Education Commons^™

Development Of Solar Experiments With Remote Laboratory Capability For Engineering Education Of The Future, Otto Kyle Neidert

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Educating future engineers will be handled differently as this modern society has various methods of doing so and a plethora of knowledge to pursue. The availability of computers and internet has changed many things. A subject that is relevant in today’s world but not common to most people and some engineers is solar energy. As part of a grant from the National Science Foundation that was awarded to Louisiana State University (LSU), Florida State University (FSU), and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), the UNLV Center for Energy Research partnered with them to create solar application based learning modules. …

Delirium Education Program For Critical Care Nurses: A Mixed Methods Study, Meredith Padilla Padilla

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Approximately 10-30% of hospital admissions develop delirium where nearly 30-40% of the delirium cases are preventable. Non-detection rates by acute care healthcare workers were reported at 72-75%. Hence, it is crucial for hospitals to develop delirium education programs focused on early recognition and prevention. Thus, the purpose of this mixed method study was to develop and evaluate the effect of a delirium education program (DEP) on improving critical care nurses’ knowledge and self-confidence in identifying delirium and the associated risk factors. In the quantitative strand (Phase I) of the study, both the intervention and control groups completed the online pre-tests …

The Relationship Between Clinical Teaching Models And Perceived Clinical Self-Efficacy And Attitude Toward Team Process, Christina H. Plemmons

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Nurse educators are called to transform the education of nursing students, a process that is paramount to meet the needs of an increasingly complex health care system. The complexity of health care requires graduate nurses who are self-efficacious, yet also function well as full members of a health care team. In response to this call, clinical instruction, an essential component of nursing education, is receiving increased attention. Clinical education is vital, not only to the development of clinical self-efficacy, but also to the integration of future nurses into a health care team. To further this education process, faculty members from …

Identifying Learning Acquired During Debriefing, Shelly J. Reed

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Debriefing, the reflective activity following an experiential learning exercise, has been identified as the most important part of simulation learning and is also important for learning in other activities utilized in nursing education. There is general agreement that debriefing provides learning and improves performance. However, there is little specific evidence about the phenomenon of learning acquired during debriefing, including how it occurs, how it is defined and identified, and how it is evaluated by debriefing facilitators. In addition, there are no instruments or tools specifically measuring learning acquired during debriefing. Without practical and theoretically grounded tools, simulation activities will continue …

Using Generalizability Theory To Investigate Sources Of Variance Of The Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-2 With Trainees, Dorothy Rita Parriott

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) can be considered a serious developmental concern, which, complicated by its rising rate, creates a challenge for psychologists in properly and consistently diagnosing the disorder. Various types of assessments such as reporting measures, observation systems, and standardized assessments are currently used in the identification of ASD. Any one instrument typically examines multiple domains of functioning such as intellectual, neuropsychological (including adaptive, attention, sensory, motor, language, memory, executive functioning, academic, and social/emotional), and behavior (social and repetitive/restricted). Often, evaluators combine assessments that were not originally meant to detect ASD with those that were intended for that purpose. …

Changes In Teachers' Constructivist Beliefs And Practices From Preservice To Inservice Teaching: A Mixed Methods Approach, Christina Joan Santoyo

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Teacher candidates’ development into novice teachers is a social process that depends on their teaching context as well as the mentors who help them through the process. Viewed through the lens of social identity development theory and mentoring theory, this study used an embedded, mixed methods design to understand how and to what extent six Alternative Route to Licensure teacher candidates’ beliefs and practices differed from preservice to inservice teaching. Mixed-methods data were collected using observation, semi-structured interviews, and partial interval recording. The six participants included secondary math, English, science, and social studies preservice-turned-novice teachers. In order to understand the …

Leadership Competencies At Concordia University System Institutions, Samuel Joseph Seefeld

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this study was to examine leadership competencies within the Concordia University System based on McDaniel’s (2002) leadership schema using the quantitative instrument developed by Smith and Wolverton (2010). This study extended the Smith and Wolverton (2010) instrument by exploring whether or not variables such as gender or employment classification (i.e., an individual’s role within the institution) show significant differences in perception of leadership competencies. This study utilized principal component analysis to determine factors based on the individual competencies and multivariate analysis of variance to determine if differences arose between reported scores in gender and employment classification. Data …

Interrelationships Among Teacher Self-Efficacy, Collective Teacher Efficacy, And Teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge, Qingmin Shi

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

A teacher’s self and collective efficacies are assumed to be related to his or her teaching and student learning in a specific content area. His or her pedagogical content knowledge in the subject content area is also assumed to shape his or her teaching practice. In addition, the quality of one’s teaching is influenced by the context in which teaching is situated. However, the relationships among teacher self-efficacy, collective teacher efficacy, and pedagogical content knowledge situated in individualist and collectivist contexts of teaching mathematics have not been empirically examined adequately. Through the lens of social cognitive theory on teacher efficacy, …

