Digital Commons Network^™

Highlighting The Importance Of Researching Family Homelessness, Ronald E. Hallett, William G. Tierney

Journal of Applied Research on Children: Informing Policy for Children at Risk

This invited commentary responds to and builds upon Tobin and Murphy's article, “Addressing the Challenges of Child and Family Homelessness.” In affirming the ideas emerging from this article, Hallett and Tierney provide three points of extension: (1) more research needs to be conducted with doubled-up families; (2) the role of shame needs further exploration; and, (3) additional work needs to be done to increase access to postsecondary institutions.

“With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility”: Privileged Students’ Conceptions Of Justice-Oriented Citizenship, Katy Swalwell

Democracy & Education

How do students from privileged communities respond to educational efforts encouraging them to become justice-oriented citizens? Observational and interview data collected during a semester-long case study of eleven high school students in a social studies class at an elite private school reveal four markedly different interpretations of their teacher's call to be justice-oriented citizens. Under Westheimer and Kahne’s (2004) conceptions of citizenship as an analytical frame, only one of these interpretations aligns with the tenets of justice-oriented citizenship and the desired outcomes of social justice pedagogy. Given that all eleven students considered themselves to be justice oriented, these findings reveal …

The Experiences Of Young African American Women Principals, Tanya Roane

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was designed to gain an understanding of how young African American women principals experience the principalship. Three research questions were explored in this study: (a.) What are the pathways to the principalship for young African American women? (b.) How do African American women experience the principalship? (c.) What are the barriers that young African American women experience and what are their strategies for success? The researcher examined the day-to-day experiences faced by these women as they related to race, gender, and age challenges within the field of education. Using qualitative research with Black Feminist Standpoint …

Un Camino Solitario! / A Lonely Road!: Chicana/O Faculty Storytelling And Counterstorytelling In Academia, Juan Carlos González, Gloria S. Vaquera, Cynthia Bejarano, Edwardo L. Portillos

Sociology

This volume brings together the latest research and scholarship on Latinos in the United States. This book is special in terms of the broad scope of topics covered and methodologies employed in pursuit of knowledge about Latino students. This collection is also unique in that it features the work of more than a dozen Latino scholars”both early-career and established”applying their research expertise to investigate and elucidate the educational experiences of Latinos in the United States. The themes that are discussed in the chapters of The Education of the Hispanic Population: Selected Essays, reflect the wide-ranging discussions that are occurring in …

The Effect Of Socioeconomic Status On Student Perceptions Of Instructional Communication Behaviors, Samuel A. Crecelius

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In spite of desegregation and efforts to provide equitableEducation for all students, minorities and students living in poverty continue to underperform their peers.Education theorists have attributed this achievement gap to a cultural mismatch between students and their teachers and schools. At the same time, instructional communication research has found that cultural differences may influence student perceptions of teacher communication behaviors and that these behaviors have an effect on learning outcomes. Interestingly, while race has received extensive study in the instructional communication literature, little research has examined the role of socioeconomic status on students' perceptions of instructor communication behaviors. The current …

The Cultural Discontinuity Hypothesis: An Appalachian American Perspective In Eastern Kentucky, Timothy W. Conner Ii

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

K.M. Tyler et al. (2008) propose a quantitative method to measure differences between school and home experiences had by students of ethnic minority status and how such differences (cultural discontinuity) may affect psychological factors related to student achievement. Although study of cultural discontinuity has been applied to understanding African American, Asian American, Latino American, and Native American student populations, little attention has been given to the ways in which cultural discontinuity may manifest in the Appalachian American population. This study conceptualizes the socio-cultural conditions that would warrant such an investigation, establishing evidence from ten interview subjects of the presence of …

Practicing What We Teach: The Politics Behind Creating A State Social Studies Curriculum, Jacquelyn Visger

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Societal importance of the social studies fields is the key to what makes the development of social studies curriculum political. State standardized curricula adopted in the 1990s gave freedom to individual states to create their own standards on what information they were requiring their students to learn. The standards we require students to know inherently molds their political philosophy throughout schooling. By focusing attention on two separate cases, Texas and Michigan, inherent differences in the creation process of these standards are highlighted to show how the differences in the creation process have an effect on the standards document. This thesis …

Wasted Potential: The Barriers To Education Faced By Students Residing In The Squatter Settlements Of Kathmandu, Kaly Rule

