Education Commons^™

Psychological Effects And Treatment Of An Injury On An Athlete: Suggested Treatment Plan For Athletic Trainers And Physical Therapist, Odell Miller

Honors Theses

Injuries that force athletes to lose participation in their sport and or training have a tremendous impact on their mental health. Mental health issues can be detrimental, but often times go unnoticed. For example in 2010, Kenny McKinley, a wide receiver for the Denver Broncos, was found dead after killing himself with a gun. After suffering a knee injury, he had become progressively depressed. Investigators reported that there are statements saying that McKinley didn’t know what he would do without football. According to NCAA’s Sports Science Institute (2017), the psychological response to injury can trigger mental health issues such as: …

The Effects Of Exercise On The Cognitive Function Of Patients With Alzheimer’S Disease, Amanda Savitski

Honors Theses

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is America’s most common neurodegenerative disease affecting over 5.4 million Americans (Fernández et al., 2017). A literature review was completed to assess the possible relation between physical activity and the progression of AD. Articles were collected from various peer-reviewed, published journals using the available databases of Western Michigan University library which included PubMed, ClinicalTrials.gov, and the National Institute of Health (NIH). Keywords used for the database searches included “Alzheimer”, “Alzheimer’s Disease”, “neurodegeneration”, “aging brain”, “exercise”, and “physical activity”. Based upon the literature reviewed, aerobic exercise appears to slow the progression of AD and possibly reverses it slightly …

The Importance Of Athletic Trainers At The High School Level And Barriers To Hire, Nathan Southerington

Honors Theses

The goal of the study is to unveil the significance of the athletic training profession at the high school level and identify any barriers that restrict high schools from employing athletic trainers (ATs). While ATs are a commodity in collegiate and professional sports, many high schools around the nation struggle to employ these health care professionals. Surveys were sent to both superintendents and athletic directors (ADs) throughout the state of Michigan, to establish common hindrances to hiring athletic trainers in secondary schools. The survey covered topics such as common barriers to hiring ATs, reasons they prefer to hire ATs, school …

Effective Teaching Methods For Elementary Students With Add/Adhd, Jane Bensen

Honors Theses

This paper first describes ADHD, or attention deficit/hyperactive disorder, then discusses the effects on students with ADD/ADHD when elements of choice (specifically alternate seating and book choice) and strength-based strategies are used in the classroom. Research is conducted as a literature review through peer-reviewed articles on ERIC educational database. The literature shows that incorporating choice in the classroom, including offering alternative seating, is a beneficial practice for students with ADD/ADHD. Additionally, strengthbased strategies are a beneficial way to highlight and work with traits that students with ADD/ADHD possess in the classroom in a positive way. Some of which include incorporating …

Mirror Therapy, A Pain Management Therapy, Gabriella Andrews

Honors Theses

This project was undertaken to explore the use of mirror therapy (MT) as a palliative for stroke patients and amputees experiencing phantom limb pain. MT is a relatively new treatment and while it has limited research, it is starting to be used more within the rehabilitation setting. Research suggests MT has beneficial effects occur with phantom limb pain as well as post-stroke patients. This study will explain the history, uses, and research behind MT not only as a form of therapy but also a non-medicinal pain reliever.

Included are interviews from physical therapists (PT) and occupational therapists (OT) along with …

Limited By Design: Expanding The Boundaries Of Schooling Policies From Demanded Passivity To Transformative Practice, Natalia T. Carvalho-Pinto

Masters Theses

Schooling is often imagined as the great equalizer and the primary venue towards personal and collective liberation. However, hegemonic ideals and practices have limited the ability for educators to craft and utilize policy in a way that best benefits their students. In this thesis, I utilize the state of Michigan’s Common Core curriculum to examine the limits beyond policy and practice. Specifically, I argue that the demands for student passivity and institutional measurable as signs of success, prohibit student growth. Throughout the document, I describe hope in the ability to instill a variety of transformative educational theories and practices that …

Implication Of Item And Test Differential Functioning In Criterion-Referenced Tests, Xiaojie Hu

Dissertations

In a compensatory criterion referenced test (CRT) it is common that the test developer maximizes the test information at or near the cut score location. This is believed to produce the highest classification accuracy. However, a recent study showed that the optimal location to maximize test information for highest classification accuracy (CA) and consistency (CC) also depends on factors such as test length, cut score location, the examinee ability distribution, and the test model applied for latent trait estimation (Wyse & Babcock, 2016). Moreover, when unintentional secondary dimensions are also measured (nuisance dimension caused by test construction, test standardization, or …

Understanding The Experiences Of Students Re-Admitted After Academic Suspension As Part Of A University-Initiated Process: A Qualitative Study, Gary L. Versalle

