Education Commons^™

Creating Cultural Competency Curriculum: How Diverse Are Your Jellybeans?, Noah Boggs Riley

Human Development and Family Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

As college enrollment continues to grow and diversity becomes more prominent, it is crucial to recognize the importance of nurturing cultural competence in campus communities. Cultural competence refers to the ability to build relationships with individuals from both similar and diverse backgrounds. In order for students to be successful in their future careers, they must develop knowledge and skills to effectively collaborate with people from different backgrounds. As college students actively engage in conversations about multiculturalism, cultural awareness, and the significance of appropriate accommodations, it is imperative that multicultural education plays a more significant role in college settings. This thesis …

Overcoming Bias In Standardized Testing, Paul Riebe

Culminating Experience Projects

The current state of education is one where student and teacher’s futures are dictated by the outcomes of standardized tests, which are inherently biased against students of color. The purpose of this project is to examine the bias in these tests to determine what exactly these biases are, and train teachers to better prepare their students to overcome these biases. For this project, I chose literature that examined the biases found in standardized testing through a number of different topics such as the effect on teacher attrition, the bias found in standardized testing, educational inequity and the meaning of intelligence. …

Leading Edi Department Level Change, Tannisha L. Lambert

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

Higher education leaders face challenging times amidst persistent calls for actions to address discrimination and bias on their campuses. Critics point to the imbalance of women and racialized persons in faculty positions as evidence of structured inequalities. Increased scrutiny and research into this disparity reveals that there are institutional barriers and structured norms that maintain a status quo, which centralizes some experiences and disregards others. This disparity extends to students and affects their experiences, participation and performance in classrooms. Evidence of inequality on higher education campuses contradicts the established goals and values of these organizations and presents a challenge for …

Development And Initial Evaluation Of A Mental Health Training For Pre-Service Teachers, Alexis M. Sánchez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study aimed to examine the initial pre-service teacher outcomes for a newly developed mental health training (i.e., Training In Mental health for Educators - Pre-service Teachers [TIME-PT]). For the development of the TIME-PT, an expert panel and a focus group with pre-service teachers were conducted to inform of any changes and improvements needed in the content of the training. In the initial evaluation of the TIME-PT, the training’s factors of professional development were considered, including the training’s understanding and feasibility, participants’ willingness to change, their use of school-family collaboration, and their use of external supports. Initial evaluations of participants’ …

Disability, Race, And Origin Intersectionality In The Doctoral Program: Ableism In Higher Education, Theodoto W. Ressa, Scot Danforth

Education Faculty Articles and Research

This paper explores the experiences of a doctoral disabled student at a university to examine how ableist structures in graduate programs affect access to higher education and post-degree outcomes. Guided by the DisCrit framework and autoethnography approach, the article illuminates systems and processes that disadvantage graduate disabled students. Through intersectional analyses of disability, race, and origin, the article makes visible manifestations of disability microaggressions and systemic ableism, racism, and xenophobia. It interrogates the perpetuation and normalization of academic transgressions, including exclusionary practices that degrade and oppress graduate disabled students and hinder them from seeking success. Finally, the argument is made …

Student Perceptions Of Male And Female Instructors In A Post-Secondary Welding Course, S. Kjersti R. Decker

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Agricultural mechanics and welding have traditionally been perceived to be careers reserved for males, yet more females have entered professions using welding such as agricultural education. This research was developed because of the lack of gender research in welding. The purpose of this study was to examine students’ perceptions of learning from a male instructor versus a female instructor in a post-secondary welding course. We examined associations and differences between students’ preference of a male and a female welding instructor as well as individual self-efficacy and perceptions towards using welding technology. The population for this study was undergraduate students and …

Addressing Bias From Faculty Through Implementing Bias Training, Tori A. Henning

Culminating Experience Projects

Research has indicated that college students experience bias from college faculty on a regular bias. However, there is no mandated training for college faculty on the various forms of bias and the impact that it can have on students’ ability to be successful. While bias influences many students, students of color, women, LGBTQ+ students, and students from of different ethnicities and socioeconomic backgrounds experience bias at greater rates than white students. This project explores how the various forms of bias, the training that college faculty receive, student development theory, and how bias impacts students’ success and their sense of belonging …

Needle In A Haystack – Searching For Your New Faculty Colleague, Jeff Bright

Academic Chairpersons Conference Proceedings

The presenter and participants will explore best practices for conducting a search for a new faculty member. Topics covered in the session will include selecting search committee members, recruiting a candidate pool, virtual interviews, scheduling the campus visit, do’s, don’ts, and bias in the screening process.

