Digital Commons Network^™

Master Of Science Degree Programs, 2000-2001, Nova Southeastern University

College of Engineering and Computing Course Catalogs

No abstract provided.

Needs Assessment Of Vietnamese Students And Families At Santa Teresa High School, Lynh T. Ngo

Master's Projects

No abstract provided.

Is Our Drug Policy Effective, Jefferson M. Fish

Fordham Urban Law Journal

The article begins by stating that the time has come for a reexamination of our drug policy. It continues by discussing the two day conference "Is Our Drug Policy Effective?" "Are There Alternatives?" organized by several committee's. Because of space constraints, the article mainly delves into two topics, certain substances both licit and illicit with regard to both their physiological effects and the policies governing them, and also the disproportionate emphasis placed by the war on drugs on combating marijuana. The article then gives summaries of the speakers at the conference. These include: Objectives of our drug policy, overviews of …

A Qualitative Evaluation Of Teaming, Problem -Solving, And Technology -Utilization Skills Of Students In The Integrated First-Year Curriculum In Science, Engineering, And Mathematics, Jean Kathryn Sando

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In 1993, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology became a member of the Foundation Coalition, one of six EngineeringEducation Coalitions sponsored by grants from the National Science Foundation. Experimental curricula were created, including the Integrated First Year Curriculum in Science, Engineering, and Mathematics (IFYCSEM) and the Sophomore Engineering Program (SEC). In this study, students who completed one or more of the Foundation Coalition curricula were placed in four-member teams and comparatively evaluated using qualitative research techniques for their abilities to work in teams, to solve complex, open-ended problems and to utilize technology. This study evaluated the outcomes for the students at Rose-Hulman …

The Influence Of Gender -Related Beliefs On Students Motor Skill Learning., Donald Gregory Scott Belcher

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of beliefs about gender appropriateness and conceptions of ability on perceived and actual competence and patterns of behavior during practice of a sex typed masculine task, the hockey wrist shot. Sixty-eight undergraduate females formed four homogeneous treatment conditions based on their beliefs about gender appropriateness and conceptions of ability: Masculine Innate (MI), Masculine Acquired (MA), Neutral Innate (NI), and Neutral Acquired (NA). Four teachers taught across all of the treatment conditions for a total of 16 learning groups. Each of the learning episodes reinforced the gender appropriateness and conception of …

The Function Of Speech (Verbal Mediation) On Corresponding Academic And Social Behavior., Kimberly Jo Callicott

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The role of language in self-control has been of interest to researchers across continents and time. This study attempted to isolate the functional role of language in relationship to subsequent academic and task engaged behaviors with four students aged 10--14. The students were diagnosed with Emotional or Behavioral Disorders had normal intelligence and were receiving their education at an alternative placement facility. The study used a single subject design and exposed the subjects to conditions of self-declaratory speech (SDS), SDS and reinforcement for correspondence, a return to baseline, SDS and reinforcement for correspondence, and SDS with delayed reinforcement. Results of …

Interaction Between Cognitive Styles And Assessment Approaches., Mehtap Cakan

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The present study investigated the interaction of cognitive style and assessment format (multiple-choice (MC) and performance-based assessments (PBA)) in second language proficiency. The participants consisted of 258 eighth-grade students. The second language achievement of the students was assessed by the Eighth Grade Proficiency/Credit Exam: French I. The cognitive style of the students was assessed by the Group Embedded Figures Test. The study also examined study habits and attitudes of field-dependent (FD) and field-independent (FI) students toward the two assessment formats. The study utilized a sequential mixed-model design, consisting of both quantitative and qualitative methods. Phase I consisted of a quantitative …

Effectiveness Of Using An Enterprise System To Facilitate Process -Centered Learning In Business Education., Jose H. Noguera

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

This research investigates the effectiveness of using a commercial Enterprise Resource Planning System (ERP) as a supplement tool to teach Enterprise Information Systems concepts in Business Schools. A state-of-the-art ERP System is an integrated enterprise software system that has a windows-based interface, a client-server architecture, and a modular and expandable structure. This complex computer environment provides a rich content domain where students can get exposure to key business, computer science, data communication, and information systems concepts. A significant challenge facing business school educators is to identify how best to deploy a commercial ERP System in their academic environment. Furthermore, an …

Psychosocial Correlates Of Decision Certainty In Academic Major Selection Of College Students., Claire Bienvenu

