Educational Administration and Supervision Commons^™

Influences Of Environmental Education Programs On The Participant's Affinity For Nature, Justin Alan Schmillen

Master's Theses

This study was conducted to determine the change, and the factors influencing the change, in the participant’s affinity for nature resulting from an environmental education experience. In addition, this study also examined the change and factors of change in aspects of the participant’s affinity for nature that directly relate to marine and coastal resources and environments. An adapted version of the Affinity for Nature scale, an outcome measuring instrument used by the American Camp Association was used to collect data from participants (n=529) at Rancho El Chorro Outdoor School and Camp Ocean Pines, whose experience included an overnight component and …

Recruitment Initiatives In Higher Education: A Comparison Of Study Abroad And Enrollment Management Procedures, Carla Joy Ruffer

Master's Theses

There is a disparity of minority students' participation in study abroad, and establishing best practices for successful recruitment would assist in closing this gap. This project will look to add research toward reaching such best practices by analyzing the methods of recruiting minority students into higher education study abroad programs. What methods are universities using to recruit minority students into study abroad, and how do these compare to the methods used by enrollment management to recruit minority students into an institution? In order to answer these questions, I will use a qualitative analysis through interviews of study abroad and enrollment …

The Obama Effect And Its Relationship To The Perceptions Of Blacks On Education And Social Mobility, Lydia K. Young

Master's Theses

The educational system in the United States has been characterized as political, a meritocracy (Hurn, 1992), a structure that socializes citizens (Warren, 1996), a system that marginalized those of races marked other or defined as minority by society (Ratvich, 1983; West, 1993; Katz, 1999) and, most importantly for this study, the key to a more equitable society through schooling and personal beliefs and the possibility of lifelong achievement (Anderson, 1988). Our educational system, ever changing and complicated by definition and action, plays a large role in one's perception of the ability of people to achieve social mobility -- especially for …

Attitudes Towards Global Civic-Mindedness And Engagement Before And After Study Abroad: A Study Of Undergraduate Students At International Study Abroad Centers Of An American University, Mousumi Mukherjee

Master's Theses

Mousumi Mukherjee

Loyola University of Chicago

ATTITUDES TOWARDS GLOBAL CIVIC-MINDEDNESS AND ENGAGEMENT BEFORE AND AFTER STUDY ABROAD:

A STUDY OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS AT

INTERNATIONAL STUDY ABROAD CENTERS OF AN AMERICAN UNIVERSITY

In recent years Study Abroad has come from the periphery to the center of Higher Education programs in the U.S. Students from across the world has been studying abroad in the U.S. for decades because of the advanced research and infrastructural facilities here. Compared to the international students studying abroad in the U.S., the number of U.S. students studying abroad has been negligible according to Open Doors data reported …

Recess Policy In Chicago Public Schools: 1855-2006, Laura Ann Wurzburger

Master's Theses

The history of Chicago Public Schools (CPS) recess policy has been marked by long periods of consistency. However, in the last two decades the history of recess policy has changed significantly. Beginning in the mid-19th century, the Board of Education required one to two recess sessions per day in primary or elementary schools. This is in stark contrast to the 1991 policy which eliminated recess entirely for seven years. In 1998 there was another policy shift which is still in effect today. This policy allows individual principals and their local school councils to determine how to allocate their daily schedule. …

Messages Of Nationalism In Mexican And U.S. Textbooks: Implications For The National Identity Of Transnational Students, Danielle Lane Jerdee

Master's Theses

This study uses qualitative content analysis to compare fifth grade social studies textbooks in Mexico and the United States to provide insight on how messages of national identity change as students migrate between school systems. The following research questions will guide the analysis: Given that one of the roles of textbooks is to form a national consciousness through mythmaking, how do messages of national identity conveyed in Mexican and U.S. textbooks conflict? How are the topics of immigration and citizenship presented in each nation's textbooks? In what ways do differences in the accounts of history between Mexico and the United …

Cyberspace And The Defense Of The Revolution: Cuban Bloggers, Civic Participation, And State Discourse, Renee Naomi Timberlake

Master's Theses

In this thesis I address how Cuban bloggers are contesting state sanctioned modes of civic participation and censorship. I begin to address this question with a discussion of the creation and perpetuation of a state sponsored hegemonic discourse, followed by the alternative, counterhegemonic discourses which appear in the blogs of Cuban writers Yoani Sanchez and Claudia Cadelo. The two authors are tapping into the internet, overcoming state imposed, island-wide bans on their websites, and voicing their dissent against and frustration with a government that professes a discourse of solidarity and socialism while enacting a reality of inequality and market-based economics.

Short-Term Study Abroad Programs And The Development Of Intercultural Sensitivity, Barbara Elizabeth Zarnick

Master's Theses

This study focuses on the growing popularity of short-term study abroad programs and aims to determine the impact of such programs on producing intercultural sensitivity. A pre and post-departure survey were administered to undergraduate and graduate students to analyze students' perceptions of their own intercultural sensitivity prior to a short-term study abroad experience and after. This study uses the Intercultural Sensitivity Index developed by Christa Lee Olson and Kent R. Kroger in 2001 to assess the students' levels of intercultural sensitivity. The study reveals that this particular short-term experience had minimal impact on participants' levels of intercultural sensitivity, but illustrates …

Comprehensive U.S. Higher Education Internationalization: Exploring Study Abroad As An Indicator, Candace Brzoska Matta

Master's Theses

Increasing undergraduate study abroad participation is a popular response embraced by both higher education institutions and the U.S. government to internationalize college campuses and to meet the demands of globalization. Yet the nature of the internationalization phenomenon in higher education is much more complex in spite of its ambiguous definition and lackluster theoretical indicators. The purpose of this study was to examine whether one indicator of internationalization, that of study abroad, had any predictive bearing on an institutions' level of comprehensive internationalization. Six institutions were examined--three that consistently held a high study abroad participation percentage or SAPP, and three that …