Education Commons^™

The Phenomenon Of Math Anxiety, Mary S. Fliehler

Graduate Research Papers

Math anxiety has cognitive, physical, and affective components. The physical component is recognizable by sweaty palms, nausea, rapid heart rhythm, and shortness of breath – all of which are the body's response to anxious feelings. The affective component is displayed through lack of confidence in one's ability to accomplish the required mathematics computations, avoidance of studying mathematics, limitations of career choices, and an over-all sense of helplessness when confronted with mathematical situations. The cognitive component occurs when the anxiety reaches a level that reduces the efficiency of the working memory in the brain while learning new mathematical concepts. Tobias, a …

Optimal Characteristics For Happy And Satisfying Marriages, Britni J. Anderson

Graduate Research Papers

For many people, having a happy satisfying marriage is the ultimate goal in a marital relationship. However, what constitutes a happy marriage is not always clear. Many people go into marriage with high ideals and expectations, but without the reality that marriage is an entity in its own right that needs to be maintained daily. Communication, including conflict resolution, is a large part of a successful marriage. Other characteristics include sharing positive feelings, having more positive than negative interactions, having a solid friendship, maintaining a strong commitment, and staying focused on the positive aspects of the marriage. Marriage is difficult, …

Nebbe's Nature Nest : A Summary Of An Animal Assisted Therapy Camp, Trisha L. Ames

Graduate Research Papers

Two graduate students conducted a small animal assisted therapy camp. The main goal for this camp was to enhance and promote the campers' socialization skills and self-esteem through the use of animal assisted therapy. Two pre and post measurement scales were used to evaluate the children's loneliness and self-concept. The campers participated in a one-week camp lasting approximately three hours a day. To meet desired lesson goals, the campers engaged in direct animal contact and specific animal assisted activities. The following is a complete description and reaction to the animal assisted therapy camp led by Trisha (Hobbiebrunken) Ames, Nicole Whisler, …

Attributing Success And Failure : Attribution Theory At Work, Ellen M. Shay

Graduate Research Papers

Attribution Theory demonstrates how people can appropriately attribute success and failure. Teachers must learn how to help students handle their successes and, perhaps more importantly, their failures. If teachers are not successful in this endeavor, the students will not succeed in a traditional school setting.

Bullying In Elementary Schools, Jessica J. Wass

Graduate Research Papers

Bullying is a serious problem in today's schools. The history of bullying goes back as far as humans have been living and will continue if schools do not take action. Parents, teachers, administrators, counselors, and school staff are all involved in preventing bullying and intervening when necessary. This paper will define bullying, risk factors, and the effects of bullying on the bully, the victim, and the bystander. Interventions as well as how to prevent bullying will be addressed with emphasis on a whole school approach.

The Success Of Early Reading Interventions, Tammy A. Theroith

Graduate Research Papers

Learning to read means developing decoding skills in order to make meaning out of printed words. To make meaning, the reader uses a number of sources of information that are sometimes called cues. These cues include phonics, syntax (how language is put together), semantics (meaning), schema (background), sight words and others. In order for these words or information to be processed two events must occur. First, the learner must use learned reading strategies, and second he/she has to self-monitor.

How Can Teachers Motivate Secondary Language Arts Students? : 5 Prototypes, Kylee Schmitt Pusteoska

Graduate Research Papers

This research project began as a stream of unmotivated students walked through the door of a classroom. The author began to understand that while the current focus in American education is on standards and curriculum issues, the motivation of secondary students is often a lost and unrepresented topic in today's rhetoric. After being in the classroom for over seven years, the author was able to discern five prototypes of students. All five had different motivational styles and worked for different reasons. Using firsthand observations and scouring the current literature, the author was able to come up with some specific and …

English Language Learner Program At Irving Elementary : Finding A Life Preserver For Sink Or Swim Education, Pamela Argotsinger

Graduate Research Papers

Each year the United States becomes more ethnically and linguistically diverse and as a result, so do our schools. Students from non-English speaking backgrounds represent the fastest growing subset of the K-12 student population. In the 2003-2004 school year, 5.5 million school-age children were English language learners (Leos, 2004). As school districts across the country are faced with initiating and implementing programs for these learners, they must factor in the high stakes of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act and the possible impact of a new group of test scores on their adequate yearly progress.

