Education Commons^™

Exploring Incivility Among Nursing And Health Science Students: A Descriptive Study, Diane Louise Smith

Student Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Incivility has infiltrated our institutions of higher learning as well as the world of nursing. All too familiar in nursing is the phrase “eating their young,” which aptly describes how nurses treat other nurses, even though they should be nurturing and caring professionals.

The investigator explored nursing and health science students’ perceptions of student and faculty uncivil behaviors within the academic environment, seeking the levels and frequency of the problem. Bandura’s social learning theory presents a sound theoretical framework for this dissertation. The research methodology consisted of a quantitative descriptive approach. The Incivility in Higher Education-Revised (IHE-R) Survey was used …

College As Capability Enhancement, Cristina Lee

CMC Senior Theses

In this thesis I wanted to apply the Sen’s framework in Development as Freedom to college campuses. In my experience at Claremont McKenna College, I have seen how some students are able to take advantage of the resources better than others. Given that we were all accepted by the same admissions office, I always questioned why did some students know how to take advantage of the system. In order to explore this, I first discuss Sen’s capability approach. Then, I show how the capability approach is more comprehensive than social networking theory and William Deresiewicz’s account on elite colleges. Finally, …

Empowering Refugees Through Self-Education, Ayanna Osborne

Master's Projects and Capstones

This project focuses on how to create easier access to education in refugee camps. This is discussed through the ideas of self-directed learning and cooperative learning. As well, the current need for education is explored. Several case studies are provided demonstrating that people without a formal education have successfully been able to seek information and teach themselves. As well, studies are discussed in which individuals have been shown to efficiently seek information and teach one another.

My website provided is still under construction as of 01/2018. It will be completed by the end of the year. Anyone is welcome to …

Maine Literature 101: A Course For High School Seniors, Courtney Hawkes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In various schools across the state of Maine are teachers devoting their classroom time to exploring the rich history of Maine. At the high school level, many schools now offer at least an elective course in “Maine Studies” and Maine state standards require that local history is covered to a certain extent in high school history. Missing from these courses, however, is a study of Maine’s literature. Literature puts a realistic face to the events of history in a way that helps students see through the eyes of the people from that time period. Literature reveals internal emotions and conflicts …

The Relationship Between Student Participation In A 1:1 Laptop Initiative And Academic Achievement In A 9-12 Upper Middle Class Suburban New Jersey Public School District, Brian P. Gatens

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

The use of laptop computers in 1:1 settings is becoming increasingly prevalent in America’s schools. As greater numbers of students are using this technology, establishing its benefits and costs is paramount, especially in light of so many demanding fiscal situations. This study used quantitative research and analysis to measure the benefits and costs of such an expansive distribution of technology. It seeks to answer the question of the worth of such a large-scale adoption.

This study explored the relationship between the use of a laptop computer on a 1:1 basis for the purpose of academic instruction and its connection …

Nursing Students’ Knowledge And Attitudes Toward Care Of The Dying, Betsy N. Ward, Elizabeth Nora Ward

Doctorate of Nursing Science Dissertations

Abstract

Most nursing students fear death or care of the dying and thus question their abilities to give compassionate and competent care to patients or families at end-of-life (EOL). Research has shown positive results when students have experiences with dying patients in environments where interdisciplinary palliative and end-of-life practices are delivered. The purpose of this mixed methods comparative group study was to assess BSN students’ knowledge and attitudes toward care of the dying guided by Bandura’s social cognitive theory, which addresses learning under difficult circumstances. Nursing students in a palliative and end-of-life care elective course were compared to students in …

An Analysis Of Factors Leading To The Success Of Female Superintendents In P-12 Public Schools In Arkansas, Juanita Samantha Mitchell

Theses and Dissertations from 2017

The purpose of this study was to examine the history of women in the superintendency and the best practices that they have used to weather challenging conflicts to remain in the position. The research question that guided this study was: To what do successful female superintendents in Arkansas attribute their success? This qualitative research ascertained the factors needed for female superintendents in Arkansas to have long-lasting careers in that role, if they desire. Creswell (2012) recommends that for qualitative research data analysis, the researcher should arrange and structure the data, code the data, and represent the data. The data collected …

Stakeholders’ Understanding Of Family Engagement In An Urban School: A Qualitative Study, Lorette Mcwilliams

Educational Studies Dissertations

Family involvement and engagement in children's education has been a part of the educational landscape in the US for several decades. Research indicates family engagement, broadly defined as activities carried out by an adult in support of a child's educational development, has many benefits such as individual student achievement, as well as less traditional outcomes such as behavioral and mental health benefits, better school attendance, high school graduation rates, and secondary school enrollment. Family engagement has been included in federal education policy since the 1960s and continues in today's policies. However, teachers and parents often maintain different perspectives and …

