Liberal Studies Commons^™

Investigating The Impacts Of Facial Gestures On Global Participants’ Perception Of The Speaker, Perception Of The Message, Emotional Responses, And Engagement During Video Conferencing, Hanan Mohammed Alghamdi

Theses and Dissertations

Facial expressions play a crucial role in shaping communication and emotional understanding during virtual interactions. This study investigated how facial expressions influence participants’ perceptions of the speaker, perceptions of the message, emotional responses, and engagement during video conferencing across diverse cultural contexts. A hybrid experimental design was implemented using self-administered questionnaires to collect quantitative data and examine cause-and-effect relationships. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three facial-expression conditions Positive (smiling and joyful), Negative (angry or nervous), or Neutral (expressionless) and viewed speakers representing three ethnic backgrounds: White American, Black American, and Middle Eastern. Using a seven-point semantic differential scale, …

Harmony Or Discord? A Study On The Alignment Between National Objectives And Reformed Social Studies Textbooks In Egypt, Lina Yehia

Theses and Dissertations

Education systems, in many parts of the world, have served as a channel for communicating national goals to students, and Egypt has not been an exception. This study examines how public textbooks effectively align with equipping future generations of Egyptians to fulfill the nation’s development policy goals set for 2030. Utilizing a qualitative research design, this study employed textbook and document analyses of the published national policy goals of the current administration, along with the most recently reformed social studies textbooks of Grades 4, 5, and 6, a product of EDU 2.0. Based on an analysis of national documents, the …

Aguaaaa!!!, Cory Villegas

Theses and Dissertations

“AGUA” is a call for new models of learning and sharing, celebrating the diasporic as a place of global revolution. Salsa, rooted in Latin American and Afro-Caribbean histories, is choreographer Cory Villegas’s expression of cultural legacy. As an Afro-diasporic dance, Salsa carries the wealth and variety of African and Indigenous roots. Villegas contextualizes her thesis event “Las Leyendas: An Afro Cuban Suite,” presenting herself and her troupe Soul Dance Co. as evidence that contradicts the erasure of Latin & Caribbean Culture in US dance history. The paper uses English and Spanish, written, visual, and oral materials with an accompanying webpage.

The Role Of Liberal Arts Education On Academic Choices: The American University In Cairo Case Study, Nourhane Mohamed Kamal El Maraghi

Theses and Dissertations

Providing a qualified higher education is a crucial component of any developmental plan in any country. This paper tackles the issue of educational decisions and will mainly focus on presenting the American University in Cairo (AUC) as a case study. The paper addresses undergraduate college students’ choices of their subjects and fields of study during the first year of university and how liberal arts education influence such decisions. The main aim is to build valuable recommendations to ease the transition of students from high school to universities, help them rationally choose their area of study, facilitate the financial burden on …

“Every Beat You Make Has A Time Of Day Or Color”: How Producers And Rappers Changed The Course Of Sampling Music, Elvin M. Castellanos

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis demonstrates the importance of the producer and artist relationship in hip hop songwriting and sampling, focusing on producers The Alchemist, Madlib, Sounwave, and Terrace Martin, and artists Freddie Gibbs, MF DOOM, Prodigy, and Kendrick Lamar. Topics covered range from sampling lawsuits and their impact on producers and artists in songwriting; what a producer and artist relationship looks like and how they benefit from their relationship; and the quality of music that comes from a close relationship between a producer and artist. I build upon research about the effects of sampling on hip hop by musicologist Amanda Sewell; sampling …

The Nature Of Primary Source Instruction In Social Science Methods Courses, Judith Loraine Bee

Theses and Dissertations

137 Pages

Teachers are the key to shifting the way learning happens in the classroom. However, teachers are not always skilled in inquiry, critical thinking, and historical impact. Teaching with primary sources provides a context from which to educate preservice teachers in these essential skills. This dissertation focuses on the nature of primary source instruction in preparing preservice teachers to teach social sciences at the K-8 level. This qualitative study explores education methods professors’ practices for educating preservice teachers to use primary sources in their classroom instruction. Social Science methods professors in Illinois were observed, interviewed and an analysis of …

The Uses, Understandings, And Values Of Student Strucutral Assisting Metatexts In College First Year Composition Courses, Joseph Ryan Dundovich

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis offers a look into the perceptions, views, and experiences of first-year composition students into being offered a large amount of choice/agency in their major summative writing projects, but also accountability and guidance during their process in the form of resources called ‘structural assisting metatexts’. The major question that guided this study is the following:

- How do first year composition students use, understand, and value forms of structural assisting metatexts during the writing/creation process?

