Education Commons^™

Development Of The Parental Acceptance Questionnaire (6-Paq), Ryan L. Greene

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

For over 10 years, mental health professionals have used acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) to help parents in the therapy context. However, to date the field lacks a psychometrically sound measurement tool to assess ACT-pertinent factors within parenting or frameworks. Such a limitation indicates that investigation into the development of an alternative measure is warranted.

In collaboration with Utah State University (USU), Dr. Clint Field, a psychology professor, and Ryan Greene, a USU school psychology student, sought to develop a reliable and valid measure for use with parents that is rooted in the six primary processes theorized to contribute to …

An Educational Transition: Post-Secondary Correctional Education - A Qualitative Case Study, Greg Bartholomew

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Administration of post-secondary correctional education (PSCE) programs within state was vastly changed through legislation enacted in 2009. This study examined the transition of a PSCE system formerly facilitated by higher education to the current system administered by the State Department of Corrections (SDC). This qualitative case study involved multiple perspectives from five different stake-holding groups or five socials units: state legislators, county law enforcement personnel, university personnel, state higher education administrators, SDC personnel, and technical college personnel. A thick, rich description of the transition was obtained by relying on multiple perspectives offered by informants.

The stakeholders’ “display of multiple, refracted …

A Comparison Of Social Media Job Search Versus Traditional Job Search Methods On Employment Of Students With Moderate To Severe Disabilities, Janalyn Duersch

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study investigated the effects of social media on employment outcomes for individuals with disabilities. Participants included 37 transition students with moderate to severe disabilities in a Western state school system. The student researcher divided 37 participants into two groups: (a) social media job search, or (b) traditional job search. Social media and traditional groups consisted of 18 and 19 participants, respectively. The control group implemented traditional job search methods. The social media group learned to use social media to further employment. Variables examined included (a) job placements, (b) job interviews, and (c) job referrals. The students in all groups …

A Longitudinal Study Of English Narrative Discourse Development In Young Spanish-English Bilinguals, Abbie Olszewski

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Producing oral narratives is the best predictor of later literacy functioning. The ability to use performance on oral narratives as a way to identify children who may be at- risk for academic and language problems is helpful for educators. For example, it is likely that children who are identified with language impairments or who are learning English as a second language may have difficulty creating narratives due to the inherent language complexity of creating narratives. Research has demonstrated that similar to English monolingual children, narrative ability has been shown to underlie literacy development for bilingual children. Although there are numerous …

Using Video Modeling Delivered Through An Ipod Touch To Teach Purchasing Skills To Students With Severe Cognitive Disabilities, Sarah M. Stone

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Video modeling is a recent buzzword in the vocabulary of special educators and other professionals who work with individuals with disabilities. This type of modeling has proven effective in many studies specifically for individuals with autism. Recent studies show the effectiveness of acquiring skills through observing a video recording of a model (themselves or another person) performing the skill correctly. The technique used in this study is video modeling with another individual as the model (VMO). The researchers looked at the acquisition of purchasing skills based on viewing the video model in the grocery store. The VMO was presented using …

Understanding Successful Japanese Language Programs: Utah Case Study, Timothy G. Stout

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Recent world events have caused Americans to reassess national political, economic, and educational priorities, resulting in a shift towards Asia. The schools in response have begun to introduce less commonly taught languages, such as Japanese and Chinese. Many Utah public schools have tried to implement less commonly taught language programs. Some have succeeded, and other others have not. The purpose of this study was to understand how and why some schools were able to successfully integrate less commonly taught language programs, and why others were not.

The results of this study suggest that the factors relating to students’ interests and …

The Evolution Of History: Changing Narratives Of The Mountain Meadows Massacre In Utah's Public School Curricula, Casey W. Olson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Mountain Meadows Massacre is widely considered to be the most violent and controversial event in Utah’s history. This qualitative study investigates how the massacre has been portrayed to Utah’s schoolchildren through the state’s history and social studies curricula, and why curricular narratives of the massacre have changed with time. The study documents changes in curricular narratives of the Mountain Meadows Massacre from the years 1908-2011. It also compares these narratives with four concurrent sources providing narratives of the massacre: (a) public monuments commemorating the massacre, (b) curricular narratives published by Utah’s dominant religious and cultural institution—The Church of Jesus …

The Effects Of Simultaneous Script-Training And Fading Procedures On The Mand Variability Of Children With Autism, Kristen N. Kelley

