Digital Commons Network^™

Medically Modified Eyes: A Baptismal Cataract Surgery In Clement Of Alexandria, Emily R. Cain

Theology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

In Paedagogus 1.6.28, Clement describes baptism through the metaphor of a cataract surgery that enables the percipient to see God. In antiquity, cataract surgery was neither a common nor a safe procedure, which raises the question: why does Clement use such an unlikely metaphor for baptism? In this article, I demonstrate that this medical metaphor of cataract surgery enabled Clement to blur the line between the physical and the spiritual. The visual component of the metaphor allowed Clement to draw from Epicurean sensory perception and epistemology, which understood objects to emit tiny films that entered the eye of the body …

Lost In Translation? Non-Stem Academics In The 'Entrepreneurial' University, Derek Dodd

Plymouth Institute of Education Theses

This study set out to explore the ways in which non-STEM academics, working within UK universities that had positioned themselves publicly as ‘entrepreneurial’ institutions, interpret and negotiate the related concepts of the entrepreneurial academic and university. The entrepreneurial university concept has become a ubiquitous theme in higher education and policy literatures in recent decades, having been described variously as an ‘idea for its time’ (Shattock, 2010) and the ‘end-point of the evolution of the idea of the university’ (Barnett, 2010, p.i). This research set out to interrogate some of the key ways in which this institutional form, and the corresponding …

Understanding The Impact On The Wellbeing Of Students With Specific Learning Difficulties Through Teaching Interventions, Dylan K Williams

Plymouth Institute of Education Theses

The study set out to explore whether teaching methods can improve the wellbeing of students with SpLDs. This study addresses a gap in the literature, identifying wellbeing differences between different types of educational environment and SEN provisions. It explores whether there are benefits from inclusive education to student wellbeing, considering constructs of wellbeing relevant to the impact of SpLDs, synthesising pedagogic, psychotherapeutic and developmental perspectives. 74 student participants were recruited through the SEN departments of 4 UK schools - each with differing approaches to SEN support. Student participants completed two psychometric wellbeing questionnaires. They also engaged in photographic exercise, capturing …

The Impact Of Arts Education Programmes On Anti-Racist School Practice In The South West Of England, Heather Knight

Plymouth Institute of Education Theses

In predominantly White schools, a common belief exists that anti-racist education is unnecessary, despite a rise in the number of people who admit to being racially prejudiced. A colour-blind approach, which silences issues of race, tends to dominate in schools, while, fear of ‘getting it wrong’ prevents meaningful dialogue. My thesis addresses the question, in what ways do arts programmes support anti-racist education in predominantly White areas? This includes two threads. Firstly, I take a critical race theory approach, drawing on Whiteness studies, to explore White teachers' and school students’ assumptions about racism and education. Secondly, using a critical pedagogy …

Teachers’ Knowledge, Perceptions And Practices Regarding Academic Literacy Development Of Long-Term English Learners, Daniel William Alamo

LMU Theses and Dissertations

Secondary educators must be knowledgeable in their content while increasing the academic literacy of their students, a process further complicated when working with students who are long-term English learners (LTELs). This mixed-methods study explored the knowledge, practices, and perceptions of six secondary teachers working to develop the academic literacy of LTEL students in content-specific classrooms. Set within a sociocultural framework, the study provides a greater understanding of the challenges and successes educators experience when working at the secondary level with students with diverse learning needs. The data were collected in two phases. Phase I included a quantitative survey of teachers, …

Global Education: Assets And Challenges For Global Competency In Catholic Schools, Beate Winkler Nguyen

LMU Theses and Dissertations

Global education for global competency in Catholic schools of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles is neither defined nor aligned as a priority for its 21st-century learners. Various schools within the Department of Catholic Schools address global competency through world languages, dual-language immersion, activities, or programs, but no specific global education focus permeates the entire district. The relevance of global competency for nearly 80,000 students from Early Childhood (EC) programs/PreK–12th grade (high school) Catholic schools in Los Angeles is not just a curricular necessity or spiritual aspiration, it is, at its core, a question of social justice, particularly for students of …

Homegrown Teacher Project: Developing An Early Intervention Pipeline For Teachers Of Color, Yadira Moreno

LMU Theses and Dissertations

The dissertation aims to explore a solution to address the cultural and racial gap between the teaching force and the student population in California. Homegrown teachers are teachers who return to their community where they were born and educated. Addressing the equity issues faced in public schools begins with exploring the benefits of teachers of color in the classroom.