How Do They See Me? Examining The Experiences Of Faculty In The Context Of Classroom Whiteness Factors, Papia Bawa, Diantha Watts Dr.

Journal of Research Initiatives

Today polarized attitudes and aptitudes have created a subtle but steady paradigm shift in the way equity, diversity, and inclusivity (EDI) issues are seen by stakeholders. As a result, focusing on critical aspects of equity relationships and the fallout from discriminatory attitudes towards marginalized groups has become ever more needed. While diversity issues exist in all societal, professional, and personal realms, its impact within educational institutions is perhaps the most deeply profound. This Hermeneutic Phenomenology study examines the experiences of six higher education faculty who teach predominantly white student classrooms to identify issues and recommendations with respect to their relationship …

Implicit Bias Mask: Humanity In Medical School, Laila Al-Jerdi, Elizabeth Helfrich, Noah Robertson, Sean Williams, Tobin Smith, Nicole Lafrance

Patient Education Projects

No abstract provided.

Implicit Bias Mask: Inner Beauty And Heroic Strength, Madilyn Mason, Jesse Kato, Samaah Saifullah, Brandon Brown, Hasti Nema

Patient Education Projects

No abstract provided.

Implicit Bias Mask: Heart Eyes, Peter Zakaria, Carline Dugue, Ethan Mathew, Lauren Fleckenstein, Katherine Sommers, Alexander Minos

Patient Education Projects

No abstract provided.

Utilizing Markov Chains To Estimate Allele Progression Through Generations, Ronit Gandhi

Honors Theses

All populations display patterns in allele frequencies over time. Some alleles cease to exist, while some grow to become the norm. These frequencies can shift or stay constant based on the conditions the population lives in. If in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, the allele frequencies stay constant. Most populations, however, have bias from environmental factors, sexual preferences, other organisms, etc. We propose a stochastic Markov chain model to study allele progression across generations. In such a model, the allele frequencies in the next generation depend only on the frequencies in the current one.

We use this model to track a recessive allele …

College Students’ Perspectives Of Bias In Their News Consumption Habits, Jolie C. Matthews

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This article builds off prior work on news consumption habits and perception of bias in the news by focusing on college students’ self-generated definitions of bias, and the strategies they employ to guard against how their personal bias potentially affects what news they choose to believe and consume. Through interviews with undergraduate students, findings show that while participants acknowledged they had personal bias to a degree, the majority still defined bias as an external issue imposed on them by others than as an internal issue shaping their thoughts about the sources they consumed. Some students attempted to mitigate any perceived …

Dismantling Institutional Whiteness: Emerging Forms Of Leadership In Higher Education, M. Cristina Alcalde, Mangala Subramaniam

Navigating Careers in Higher Education Series

Dismantling Institutional Whiteness: Emerging Forms of Leadership in Higher Education focuses on the experiences of women of color in leadership roles in higher education. Top roles historically have gone to white men, and leadership has not reflected the range of identities and people who make up higher education. Why? And why does this problem continue to this day? Most importantly, what can be done to bring about meaningful change?

Dismantling Institutional Whiteness gathers a range of first-person narratives from women of color and examines the challenges they face not only at a systemic level, but also at a deeply personal …

Uneasy Is The Head That Imagines The Burden, Michael Adelson

Richard T. Schellhase Essay Prize in Ethics

This paper deconstructs and criticizes the very notion of “an obligation to help humanity.” I argue that such an idea of an obligation is an evolution of the ideas that emerged in the 19^th century regarding the “white man’s burden.” Referencing historical allusions to the 19^th and 20^th century European ideas of the white man’s burden, the concept of a greater obligation to help others can be demeaning and self-aggrandizing, creating a modern, updated “new white man’s burden.” As dispositively confirmed through my own anecdotal experiences in higher education, an obligation to help humanity, specifically non-white peoples, …

Information Literacy In The Covid 19 Pandemic/Post Pandemic Era: Student And Faculty Perspectives, Laura Zucca-Scott, Julia Suchan

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

This phenomenological study focused on the perspectives and experiences of students and faculty as they engaged in a dialogue on the importance of information literacy and its relevance in today’s world. As a team of a graduate faculty member and a graduate student assistant, we interviewed students about their views on information literacy and its application to scholarly and everyday activities.