Theses & ETDs

The purpose of this study is to ascertain the barriers to education that students in squatter settlements face, with specific focus on those in Kathmandu, Nepal. After reviewing the general issues with education in slums and squatter settlements, the study turns to a historical overview of education in Nepal. It then goes on to discuss the specifics of the squatter settlements in Kathmandu, including their history and general conditions. After identifying the common struggles faced by the urban poor, the study examines the specific barriers confronted by students in Kathmandu squatter settlements, utilizing other studies, newspapers, and personal observations. The …

Phronetic Implications: Making A Case For Cross-Disciplinary Conversations In Higher Education, Mark Fretts

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

"Problems faced by society in today's global infrastructure are more complex than ever; these social, political and environmental issues require an interdisciplinary skill set to even begin to understand them let alone tackle them with a comprehensive strategy. Higher Education can better prepare people for real world problem solving by interacting in cross-disciplinary or interdisciplinary conversations with peers, faculty, colleagues etc. Professors from across the social sciences at Eastern Washington University that are engaged in an interdisciplinary conversation were interviewed for this qualitative case study. The dialogue generated from these interviews confirms that there are many intrinsic as well as …

Tennessee Higher Education Fact Book 2011-2012, Tennessee. Higher Education Commission.

Higher Education Fact Book

No abstract provided.

Knowledge, Attitudes And Practices Of Environmental Justice In Higher Education, Marjorie M. Nussbaum

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Research suggests that issues of environmental justice are not being routinely included in the curriculum of the K-12 classroom and that teachers in those grades do not feel prepared to teach it. Likewise, little has been written about the addition of these topics to higher education coursework, leaving the question of inclusion at this level of education as well. This apparent lacuna may point to at least one reason why K-12 teachers are neither knowledgeable about environmental justice nor prepared to teach it. To discover the current state of inclusion in higher education, a mixed methods study was conducted to …

Toward A Theory Of Interdisciplinarity: An Example Of Conceptual Integration/Blending In Teaching And Learning In Russian And East European Language-Based Area Studies, Anna Pleshakova, Kathleen M. Quinlan

Russian Language Journal

Most of problems in everyday and professional life are interdisciplinary, though most of our academic scholarship is contained within disciplines. To understand and solve such interdisciplinary problems, we must cross disciplinary boundaries. Yet, “the need to identify a method or/and logic of interdisciplinarity has, however, proven to be much easier to proclaim than to meet.”

Chinese Students' Perceptions Of Their Creativity And Their Perceptions Of Western Students' Creativity, Bingxin Wang, Kenneth M. Greenwood

Research outputs 2013

This paper applies the Four C Model of Creativity ('Big-C, little-c, mini-c and Pro-c') to determine Chinese students' perceptions of their own creativity and their perceptions of Western students' creativity. By surveying 100 Chinese students and interviewing 10 of them, this paper discovered that Chinese students generally perceived their creativity to be less than that of Western students. Differences on mini-c and Pro-c were larger in the direction of Western students being superior, and the items that differed in the opposite direction and those which did not differ were part of the subset of little-c items. The perceived superiority of …

Through The Viewfinder: Reflecting On The Collection And Analysis Of Classroom Video Data, Angela Fitzgerald, Mark Hackling, Vaille Dawson

Research outputs 2013

The possibilities inherent in the collection and use of video footage point to an important innovation for classroom research. Unfortunately, researchers often experience uncertainty about incorporating video into their methodological approach as it can present a potential minefield of operational, technical, and ethical issues that require consideration and negotiation. Nevertheless, with the increased emphasis on the use of digital technologies, the timing is right to engage in more in-depth discussions about the role of video data in education research. In contributing to this discussion, this article unpacks several issues connected to the use of video technology as a tool for …

Antecedent Influences: Factors That Guide African American Men To The Field Of Education, Michael James Maxwell

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Over the last four decades black men have become increasingly underrepresented in all aspects of the teaching profession. Identifying the factors that influence African American men to enter or avoid the education field can help increase the recruitment of black men into the field of education. The dearth of black men in our classrooms can be reduced by collecting data as to the reasons that influence their decisions about the education field.