The two parts of the writing process that were specifically researched in conjunction with their correlating metatexts are the topic selection (with the Proposal …

The Magic Of Teaching And Assessing Writ [ Rid ] Ing, Kristina Koehler

Theses and Dissertations

Theories of hermeneutics (Moss) and complementarity (Broad and Boyd) claim that human understandings deepen when inquiries are informed by multiple perspectives. This thesis renders two distinct but related pedagogical enterprises—the teaching of writing and the teaching of horseback riding—reciprocally illuminating and complicating. As a result, the Elbovian “magic” of teaching, assessing, writing, and riding has come to light: the delicate humanity and intimacy of our work in both “communities of practice” (Star). My argument calls teachers to embrace this “magic” in our classrooms by addressing and normalizing fears that both we and our students experience. Doing so is essential to …

Exploring Teacher Candidates’ Civic Efficacy Through Civic Engagement And Critical Literacy In A Literacy Methods Course, Dana M. Karraker

Theses and Dissertations

Public school spaces play a large role in developing people’s understandings of civic knowledge and responsibility. Teachers, administrators, and policy-makers design school curriculum to reflect the types of citizens they believe a society needs, and thus, determines approaches to teaching and curriculum development (Labaree, 1997). This action research study examined the civic efficacy and critical literacy understandings of seven elementary education teacher candidates enrolled in a content area literacy course. The course and the study were designed using a critical literacy and civic efficacy framework as literacy practices are closely connected to the ways in which people are able to …

Does Gender Still Matter? Child Custody Bias In The Illinois Family Court System, Derek K. Ronnfeldt

Theses and Dissertations

Over the last several decades, nearly all of the states have formed task forces to look at the perception of a gender bias within the family court systems as they pertain to child custody. This self-scrutiny has included the attitudes of judges and attorneys within the system and the need of reform of our family courts. This research focused on replicating a study conducted by Dotterweich and McKinney that was completed in 2000 that compiled statistics from four different state task forces in Maryland, Missouri, Texas, and Washington. This research focused on Illinois judges and attorneys, using the same questions …

The Influence Of Perspective Taking And Empathy On Students Using The Cultural Approach To History, Victor M. Salazar

Theses and Dissertations

Challenges to teaching history have precipitated a number of teaching strategies whereby teachers have achieved mixed success. The Cultural Approach to History (CAH) has been shown to be an effective teaching strategy from its inception in the late 1960s. Advances in neuroscience revealing how the brain functions in the learning process have been proven to show that stimulating affect in students during instruction may result in a greater long-term learning outcomes than if students underwent traditional lecture-based instruction. Students using the CAH have the opportunity to take the perspective of others in addition to their engaging cognitive capabilities thus leading …

The Impact Of Singing-Integrated Reading Instruction On The Oral Reading Fluency And Motivation Of Elementary Students In An Out-Of-School Time Program, Yvette M. Moorehead-Carter

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of singing-integrated reading instruction on the oral reading fluency and motivation of elementary students in an after school program. Participants were third graders (n = 29) who attended the singing-integrated oral reading fluency (SI ORF) intervention twice a week for eight weeks. Components of the intervention included teacher-modeling of fluent oral reading, oral support, repeated reading and singing activities from a variety of children’s literature, and individual free-time.

The adapted Elementary Reading Attitude Survey (ERAS; McKenna & Kear, 1990) measured recreational, academic, and composite reading attitudes. The Qualitative Reading …

Interdisciplinary Connections Between Science & Theatre, Jessica N. Dotson

Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

INTERDISCIPLINARY CONNECTIONS BETWEEN SCIENCE & THEATRE

Jessica Nicole Dotson

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Virginia Commonwealth University, 2015.

Major Director: Dr. Noreen C. Barnes, Director of Graduate Studies, Associate Professor of Theatre

In the 1990s, astronomer Peter Usher was searching for new ways to teach his introductory astronomy class at Pennsylvania State University. He began to engage his students by searching for astronomical connections from other disciplines. His focus was turned to the arts, especially the works of William Shakespeare. Usher found, while …

Male And Female Experiences In Science And Mathematics Undergraduate Programs, Amy M. Latta-Won

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the experiences of males and females in science and mathematics undergraduate programs. It emphasizes particularly the undergraduates’ experiences within the STEM fields related to gender and how they negotiate gender by using a phenomenological approach. Ten STEM undergraduates (five males and five females) participated in semi-structured interviews to also examine why they chose to major in a STEM field, understand gender as it impacts their experiences, and identify obstacles that impact their persistence in the completion of their degree. There are more women than men attending colleges and earning degrees. However, men still outnumber women who major …

The Invisible Composition Classroom: The Reciprocity Of Face, Identity, And Politeness, Pennie L. Gray