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Individuals with autism often display rote and repetitive responding across behavioral topographies. One area that is often affected is the individual’s verbal repertoire. In an attempt to build and expand verbal repertoires, script and script fading procedures have often been implemented to teach individuals new and varied verbal behavior. Script training and fading procedures have also been used specifically to remediate deficits in an individual’s mand repertoire. Researchers have examined the effects of script training and fading procedures on the variability within an individual’s mand repertoire. This line of research is of great importance since a lack of variability in …

Emotional Intelligence In Medical Laboratory Science, Travis Miles Price

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Medical laboratory scientists (MLSs) are responsible for performing highly complex biochemical analyses on samples collected from patients in hospitals and clinics. The performance of these tests often involves little patient exposure on the part of the MLS and as a result some have wondered about the role soft skills, like communication, conflict resolution and empathy, play in medical laboratory science. The aim of this study was to explore the importance that medical laboratory administrators place on these types of skills, collectively referred to as emotional intelligence (EI), as well as to assess how satisfied they were with the demonstration of …

The Differential Contributions Of Auditory-Verbal And Visuospatial Working Memory On Decoding Skills In Children Who Are Poor Decoders, Katie E. Squires

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study investigated the unique contributions of simple and complex auditory-verbal and visuospatial working memory (WM) in isolation or in conjunction with other skills known to affect decoding such as phonological awareness, orthographic knowledge, and nonverbal and verbal intelligence. Thirty-two second-grade students and 22 fifth-grade students, all identified as poor decoders, participated in this study.

For the second-grade students, a measure of complex auditory-verbal WM was correlated with word attack (reading psuedowords). For fifth-grade participants, there was a negative correlation between a complex visuospatial WM measure and word attack. A measure of simple auditory-verbal WM was correlated to word identification …

Citizenship Education And Foreign Language Learning: Deconstructing The Concept Of Good Citizenship Embedded In Foreign Language Curricula In China And America, Juanjuan Zhu

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Under conditions of globalization and massive social, economic and political changes, the world in the last two decades has witnessed a wave of revived interest in
citizenship and citizenship education as well as the emergence of foreign language education as an important but under-researched site for the education of citizens. In this study, I critically examined the concept of good citizenship embedded in current foreign language curricula in China and the U.S. to see what it means in the two different contexts. I conducted a comparative critical discourse analysis of four data sets: (a) foreign language policies and/or curriculum standards …

Identifying Perceptions That Contribute To The Development Of Successful Project Lead The Way Pre-Engineering Programs In Utah, Keith Mcmullin

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In public education it is necessary to consider elective secondary educational programs and determine what it takes for the programs to be successful. Indeed, one could ask the question, "Are the classes in these programs giving our students what they need to be successful in life or should they be dropped from the school's registration catalog?" This research answers questions like this in Utah about the very popular pre-engineering program called "Project Lead the Way" (PLTW). The aims of this research was to explore factors that contribute to making successful PLTW programs in Utah.

The PLTW pre-engineering program is a …

Resilience And Resistance In Academically Successful Latino/A Students, Dennis Heaton

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The objective of this case study was to examine and explain the success of a group of Latino/a students whose educational success substantially exceeds the success of their peers. Ten middle school students, their parents, and selected school personnel who worked with them were interviewed. The student participants were purposefully selected based on their grades, attendance, and test scores. The adult participants were selected based on their relationship to the student participants.

The student participants were interviewed twice and the adult participants were interviewed once, using a semi-structured format designed to allow the interviewees to go beyond the interviewer’s initial …

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of The Utah Career And Technical Education Introduction Course, Debra Marie Spielmaker

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Utah State Office of Education Career and Technical supported this quantitative study that evaluated the gains and outcome evaluations of the compulsory Career and Technical Education (CTE) Introduction course. All public school seventh grade students are required to enroll in this school-year course. The matched pair design used preexisting data to analyze 6,078 pre- and postsurvey responses collected at the beginning of the course and again at the end of the course during the 2011-2012 school year. The evaluation was viewed through a postpositivist lens and used a theory-based evaluation model as the framework for analysis. The research questions …

Spanish-Speaking Parents' Negotiation Of Language And Culture With Their Children's Schools, Ronda L. Bickmore

