Educational Psychology Commons^™

Rising To The Challenge: Exploring The Transition From Primary To Secondary Education In A Western Australian School, Elizabeth Joan Wenden

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The ‘Rising to the Challenge: Exploring the transition from Primary to Secondary education in a Western Australian School’ study explored the positive predictors of primary to secondary school transition of a cohort of Year 7 students (n=182) at a school in Western Australia. The transition from primary to secondary school is an important process in the lives of adolescents aged around 11-13 years old. It is a challenging and exciting time that coincides with social, emotional, physical and cognitive changes of the adolescent stage of development. Enabling a positive transition to secondary school can give adolescents the support they need …

Procrastination And The College Student: An Analysis On Contributing Factors And Academic Consequences, Jourdan Ford

Education Undergraduate Research

No abstract provided.

The Phenomenon Of Abstract Cognition Among Scholastic Chess Participants: A Case Study, Brent C. Laws

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A qualitative investigation was conducted to explore the phenomenon of abstract cognition among a purposive sample of 5 secondary scholastic chess club participants. The case study enabled the researcher to explore the faculties of abstract cognition among students of contrasting skills and abilities in playing chess. The study also allowed for the consideration of potential visual-spatial, logical, academic, social competency and life benefits of chess play. Through analysis of interviews, chess simulations, blindfold chess play, and narration of chess lines and sequences, the investigator was able to extract meaning and code schemata into a holistic understanding of the phenomenon of …

Teachers' Making Meaning Of Reduced Class Sizes: A Phenomenology, Brenda Ludy Snow

Dissertations

It is every teacher’s dream to have a classroom full of students who come to class each and every day highly motivated to learn. However, in all reality teachers know that this is not always the case. Researchers continue to search for reasonable alternatives to improve students’ learning. As children enter school a good start is imperative if they are to succeed in school, (Achilles & Finn, 2000). Class size reduction is a strong alternative and should be considered as part of a reasonable plan for student learning.

For this qualitative study, I examined and described the experiences of 12 …

Measuring The Effects Of Parental Involvement In Academic And Extracurricular Activities On A Child’S Self-Efficacy, Adele E. Marsh, Brittni James

Education Undergraduate Research

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to see what effect parental involvement in both academic and extracurricular activities had on the academic achievement and self-efficacy of students in a parochial middle school class in eastern Tennessee. The researchers hypothesize that parental involvement has a positive effect on a child’s academic achievement and this study was conducted to provide evidence for this hypothesis. In this study, 39 parents and 16 students from an eighth grade classroom were surveyed. Among other things, the parents were questioned about how important they felt it was to do the following: attend extracurricular activities their …

Chinese Undergraduate Students’ Preference For Chinese Tas And American Tas In The U.S. Context, Ruochen Li

Open Access Theses

This study researches and compares Chinese undergraduate students' (N=70) perceptions of and preferences for American TAs and Chinese TAs, and identifies factors that play significant roles in influencing Chinese students' perceptions and preferences. Multiple independent variables were measured, including age; gender; years at Purdue; years in the U.S.; GPA; overall TOEFL score; experiences with Chinese TAs; effectiveness of Chinese TAs; effectiveness of American TAs; English ability of Chinese TAs; and native speaker preference, ethnic identity, and level of acculturation, among which ethnic identity and level of acculturation are the major variables the current study aims to examine. Preference for Chinese …

Toward A More Perfect Definition Of Learning: Using Biomarkers To Predict And Assess Learning Performance, Samuel J. Hunt

Dissertations

This study seeks to establish groundwork for a new definition of learning based on neurogenesis capable of guiding future educational policy and practice. The purpose of the research was to: (1) produce separate increases in neurogenesis and intelligence, (2) measure the changes in neurogenesis using protein biomarkers, and (3) correlate increases in levels of the protein biomarkers with increases in intelligence. The study employed a randomized pretest-posttest, control/comparison group research design. Thirty-eight fourth- and fifth-grade students with diverse academic needs were divided into three experimental groups: chess, exercise, and combined; with an additional control group. Pre-post measures included intelligence (RSPM) …

Reducing Court-Related Stress Through Court Education: Examining Child Witnesses, Attorneys And Parents, Brittnie Turquoise Watkins

