Educational Psychology Commons^™

Beyond Rules, Skills And Knowledge : Maritime Education And Training For Optimised Behaviour, Michael Ekow Manuel

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Strength Of Multidimensional Item Response Theory In Exploring Construct Space That Is Multidimensional And Correlated, Steven Gerry Spencer

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation compares the parameter estimates obtained from two item response theory (IRT) models: the 1-PL IRT model and the MC1-PL IRT model. Several scenarios were explored in which both unidimensional and multidimensional item-level and personal-level data were used to generate the item responses. The Monte Carlo simulations mirrored the real-life application of the two correlated dimensions of Necessary Operations and Calculations in the basic mathematics domain. In all scenarios, the MC1-PL IRT model showed greater precision in the recovery of the true underlying item difficulty values and person theta values along each primary dimension as well as along a …

The Clinical Utility Of The Behavior Rating Inventory Of Executive Function (Brief) In The Diagnosis Of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Stephen J. Mccandless

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Current theories hypothesize that deficits in executive :functioning (EF) are responsible for the symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and that specific patterns ofEF deficits may be associated with different subtypes of ADHD. Standard assessment practices for ADHD include behavior rating scales filled out by teachers and parents. The Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) is a behavior rating scale designed to assess dimensions of executive :functioning. This study evaluated the validity and clinical usefulness of the BRIEF in assessing for ADHD in a • clinic-referred sample of children and adolescents. This study also examined the effectiveness of …

Academic Effects Of Looping On Elementary Students, Debra Lynn Jones

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Purpose With the No Child Left Behind legislation, schools are considering nontraditional ways of looking at teaching and learning to determine what is academically the most beneficial for all children. Looping is a two year placement of students with the same teacher. This classroom configuration offers an opportunity for teachers to build a community and develop a trusting long term relationship with students and parents. This study compared the academic achievement of third grade students in looping and non looping classrooms. Research Questions ( 1) Is there a difference in academic achievement as measured by IS TEP between looping and …

Self-Regulated Learning Of Underprepared Students In Online Courses, Leslie A. Stultz

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The growing number of students enrolling at community colleges, the continuing number of underprepared students requiring remedial education, and the increasing number of students interested in the flexibility of online courses were the reasons for this study, which examined not only those demographic variables that research often suggests are related to success, but also the learner characteristic of self-regulation. Participants included 82 first-time freshman enrolled in an online study skills course at a two-year community college. The students' total level of self-regulation and its components of executive processing, cognitive processing, motivation, and environmental control were measured using The Self-Regulated Learning …

From Inference To Reasoning: The Construction Of Rationality, David Moshman

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Inference is elementary and ubiquitous: Cognition always goes beyond the data. Thinking—including problem solving, decision making, judgment, planning, and argumentation—is here defined as the deliberate application and coordination of one’s inferences to serve one’s purposes. Reasoning, in turn, is epistemologically self-constrained thinking in which the application and coordination of inferences is guided by a metacognitive commitment to what are deemed to be justifiable inferential norms. The construction of rationality, in this view, involves increasing consciousness and control of logical and other inferences. This metacognitive conception of rationality begins with logic rather than ending with it, and allows for developmental progress …

Consultation With School Personnel, Susan M. Sheridan, Richard J. Cowan

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Consultation services in school settings is gaining increased recognition in research, training and practice, and is expanding to include a variety of related professionals as consultants (e.g., special educators, counseling psychologists, community psychologists, speech pathologists; Gutkin & Curtis, 1999). There also appears to be a trend in increased consultation between medical professionals (e.g., general physicians, pediatricians, psychiatrists) and school personnel. Whereas the term consultation may have broad meanings across educational, medical, and psychological practice, one common feature is that consultation generally consists of two or more people working together to address concerns regarding a third-party client (Sheridan & Kratochwill, 1991). …

Psychology In The Schools, School Psychology Review, School Psychology Quarterly And Journal Of Educational And Psychological Consultation Editors Collaborate To Chart School Psychology’S Past, Present, And “Futures”, Rik Carl D'Amato, Susan M. Sheridan, Leadelle Phelps, Emilia C. Lopez

