Education Commons^™

Environmental And Developmental Indicators In Early Childhood: Relations To Second-Grade Reading Comprehension, Gina A. Cook

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Reading success has been linked to high school completion, future job success, and future generations of children who can read. Unfortunately, children who are unable to read on grade level by the end of first grade are at a great disadvantage and unlikely to catch up later. Without the ability to read and comprehend text, all aspects of schooling become progressively more difficult and the challenge of poor reading ability can be so difficult to overcome that many poor readers will not complete high school. For these reasons, it is important to identify early experiences in a child's family environment …

Correspondence Of Job-Preference And Job-Matching Assessment With Job Performance And Satisfaction Among Youth With Developmental Disabilities, Julie Hall

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study investigated the effects of job preference and job match on job performance among four 19-to 20-year-old young adults with developmental disabilities placed in community-based job conditions. Prior studies have examined the effects of job preference on community-based job performance without the job-matching component. The researcher identified high-preference, high-match and low-preference, low-match job conditions and tasks using a video web-based assessment program. Each participant was subsequently placed in a randomized sequence of 30-min sessions on one high-preference, high-match job condition performing a preferred task and one low-preference, low-match job performing a non preferred task. Job coaches instructed and prompted …

Facilitator Assessment Following A Stepfamily Education Course, Heather Sparks

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this study was to evaluate effectiveness of the facilitators of a stepfamily education course, based upon facilitator self-report as well as participant report. Agencies in northern Utah that provide services to low-income minority families were used to recruit a sample of 152 facilitators and 1,134 participants of which 519 of the participants were male and 613 of the participants were females. Additionally, 21 of the facilitators were male and 131 of the facilitators were female. Requirements for participants included having been previously married with no children or having children from a previous relationship that formed a current …

Mother-Child Attachment And Preschool Behavior Problems In Children With Developmental Delays, Mary S. Lamont

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Secure mother-child attachment has been found to be an important factor in the healthy emotional development of children and has been shown to have effects on child, adolescent, and adult behavior. Previous research has primarily focused on attachment in children who are typically developing. However, little research has been conducted in populations of children with developmental delays. The research thus far has suggested that medical situations, child disabilities and maternal emotions may affect interaction patterns between the mother and the child which may in turn influence the security of the mother-child attachment in children with developmental delays. This study contributes …

The Death Experience: Helping Parents Understand Childhood Grief, Naomi Weeks, Kimber Peart

All Current Publications

Children sometimes experience the loss of someone they love or are close to, or may be suffering from a life-threatening illness themselves. This fact sheet provides a brief insight into how to help children cope with death.

Examination Of Behavioral Momentum With Staff As Contextual Variables In Applied Settings With Children With Autism, Mark P. Groskreutz

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Behavioral momentum theory proposes that the persistence of behavior when exposed to disruptors provides an appropriate measure of the strength of behavior. Basic research has consistently demonstrated that behaviors that occurred in a context with higher overall rates of reinforcement (rich contexts) were more persistent than other behaviors that have occurred in a context with relatively lower rates of reinforcement (lean contexts). More surprisingly, behavioral momentum theory goes on to assert that this greater persistence in richer contexts is found even when rate of responding is lower in the rich context, and when the greater richness is due to noncontingent …

The Impact Of Knowledge, Attitudes, And Peer Influence On Adolescent Energy Drink Consumption, Alyson C. Ward

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Adolescents are labeled as sensitive to caffeine, though despite this predisposition, consumption is high among this population. Energy drinks are a current trend in soft-drink-like beverages and are marketed to 11-35 year olds. However, unlike soft drinks, energy drinks are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, and therefore do not have to limit their caffeine content.

This cross-sectional, correlational study sought to identify the role that knowledge, attitudes, and peers play in adolescent energy drink consumption. Adolescents (n = 199), ages 18 to 21, at a university in the west were surveyed. Descriptive statistics revealed that 25% …

Making Healthy Choices: Adolescent Preference Ratings Of School-Based Health Interventions, Nicholas Glover Baird

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study investigated the effect of a Making Healthy Choices lesson on junior high school students' preference rankings of items used to motivate students to increase academic performance. Results indicated that the lesson resulted in increased ranking scores on healthy items. This study used an assessment procedure that may be used to identify healthy rewards that may motivate students to increase academic performance as well as practice healthy decision making to prevent obesity.