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Court education presents a useful approach to addressing children's stress, anxiety or fear related to testifying. The current study uses a pretest-posttest design to evaluate whether Kids' Court School (KCS), a court education program in Clark County, Nevada, reduces court-related stress in child witnesses. In addition, attorneys' and parents' concerns related to various elements of the child's impending testimony, are evaluated. The measure used to assess stress was the Court-Related Stress Scale (CRSS), a 10-item Likert scale adapted from the Stressfulness of Life Scale. In addition, open-ended questions were posed at the time of posttest. The CRSS was administered to …

Relations Between Teachers’ Motivation And Students’ Motivation: A Self-Determination Theory Perspective, Inok Ahn

Open Access Theses

There is little research that examines impact teachers' motivation on students' motivation due to sparse attention to teachers' motivation. The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the relations between teachers' motivation and students' motivation using self-determination theory. Participants were 697 5th and 6th students and 35 of their teachers in Seoul, South Korea. Students completed the questionnaires for motivation, basic psychological needs, and perceptions of teacher's instructional styles. Teachers also answered questionnaires about their own motivation. Multiple regression analyses were used to analyze the data. Teaching experience was controlled for throughout the analysis process due to its significant …

Promoting Social And Academic Attainment Through Emotional And Social Skills Development, Aiden Carthy, Sinead Mcgilloway

Conference Papers

No abstract provided.

An Evaluation Of Alternative Methods For Online Survey Recruitment: The Equivalency Of Data Collected Through Amazon Mechanical Turk And Second Life To Traditional Undergraduate Student Samples, Elizabeth M. Briones

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

A major proportion of psychological research uses subjects from undergraduate populations. Increasingly, researchers are exploiting the Internet to reach beyond the traditional undergraduate sample. The current study sought to compare data obtained from a conventional undergraduate student sample to data collected via two online survey recruitment platforms: Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) crowdsourcing site and the virtual environment of Second Life (SL). Data obtained via these online recruitment platforms was statistically equivalent to the data obtained from the college sample, based on standardized measures of psychological stress and sleep quality. Additionally, correlations between the sleep and stress measures were not statistically …

Stress Levels In Tenure-Track And Recently Tenured Faculty Members In Selected Institutions Of Higher Education In Northeast Tennessee, Amanda R. Carr

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this quantitative study was to compare the stress, strain, and coping levels between pretenured faculty and recently tenured faculty in institutions of higher education in Northeast Tennessee. Aging faculty population combined with talented people leaving the area is common in rural parts of the United States. There is a need to better understand the occupational factors within the faculty roles in order to better recruit and retain faculty in this region.

Four different institutions of higher education in Northeast Tennessee, producing 92 responses, participated in this study. The Occupational Stress Inventory – Revised (Osipow, 1998) was used …

The Student Augustinian Values Institute: Assessing Its Impact Of Enhancing The Understanding And Experience Of The Augustinian Core Values Of Veritas, Unitas, And Caritas Upon Students In Augustinian Secondary Schools, Stephen M. Curry

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Educational leadership understands the importance of teaching values in its schools and incorporates this philosophy into the school’s symbolic and structural systems. Roman Catholic Church leaders have always endorsed the teaching of values in its schools and this position was sanctioned at its Second Vatican Council (Vatican Council II, 1962-65). One aspect of the Council emphasized the importance of Catholic education as an essential vehicle for proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ. Catholic schools founded and sponsored by religious communities were challenged to reappropriate their founders’ charisms in their educational ministries. The Order of St. Augustine is an example …

Media Portrayal Of Individuals In The Lower Class And Its Effects On Attributions Of Educational Hardships, Krista A. Burke

Communication Studies

This study investigated how media portrayals of individuals in the lower class affect people’s beliefs about educational hardships in lower socioeconomic areas. Specifically, this study looked at the attributions of these hardships to determine if media consumption had an effect on the internality of attributions. It was hypothesized that increased media consumption would be related to an increased tendency toward internal attributions. It was hypothesized that increased media consumption would lead to lower support for policy changes regarding education. A survey was distributed to assess media consumption habits and attitudes toward educational hardships in the lower class. Correlation results yielded …

Adaptations For The Introvert Personality: Perceptions Of Fifth-Grade Students, Briana R. Wever

Education Undergraduate Research

No abstract provided.