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Latinos are now the largest public school minority population in the U.S. Because of a shift in the states, cities, and counties where Latinos are choosing to live, many schools that did not previously serve substantial numbers of Latinos are doing so now. Additionally, many of the Latinos in these new settlement areas are recent immigrants who speak little or no English. This qualitative study examined how immigrant Latino parents who speak little or no English supported their children in the English-speaking school system of the U.S. It specifically examined how 12 Spanish-speaking parents negotiated language and culture with their …

Healthy Sexuality: Evaluating A Psychoeducational Group Promoting Knowledge, Communication, And Positive Experiences, Brenna M. Wernersbach

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Although most people will have at least one sexual relationship throughout the course of their life, many of us have not developed the skills we need to create the sexual experiences that we really want. This is influenced by (among other things) our sexual knowledge, our attitudes and values about sex, our ability to communicate clearly and effectively with our partner(s), and our access to sexual and reproductive health services and products. Accurate knowledge, positive attitudes, and self-efficacy in communication and resource access are all contributing factors to what is known as healthy sexuality.

The present study examined these areas …

Overcoming Misconceptions In Religious Education: The Effects Of Text Structure And Topic Interest On Conceptual Change, Seth J. King

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study quantitatively investigated refutation text’s power for conceptual change in Latter-day Saint religious doctrines. The study also examined religious interest levels. Participants for this study were 9^th-, 10^th-, 11^th-, and 12^th-grade seminary students from the private religious educational system of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). Results of the study showed significant differences in conceptual change between participants’ reading refutation texts and those reading expository texts. Refutation texts significantly increased the likelihood of conceptual change when compared to expository texts. Results also showed participant preference toward refutation text …

The Use Of Family And Consumer Sciences County Extension Faculty To Provide Emergency Preparedness Education In The Western Region Of The United States, Sara A. Beck

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The number of people affected by natural and man-made disasters is increasing, often-catching people unprepared, despite the fact that there is information available to help negate their effects. An effective means to disseminate information crucial to the mitigation of natural and man-made disasters is FCS Extension faculty in regional and county offices across each state. Previous research has indicated that education and training can have a positive correlation with resiliency of individuals, families, and communities. In this study, FCS county Extension faculty in the Western Region of the United States were surveyed to determine the best practices used and perceptions …

Race And Ethnic Differences In Parent Time Spent On Children's Education, Zurishaddai A. Garcia

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Academic success including high school completion is greatly important for today’s youth. Greater opportunities, such as college and work acceptance, are available to youth who graduate high school. For this reason, the differences that exist in high school completion rate across race and ethnicity as a nation are a major concern.

Research shows an association between parents being involved in their children’s education and students’ improved academic achievement. Parents can play a role in their children’s education and setting aside time to do so is a good place to start.

The present study used the American Time Use Survey to …

Student Engagement In Lds Seminaries, Thomas P. Aardema

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This qualitative study examined student engagement in seminaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). This study sought to answer the following question: "What are seminary teachers, who have been identified by content experts as having high levels of student engagement, doing to generate high levels of student engagement in their classrooms?" Ten LDS Seminary teachers were selected as participants for this study. The findings from this study were organized around the concepts of: competence, school membership, clarity of purpose, fairness, personal support, caring, authentic work, extrinsic reward, intrinsic interests, sense of ownership, connection to real-world application, …

Democratic Inclusive Educators, Amy Baird Miner

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Educating for democracy has long been established as a central purpose for schooling in America and continues to be included in the ongoing discourses on educational policy and programs. While educating for democracy has been defined in many ways, it is commonly agreed that it is the knowledge, skills, and experiences that members of a democracy should possess in order to be contributing citizens of a global society. Nested within the context of democratic education, inclusion as advocated by Iris Marion Young provided the framework for this study. Young suggested that inclusive democracy enables the participation and voice for all …

Research Into The Characteristics Of Effective High School Principals: A Case Study Of Leadership Practices Used In The High School Setting, Gregory G. Wilkey

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study came about largely due to my own personal belief in the centrality of the role the high school principal plays in the life of a young adult. I believe most people think of the school principal solely as an administrator who deals with personnel, discipline, facilities, events, transportation, parents, and so forth. While those are some of the responsibilities of a high school principal, I see the role of a high school principal with a much broader perspective. In addition to being an effective school manager, today’s high school principal must be a strong and visionary leader who …

Exploring Three Fifth-Grade Teachers' Understanding Of Historical Thinking: A Case Study, Deanne Rigby Murray

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Deanne R. Murray at Utah State University conducted a qualitative case study aimed at examining the understanding and practice of historical thinking of three fifth-grade teachers. These three teachers had each been a participant for 3 years in a federally funded Teach American History (TAH) grant project aimed at increasing teachers' historical knowledge and classroom practices. This TAH project in Utah was particularly focused on teachers learning to use cultural tools in socially mediated settings with the ultimate goal of improving their students' performance in history.