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

This study explored relationships between several psychosocial variables and academic major decision certainty. Specifically, the study purpose was four-fold. First, this study attempted to expand the traditional conceptual framework for understanding academic major selection by creating a new construct of academic major decision certainty. Second, incorporated in this study was development of new instruments to measure academic major decision certainty, student academic self-appraisal, and student academic major self-efficacy motivation. Third, this study utilized social cognitive theory to better understand academic major decision certainty as a complex, multi-faceted construct. Finally, because the sample utilized in this Study extended to all subsets …

Models Of Professional Development For Teachers: Factors Influencing Technology Implementation In Elementary Schools., Marilyn Hill Catchings

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

This qualitative multiple case study explored factors which contribute to the implementation of technology in elementary schools. This research had a phenomenological focus because there was a concentration on the structure and essence of the experiences of the teachers and leaders in the phenomenon, the implementation of technology in the school. The four schools chosen for the study were judged to have outstanding technology implementation by state technology leaders and a researcher screening process. They were selected because the researcher determined that these cases were the ones from which the most could be learned. These particular schools had ample technology …

A Longitudinal Study Of Students Academic Achievement Change: A Multilevel Structural Equation Model From A Multiple Group Perspective., John Kipngeno Rugutt

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The focus of this study was three-fold: First, to determine if the growth parameters (intercepts and slopes) in mathematics and language were related within domains and ethnicity. Second, to determine if the pattern of interrelationships among the individual achievement growth parameters were the same for African American and White students. Third, to establish whether there existed discernible patterns variability in academic growth parameters within each ethnicity over time. The study employed a three-wave longitudinal panel design, with data drawn from Louisiana State Department of Education. The data were then analyzed utilizing both a multilevel structural equation methodology and hierarchical linear …

Sociomathematical Norms Of Elementary School Classrooms: Crossnational Perspectives On The *Reform Of Mathematics Teaching., Jeongsuk Pang

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Mathematics education reform in the United States has marshaled large-scale support for instructional innovation, and enlisted the participation and allegiance of large numbers of mathematics teachers. However, there is concern that many teachers have not grasped the full implications of the reform ideals. This study explored the breakdown that may occur between teachers' adoption of reform objectives and their successful incorporation of reform ideals by comparing and contrasting two reform-oriented classrooms. This study was an exploratory, qualitative, comparative case study using constant comparative analysis. Seven mathematics lessons were video-taped from each class, and intensive interviews conducted with the two teachers. …

Performance Assessment And English Skill., Zhenghe Zhang

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Recent developments in the philosophy of validity, highlighting the importance of investigating the consequences of assessment use, provide theoretical support for the move toward performance assessment. Numerous issues related to the choice of assessment approach (e.g., multiple-choice or performance-based) are not well understood today. This study investigated the potential interaction between assessment approach and the English skill of the examinee and the similarity of the information provided by multiple-choice and essay writing tests. Four hypotheses were examined in this study. Hypothesis 1 results indicated that students who were native speakers of English (regular students) achieved higher scores on the writing …

Comparing Interventions On Disruptive Classroom Behaviors Derived From Descriptive Analysis, Experimental Analysis, And Reinforcer Assessment., Heather Peshak George

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

This study investigated whether descriptive analyses, experimental analyses, and reinforcer assessments produced similar patterns of data. Descriptive analyses were conducted to identify baseline levels of disruptive behavior and to systematically describe the co-variation between disruptive behaviors and teacher attention, peer attention, and the academic task. Data on disruptive behavior were analyzed by computing conditional probabilities associated with the preceding and maintaining stimuli (e.g., peer attention). Experimental analyses were conducted to examine the extent to which disruptive behavior was sensitive to the instructional task or to the systematically programmed consequences (e.g., teacher attention). A preference assessment was conducted to identify preferred …

A Study Of The Effects Of Two Instructional Programs In Reading On Student Reading Self -Efficacy, Personal Perceptions Of The Learning Environment And Reading Levels., Cathy Elaine Smith Daniel

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine differences in students' reading self-efficacy, students' personal perceptions of the learning environment, and change in reading level across instructional programs. In addition, the study explores the relationship between students' personal perceptions of the learning environment as measured by the My Class Inventory-Short Personal Form (MCI-SPF) and student reading self-efficacy as measured by the Reader Self-Perception Scale (RSPS). Analyses showed that: (1) Students in the Success for All (SFA) reading program exhibited higher levels of general reading self-efficacy than did students in the language-based comparison group, (2) Students in the SFA instructional program …

