Education Commons^™

Environmental Education For Sustainability, Lucille Gertz

Educational Studies Dissertations

The climate is in crisis. Many conservation organizations identify in their mission statements the priority of motivating constituents to engage with conservation action. This priority is typically implemented by educators who design and deliver educational activities and materials. This study, designed to develop a professional pathway for environmental educators to develop programs designed to motivate adult audiences toward engagement with conservation action, addressed the question: How can environmental educators more effectively promote conservation behavior change in adult learning audiences? Three guiding research questions were: 1) To what extent are environmental educators familiar with and utilizing theoretical frameworks and research-based tools …

Whatever It Takes: A Literature Review Exploring The Psychological Cost Of Actor Training And How Drama Therapy Can Help, Kelsey Burke

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This review examines the literature as it relates to the psychological and emotional impact of professional training programs for student-actors. Special attention is paid to student-actors’ developmental stage, mental health and trauma history, possible exposure to sexual harassment in rehearsal or classroom settings, specific acting techniques taught, and power dynamics between student-actors and acting teachers. Also examined is data on the potential effects that the application of trauma-informed drama therapy approaches could have on this population. This is followed by a proposed outline for a supervision-style class for student-actors led by a drama therapist intended to introduce drama therapeutic principles …

Experiences Of Post-Master's Arts Based Supervision With Art Therapists Of Color, Madoka Urhausen

Expressive Therapies Dissertations

ABSTRACT

This study explored experiences of art therapists of color who underwent post-master’s arts-based supervision (ABS) to obtain an art therapy credential. ABS emphasizes creation of clinical insight and knowledge through not only reviewing and evaluating client’s art and art processes but also having supervisees to engage in their own artmaking in response to their clinical work. The sample was chosen for their intersectional identities that added a layer of complexity to their identity formation. This qualitative phenomenological study employed Culturally Responsive Focus Group (CRFG) with Arts-based Research (ABR) methodology to explore two questions: (1) What are the experiences of …

The Mind’S Eyes: An Autoethnographic Exploration Of Learning To Draw In Adulthood, Ramona Crawford

Educational Studies Dissertations

Amid a long period of deskilling in art school curricula, craft has been denigrated as inferior to art and confining for artists, but can craft liberate imagination? The purpose of this study was to understand the relationship between an adult learner’s self-perceived capacity for imaginative expression in representational drawing and the development of her artisanal judgment during a self-directed program of classical study, online and in-person, over a period of 22 months (mostly during the coronavirus pandemic). The researcher created, coded, and analyzed drawings, photographs, field notes, diaries, and video recordings to track cognitive events and situative factors encountered in …

A Qualitative Study On Nurse Facilitators Of Mind-Body Skills Groups, Paula D. Blake-Beckford

Mindfulness Studies Theses

The Center for Mind-Body Medicine (CMBM), founded by Dr. James Gordon, provides communities with evidence-based Mind-Body Skills Groups (MBSGs) that foster self-care, self-awareness, and self-expression. MBSGs range from 8 to 12-week series on various mind-body practices wherein group members meet, practice, and reflect on the impact of mind-body skills in their lives. Research has demonstrated that participants in MBSGs have positive outcomes. Healthcare professionals (HCPs), especially nurses, gain resiliency from MBSGs. As facilitators of MBSGs, nurses develop essential skills transferable to clinical and educational settings. MBSGs are therapeutic for adult participants with chronic stress. Prior to this thesis, only one …

White, Working-Class Adult Male Students In Higher Education: The Effects Of Working-Class Identity On Educational Success, Terence Lynn

Educational Studies Dissertations

This qualitative, phenomenological study situated in grounded theory aimed to identify the forces that impede or support white working-class males in pursuing, adapting to, and remaining in higher education and making meaningful progress in their educational goals. Utilizing a feminist ecological perspective, the researcher was able to outline and provide context of the white working-class male experience in America. The primary research question guiding this study involved the ways in which white male working-class identity affects white working-class males’ return to higher education. An inductive approach involving Relational-Cultural Theory allowed for an in-depth exploration of the lived experiences of 10 …

The Ripple Effect: ‘Training The Trainer’ On The Impact Of Body Image Through A Dance/Movement Therapy Technique, Marina Gearhart

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This thesis describes the capstone project which was a psychoeducation and experiential workshop for fitness trainers. The workshop investigated the impact trainers’ work may have on the body image of their clients through a dance/movement therapy (DMT) technique. The aim was to enhance the trainers’ sensitivity around body image issues of their clients and to create a space for vulnerable movement conversation that may in turn lead to better mental health advocacy for their clients within the scope of ethical practice. The participants of the workshop were six white female identifying trainers ranging from 24 to 35 years of age. …

