Educational Psychology Commons^™

A Correlational Analysis Of Test Anxiety And Response Time On A Computerized Adaptive Math Test Among Seventh Grade Students By Gender, Michael Brom

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Studies have shown that test anxiety has become more prevalent since the adoption of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001 and that test anxiety negatively affects student achievement. Early research viewed test anxiety as being a unidimensional construct; however, recent research has purported that test anxiety is a multidimensional construct. Consequently, test anxiety being viewed as multidimensional has changed how test anxiety is measured as evidenced by the development of multidimensional test anxiety measurement scales. Literature indicates that there is a gap in the study of K-12 test anxiety and response time data on assessments. A nonexperimental correlational …

Uninspired Or Disengaged? A Phenomenological Investigation Of Gifted Middle School Students On Probation, Shanna Baker

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Since the implementation of No Child Left Behind in 2001 and high stakes testing, the focus in education has been on low-achieving students resulting in gifted learners being largely ignored. Gifted underachievers are often identified as bored or apathetic. Researchers are beginning to examine gifted students’ motivation and engagement, but there is a lack of research examining why gifted middle school students are uninspired to achieve. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand how gifted middle school students in a Georgia school district and their parents and teachers describe the lack of inspiration to achieve. Within the study, …

The Complex Life Experience Of First-Generation College Students Who Are Working Adults In The Appalachian Region Of The United States: A Phenomenological Study, Deborah Thurman

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

he purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to describe and understand the complexity of life experiences for first-generation college students or recent graduates who are working adults in the Central and South-Central Appalachian region of the United States in light of the construct resilience and how purposefully selected students continued study despite difficulties. In this study, information gathered was synthesized regarding three issues: first-generation students, working adult students, and the influences of Central and South-Central Appalachian regional culture. The theory used to guide this study is resilience as it relates to the educational persistence of working, adult, first-generation college …

A Grounded Theory Study On Building Positive Teacher-Student Relationships In Christian Schools, Joy Stouffer

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this systematic grounded theory study was to understand how teachers and students from open-enrollment Christian schools in Guam and Hawaii described the process of building positive teacher-student relationships. The framework guiding this study was social constructivism and Vygotsky’s (1980), Bruner’s (1997) and Bandura’s (1993) theories on the influence of environmental factors on the perceptions of the teacher-student relationship. The central research question asked how teachers and students described the process of building positive teacher-student relationships in Christian schools. Data collection methods included online surveys, focus groups, and individual interviews. A systematic, grounded theory approach, data analysis, and …

A Phenomenological Study Of Parenting Practices Perceived To Have Fostered Academic Success By Graduates Of Masters And Doctoral Programs, Kira Wilson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological study is to describe the parenting practices experienced by graduates of masters and doctoral programs identified as having fostered their academic success. The research explores the following questions: How do graduates of masters and doctoral programs describe the parenting practices of their parents that they perceive to have fostered academic success; in what ways did participants’ parents’ parenting practices motivate graduates of masters and doctoral programs that fostered their academic success; how do graduates of masters and doctoral programs describe the parent-child communication they perceive to have fostered academic success; and which parenting practice or …

Structural-Symbolic Translation Fluency: Reliability, Validity, And Usability, Matt C. Hoskins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Standardized formative mathematics assessments typically fail to capture the depth of current standards and curricula. Consequently, these assessments demonstrate limited utility for informing the instructional implementation choices of teachers. This problem is particularly salient as it relates to the mathematical problem solving process. The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate the psychometric characteristics of Structural-Symbolic Translation Fluency, a curriculum-based measure (CBM) of mathematical problem solving. The development of the assessment was based on previous research describing the cognitive process of translation (Mayer, 2002) as well as mathematical concept development at the quantitative, structural, and symbolic levels (Dehaene, …

Evaluation Of Positive Behavior Support Systems As It Relates To Teacher Satisfaction, Shawna Lyn Mulford

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine if a significant difference exists among the job satisfaction levels of teachers working at schools in New Jersey with a Positive Behavior Support/School-Wide Positive Behavior Support (PBS/SWPBS) program approved by the New Jersey Positive Behavior Support in Schools (NJPBSIS), when compared to teachers working at schools in New Jersey without a PBS/SWPBS program. In 2012, a dissertation study conducted a survey of teacher morale and job satisfaction, which provided data sets used in this study. The sample data set is comprised of 542 surveys (n=542), with 22 surveys from teachers employed at …

Test Anxiety: Prevalence, Effects, And Interventions For Elementary School Students, Lauren Talbot

James Madison Undergraduate Research Journal (JMURJ)

No abstract provided.