The purpose of our project was to investigate the needs and wants of students. With the COVID 19 Pandemic, we witnessed a profound transformation in education and a sharp increase in remote learning. Students expressed mixed feelings about the …

The Mitigation Of In-Group And Outgroup Biases: Understanding The Perceptions Of Educators On The Contact Approach Theory, Brigitte Blazys

Dissertations

The contact approach theory was introduced in the 1950s, by Allport, as a method to mitigate biases. Since then, many DEI practitioners in the United States have formed alliances to create a social justice movement to combat racism, prejudice, and biases in our society. Nevertheless, little research has been conducted in the contact approach theory as these biases, initially observed as in-group and outgroup biases, originate in the early years of life. To begin to fill this gap in the literature, the purpose of this study was to better understand and identify to what extent, if any, prekindergarten through third …

Impact Of Stigma On Students With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: Implications For School-Based Occupational Therapists, Sidney M. Mcreynolds Mrs.

Occupational Therapy Capstone Presentations

This study used the Attention/Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Stigma Questionnaire (ASQ) and the ADHD Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (ADHD-IRAP) among school-based professionals, including occupational therapists. 24 occupational therapists and 23 other school professionals completed demographic questions and the ASQ. 22 completed scores were used for the ADHD-IRAP results. Other school professionals (36.17%) reported having experience with children with ADHD outside of their professional capacity more than occupational therapists (23.40%) which was marginally significant (F (0.96, 10.78) = [11.75], p = .051). On the ASQ subscales, there was a significant difference between groups for Self-Image (F (2.55,10.05) = [11.42], p = .002), …

Investigating The Relationship Between Negative Selection Into Online Schooling And Achievement Growth, James D. Paul, Jay P. Greene

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

Program evaluations that measure the effects of online charter schools on student achievement will be biased if they fail to account for unobserved differences between online students and students in the comparison group. There are theoretical and empirical reasons to believe that students who enroll in online schools disproportionately face challenges that are not accounted for in administrative data. This paper investigates some of the negative factors that motivate parents to enroll in online schools. We combine data from an online charter school survey—that asked why parents decided to enroll in online schooling—with three years of achievement and demographic data. …

Reducing Implicit Bias: Evaluating Cultural Humility And Mindfulness Practices In The Perinatal Microsystem, Charlene Johnson

Master's Projects and Capstones

Problem: In one perinatal microsystem, an assessment revealed 49 reported events that alleged perceived bias occurred over a one-year period. This project aims to address implicit bias and educational solutions to improve communication and create a culture of humility and equity.

Context: The setting was an urban hospital within a large non-profit healthcare organization. The improvement team included registered nurse champions, obstetrical technicians, midwives, physicians, managers, and an educator.

Intervention: A virtual interactive education session for a multidisciplinary volunteer group (n=18) was introduced followed by five weekly follow-up discussions. The education focused on translating the cultural humility …

Using Dyadic Observation To Explore Equitable Learning Opportunities In Classroom Instruction, Alyson L. Lavigne, Thomas L. Good

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

Because of poverty, many children do not receive adequate prenatal care, nutrition, or early childhood education. These inequities combine to ensure that many students enter school with considerably less academic content knowledge and skills for learning than their peers. Teachers and schools did not create these gaps, but they must address them. The impact of schools in reducing gaps has been explored for decades only to yield inconsistent findings. One possible reason for these contradictory results is because these studies ignore classroom process. We argue for the inclusion of process in research on opportunity and achievement gaps to better articulate …

Gender Bias In The Classroom: An In-Service To Create Change, David Schmidt

Culminating Experience Projects

Female students are not often treated the same way as male students in the elementary classroom. Teachers bring their gender bias into their daily practices and unknowingly encourage male student towards STEM subjects and female students away from STEM subjects. This results in a gender gap in STEM careers. This project aims to combat gender bias by holding an in-service. Research supports the idea that once bias has been addressed in individuals, they are less likely to hold on to their bias. Participants will take a test to discover their bias, be presented with relevant research, read an article on …

Gender Stereotyping In The Eyes Of Preschool Teachers And Teacher Candidates, Aysun Dogutas