Examining The Experiences Of The Hearing Officer In The College Student Conduct Process, Gregory Mantolesky

Educational Studies Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Student conduct is one of the most important aspects of student life on a college campus. The staff members who serve as conduct hearing officers play an important role in helping students recognize their rights and responsibilities in the campus community and overcome poor decision making. There is a need to study the experiences of hearing officers to inform the development of consistent and effective training for those performing this role on college campuses. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological dissertation was to understand the lived experiences of the hearing officers, specifically in regard to the training that they …

The Application Of Adult Learning And Development Theory In The Undergraduate Classroom, Jennifer Flewelling

Educational Studies Dissertations

Instructors in higher education may have a limited knowledge of ways adults learn and develop. That lack of theoretical understanding may have inhibited the pedagogical practice of faculty in the undergraduate classroom. The purpose of this study was to explore how university instructors described their understanding of adult learning and development in undergraduate settings, and to identify factors that influenced the design and implementation of instructional practice as reported by undergraduate faculty. The study employed an explanatory sequential mixed methods research design. An online survey collected quantitative and qualitative data from 95 university instructors in Northeastern Massachusetts. Follow-up interviews were …

Narrative Experiences Of Fathers Of Children With Down Syndrome, Corey Rose

Educational Studies Dissertations

This dissertation explores the narrative experiences of fathers raising children born with Down syndrome. The study joins a recent stratum of research on parents of children with Down syndrome which is grounded in critical disability theory, adheres to a social model of disabilities, and adopts narrative methodology, but which thus far has not investigated fathers’ experiences. 22 fathers, recruited by means of snowball sampling, participated in a two-question, semi-structured interview with a follow-up conversation. Findings from question one indicated that, in the initial moment of diagnosis, fathers experienced adverse encounters with medical personnel, intense negative emotions about the diagnosis, distressing …

Acknowledge Us: An Exploration Of The Lived Experiences Of Female Army Veterans In Undergraduate Programs, Jennifer O'Neil

Educational Studies Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the lived experiences of female United States Army veterans who have enrolled in an academic undergraduate program post discharge. As higher education continues to be an important transition point for female veterans, understanding the lived experiences of this population provides higher education administrators and faculty the opportunity to create and implement services and programs that will appropriately assist this population in their educational journey. Using a phenomenological methodology (Moustakas, 1994; Patton, 2015; van Manen,1990) thirteen female veterans across five different eras (Vietnam, 1980’s peacetime, Desert Storm, Iraq and Afghanistan) took part in …

Can Yoga Help Make The World A Better Place? Perceptions From Adult Practitioners, Claire Carroll

Educational Studies Dissertations

Yoga, a vast subject with ancient South Asian roots, is currently enjoying global popularity based largely on its representation as an alternative health care system and/or leisure activity. These depictions often overshadow its potential as a medium to express spiritual development and social justice aims. Extensive studies look at connections between yoga and spirituality, but few delve into how sustained yoga practice might stimulate interest in and action for social change. This study seeks to contribute to ongoing scholarly efforts to fill that gap. It analyzes data collected from 107 survey respondents and 15 interviewees through a theoretical lens encompassing …

“My Heart Was Like, Write About This. There's No Other Way.”: Strengthening And Deepening Literacy Skills Of Adults In A High School Equivalency Program Through Creative Writing, Elizabeth Santiago

Educational Studies Dissertations

This qualitative study investigates how creative writing plays a role in strengthening and deepening literacy skills of adults in community-based high school equivalency diploma programs, which are operated under the publicly funded, adult basic education umbrella. Specifically, the study explores two sub-questions: How can creative writing processes support adult high school equivalency students’ achievement of personal and/or academic goals? How does a curricular focus on individual storytelling build students’ literacy confidence and/or their sense of student agency? Data sources includes pre- and post-surveys, pre- and post-interviews, field notes, and student work based on a curriculum designed using best practices in …

The Perceptions Of Post 9/11 Veteran Students Who Are Parents Regarding The Role Of Institutional Services In Bachelor Degree Completion, Alicia Marie Reddin

Educational Studies Dissertations

Currently there is a dearth in the literature surrounding the experiences of Veterans and individuals with children within higher education. The goal of this dissertation was to understand Veteran student parents’ perceptions of the ways in which their undergraduate institutions supported their completion of a bachelor’s degree. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 individuals; this dissertation analyzes the findings of the 6 participants who were both Veteran students and parents concurrently. Narratives were constructed for each participant and resulted in the identification of four intersecting themes: relationships, institutional barriers, motivators, as well as barriers and threats. Special attention was paid …