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

For the first time in the history of school psychology, four editors of journals with a school psychology readership are collaborating to offer our field extensive coverage of the recently held School Psychology Futures conference and to continue discussion on a variety of topics relevant to the professional practice of school psychology. This introduction briefly describes the special journal issues that will be or have been offered in Psychology in the Schools (PITS), School Psychology Review (SPR), School Psychology Quarterly (SPQ), and Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation (JEPC)on topics related to the conference. This information is provided in an …

Use Of Distance Education By Religions Of The World To Train, Edify, And Educate Adherents, P. Clint Rogers, Scott L. Howell

Faculty Publications

Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist, Baha'i, Jewish, and Christian organizations are all experimenting with distance education for various reasons and to different extents, due to religious, economic, and political factors. Religious institutions worldwide are not only turning to the World Wide Web (WWW) to place information concerning religious beliefs and provide virtual services for their constituents but are also getting more involved in formally educating their members at a distance. This paper will document some of these educational efforts and the reasons behind the expanding use of distance education by several of the major religious institutions for training, edifying, and educating their …

Conscientiousness Is Key: Incentives For Attendance Make Little Difference., Maureen A. Conard

SHU Faculty Publications

"This study examined differences in class attendance at different levels of conscientiousness and incentives (3.5% vs. 6% of course points). Results of a 2 × 2 (Level of Incentives × Level of Conscientiousness) ANOVA indicated a significant main effect for conscientiousness. Conscientiousness accounted for 14% of the variance in attendance, compared to 1% for incentives. Attendance appears to be influenced more by conscientiousness than by incentives."

Overcoming The Limitations Of Learning Objects, David Wiley, Matthew Barclay, Deonne Dawson, Brent Lambert, Laurie Nelson, David Wade, Sandie Waters

Faculty Publications

Note: this is not the final version of the article. There are a number of issues facing those who wish to employ learning objects in the facilitation of learning. There are a number of issues facing those who wish to employ learning objects to facilitate learning. These issues are not, however, inherent in the component-based paradigm. The first section of this paper describes some of the most difficult issues to be resolved. In the second section, we present a model of the use of learning objects that is grounded in a object-based paradigm. In the third section, we describe the …

Home-School Collaboration, Richard J. Cowan, Susan M. Swearer Napolitano, Susan M. Sheridan

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Home-school collaboration is a reciprocal dynamic process that occurs between at least one parent (or guardian) and at least one individual within the school system (e.g., educators, administrators, psychologists) who share in decision making regarding mutually determined goals and solutions related to a student for whom all parties share interest and responsibility. Home-school collaboration may occur at three levels: system (i.e., between the home and school settings), school/classroom, and individual. With all participants (e.g., parents, educators) offering their unique roles and contributions, the collaboration process is guided by the primary emphasis on mutually determined academic and behavioral goals serving as …

The Impact Of Racial Identity Attitudes On The Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy Of African American Undergraduate Students, Tamara A. Johnson

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the relationship between racial identity attitudes and career decision-making self-efficacy. Two hundred and forty-three African American undergraduate students completed a demographic questionnaire, the Cross Racial Identity Scale (Worrell, Vandiver, & Cross, 2000), and the Career Decision-Making SelfEfficacy- Short-Form (Betz and Taylor, 1994). Results from a hierarchial multiple regression revealed a significant negative relationship between career decision-making self-efficacy and pre-encounter self-hatred attitudes, and a significant positive relationship between internalization multiculturalist inclusive attitudes and career decision-making self-efficacy. The other four racial identity attitudes, pre-encounter assimilation, pre-encounter miseducation, immersion-emmersion anti-white, and internalization afrocentricity, were not significant predictors of career decision-making …

The Reliability And Validity Of The Behavior Assessment System For Children In A Rural Setting, Melvin Lee Titus

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Behavior Assessment System for Children (BASC) is a behavior rating scale for children from the ages of two and one-half to eighteen-years-old. The BASC original standardization was not representative of 4- to 6-years-old children, particularly in the rural Midwest. The standardization also did not adequately sample children with speech/language impairments. The present study assessed the BASC's reliability and validity (construct and criterion) in comparison to a current BASC, Achenbach's Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and the Conners' Teacher Rating Scale (CTRS) sample. The current BASC study used a sample of rural, 4- to 6-year-old normally-developing children and children with speech/language …