An Examination Of The Effectiveness Of The Louisiana Gear Up Program In Promoting Self-Efficacy, Improving Academic Achievement And Increasing Teachers' Aspirations For Their Students, Candi Hill

Doctoral Dissertations

Students are likely to avoid academic pursuits if they lack academic self-efficacy (Bandura, 2000). Furthermore, past poor academic performance contributes to the development of low academic self-efficacy. Students who participate in extracurricular activities, like LA GEAR UP, demonstrate better academic achievement and less risk-taking behaviors than non-participating students (Barber, Stone, & Hunt, 2003). Research supports the notion that LA GEAR UP is an effective way to improve students' academic performance and to reduce the number of disciplinary referrals students receive (Beer, 2009). Additionally, within the academic literature research has demonstrated that teachers' attributions about students are based upon their perceptions …

Toward An Early Start For Head Start Children : Evidence From An Academic-Enriched Literacy Initiative, Haiyan Zhang

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The purpose of this study was to address the question of whether it is developmentally appropriate to expose preschool children to a comprehensive instructional program designed to facilitate the acquisition of early literacy skills. The primary means of addressing this question was to assess the development of emergent literacy skills in four-year-old children enrolled in a literacy-enriched Head Start program for a period of one year, as compared with those of four-year-old children who entered at age three and enrolled in the program for two years. Related questions of special interests are to what extent the three and four-year-old children …

An Engineering Journey: A Transcendental Phenomenological Study Of African-American Engineers' Persistence, Kristy Somerville-Midgette

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This transcendental phenomenological research study examined the perspectives and lived experiences of African-American female engineers related to the factors that led to their persistence to enter, persist through, and remain in the field. The study was guided by four research questions: (a) How do K-12 experiences shape African-American female engineers' decisions to enter the STEM field? (b) What persistence factors motivated African-American female engineers to enter the engineering profession? (c) What are the factors that shape African-American female engineers' persistence to progress through postsecondary engineering programs? (d) How do professional experiences shape African-American female engineers' persistence in the field? Cognitive …

Effects Of A Cross-Age Peer Tutoring Intervention On English Language Oral Reading Fluency In A Belizean Grade School, Marcia Ruth Sytsma

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

A cross-age peer tutoring program was implemented in a small rural school in west central Belize, Central America. All students at the school were native Spanish speakers, and all general instruction was conducted in English. The program was devised to supplement existing reading and language arts instruction at all grade levels. Progress of both tutors and tutees was monitored on a weekly basis using DIBELS Next measures. Twenty-nine students started the program, with complete data available for twenty-one students: seven tutee-tutor pairs, and seven matched students who participated as controls. Three main hypotheses were tested with the present study. These …

Implementation Of Response In Intervention, Samuel T. Johnson

All Master's Theses

Response to Intervention (Rtl) represents an alternative approach to traditional models of assessment and placement of struggling students in the American public education system. While Rtl can be difficult for schools to develop and implement, it offers more sensitive and long-term assessments, as well as, individualized services for all students. Schools may lack the resources and ability to maintain control of educational variables, making high-quality assessment of students and implementation of research ­based interventions a challenge. The purpose of the current study was to survey Washington State school psychologists to investigate, from their perspectives, current practices, beliefs, and demographic characteristics. …

How Students From Non-Dominant Cultures Perceive Their Social And Cultural Experiences In Relation To School Success, Margaret Cooley

Wayne State University Dissertations

This study explores the shared narratives of males who are African American, come from low-income families, struggled with school success, and may have been identified as needing specialized instructional services or having learning disabilities. This study includes three participants' narratives on the obstacles and supports they faced during their high school years and when transitioning beyond. It identifies shared themes of sports, reputation, and instruction, transitioning, and mentoring -- including the relationship between each and how it impacted their school success.

The development of these thematic elements are related to developing networks and resources related to culture values, identities, and …

Effective Learning Strategies For College Students With Asperger's Syndrome, Jamie Susanne Gilbert

All Master's Theses

More and more students with Asperger’s Syndrome (AS) are being accepted into college without having the proper foundation in place to successfully graduate with a Bachelor’s degree. Students with AS need support systems in place to properly prepare them to face the challenges of college. The purpose of this study is to discuss the current research in regards to effective learning strategies that lead to academic success for college students with AS and to further discuss how to implement the learning strategies in higher education institutions. A single-subject study, using both qualitative and quantitative analysis, was performed. It involved one …

Student Motivations For Studying Online: A Qualitative Study, Melanie K. Henry, Julie Ann Pooley, Maryam Omari

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

The availability of online courses has continued to grow over recent years with more students now turning to online offerings. The flexibility offered through online learning is attractive to prospective students with some of the benefits including reduced costs, and the potential to increase and diversify the student body. Online courses provide the advantage of reaching those who may be ‘too busy’ for traditional study, and offer flexibility through anywhere, anytime access. While these benefits may attract prospective learners to the online environment there remains little empirical evidence for the reasons students actually make the decision to study online over …