Tipping The Balance Towards 21st Century Skills Through Peer-To-Peer Learning: A Cross-Disciplinary Pilot Of Peer Review Software, John Mccormick, Liv Cummins, Lisa Spitz

Staff Scholarship

There is growing recognition that many college students enter the workplace lacking “21st Century Skills” such as critical thinking, collaboration and communication. Peer-to-peer feedback provides a large number of benefits, including these “lifelong learning” skills valued by industry. Peer review, however, poses many challenges: for instructors; these include management of the process and poor quality of peer feedback; and for students, socioemotional barriers. Key socioemotional challenges are learners’ lack of trust in the process, in their peers, and in themselves as reviewers. This paper describes a pilot of a web-based peer review software called “Peergrade”, which was found highly effective …

In Their Own Words: A Narrative Inquiry Into Part-Time Master’S Degree Student Persistence, Erin Schroeder

Educational Studies Dissertations

While there are a number of studies that focus on adult undergraduate and even doctoral persistence, adult master’s degree students and particularly those who study part time, are a population that have been overlooked by researchers. This constructivist, qualitative study of part-time master’s degree students used narrative inquiry and experience-centered narratives to bring rich descriptive data to the conversation surrounding the persistence of part-time master’s degree students and the barriers they face in pursuit of their degree. The data for this study was collected via semi-structured interviews with 15 participants and shows that part-time master’s degree students enrolled in Humanities …

Dmt And “The Man Box:” Provoking Change And Encouraging Authentic Living, An Arts-Based Project, Steven Reynolds

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This thesis explores the mind-body experience through an arts-based research approach to examine, and redefine the emotional capacity and usefulness of males through societal determinants that limits and hinders men from living their authentic selves. Through the lens of a metaphoric “Man Box” 112 men participated in a workshop recreating their personal narratives of socialization through, style of dress, coping mechanisms, belief systems and who they should be as men through society's standards. In the “Man Box,” male bonding, and emotional feelings are discouraged, while the objectification of women, material property and physical/emotional strength are encouraged. This research investigates the …

Unlocking The Potential For Every Teacher To Lead: A Phenomenological Study Of Informal Teacher Leadership, Jennifer M. Martin

Educational Studies Dissertations

This qualitative study of informal teacher leaders used a phenomenological method of research to investigate the lived experiences of teachers who have led in schools without a formal title or position of leadership. The study used a mixed methods approach to gathering data including a survey of 111 secondary educators in Eastern Massachusetts and 10 interviews with informal teacher leaders at the high school and middle school levels. The study inquired about how informal teacher leaders understand the concept of teacher leadership, what motivates and prepares them for leadership, the factors and conditions that encourage or discourage engagement in informal …

Action Research And Teacher Voice: A Pathway For Transforming Our Schools Into Learning Organizations, Susan Inman

Educational Studies Dissertations

Our PreK-12 schools face increasing complexities such as accountability, diversity, closing the achievement gap, and working in an era of standards-based reform (Drago-Severson, 2009). The purpose of this inquiry was to understand teachers’ experiences with one type of learning experience, action research, and to investigate the impact of this experience on the teachers’ practice and voice. Three research questions guided this inquiry:

• What are the experiences teachers have as they utilize the action research process?
• How do teachers find that their experiences with action research impact their practice?
• What connections are there between the action research process and …

Life-Long Learning And Leadership: "I Know More Than I Thought I Did", Enid E. Larsen

Lesley University Community of Scholars Day

Format

Individual presentation – Autoethnographic narrative with digital montage and 2 art-based artifacts.

"Can You Just Move The Curtain?": Stories Of Women From The Educational Underclass At The College Door, Janet Kaplan-Bucciarelli

Educational Studies Dissertations

Although millions of adults with a high school diploma or GED need and want to further their education by attaining a postsecondary credential, the majority do not succeed. It is widely known that marginalized adult learners arrive at college academically underprepared and that they face numerous barriers to participation once they enroll. But very few studies look at adults’ life experiences, assets, and perspectives on college before they enroll—when they are still “at the college door.”

This qualitative study explores the stories of ten women (ages 29-56) in pre-college transition classes in the Northeast US, and how their familial, school, …

Discovering The Leader Within: An Autoethnophenomenographic Study Of Mindfulness In Educational Leadership, Alyssa Fraser

Educational Studies Dissertations

This qualitative study combined autoethnographic and phenomenological methods to examine a researcher-leader’s attempt to cultivate cognitive, relational, and emotional capacities through regular mindfulness practice, and how the cultivation of such capacities aligns with the enactment of leadership. The interrogation of lived experience and self-analysis was entered with the intention to better understand the promise of mindfulness as a resource for the development of educational leaders. This study explored the perceived connections between mindfulness practice and the enactment of educational leadership by examining internal and external perspectives of an individual leader’s practice. Methods of self-observation, including both interval and occurrence recording …

Letter From Executive Editor, Arlene Dallalfar

Journal of Pedagogy, Pluralism, and Practice

No abstract provided.