Frequency Of Mental Health Service Use In School-Based Health Centers: School Performance And Family Characteristics, James William Depetro

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Public schools and community health organizations have created partnerships to provide mental health services to children. One such collaboration has led to the development of School-Based Health Centers (SBHC). SBHC provide mental health services in an attempt to enhance students' development and performance. The research findings regarding SBHC impact on school performance are mixed (Gall, Pagano, Desmond, Perrin, & Murphy, 2000; McCord, Klein, Foy, & Fothergill, 1993; Weist, Proescher, Freedman, Paskewitz, & Flaherty, 1995; Wolk & Kaplan, 1993 ). The purpose of this research study was to determine if the frequency of use of mental health services at SBHC are …

Teaching Mathematics In Multilingual Classrooms, Anjum Halai

Book Chapters / Conference Papers

No abstract provided.

Home-School Collaboration And Bullying: An Ecological Approach To Increase Social Competence In Children And Youth, Susan M. Sheridan, Emily D. Warnes, Shannon Dowd

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Bullying and other forms of violence among children and youth is a prevalent concern among educators, psychologists, and families alike. Families and schools represent the primary systems in children's lives, and schools and homes are their primary learning contexts. These ecological contexts provide important frameworks within which development occurs. Healthy development occurs most seamlessly when there are congruent and consistent messages delivered across contexts, and healthy and constructive relationships among them. The development of meaningful partnerships among these systems on behalf of children and youth is particularly important to produce positive, lasting outcomes. Thus, an optimal focus for interventions aimed …

Ritalin Use In Elementary School Children, Amber Ayres

Honors Capstones

Capstone submitted as a graduation requirement for the BSU Honors Program.

Family-Centered Positive Psychology: Focusing On Strengths To Build Student Success, Susan M. Sheridan, Emily D. Warnes, Richard J. Cowan, Ariadne V. Schemm, Brandy L. Clarke

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Family-centered positive psychology (FCPP) is defined as a framework for working with children and families that promotes strengths and capacity building within individuals and systems, rather than one focusing solely on the resolution of problems or remediation of deficiencies. This approach to family-based services is predicated on the belief that child and family outcomes will be enhanced if members participate in identifying needs, establishing social supports and partnerships, and acquiring new skills and competencies, rather than simply receiving services from professionals. In this article, we present a rationale for FCPP, outline its primary principles, highlight one model for working with …

A Study Investigating Parental Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Of Children With Autism, Kristy Kratz

Theses and Dissertations

This study intended to look at the relationship of obsessive compulsiveness between parents of autistic children and parents of non-autistic children. A screening instrument in the form of a questionnaire was used to screen for traits and characteristics of obsessive compulsive disorder. A sample of 60 adults was used: 34 parents with children with autism and 26 parents of non-autistic children. The sample was further broken down into mothers and fathers of autistic and non-autistic children. Three hypotheses were tested using statistics such as Chi-Square measures. Results indicated that there was no relationship between parents of autistic children and non-autistic …

An Evaluation Of A Character Education Program On Students With Developmental Disabilities, Andrew Disque

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a character education program on students with developmental disabilities. Both the experimental (n=20) and the control (n=14) groups were administered a pre-test during the same week. Following this, a six-week character education program was implemented with the experimental group. A post-test was then administered to both groups. Two hypotheses were generated; primarily, character education would improve post-test scores in the experimental group compared to pre-test scores from within that group and post-test scores from the control group. Secondarily, behavioral data would display a decrease in maladaptive behaviors for the …

The Effects Of Confidence And Intention To Learn On Performance In Reading Comprehension Tests, Anthony John Rosamilia

Theses and Dissertations

The present study was designed to better our understanding of human memory acquisition and recall by investigating what role, if any, confidence plays in tasks of academic performance and attempting to provide construct validity to the concept of intent to learn and its related principles of deep processing, attention to meaning, and elaborative rehearsal. 147 participants, whose confidence was manipulated prior to testing, were placed in one of four groups: High Confidence, Low Confidence, Control, and Spelling (no intent to learn). All participants were asked to read a short story adapted from the WIAT (the Spelling group asked only to …

The Effect Of A Mentoring Program On The Self-Esteem Of First Year, Learning Disabled College Students, Nathanael I. Barnes