Middle School Common Grading Expectations And Teacher Perceptions Of Grading Pedagogy, Jennifer Carson

Student Work

Grades in schools can be subjective in nature. Yet, grading remains a key piece in the American education system. Beliefs around grading practices are deeply held and can vary from teacher to teacher. This study aims to explore how teachers arrive at their own grading practices and to analyze teachers’ perceptions of implementing common grading expectations at one middle school in the Midwest. The implementation was grounded in research surrounding ethical change leadership. In year two of implementation, certified staff responded to a survey of Likert scale and open-ended questions providing feedback on implementing common grading expectations. The medians of …

The Social Justice Role Of School Librarians, Stephanie A. Burdic

Student Work

This study builds on Rioux’s 2010 social justice metatheory in the library sciences as it looks at the practices of school librarians in the areas of collection development, policies, and instructional practices. The mixed methods study demonstrates that school librarians act as agents of social justice in the collection of materials based on diversity, inclusion, vantage points, and international viewpoints. The policies of unrestricted access to library materials, access to digital and print formats, critical reflection, school library as a safe haven, advocating for the freedom to read, and facilitating students to read a variety of materials were also examined. …

Factors That Influence The Reading Motivation Of Fourth And Fifth Grade Students In A Midwest Urban Elementary School, Jo A. O'Garro

Student Work

Reading motivation has been found to impact both literacy development and student achievement. Unfortunately, reading motivation tends to decline as students get older, and many students lose interest in reading by middle school (Edmunds & Bauserman, 2006). This decrease can have a negative impact on achievement and may also contribute to reading achievement gaps based on gender, race, and socioeconomic status. This study examined factors found in the Motivation for Reading Questionnaire (MRQ) that influence reading motivation for fourth and fifth grade students in a Midwest urban elementary school. In addition, the researcher sought to determine if there were significant …

Factors That Influence Middle School Mathematics Teachers’ Willingness To Collaborate With School Librarians, Stephanie L. Schnabel

Student Work

Collaboration between school libraries and classroom teachers can have a powerful impact on student learning. School librarians routinely collaborate with English language arts and social studies curriculum and less frequently with areas in STEM education. This research examines middle school mathematics teachers’ extent of or willingness to collaborate with the school librarian in one large urban Midwestern school district. This quantitative descriptive study sought to answer the question “What factors influence middle school mathematics teachers’ extent or willingness to collaborate with school librarian?” This research looks at, from the middle school mathematics teacher’s perception, the roles and responsibilities of the …

250 Words Of I Don't Understand: Reading Struggles For Freshmen College Students, Alicia Bushey

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The focus of this Capstone project is on the reading struggles of first year college students. This is important because reading is a fundamental need in secondary education and in our society. If people are challenged in this area, they will struggle both in higher education, as well as certain aspects of daily living. The three primary stakeholder perspectives examined were college teachers and tutors, because of their relevant expertise, as well as their roles and responsibilities. Based on an analysis of the data and the relevant research literature, action was taken to help first-year college students overcome their reading …

The Road To Postsecondary Education, Oscar Bacilio Ordonez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Hispanic/Latino students pursuing postsecondary education is too low. Central Coast High School is an alternative School which provides students with a second chance in the path to graduation. The program to be held in this agency is an outreach program to educate and provide information for students about the importance of going to college. Another purpose is to encourage students to apply for college and explain the different types of financial aid available for them. The expected outcome of this program is to have about 75% of the twelve-grade level students invited to be present and participate. The implementation will …

Slipping Through The Cracks: A Look Into Special Education Referrals, Courtney Musselman

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Special Education is offered in many schools today and more and more students are being referred to this type of education. For this capstone project three local special education teachers were interviewed about the referral process and what could be done to improve it. This is an important issue because many students are slipping through the cracks when it comes to be identified and others are being overly identified. The referral process is important because it provides students with an equal opportunity for education. Findings from the interviews and information from a relevant literature review were used to develop an …

Strengthening The Teacher Toolkit: Effective Autism Inclusion Methods, Roxanne Guel

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The focus of this Capstone Project is on Autism inclusion methods. This is an important issue for teachers because they are often not given the tools and resources to effectively include their students with Autism Spectrum Disorders into a general education classroom. It is argued that some of the most effective methods include peer-mediated instruction, antecedent procedures, and school-wide organizational change. Considerations of the issue, should include the perspectives of both Special Education and General Education teachers. Three themes/action options emerged from an analysis of the data and were explored as ways to address the issue presented. Antecedent procedures are …