This action research study followed five homegrown first-generation Latina teachers through a 3-month process of mentoring first-generation Latina sixth-graders who hope of entering the teaching profession in the future. The study was guided by critical pedagogy, a mentoring framework, the critical …

A Critical Interrogation Of The Mind, Brain, And Education Movement: Toward A Social Justice Paradigm, Bibinaz Pirayesh

LMU Theses and Dissertations

Much attention has been given to “bridging the gap” between research and practice since neuroscience research first made claim to its potential impact in classrooms. With the inception of Mind, Brain, and Education (MBE) as a new interdisciplinary field, an unprecedented opportunity to explore the educational implications of new research coming out of neuroscience has presented itself. And yet, the gap between research and practice persists while new problems arise as education looks to brain science for answers with ongoing social and academic difficulties faced by students. A critical bicultural methodology, grounded in a decolonizing interpretive approach, is utilized to …

Art Museums And Latino English Learners: Teaching Artists In The K-8 Classroom, Veronica Alvarez

LMU Theses and Dissertations

Latino English learners (ELs), among the largest student population in the United States K-12 school system, continue to lag behind their English-proficient peers. They also tend to attend segregated schools, have less-qualified teachers, and lack access to rigorous curriculum, including the arts. Museum education departments have increasingly sought to fill the gap in arts education for underserved populations. This mixed methods study explored the degree to which teaching artists (TAs) from a large metropolitan museum are effectively addressing the art education needs of Latino ELs. The dissertation study occurred in two phases. Phase 1 included quantitative analysis of observations of …

Hablando De La Herida: Honoring Spanish-Speaking Parents’ Experiences Obtaining School-Based Speech And Language Services For Their Children, Amalia W. Hernández

LMU Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the experiences of Spanish-speaking Latino/a parents in their attempts to obtain school-based speech and language services for their children; the impact of these experiences on parents; and parent perspectives on how school-based speech-language pathologists can co-create collaborative relationships. Through a detailed analysis of a focus group and individual interviews of 31 Spanish-speaking parents of children in the REAAD! (Reaching Educational Achievement and Development) Literacy Enrichment Program at a university in Los Angeles, California, this study provided a space for parents to share their experiences and offer insights regarding what shaped their experiences. Through the theoretical lens of …

Assessing Cognitive Functions In Arabic And English Speaking Populations, Bazah Almubark

Other Faculty of Health Theses

The aims of this thesis are to assess cognitive functions in adult Arabic populations for clinical purposes, and to examine resulting cultural differences between Arabic and English speaking populations. In the first study, we translated, culturally adapted and validated an existing cognitive screening tool (Cognistat) for its use with Arabic adults with Acquired Brain Injury (ABI), and we examined the differences in cognitive performance between Arabic and English individuals. A total of 107 healthy Arabic speaking adults and 62 ABI patients (30 stroke and 32 traumatic brain injury; TBI) between 18-60 years were involved in the study. The results indicated …

What’S In A Frame? Cosmopolitan Morality, The Media And Interventionism, Nicola Katy Langdon

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

This thesis examines the media-foreign policy nexus through a specific focus on the moral framing of conflict and interventionism within British media and policy discourses. While morality has been identified as a frequently used frame through which we may understand issues, there has been little extant discussion of the nature of morality embedded within media texts, or how it may shape understanding and policy-making. This research contributes to this void through forwarding cosmopolitan morality framing as a new theoretical framework. Consideration is given to how appeals to a cosmopolitan moral consciousness can resonate and build support for or legitimise particular …

Algorithmic Sovereignty, Denis Roio

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

This thesis describes a practice based research journey across various projects dealing with the design of algorithms, to highlight the governance implications in design choices made on them. The research provides answers and documents methodologies to address the urgent need for more awareness of decisions made by algorithms about the social and economical context in which we live. Algorithms consitute a foundational basis across different fields of studies: policy making, governance, art and technology. The ability to understand what is inscribed in such algorithms, what are the consequences of their execution and what is the agency left for the living …

Listening Patterns. From Music To Perception And Cognition, Massimiliano Viel

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

The research aims to propose a narrative of the experience of listening and to provide some first examples of its possible application. This is done in three parts. Part One, “Words”, aims to methodologically frame the narrative by discussing the limits and requirements of a theory of listening. After discussing the difficulties of building an objective characterization of the listening experience, the research proposes that any theorization on listening can only express a point of view that is implied by descriptions of listening both in linguistic terms and in the data they involve. The analysis of theories about listening is …

The Other Middle-Earth: Intertextuality And Iconography In Sergei Iukhimov’S Illustrations For The Lord Of The Rings, Joel Merriner

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

J. R. R. Tolkien once remarked in a 1949 letter to George Allen & Unwin that his friends were so impressed by Pauline Baynes’ illustrations for Farmer Giles of Ham that they labelled his text an adjunct to her drawings. This apparently light-hearted anecdote conceals an interesting truth: the relationship between text and image can be problematic and the reading of an illustration depends largely on the culturally acquired “discursive precedents” which an individual viewer brings to the act of looking. This situation may be further complicated when account is taken of any incidences of visual borrowing (motif) within the …