The Benefits Of Music: An Exploration Of Music In Core-Curriculum Classrooms, Courtney Froehlich

Honors Projects

Inspired by research that establishes the benefits of using music in the teaching and learning of non-music subjects, this creative honors project provides sample lesson plans for music, math, and English teachers in grades K-8 that use musical activities to teach math and English concepts. Sample lesson plans are grouped by subject and grade levels, and underlying concepts of each plan are identified. Part One includes lesson plans that combine and draw connections between music and math concepts; Part Two includes lesson plans that combine and draw connections between music and English concepts. Within each part, plans are designed for …

Dropping Out In Southeast Kansas: Why Students Leave School Early, Garon Kent Wire

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study takes a deeper look into the lived experiences of students in southeast Kansas who have dropped out of high school. As a result, school and community leaders are better informed to create effective strategy, policy, and practice in dropout prevention.

Framed as a phenomenology, data was collected by conducting in-depth, face-to-face interviews with 12 participants and a focus-group interview with four participants. The researcher administered a survey/questionnaire to an additional 15 participants. Utilizing the Streamlined Codes-To-Theory Model (Saldana, 2009); organizational, structural, and elaborative coding techniques were implemented to reduce the data into categories, which led to the …

Enhancing The Academic And Social Learning Of Irish Undergraduates Through Emotional And Social Skills Development., Aiden Carthy, Celesta Mccann, Sinead Mcgilloway, Colm Mcguinness

Articles

This paper considers the potential merits of emotional competency coaching for undergraduate students. We outline the findings from our previous work which showed, for example, that a sample of First Year undergraduate students failed to engage with coaching primarily because it was not a mandatory aspect of the curricula. An analysis of the National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ) - which details the specific learning outcomes that must be achieved by all Irish academic syllabi found that this framework makes scant reference to the development of social and emotional skills. Therefore, a revised working model of the NFQ is proposed, which …

"I Cannot Teach Because I Am Not Smart": Working Class Mothers’ Support For Their Children's Education In Japan, Yoko Yamamoto

2013 New England Association for Asian Studies Conference

Social class is a powerful element which predicts mothers’ support for their children’s academic development in Japan. Middle class mothers tend to hold higher educational expectations, invest in their children’s educational opportunities, and interact with the teachers more frequently than working class mothers (Stevenson & Stigler, 1992; Yamamoto, 2006). While ample evidence shows social class differences in parents’ academic support, few have examined why working class mothers are not as involved in their children’s education as middle class mothers. In order to understand the mechanisms of social class reproduction and mobility, it is critical to investigate the experiences and elements …

Development And Validation Of Pre-Service Teachers' Personal Epistemologies Of Teaching Scale (Pt-Pets), Ji Hyun Yu

Open Access Dissertations

The Internet has changed not only how we conceptualize knowledge, but also how we learn in classroom. Knowledge is not any longer transmitted from experts to non-experts, but is constructed through communication, collaboration, and integration among a network of people. In this context, teachers are expected to facilitate student-centered learning by helping students to construct knowledge through higher-order thinking rather than reproduce a series of facts. Although a growing body of research suggests that teachers' beliefs about the nature of knowledge and the process of knowing, that is personal epistemology, are related to their teaching and their students' learning, little …

Profiles Of Productive Educational Psychologists, Melissa M. Patterson Hazley

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

The present study aims to answer the questions: Who are presently the most productive educational psychologists? How do they accomplish so much? And what advice might they give to young scholars? To identify the most productive educational psychologists, a survey was sent to Division 15 members (educational psychology) of the American Psychological Association. The top four educational psychologists were Patricia Alexander, Richard Mayer, Dale Schunk, and Barry Zimmerman. Using instrumental case study methodology, three broad themes were identified that allow these scholars to be so productive. These included professional influences, time management, research and writing techniques, and time management. The …

Promoting Stem Literacy In 21st Century Education, Emily V. Martin

Honors College Theses

This research paper focuses on the importance of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) Literacy in American Education. Specifically, the research paper focuses on different strategies that can be used to incorporate literacy into the science and math classrooms. There are five different strategies presented for each content area and they were all suggested by a variety of Educational Journals. Along with literacy strategies, there is another part of the research paper that focuses on the importance of innovative experiences in the science and math classrooms that incorporate principles of engineering and technology. The importance of this is not only to …