This qualitative study examined the experiences and perspectives of African American men serving as classroom teachers to identify common factors that may influence African Americans, in general, to …

Psychometrics Of The Scale Of Attitudes Toward Physician-Pharmacist Collaboration: A Study With Medical Students., Mohammadreza Hojat, John Spandorfer, Gerald A. Isenberg, Michael J. Vergare, Reza Fassihi, Joseph S. Gonnella

Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: Despite the emphasis placed on interdisciplinary education and interprofessional collaboration between physicians and pharmacologists, no psychometrically sound instrument is available to measure attitudes toward collaborative relationships.

AIM: This study was designed to examine psychometrics of an instrument for measuring attitudes toward physician-pharmacist collaborative relationships for administration to students in medical and pharmacy schools and to physicians and pharmacists.

METHODS: The Scale of Attitudes Toward Physician-Pharmacist Collaboration was completed by 210 students at Jefferson Medical College. Factor analysis and correlational methods were used to examine psychometrics of the instrument.

RESULTS: Consistent with the conceptual framework of interprofessional collaboration, three underlying …

A Treatise On Diversity In A Dominant Culture University, Brenda Morton, L. Samek, A. Berardi, Debra S. Espinor, S. Song, W. White, S. Bearden

Faculty Publications - College of Education

The authors examine progress in strengthening the Diversity agenda in a school of education within a private Christian university. This agenda is informed by external academic accrediting organizations and principles of social justice congruent with the historical roots of the university. Special emphasis is placed on the unique challenges of confronting how privilege manifests itself in seemingly homogeneous environments. The ultimate goal of the authors is to promote moving beyond cosmetic compliance with accreditation obligations towards a metabolized second order change reflecting internal paradigm shifts in which social justice is a central motivating factor in one’s vocation.

Chinese American Women, Identity And Education: A Qualitative Study, Qing Li

Cultural Foundations of Education - Dissertations & Theses

This qualitative study explores how Chinese American women, as American-born children of new Chinese immigrants, have perceived and interpreted who they are, and how they become who they are while adapting to American society and negotiating with the interplay of race, ethnicity, class, and gender. Drawing on in-depth interviews with twenty-seven Chinese American women from two universities located on the East Coast, I argue that their segmented assimilation processes involving ongoing negotiations between maintaining ties with their ethnic and cultural backgrounds and selective integration into the mainstream of the society, which, to some extent, are subject to and predetermined by …

Using The Learners-As-Ethnographers Approach To Enhance Intercultural Learning Among American College Students Learning Chinese As A Foreign Language, Minhui M. Lu

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Leveling The Playing Field: Curriculum Studies And Fast Pitch Softball, Melinda M. Roberts

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Women in sport challenge our cultural assumptions about gender and sexuality. Athletics has been viewed as a male domain, with its emphasis on strength, agility, competition, intellect, and aggression. To play sports, women are pressured to maintain and emphasize their femininity without appearing overly aggressive or possessing masculine traits associated with sport, particularly in the team sport of softball. This research examines the expectations a patriarchal society places on young women who play sports competitively and how such expectations with regards to femininity in both behavior and appearance influence a young female athlete's identity formation. Through the lenses of gender …

Becoming: One Teacher’S Journey Into Social Justice Education, Elizabeth C. Fyffe

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

This autoethnographic study examines how a first year teacher, self-identifying as a social justice educator, comes to understand the lived experience of becoming a professional. The purpose of the study was to explore the unique challenges, perspectives, and philosophical contradictions that present themselves in the daily life of a social justice educator in a public elementary school setting. Through self-reflective journaling five becomings were revealed to be intertwined in the process of developing as a social justice educator: becoming a classroom manager, becoming a content specialist, becoming an implementation virtuoso, becoming an assessment architect, and becoming a balanced educator. It …

Is It The Way To Teach Language The Way We Teach Language? English Language Teaching In Rural Pakistan, Ali Nawab

Professional Development Centre, Chitral

With the growing importance and need of English language in the global context, efforts are being made in the developing context to improve the quality of teaching English with the assumption that teaching of English facilitates the acquisition of English Language. What is Pakistani teachers approach to the teaching of English language and does the way they teach English facilitate the language acquisition? The current study explores this question at secondary level in the context of Chitral, a remote district of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa province Pakistan. The researcher visited the randomly selected secondary schools and consulted English teachers interviewing them and …

It’S More Than Just Music: A Review Of Urban Science Education For The Hip-Hop Generation, Jose M. Rios

Democracy & Education

A review of the book Urban Science Education for the Hip-Hop Generation, by Christopher Emdin (Sense Publishing, 2010).

