Education Commons^™

Does A Positive Male Role Model Affect The Achievement Of Adolescent African-American Males? A Case Study, Elphin Maxwell Smith Jr.

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

African-American males are at risk. A continuous cycle of low academic achievement, low academic attainment, and high incarceration rates threaten to end the lives of many of these young men one way or another. There are many challenges faced by African-American men that have caused economic opportunities to evade these young men. The concern is whether families, educators, and communities can help every African-American male achieve at a higher level in order to participate in better economic opportunities. This qualitative case study is designed to help families, educators, and community leaders understand and help African-American males achieve academically, close the …

What Keeps Us Here? Perceptions Of Workplace Supervision Among African American Men In Student Affairs, Todd C. Jenkins Jr.

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

African American male professionals continue to be lower in numbers in the workplace across the United States compared to their White counterparts. However, the division of student affairs and student services of higher education institutions continue to serve as a gate way for African American men to serve as administrators. Several higher education institutions and sectors continue to invest in the recruitment and retention for African American male professionals, and research has shown that supervision is the key to employee professional development, performance, and success. The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of African American male professionals’ …

More Than Plumbing: The History Of Sexual Education In Ontario, 1960-1979, Michelle K P Hutchinson Grondin

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

During the 1960s and 1970s, Ontario educators were concerned that the “sexual revolution” would encourage youths to engage in sexually promiscuous behaviour, become unwed mothers, and contract STIs. As parents were perceived as unreliable sex educators, school administrators and educators felt compelled to teach traditional sexual values, and the importance of the nuclear family through sexual education. This dissertation analyzes the creation and instruction of sexual education in physical and health education courses throughout the 1960s and 1970s in Ontario. This study provides the first comprehensive discussion of sexual education in Ontario during the sixties and seventies through an examination …

Physical Culture As Citizenship Education At Pelican Lake Indian Residential School, 1926-1970, Braden Paora Te Hiwi

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Pelican Lake Indian residential school, also known as Sioux Lookout Indian residential school, was an Anglican run institution that was a part of the Canadian residential school system; the school operated from 1926 to 1970. It is well established in the literature that the Department of Indian Affairs intended to evangelize, assimilate, and civilize its students, but the function of citizenship in the residential schools is less well known. The focus of this study was to examine physical culture activities, specifically sport, exercise, and recreation as a form of training for citizenship. In particular, I centered this research on the …

A Consensus On The Definition And Knowledge Base For Computer Graphics, Michael Alden Roller

Open Access Dissertations

Despite several decades of historical innovation, measurable impacts, and multiple specializations the existing knowledge base for Computer Graphics (CG) lacks consensus, and numerous definitions for it have been published based on distinct contexts. Disagreement among post-secondary academics has divided CG programs into three contextual areas that emphasize different topics. This division has resulted in the decontextualization of CG education, and CG programs now face several challenges in meeting the needs of industry. Employing the Delphi Method, this investigation explored the perceptions among post-secondary educators and industry professionals about the definition of CG and how it is identified in terms of …

Reading Queerly In The High School Classroom: Exploring A Gay And Lesbian Literature Course, Kirsten Helmer

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to explore how teaching an English literature curriculum centered on the stories, experiences, cultures, histories, and politics of LGBTQI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex) people constitutes a meaningful site for teaching and learning in a high school classroom. The dissertation offers insights on how the teaching of LGBTQI-themed texts in English language arts classes can be reframed by bridging the goals, practices and conceptual tools of queer theory to critical literacies teaching. The project follows principles of critical qualitative research and employs an ethnographic case study approach with the purpose of transforming educational …

A Museum As A Stage For Community Dialogue: Sharing The Stories Of Underserved Ethnic Populations, Tara L. Lyons

Museum Studies Projects

As a museum educator at several local museums in Western New York the author developed interpretive educational programs for institutions such as Explore & More Children's Museum and The Buffalo History Museum. One recent program titled Culture Day: Puerto Rico took place at Explore & More Children's Museum. The purpose of the project was to create a community based museum program about the deeply rooted cultural traditions and heritage of the Puerto Rican community that has shaped Western New York's history. Hispanics began relocating to Western New York in the late 1880s and continue to do so today. Twenty-first century …

The Educational Benefits Of Cultural Institutions, Brian Kisida

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A significant portion of the education children receive occurs outside of the traditional classroom and produces outcomes not typically captured by standardized achievement tests. This dissertation is part of an effort to expand the educational venues and outcomes educational researchers rigorously examine. In particular, I present the key results from experimental studies of the effects of school tours to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, AR., and to the Museum of Discovery in Little Rock, AR.

