Digital Commons Network^™

Learning From The Reggio Emilia Philosophy: How It Can Work In Public Elementary, Allison Shira Kaye

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

In depth exploration of the Reggio Emilia philosophy of elementary education. This paper includes practical application ideas for teachers working in the US in public elementary schools who wish to incorporate different aspects of the philosophy into their classrooms.

Influences On Fruit And Vegetable Consumption In College Freshmen 18-24 Years Old At Mississippi State University, Laura Coats

Theses and Dissertations

Research has demonstrated that >5 servings of fruits and vegetables (F&V) per day improve health. Eighty-three percent of 18-24 year olds, including college students, do not meet recommendations. For the study, freshmen at MSU were recruited. Included freshmen (n=132), 6 percent, received a sociodemographic and intake survey. Eighty subjects, 61 percent, completed the survey. Of these subjects (n=33), 41 percent, participated in focus groups. X2 analyses assessed intake and sociodemographics. Paired t-test compared BMI and intake. Focus group analyses determined additional influences. Results indicated nine percent of subjects consumed >5 servings, and 23 percent of subjects consumed >3 servings. >3 …

Reducing The Stem Gender Achievement Gap: Investigating Factors Influencing Female Students’ Major Choices, Shiyu Song

Master's Theses

Taking the first step to unveil female’s underrepresentation in STEM, this study adopts a mixed method design to explores possible factors that influence female college students’ choices to stay in or leave STEM. Undergraduates at University of Connecticut (N=386) completed an online questionnaire and female students who had either left (N=5) or were staying in STEM fields (N=7) were further selected to participate in the interview.

Results from the quantitative analysis showed that female students’ level of stigma consciousness is a significant predictor of their choice to stay in or leave STEM. Specifically, females who are more vulnerable to gender …

Establishing Students’ Abilities To Reason With Relationships In The Context Of Cellular Respiration, Sinan F. Akkoseoglu, Joseph Dauer, Heather E. Bergan-Roller

UCARE: Research Products

This study aims to establish the level at which University of Nebraska-Lincoln students reason with simple relationships in the context of cellular respiration at the levels of glycolysis, Krebs cycle, and electron transport chain. These processes are component processes of cellular respiration and each has multiple inputs and outputs. 633 student consented for this study, from which 18 student models were randomly selected, processed, and analyzed. Classroom observations were used to determine structures and relationships that were inputs and outputs to the three processes. In their models, students did not include different numbers of input or outputs when describing glycolysis, …

2016 Great Expectations Spring Faculty Conference: Inclusive Teaching, Diverse Classrooms, Academic Affairs

Spring Great Expectation Faculty Conference

The 2016 Great Expectations Spring Faculty Conference featured a keynote speech by Dr. Lisa Guion Jones.

Dr. Lisa Guion Jones has nearly 23 years of experience in higher education. She currently serves as Professor and Assistant Dean in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at North Carolina State University. In this role, she provides strategic leadership to Goal 2 of the College’s Strategic Plan, to "exhibit an inclusive and diverse environment where faculty, staff and students can each reach their full potential."

As a transformational leader, Dr. Jones has initiated innovative programs that have increased the recruitment and retention …

Self Perception In The Eyes Of A Child: Exploring How The Development Of Children As Thinkers Relates To The Ways In Which They Self Define And Ascribe To Social Groups, Laura Elizabeth Dean

Senior Theses

This thesis explores the social emotional development of children in the preoperational and concrete operational stages of cognitive development and their relationship to themes such as friendship, race, and gender. Through an analysis of the ideas of educational theorists Piaget, Bronfenbrenner, and Erikson and a research study with kindergarteners and third graders in a local school, the development of social concepts is examined. From these findings comes an exploration of how the development of these social and emotional concepts require more exposure in the early childhood education curriculum.

A New Hope: South Carolina's Struggle With Domestic Violence, Riley Anne Bearden

Senior Theses

South Carolina has come into the national spotlight over the past 10 years over it’s consistent issue with domestic violence. With domestic homicide rates consistently over the national average, journalists and researchers have examined everything from the causes of domestic violence, it’s impetus within a person and its cultural influences, to the way that law enforcement and the judicial system handle cases presented to them. South Carolina’s patriarchal background and traditional perspective on gender relations certainly play a role in the high rates of domestic violence in the state, and other cultural factors that could affect the prevalence of abuse. …

Analysis Of African American And White American Cognitive Profiles For Language And Cultural Influences, Nicole Jones