Defying Borders: Transforming Learning Through Collaborative Feminist Organizing And Interdisciplinary, Transnational Pedagogy, Terri Carney, Margaretha Geertsema Sligh, Ann M. Savage, Ageeth Sluis

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

The authors provide a case study of how a group of faculty members was able to initiate a transformation in student learning and institutional structures at a small university in the Midwestern U.S. through the introduction of collaborative feminist organizing and pedagogy. It details faculty-led initiatives that set the stage for innovative teaching and learning, and it describes the authors' experience in the face of resistance when introducing a global women's human rights course into the university's new core curriculum. Because of its divers, interdisciplinary and transnational content, this course challenged deeply ingrained disciplinary and pedagogical borders of both traditional …

Writing For Numbers: The Cultural Production Of Good Writers In The Time Of High Stakes Writing Assessments, Barbara W. Tindall

Doctoral Dissertations

Few studies have looked at the consequences of standardized writing tests to students' understanding of what it means to be a competent writer. Using research techniques drawn from performance studies and art therapy, this qualitative study of middle class, honors students invited them to explore their understanding of what it means to be a high scoring writer on the SAT.

The theoretical framework of the study is situated at the intersection of three fields: cultural production theory, New Literacy Studies and object relations theory. The study has two related strands. In the first, I perform a socio-historical analysis of the …

Nurse Educators' Perceptions About The Culture Of Nursing And Their Role In Bringing Students Into That Culture: A Focused Ethnography, Susan Maria Strouse

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to discover nurse educators' perceptions about the culture of nursing and how they bring students into that culture.

Background: Although the extant literature addresses the process of socialization to the profession, literature exploring socialization as enculturation is scant. Nurse educators' perspectives on the culture of nursing needed further exploration, as their voice on this topic is relatively silent and they provide the first formal enculturation to the profession. Viewing nursing as a professional culture may more effectively enable faculty to clarify and explicate for students the values, behaviors, symbols, and beliefs inherent in …

Comparing Heritage And Non-Heritage Learning Outcomes And Target-Language Utilization In The Overseas Immersion Context: A Preliminary Study Of The Russian Flagship, Dan E. Davidson, Maria D. Lekic

Russian Language Journal

The heritage learner within U.S. foreign language education has received increasing attention over the past two decades, as university programs with substantial numbers of heritage students have developed improved diagnostic and curricular offerings for addressing the particular needs of those whose learning of their native language was incomplete or interrupted due to immigration to the U.S. (Valdés, 2000; Kagan & Dillon, 2004). While the heritage learner within the domestic language learning context is relatively well represented in the literature, relatively little research has been devoted to the acquisition experiences of heritage learners engaged in overseas immersion study (re-learning) of their …

A Novice Esl Teacher's Experience Of Language Learning In France: An Autoethnographic Study Of Anomie And The "Vulnerable Self", Christopher Ryan

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

"This thesis combines diary study with autoethnography to report an MATESL candidate's study abroad experience as an advanced learner of French. The writer summarizes language-learning experiences in Quebec and France while focusing on his second study abroad experience in France, where he encountered an educational system that was inconsistent with his training as a language teacher and his learning style as a language learner. He discusses challenges he faced in a language institute he was required to enroll in before he could matriculate in the university. Rote memorization and test preparation were the primary focuses of two classes, but the …

Barriers And Enablers Of Interdisciplinary Research At Academic Institutions, Leslie Suzanne Thornton Butler

Dissertations

This research study examines the factors that motivate and lead to the success of faculty members who conduct interdisciplinary research. Because a comprehensive study of the research patterns of interdisciplinary researchers has not been conducted, the main intent of this research project was to create an instrument that would measure research habits and attitudes. It is important that such research be conducted using individuals who are interdisciplinary researchers as well as disciplinary researchers. One intent of the research study was to provide comparisons between disciplinary researchers and interdisciplinary researchers. Another intent was to provide university administrators with a better understanding …

Teacher And Principal Beliefs About Principal Leadership Behavior, Mary Beth Morris

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine whether or not there is a difference between teacher and principal beliefs about principal leadership behavior using a 360- degree evaluation tool. The study also examined whether the difference between teacher and principal beliefs was related to the status of a school relative to the state growth target each school was expected to meet. The study also examined the effects of gender of administrator, number of years of administrator experience, and the performance status of the school that could be discerned through the use of a 360-degree evaluation tool.

Significant research points …