Gold Griot: Jean-Michel Basquiat Telling (His) Story In Art, Lucinda Ross

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

Emerging from an early association with street art during the 1980s, the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat was largely regarded within the New York avant-garde, as ‘an exotic other,’ a token Black artist in the world of American modern art; a perception which forced him to examine and seek to define his sense of identity within art and within society. Drawing upon what he described as his ‘cultural memory,’ Basquiat deftly mixed together fragments of past and present, creating a unique style of painting, based upon his own experiences of contemporary American life blended with a remembering of an African past. This …

Turbo Film As Artistic Apparatus And As Manifesto For The Uncertain Future Of Moving Images, Paololuca Barbieri Marchi

School of Art, Design and Architecture Theses

The following research is a practice-based Ph.D. in filmmaking that proposes to define an unclassified film genre and its specific artistic practice. This practice, at the intersection of experimental films, art-cinema and Youtube user- generated videos, I refer to as “Turbo Films.” Beginning with a critical perspective on video art and experimental film history, as it relates to today’s public approach towards the production of moving images, the concept of “Turbo Films” is proposed as an opportunity to understand new trajectories in the production of image-culture, and as holistic modus operandi for the current cross-media environment. Turbo Films have been …

Analysis Of Embodied And Situated Systems From An Antireductionist Perspective, Federico Da Rold

Other Faculty of Science and Engineering Theses

The analysis of embodied and situated agents form a dynamical system perspective is often limited to a geometrical and qualitative description. However, a quantitative analysis is necessary to achieve a deep understanding of cognitive facts. The field of embodied cognition is multifaceted, and the first part of this thesis is devoted to exploring the diverse meanings proposed in the existing literature. This is a preliminary fundamental step as the creation of synthetic models requires well-founded theoretical and foundational boundaries for operationalising the concept of embodied and situated cognition in a concrete neuro-robotic model. By accepting the dynamical system view the …

Curating A Gentleman's Library: Practices Of Acquisition, Display And Disposal In The Cottonian Collection, 1791-1816, Susan Leedham

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

This thesis examines the book and archival holdings of the Cottonian Collection – a national designated eighteenth-century collection of fine art and books – between 1791 and 1816, the period of William Cotton II’s custodianship. Prior to this thesis, the Cottonian Collection has not been the subject of a full-length academic study. Whilst the art holdings have received some attention, the book and archival contents have not been examined. This thesis addresses this imbalance by conducting a thorough examination of the archival holdings and the history of the book collection. Taking the actions of the collection’s penultimate private owner, William …

‘I Have Never Mattered Less In This World Than During My Children’S Adoption’: A Socio-Legal Study Of Birth Mothers’ Experiences Of Adoption Law, Lisa Deblasio

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

This thesis explores the experiences that birth mothers face in adoption proceedings within a socio-legal context. With analysis of data from interviews with 32 birth mothers synthesised with the relevant provisions of the Adoption and Children Act 2002, it is argued that ingrained unfairness and a lack of accountability exists in the legal and administrative system where birth mothers’ rights are concerned. The requirement for fairness in adoption practice is an underlying principle of jurisprudence from the European Court of Human Rights, with emphasis on the right to family life under Article 8 of the Convention. Analysis extends to the …

The Development And Application Of Computational Multi-Agent Models For Investigating The Cultural Transmission And Cultural Evolution Of Humpback Whale Song, Michael Mcloughlin

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

Three different multi-agent models are presented in this thesis, each with a different goal. The first model investigates the possible role migratory routes may have on song evolution and revolution. The second model investigates what social networks could theoretically facilitate song sharing in a population of whales. The third model implements a formal grammar algorithm in order to investigate how the hierarchal structure of the song may affect song evolution. Finally, the thesis attempts to reconnect the models with their origins and discusses how these models could potentially be adapted for composing music. Through the development of these different models, …

The Significance Of The Field Of Practice ‘Learning Development’ In Uk Higher Education, John Hilsdon

Plymouth Institute of Education Theses

This thesis analyses Learning Development (LD), a field of practice designed to support students’ learning, and explores what this relatively new field can tell us about certain aspects of higher education in the UK. Theoretical work deriving from Foucault underpins the research. The empirical data is constructed from interviews, observation and reflexive autoethnographic sources, and the analytical thrust employs sociolinguistic tools from critical discourse analysis. The result is a case study of identity, offering unique insights into the field of LD itself and, through the ‘lens’ of LD, an original focus upon the production of relationships and their effects, as …

“As The Occasion Demands”: Constraint-Based Practice In Rhetoric And Composition, Erica Kerstin Fischer

Theses and Dissertations

In their 2010 Composition Studies article, Laurie Gries and Collin Brooke observe, “constrained writing has been underappreciated” in the composition classroom (21). Taking seriously the potential value of constraints in pedagogical practice, this project executes a cross-disciplinary examination (drawing from design theory, experimental poetry, literary theory, composition, and rhetorical theory) of the various occurrences of, and approaches to, constraints and their influences on the ways we think and write. This investigation reveals that constraints create the conditions under which students can become productively defamiliarized to their thinking and writing habits, encouraging them to encounter alternatives otherwise left unnoticed.

