Digital Commons Network^™

Academic Program Review Ay 2022-2023, California State University, San Bernardino

Office of Academic Programs records

No abstract provided.

The Importance Of Oral Language In Literacy And The Impact On Third-Grade Student Writing, Mary Allison Peck

Theses and Dissertations

Writing is the highest developmental skill in the acquisition of literacy skills and a skill that is not easy to teach in the classroom. If students are unable to verbally express an idea, they are even less likely to be able to express it in writing. The pattern of students lacking ability in writing is one that has been tracked through the National Assessment of Education Progress in 2011 with 72% of fourth graders performing below the level of proficient (National Center for Education Statistics, 2012). This study was designed to look at the daily use of an oral language …

Posthuman Queer Ecosexuality: Shakespeare And Earthly Consummation, Lisa Robinson

Theses and Dissertations

“Posthuman Queer Ecosexuality” explores the culminating productivity of a queer landscape fertilized by dead bodies. Tragedy as a genre provides a higher queer possibility simply because it does not contend with picture perfect happy endings. By seeing an inherent connection between queerness and death, the paired couples of the specific Shakespearean tragedies explored in this project, King Lear (1605), Othello (1604), and Antony and Cleopatra (1607), fertilize the respective landscapes within their plots. These main six characters are queered by forced connections to nature due to their gender, race, or function as a ruling body. Once they are placed in …

Teacher Perspectives Of The Impact Of Socratic Seminars And Collaborative Discourse On Students’ Reading Comprehension And Critical Literacy, Paula Walters

Theses and Dissertations

Academic success is contingent on multiple factors not the least of which is literacy and comprehension. However, research demonstrates that literacy and comprehension levels for traditional aged high secondary school students, as well as non-traditional adult college students threaten the academic success of these demographics. Identifying instructional practices that reinforce all literacy levels and sustain students’ motivation and engagement in the classroom is warranted as it may support students at the earliest levels of instruction, as well as offer support for the non-traditional adult college student who faces a plethora of challenges in pursuit of advanced credentials. The purpose of …

From A Distance: An Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis Of Sixth To Twelfth Grade Stem Teachers’ Perceptions Toward Teaching English Learners Remotely During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Michelle Angela Figueiredo

Theses and Dissertations

The COVID-19 pandemic that emerged in China and spread globally in early 2020 caused schools to shut down and forced educators to adapt their curricula to an online format. For many students, especially English language learners (ELs), this disruption exposed vast disparities to access and equitable instruction. For science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) educators, this presented several challenges and barriers in adapting science content that required hands on experiential learning to a virtual, two-dimensional format. For English learners (ELs) in STEM classes, it has been particularly challenging learning in this new remote modality. The study used Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis …

Secondary Educators’ Experiences With And Perspectives About Using Multicultural And Popular Culture Texts With Culturally Diverse Students In The English Language Arts Classroom, Jessica Hernandez Fletcher

Theses and Dissertations

This study explored three English Language Arts educators’ experiences with and perspectives about using multicultural and popular culture texts with culturally diverse learners in a South Texas high school. Concurrent with projections for an increase in the enrollment of Hispanic students within the nation’s public schools, educational organizations at the national level have highlighted issues related to diversity and equity, as well as access to varied textual experiences that capitalize on and expand student perspectives, lived experiences, and 21st century literacy skills. These issues become particularly salient as extended understandings of culture and diversity reframe discussions about approaches for facilitating …

Rhetoric Of Collaboration: Using Ethics Of Social Justice And Activism Through Writing Communities, Tina M. Iemma

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines emerging writing community collectives that seek to challenge the normative hierarchy of higher education in both composition and curricula. I conduct empirical research to explore the ways activist writers, those with exposure to social justice literacies from across and outside academic communities, influence an ethics of collaboration and overall expansion of more public-facing, engaged and inclusive research pedagogy and scholarship. The act of writing in collectives is needed if a move toward advocacy and opportunity for equity is to be upheld within and beyond academia. By examining social justice literacies occurring both in and out of the …

Teachers’ Perceptions Of Teaching Literacy To English Language Learners (Ells) Who Struggle With Reading And Who Are In A Suburban District In New York State, Kara A. Walker

Theses and Dissertations

Results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP; National Center for Education Statistics, 2020) have shown that despite efforts to raise the literacy skill levels of students in elementary school, the average reading scores for fourth-grade students in 2019 were still cause for concern. The NAEP data showed the reading scores in four percentiles (i.e., 10th, 25th, 50th, and 75th) from 2019 dropped in comparison with the corresponding data garnered in 2017 (National Center for Education Statistics, 2020). In addition, the number of students whose first language is not English has soared by 105% in the last decade (i.e., …