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

Abstract

One of the most concerning aspects of special education is the overrepresentation of African American minority youth receiving special education services. Samuel Ortiz and colleagues considered the issue of the representation of the Latino, English Language Learner (ELL) population in special education services based on cognitive performance in relation to the mainstream population. To target this concern they determined an estimated level of expected cognitive performance of ELL’s and impact of language and cultural differences to help eligibility teams more appropriately interpret and place students with the aid of the Culture-Language Interpretive Matrix (C-LIM) model they developed. The current …

An Examination Of The Feasibility And Impact Of A Mindfulness And Nature Based Intervention For At-Risk Middle School Students, Nahal L. Khalatbari

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

Public schools are faced with the daunting task of both educating students and managing their behaviors exhibited at school. Unfortunately, many schools do not have prevention measures in order to decrease the amount of behavior problems and office referrals. Instead, they handle behavioral issues as they arise in a reactive manner and many times use detention and suspension as consequences. Thus, students miss academic and instructional time and often do not decrease the behaviors. A majority of students who are suspended will be suspended again in the future (Losen & Martinez, 2013). Another issue facing students is a dismal lack …

The Hard Work Of Teaching. A Book Review Of The Charged Classroom: Predicaments And Possibilities For Democratic Teaching, Paula Mcavoy

Democracy & Education

This is a review of the book The Charged Classroom: Predicaments and Possibilities for Democratic Teaching, by Judith L. Pace.

Martin Buber’S I-Thou Perspective As An Alternative Approach To Antibullying Efforts. A Response To "Exploring Prosocial Behavior Through Structured Philosophical Dialogue: A Quantitative Evaluation", Carrie M. Nolan, Sarah Stitzlein

Democracy & Education

The paper "Exploring Prosocial Behavior through Structured Philosophical Dialogue: A Quantitative Evaluation" ambitiously made the argument that a pedagogy grounded in dialogical inquiry as part of the Philosophy for Children program will positively affect incidents of bullying in schools. This response to the author’s work includes a brief overview of her main argument and subsequent study and proceeds to suggest one possible alternative that she did not consider, namely Buber’s perspective on the I-Thou relation and the potential this holds in regards to bullying. Making the argument that bullying is a normative issue stemming from how people receive each other, …

The Missing Elements Of Change. A Response To "Youth Change Agents: Comparing The Sociopolitical Identities Of Youth Organizers And Youth Commissioners", Matthew L. Goldwasser

Democracy & Education

By establishing a set of theoretical frameworks to view and compare the work of youth organizers and youth commissioners, and through personal interviews, the authors of the paper “Youth Change Agents: Comparing the Sociopolitical Identities of Youth Organizers and Youth Commissioners” presented their explanation of the development of the sociopolitical identities and civic commitments of each group. This response paper asks questions about the authors’ limited use of context and complexity to explain how their youth arrived at their opinions, perspectives, and ultimately their sociopolitical identities. Their work also raises questions of how and why civic engagement and social activism …

Neoliberal Ideology And Democratic Learning. A Response To "Challenging Freedom: Neoliberalism And The Erosion Of Democratic Education", Emery James Hyslop-Margison, Andrés Ramírez

Democracy & Education

In "Challenging Freedom: Neoliberalism and the Erosion of Democratic Education," the author suggests that the presumed decline of democratic learning in public schooling follows from two primary forces: (a) the metaphysical implications of Cartesian psychophysical dualism that support an ontological understanding of the self as distinct from social influence and (b) a corresponding concept of freedom emerging from this ontology that exonerates individuals from any meaningful level of social moral responsibility. Although we agree in large part with the general argument advanced in the essay, there are some theoretical and historical gaps that we attempt to bridge in this response. …

Reinventing The High School Government Course: Rigor, Simulations, And Learning From Text, Walter C. Parker, Jane C. Lo

Democracy & Education

The high school government course is arguably the main site of formal civic education in the country today. This article presents the curriculum that resulted from a multiyear study aimed at improving the course. The pedagogic model, called Knowledge in Action, centers on a rigorous form of project-based learning where the projects are weeks-long simulations. The first section introduces the course and the study, the second describes the methodology and design principles, the third describes the political simulations that are the spine of the course, and the fourth examines implementation and design issues that emerged across the years. The …

Education For Deliberative Democracy: A Typology Of Classroom Discussions, Martin Samuelsson