Don’T Keep A Good Man Down: Intervention Strategies For Common Causes Of Anger And Aggression, Samantha N. Wright

Scholars Week

Seclusion and Restraint have been often used as intervention strategies in public schools for many years, and were not limited by law in Kentucky until 2012. 704 KAR 7:160 was the first legislation to respond to dangerous interventions being used in Kentucky’s public schools. This presentation summarizes common causes of anger and aggression in our students, and provides research-based strategies for intervention in all three phases of a behavior: antecedent (prior to the behavior, the escalation of a situation), behavior (during the aggressive behavior itself), and consequences (subsequent actions that occur as a response.) The concept is to provide strategies …

Successful Female Students In Undergraduate Computer Science And Computer Engineering: Motivation, Self-Regulation, And Qualitative Characteristics, Melissa Patterson Hazley

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

Computer Science (CS) and Computer Engineering (CE) fields typically have not been successful at recruiting or retaining women students. Research indicates several reasons for this shortage but mainly from three perspectives: social issues, exposure/prior knowledge and curriculum issues in K-12 settings. This mixed-methods research addresses a gap in the literature by investigating the motivation and self-regulation behaviors of successful female students who are studying computer science and computer engineering. The findings in phase one of this study indicated that learning and performance approach goals predicted adaptive strategic self-regulation behaviors including strategy use, knowledge building and engagement. Learning avoidance goals predicted …

Bullying In Elementary Schools, Matthew Earnhardt, Meline M. Kevorkian, Albert Rodriguez, Tom D. Kennedy, Robin D'Antona, Jia Borror

Publications

The goal of this study was to report key descriptive data from 1,588 third through fifth graders who completed a survey regarding their perceptions of bullying in schools. Key findings were that 40 % of third through fifth graders reported being bullied, while girls reported being victims of bullying more often than boys. When bullying was reported to a school administrator or a parent/guardian, only about 19 % of those bullied reported that bullying stopped completely; 16 % reported that bullying had stopped for a while, and 11 % indicated that bullying never stopped and in some cases got worse. …

Impact Of Community-Based Creative Arts Programs On Youth, Kasey Jacques, John Seipel, Nyairah Abdullah, Trelijah Miller

Undergraduate Research Symposium

The purpose of our study was to reflect on how community-based cultural arts programs have had an impact on academic achievement, academic performance, and self-esteem among youth, aged 13 to 24 years old. Community-based creative arts offer a medium through which youth direct their energy toward achieving positive social, emotional, and academic outcomes (Wright, John, Alaggia, & Sheel, 2006). Our study took an approach known as “Positive Youth Development (PYD).” According to Ersing (2009, page 27), “(PYD) is a promising approach that rejects labeling young people as ‘at risk’ for a host of social, emotional, and behavioral problems and, instead, …

Technology, Games And Learning In An Intermediate Spanish Class, Rosalind Arthur

South East Coastal Conference on Languages & Literatures (SECCLL)

This presentation examines some theories of learning at the tertiary level of education, and tests them in a research activity involving games and learning/knowledge. Two Intermediate Spanish classes are engaged in preliminary research to measure the effectiveness of a simple game (hangman) and technology (Responseware/clickers) as practice and review tools versus traditional methods; in formative assessment.

The presentation will consist of reporting on the Quantitative results focusing on the impact of using games in learning on students in the digital age. Student attitudes based on a qualitative survey administered to the students involved will be included in the report.

Both …

The Adolescent Brain: Leaving Childhood Behind, Lori Desautels

Scholarship and Professional Work – Education

There isn't a more profound scene in the film Inside Out than the death of Bing Bong, Riley’s imaginary friend. As the main character approaches her 12th birthday, her brain is beginning to develop in ways that leave her imagination behind. This is the time when children between the ages of 10 and 14 begin dying to their childhoods to be born into their adolescence.

Tales From The Field: A Phenomenological Study On The Unique Challenges Iraq/Afghanistan Ptsd Veterans Experience While Attending A Community College In Southern California, Nick N. Arman

Dissertations

With the downsizing of U.S. military personnel and increased educational benefits offered by the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill, many Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) veterans will enroll in a community college for education and training opportunities (Vacchi, 2012). A review of literature revealed the majority of OIF/OEF combat veterans in higher education suffered from symptoms consistent with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD; Ackerman, DiRamio, & Garza Mitchell, 2009; American Council on Education, 2009; Cate, 2014). The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand the unique challenges experienced by OIF/OEF veterans diagnosed with PTSD when attending community college …

Optimal Motivation And Cognitive Load For Enhanced Math Performance, Manooch S. Saeedi