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the role of face and identity as they arise in a first year composition classroom. Using the illuminating theoretical framework of linguistic politeness theory, new understandings of the social interactions in the composition classroom are unveiled. Specifically, through an analysis of the politeness strategies that students use during the peer review process, it becomes clear that students prefer to temper their critique of others' work rather than openly criticize that work. Additionally, students offer far more positive feedback than their peers' work perhaps merits, minimize the revision work they suggest, and downplay their own authority over each …

Learning To Practice Leadership For Social Justice: An Autoethnography, David S. Martin

Theses and Dissertations

Some students in schools are served well, whereas others are not. Students traditionally marginalized in schools are students of color, students whose native language is not English, students who receive free and reduced-price lunches, and students with an individualized education program. On nearly all measures in all schools, there exists a persistent achievement gap. The role of leadership in schools can be an important piece in addressing the achievement gap. Traditional leadership has focused on managerial skills such as efficiency, charisma, heroism, decisiveness, and confidence. Another form of leadership exists that can serve to lessen or eliminate the achievement gap: …

An Analysis Of The Economic And Social Values Attributed To A Variety Of Occupations As Portrayed In Adolescent Literature, Ethelyn W. Riley

Theses and Dissertations

This study analyzed twenty-two novels of adolescent literature which portray occupations. The purpose of this study was to determine which category of jobs was treated most often and most favorably. The jobs were placed in one of the following categories: professional work, industrial work, housework, hustling work, and counter-cultural work. Each job was then given a prestige rating of 0 to 100. Fourteen of the twenty-two novels focused on professional work, four on industrial work, three on hustling work, one on counter-cultural work, and none on housework.

An Overview Of Registered Family Day Care In Muscogee County, Georgia, Rhoda Boggs

Theses and Dissertations

This research surveyed the characteristics and components of family day care in a southeastern urban area. The subjects consisted of all family day care providers who resided within the county being studied and who were registered with the state's Department of Human Resources. The questionnaire developed by the researcher consists of 20 questions which address the caregivers' personal traits, educational qualifications, and business organization. The responses were compiled, and descriptive statistics were computed in order to provide the composite characteristics and overall range of available family day care in the county. Results show that there are significant differences in the …

Differences In The. Reading And Mathematics Achievement Between Asian American And Non Asian American Children, Linda B. Price

Theses and Dissertations

Explanations for the achievement or overachievement of Asian Americans are often conflicting and subject to debate among researchers. Four major theories for this achievement are explored in the review of literature. One of these theories concerns the idea that Asian American's beliefs are the result of Confucianism and its influence on the lives of Asian Americans. Another theory examines the parent's positive attitude toward education and its influence on achievement. A third theory suggests that Asian American babies are more alert and sensitive at birth. The final theory examined proposes that the Asian American immigration to the United States is …

An Analysis Of Authors, Characters And Dependency Of Women Protagonists In The Short Stories Of Selected Literary Anthologies, Susan E. Hussey

Theses and Dissertations

This research study evaluated textbooks in terms of frequency of female authors, frequency of female protagonists, and frequency of dependency in female protagonists in selected modern American short stories. The study was limited to selections in Scott, Foresman and Company textbooks used in eleventh grade classrooms nationwide for the past twenty-five years. The samples came from four editions beginning with 1963 and ending with the current 1985 edition. The study revealed that there was no meaningful change in any of the researched categories. The findings of the study were reported in the form of synopses, tallies, charts and tables.

An Analysis Of Adolescent Literature In Terms Of Elizabeth Kubler-Ross's Stages Of Dealing With Death, Margaret Ann Cole

Theses and Dissertations

This study is an analysis of twenty young adult novels which contain the theme of death. The purpose of this study was to determine to what extent the characters experienced the five stages of the grieving process. Twenty novels were selected because they contained death as a central theme. The characters in these books were rated according to the extent to which each experienced through feelings or behavioral responses the stages in the process of dealing with death as outlined by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross in her book On Death and Dying. It was determined whether the characters did experience each stage …

Assertiveness As A Characteristic Of Females In Male-Female Relationships In Selected Adolescent Novels From 1967-1976 And 1977-1986, Wanda Hagler

Theses and Dissertations

This descriptive study dealt with the subject of female assertiveness in male-female relationships as portrayed in adolescent novels. The hypotheses were that a more contemporary attitude toward women would be reflected in the past decade's literature for adolescents by featuring women who act more assertively in dating relationships, and that there would be a difference in the behavior of females in the novels published between 1967 - 1976 and those published between 1977 and 1986 with females of the former period assuming a more passive role in male-female relationships. Fifteen representative novels of each period were analyzed, and data were …

Newberry Award Books Of 1950-1959 And 1970-1979; Do They Reflect The Characteristics, Attitudes, And Problems Of Families Of These Periods?, Willie M. Anderson

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine whether Newbery Award books of 1950-59 and those of 1970-79 reflect the characteristics, attitudes, and problems of families of these periods.