Teachers’ Experiences: Culturally Responsive Pedagogy, Student Engagement, And Growth Achievement, Suzanne R. Brooks

Theses and Dissertations

The goal in this qualitative phenomenological study was to discover the experiences of middle school teachers as they pertain to culturally responsive pedagogy, student engagement, and student growth. Participants who taught culturally diverse students in Grades 6–8 were recruited from public charter middle schools in an urban district in the mid-Atlantic region. The study was guided by three research questions focused on teachers’ knowledge of culturally responsive pedagogy and its impact on student engagement and achievement within the classroom. The research questions were answered using a combination of instruments, including a short-answer demographic questionnaire, open-ended interviews, follow-up interviews, a researcher …

Exploring How Scripts, Drama, Art, And Sensory Stimulation Can Contribute To Autistic Students’ Reading Comprehension And Enjoyment Of Fiction Text, Kathleen Melville

Theses and Dissertations

The focus in this exploratory multiple case study was to examine the reading comprehension and enjoyment of four male, English-speaking teenage students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) during a 12-week Story Club series. Parents’ perceptions of their teenager’s reading comprehension were also considered. Story Club involved modifying a young adult novel into a script format after which students embodied character roles and engaged in rehearsals and performances. Furthermore, students designed artwork and theater props, received social-emotional instruction from a drama therapist, and were exposed to sensory experiences, all of which were aligned with literary events from the story. Because interventions …

Crisis, Identity And Urban Continuity In Seventh Century Byzantium: A Hagiographic Reassessment, Daniel Joseph Kelly

Theses and Dissertations

Hagiography, or Saints’ Lives or Miracles, often record significant details about the period in which the saint under discussion lived or the period in which the hagiography originated. These documents are useful in attempting to understand the Seventh Century Crisis Period, the period when the Eastern Roman Empire transitioned into the Byzantine Empire. Central to this is the survival of a Romano-Byzantine identity throughout the crisis period and beyond. This dissertation examines six Byzantine Hagiographies in an attempt to understand this critical and complex period in Byzantine and Near Eastern History: the Life of Symeon the Holy Fool, the Life …

What Factors Impact Black Adolescents’ Attitudes Towards Literacy In The Classroom?, Sheila R. Harris

Theses and Dissertations

In the Black community, there is a paradox about how education is a key to success and a way out of a person’s unfortunate socioeconomic situation (Mickelson, 1990). Over time, Black adolescents have continuously performed low academically (NAEP, 2019). According to the Nation’s Report Card (2019), when viewed by racial/ethnic groups, the percentages of students performing at or above Proficient ranged from 18% for Black students to 46% for white students (NAEP, 2019). While holding such a vital belief in the “power of an education” (focusing mainly on literacy as reading), the current study seeks to understand what factors play …

Exploring Intermediate Teachers’ Experiences With Culturally Responsive Literature, Prisciliana K. Delgado

Theses and Dissertations

Students deserve to see representations of themselves in the books that they read, but with low amounts of culturally diverse books being published, this is not an easy feat. Students are exposed to a wide variety of literature in their classrooms, and as the need increases for culturally responsive teaching, it is important to explore how teachers navigate instruction with respect to culturally responsive books. As the Latinx population continues to grow in Texas, culturally responsive practices are becoming increasingly needed. Moreover, it is helpful to explore teachers’ own histories and how those experiences affect their teaching practices. In this …

The Craft Of Language: An Analysis Of Associations Between A Metalinguistic Writing Course And Reading Comprehension, Anna Incognito

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines associations between writing instruction with a focus on explicit sentence syntax and reading comprehension in a sample of students receiving special education services. While the outcome data does not show direct causation between student enrollment in a treatment writing course using Systemic Functional Linguistics and reading scores on state testing, the significant associations between variables imply possibilities for improvements in reading pedagogy. Reading comprehension depends on how accurately readers capture an author’s intended meaning while reading. Current research shows this has less to do with decoding words in a sentence, and more to do with recognizing communicative …

Hip-Hop Is Literacy: Enhancing English Skills Using Hip-Hop As A Culturally Responsive Multiliteracy, Kai C. Jones

Theses and Dissertations

Recognizing the effectiveness of multiliteracies and replacing canonical texts with hip-hop lyrics, teachers can actively engage students in English classrooms at the same time allowing for cultural diversity and appreciation in the classroom. Although, several studies have been conducted to show the effectiveness of the use of non-traditional text in the classroom and the effectiveness of utilizing a culturally diverse curriculum to help with reading engagement and comprehension; this study examined how recognizing the cultural differences between student’s home and school life, acknowledging the importance of students’ culture, and utilizing a wide range of instructional materials, can promote the development …