University of South Florida (USF) M3 Publishing

The purpose of this study was to discover what male preschool teachers and preschool teacher candidates face in the field of early childhood education. It was a qualitative study involving interviews with 10 volunteers: Five were preschool teachers and five were preschool teacher candidates. Four main themes emerged from the results: responses of participants’ parents, difficulties at the university, difficulties in the profession, and prejudices of children's parents. The results of the study also showed the following: (a) Teachers faced gender stereotypes, and teacher candidates believed they would eventually face them; and (b) if male teacher candidates could not perform …

Literature That Breaks Gender Stereotypes In A Primary Classroom, Alexis Wash

Education Masters Papers

How can literature that breaks gender stereotypes impact attitudes, interests, and interaction in a primary classroom? This action research was conducted in the researcher’s classroom with 16 first grade participants. The researcher observed participants’ disengagement towards literature that is traditionally stereotyped towards the opposite gender. This research was done to further understand how literature that breaks gender stereotypes can impact participants’ attitudes and interests towards traditional gender stereotypes with occupations, toys, colors, interaction, sports, and literature. A focus group of participants were exposed to several storybooks that broke gender stereotypes over the course of four weeks. Data collected suggests that …

The Effects Of Question Difficulty Order On Metacognitive Judgments During An Online Test, Wei-Chieh Fang

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Three experiments were conducted to examine the effects of question difficulty order on people’s judgments of test performance and test experiences. Building on the finding that ordering questions from easy to hard often leads to overconfidence (i.e., a retrospective bias), the study aimed to examine the generality and robustness of this effect by having participants from a diverse population take an online test and then make a post-test judgement of their performance. In addition to using the same ascending and descending order of difficulty as prior research, the study also explored how the U-shaped order (e.g., easy-hard-easy) and report option …

Everyone Matters: Eliminating Dehumanizing Practices In Physical Education, Brian Culp

Faculty and Research Publications

Recently, discussions regarding how to create a positive school climate where all can be successful has come to the forefront. Healthy schools support student learning, well-being, time, space to be active, and opportunities for social and emotional growth. However, a host of numerous trends suggest that the school climate is becoming increasingly hostile towards students who are from immigrant, LBGTQ, and ethnic minority groups. What is often seen as disrespectful behavior toward these students is in fact actions that can be more accurately defined as dehumanization. This article overviews the practice of dehumanization, the implications for learning, and introduces proactive …

Molecular Genetic Modifications In The Human Genome: Racial Discrimination As A Biological Stressor, Nicolette Dobson

UReCA: The NCHC Journal of Undergraduate Research & Creative Activity

Research titled Molecular Genetic Modifications in the Human Genome: Racial Discrimination as a Biological Stressor by Nicolette Dobson in UReCA: The NCHC Undergraduate Journal of Research and Creative Activity, 2021, pages 1-24.

Abstract

Racial discrimination enhances group separation and places individuals into stereotypical categories based on race and other factors (e.g. gender, behavior, etc.). As seen in studies on physiological diseases and psychological disorders, minority groups (e.g. African Americans) face cellular senescence at an increased risk due to health-related comorbidities and prevalent experiences of racism. This review provides an analysis of modifications within the human genome that may lead to …

Integrated Threat Theory: Immigration Perspectives And Teachers’ Attitudes, Doe Adelfa Suzanne Hain-Jamall

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Using integrated threat theory as a theoretical framework, this multiple case study analyzed the effects of threat and the perception of threat from immigrants on the attitudes of teachers toward their elementary school students. The study was conducted with teachers at five northern California schools. All of the teachers were experienced and well-trained, teaching in low-income neighborhoods with large immigrant populations.

In support of integrated threat theory’s premise, results indicated that where threat was present or perceived, teachers’ words and reported teaching behavior indicated prejudicial attitudes toward students. The lack of threat corresponded to a lack of bias.

It was …

Prejudice And Participation - An Investigation Into Challenges Surrounding Access To Early Childhood Care And Education For Children From The Traveller Community In Ireland, Denise Baker

Theses

Travellers are a distinct cultural group, gaining ethnicity in March 2017 but who have traditionally experienced educational disadvantage (Pavee Point, 2018). This study examines the challenges that Traveller children encounter in accessing the Early Childhood Care and Education scheme (DCYA, 2019) in Ireland. Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) is widely acknowledged as having a positive impact on children’s holistic development, school success and later outcomes (Boyce et al, 2018; OECD, 2018, NCCA, 2009). This study is underpinned by the bio-ecological systems theory (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2007), which considers the child as a construct of their immediate surroundings and the …