Education Commons^™

Developing Voice Through Narrative Writing, Katherine Gaskill

Honors Projects

Among the many rules taught to students as they engage in the writing process is the instruction to remain objective and avoid writing in first-person. Though there are certainly instances in which it is inappropriate for students to use the word 'I" in their writing, students often misunderstand this instruction and their writing suffers as a result. Students often produce writing which lacks voice in their struggle to remain objective. This project seeks to prove the importance of voice in all forms of writing and provide a method for teaching students how to include voice in their own work. The …

Reaching An Invisible Minority: A Survey Of Admissions Department Leaders' Lesbian, Gay, And Bisexual Student Outreach Efforts And Campus Climate In The Upper Midwest, Pollard David Sorquist

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) students face challenges and barriers to higher education that heterosexual students do not. Many of these challenges are rooted in negative high school experiences of LGB youth, such as social stigmatization and family rejection. Additionally, LGB students have historically been excluded from admissions office outreach considerations. This has resulted in structural and symbolic barriers in secondary and post-secondary institutions. These barriers limit LBG student access and also limit available resources to support the successful transition to higher education institutions. Higher education admissions leaders have a unique opportunity to reach out to and actively support LGB …

Using Media To Teach Grammar In Context And Unesco Values: A Case Study Of Two English Teachers And Students From Saudi Arabia, Sultan Albalawi

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

No abstract provided.

Education And Women Mathematicians In The Middle East, Syeda Tooba Zahra

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Middle Eastern women have made important contributions in the field of Mathematics. The purpose of this thesis is to understand the educational background for women in the Middle East and look at the life and contribution of a sample of women mathematicians in representative Middle Eastern countries such as Turkey, Lebanon, Iran, and Pakistan.

What Experience Can’T Tell: How To Show Reality In Young Adult Fiction, A Female Warrior’S Story, Jessica A. Walker

Departmental Honors Projects

Young adult literature is a medium that catapults our youth into fictional realms, gives them courage, and prepares them for realities of our world. As a female warrior, having served as a soldier in Afghanistan, I learned firsthand what a female warrior must be. While there are many YA novels written with women warriors as main characters, there’s a significant lack of female warrior representation that resembles our modern day military and the trials female warriors face in a primarily male-dominated field.

I have examined four authors who have tackled the issue of strong female warriors. While each author depicts …

Helping Students Gain A Better Understanding Of Writing, Jessica L. Ulmer

Master's Theses, Dissertations, Graduate Research and Major Papers Overview

The primary purpose of this study is to develop a curriculum for first-year writing that can be taught at the two-year college to help students transfer writing skills to courses taken afterwards. The second chapter aims to define what transfer is and identify a few different approaches to teach for transfer, which led to the discovery of the Writing about Writing pedagogy as developed by Douglas Downs and Elizabeth Wardle. This research was influenced heavily by Anne Beaufort’s College Writing and Beyond as well. Following this, the third chapter examines the nature of the two-year college that makes it uniquely …

Relationship Between Involvement In Institutional Activities And Christian Life Commitment Among Undergraduate Students Of A Christian University In Mexico, Esteban Quiyono

Dissertations

Problem

A considerable gap in knowledge exists regarding religious commitment among young people in Mexican Christian colleges, where many institutional resources are invested to foster such commitment. This study attempted to identify the extent to which Christian commitments of undergraduate students in a Mexican Christian university are related to their involvement in institutional activities, influential agents, and selected demographic variables (gender, grade level, place of residence, and field of study).

Method

A descriptive cross-sectional and correlational design was conducted using survey research methodology with a stratified sample of 332 undergraduate students enrolled during the fall term of the 2002-2003 college …

Perceptions Of Leadership Characteristics Of Principals Who Influence Positive School Culture In A Midwest Adventist Union : A Qualitative Study, Evelyn P. Savory

Dissertations

Problem. Principals struggle to sustain a positive culture in their schools. Many studies have identified that principals play a key role in influencing the school culture. However, no known study has examined leadership characteristics of Adventist principals and their influence on positive school culture in Adventist schools.

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to understand and describe leadership characteristics of principals, who foster a positive culture in Adventist schools in a Midwest Seventh-day Adventist Union.

Method. This qualitative multiple-case study design was utilized to explore and describe the lived experiences of principals and key stakeholders, school board chairs, and …

Letters From An Interdisciplinary Artist: Illuminating Korean Adoptee Identity Through Mentors And Metal, Tonya Ferraro

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Interdisciplinary integration and practice through meaning making and context can contribute to the reconsideration and revolution of research by supporting narrativesand creating space for public discourse. In researching my heritage as a Korean adoptee, I found that the literature has been predominantly from adoptive parents' perspective,focusing primarily on child and adolescent development. Lacking in the literature is the adult adoptee perspective, and specifically their experiential voices.

