Education Commons^™

Intermediate Algebra Students’ Perspectives Towards Learning Mathematics, And Technology, Caree J. S. Pinder

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Research states that many remedial mathematics learners possess low mathematics academic self-concept, negative attitudes, and high anxiety levels. These aspects can manifest in a lack of confidence, apprehension, reduced engagement, or academic failure (2007; Klinger, 2008; Larkin & Jorgensen, 2016; Parnis & Petocz, 2016;). However, if these learners successfully pass remedial mathematics courses like Intermediate Algebra, they are more likely to persist in mathematics and the university (Benken et al., 2015). Due to students' success in remedial mathematics, persistence in mathematics raises many questions. In many cases, these students have had unpleasant experiences, attitudes, or beliefs about mathematics but were …

Where We Live And Learn To Know: An Oral History Of The Rochelle High School Music Program, John Sargeant

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

For the greater portion of the 20th century Black Americans in the US South had severely restricted access to a high school education. Segregation Era Jim Crow laws effectively created two education systems in Southern US states, one for White students and another separate system for Black students. In Florida, elementary, junior high, senior high schools, and colleges were segregated by race. In Lakeland, Florida from 1928–1969 Rochelle Senior High School conferred high school diplomas to Lakeland area Black students. Rochelle Senior High School provided Black students in the Lakeland area an opportunity to partake in the 20th century American …

An Exploration Of Accelerated Student Perspectives On Participation Experiences And Making Career Choices, Jennifer Meier

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Acceleration program options have grown rapidly in Florida and have been used to help students pursue an associate or bachelor’s degree. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the experiences that former dual enrolled students had with selecting a major and a career. A snowball sampling approach was used to identify ten participants from the southwestern region of Florida with 12 or more credit hours from dual enrollment. Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) was the conceptual framework used to help guide this study. The instrumentation for data collection included a short survey followed by a semi-structured interview. The …

The Effects Of Motivationally Enhanced Digital Game-Based Learning On Undergraduate Students’ Learning Motivation, Mathematics Achievement, And Learning Retention In College Algebra, Dennis Ward

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to design, develop, and test the effects of digital game-based learning on undergraduate students’ learning motivation, mathematics achievement, and learning retention in a college algebra course. Digital games utilize interactive digital media that offer rules-based challenges and react to the individual’s choices. Digital games have been used in preschool, K-12, higher education, and workplace environments in a wide range of subject areas, including language arts, secondary language acquisition, social studies, science, and math. Specifically, the effectiveness of digital game-based learning on students’ learning and motivation has been studied in college-level mathematics courses. However, previous …

Community Heritage: A Source Of Health/Medical Aspirational Capital For Black Males, Lafrance Clarke Jr.

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There is a recognized need for more Black male healers who pursue careers in medical fields.Thus, the purpose of this study was twofold: to explore historical documents to tell the histories of men of African descent who practiced healing in Florida and, from those histories, create a virtual heritage tour to support teaching about leadership through African American history and narratives of healing. The research questions were: How does the heritage curriculum history about Black men healers of FL provide a historical counter-narrative about Black men and their leadership in connection to health/medicine?How do historical counter-narratives about Black men support …

Designation, Stagnation, And Representation: A Qualitative Exploration Of The Self-Perception Of Power Among Ncaa Division I Senior Woman Administrators, Tayler M. Onion

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite significant growth and advancement for women and girls participating in sports, we have not seen the same trend for women in leadership roles in athletics – even with the introduction of the Senior Woman Administrator (SWA) designation. The SWA designation was implemented in 1989 to ensure that at least one woman would be involved with the leadership of athletic departments following the NCAA’s takeover of the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) in 1981. Confusion and misperceptions have surrounded the role, and, as a result, impacted the women who serve in it. This study’s phenomenological design aimed to …

Saudi Pre-Service Teachers’ Beliefs And Practices Regarding Digital Technology In Early Years Education: A Qualitative Case Study, May Mohammed Alyaeesh

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated Saudi pre-service teachers’ beliefs and practices regarding digital technology in early years classrooms. It sought to determine whether participants were prepared to employ such technology to meet the objectives of the Saudi Vision 2030 national development program. This topic was viewed through the lens of the TPACK framework. The study found that the student teachers were not sufficiently prepared to infuse digital technology. They held positive beliefs about digital technology infusion but were concerned about young children’s use of this technology. There was an absence of effective practices, participants’ technical competence was very basic, and their recognition …

Bridging The Gap Between Academia And Industry: A Program Evaluation On University-Industry Collaboration, Lan Reneé Amboy-Biller