Dissertations

Student persistence and retention continues to be a major issue facing most institutions of higher education. With ever more diverse student populations, researchers studied a multitude of groups and sub-groups of students based on ethnicity, sex, socioeconomic status, or age. These studies looked at how these various student groups can be supported and retained. Students who returned to school after having been academically dismissed are one group which has been consistently underreported. Reentry practices remained largely unchanged and still require the student to initiate the process. This phenomenological study examined the experiences of students accepted into the Reclaim the W …

Looking Inward: Higher Education Public Relations And Internal Communication, Kelly A. Campbell

Dissertations

There has been a decline in public good will toward institutions of higher education for nearly four decades. Resultantly, the public, media, and politicians call for greater transparency. It would be beneficial for institutions of higher education to utilize strategic means to communicate their stories, successes and brand directly to various publics. A critical, albeit often an overlooked public, are the employees of the university. They can serve as ambassadors for the university interacting with outside publics. In this capacity, not only do employees need to know information about their organization to function well at their positions, they also need …

Assessing The Supports And Variables Needed For Graduation Of Students Receiving Special Education Service: A Longitudinal Study, Jennifer Dewaard

Dissertations

Graduation from high school is an important measure of success for both schools and individuals. While requirements for graduation change, the rate at which students receive a diploma within four years is on the rise. But students who receive special education services continue to have a lower graduation rate than the general population. It is imperative for both schools and individual students to increase this rate and close the gap for those receiving a diploma.

The purpose of this study is to examine that gap between graduation rates for the total population of a high school in West Michigan compared …

Are Experienced Principals More Likely To Implement The Attributes Of The Three-Minute Walkthrough Program Than Less-Experienced Principals?, Trent Mosley

Dissertations

Today, in this era of accountability, school improvement rests heavily on the shoulders of building principals. Apart from being managers of school operations, disciplinarians, and community leaders, these individuals are also expected to be strong instructional leaders (Crum & Sherman, 2008). Principals now must engage in strategies that will lead the cycle of continuous improvement. One such strategy that has emerged is classroom walkthroughs (Cervone & Martinez, 2007). Classroom walkthroughs serve as a vehicle through which principals can engage teachers in a process that can lead to positive effects on teaching strategies through instructional conferences (Blasé & Blasé, 1998; King, …

The Effect Of Item Stem And Response Option Length On The Item Analysis Outcomes Of A Career And Technical Education Multiple Choice Assessment, Tina M. Koepf

Dissertations

Critical decisions in Career and Technical Education (CTE) can be based on assessment outcomes, requiring an essential focus on continuous improvement initiatives to provide increased multiple choice (MC) assessment validity. Previous research has determined that the presence of flawed test items negatively impacts student success; therefore, an MC taxonomy has been established and used in the assessment industry. While rigorous and successful Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs that enroll high-level academic students exist, many CTE programs enroll students with a wide spectrum of academic ability. Because many CTE students often have inferior reading skills, it is necessary to take …

The Role Of Response To Intervention In Michigan High Poverty Elementary Schools That Are Beating The Odds, Alina J. Fortenberry

Dissertations

The Michigan Department of Education has identified schools that are beating the odds as either schools that perform better than expected based on risk factors of race, ethnicity, low socioeconomics or/and English Language Learner populations, and/or also as schools performing above their comparison group of the most demographically similar schools in the state. Many districts in the state are attempting to incorporate multi-tiered systems of support with a Response to Intervention (RTI) Framework, as the academic component for assisting students in accomplishing skills needed to help them meet grade level expectations.

The purpose of this study is to describe and …

Asd Program Development In Special Education Teacher Preparation: An Exploratory Study, Christine Dewildt

Dissertations

The process of developing a program for an endorsement in a teacher preparation program is complex, with various influences and requirements involved. Regulatory compliance, standards for practice, and university influences are key considerations within program development. Curricular factors and content delivery must also be considered. This study explored the process of program development leading to an endorsement in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) at a university, shedding light on what some of the key aspects to program develop entail.

This study explored the complex process of teacher preparation program development in ASD through inquiry rooted in a qualitative approach. At the …

Using Mindset Pedagogy To Promote Growth And Increase Efficacy In Student Writers, Sara Hoeve

Dissertations

This dissertation offers four in-depth, vivid profiles of twelfth grade writers and the ways in which writing mindsets impact self-beliefs and inform the writing process. The multiple case study explores the impact of a mindset pedagogy, which is defined as an instructional paradigm that emphasizes the malleable nature of writing, as an ability that can be developed with effort, learning, and dedication over time. This belief contrasts the notion that writing ability is fixed trait that cannot be significantly developed over time.