This interdisciplinary thesis has three major purposes (1) to explore how transracial transnational Korean adoption affects identity formation, (2) to illustrate how mentoring relationships can be a means to address and reframe the theme …

Inviting Citizen Designers To Design Learning Management System (Lms) Interfaces For Student Agency In A Cross-Cultural Digital Contact Zone, Rajendra Kumar Panthee

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Inviting Citizen Designers to Design Learning Management System (LMS) Interfaces for Student Agency in a Digital Cross-Cultural Contact Zone assesses how FYC students from periphery cultural and linguistic backgrounds perceive Blackboard Learn and other learning management system (LMS) interfaces. The report of an empirical study shows that the current LMS design does not provide writing students in general and writing students from periphery cultural and linguistic backgrounds in particular an opportunity of a higher-level interactivity with the LMS. The current design neither includes periphery students' cultural and linguistic norms and values, nor does it allow them to affect the existing …

French Opera And The French Revolution, Etienne Nicolas Mehul, Savannah J. Dotson

Departmental Honors Projects

Although Etienne Nicolas Méhul is relatively unknown today, he was greatly respected by his contemporaries, including Beethoven, Cherubini and Berlioz. He rose to popularity and notoriety during the most turbulent years of the French Revolution, when most intellectuals fled for their lives, and yet he managed to maintain his status as a favorite of the people. From an examination of some of his operas - Euphrosine (1790), Ariodant (1799), Adrien (1792, 1799), and Horatius Coclès (1794) - it is apparent that Mehul used thinly veiled allegories to express his views. His heroes in these operas were Romans, Scottish nobles, and …

A Quantitative Case Study Of Transformational Leadership Characteristics Of Valley View University In Ghana, Isaac Boateng

Dissertations

Problem. Finding transformational leaders for private higher education institutions in Ghanais a major problem facing the governing boards of such institutions. There is tremendous growth at Valley View University. Finding transformational leaders could help support the growth of Valley View University (VVU). The task of university leaders has become very complex, ranging from communication, interaction, collaboration, shared leadership, policy interpretation, meeting the needs of foundations, boards, parents, students, alumni, faculty, staff, accreditation boards and the government. Therefore, finding transformational leaders for Valley View University to meet the above leadership challenges is a major problem.

Purpose. The purpose of this study …

Black Males' Perceptions Of Parental Involvement, Influence, And Their Educational Outcomes, Victor Jones Jr.

Masters Theses

Using qualitative inquiry and methods, this study explored the effect of parental involvement and influence on Black males' educational outcomes. The participants in this study were six Black males from a mid-sized, predominately White, four-year university in the Midwest. The findings from this study suggest that parents' involvement and influence shapes the way that Black males view education, which, in tum, affects their motivation and educational outcomes. In addition, this study provides suggestions for future research, as well as recommendations for educational professionals and administrators.

True Blue: A Narrative Inquiry Exploring Instructional Practices Used During Reading Instruction In A Title I, 2010 National Blue Ribbon School In New Mexico, Debra Yvonne Kerney

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Over the past 32 years, the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program, a trademark of excellence and success in academics, has recognized nearly 7,000 American schools in which students have demonstrated high academic performance and achievement (U.S. Department of Education, 2012). Previous studies of National Blue Ribbon Schools have largely centered upon leadership characteristics (Carney-Dalton, 2001; Copeland, 2003; Kushner, 2000; Lyles, 2009; Maslyk, 2012;Sapone, 2001), but studies have not focused on the particular instructional practices that are used within these schools. Since 1982, 36 out of 862 New Mexico schools (NCES, 2013) have achieved National Blue Ribbon status (United States Department …

An Exploration Of Catholic High School Religious Studies Teachers' Perceptions And Experiences Of Their Role And Practice, Laura Witter Ramey

Doctoral Dissertations

Research literature has demonstrated that Catholic high school religion teachers face a number of possible challenges or tensions as they go about the preparation and practice of teaching religion. One challenge that emanates from the literature is that religious studies teachers are expected to be as professional as their counterparts in other disciplines, yet they lack the structural resources for developing that teaching professionalism (Cook, 2001; Cook & Hudson, 2006; Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education, SCCE, 1988; United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, USCCB, 2005). A second challenge is the expectation that religious studies teachers must meet the needs of …

Effective Reading Interventions For Spanish-Speaking English Learners With Reading Disabilities, English Learners Who Struggle With Reading, Or Both: A Meta-Analysis Of Second Through Fifth Grades, David Stephens

Doctoral Dissertations

This meta-analysis synthesized research on effective instructional practices and strategies in second through fifth grade for Spanish-speaking English Learners (ELs) who have reading disabilities and English Learners who struggle with reading. The central research problem is the dearth of research addressing literacy instruction for ELs with reading disabilities, making identification of effective reading interventions difficult. The inclusion criteria for the meta-analysis resulted in 15 quasi-experimental or single-subject empirical research studies that used reading interventions to improve the reading comprehension performance of ELs. The overall average effect size for the meta-analysis, not based on homogenous studies, was 1.15. When outliers were …

The Effectiveness Of An Academic Literacy Intervention To Help University Freshmen Recognize And Resolve Inconsistencies Across Multiple Texts, Patty Baldwin