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Educational research has a long history of investigating factors that are linked to improved academic performance. Here I examined research on three factors that impact academic performance—working memory (WM), cognitive load, and motivation. Although each of these factors were known to impact academic performance, there were no studies that examined the combined effect of these three factors on performance. The current study attempted to examine the potential connections between these factors, and their collective impact on strategies for learning in the context of math performance. Experiment 1 tested the impact of WM, cognitive load, and motivation for a math task …

Improving Head Start Teachers' Concept Development: Long Term Follow-Up Of A Training Program And Differences In Program Impact, Amanda Kr Lipp

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Children from a low socioeconomic status (SES) home environment are typically exposed to less vocabulary during the first few years of life and experience higher rates of poor school readiness, particularly in emergent literacy skills, when compared to middle-class peers (Bowey, 1995; Hart & Risley, 2003; Whitehurst, 1997). Early childhood education programs designed to expose this group to cognitively challenging utterances have found that low SES children tend to make greater gains in vocabulary development compared to middle-class peers (Justice, Meier, & Walpole, 2005).

Impact Of Assumption Violations On The Accuracy Of Direct Range Restriction Adjustments, Austin J. Hall

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

For decades researchers, analysts, and organizational professionals have utilized correction equations to adjust for the effects of various statistical artifacts. However, every correction method has certain assumptions that must be satisfied to work properly. These assumptions are likely rarely satisfied for range restriction corrections. As a result, these correction methods are used in a manner that can lead to incorrect results.

The current study employed a Monte Carlo design to examine the direct range restriction correction. Analyses were conducted to examine the accuracy of adjustments made with the direct range restriction correction when its assumption of perfect top-down selection was …

Development Of A Questionnaire To Identify Barriers And Facilitators To Academic Careers For Women In Stem, Charles Leonard Bolton Iii

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of this research was to develop a questionnaire to be used to identify barriers and facilitators to women faculty in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) academics. The phenomenon known as the leaky pipeline, a theoretical model describing why women are underrepresented in STEM disciplines, was examined. Women have long been underrepresented in STEM professions despite an increase in the number of women earning STEM degrees, suggesting women are faced with barriers that prevent them from achieving equal representation with men. The literature has identified several potential barriers, both historical and new, such as biological inequalities, family responsibilities, …

Review: 'Living With Brain Injuries: Narrative, Community, And Women’S Renegotiation Of Identity' By J. E. Stewart, Susan C. Davies

Counselor Education and Human Services Faculty Publications

J. E. Stewart’s Living with Brain Injury: Narrative, Community, and Women’s Renegotiation of Identity provides an in-depth look at the experiences of ten women who sustained brain injuries at different points in their lives. Stewart’s qualitative research study highlights the unique and shared experiences of these women. Much of the current brain injury literature focuses on men, particularly combat veterans and athletes. Thus, a book focusing on personal struggles confronted by women with brain injury is both timely and needed.

Stewart’s work acknowledges the lost art of listening that is evident in current research and practice. The result is a …

Motivation Of High School Students In A Startalk Chinese Immersion Program: A Mixed Methods Case Study, Fei Yu

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Theses and Other Student Research

The focus of this dissertation was the development and dynamics of student learning motivation during and beyond a Chinese immersion program.

The need to conduct this study emerged as a result of the rise in popularity of Chinese language study and the increase in Chinese immersion programs in the United States. However, the number of students who continue their studies remains low. This seeming paradox was investigated by examining high school students’ Chinese learning motivation in a STARTALK Chinese immersion program. The investigation was grounded in Gardner’s socio-educational model (2006, 2010) and Dörnyei and Ottó’s process-oriented model of student motivation …

Experiences Of Students With Specific Learning Disorder (Including Adhd) In Online College Degree Programs: A Phenomenological Study, Seleta Bunch

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Enrollment in online degree programs is rapidly expanding due to the convenience and affordability offered to students and improvements in technology. The purpose of this hermeneutical phenomenological study was to understand the shared experiences of students with documented specific learning disorders (including Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder) enrolled in online degree programs at a large, faith-based university in the Southeast United States. Colleges and universities must follow federal mandates as recommended by the Office of Civil Rights for students with documented disabilities in both traditional and online settings. Research is lacking in the area of understanding the experiences of students with specific learning …

Yes, I Can: The Effect Of A College Visit And Online Career Intervention On Eighth-Grade Students’ College And Career Self-Efficacy And College Intent, Karin Glessner