Strengthening Families In Santa Cruz County, Yajaira Rubio-Mendoza

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Parenting is very rewarding and enjoyable, yet it can be challenging and exhausting. Therefore, there is no right way to be a parent. At La Manzana Community Resources (LMCR), a family program of Community Bridges, there is a strong belief in strengthening families within the Santa Cruz County community. That is why LMCR provides various services such as, Triple-P Positive Parenting Program. Triple-P, funded by First 5, provides parents and caregivers parenting support ranging from birth to 12 years of age, with additional support for families with teens, and families of children with special needs. The …

College Readiness Indicators Of First-Generation Hispanic High School Students In South Texas, William Morley

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if a relationship exists between first generation Hispanic student participation in an AVID program and college readiness. The dependent variable, college readiness, was measured by passing the Texas Success Initiative (TSI) Reading, Writing, and Math assessment. Predictor variables included Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) elective course participation, Advanced Placement courses taken, Advanced Placement Exams taken, Advanced Placement Exams passed, Dual Enrollment Courses Passed, and ACT Composite score. A factor analysis was performed on the predictor variables, resulting in three independent variables for the study: AVID elective course participation, Average of T-scores for …

Faculty Perceptions Of Effectiveness And Impact Of Professional Development For Teaching, Research, And Service, Claudia Vela

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this explanatory mixed methods study was to examine faculty perceptions of effectiveness and impact of professional development for teaching, research, and service in a higher education institution in South Texas. This study provided quantitative and qualitative data from 165 faculty members from a Hispanic Serving Institution in South Texas. Participants in this research consisted of tenured 56.9% (n = 95) and tenure-track 41.1% (n = 69) faculty members who taught in different departments in the colleges of Health Affairs, Sciences, Liberal Arts, Engineering and Computer Sciences, Business and Entrepreneurship, and Education and P-16 Integration. The …

A Mixed Methods Exploratory Study Of Digital Literacies In Higher Education, Susan K. Shannon

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This exploratory study examines the assessment of digital literacy in higher education using Kurtz and Peled’s (2016) digital literacy framework and assessment instrument. As information and communications technologies have grown over the last part of the 20^th century and the first part of the 21^st century, so has the socio-cultural environment (Kurtz & Peled, 2016; Roxin & Rusitoru, 2016). Literacy has grown from a simple concept involving the ability to read and write to a complex concept that includes many more competencies. A review of the literature shows the emergence of many new literacies (Šorgo, Bartol, Dolničar, & …

Practicing Freedom: Effects Of Personal Anti-Racist Engagement On A Montessori Educator's Experience, Maggie Mccaffrey

Masters of Arts in Education Action Research Papers

This self-study was designed to assess the effects of engagement with antiracist media on the work of a Montessori educator in the classroom. Conducted over eight weeks, the study used nightly readings, daily reflections, a tally of daily antiracist thoughts, and a scale of one through five measuring the participant’s optimism regarding the integration of antiracist pedagogy with Montessori philosophy and practice. The study was performed at a racially and economically diverse private Montessori school in a Midwestern metropolitan area in a class of twenty children ranging from 2.7 to 5 years old. The results indicated that, although the intervention …

Writing For Keeps-Instruction And Achievement, Jason Adams

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The study was conducted in a small rural Texas district. Students within the district were struggling with successful writing initiatives. Achievement and accountability within the district were below state and regional averages consistently for many years. Writing instruction in the district needed attention to help students and teachers experience writing success. The study aimed to answer the following research questions: (1) What instructional practices do Frazier ISD teachers utilize to teach writing? (2) What aspects of writing do Frazier ISD students struggle to understand? (3) To what extent does the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) test impact …

Research-Based Stem Educator Professional Development Rubrics For The Selection Of High-Quality Professional Development: A Mixed Methods Study Of Teacher Perceptions And Outcomes, Angela Hemingway

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Idahoans failed to recognize approximately $240M in 2016 when over 3,800 STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) jobs, with a median wage of $30 per hour, went unfilled. This further caused Idaho to lose $14M in state income tax receipts from these unclaimed positions (Idaho Department of Labor, 2016). To mitigate these economic losses, the Idaho STEM Action Center (STEM AC) was created to develop the STEM-skilled workforce that Idaho employers demand. High-quality, STEM-educator professional development (PD) is a critical component in ensuring students are equipped with the skills required to successfully thrive in the workforce and fill industry demands. …