Perceived Effectiveness Of Booster Sessions Following A Stepfamily Education Course, John Mitchell Vaterlaus

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The study's purpose was to determine if participants reported that booster sessions following a stepfamily education course were effective. Agencies in northern Utah that provide services to low-income (including minorities) families were used to recruit a sample of 487 males and 560 females. Participants were required to be in a relationship that formed a remarriage or to have children from a previous relationship, forming a stepfamily. Booster sessions were educational meetings that occurred four to six weeks after the completion of the stepfamily education course. Intervention theory states that as protective factors are implemented through prevention education they lessen the …

Macromorality And Mormons: A Psychometric Investigation And Qualitative Evaluation Of The Defining Issues Test-2, Daniel R. Winder

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In 1988, P. Scott Richard's dissertation research at the University of Minnesota asserted that the Defining Issues Test (DIT), a widely accepted paper-and-pencil test of moral reasoning, exhibited item bias against religiously orthodox persons. Since 1988 (when Richard's data were reported), new methods of differential-item functioning (DIF) have developed, a new DIT has emerged (the DIT-2), as well as a Neo-Kohlbergian framework based upon moral schemas derived from Kohlberg's Piagetian-like six stages. With new methods, new tests, and unanswered questions, this study's results imply: (1) that DIT-2 items exhibit differential item functioning for religiously orthodox persons in statistically significant but …

School-Based Services For Children With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Tonya M. Tree

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study was designed to present descriptive data from a survey of 201 school psychologists. Psychologists completed a survey addressing current practices for determining placement for students with ADHD including the role of school psychologists in determining placement, how often and who monitors services, where students are served, and what services are provided in each setting. Findings indicated that psychologists were involved less frequently in placement decisions and evaluation for Section 504 than in Special Education. Students with 504 plans received less frequent follow-up than students in Special Education. Results indicated that schools were generally following federal guidelines and recommendations …

Longitudinal And Reciprocal Effects Of Ethnic Identity And Experiences Of Discrimination On Psychosocial Adjustment Of Navajo (Diné) Adolescents, Matthew D. Jones

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study examined the relationships among ethnic identity, cultural identity, experiences of discrimination, their interactions, and their effects on various psychosocial outcomes (self-esteem, depression, sense of school membership, social functioning, substance abuse, substance related problems, delinquent behaviors, and grade point average [GPA]). Data were collected twice over a 2-year period.

Change across time was observed in male adolescents' experiences of discrimination. Affirmation and belonging to Navajo culture was the strongest protective predictor at Time 1, but at Time 2 less consistent patterns of association emerged. Also at Time 2, experiences of discrimination emerged as a powerful negative predictor of psychosocial …

Acceptability Of Behavioral Bully Interventions: Mexican Descent And White American Elementary School Students' Ratings Of Assertiveness And Seeking Adult Help Skills, Devin J. Healey

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Research has demonstrated the effectiveness of school-based interventions for children to use to deal with being bullied. However, the research has not looked at the effectiveness of these interventions for Latino students. These students come to school with different cultural experiences and values. In theory, treatment that is evaluated as acceptable and potentially effective is more likely to be used. This study investigates and compares the treatment acceptability ratings of White American (n = 87) and Mexican descent (n = 28) students for two intervention skills that are often taught in bully intervention programs: assertiveness and seeking help …

Psy 7670 - Literature Reviews, Spring 2008, Karl White, M. Harrison Fitt, Tom Caswell

Psychology - OCW

This course is designed to help students in doctoral programs write a literature review that is appropriate for a dissertation or thesis proposal. The course will emphasize skills for writing the Problem Statement and conducting and writing the Review of Literature. Even though the Procedures section is an important part of the dissertation proposal, it will not be dealt with extensively in this class. Other courses which deal specifically with the appropriate design, analysis, and interpretation issues which the student will use for his or her research should be taken prior to this course. Substantial time will be devoted to …

Methodological Challenges For Identifying And Coding Diverse Knowledge Elements In Interview Data, Victor R. Lee, Moshe Krakowski, Bruce Sherin, Megan Bang, Gregory Dam

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

This paper, as part of a symposium on the analysis of clinical interview data and the development of a framework for analyzing students' intuitive science knowledge, identifies and discusses methodological challenges encountered when specifying the knowledge elements and resources are invoked dynamically during a clinical interview. Drawing from interviews with middle school students about the seasons and an analysis of knowledge in terms of 'nodes', two classes of problems are identified: those associated with identification of nodes and those associated with their application as codes to a transcript-based data corpus. We posit that these challenges are common ones associated with …

How Utah Parents Of Utah School Children Judge School Effectiveness, Philip L. Rodgers

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

There is a perceived crisis concerning public education in the United States. This has led to an increase in the use of standardized tests for the purpose of measuring school effectiveness. However, the use of standardized tests for this purpose is problematic. Among these problems is the concern that standardized tests may not measure what parents believe are the most important attributes of an effective school. Unfortunately, there is little in the way of empirical evidence regarding parent beliefs in this area.