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study examined the effect of a college workshop on the college and career self-efficacy and college intent of eighth grade students in a semi-rural setting. The study aimed to fill the gap in the literature by examining college and career self-efficacy and college intent for middle school students in semi-rural areas in the United States as they move to high school. Two groups of eighth grade students from two middle schools in a school district in West-Central Florida participated in the study. The study used a quasi-experimental, pretest-posttest non-equivalent waitlist control group design. Students in the treatment group participated …

Decision Making Of Maritime Junior Watch Officers: A Phenomenological Study, John Sitka

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The tanker Exxon Valdez and cruise ship Empress of the North were each involved in a major incident involving poor decision making by the junior officer on watch, resulting in the grounding of their vessels. The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological qualitative study was to describe the decision-making process of 15 maritime junior watch officers in a high-resolution simulation in adverse-condition scenarios. Data collection utilized observations, interviews and a self-efficacy assessment. For data analysis I used the constant comparative method applied to the data, developing codes, which were analyzed and reduced to 3 key themes: (a) the Decision-Making Process, (b) …

A Phenomenological Examination Of Students’ Lived Experiences In A Type Ii Alternative School, Joseph Garner

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe lived experiences in a type II alternative school, from the perspective of former students who are now in a correctional facility. Three research questions guided the study: How do former students who are now incarcerated describe their experiences in a type II alternative school? How do former students of a type II alternative school describe their experiences in a correctional facility? How do participants’ lived experiences in the alternative school compare and contrast with their lived experiences in a correctional facility? Data was collected through individual interviews, journaling, and focus group …

The Effects Of Scaling On Trends Of Development: Classical Test Theory And Item Response Theory, Weldon Z. Smith

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

The scale metrics used in educational testing are often arbitrary, and this can impact interpretation of scores on measurements. Both classical test theory sum scores and item response theory estimates measure the same underlying dimension, but differences in the two scales may lead one to be more preferential than the other in interpreting data. Mismatch between individual ability and test difficulty can further result in difficulties in correctly interpreting trends of development in longitudinal data. A previous limited simulation by Embretson (2007) demonstrated that classical test theory sum scores result in misinterpretation of linear trends of development, and that item …

A Grounded Theory Exploration Of Clergy's Counseling Referral Practices In Black Churches, Morgan R. C. Mccain

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

According to the National Institute of Mental Health (2008) nearly one-third of American adults experience a diagnosable mental disorder in any given year. Of those who experience mental illness only one in three will actually seek professional help (Obasi & Leong, 2009). This number becomes even smaller for people of African descent. African Americans are less likely to seek professional help for their personal problems (Cramer, 1999) because of barriers like inadequate health insurance and stigma. However, there are fewer challenges associated with African Americans seeking help from religious leaders (Chiang, Hunter, & Yeh, 2004). By their involvement in different …

Leadership Initiatives: A Mixed Methods Assessment Of Psychological Empowerment, Candice Robbins

All Student Theses and Dissertations

The researcher of the present thesis aimed to determine if, and to what degree, the Women's Leadership Symposium and Student Leadership Institute at a small Midwestern university impacted psychological empowerment among program participants. In this mixed methods thesis on psychological empowerment among Women's Leadership Symposium and Student Leadership Institute participants, psychological empowerment was quantitatively measured two times: (1) before the participation in the Women's Leadership Symposium and Student Leadership Institute and (2) immediately after the Women's Leadership Symposium and Student Leadership Institute. After the measures were administered at Time 2, participants were asked to volunteer their contact information for participation …

Personality Types Of Master Of Science In Project Management Students: A Field Study, Thomas G. Henkel, James W. Marion Jr, Debra T. Bourdeau

Publications

In this research study, students enrolled in a university Master of Science in Project Management degree program were asked to respond to the Big Five personality inventory to ascertain whether their personality traits were in alignment with Big Five Leadership profile proposed by Lussier and Achua (2013) or were ranked similarly with the general population. Additionally, this study sought to explore whether university project management master degree students’ Big Five personalities were aligned with the suggested Big Five profile for project managers. The ranking of the Big Five leadership categories of 172 project management students was compared to rankings in …

Why Do They Stay? A Phenomenological Study On The Lived Experiences Of Teachers Who Persist In Urban K-12 Christian Education, Marie Teodori

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to describe the lived experiences of teachers who persist in urban K-12 Christian education at five Association of Christian Schools International schools located in the United States. The central research question was: What are the lived experiences of teachers who persist in urban K-12 Christian education? Sub-questions explored the source of motivation, role of intrinsic goals, and contextual/environmental supports for teachers who persist in this setting. Methodology utilized a transcendental phenomenological design, purposeful participant sampling, data collection primarily through in-depth interviews and focus groups, and data analysis using Moustakas’ (1994) recommended procedures. …