Democracy & Education

The theory of deliberative democracy places public deliberations at the heart of democracy. In order to participate in democratic deliberations, citizens need certain skills, attitudes, and values. Within the field of education for deliberative democracy, it is assumed that these are learned through participation in democratic deliberation. Thus, one way to educate future citizens for deliberative democracy is by constructing democratic deliberations in the classroom. In this article, four strategically chosen examples of discussions taking place inside classrooms are analyzed, in order to flesh out the abstract criteria of democratic deliberations and to create an empirically based typology of classroom …

“I Didn’T See It As A Cultural Thing”: Supervisors Of Student Teachers Define And Describe Culturally Responsive Supervision, Linda B. Griffin, Dyan Watson, Tonda Liggett

Democracy & Education

Student teaching supervisors can play an integral role in teacher candidates’ ability to understand and enact culturally responsive pedagogy (CRP). However, supervisors may lack the awareness, knowledge, skill, or willingness to serve as culturally responsive supervisors. This paper reports the findings from a qualitative study to find out how supervisors described and supported CRP. We found that supervisors hold unsophisticated views of CRP and face the following challenges enacting culturally responsive supervision: feelings of inadequacy, difficulty talking about race, color-blind orientations, and a tendency to purposefully avoid race talk. We provide recommendations for professional development to address these challenges and …

Challenging Freedom: Neoliberalism And The Erosion Of Democratic Education, Robert Karaba

Democracy & Education

Goodlad, et al. (2002) rightly point out that a culture can either resist or support change. Schein’s (2010) model of culture indicates observable behaviors of a culture can be explained by exposing underlying shared values and basic assumptions that give meaning to the performance. Yet culture is many-faceted and complex. So Schein advised a clinical approach to cultural analysis that calls for identifying a problem in order to focus the analysis on relevant values and assumptions.

This project starts with two assumptions: (1) The erosion of democratic education is a visible overt behavior of the current U.S. macro-culture, and (2) …

The Transformation Of High-Risk Youth: An Assessment Of A Faith-Based Program In South Africa, Bennett M. Judkins, Karen Mundy

Interdisciplinary Journal of Best Practices in Global Development

This paper considers the case of Outward Bound South Africa (OBSA), an outdoor adventure education program specifically designed for disadvantaged youth in the aftermath of apartheid in South Africa. Founded by American philanthropist Charles Stetson, the goal of OBSA is to provide recourse for South Africans who are victims of history and culture. OBSA seeks to instill values and to create economic empowerment for at-risk youth in the midst of severe social and economic deprivation. Recently, OBSA initiated a faith-based component to their program that follows many of the tenets of the original founder of Outward Bound, German educator Kurt …

Children Who Are Deaf Deserve Researched Based Education, Cheryl Ann Hermann

Dissertations

Deaf Education includes many complex components, including: 1) Academics, 2) Cognitive, 3) Hearing, 4) Speech, 5) Language: American Sign Language and English, 6) Social Skills & Emotional Well Being, 7) Deaf Culture, and 8) Instructional Methods. Evidence indicates that children who are deaf achieve academically at the same levels as their peers, “Postsecondary enrollment and degree completion by deaf individuals in colleges, universities, and career and technical education schools have increased dramatically over the past several decades,” (Marc Marschark, 2015, p. 5). However, most of the current research shows that despite numerous interventions and philosophies, children who are deaf continue …

Complexity In A Gender Binary: The Challenge To Universities To Include Transgender Students, Tricia Nicole Collins

Master’s Theses

This research explored how colleges are addressing gender diversity by exploring the lived experiences of Trans college students in relation to institutional supportive resources. A total of four Trans-identifying students at Bucknell University volunteered to participate in semi-formal interviews to share their experiences. The foundation of this study reveals that the pervasive understanding of gender in binary terms narrows the limits of "appropriate" behavior into two mutual exclusive categories of masculinity and femininity. Such a narrow definition of gender causes problems for Transgender (Trans) students who do not easily fit within these categories. Through the interviews, Trans student insights show …

Inclusive Settings: Rti In The General Education Classroom, Brittany Graves

Honors Projects

The premise of this study was derived upon seeing a severe need for professional development in my current field work experience. I set out to determine a possible solution to the lack of cohesion among general and special educators evident in my local school district. This small town rural school is looking to expand RTI, and intervention technique, to decrease gaps in education for at risk students. With issues of cohesion and professional development evident, I collected and analyzed data in order to determine a way the school district can still incorporate and expand their Response to Intervention (RTI) practices. …

2016-05 Library Impact Statement For Edc 302 Jumpstart Seminar, Joanna Burkhardt

Library Impact Statements

Library Impact Statement submitted in response to new course proposal for EDC 302 JumpStart Seminar. This class was supported with no need for additional resources. Responding library faculty: Joanna Burkhardt. Requesting faculty: Susan Brand.