The purpose of this research was to answer the following four questions.

1. What do parents of school-aged …

An Evaluative Argument-Based Investigation Of Validity Evidence For The Utah Pre-Algebra Criterion-Referenced Test, Louise Richards Moulding

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study collected evidence to address the assumptions underlying the use of the Utah Core Assessment to Pre-Algebra (UCAP) to (a) measure student achievement in pre-algebra, and (b) assist teachers in making adjustments to instruction. An evaluative argument was defined to guide the collection of evidence. Each of the assumptions in the evaluative argument was addressed using data from a suburban northern Utah school district. To collect the evidence, test content was examined including item match to course objectives, reliability, and subtest intercorrelations. Analyses of correlations of the UCAP with convergent and discriminant measures were completed using student test data …

The Effect Of The Estimate Of Resting Metabolic Rate On The Correlation Between Energy Expenditure As Estimated Using Self-Reports Of Physical Activity And Food Intake Records In Older Adults, Judy Hurd

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study measured total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) in adults at least 50 years of age. The goal was to determine the effect of the estimate of resting metabolic rate (RMR) on the relationship between energy expenditure estimates made using (a) self-reports of physical activity and (b) food intake records. The objectives were to determine if (a) RMR estimates based on body composition, body weight, and the metabolic cart were strongly related to each other, and (b) TDEE estimates based on a 7-day physical activity diary and a 7-day food intake record were more strongly related to each other when …

Inter-Rater Reliability: A Question Of Measurement In Social Science Research, Lani Kai Eggertsen Goff

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Erik Erikson (1968) set forth the framework for the conceptualization and adolescent identity formation in the late 1960's. The assessment of identity invokes a subjective measurement of a youth's process and current standing regarding sociopsychological development. According to Adams (1987) throughout Erikson's writings a "conscious sense of individual identity," a process of "ego synthesis" and formation of sense of social "ideals and social identity" are central considerations when discussing identity.

Teaching Minimum Based Competency Test Skills To Secondary-Aged Learning Disabled Students Through The Use Of Precision Teaching, Michael E. Byrnes

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This project investigated whether a precision teaching method used with learning disabled high school students (grades 9-12) could give them the skills needed to pass a minimum based competency test in the area of local, state and national government. The specific objective of this project was to determine if the use of precision teaching enabled the students to retain the facts needed to pass a competency test required for graduation. A multiple-baseline design across behaviors was used to show the effect of precision teaching in mastering the needed facts. The data from each baseline improved and surpassed the set criteria …

The Effect Of Item Format On Computation Subtest Scores Of Standardized Mathematics Achievement Tests, Larry Carcelli

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The effect on childrens' scores of different item formats used in standardized mathematics achievement tests was investigated. Second grade students were given a mathematics computation test using formats derived from five standardized achievement tests. Identical content was tested with each format. Differences in test scores between types of formats were statistically significant at p < .001 (F = 45.25). These results indicate that what a student appears to know is substantially influenced by the format of the particular test used in measuring achievement. These differences are not accounted for by the normative scaling of the different tests. Greater attention should be given to the effect of test item format in selecting and administering achievement tests.

Teacher Strategies To Improve Pupil Self-Concept, Kathleen L. Van Horn

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this research was to assess the effects of the Utah State University Pupil Self-Concept Program on the performance of inservice elementary school teachers and on the self-concepts of pupils in their classrooms. Four volunteer teachers were trained in the Self-Concept behaviors as part of an inservice course. A single-subject multiple baseline design was used to determine teacher effects for these four teachers. The first teacher was the main subject, and the study was then directly replicated three times using the other three experimental teachers. Data on these four subjects were collected through observation of program-related teacher behaviors. …

The Effectiveness Of Training For Empathy In Pre-Service Teacher Education, John Bruce Jessen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The specific objective of this research was to determine the effectiveness of training on understanding empathy in the teacher training process.

Subjects were Utah State University students enrolled in Elementary Education during winter quarter 1976. The experimental group was composed of 34 subjects and the control group of 27 subjects.

