Education Commons^™

How A Healthy Population Acquires Nutrition And Exercise Information: A Mixed Methods Study, Sally J. Hillis

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Faced with an overwhelming amount of available sources and different perspectives, researchers in the field of Nutrition and Health Sciences continually strive to identify key factors that shape a healthy lifestyle. Employing an exploratory sequential mixed methods design, phase one of this research utilized a constructivist grounded theory approach to develop a model explaining the process by which healthy individuals acquire nutrition and exercise information. Interested is studying a population identified by good nutrition and daily exercise, the researcher set the participant criteria to include daily consumption of 2-3 balanced meals, 45-60 minutes daily moderate-intensity exercise, and a normal BMI. …

Strengthening Executive Function Development For Students With Add, Lori Desautels

Scholarship and Professional Work – Education

What are the root causes of Attention Deficit Disorder in our children and youth, and how do we address these challenges? According to the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 11 percent of children in the United States age 4-17 (6.4 million) have been diagnosed with ADHD as of 2011.

Dr. Russell Barkley, clinical professor of psychiatry at the Medical University of South Carolina and medical expert in ADD, shares that this disorder is primarily about emotional regulation and self-control. It is not just about inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity. Emotional regulation, which is foundational to social, emotional, and …

Brain Labs: A Place To Enliven Learning, Lori Desautels

Scholarship and Professional Work – Education

Although emotion and cognition originate in different parts of the brain, they interact and play a powerful role in learning and memory. According to neuroscientists like Eric Jensen, priming the brain for particular states of engagement -- such as curiosity, intrigue, surprise, suspense, a bit of confusion, skepticism, and the feeling of safety -- prepares the mind to learn. Furthermore, incorporating emotion into our instruction and content supports long-term memory. This might not be news to teachers, but not enough students know how to optimize their brain for learning. That's why every child should have the opportunity to explore …

An Initial Meta-Analysis Of Acceptance And Commitment Therapy For Treating Substance Use Disorders, Eric B. Lee, Woolee An, Michael E. Levin, Michael P. Twohig

Psychology Faculty Publications

Background: In the past decade, multiple studies have examined the effectiveness ofAcceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for substance use disorders relative to other active treatments. The current meta-analysis examined the aggregate effect size when comparing ACT to other treatments (e.g., CBT, pharmacotherapy, 12-step,treatment as usual) specifically on substance use outcomes. Method: A total of 10 randomized controlled trials were identified through systematic searches. Results: A significant small to medium effect size was found favoring ACT relative to active treatment comparisons following treatment. Effect sizes were comparable across studies for smoking cessation (k = 5) and for other drug use disorders …

3 Things Students Desire To Hear From Teachers, Lori Desautels

Scholarship and Professional Work – Education

A year and a half ago, I decided that I needed to return to the K-12 classrooms and really experience ground-level teaching, testing, core standards, differentiating, and emotionally connecting with children and adolescents in ways I had not for many years. I have been and still am an assistant professor in the school of education at Marian University, but the environments, experiences, and my own learning have grown and changed immensely from returning to the classroom 18 months ago.

I asked the university for a course release, taking the lectures, research, and strategies into the early adolescent grades. And three …

Acceptance Of Change: Exploring The Relationship Among Psychometric Constructs And Employee Resistance, Brian Dunican

Dissertations

Change is inevitable and can influence numerous events inside and outside an organization. The contrasting attitudes of acceptance and resistance to change are an increasingly interesting topic in today’s global, ever-changing, and competitive environment. Discovering the behavioral origins of employees’ reactions to change is an integral part of understanding the way in which individual mindset may play a role in coping with organizational change and resistance. This body of knowledge may give organizations insight for creating a competitive advantage over their counterparts. Conceivably, it can be argued that some researchers view change as a process of gradual adaptation that is …

The Relevance Of Mindfulness Practice For Trauma-Exposed Disaster Researchers, Christine Eriksen, Tamara Ditrich

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

This paper aims to raise awareness of vicarious trauma amongst disaster researchers, and suggests ways to prevent vicarious traumatisation from happening and/or reaching incapacitating levels. The paper examines the potential of mindfulness practice, grounded in Buddhist meditation, as a set of contemplation tools through which optimal level of functionality can be maintained or restored. The relevance of the emphasis in mindfulness on understanding suffering, non-attachment, non-judgement, and full participation in the present moment are related to the context of disaster research. The paper demonstrates the potential for increased researcher resilience through acknowledgement and understanding of impermanence, as well as skilful …

Connecting Science Education To A World In Crisis, Kenneth Tobin

Publications and Research

Even though humanity faces grand challenges, including climate change, sustainability of the planet and its resources, and well-being of humans and other species, for the past 60 years science educators have been preoccupied with much the same priorities. Adherence to the tenets of crypto-positivism creates problems for research in the social sciences (e.g., over reliance on statistical analyses leads to oversimplified models that strip away context and are reductive). Hypotheses and associated statistical tests support causal models that rarely predict social conduct or blaze pathways for meaningful transformation. In contrast to the mainstream of research in science education, I advocate …

Feasibility Of An Acceptance And Commitment Therapy Adjunctive Web-Based Program For Counseling Centers, Michael E. Levin, Jacqueline Pistorello, Steven C. Hayes, John R. Seeley, Crissa Levin

Psychology Faculty Publications

Web-based adjunctive tools provide a promising method for addressing the challenges college counseling centers face in meeting the mental health needs of students. The current study tested an initial adjunctive prototype based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) in a pre-post open trial with 30 counselors and 82 student clients across 4 counseling centers. Results indicated high ratings of program satisfaction and usability with counselors and students. The majority of students completed at least part of the program. Significant improvements were found across almost all outcome and ACT process measures with student clients. Improvements in student outcomes were predicted by …

Decoupling As A Mechanism Of Change In Mindfulness And Acceptance: A Literature Review, Michael E. Levin, Jason B. Luoma, Jack Haegar

Psychology Faculty Publications

A growing body of research within the acceptance and mindfulness-based therapies suggests these treatments may function in part by reducing or eliminating (i.e., decoupling) the normative relationships between internal experiences and other internal/overt behavior. Examples of decoupling effects found in this review include reduced relationships between urges to smoke and smoking behavior, between dysphoric mood and depressive cognitions, and between pain intensity and persistence in a painful task. A literature review identified 44 studies on acceptance and mindfulness that demonstrated decoupling effects. Overall, preliminary evidence for decoupling effects were found across a broad range of problem areas including substance abuse, …