The Self-Efficacy Of Culturally Responsive Teaching Among Secondary Teachers During Emergency Online Learning, Jo R. Hawke

Theses and Dissertations

The present study used an explanatory-sequential mixed-methods research design to investigate the culturally responsive teaching self-efficacy of secondary teachers during the emergency online learning of 2020. Participants were all teachers in a small urban mid-Atlantic school district. Phase 1 involved the collection of primarily quantitative data, including a measure adapted from Siwatu’s (2007) Culturally Responsive Teaching Self-Efficacy (CRTSE) scale. Quantitative findings informed the selection of six teachers to participate in interviews during the qualitative Phase 2. Interview questions further probed participants’ culturally responsive teaching self-efficacy and how the teachers demonstrated these beliefs in general and specifically during the emergency online …

Maternal Literacy Practices And Beliefs Impact Infant Development, Deirdre Cruz

Theses and Dissertations

Infancy is a pivotal time in the development of a human’s cognitive ability. There is a lack of research in this area, specifically on mothers and their beliefs about literacy practices and the home learning environment. By utilizing Bronfenbrenner’s ecological framework, this study explores the beliefs of mothers and how they impact the infants’ preliteracy skills and knowledge, which are paramount to success in kindergarten and beyond. Using a phenomenological study, the researcher interviewed mothers on their views of literacy, their infant’s home learning environment, and how they perceive their culture and mothering style impact their infants.

Social Emotional Learning: Narrative Growth, Christine Alexandra Biskup

Theses and Dissertations

From an early age, we engage in building our narrative language through social interactions. These narrative language skills influence academic success. Many educational establishments focus solely on academic achievement. A focus on supporting emotional intelligence that can support narrative language development is imperative. In this ethnography study, students were taught feeling words lessons from RULER, a social-emotional learning curriculum. Using observations and interviews, I sought to understand how early childhood students apply emotional feeling words into their narrative language. By using inductive analysis and conducting interviews with the students, I coded data to narrate my research question to assist with …

Everyone A Mode, Everyone A Voice: Critical Pedagogy And Community College Student Perceptions Of Multimodal Practices Over Traditional Writing, Marina Delvecchio

Theses and Dissertations

Using a sequential explanatory mixed methods design, this study was designed to acquire quantitative and qualitative data that expose community college student perceptions on multimodal compositions compared to traditional writing practices. As traditional writing continues to be privileged in college writing classrooms, a critical pedagogy theoretical framework was used to frame the research to explore how this privilege affects the learning of marginalized students. Through the collection of survey data and interviews with students, this mixed methods study was designed to reveal how being assigned multimodal practices over traditional writing for low-stakes assignments improves the learning environments of students and …

Quantitative Analysis Of Contributing Factors Of Career Success And Overall And Academic Resilience In Higher Education: A Refinement Of Tinto’S Theory To Stop Latinx Oppression, Andreia Gendera

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

It is indeed a fact that diversity helps to build a better economy, and diverse businesses are proven to be healthier and more successful, but the lack of diversity in the workforce and educational environment, shows that the pipeline is not moving Latinx people enough. Latinx community is the largest minoritized community in the United States, substantially impacting the country’s economy and society, but the United States Census Bureau (2020) estimates that out of the 2% of the population 25 years and older who have a doctorate degree only 0.11% is Hispanic of any race, including Latinx. The purpose of …

Local Organizations For Internships (#2), Jozefina Lantz

Internship Program

Contains another document regarding various local organizations for possible internship placement. This spreadsheet is more detailed than #1, providing detailed information on each organization listed.

Jozefina Lantz was the co-convener for the Integration and Belonging Hub up until her retirement.

This PDF was converted from an Excel sheet. The "Notes" column on page two corresponds to the rows on page one and so on and so forth.

Progressive Virtual Learning For Our Youngest Learners, Erica B. Held

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This study addresses how teachers build a progressive curriculum online for our youngest learners.

Establishing Test-Retest Reliability And Internal Consistency Of The Occupational Resilience Measure, Kara Gore

OT Student Capstones

Without a clear understanding of the dynamic relationship between resilience and occupation, occupational therapy has lacked the tools necessary to optimize resilience in research and clinical practice.

Occupational resilience is defined as “the capacity for persistence in the performance of an occupation, whereby capacity is reflected in both duration and intensity of engagement in a specified occupation” (Muriithi et al., 2022).

Occupational Resilience Measure 1.0 (ORM) and the Occupational Resilience Individual Perception Scale (ORIPS) to be used as the primary assessment tools for measuring resilience in individual occupations.