This study sought to understand the development of these three teachers' historical thinking through …

Assessing The Importance Of Sequencing Laboratory Welding Practicums, Malcolm Riley Rose

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this study was to determine if having fewer operator-controlled variables during welding will improve secondary students' ability to meet weld quality standards for an AWS 1F test. Two different welding processes, Gas Metal Arc Welding and Shielded Metal Arc welding, were used in the research. The population of this study (N = 71), participants were randomly assigned into one of four treatment groups. The study was conducted over six class periods. Participants completed a welding pretest, taught safety procedures followed by welding instruction of both GMAW and SMAW process. Practice sessions were given for each welding …

Effects Of Integrating Mathematical Concepts Into An Animal Science Curriculum, Andrea Rae Clark

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Nationwide, mathematical scores have been a topic of concern among elementary and secondary educators for many years. Teaching contextualized math has been found to be effective and includes providing a direct application to real-life scenarios rather than teaching linear equations and algebraic principles outside of their application.

A study was conducted measuring the effects of integrating mathematical skills in an animal science curriculum. All students were taught a unit of instruction about animal nutrition and feeding. The control group received a typical nutrition unit and the treatment group received the same unit of instruction with the addition of mathematical skill …

An Ecofeminist Perspective On The Influences That Promote And Restrict Three Early Childhood Educators' Inclusion Of Open-Ended Outdoor Learning, Anne K. Mackiewicz

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this study was to explore the influences that promoted and restricted three women early childhood educators' inclusion of open-ended outdoor learning in a Head Start center. With the recorded history of human's impact on nature, along with the majority of women in the early childhood workforce, I chose a theory, ecofeminism, that looked at both the domination of women and nature in the early childhood setting.

The methods included participant interviews, observations, and a study of the site's documents. Four themes were identified as promoting or restricting open-ended outdoor learning. These themes included: (a) participant's attitudes, (b) …

Maintaining Spanish In An English-Speaking World, Audrey Constance Juhasz

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

As the Latino portion of the United States population continues to grow each year, more and more children in the United States leave their Spanish-speaking homes and enter English immersion schools. Throughout their lives, these children are likely to shift language preferences from their home language, to the language of the community. However, maintaining development in their first language would be a benefit to them in multiple ways. Identifying factors within bilingual homes that influence English and Spanish language development in preschool-aged children will help researchers and practitioners encourage families to cultivate the optimal learning environment.

This study endeavored to …

An Evaluation Of A Computer-Based Training On The Visual Analysis Of Single-Subject Data, Katie Snyder

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Federal education policies, such as No Child Left Behind and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act, mandate the use of scientifically-proven or research-based curricula and interventions. Presumably, interventions that have a large amount of scientific evidence documenting their success are more likely to be effective when implemented with students in school settings.

In special education, single-subject research is the predominant methodology used to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions. In single-subject research, a target behavior is measured under baseline conditions (i.e., before the intervention of interest is implemented) and intervention conditions. The data for each condition are graphed, and analyzed …

Perceptions By High School Teachers Of Mathematical Readiness Of Students With Disabilities Transitioning To College, Adam Dwight King

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

More and more students with mild disabilities enroll in and attend college. However, test scores and other achievement measures show that they are well behind
their regular education peers in math achievement, and thus unprepared for the rigors of college. While much has been done to revise laws and policy involving students with disabilities and academic core standards to increase preparedness, it is still what happens in the classroom that has the greatest effect on student preparation. Due to
the nature of pullout/resource classes where pacing is typically slower and less content is covered, special education teachers make a myriad …

Integrating Mathematics And Other Content Disciplines In The Elementary Classroom, Jessica Billingsley

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Curriculum integration is a growing trend in education. Researchers look at integration to alleviate the demand on educator’s time to teach while still meeting all core standards, whether they are state standards such as the Utah Core Standards or other standards such as Common Core State Standards. For my honors project I looked at curriculum integration applied to the elementary classroom setting. Having researched integration examples and best practices I created three lessons that were taught during my student teaching. My lessons met all Common Core State Standards and Utah Core Standards. Through an action research qualitative study I reflected …