A Narrative Study Of Selected Introductory College Biology Students' Struggles To Gain An Understanding Of Scale And Measurement., Juliana Guillory Hinton

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Case studies, developed with criteria from Yin's Case Study Research: Design and Methods (1994), probed single mental constructs of four introductory college biology students who were recent high school graduates. Data sources included autobiographical essays, interviews, coconstructed concept maps (Wandersee & Abrams, 1993), a videotape questionnaire, and graphics. A multisensory microscopy experiment provided the setting for the construction of shared meanings by the participants. Concept maps were used then to explore the existing cognitive framework of the participants. This research affirmed the value of supporting graphic organizers for understanding science (Good & Berger, 1998; Hyerle, 1996; Trowbridge & Wandersee, 1998). …

Children's Identity Construction In A Multicultural Setting., Edith Taylor Richardson Powers

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The study of cultural identity has thus far been rather unidimensional, portraying a child as a member of a single cultural group that has a homogeneous culture. Over the past twenty-five years, much of the research on the relationship between culture and education has looked at children's educational processes through the lens of group membership. This study examined six children from different cultures as they constructed their own identities within the multicultural classroom environment over the period of a year. It was designed to examine how individual children take on cultural "ways" that are associated with other cultural groups and …

Female High School Biology Students' Biofilm -Focused Learning: The Contributions Of Three Instructional Strategies To Patterns In Understanding And Motivation., Jo Dale Hill Ales

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

This exploratory study examined three instructional strategies used with female high school biology students. The relative contributions of the strategies to student understanding of microbiology and motivation in science were analyzed. The science education community targeted underachievement in science by implementing changes in content and practices (NRC, 1996). Research suggested that teachers facilitate learnirig environments based on human constructivism (Mintzes, Wandersee, & Novak, 1997) that is rooted in meaningful learning theory (Ausubel, Novak & Hanesian, 1978). Teachers were advised to use both visual and verbal instructional strategies (Paivio, 1983) and encourage students to construct understandings by connecting new experiences to …

Input And Environmental Characteristics In Student Success: First -Term Gpa And Predicting Retention At An Historically Black University., Marcus S. Babaoye

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

This study is aimed at determining the input and environmental factors which contribute to the academic success or failure of students at an historically black institution. Three files were merged with first-time and transfer freshmen characteristics to serve as a basis for the quantitative analyses. On the qualitative front, a case study of college life at Southern University, Baton Rouge was performed. Data were collected from interviews with students, recent graduates, and University personnel. Additionally, the case study involve analyses of institutional records between 1993--1997. The quantitative data analyses revealed that ACT scores, gender, enrollment status, age, and housing arrangement …

Understanding The Biological Concept "Bird": A Kindergarten Case Study., Dilek Buchholz

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this qualitative, multiple case study of 14 students in a metropolitan public school in the Deep South was to find out, during a period of three months, what these kindergarten-aged children knew about birds, whether this knowledge represented current scientific thought, if such science instruction meaningfully affected their prior knowledge, and if so, what the factors during instruction that seemed to influence their understanding of the concept of bird were. The research was conducted in three phases; preinstruction interviews, instruction, and postinstruction interviews. The theoretical framework for this research was based on the Human Constructivism theory of …

First Graders' Efferent And Aesthetic Responses To Informational Trade Books., Kay Monroe Broders

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of the study was to describe young children's efferent and aesthetic responses to informational trade books. During the study a first-grade teacher read aloud the trade books to the whole class and four children were interviewed following the read-alouds using a standard open-ended interview approach. A scale developed for the study was used to code the efferent and aesthetic level of the responses as: most efferent, primarily efferent, primarily aesthetic, and most aesthetic. Data were analyzed to answer the following questions: (1) Do children have aesthetic as well as efferent responses to informational trade books? If so, how …

Environmental Education Programming For The Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service., John William Branch

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Environmental education is a component of community-based education programs. Environmental education in the United States and in Louisiana was described (Objectives 1 and 2). Because of rapid changes in environmental science, and the responses of citizens to environmental topics, extension faculty need additional programming techniques and more process and strategic skills training. Programming techniques and skills training were reviewed (Objective 3). Extension has included representatives from key state and federal agencies with expertise in, and responsibility for, environmental topics on its environmental education advisory committees. The Delphi technique was utilized in this study, with agency representatives as panelists, to determine …