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a mentoring program on the self-esteem of first year, learning disabled, college students. A self-esteem assessment was administered prior to the start of the mentoring process. After the students participated in the program for a semester and a half the same self-esteem assessment was given again to determine the change, if any. Also during this time the self-esteem assessment was given to a group of non-learning disabled students in the same manner. The participants attended Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey. The participants varied in socioeconomic, race and major …

The Effects Of An Integrated Whole Language And Phonics-Based Instructional Spelling Program On Student Spelling Ability And Self-Concept, Kimberly B. Biberman

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to create an integrated phonics and whole language approach to teaching spelling to regular education and resource students. The sample included thirty-nine fourth grade students, which were split into an experimental and a control group. Students in the experimental group completed a spelling pretest and ten weeks of instruction implemented by the researchers. The students in the control group also completed a pretest and completed spelling instruction as followed by the required fourth grade curriculum.

After the study was completed, both groups completed a spelling posttest as well as a self-concept scale in relation …

Second Language Acquisition: A Study Of A Constructivist Approach To Teaching Versus A Varied Approach, And Its Effectiveness In A First-Year Spanish Class At The Secondary Level, Christina Di Mento Ferus

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine whether a Constructivist approach to teaching, or a varied approach is most effective in teaching a first-year Spanish class at the secondary level. The sample for this study consisted of 40 high school students enrolled in a Spanish I course. All students were given a pretest at the beginning of the second marking period. The test was developed by the researcher, and covered all the concepts that were to be taught throughout that marking period. One class was instructed using a Constructivist approach to teaching, while the other class received a varied …

Reinforcements As An Intervention In Children With Bipolar Disorder, Rachel Agin

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to test social and token reinforcements as an intervention to help eliminate behavior problems that are common in children with Bipolar Disorder. The subject was a six-year-old Caucasian boy diagnosed as bipolar. The experiment was performed during eight non-consecutive group therapy sessions. It was hypothesized that there would be a significant difference in behavior from the baseline measures as compared to post-reinforcement measures. The hypothesis was proven wrong however, because results show the baseline and post-reinforcement measures were almost identical. It was concluded that although the results were not significant, the data shows there …

Children Of Divorce Versus Children Of Intact Families And Their Adjustment To College, Kimberly Martin

Theses and Dissertations

Children of divorce and children of intact families grow up in very different worlds. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects that being a child of divorce has on later adjustment in college. A sample of 95 undergraduate students were administered the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire. Of the 95 students, 18 reported being from divorced families, two reported parental death, and 75 reported their parents still being married. Results indicated that the age a child experiences their parents divorce can have a significant impact on their later attachment to college and social adjustment to college. More …

An Investigation Of Rowan University Students' Attitudes Toward Homosexuality, Annmarie Panarello

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this investigation was to investigate undergraduate student attitudes toward homosexuality. Between group differences were explored in terms of (a) gender, (b) religious affiliation, and (c) year of study. One hundred and twenty nine Rowan University undergraduate students participated by answering a homophobia scale questionnaire, and a demographic questionnaire. A three-way analysis of variance revealed significant differences in mean scores between men and women, affirming that women scored lower on the homophobia scale than men. No other between group differences were found to be statistically significant. Implications for future research are discussed.

Using Applied Behavior Analysis To Increase Compliance With A Child With Autism, Rachael Simon

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to take an in depth look at ways to modify the specific behavior compliance of a child diagnosed with autism. The subject studied was a two year eleven month year old female who had a diagnosis of severe to moderate autism. Over a five week period, applied behavior analysis, a behavior technique used for individuals with autism, was implemented into her educational programming. Data was collected over this five week period and a one way mixed analysis of variance (ANOVA) was completed in order to see if her compliance rate had increased after using …

Teacher Job Satisfaction And Teacher Burnout As A Product Of Years Of Experience In Teaching, Kristin A. Camilli

Theses and Dissertations

As job satisfaction in adulthood has become an important source of personal fulfillment, research in this area has increased in recent years. Teacher job satisfaction and burnout are among the most important factors contributing to the problem of teacher retention. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether years of teaching experience is a predictive factor of job satisfaction and burnout. The study included 60 participants ranging in teaching experience from 1 year to 44 years. It was hypothesized that teachers who have been in the profession for 1-2 or 3-10 years will be less satisfied and will …