I suggest …

Strict Locality And Phonological Maps, Jane Chandlee, Jeffrey Heinz

Linguistics Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Influence Of Application-Based Homework On Students Who Struggle In Algebra I, Charles Seipp

Theses and Dissertations

This investigation describes a problem of practice with the academic achievement of students who struggle in Algebra I by means of an action research design. Students regularly struggle academically for a variety of reasons, as described within and are frequently identified as at-risk due to this struggle. This investigation seeks to determine if the utilization of application-based homework serves to increase achievement and student engagement in a course with such significant importance for future success as Algebra I. An example of application-based would be the use of specific content outside of the classroom, such as parabolic functions to model projectile …

Strategy Group Differentiation: The Effect On Literacy Development Of Accuracy, Fluency, And Comprehension, Megan Deweese

Theses and Dissertations

The problem of practice described in this paper was identified from the varying reading levels of first-grade students and the difficulty faced by teachers to meet the literacy needs of individual students within a diverse classroom. The identified problem guided the researcher to the following research question: what effect does strategy group differentiation during literacy have on accuracy, fluency, and comprehension development? The purpose of the current study is to determine if strategy group differentiation influences the academic success of students in the literacy elements of accuracy, fluency, and comprehension. Through action research studies, teachers can study their own classrooms …

The Use Of A Grammaticality Judgment Task To Assess The Role Of Receptive Vocabulary, Cognitive Inhibition, And Cognitive Flexibility On Syntactic Awareness, Lanette Mae Urbin

Master's Theses

Syntactic awareness, receptive vocabulary, and executive control (i.e., cognitive inhibition and cognitive flexibility) are robust predictors of language, literacy, and academic success (Bialystok, Craik, Klein, & Viswanathan, 2004; Davidson et al., 2010; Foursha-Stevenson & Nicoladis, 2011). In general, research demonstrates that receptive vocabulary is related to syntactic awareness (Davidson, Vanegas, Hilvert & Misiunaite, 2017; Galambos & Hakuta, 1988). There is also research to suggest that facets of executive control, such as cognitive inhibition and cognitive flexibility may also be related to syntactic awareness (Bialystok, 1986; Simard, Foucambert, & Labelle, 2013). However, receptive vocabulary, cognitive inhibition, and cognitive flexibility have only …

Culturally Relevant Choral Music Pedagogy And Student Feedback, Theoni Richardson

Master's Theses

The purpose of this teacher action research study was to assess choral education pedagogy through the perspective of high school choir students. The research question asked: How can I utilize student interpretation and critique in order to empirically self-reflect on my choral teaching practice and its cultural relevance? Interpretation and critique are defined as student opportunities to give feedback, both positive and negative, in the form of qualitative oral discussion and quantitative, linear ranking. While research has shown that culturally relevant pedagogy allows for more student engagement and success, I hypothesized that this study would show that students who perceive …

An Exploratory Study Of Factors Influencing The Success Of Refugee Youth In College And University, Lea Tienou-Gustafson

Master's Theses

The educational needs, challenges and outcomes of refugee youth in the United States have been studied a great deal, particularly in regard to primary and secondary education. There is a dearth of research, however, on the refugee experience in higher education in the United States.

This study seeks to add to the body of literature on refugee education by exploring shared features of the refugee experience in higher education. Through an in-depth study of refugee youth in Chicago, the study seeks to understand their experiences before, while entering and during college and university, particularly how these experiences are tied to …

Efl Students’ Perceptions Of Teacher Feedback And Intra-Feedback In Writing Essays, Maryam Kazemi, Shirin Abadikhah, Mahmood Dehqan

Khazar Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

This study examines EFL students’ perceptions of teacher feedback and intra-feedback in writing essays in an EFL university context. Traditionally, teachers who were considered more knowledgeable provided feedback to students' writing. Recently, peer feedback is considered as an alternative form of feedback, which involves a dynamic process of reviewing and discussing one another’s text in a writing class. Intra-feedback, another form of peer feedback, is a reviewer-oriented practice in which two reviewers discuss their comments provided individually on the composition of another student. This paper investigates 21 EFL students’ perceptions of teacher feedback and peer feedback using intra-feedback technique. Both …