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2016

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Full-Text Articles in Education

Our Students’ Minds Matter: Integrating Mindfulness Practices Into Special Education Classrooms, Danielle Magaldi Ph.D., Jennie Park-Taylor Ph.D. Dec 2016

Our Students’ Minds Matter: Integrating Mindfulness Practices Into Special Education Classrooms, Danielle Magaldi Ph.D., Jennie Park-Taylor Ph.D.

The Journal of Special Education Apprenticeship

This article explores the usefulness of mindfulness practices in special education classrooms. Mindfulness is defined as the ability to regulate and control one’s attention with an orientation toward the present moment. Mindfulness practices of breathing, imagery, movement, reflection, and acceptance exercises are described along with research on the social, behavioral, and attentional effects following mindfulness interventions. The article concludes with practical considerations for special educators considering implementing mindfulness practices into curriculum, along with future directions for mindfulness in the field of special education.


Using A Bci To Assess Attention During An Online Lecture, Ethan Hanner, Marguerite Doman Oct 2016

Using A Bci To Assess Attention During An Online Lecture, Ethan Hanner, Marguerite Doman

The Winthrop McNair Research Bulletin

Brain computer interfaces (BCI) use neural signals as input into computer applications. In this study, we demonstrate the use of a low-cost, commercially available BCI to directly measure participants’ attention levels while using WUtopia, and online learning platform developed at Winthrop University. Previous research demonstrated that students using this platform performed better on a post-lecture quiz than those who only viewed the lecture (Grossoehme et al.). We hypothesize that the increase in performance is due to an increase in attentiveness when using the WUtopia platform. We divided participants into the intervention (n = 7) and non-intervention (n = 12) groups. …


The Effects Of Mindfulness Practices And Activities On Student Attention And Work Engagement In A Multi-Age 4th To 6th Grade Montessori Classroom, Jamie L. Schaub Aug 2016

The Effects Of Mindfulness Practices And Activities On Student Attention And Work Engagement In A Multi-Age 4th To 6th Grade Montessori Classroom, Jamie L. Schaub

Masters of Arts in Education Action Research Papers

The purpose of this research was to test whether the implementation of mindfulness exercises would increase focus and work engagement of students. This study incorporated breathing and visualization exercises three times a week. The 5-week study involved 44 children between the ages of 9 and 12 years in a private Montessori school in Northern Michigan. Data collection included daily tallies of on and off task behavior, daily observations of work engagement, pre and post questionnaires about mindfulness completed by each child, and oneon- one discussions with each participant. Results showed an increase in the number of students on task and …


Effects Of Classroom-Based Physical Activities On Off-Task Behaviors And Attention: Kindergarten Case Study, Sara Wiebelhaus, Michelle Fryer Hanson Aug 2016

Effects Of Classroom-Based Physical Activities On Off-Task Behaviors And Attention: Kindergarten Case Study, Sara Wiebelhaus, Michelle Fryer Hanson

The Qualitative Report

The qualitative case study’s purpose was to determine if classroom-based physical activities would affect student off-task behaviors during instruction and students’ perceptions of ability to focus before and after activities. Research questions focused on kindergarteners’ ability to focus after classroom-based physical activity, perceptions of their ability to focus change with implementation of classroom-based physical activity, and effect of classroom-based physical activity on behavior. Kindergarteners were involved in daily activity stations such as jumping on trampolines, walking balance beams, crawling, and hopscotch. Three students were purposively selected as participants. Data were collected using interviews, video recordings, field notes, and off-task behavior …


Teacher Mindfulness In The Middle School Classroom: Reliability And Validity Of A New Scale, Nicolette Paige Rickert Jul 2016

Teacher Mindfulness In The Middle School Classroom: Reliability And Validity Of A New Scale, Nicolette Paige Rickert

Dissertations and Theses

Despite significant growth in research examining the effects of mindfulness interventions on teachers (Roeser, 2014), studies have mainly relied on self-reports of teacher mindfulness and have not examined observable behavioral manifestations of teacher mindfulness in the classroom. Due to possible biases in self-report measures (Dotterer & Lowe, 2011), as well as the need for a greater range of assessments of the effects of mindfulness trainings on teachers, the current study sought to create a new measure of teacher mindfulness in the classroom from three sources of information: teacher self-reports of their own behavior in the classroom, student perceptions of their …


The Moderating Role Of The Home Environment And Parenting Beliefs On The Early Achievement Outcomes Of Children With Difficult Temperaments, Kenji R. Madison May 2016