The purpose of this …

Why People Self-Injure And What School Counselors Can Do To Help, Emily M. Thole

Graduate Research Papers

Today school counselors are working more with students who choose self-injury. In order to do so effectively, it is important that counselors understand the nature of self-injury and effective ways to treat it. This paper looks at reasons behind self-injuring and explores the difference between self-injury and suicide attempts as well as the different classifications of self-injury. Knowing the risk factors such as loss, childhood illness, physical and sexual abuse, familial violence, familial self-injury, peer conflict, and impulse control problems will aid counselors in targeting at-risk students. Once risk factors were targeted, it was found that behavioral treatments that address …

Inside The Stress Of A Police Officer's Job : What Mental Health Counselors Should Know, Molly J. Wertz

Graduate Research Papers

Police officers have a unique responsibility within the job. They must learn to cope with stress, adrenaline, and fear during working hours while protecting themselves as they are protecting society. Becoming burdened and overwhelmed by the stress of the job can have many consequences, including suicide attempts and the development of post-traumatic stress disorder. This paper will examine primary stressors a police officer encounters on and off the job, suicide, posttraumatic stress disorder, peer support, as well as implications for counselors.

Cognitive, Emotive, And Behavioral Techniques For Depressed Children And Adolescents, Brianna G. Wilcox

Graduate Research Papers

Cognitive, emotive, and behavioral techniques for treating depression in children and adolescents are outlined. The importance of prevention and early intervention is stressed, with an emphasis on application to the school setting. Cognitive contributors to depression, disputation strategies, and behavioral interventions are explicated within the framework of Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy (REBT). The efficacy of REBT is cited in reference to numerous research studies.

Implementation Of Reciprocal Teaching Strategies, Michael Sauer

Graduate Research Papers

The purpose of this study is to address the following research question: How effective are the Reciprocal Teaching Strategies in increasing reading comprehension? Peer observation and coaching were done to observe each other using the Reciprocal Teaching Strategies in the classroom. Two different observations were done, each time by a different peer coach. After each observation, the lesson which had been observed was briefly discussed. From this interaction, further suggestions for implementation could be made from our peers.

Considerations In Counseling International Students, Michael L. Williams

Graduate Research Papers

Much has been written about the culture shock that international students experience while studying at a United States college or university. Sometimes adjustments to new living conditions, language, food and culture have exacerbated latent emotional issues in some international students or contributed to the development of emotional disturbances in others. While living in their home countries, many students from other cultures rely on sources such as older family members or spiritual, religious, or medical experts to discuss emotional conflicts. This population often views counseling as performing two primary services: one, to meet education or career goals; or, two, to deal …

Multiple Intelligences Of Young Adolescents, Kelly A. Schloss

Graduate Research Papers

This study investigated how multiple intelligences related specifically to young adolescents. Self-perceptions of seventh and eighth graders, attending a large middle school and a moderately sized junior high in Iowa, were compared. Intelligence categories rated by students included intrapersonal, interpersonal, body/kinesthetic, mathematical/logical, verbal/linguistic, visual/spatial, and music/rhythmic.

Implications for this research include utilizing activity based instruction, promoting risk free learning opportunities for girls, implementing developmentally responsive practices at the middle level, providing educational support for low socio-economic students who may lack other resources often needed for success, and using visual, kinesthetic and musical approaches to learning for learning disabled students.

Counseling Couples In Domestic Violence, Krista L. Strauser

Graduate Research Papers

Domestic violence is a widespread problem that is being passed down from generation to generation. Counselors have been debating for years as to how to effectively treat couples with domestic violence issues. The nature of couples counseling is debated against the ethical issues, safety issues, and appropriateness of counseling domestically violent couples. Challenges for counselors are discussed along with rules of how and when to conduct couples counseling with domestically violent couples.