Art As Voice: Summary Of Chapters, Amanda Claudia Wager, Vivian Maria Poey, Berta Rosa Berriz

Journal of Pedagogy, Pluralism, and Practice

No abstract provided.

Introduction To Art As Voice: Creating Access For Emergent Bilingual Learners, Amanda Claudia Wager, Vivian Maria Poey, Berta Rosa Berriz

Journal of Pedagogy, Pluralism, and Practice

In this introductory chapter, we begin by introducing ourselves, so that you immediately know our positionalities—who we are and the lens we see the world through—and in the hope to provide you with knowledge of why this special issue is so close to our hearts. We then share current demographic information regarding emergent bilingual learners to further explain the importance of this work today. In the current political context, the topic of displaced populations, immigration policies (such as The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals [DACA]), refugees, as well as those who are undocumented is very alive in classrooms and relevant …

Creating School Partnerships: Multilingual Family Engagement Through The Arts, Sarah Davila, Maura Mendoza

Journal of Pedagogy, Pluralism, and Practice

Music artist and School-based Family and Community Liaison, Maura Mendoza Quiroz from the Somerville Family Learning Collaborative (SFLC), shares her experiences of how mu-sic, visual arts and language workshops have served as the entry point for immigrant families in the Somerville Public Schools. The examples help teachers “read” their community of parents and create spaces responding to families’ needs instead of providing arts programs that are un-familiar to them. As parents participate in these activities, their “physical time” inside the school increased, home-school communications improved, and over all the welcoming efforts translated into better school attendance. Sarah Davila, director of …

Between Two Worlds: Utilizing The Arts To Increase Engagement And Effectiveness In The Spanish For Heritage Learners Classroom, Kathryn E. Mostow

Journal of Pedagogy, Pluralism, and Practice

This article will address the need to increase positive attitudes toward Spanish in Spanish Language Heritage (SLH) classrooms and provide strategies to integrate the arts to support this goal. The primary goals of the contemporary SHL classroom are to maintain the language; to increase positive attitudes towards Spanish, including dialects; and to develop cultural awareness (Beaudrie, Ducal, & Potowsi, 2014). In many SHL classrooms the first two goals are accomplished by reading and writing in Spanish but the latter two goals are less prescriptive and in some classrooms, overlooked. However, it is essential to address students’ attitudes toward Spanish- in …

“It Was Like Really Uncomfortable But Kind Of Comfortable”: An Ethnographically-Informed Radio Play Of Adult Esl Classes With Educational Drama, Won Kim

Journal of Pedagogy, Pluralism, and Practice

This chapter explores possibilities and challenges of educational drama-based second language instruction for adult emergent bilingual learners. A part of the key findings from an ethnographic multiple case study of four adult ESL classes with educational drama in Canada will be represented, using playwriting as a means to uncover diverse nuanced insights and reflexive understandings of the phenomenon under investigation. The primary purpose of this ethnographically-informed radio play script is to serve as reflexive, dynamic, and artistic expressions that speak (about and to) students’ voices concerning their learning experiences in the course as heard/felt/perceived by the researcher as a participant …

The Art Museum: A Site For Developing Second Language And Academic Discourse Processes, Rosalind Horowitz, Kristy Masten

Journal of Pedagogy, Pluralism, and Practice

This chapter presents the art museum as a socio-cultural learning site, where emergent bilingual students engage in multiple modes of expression to expand oral, written, and visual literacies for academic purposes An historical view of the art museum as an educational space is considered with past limitations and new directions. Theoretical considerations contributing to new conceptualizations of the museum as a contextual- space for development of academic discourses provide a backdrop for new museum approaches. After describing the situated perspective of the authors who work with students at a Hispanic Serving Institution, we offer three approaches for incorporating the museum …

Drama In Dialogic Read Alouds: Promoting Access And Opportunity For Emergent Bilinguals, James V. Hoffman, Doris Villarreal, Sam Dejulio, Laura Taylor, Jaran Shin

Journal of Pedagogy, Pluralism, and Practice

In this report, we explore the potential for drama pedagogy in the classroom to support the engagement and growth of emergent bilingual students in language and literacy. We are focused on the use of drama to promote dialogic interactions during teacher read alouds. This study was conducted as a collaborative, action research investigation involving classroom teachers and university-based researchers. Our goals focused on three areas. First, we were interested in the impact of the drama intervention on comprehension. Second, we were interested in the responses of students to drama in read alouds with attention to differences in responses related to …