The Moderating Role Of The Home Environment And Parenting Beliefs On The Early Achievement Outcomes Of Children With Difficult Temperaments, Kenji R. Madison

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

This study examined the relationship of children’s temperamental attention and activity (at 4-and-a-half years old) and proximal processes (parenting beliefs) and home environment in relation to children’s achievement outcomes. Emphasis was placed on the moderating role of the home environment and parenting beliefs on the relationship between children’s temperament (activity and attention level) and their academic achievement. The use of regression analyses specified that children’s activity and attention were associated with achievement in reading and mathematics at 4-and-a-half years and reading, mathematics, and phonics achievement in the 1st grade. Analyses also depicted home environment and parenting as associated with …


Learning From Instructor-Managed And Self-Managed Split-Attention Materials, Chloe Gordon, Sharon Tindall-Ford, Shirley Agostinho, Fred Paas Jan 2016

Learning From Instructor-Managed And Self-Managed Split-Attention Materials, Chloe Gordon, Sharon Tindall-Ford, Shirley Agostinho, Fred Paas

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Summary: Instructor-managed physical integration of mutually dependent, but spatially separated materials, is an effective way to overcome negative effects of split-attention on learning. This study examined whether teaching students to self-manage split-attention materials would be effective for learning. Seventy-eight primary-school students learned about the water cycle, either by studying split-attention examples, integrated examples or self-managed split-attention examples. It was hypothesised that students who study instructor-integrated materials and students who study self-integrated materials would outperform students who study split-attention materials. The results showed that students learned more from instructor-integrated materials than from split-attention materials, thereby confirming the split-attention effect. The implications …


Effect Of Mindfulness Training On Interpretation Exam Performance In Graduate Students In Interpreting, Julie E. Johnson Jan 2016

Effect Of Mindfulness Training On Interpretation Exam Performance In Graduate Students In Interpreting, Julie E. Johnson

Doctoral Dissertations

Many graduate interpreting students struggle because the real-time, interactive nature of interpreting dictates that they be able to regulate their attention across different parallel cognitive activities and manage the inherent stress and unpredictability of the task. Within the framework of Cognitive Load Theory, this mixed-methods study explored the effect of short-term mindfulness training on consecutive interpreting exam performance using a quasi-experimental repeated-measures design. It also examined the relationships among mindfulness, stress, aspects of attention, and interpreting exam performance. The sample included 67 students (age M = 26.9 years; 82% female) across seven language programs (Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Russian, …


Mindfulness-Based Practice In An Elementary Classroom, Lauren M. Coiner Jan 2016

Mindfulness-Based Practice In An Elementary Classroom, Lauren M. Coiner

Masters of Arts in Education Action Research Papers

Abstract The purpose of this research was to teach children how to control and deepen their focus through mindfulness practice. The study integrated a daily practice of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) movements, breathing, and focus training. The six-­‐week study involved fourteen children between the ages of 5 and 9 years from a private school in the Bay Area of California. Data collection included a pre-­‐and post-­‐ assessment for each child, daily observations, and parent observations. Results of the pre-­‐and post-­‐assessments revealed mixed opinions on the connection between deepened focus and mindfulness practice. Observation data showed an overall increase in …


Practical Implications Of Learning From Unsuccessful Retrieval Attempts, Ann C. Rossmiller, James R. Houston Jan 2016

Practical Implications Of Learning From Unsuccessful Retrieval Attempts, Ann C. Rossmiller, James R. Houston

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Recent findings suggest that retesting oneself facilitates better learning than studying alone. Building off previous experiments where correcting participants has significantly increased correctness, the current study furthers our understanding about learning from unsuccessful retrieval attempts by manipulating the frequency of correction. Using a set of 42 associated word pairings, each participant was exposed to two blocks where they would memorize the word pairs. This was followed by two quizzing blocks and a final exam block where participants were asked to write down the associate to the stimulus presented on screen. Frequency of correction was manipulated during the quizzing blocks where …


Empathy And Moral Laziness, Kathie Jenni Jan 2016

Empathy And Moral Laziness, Kathie Jenni

Animal Studies Journal

In The Empathy Exams Leslie Jamison offers an unusual perspective: ‘Empathy isn’t just something that happens to us – a meteor shower of synapses firing across the brain – it’s also a choice we make: to pay attention, to extend ourselves. It’s made of exertion, that dowdier cousin of impulse’ (23). This essay is dedicated to elaborating that crucial observation. A vast amount of recent research concerns empathy – in evolutionary biology, neurobiology, moral psychology, and ethics. I want to extend these investigations by exploring the degree to which individuals can control our empathy: for whom and what we feel …