Chapter 1 focuses on arts exposure and critical thinking outcomes. A problem for the arts’ role in education has been a …

Talking Back, With Reawakened Voices: Analyzing The Potential For Indigenous California Languages Coursework At California Polytechnic State University, Logan Cooper

Ethnic Studies

The legacy of colonialism in the United States, including genocidal practices and cultural assimilation, has left Indigenous languages endangered. Native peoples, scholars, and activists have been working to revive and heal the languages of America’s first peoples, and the cultures those languages speak to, yet more work remains in the field of language revitalization. California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo currently does not offer any course specifically teaching or discussing Indigenous languages, even those of the Chumash people who know the San Luis Obispo area as their ancestral homelands.

By synthesizing revitalization and Indigenous activist literature with the narratives …

The Leadership Hub, Michelle E. Healey

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

The Leadership Hub Senior Honors Creative Thesis comprises a website and creative design book. It organizes and designs leadership within the JMU community within four key areas.

Fostering The Efficacious Adolescent Artist, Regina Beltowski

Masters Theses

Low self-esteem and insecurity is common among adolescents. In the secondary-school art room, students often stop engaging in art practice, believing that they lack talent, when the truth is that they lack specific skills. Students who are fortunate to have teachers who help them develop their skills experience a boost in feelings of self-efficacy, and often reengage with art production. This thesis project focuses on strengthening students’ self-efficacy in the visual arts at the secondary level. Clarifying the differences between related terms – self-esteem, self-concept, and perceived control – I focus on self-efficacy as a characteristic that plays a significant …

Choice--‐Based Art: Students Who Create, Not Replicate, Hillary K. Moczerad

Masters Theses

The problem that I researched in today’s art education world is how to teach our art students to be problem solving, confident, independent thinkers. It seems that in a classroom that is supposed to be full of innovation and creativity, it is currently falling flat. Through research, I discovered a teaching methodology called Choice-­‐Based Art that claims to eliminate these problems in the art room through student-­‐directed learning and choice while still delivering art curriculum. In order to test these theories, I aligned my classroom with the demands of the methodology and planned a field test with two groups of …

Creative Concentrations: A Secondary Design Curriculum, Linnea Roberta Gustafson

Masters Theses

Design education, as distinct from art education, has been overlooked as an area of student learning, creative expression, and career potential. This thesis explores the benefits of design education for students at the secondary level, when identities are being formed and areas of future study and work are considered. Guided by the newly published National Core Arts Standards, this paper provides a model design curriculum that introduces secondary students to a design-oriented view of the world, explores design principles through real-world applications, and calls attention to professional career options.

All lessons in the curriculum encourage creative approaches to solving design …

A Qualitative Study On How A Teacher's Religious Beliefs Affect The Choices They Make In The Classroom, Sarah M. Wadsworth

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects

This qualitative research project explores how a teacher’s organized religious beliefs may influence their practice and the choices they make in the classroom. Such areas of impact include character development, classroom management, development of lesson plans, the handling of difficult parents and colleagues, discipline, and a teacher’s overall attitude while teaching. It is recognized that there are many hidden ways our beliefs shape the choices we make. This project focuses specifically on how organized religious beliefs and practices affect an educator’s choices. The research involved the interviewing of nine educators from the Ohio school system ranging from those who teach …

Examining The Role Of Active Student Engagement In High School Arts Courses, Athena Irene Nichols

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A primary challenge to educators is the design and implementation of effective student engagement processes. High school students cannot be successful if they are frequently absent from school, as active engagement opportunities reinforce knowledge and help to keep students enthused in their learning. To address the challenges of frequent school absences, this study examined a gap in the literature--namely, the relationship between active engagement and arts courses as a motivator for students to remain in high school. For this study, active engagement was defined as a process in which the student's interests, efforts, and knowledge culminated in an application of …

