Education Commons^™

An Investigation Of The Assessment Practices Of Elementary General Music Teachers In Iowa, Michelle Linn Hyde Swanson

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Assessment, leading to informed decisions, is an integral part of music education and may be a means to justify the importance of music as a valued content subject (Brophy, 2000). The purpose of this study was to describe the elementary general music assessment practices in Iowa. The study was framed using Stiggins’ (2005) categorical definition of assessment as gathering, organizing, summarizing, and reporting data. Mixed methodologies were utilized to gather data regarding these four categories through survey questions (N=211) and two focus group discussions. The participants were from a variety of school district sizes as well as teachers with varying …

Iowa Schoolmarms: The Significance Of Rural Schools And The Feminization Movement, 1865-1920, Ashley Nicole Loper

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Approximately twelve to fourteen thousand one-room schoolhouses occupied the Iowan landscape during the late nineteenth century. Rural schools possess a strong connection to the memories Iowans have of their state and have a particularly strong impact on women’s recollections. The state was established during the climax of the educational reformation led by Horace Mann and Catharine Beecher. Consequently, Iowa mostly negated schooling by religious leaders and developed public school systems almost immediately upon the state’s foundations. The majority of the people settling Iowa already contained firm beliefs on public education being accessible for all citizens. Women began entering the schoolhouse …

A Technical Method For The High School String Classroom: Priorities And Presentation Of Essential Skills, Nicole Elizabeth Cody

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This thesis and its accompanying appendices synthesize pedagogical information from classroom method books, classroom pedagogy texts and individual instrument methods presenting new manuals for technique acquisition on violin, viola, cello and double bass in the secondary orchestra classroom. After reviewing the literature, the following categories were determined to be most important for this level of student: 1) Finger Patterns/Tetrachord Exercises, 2) Scales, 3) Bowing, 4) Shifting, 5) Position Etudes and 6) Chorales/Tonal Development. This paper focuses on these categories reporting on how different texts teach the various skills and creating a guide that encourages both a vertical and horizontal understanding …

Reconciling The Two Cultures : A Case Study Of The University Of Northern Iowa, Elizabeth Ann Collins

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

In 1959, chemist and author Charles Percy Snow gave a Rede Lecture at the University of Cambridge in which he named “Two Cultures”—the sciences and the humanities—which, according to his experience as someone who worked in both, were at odds with one another. His words elicited impassioned responses from critics who either agreed with Snow, believing this to be a detriment to society, or vehemently disagreed, believing Snow’s statements to be unfounded, and even antagonistic. This conversation, which had also found relevance in the United States, continues to be important today, and has changed over the years as institutions of …

Being In The World : An Existential Inquiry Of Knowing One's Self Through A Personal Project : In The Context Of Dissertation Survival, Tomoe Kitajima

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This study--a philosophical exploration, partly in an autoethnographical account--provides an empirical demonstration that one's personal project has a strong and positive impact on the dissertation process both for endurance to complete the process and for quality of the product. The concept of project is often explained as one's pursuit of his or her most important philosophical issues. This dissertation originated in the very beginning of my doctoral education in summer 2000 when I first encountered the man behind the coffee shop counter. In his life story he expressed a strong question about the problem of knowledge and authentic living. How …

In Their Footsteps: Women Faculty Of Wartburg College 1914–1945, Susan Kosche Vallem

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The purpose of this study was to investigate the hiring and inclusion of women faculty members in private higher education, using Wartburg College as a case study. This study identified and described the educational policies and procedures at Wartburg from 1914 to 1945 related to the hiring of women faculty at Wartburg College.

While the history of women in higher education is well-chronicled, much less is written on the impetus and motivation for hiring women faculty and their impact on the institutions themselves. This dissertation adds to that specific body of knowledge.

Three research questions were investigated in this study: …

A Study Of Teaching About Religions In Selected Iowa Public High Schools, Douglas W. Sprague

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This study investigated public high school teachers perceptions about religions in the curriculum, and practices of public high school teachers when teaching about religions in public high school classrooms. The study used a modified version of the analytical induction model of qualitative research presented by (Bogdan & Biklen, 1982). Three pre-selected high schools in the state of Iowa were identified by the researcher for study. A common departmental structure was used to identify teachers from across the curriculum as participants in the study. The schools were of three different enrollment sizes. Thirty-four teachers who taught 79 different courses made up …

Recruitment Practices Influencing Enrollment Of Four-Year Undergraduate Students Who Specialize In Graphic Arts, Joseph George Gindele

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The purpose of this study was to identify recruitment practices and other selected factors that could be utilized to increase undergraduate student enrollment in three types of graphic arts programs: education, technology, and management. The study involved graphic arts faculty and students in 76 colleges and universities in the United States.

Six instruments were used to secure data. These included two preliminary devices, three faculty opinionnaires, and one student opinionnaire. Each faculty opinionnaire focused on one of three graphic arts programs and contained a list of 32 recruitment practices. The student opinionnaire consisted of a similar list, an additional listing …