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A significant amount of money is spent on professionalizing the workforce. At the same time, there is limited research on the effectiveness of academic-to-industry corporate partnerships as an innovative solution for meeting workforce development objectives. This exploratory study evaluates an existing University of South Florida industry partnership to identify characteristics of a sustainable university-to-industry model. The program has operated over the last nine years, providing degree completion programs for industry employees. This program evaluation includes an analysis of stakeholders, advisors, mentors, and participants’ perceptions. The evaluation findings identified key factors of consideration required when establishing and operating a University-Industry partnership. …

Exploring Engagement And Persistence Through The Lens Of Student Experiences In A Sonography Program, Josephine Elizabeth Peck

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The juxtaposition of the increased current and future demand for Diagnostic Medical Sonographers and high attrition rates in many sonography programs emphasizes the need for colleges to do more to educate and train sonography practitioners who are prepared to enter the healthcare workforce. Additionally, a gap exists in understanding student engagement and persistence in Sonography programs. By filling this gap, pertinent answers about student success or lack thereof in these Sonography programs can be addressed.

This basic qualitative study aims to explore student engagement and persistence through the prism of their experiences in AS(DMS) programs at four-year state colleges in …

Adapting The Montessori Method In Saudi Early Childhood Classrooms, Lila A. Alhashim

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study explored how teachers have adapted the Montessori method in Saudi early childhood classrooms to align with Saudi socio-culture and Islamic practices. The study was framed using the socio-cultural theory. A qualitative multi-case study design was used to collect data from semi-structured interviews and on-site observations for four Saudi early childhood teachers in two Montessori classrooms in Saudi Arabia. The data were thematically analyzed manually and with NVivo software. The study results showed that the teachers encouraged children’s independence and freedom of choice in work time and during the classroom day, but limited their freedom during mini-lessons and circle …

Minecraft In Language Teacher Education: Acceptance And Integration In Practice, Kristen E. Fung

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In today’s technological era, understanding if and how teachers’ acceptance and integration of technology evolves is critical to understanding their needs. Technology creates complicated demands on educators and research shows various factors may contribute to their limited success at integrating it (Bustos & Nussbaum, 2009). Research also shows that teachers’ perceptions and attitudes towards pedagogical innovations and information and communication technologies are prominent factors that impact adoption and integration (Tejedor & Muñoz-Repiso, 2006), and the perceptions teachers develop as pre-service teachers influence their classroom performance as in-service teachers (Moon et al., 2016). While research shows plentiful evidence of the educational …

Investigating Students' Interpretations Of Ecological Food Webs, Christopher Neil Grissett

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

To better prepare undergraduate students for current and future biological challenges, scientists, educators and researchers in the Vision and Change report recommended five core conceptual areas essential for the improvement of biological literacy, one of which is biological systems. Systems are an identified core concept that may help promote biological literacy. One example of a system that students have difficulty understanding is an ecological food web, which consists of parts or components interacting with one another to perform a given phenomenon. The intricacies of this system tend to confuse students and can produce naïve conceptions that could hinder future learning …

Community Scholars: A Diversity Pipeline Program To Promote Equity, Diversity, And Inclusion For People With Disabilities, Laura M. Rodríguez López

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation in practice documents the program evaluation of the Community Scholars (CS) program at the Florida Center for Inclusive Communities (FCIC), a University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD) at the University of South Florida (USF). CS is part of a diversity pipeline program that recruits youth with disabilities to engage in paid on-the-job training (OJT) with FCIC. Scholars are community members (youth with disabilities) that are enrolled as FCIC trainees and receive mentoring, development of basic administrative competencies, individualized career coaching, college counseling, and disability policy and self-advocacy training. Through the OJT experience, scholars gain skills that …

Coarse-Grained Modeling Studies Of Entangled Semiflexible Polymers: Melts, Glasses, And Granular Media, Joseph Fox D. Dietz

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is devoted to the computational study of model semiflexible polymers using a coarse-grained bead-spring approach and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Much of the work presented here is motivated by the need to derive predictive models for describing polymeric materials’ macroscopic mechanical response from the underlying local structure or local chain parameters. This dissertation describes polymeric materials in the context of granular media, melts, and glasses with a focus on relating characteristics such as chain stiffness and local structure to systems’ solidification, rheology, and fracture mechanisms.

Chain stiffness κ and structural properties like chains’ characteristic bond angle θ0 are …

African American Males' Perception Of Factors That Contribute To Success In Higher Education, Gary D. Oliver

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Over the past decades, many studies have concluded that African American students' college completion rate and success lag far behind other students attending college in the United States (The JBHE Foundation, Inc., 2006). More specifically, these studies have confirmed that African American male students' success rates remain disproportionally low compared to other ethnic male groups. Unfortunately, few notable studies identifying African American males achieving higher education or completing their academic pursuits have been presented as part of the Black male student narrative.