Nevada's Education Savings Accounts: A Constitutional Analysis, Thomas W. Stewart, Brittany Walker

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

This piece will analyze potential conflicts between Senate Bill 302 and Article XI of the Nevada Constitution to explore the constitutionality of educational savings accounts.

Ignoring Ethics With Style: Writing Sentences For "Non U.S. Persons", Ryan Smith Madan

Harlot: A Revealing Look at the Arts of Persuasion

Ignoring Ethics with Style: Writing Sentences for "Non U.S. Persons" argues for the importance of understanding the ethical dimensions of sentence writing. To illustrate, I cite the stylistic features of a recent public exchange about the legality of government surveillance between Director of Intelligence James Clapper and U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Mark Udall. I also discuss my own experience teaching writing to college students in order to reflect on need for a new generation of writers to recognize the relationship between clarity and ethics.

Kitchen-Table Talk: Creating Authentic Engagement In K-12 Classrooms, Megan R. Williamson

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Language is deeply personal; it is also highly political. Because of these two facts it is extremely important that educators help students understand how to become agents of language. By empowering students’ kitchen-table language in the classroom, teachers aid the fight for sociolinguistic justice in the broader community.

Foreword: Twenty-Eighth Annual Corporate Law Symposium: Rethinking Compliance, Felix B. Chang

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

The University of Cincinnati College of Law devoted its 28th Annual Corporate Law Center Symposium to compliance. It was a timely choice, coinciding not only with an explosion of sector regulation in recent years but also with shifting market realities for legal employment and legal education. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank”) and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act are two prominent examples of major legislation that has added—and will continue to add—to compliance obligations for broad swathes of industries. Meanwhile, the financial crisis has spurred profound transformations in legal employment, including cutbacks in entry …

The Sustainable Development Goals: Promoting Education For Utility Or Transformation?, Radhika Mitter

Sustainability and Social Justice

This paper uses the analytical approach of critical discourse analysis (CDA) to examine the dominant discourse(s) surrounding sustainable development and education that the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) espouse. Focusing on SDG 4, which aims to “to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education for all and promote lifelong learning,” I analyze the extent to which SDG 4 promotes a utilitarian and/or transformative approach to education, and what the implications of such approaches are on achieving sustainable development. I use the official United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development policy document as the basis for my analysis, as well as …

A Study That Critically Engages Secondary Language Acquisition And How It Relates To Immigrants Developing Cultural Competence, Susan Alecia Nelson

Sustainability and Social Justice

This study seeks to critically engage in the topic of secondary language acquisition to explore the role it plays in immigration, particularly as this relates to developing cultural competence. Further, the research examines the barriers to second language acquisition, and also makes recommendations for reducing those barriers. This will be done by examining literature that analyzes the role that secondary language learning plays in immigrants becoming culturally competent within the United States, and will look at this more in depth by focusing on Mexican immigrants who have come to the United States.

Caep 2015 Academic Symposium: Leadership Within The Emergency Medicine Academic Community And Beyond, Doug Sinclair, James R. Worthington, Gary Joubert, Brian R. Holroyd, James Stempien, Eric Letovsky, Tim Rutledge, Constance Leblanc

Paediatrics Publications

OBJECTIVES: A panel of emergency medicine (EM) leaders endeavoured to define the key elements of leadership and its models, as well as to formulate consensus recommendations to build and strengthen academic leadership in the Canadian EM community in the areas of mentorship, education, and resources.

Canadian Paediatric Neurology Workforce Survey And Consensus Statement, Asif Doja, Serena L. Orr, Hugh J. Mcmillan, Adam Kirton, Paula Brna, Michael Esser, Richard Tang-Wai, Philippe Major, Chantal Poulin, Narayan Prasad, Kathryn Selby, Shelly K. Weiss, E. Ann Yeh, David J.A. Callen

Paediatrics Publications

Background: Little knowledge exists on the availability of academic and community paediatric neurology positions. This knowledge is crucial for making workforce decisions. Our study aimed to: 1) obtain information regarding the availability of positions for paediatric neurologists in academic centres; 2) survey paediatric neurology trainees regarding their perceptions of employment issues and career plans; 3) survey practicing community paediatric neurologists 4) convene a group of paediatric neurologists to develop consensus regarding how to address these workforce issues. Methods: Surveys addressing workforce issues regarding paediatric neurology in Canada were sent to: 1) all paediatric neurology program directors in Canada (n=9) who …