Effective Models As Instructional Designs To Build Student Motivation In Learning, Karla S. Lammers

Graduate Research Papers

Effective Models As Instructional Designs to Build Student Motivation in Learning: A Review of Literature examines some of the research and academic literature related to successful designs/models that educators can use to build motivation in learners. Views of different motivations, extrinsic and intrinsic, as a learner are also discussed. Examples of designs/models are examined that integrate technology. The author concludes by presenting a technology-assisted, literature-based curriculum product that integrates these models to enhance learners' motivation.

The Motivating Aspects Of Technology, Mary Ascher

Graduate Research Papers

Motivation is the most challenging and complex issue facing educators today. There are two types of motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic. To foster life-long learning educators need to stimulate intrinsic motivation in their students. Three factors that stimulate and sustain intrinsic motivation include personal relationships, shared responsibility, and safety. The expectancy theory also identifies elements affecting motivation. Technology is a tool that fits into all of these factors to capture the students' motivation.

Motivating Students With Digital Portfolios, Rochelle Christine Duwa

Graduate Research Papers

As the drop out rates of high schools across the country reach 30 percent, the need for teachers to be able to motivate students becomes increasingly important. Alternative assessments (especially performance based) have become a popular trend in schools and have proven to give a more accurate display of students' skills and knowledge than standardized tests. This paper investigates the different kinds of digital or electronic portfolios, and the process of creating and implementing digital portfolios in order to help determine the role they could play as a method of alternative assessment as well as motivating students.

Enhancing Student Learning Styles Through The Use Of Technology, Mark A. Dugger

Graduate Research Papers

The multiple learning styles of students have in the last few years become a major topic of concern for all educators. Experience and time are valuable learning tools assisting teachers in developing an understanding of these learning styles. This review pursues the importance of considering student learning styles when incorporating technology within an existing curriculum. Research studies provide supporting evidence that a technology-rich environment promotes collaborative, project-based learning, which in tum has a positive effect on learning styles.

Cognitive-Behavioral Approaches To Anger Management For Children And Adolescents, Amy L. Zirkelbach

Graduate Research Papers

This paper examines the need to address anger problems among children and adolescents given the implications of uncontrolled anger on relationships, education, possible involvement with the law, and physical and mental well-being. Aggression and its relationship to anger will also be discussed as well as the need to develop early intervention practices aimed at anger-related problems. A cognitive-behavioral approach will be presented as an alternative to many of the prevailing psychological approaches dominating individual and group interventions targeting angry and aggressive youth. A description of the key components of cognitive-behavioral anger management programs will be described, including arousal management, cognitive …

Promoting Learning Goals In The Classroom : A Preventative Approach To Motivational Problems, Marc Groen

Graduate Research Papers

This paper explores the implications of achievement goal theory for addressing motivational problems in the classroom. First, the basic elements of achievement goal theory are described and relevant empirical research that follows from this framework is reviewed. Next, the implications of achievement goal theory for designing motivationally healthy classroom environments as well as the potential obstacles to successful implementation of these design principles are examined.

A major conclusion of this review is that achievement goal theory provides an important preventative approach to addressing motivational problems in the classroom. Implications of this preventative approach to addressing motivational problems for the school …

The Importance Of Behavioral Interventions And Stimulant Medication Effects On Reducing Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Elizabeth Alvarez

Graduate Research Papers

Overall, various avenues of research state that ADHD is a complex disorder that requires treatment by multiple modalities. Most research states that a combination of medication and behavior therapy is necessary to resolve the symptoms. It should be noted that the dose of stimulant medication prescribed to a child with ADHD should be adjusted based on the child's response to a behavioral intervention, as well as the combination of the behavioral and pharmacological treatments. Rapport et al. (1982), as well as others, have found that medication alone will not "cure" ADHD. But with multiple methods of treatment the symptoms will …

Home-School Collaboration : An Effective Intervention For Facilitating Homework Completion?, John D. Warrington

Graduate Research Papers

This paper contains a review of literature on the utilization of home school collaboration as an intervention tool to improve the existing low homework completion rates of many students in our school systems. Due to the fact that homework is one of the most longstanding educational traditions, provides a natural link between the home and the school, and has been implicated as a tool for increasing overall rates of academic achievement, it is important to investigate past and present instruments and modes of assistance that involve both the home and school contexts in a shared partnership. There are a large …