Secondary Principals Who Are Mothers: Balancing Home And Career, Turina Parker

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Working mothers who are school leaders face challenges as they attempt to manage competing time demands and personal and professional responsibilities. A need exists for existing school leaders, as well as women aspiring to school leadership, to understand the coping strategies used by mothers who are also school principals. To that end, the purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine the experiences of mothers who are school principals. Strategies used to navigate multiple roles were examined through a role conflict lens. Three overarching research questions guided this study to focus on how female principals with children accommodate their dual …

Teachers' Perceptions Of The Influence Of Professional Development On Music Integration, Marcy Thurmond Simmons

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

International Baccalaureate (IB) schools are focused on a school-wide approach to developing inquiring students who are motivated to succeed. The problem explored in this case study was based on a local IB elementary school's response to a reform model to integrate music into other content areas. The curriculum lacked an interdisciplinary approach to music education even though teachers had participated in some professional development (PD) to help them integrate music into content areas. The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of elementary teachers regarding the influence of professional development on music integration at the IB elementary school. …

Expressive Arts As A Means Of Increasing Well-Being In Children, Danielle L. Barnes-Smith, Jordan Frotz, Hanasara Ito, Johannah Kohorst, Emily Vascimini

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

The purpose of this research is to discover the extent to which expressive arts increase well-being in children. Expressive arts are being defined here as theatre, dance, art, and creative writing. Well-being is defined as self-efficacy and self-worth. The project was carried out in a four-week expressive arts program designed to teach fifth grade elementary school students a variety of artistic disciplines (i.e. theatre, dance, art, and creative writing). Both before and after the workshop, the students completed measures of self-worth and self-efficacy; these measures were used to identify changes in students from the beginning of the program to the …

Are Historically Black Colleges And Universities Necessary? It's Not That Black And White, Keara Jones

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

This is a creative thesis about the environment, culture and achievement of HBCUs. This thesis uses spoken word poetry as the creative means to express the past and present issues of HBCUs from a personal perspective. The poetry is supported by contemporary analysis to further add to the conversation about the necessity of HBCUs.

Music And Attention For Children With Developmental Disabilities, Mallory M. Bentley

All Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to measure the effects of the use of music in the form of a song with instructional lyrics on the attention of children with developmental disabilities. The study took place in a self-contained special education classroom, which served third through fifth grade students. A single-subject with ABA or reversal design (Creswell, 2012) was utilized, including five days of baseline, 15 days of intervention, and five days of reversal data collection. During the intervention phase, the teacher sang a cappella an original song with instructional lyrics that explain the type of attentive behaviors that students …

Expanding The Literary Enterprise: How We Experience The Texts Of The Advanced Placement English Literature And Composition Curriculum, Molly Ostrow

Honors Theses

How we read the texts of the Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition curriculum.

Mandarin Chinese As A Second Language: A Review Of Literature, Wesley A. Spencer

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Mandarin Chinese has become increasing prevalent in the modern world. Accordingly, research of Chinese as a second language has developed greatly over the past few decades. This paper reviews research on the difficulties of acquiring a second language in general and research that specifically details the difficulty of acquiring Chinese as a second language. Based on this research, the author also reveals some areas that should be researched further in order to advance the field.

The Effects Of A New Method Of Instruction On The Perceptions Of Appalachian English, Michelle L. Compton

Theses and Dissertations--Linguistics

This paper evaluates whether students’ perceptions of Appalachian English improve through a method of instruction that uses dialect literature in the classroom. Most existing methods of instruction tend to portray dialects as wrong, incorrect, or in some way less rule-governed than Standardized English, despite the numerous studies that have demonstrated otherwise (e.g., Labov 1969, Wolfram 1986). The data from this study derives from two groups of students enrolled in introductory composition and communication at the University of Kentucky. Each group is given a pre-test to determine attitudes toward Appalachian English and Standardized English. An experimental group is then exposed to …