A Behavior Analytic Approach To Developing Mathematics Skills In Second Graders: A Precision Teaching Intervention., Bruce Pierce Mortenson

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

This study examined the relative effects of two rates of responding on student endurance, accuracy and retention of basic math skills. Three cohorts, each consisting of four students, participated in the study and received training on two separate math skills. One skill was trained to a rate of responding consistent with a fluency standard and the other skill was trained to a rate of responding consistent with accurate but not fluent performance. The main finding underscored by the present study is that successful learning is enhanced if precipitated by fluent rates of responding. The data presented in each cohort demonstrated …

School Life On The Mississippi: An Inquiry Into The Impact Of The Louisiana Reform Movement Related To Standards In World History Instruction In Three Secondary School Settings., Michael Joseph Schramm

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of standards on the instruction of world history in three secondary school settings. Contact with the Department of Education of the State of Louisiana found that the implementation of standards had only begun in 1997. After a grace period for implementation, the inaugural testing of the accountability system for these standards occurred in the spring of 2000. Therefore, this study became an exploratory investigation into the use of standards as they impact world history instruction. The first research question was designed to assist the researcher in exploring the influence that …

The Relationship Between On -Campus Interactions And Retention Of African American Students At Predominantly White Institutions., Catherine Martin

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

This study examined the relationships between on-campus interactions and African American retention decisions. Specifically, qualitative research methods were used to better understand how interactions between African American students and others (staff, faculty, and peers) on a predominantly white campus shaped African American students' realities and, consequently, how those realities influenced their decisions to persist through degree completion. The population for this study was African American students attending Southeastern Louisiana University (SLU). The sample was composed of 20 African American students who were enrolled in a 4-year degree program at SLU and in good academic standing. The sampling technique utilized in …

The History Of Our Lady Of The Lake College, 1923--2000: A Study Of Organizational Change., Linda Carol Rakestraw Pendergast

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

This qualitative research study investigated the history of Our Lady of the Lake College from 1923 through 2000. It endeavored to determine the influence of the times, the events, the people, and the traditions that have contributed to its development and progress in the seventy-seven years that have passed since it was established. The study also sought to document the important institutional events that transpired during this time period and establish a continuity of the College's progress through the years from a hospital-based diploma program in nursing to a free standing degree granting institution. In addition to the evolutionary development …

Cultural Adjustment Of Foreign Students In An Institution Of Higher Education., Bridget Oscar Udoh

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Foreign students frequently encounter problems in adjusting to their new social environment when studying at institutions of higher education. The purpose of this study was to describe the level of social difficulty experienced by foreign students from different regions of the world while studying in the United States. The target population for this study consisted of 748 undergraduate foreign students enrolled at Louisiana. State University (LSU) in the spring of 2000. The accessible population was all students enrolled in English as a Second Language (ESL). The sample consisted of the 178 undergraduate students enrolled in English 1004 and 1005 (ESL) …

Critical Connections: Meaningful Mentoring Relationships Between Women Doctoral Students And Their Dissertation Chairpersons., Dawn Deann Wallace

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this research is to explore meaningful mentoring relationships between women doctoral students and their advisors. Specifically, this study examines how graduate women and their advisors navigate and perceive their mentoring relationships during the doctoral program of study. Although research in higher education has addressed the lived experiences of women doctoral students, few have examined the doctoral student/advisor mentoring dynamic from both the student and advisor perspectives. This study provides an understanding of the mentoring experiences of women doctoral students and advisors through qualitative conversation. The participants in the study are 6 women post-doctoral students and their advisors, …

Officials In Sport: An Evaluation Of The Progress Made By The Sport Industry In Response To The Recommendations In The 1994 "A Fair Go" Report, Andrew Taggart, Rod Rate

Research outputs pre 2011

No abstract provided.

Lifers: A Study Of At -Risk Adolescent Readers, Pamela Nottage Mueller

Doctoral Dissertations

In this study I put a face and voice to the at-risk adolescent reader. No strangers to failure, these are students who by and large have struggled with reading their entire educational lives but who for whatever reason have been unable to escape the cycle of frustration in which they find themselves caught. These are students who have a great deal to say but who until now have had no forum in which to say it. These are students who deserve to be heard.

For my primary source of data, I utilized Seidman's phenomenological approach to interviewing, conducting a series …