Derived from Dweck's mindset theory, my dissertation argues for a discipline-specific construct of the "writing mindset,” which refers …

Counselor Educators’ Perceptions Of Nontraditional Master’S-Level Counseling Students And How Those Perceptions Shape Teaching Practices, Pamela J. Jordan

Dissertations

Graduate students age 40 and older, defined as “nontraditional” for this study, consistently represent approximately 20% of the graduate student population (United States Department of Education National Center for Education Statistics, 2015). Master’s degree programs in counseling may attract a higher percentage of these students, as some studies suggest that careers in fields such as counseling are sought out by adults changing careers at midlife and later (Bluestone & Melnik, 2010; Schaefers, 2012). These nontraditional students bring to the classroom their own characteristics of age, life stage, and experience, and they have distinct strengths and challenges that set them apart …

Teaching Matching-To-Sample To Low-Performing Children With Autism, Blaire E. Michelin

Dissertations

Matching-to-sample is a basic procedure used in most programs for pre-school children with autism. However, a few children fail to acquire this skill with standard matching-to-sample procedures. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate an alternative method for teaching matching-to-sample to those children when the traditional methods are likely to fail. First, simple discriminations with the matching materials were taught, then the discriminations were made more complex across successive sessions. Initially, all discriminations were taught using bins to separate the comparison stimuli. All three children acquired matching-to-sample, which generalized to matching novel two-dimensional stimuli, not placed in bins.

The Bellringer Sequence: Investigating What And How Preservice Mathematics Teachers Learn Through Pedagogies Of Enactment, Mary A. Ochieng

Dissertations

This study examines preservice teacher learning through pedagogies of enactment—approaches to teacher education that allow preservice teachers to learn by doing what teachers do. Preservice teacher (PST) learning is examined through the implementation of the Bellringer Sequence (BRS), a pedagogy of enactment conceptualized in the study. The BRS is centered around bellringers—brief mathematical tasks implemented as students arrive for class. The BRS is a sequence of four activities centered on a bellringer: preparation (for teaching a bellringer) implementation (of the bellringer with peers), debriefing (discussing the implementation as colleagues), and written reflection (about the effectiveness of the bellringer).

Practice-based approaches …

Effective Teaching And Learning: Flipped Learning In The Classroom, Mohammed Fahad Alsobaie

Dissertations

It is important that adequate knowledge concerning how flipped learning can be implemented in a classroom to support students learning in elementary schools (Backlund, Hirsh & Segolsson, 2017). This is a qualitative study, which used a general qualitative approach to explore teachers’ perspectives and their experiences about flipped learning effectiveness in classrooms at the elementary school level. The population and sample in this study were five elementary school teachers in urban locations in the Midwest region of the United States who utilize flipped learning in their classrooms. The data on the use and impact of flipped learning on teaching and …

Ten Elementary School Teachers’ Voices: How They Build Effective Literacy Learning In The Lives Of Their 2nd Grade Children, Merfat Ayesh Alsubaie

Dissertations

It is important to support teachers to adapt and apply effective literacy instruction strategies. Teachers may receive support from many sources, such as pre-service developers, principals, supervisors, literacy coaches, parents, colleagues and peer teachers. Perhaps most importantly, the teaching of literacy requires the support of the principal, literacy coach, and others who can collaborate with the classroom teacher to implement effective literacy instruction and strategies (Vallejo & Wren, 2009; Cole, 2008). All of these supports play a role in effectively achieving high literacy levels among students (Cole, 2008). Thus, teachers should work to maximize the benefit they receive from these …

Instructor Sense Of Community And Instructional Practices As Predictors Of Student Sense Of Community: A Hierarchical Linear Modeling Analysis, Laurie K. Burgess

Dissertations

A positive sense of community (SoC) in the college classroom supports student learning and increases student engagement and motivation. While previous research has examined SoC, studies have typically investigated students’ perceptions. This quantitative cross-sectional study investigates both instructor and students’ perceptions of SoC in traditional undergraduate classrooms. Study participants include full-time instructors, and students from 36 undergraduate classes in three institutions located in a Midwestern state. Students completed Rovai’s (2002a) Classroom Community Scale; instructors completed a remodified Classroom Community Scale and the Postsecondary Instructional Practices Survey (Walter, Henderson, Beach, & Williams, 2016).

This study uses hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) to …

The Lived Experience Of New Community College Student Affairs Professionals, Eric L. Mullen

Dissertations

This qualitative study explores the experiences of new student affairs professionals who have begun their careers at community colleges. Research in the field of higher education has examined the preparation and socialization of new professionals within the field of higher education student affairs. However, this body of research has primarily focused on the experiences of those who go on to work in four-year colleges and universities. Little has been examined regarding those who graduate from these programs and whose first professional role is in a community college setting.