Both groups were administered a pretest. The experimental group then received the treatment which consisted of a training program designed to help them to be able to (1) define, (2) recognize instances of, and (3) to emit empathic behavior. At the conclusion of the training program both the experimental and …

Description And Research Study Of Four Effective Teaching Methods, Gail Ryan

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

During my years in the public school system, I have felt that a basic deterrent to the child's personal and emotional growth has been the inability of educators to effectively communicate with children in the classroom. Gordon (1970, p. 298) states that teachers and other adults "lack the basic attitudes and skills to be effective training agents in an interpersonal relationship with a child or adolescent." Flanders (1971) feels that teachers, while behaviorally influencing children and determining the learning situation, actually have little knowledge about those methods of influence.

I am concerned with the need to train teachers to work …

An Examination Of Navaho Witchcraft And Its Influence On The Thoughts And Actions Of The Navaho People, Tarrel R. Palmer

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

In this paper, I will strive to bring together, both from literature and from my own experiences, pertinent information concerning Navaho witchcraft for the purpose of (1) presenting this information to the education staff at Wingate High School in the form of in-service training and (2) making this same information available to other Navaho high schools. It is hoped that this will help staff members to better understand the beliefs, fears, and emotional turmoils of the students with whom they are working and, thereby, be able to deal with them in a more knowledgeable and understanding manner.

The information presented …

A Comparison Of Two Methods Of Teaching A Remedial Mathematics Course At The Community College, James C. Olsen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Problem

This study was concerned with the effectiveness of two different programs for teaching remedial mathematics to community college students. An individualized instruction program, making use of independent study and the small group setting, was compared with the traditional lecture-textbook instruction program to determine if there existed significant differences in (a) the rate of attrition, and (b) mathematics performance. A secondary objective was to determine if significant differences existed between students enrolled in remedial mathematics classes at 9 AM and those enrolled at 12 Noon.

Method

The target population consisted of all students in fourteen community colleges in the Los …

The Effects Of Teaching Methods, Experimental Procedures, Grading, And Exam Frequency On The Academic Performance Of Students In Higher Education, Paul William Robinson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this study was to demonstrate a new approach in the analysis of teaching procedures, and show the importance of certain variates on the academic performance of college students.

Objectives

The objectives of this study were threefold:

1. To determine whether an ABA approach (definition on page 19) can be used effectively to identify relevant variables influencing college student's academic performance.

2. To determine the influence of grading and exam frequency on achievement in college.

3. To compare the effectiveness of a lectureless go-at-your-own-pace teaching procedure and lecture procedures on student performance as measured on a final exam and a six …

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The Use Of Defensiveness As A Covariate Of Self-Report In The Assessment Of Self-Concept Among Navajo Adolescents, Bruce Leon Arneklev

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The study investigated the relationship between defensiveness scores and self-report scores as they interrelate in the assessment of self-concept and its change. Data were analyzed to determine if self-report scores adjusted by regression for defensiveness would be more congruent with a criterion measure than unadjusted scores.

A secondary problem was to evaluate the extent to which the self criticism scale on the Tennessee Self Concept Scale (TSCS) and the self-report vs. objective rating discrepancy method would identify the same individuals as defensive.

Samples were drawn from a population of adolescent Navajo boarding school students. A treatment sample participated in an …

A Comparison Of Methods Used To Predict Success In Ninth Grade Elementary Algebra, Sherry Slade

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A study was conducted at North Cache Junior High School in Richmond, Utah, during the 1967-68 school year to determine an effective method of predicting which students would be able to succeed in algebra in the ninth grade. Eighth grade marks in mathematics, two algebra aptitude test scores, and student self-success ratings were compared with the final algebra grades to determine the best single predictor of success in algebra and to determine the best combined predictors of success.

The best single predictor of success in algebra was the student's final mark in eighth grade mathematics. The best combined predictors of …

Retention Of Conservation Acquired By Instructional Methods, Eight Months After Termination Of Instruction, Wenden W. Waite

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study attempted to determine if subjects that had been instructed in the principle of conservation, maintained conservation after termination of instructions. Using subjects from kindergarten to third grade that had received instructions by use of both concrete example and mental imagery methods. Those S's that received instructions were compared with S's that had received no instructions. A test of conservation was administered to a total of 96 S's approximately eight months after termination of instructions to determine if the scores received on a test of those students that had received instructions exceeded those S's that had not received instructions. …