Coupling K-12 Music Education With Science, Technology, Engineering And Math (Stem) Curricula: Implementation Of A Stemusic Outreach Program, Mallory Maestri

Civil Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Many studies have investigated the effects of music on evoking human emotions and diverse types of brain responses. One study by Juslin and Vastfjall indicates that hearing music can stimulate brain stem reflexes, create emotional contagion, recall episodic memories and provoke visual imagery. Due to the influence music has on human brain waves, researchers have been studying the effect of music on enhancing the spatial abilities of young students. Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) professions rely heavily on spatial skills. Research on the connection of music with spatial skills proposes that when the brain processes rhythm a “mental rotation” …

Reverse Migration: Documenting How The Educational Experiences Of Transnational Youth In Mexican Schools Are Shaped By Parental Deportation, Sandra Lourdes Candel

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Research Problem

Over 500,000 U.S.-born children are living in Mexico –some due to parental deportation– experiencing a decrease in their quality of life, the stress of an unfamiliar language and culture, and difficulty accessing education. In order to support them in their transition to Mexico, and to reincorporate them into U.S. society as adults, their struggles and educational trajectories should be of great concern to the Mexican and U.S. governments, as well as higher education institutions.

Purpose

The purpose of this qualitative study was to document the educational experiences of transnational students attending schools in a border city in northern …

An Ethnohistorical Study Of The Dowagiac Chieftains, Kathryn A. Bishop

Masters Theses

This research uses ethnohistorical methods to examine the use of imagery appropriated from American Indian cultures by the Dowagiac Union Schools. High School yearbooks from 1899- 2014, along with other artifacts, were identified as sources of information to describe students’ experiences. Applying Brayboy’s (2005) Tribal Critical Race Theory, an off-shoot of Critical Race Theory, combined with the research of historical and theoretical scholars like Davis (2002), Pewewardy (2001), and Deloria, King, and Springwood (2001), a case is made for the removal of American Indian mascots used by educational institutions, including the Dowagiac Chieftains. Though over 1,750 occasions of American Indian-appropriated …

Ldentifying And Characterizing Cognitive Factors Significant To Practicing And Learning Meteorology, Peggy M. Mcneal

Dissertations

To see the world as a meteorologist, one must understand and interpret atmospheric processes through representations depicted on two-dimensional weather charts and maps that encode large amounts of spatial and numerical data. This is a cognitively demanding and spatially challenging task, especially for students with burgeoning levels of meteorology knowledge, who lack the expertise of practiced meteorologists that read such charts and maps with ease. With little prior work informing meteorology and meteorology education through a cognitive science lens, this study surveys the literature and follows models of discipline-based education and cognitive science research to identify the discrete intelligence factors …

High School Seniors' Educational Experience Lnfluencing The Decision To Pursue A Career In Nursing, Ryan L. Rowe

Dissertations

Many high school students interested in nursing as an occupation choose to engage in a Career and Technical Education (CTE) program and subsequently progress through the exploration stage of Super’s Career Development Theory in a succinct, deliberate, and intentional manner. While CTE continues to serve as an educational option for many high school students interested in nursing, its value as a means for students to crystallize, specify, and implement the choice to pursue the high-wage, high-skill, and high-demand career of nursing is not understood to the extent possible. CTE is regularly overlooked as a viable educational option by high school …

A Tradesperson’S Transition To Vocational Technical (Vt) Teaching, Susan J. Sylvia

Educational Studies Dissertations

This qualitative study examined survey and interview data collected from tradespeople who transitioned to vocational technical (VT) teaching in regional vocational technical schools in Massachusetts. This study included two research questions that inquired about how tradespeople’s prior experiences, beliefs, and thoughts influenced or inspired them to pursue a transition to vocational technical (VT) teaching and about how their anticipated transitional experiences aligned with their actual transitional experiences. The survey phase included 170 respondents. Survey responses provided an overview of participants, which was integral in identifying four interview participants who were digitally recorded during one-to-one interview sessions. A multiple Case Study …

Elementary Teachers’ Grading Practices And Perceptions In Communicating Assessment Of Students, Shannon A. Thoendel

Student Work

Grading reform has been a major focus in school districts across the country (Guskey & Jung, 2012). Reporting student achievement through grades can have a lasting and profound impact on a student’s academic career. Grades are often considered to have little relationship to student performance (Brookhart, 2004; O’Connor 2016). Grading authenticity is reached when the following standards are met: accuracy, consistency, meaningfulness, and supportiveness of the learning environment (O’Connor, 2016). A current movement to standards-based grading is believed to be a more accurate measure of student achievement than a traditional grading system (Guskey, 2001). Standards-based grading systems are believed to …