Eight Steps To Weight Loss: Development Of An Evidence-Based Collaborative Provider-Patient Workbook For Overweight Or Obese Adults, Katherine Ann Wagner

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Despite decades of effort on the part of health care providers and policy makers to reduce the prevalence of obesity, the prevalence of obesity in the United States remains high (CDC, 2015). In the adult population ages 20 years of age and older, 35.7% are considered obese. The annual medical costs for people who are obese are $1,429 higher than people of a healthy weight (CDC, 2013). Obesity increases the risk for chronic health conditions such as hypertension, type 2 diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, coronary heart disease, stroke, asthma, arthritis, and cancer (Hammond & Levine, 2010). Over-weight and obesity are the main …

Agentic Engagement, Teacher Support, And Classmate Relatedness— A Reciprocal Path To Student Achievement, Curt Ryan Wakefield

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The present study is informed by self-determination theory and explores the relatively new construct of agentic engagement. Measures of agentic engagement, teacher support for autonomy and competence, and relatedness (teacher and classmate) were collected from 172 high-school students in a three wave short term longitudinal design. Regression statistics demonstrated that (a) initial students’ agentic engagement predicted perceived teacher autonomy and perceived teacher relatedness, (b) perceived teacher autonomy, perceived competence, perceived teacher relatedness and perceived classmate support predicted agentic engagement at the end of the semester and (c) reciprocally mid-semester agentic engagement predicted perceived teacher relatedness at the end of the …

The Concordance Of Caregiver-Teacher Perspectives On The Behavior Of Children With Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, Allison Werlinger

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Diagnosing a child with a Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is a complex process that can require the collaboration of many individuals. Gathering information from multiple informants has been essential for diagnosis (CDC, 2012). The Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and Teacher Rating Form (TRF) have been used in research to determine cross-informant agreement within various clinical populations, but little research has studied the concordance of caregiver-teacher perceptions on the behavior of children with FASDs. Data from 139 participants diagnosed with an FASD through the Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Clinic in Las Vegas, Nevada were included for analysis. Interrater Pearson r …

Is Being Green, White? A Critical Ethnographic Study Of Social Norms In Conservation, Heather Whitesides

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Attempts to measure and implement conservation norms have consistently upheld and promoted the dominant culture’s practices and beliefs. This has led to oppression of non-dominant populations, thereby hindering these populations’ access to various opportunities to participate in conservation based activities. This has historically, and still today, led to the segregation of non-dominant populations from environmental participation and has misrepresented their beliefs and actions relative to definitions of conservation citizenship and in the broader literature on conservation, conservation measurements, outdoor recreation, and pro-environmental behavior.

This research sought to extend the existing literature on conservation, specifically on the measurements of recreation practices …

Impact Of Universal Social-Emotional And Behavioral Screening Among Middle School Students: A Multistage Approach To Identification, Kristen M. Ballinger

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Mental health problems often have an onset during the school age years and significantly impact the development, academic achievement, and future success of children and adolescents (Kessler et al., 2005). Less than half of the 10% to 20% of youth believed to be emotionally and behaviorally at-risk receive the mental health services they need (Bradshaw et al., 2008; Gresham, 2007). As a result, universal screening for mental health risk has been recommended as the best initial step to identifying and intervening with at-risk students. Numerous screeners and methods of implementation exist, but a widely accepted and utilized process has failed …

A Case Study Analysis Of Career And Technical Instructors' Development Of Multicultural Self-Awareness Through A Transformative Learning Experience, Cynthia Bezard

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

As U.S. population becomes increasingly diverse, preparing 21st century educators to teach children of diverse racial, ethnic, social class, and language backgrounds is a critical issue in teacher education. This study focused on career and technical education instructors with a business and industry teaching license and minimal or no previous exposure to multicultural education. As career and technical education is at the front line of preparing youth and adults to succeed in today’s workforce it is imperative that career and technical education instructors meet the needs of the diverse student population. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to …

A Comparison Of The Effects Of Peer Networks And Peer Video Modeling On Positive Social Interactions Performed By Young Children With Developmental Disabilities, Conrad Oh-Young

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

A concern that parents of children with disabilities have is whether or not their offspring are able to interact and be accepted by children who do not have disabilities. Unfortunately children with developmental disabilities (DD) may experience difficulties when interacting with typically developing peers. One method of addressing this issue has been to ensure that children with DD receive instruction in the same school setting as their peers. However, simply attending the same school as children who are typically developing may not be enough. Hence the need for interventions such as peer network (PN) and peer video modeling (PVM), that …