Bullying In Schools : Understanding And Interventions, Donkar Wangmo

Graduate Research Papers

Bullying in schools is a worldwide problem that can have negative consequences for the general school climate and for the right of the students to learn in a safe environment without fear (Banks, 1997). Bullying can also have negative lifelong consequences, both for students who bully and for their victims. Although much of the formal research on bullying has taken place in the Scandinavian countries, Great Britain, and Japan, the problems associated with bullying have been noted and discussed wherever formal schooling environments exist (Banks, 1997). Olweus (1993) reported that one child out of every seven is either a bully …

School Climate : A Review Of Literature, Sarah Galloway

Graduate Research Papers

The purpose of this paper is to review the current literature and research on school climate to determine how school climate affects achievement, social, emotional and behavioral development, school safety, and school attendance and completion. Reviewing these outcomes for students leads the author to address principles for school climate measurement and improvement, as presented in the school climate literature. The measurement and improvement programs are reviewed in the context of school psychologists contributing to climate interventions.

Teachers' Pedagogical Content Knowledge And New Structures For Subject Matter Content, Corina S. Cimpoeru

Graduate Research Papers

This paper examines the concept of pedagogical content knowledge and its implications for teacher preparation and student's learning. The main part of this paper will focus on the necessity of structuring the subject matter in such a way that the content becomes teachable to students. Studies will be presented to analyze different subject matter structures that can be used to make the content accessible to students.

Impact Of Family Process And Status Variables On Student Academic Achievement, Jennifer L. Meyer

Graduate Research Papers

Numerous studies have underscored the strong contributions families make to their children's academic achievement (e.g., Christenson & Buerkle, 1999; Conoley, 1987; Henderson & Berla, 1994). The purpose of the study was to examine the influence of parental involvement and the relationship between family-process and status variables and their impact on student academic achievement. Results indicated when parents and schools establish collaborations and work in conjunction to encourage learning, student academic achievement is enhanced. Furthermore, non-cognitive behavior such as attitudes about school, maturation, self-concept, and behavior are enhanced when parents/families are more involved. Other benefits of close family and school collaboration …

Play Therapy, Melissa M. Sitzmann

Graduate Research Papers

Play therapy is a current trend in school and mental health counseling that takes into account the importance of play for a child's self -expression. It is primarily used with children ranging from three to ten years in age (Knell, 1995). Play therapy is not a theory that stands alone; counselors utilizing play therapy draw from their personal theoretical orientation and blend it with play as the primary means of communication (Cochran, 1996).

The purpose of this paper is to describe play therapy skills. In addition, two theories of play therapy that could be implemented in a school setting will …

Howard Gardner's Theory Of Multiple Intelligence And The Implications For Gifted Education, Cynthia Fell

Graduate Research Papers

This article, to be submitted to the national journal, Gifted Child Today, explores how Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences Theory (MI) specifically affects the development and delivery of gifted education. Included are discussions of the definitions on MI and giftedness programming and how each approach identification, curriculum and instruction. Three popular gifted education models are viewed through the lens of MI are Autonomous Learner Model (ALM), Talent Identification and Development in Education (TIDE) and Three Ring Conception of Giftedness.

Borderline Personality Disorder : Instilling Hope May Reduce Suicide, Kerry R. Sullivan

Graduate Research Papers

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a psychiatric diagnosis associated with extreme behaviors including repeated suicide attempts, emotional instability, distorted thinking, and difficulty controlling impulses (American Psychiatric Association, 1994). In addition, a history of childhood physical and sexual abuse is commonly associated with BPD (Murray, 1993). This history of abuse and rigid thinking are characteristics of this disorder associated with suicide attempts (Brown & Anderson, 1991). As a result, suicidal crises are common with BPD patients. Although traditional treatment methods decrease the number of suicidal attempts, they are moderately effective in decreasing suicidal ideation (McGlashan, 1986). Suicidality is characterized by a …