Aim: Establish the test-retest reliability and internal consistency of the ORM; establish …

Three Continents Meet: Metaverse For Higher Education, John O'Connor, Murat Gulmez, Lynn Berrett

Conference Presentations

This paper explores the potential of the metaverse as a transformative platform for higher education through the International Student Project. This collaborative initiative unites Çağ University in Türkiye, Technological University Dublin in Ireland, and the US-based nonprofit Whole Brain Health, using the virtual world of Second Life as a hub for teaching, learning, and cross-cultural exchange. The project brings students from Türkiye and Ireland together, supported by Whole Brain Health, to explore collaboratively the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Students develop teamwork, digital literacy, and creative skills, producing interactive 3D presentations in an immersive virtual environment. Drawing on each …

Working With The Intercultural Competence In Higher Education As A Path Towards Inclusion: A Practical Example From Eut+, Natalia Carbajosa, Stefanie Morgret, Catherine Spencer, Ulta Hameister

Papers

The UNESCO defines the concept of interculturality as “the existence and equitable interaction of diverse cultures and the possibility of generating shared cultural expressions through dialogue and mutual respect,” according to the article 4.8 of the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.3 A derivative of this concept would be ntercultural awareness,” which can be defined as the conscious understanding, free of clash, of he fact that people from different cultures have different values. In contrast to interculturality, which accepts and assimilates ways of living and thinking from different cultures, multiculturality simply refers to juxtaposed …

Designing For Inclusiveness In Edtech Projects: The Case Of The European University Of Technology’S Xr Vr Team, Deirdre Mcquillan, Susanna Nocchi, Odette Gabaudan, Ana Schalk, Anna Nicolaou, Antigoni Parmaxi, Esther Hernandez

Conference Proceedings

This paper will present the case of the XR VR project team within the European University of Technology (EUt+). The team is tasked with developing an extended reality (XR) virtual reality (VR) approach to help students and staff overcome language and cultural barriers in international mobility. The aim of the project ultimately is to enhance the experience of physical student mobility and to ensure international opportunities for students are more inclusive. As research on the problem is still in progress, the team found themselves constructing their own understanding of designing for inclusiveness in the project. This paper presents the case …

Evolving Evolutionary Psychology, Darcia Narvaez, David S. Moore, David C. Witherington, Timothy I. Vandiver, Robert Lickliter

Pitzer Faculty Publications and Research

Which evolutionary theory can best benefit psychological theory, research, and application? The most well-known school of evolutionary psychology has a narrow conceptual perspective (a.k.a., “Narrow Evolutionary Psychology” or NEP). Proponents of NEP have long argued that their brand of evolutionary psychology represents a full-fledged scientific revolution, with Buss (2020) recently likening NEP’s scientific impact to that of a Copernican or Darwinian paradigm shift. However, NEP stands on two traditions that are now the subjects of serious debate and revision: the neo-Darwinian adaptationist framework within evolutionary biology, and the computationalist “mind-as-computer” framework within cognitive science. Although NEP calls itself revolutionary, the …

Implementation Of Tiered Systems Of Support At Secondary Schools In Minnesota, Beth Arlene Praska

All Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine data regarding the implementation of critical components of the Multi-tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) framework in Minnesota public secondary schools, defined as middle and high schools that service any combination of Grades 6-12. This study’s mixed method design utilized secondary data collected from the Survey of Multi-tiered Systems of Support Implementation for Addressing the MN ELA Standards distributed by the Minnesota Department of Education. The survey employed a Likert scale that measured the implementation of four critical components identified as: (a) leadership and organizational structures, (b) curriculum and instruction, (c) assessment, and …

The Relationship Between The Implementation Of Response To Intervention And Students’ Achievement On Eighth Grade Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments, Ann Marie Rooney

All Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research study was to determine if there is a relationship between the implementation phase of Response to Intervention (RTI), an academic multi-tiered system of support, and eighth grade students’ mathematics, reading, and science Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments (MCAs) proficiency achievement. Data for this study were collected using a RTI phase survey sent via Qualtrics to Minnesota middle school principals and publicly accessible MCA proficiency data via the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) website. The researcher analyzed data using the Statistical Package of the Social Sciences (SPSS). Each principal’s survey response was aligned with the school’s eighth grade …

Understanding How Higher Education Leaders Manage Their Personal Self In A Changing Environment, Brittany Kay Nielsen

All Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research looked at how higher education leaders identified and managed their emotions in times of institutional change. Interviews were conducted with higher education leaders who were above the level of director and were not chancellors or presidents. The researcher sought to (1) discover the emotions of higher education leaders in times of change, (2) gain an understanding of how leaders managed their emotions, and (3) discover how leaders can build an understanding of emotional awareness in the workplace. Data collected from this study provides opportunities to understand the impact of emotions in the workplace and can benefit current and …