Doctoral Dissertations

Students must independently complete academic literacy tasks--including reading analytically to identify problems, resolving problems that arise, and using writing to demonstrate advanced knowledge acquisition--if they are to be successful in courses across their university careers. However, a significant portion of students arrives at the university underprepared to meet these expectations for academic literacy.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of an instructional intervention to help developmental-level freshmen acquire the academic literacy skills that experienced academic readers demonstrate in order to promote independent learning. The four-week instructional intervention focused on two aspects of advanced academic literacy: 1) …

Race, Childhood, And Native American Boarding Schools: A Case Study Of The Hampton Normal And Agricultural Institute, Tyler Norris

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

Letters To Make-Believe: An Afterschool Survival Kit, Jessica Maginity 14

Honor Scholar Theses

None

Stuck In The Last Ice Age: Tracing The Role Of Document Design In The Teaching Materials Of Writing Courses, Erin Duffy Pastore

English Theses & Dissertations

Teaching materials play vital roles in writing classrooms, yet they are understudied genres in English Studies. Teaching materials are inherently visual genres; the document design choices made by teachers illuminate values held about writing and writing classrooms. They are understudied genres, in part, because of the feminized position of composition. A professional writing investigation of the document design of teaching materials offers opportunities to rectify this. I developed a technofeminine genre tracing methodology focused on exploring the visual convention choices made by teachers and how these visual conventions are interpreted by students across the three levels of activity: the activity-driven …

Global And Criteria Based Judgments Of An Undergraduate Exit Writing Examination, Katrice Alexandria Hawthorne

Teaching & Learning Theses & Dissertations

The effect of a calibration strategy requiring students to predict and postdict their scores on a writing exam was investigated. The utility of rubric-referenced calibration and the interaction between achievement and self-efficacy on calibration accuracy were also explored. Five hundred ninety six undergraduate students enrolled in an urban, comprehensive, public university participated. Students were assigned to one of three calibration conditions: (1) a global condition (overall judgments only), (2) a global and criteria condition (a general rubric), or (3) a global and detailed criteria condition (a detailed rubric). Students in all three conditions provided global calibrations before and after the …

Teachers Adapting Common Core Informational-Text Writing Instruction For Students With Mild To Moderate Disabilities, Diana Hawley

Doctoral Dissertations

With the adoption of the Common Core State Standards, students must now become skilled at using different types of writing to help them critique text and process information. They also are required to write informational text. Informational-text writing is challenging for students with mild to moderate disabilities, including students with language-learning disabilities, who often struggle with aspects of language necessary for learning to read and write. These students show striking challenges with productivity, grammatical and spelling accuracy, and sentence complexity, with differences in performance by genre (Koutsoftas & Gray, 2012; Scott & Windsor, 2000; Troia, Lin, Cohen, & Monroe, 2011). …

The Effect Of Interpersonal Relationships On The Body Image Of First Year, Women Of Color Studying At Predominately White Undergraduate Institutions, Lauren Kross

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

"The Effect of Interpersonal Relationships on the Body Image of First Year, Women of Color Studying at Predominately White Undergraduate Institutions" by Lauren Kross, a 2014 graduate student in the Gender and Women's Studies Department at Minnesota State University Mankato, focuses on how relationships and peer groups positively or negatively impact the body image of first year women of color studying at Minnesota State University Mankato, a predominately white undergraduate institution. The first year of college is a time that students experience many changes in their environment, academics, interests, and identity development. Their previously formed and newly formed relationships play …

The Relationship Between Intercultural Communication Experience And College Persistence Among First Generation Appalachian Students, Meredith A. Garrison

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

This study seeks to explore the relationship between intercultural communication experiences and college persistence in first-generation college students from the Central Appalachian region. Because Appalachia has a rich and unique culture, which is often misunderstood, the literature review seeks to establish a basis for studying this relationship as a way to understand the multi-dimensional nature of low-educational attainment in the Appalachian region, particularly Eastern Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Using a survey-based quantitative method this study examines Appalachian first generation students attending college as an intercultural communication process through the frame of acculturation theory. Specifically, the study seeks information …

The Risks And Rewards Of Personal Writing In The High School Classroom, Dannette L. Williamson

Masters Theses

In light of the Common Core State Standards, more research is needed on the importance and transfer value of personal writing high school classrooms. These standards have brought a more rigorous focus to student learning. With a stronger emphasis on argument and source-based writing, high school educators need to reexamine if or how personal writing should fit into curricula. For this study, approximately thirty students from each grade at Effingham High School were surveyed. The entire English department, as well as staff members from other disciplines at Effingham High School, were also surveyed. Prominent findings of the data show that …

Strategy For Increasing The Participation Of Students From A Seventh-Day Adventist Background In Spiritual Activities In Kisii University, Richard O. Ayako

Professional Dissertations DMin

Problem

The 1992 Annual Council of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists noted that "too often Adventist students on public campuses feel like second-class citizens; not only do they not fit in with the lifestyle of their secular campus, but the local church often ignores their needs, sometimes overtly suggesting that they are inferior to students who have chosen an Adventist education" (General Conference, 2005, p. 250). Kisii University serves as an example of a public university with low participation in spiritual activities by students from an Adventist background.

Method

A critical analysis of Bible texts on involvement of young …