Through a detailed analysis of each book, a compilation of data, and a comparison to actual, contemporary conditions, the researcher found that the books analyzed did reflect the society of those periods. The structure of society, and the characteristics, attitudes, and problems of the characters were accurately portrayed in the books of each period.

An Analysis Of The Changing Roles Of Female Characters In Newbery Award-Winning Fiction Since 1964, Connie C. Smith

Theses and Dissertations

Twenty-four novels were selected from the list of Newbery Medal and Honor books because they dealt with contemporary themes and settings. These books have been .analyzed by categorizing each major or supporting adult female character into one of five categories of the "Occupational Prestige Rating Scale'' (Appendix A), based mainly on salary ranges. Major or supporting female characters were categorized by the "Leadership Potential Scale'' (Appendix B), based on leadership qualities described in each of the five groups. Both instruments were developed by the researcher. Two tables of frequency counts indicate the range of major and supporting female characters for …

A Descriptive Survey Of Archaeological Sites Discovered During A 1984 Draw Down Of Lake Harding, Tom J. Meltzer

Theses and Dissertations

During the Fall of 1984, Lake Harding was drawn down thirty-three feet. A number of previously uninvestigated archaeological sites were exposed during this low water period.

Members of the Lower Chattahoochee Archaeological Society carried out a researcher designed survey of the exposed lake bottom. This survey revealed 131 distinct archaeological sites.

Identification of hundreds of artifacts recovered from the exposed sites has allowed this researcher to document evidence as to the presence of six Indian periods, Paleo, Paleotransitional, Archaic, Woodland, Mississippian, and Historic, during the past 10,000 years at Lake Harding.

Each site yielding identifiable artifacts, assignable to a period …

Piagetian Concrete And Formal Cognitive Development And Ninth-Grade Achievement In Physical Science, Dale H. Joiner

Theses and Dissertations

The Purpose of this investigation was to determine if differences in achievement among ninth-grade physical science students are a function of the cognitive level of the physical science curriculum and students' stages of cognitive development.

Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development proposes that all students progress through a series of development stages but not necessarily at the same rate. The final two stages of Piaget's developmental theory are termed concrete and formal respectively and were the focal point of this study.

A series of Piagetian tasks designed to reveal evidence of concrete and formal levels of development were administered to …

The Origins Of Shaw High School, Muscogee County, Georgia 1969-1978, Bob Scarbrough

Theses and Dissertations

Shaw High School is unique among the high schools Columbus. Shaw is the only high school in Columbus to utilize team teaching and open space education. The origins of Shaw High School are narrated within the context of a generation of national experimentation with open space education, and the contributions of key individuals to the school's development are described.

The Relationship Between Environmental Awareness And Academic Achievement In Elementary School Children, Earl T. Leindecker

Theses and Dissertations

One hundred and seventy two sixth grade public school students were surveyed to investigate the possibility of a relationship between the children's perception of the cleanliness of the academic environment and the students' level of academic achievement. Utilizing a Pearson product-moment coefficient, student responses on a researcher-prepared Likert-type scale were correlated with the Normal Curve Equivalency Score for the reading portion of the Stanford Achievement Test. Analysis of the statistical data revealed a negative .139 correlation. The positive directional hypotheses cannot be accepted. However, the null hypothesis must be retained because of the negative .139 correlation at the .05 level …

The Ever Present Past: Thoreau's Perception And Use Of History In Walden, Kathleen Tracy Alonzo Fineran

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this project was to explore Thoreau's historical perspective and to examine how his perception of history is reflected in his major work Walden. Regarding the scope of the project, three dimensions of Thoreau's perception and use of history were treated: his belief in a historical continuity of experience; his belief in historical truth as myth; and his quest for the American past. Regarding the limitations of the project, Thoreau's thought and other works were only drawn upon as they served to provide a context for discussion and no effort was made to reconcile any ambiguities in Thoreau's …

The Image Of Southern Americans In Selected High School Anthologies, Betty Jenkins Aiken

Theses and Dissertations

This study was a descriptive investigation of the allocation of space to Southern writers and of the image of Southern Americans in selected high school anthologies. The materials analyzed were sixteen high school anthologies used in grades nine, ten, and eleven during the 1984-1985 school year by eight high schools operating in a system of approximately 25,000 students in the southern region of the United States. The instrument used to measure allocation of space was a simple mathematical procedure. To measure the directionality of content, frequency counts were used. The results revealed both positive and negative aspects of the textbooks …