmental Thought, Naomi A. Bosch Jan 2015

Discovery Islands, Earth Islands: The Theory And Practice Of Island Imagery In Environmental Thought, Naomi A. Bosch

Pomona Senior Theses

Earth Island is a core metaphor of activist thought often applied in Environmental Analysis and related fields as a tool for thinking about the planet’s limited resources. It puts forth the claim that if only we thought of the earth as more like an island, we would better understand our connectivity to other living things and be drawn to develop better and more extensive practices of environmental stewardship. This thesis uses personal accounts of environmental life philosophies and political practices collected from residents of the Discovery Islands in British Columbia as a site for analytical comparison between the theory and …

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Arendt On Arendt: Reflecting On The Meaning Of The Eichmann Controversy, Audrey P. Jaquiss Jan 2015

Arendt On Arendt: Reflecting On The Meaning Of The Eichmann Controversy, Audrey P. Jaquiss

Pomona Senior Theses

This thesis examines the controversy surrounding the publication of Hannah Arendt’s Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil (1963). More specifically, this study focuses on the American Jewish response to the text, examining how the controversy itself provoked a watershed of change in conceptions and understandings of the Holocaust, and by extension, notions of Jewish identity and discourse in the modern world. This study will consider the importance of viewing the controversy as a conversation rather than simply a rigid dichotomy. In failing to see how each side communicated with the other, scholars sometimes themselves reinforce the …

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Looking Beyond Fossil Fuel Divestment: Combating Climate Change In Higher Education, Robin Xu Jan 2015

Looking Beyond Fossil Fuel Divestment: Combating Climate Change In Higher Education, Robin Xu

Pomona Senior Theses

The young fossil fuel divestment movement is altering the landscape of climate change activism on US campuses. Student-run divestment campaigns are now pushing for institutions of higher education to withdraw their investments from the top 200 public fossil fuel companies. Despite student fervor, however, divestment has remained a controversial tactic for combating climate change. The first half of this thesis examines the stated motives of a selection of institutions that have officially agreed or declined to divest, and investigates the hypothesis that pushing for divestment alone will not achieve broad success because it does not appeal to a wide enough …

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Toward A Clinical Pedagogy Of Externship, Elizabeth Ford Jan 2015

Toward A Clinical Pedagogy Of Externship, Elizabeth Ford

Faculty Articles

Externships offer a tantalizing experiential option for law schools. Students are hungry for the real-world experience, the networking potential, and the chance to take the skills they have learned in the classroom to the next level. Administrators love externships because of their high enrollment, low cost nature: externships leverage small amounts of resources from hundreds of outside organizations. Faculty appreciate these programs because they provide students with context and skills, inspire them in the doctrinal classroom, and require little diversion of resources from the more traditional faculty ranks. However, the danger of grasping too tightly to externships as the experiential …

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