This study aimed to understand better the resources and experiences that positively affect African American males who completed …

Impact Of Language Sampling Context On Language Productivity And Complexity, Trina J. Tolentino

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Language sampling is a familiar tool in the speech-language pathologist’s (SLP’s) repertoire, used to assess a student’s language ability and inform treatment targets. The current literature has several studies comparing various dimensions of language sampling context, but with relatively small samples. The goal of this study was to identify what sampling contexts elicit the most productive and complex language, thereby contributing insight into what conditions may yield the most accurate representation of a child’s language skill, as well as the resulting intervention focus.

One-thousand thirty-seven kindergarten, first-, second-, and third-grade students (mean age [years; months] ≈ 7;5; range = 5;0-10;9), …

Educating Culturally Relevant Leaders: Experiences In Leadership Identity, Capacity, And Efficacy Development In College Students, Ana C. Maia

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation study explored meaningful experiences contributing to students’ identity, capacity, and efficacy development as culturally relevant leaders. In Chapter One, I detailed the importance and relevance of this topic in the field of higher education. Then, I reviewed the literature on college student leadership development; defined leadership identity, capacity, and efficacy development; and culturally relevant leadership learning (CRLL; Bertrand Jones et al., 2016). In the third chapter, I described the qualitative methodological approach to uncovering how college students develop leadership identity, capacity, and efficacy to engage in culturally relevant leadership. I approached this study from a critical constructivist paradigm. …

Measurement In Chemistry, Mathematics, And Physics Education: Student Explanations Of Organic Chemistry Reaction Mechanisms And Instructional Practices In Introductory Courses, Brandon J. Yik

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The work in this dissertation is presented in two parts. The first part (Chapters 3 and 4) details work relating to students’ explanations of reaction mechanisms in organic chemistry. The second part (Chapters 5 and 6) details work relating to the evaluating the uptake of research-based instructional practices in introductory chemistry, mathematics, and physics courses.

To evaluate learning of organic chemistry reactions, instructors must ask students to construct written explanations of reaction mechanisms. Written assessments should focus on what is happening and why it is happening to promote deeper student understanding. However, for instructors to gain insight into students’ understanding, …

Going Flat: Challenging Gender, Stigma, And Cure Through Lesbian Breast Cancer Experience, Beth Gaines

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This paper explores the decision-making process of reconstruction surgery among lesbian breast cancer patients to better understand how identity impacts healthcare decisions. Breast cancer patients experience the disease in unique ways due to gender, sexuality, race, and class, impacting their individual decisions regarding treatment plans. Many breast cancer patients face mastectomy surgery as the first plan of treatment after diagnosis. By exploring the impact of gender, sexuality, stigma, and ideas of cure, this research aims to advance research about breast cancer by recognizing why some lesbian breast cancer patients forego reconstruction surgery and instead choose to “go flat.

Beliefs, Identity, And An African American Cemetery: An Exploratory Study Of Difficult History Curricular Decision- Making, Shannon Peck-Bartle

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this qualitative exploratory study, I examine the influence of administrative curricular decision-makers’ beliefs and values towards race and ethnicity, heritage, and place on curricular aims for the inclusion of local difficult history associated with the erasure of a racialized cultural landscape, The Ridgewood Cemetery. I additionally examine the influence of contemporary issues on beliefs and values as administrative curricular decision-makers navigate ways to incorporate local cemetery history into secondary social studies curriculum. Through semi-structured interviews, document analysis, and research’s reflective journaling I shed light on ways beliefs, values, and contemporary issues influenced administrative curricular decision-making for local difficult history. …

Remnants Of Educational Leadership And Desegregation Etched In The Memories Of Black Educational Leaders: An Oral History, Janice Barge Clarke

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this study the experiences of Black (a.k.a. African Americans/ Negroes) educationalleaders were explored focusing on the period during the transition to a more desegregated public- school setting in the state of Florida. Using retrospective storytelling and reflections of ‘leading’ during desegregation, the lived experiences of those in educational leadership roles were captured in the form of oral histories and analyzed using critical race theory. The effects of desegregation is recounted from their vantage point, from the dissolution of the ‘all Black’ schools to the impact it had on the communities. The research question was: What are the stories told …

Advising Latinx Students For Postsecondary Career And Technical Education (Cte): A Qualitative Study Of High School Counselors In Florida, Adriana C. Magana

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to gather detailed descriptions of information, resources, and interventions that school counselors use to inform and advise Latinx students of postsecondary CTE options. A qualitative study with semi-structured interviews was conducted to understand how Florida school counselors advise Latinx students for postsecondary Career and Technical Education (CTE) options. A three-prong conceptual framework was used, drawing from Bourdieu’s (1986) Theory of Cultural Capital, career development theories, and the American School Counselor Association’s (ASCA) National Model.