Through this phenomenological inquiry, the participants share rich details about their socialization …

The Effects Of Peer Observation On Teacher Intervention Integrity, Garrett D. Warrilow

Dissertations

The observer effect is a term used to describe a process during which an observer's behavior changes as they measure the behavior of another individual. The observer effect has been widely studied in organizational behavior management but has limited research with teachers in schools. The current study sought to use the observer effect as part of a teacher training package by evaluating the effects of peer observations on an observing teacher's implementation integrity of components of a Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) system. Participants were four middle school teachers of students in general education classrooms. The primary dependent variables …

Positive Discipline As A Part Of Effective Classroom Management, Allison Stevens

Honors Theses

This study was driven by the researcher’s interest in learning more about classroom management, and in particular, how experienced teachers thought about positive discipline as part of a management system. The researcher was a teaching intern in an elementary suburban school, where she interviewed 5 teachers and the building principal about classroom management and positive discipline. Interviews were transcribed, and patterns across responses were sought. Findings revealed common pieces of effective classroom management: 1) setting clear expectations and rules, 2) consistency in applying rules and expectations, and 3) having good parent communication. All teachers used tangible extrinsic rewards to motivate …

Impacts Of Representation On Increasing Flexibility In Understanding Number Composition, Abigail Carr

Honors Theses

Place value is a mathematical concept that young children struggle to understand. A common misconception for children is that the digits that make up multi-digit numbers represent the quantity of that number itself, instead of the number according to its place value (i.e. the 1 in 18 represents 1, instead of 10). The base-ten representation is an efficient way to represent numbers and quantities, but it is not easily learned. One reason children may struggle to fully understand place value is the English language does not make the value of the number known and has hidden base-ten meanings. To contrast, …

Inter-Professional Education: A Literature Analysis And Description Of Pacer Study At Western Michigan University, Kari Scholten

Honors Theses

Inter-professional education is a topic that is widely gaining popularity throughout the healthcare field. Because inter-professional practice in the hospital and beyond has proven its value time and time again, universities must take it upon themselves to train their healthcare students to work efficiently and communicate effectively with other disciplines in the healthcare field. Through a thorough literature review, it was demonstrated that inter-professional education studies and simulations that were performed in a range of settings have had positive effects on a variety of factors, including communication, quality of care given, and perceptions of professional roles. A study performed at …

A Guide For The Development Of Theoretical Understanding And Practice Of Teaching For Artistic Behavior: A Response For 21st Century Art Education, Lisa Van Plew-Cid

Masters Theses

Education in the 21st century is restructuring to meet the needs of an increasingly technological society where learning objectives need to focus more on learning abilities rather than knowledge acquisition. Creativity and authentic learning have been identified as new learning objectives for the 21st century. Throughout the history of education, art education has maintained relevance through the integral role it plays in meeting the learning and developmental needs of our students. Teaching for Artistic Behavior (TAB) offers both a philosophy and practice for relevant 21st century art education.

Through research and deep reflection on my ten year practice as an …

Impacts Of Cohort Membership On Teacher Candidates In An Alternative Certification Program, Katherine Eaton

Dissertations

Post baccalaureate teacher education programs are an effective way to increase the teaching pool with candidates who are content experts (Beijaard et al. 2004; Brantlinger, A., & Smith, B., 2013; Zeichner, K. M., & Schulte, A. K., 2001; Schultz, K., & Ravitch, S. M. 2013; Humphrey et al., 2008). Many of these programs utilize a cohort model design where students progress through the program together as a group (Maher, M. A. 2005; Jorissen, K. T., 2002; Ross et al., 2006; Mandzuk, D. et al., 2005). In his book, Deep Knowledge (2013), Larkin describes the complex nature of preparing candidates for …

Effective Reading Strategies For Increasing The Reading Comprehension Level Of Third-Grade Students With Learning Disabilities, Nouf Rashdan Almutairi

Dissertations

This qualitative study identified the common reading problems that negatively impact reading comprehension of third graders with learning disabilities. It also investigated the effective reading strategies that special education teachers have utilized to improve reading comprehension levels of the students in resource room settings. For the purpose of this study, “effective reading comprehension strategies” are defined as any strategies that have been found by the special education teachers as beneficial for improving reading comprehension levels of third graders with learning disabilities in the resource room setting. Importantly, a particular reading comprehension strategy could be beneficial based on these teachers’ experiences …

Assessing The Benefits And Risks Of Choice-Based Art Education In The Modern-Day Classroom, Kayla Lindeman

Masters Theses

This thesis explores the benefits and risks of choice-based art education by examining the literature and conducting field research in two third grade art classrooms - one that employs a Teaching for Artistic Behaviors-based (TAB-based, a popular version of choice-based art education) approach to art education and another that adheres to a more discipline-based model. Findings related to student observations, student surveys, and parent survey will be presented within these two unique settings. These findings will be matched against claimed choice-based benefits of: increases in student engagement; instructional and learning shifts; and student engagement in authentic art practices. The findings …