Ten school counselors working in public high schools in Florida participated in semi-structured interviews for this study. Altogether, the study’s …

A Bathroom Break For Teachers: An Institutional Ethnotheatrical Inquiry, Jonathan M. Coker

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the teacher bathroom dilemma, a term I coined to describe teachers not having adequate access to the bathroom during their workdays. While this issue is widely known by those in the profession, only a handful of articles have been written on this topic. The teacher bathroom dilemma is part of a litany of working conditions that have intensified due to the neoliberal turn in education, forcing teachers to perform precarious actions that endanger their physical and psychological health. This dissertation explored how the teacher bathroom dilemma impacted teachers’ work and personal lives. …

Educational Language Policy: An Examination Of Race And Language In Policy Discourse, Dionne L. Davis

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Linguistic diversity is an integral thread in the tapestry of America. As such researchers how linguistic differences across ethnoracial groups can be understood as resources rather than problems. The aim of this study was to examine ideologies concerning race/ethnicity and language in the discourse of educational language policies that guide multilingual approaches to education. The design of this study was critical discourse policy analysis, and the framework was a combination of Critical Language and Race Theory, also known as LangCrit (Crump, 2014), and Raciolinguistics (Alim, 2016; Flores and Rosa, 2015). The research questions were: (1) How are ideologies about the …

Color Defined: An Autoethnographic Exploration Of How Race, Trauma, Gun Violence, And Grief Connect For A Black Mother, Kokita Dirton Wilson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Black mothers are disproportionately affected by fatal shootings and the need for making meaning and finding purpose remains overlooked as a vital component of building resilience in their grief journey. The purpose of this study was to (a) reflect on being a Black mother of a fatal shooting victim; (b) understand the grief and healing process that follows; (c) connect my experiences to those within the larger Black grief community, and (d) by example, help other grieving mothers navigate through their grief struggles. I used two research questions: 1) How can I learn about my grief process by using personal …

Ultrafast Magneto-Optic Study Of Exchange Interactions In Magnetic Materials, Hengzhou Liu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Magneto-optic Kerr Effect (MOKE) is a very important method to investigate the magnetization ofmaterials with the polarization and intensity of light reflected from a sample. Both dynamic and static MOKE are performed to study the magnetic properties of thin films and bulk crystals in this research. For the static MOKE measurement, a solid state laser was used to probe the samples to generate a hysteresis loop by changing the external field from -0.8 T to 0.8 T. The magnet can be placed at an angle between 0 to 20 degree with respect to the sample surface to probe different sample …

First-Generation Female Doctoral Students’ Perceptions Of The Doctoral Experience, Nancy Carol Carr

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of my study was to understand the perceptions of first-generation female doctoral students (FGFDS) and what factors may impact first-generation female doctoral students’ completion of their doctoral program. As the researcher, I collected data through: (a) interviews, (b) participant generated photographs, (c) the group meeting, and (d) the researcher’s personal reflexive journal. Two research questions guided this exploratory qualitative study: In what ways do first-generation female doctoral students in the College of Education perceive their experiences impact their progress during their doctoral program at a large research university in Central Florida?; and what factors do first-generation female doctoral …

Saudi Efl Learners’ Detection And Comprehension Of English Vivid Phrasal Idioms: A Conceptual Replication Study, Basma A. Moreb

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study was a mixed method research. The quantitative part investigated Saudi English learners’ English vivid phrasal (VP) idiom detection differences by lexical level, semi- lexical level, and post-lexical level, as well as comprehension and interpretation by zero-context and full-context conditions. It also researched the extent to which Saudi English learners differed in their scores on the measure of participants’ perceptions on the need for including VP idioms in classrooms. The qualitative part of this study investigated the challenges Saudi English learners faced while completing the detection and comprehension tasks and the strategies they used to detect and comprehend the …

The Experiences Of Black And Hispanic Males Retained Through Florida’S Mandatory Third Grade Retention Law, Sophia Mcmorris

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There has been a constant argument that if students cannot read by third grad, then they will have an uphill struggle for the rest of their educational journey. Researchers have provided evidence signaling some truth to this claim and efforts have been established to ensure that all students receive high-quality instruction (Tweed, 2001). Many states have struggled with policies on how to correct this problem, and they have been challenged to answer whether students who cannot read proficiently by the third grade should be promoted, or if they should be pertained and provided with intensive interventions before moving on to …

Using Movie Clips To Understand Vivid-Phrasal Idioms’ Meanings, Rasha Salem S. Alghamdi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With increased use of educational technology in second language acquisition, idiomatic language instruction has seen an increase in the use of educational technology as an instructional method. Second/foreign language (L2) idioms teaching methods have extended their pedagogical approaches to employ Computer Assisted language Learning (CALL) and/or Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL) educational technologies such as games, online platforms, images, videos, movies, social media, and augmented reality. Recent Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research has begun to focus on the effect(s) different types of videos (YouTube, advertisements, TV shows, full movies, and movie clips) can have on learning a second language, English …