Holistic Education Commons^™

Correcting And Connecting Character Formation, Dane C. Joseph

Essays in Education

This essay details some assumptions that the author, through his lived experience working in higher education character formation and assessment, has identified as being potentially problematic to institutional endeavors to form character. These assumptions are framed using theoretical perspectives from within the behavioral and social sciences. A few solutions are offered, with the main one being to reframe formation from passive, single events to an activity navigated responsibly by and with all stakeholders, as well as to assess formation via everyday lived experiences both within and outside the classroom.

Being Compassionate Helps Improve College Students’ Perceived Well-Being. The Mediating Role Of Cognitive Flexibility And Perceived Anxiety, Saurabh Singh, Sarath Nonis

AMTP Proceedings 2026

Perceived well-being of college students is crucial to the success of students and institutions of higher education alike. Through this study we assert that promoting compassion among college students can improve their perceived well-being. Furthermore, the effect is mediated by cognitive flexibility and anxiety felt by students. The study has theoretical and managerial implications. The results can guide educators and university personnel to better craft curriculum and university communication.

Assessing School Readiness For Social And Emotional Learning: A Study Of School Leadership Perceptions And Attitudes, Nahla Elharati

Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the integration of social and emotional learning (SEL) in a number of British schools across Egypt, focusing on how school leaders defined and perceived its importance in student development. Through in-depth interviews with twelve school leaders, this study found that school leaders’ definitions of SEL emphasized self- awareness, self-regulation, and relationship-building, alongside a strong focus on the real-life applicability of SEL both within school settings and in students’ future lives. School leaders also expressed positive attitudes toward the benefits of SEL, particularly its role in enhancing academic performance, promoting student well-being, improving peer relationships, and reducing bullying, …

Teaching For Meaning: Life, Death, Self And Purpose, Stephen Diromualdo

West Chester University Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Final Projects

Teaching for Meaning is fundamentally a paper about the need for a philosophical shift in current educational goals. The current institution of public education relies on “job training skills” and ideas of “global competitiveness” as its most important outcomes. This thesis argues that not only are these goals insufficient but actually detrimental to human development. The thesis seeks a method to shift to a more humanistic approach of education through the inclusion of several potential methods. Those methods include the implementation of democratic schooling, youth participatory action research and death studies.  In order to establish those methods the thesis the …

Implementing Restorative Practices For Girls In Elementary School Classrooms: A Participatory Action Research Approach, Mellissa Douglas

Dissertations of Practice

This participatory action research study examined how varying approaches to implementing restorative practices, together with teacher collaboration and influence, support resilience, enhance communication, establish healthy boundaries, encourage accountability, and build confidence among elementary school girls ages 8–10. Two third-grade teachers, three fourth-grade teachers, and three fifth-grade teachers in a midwestern elementary school implemented restorative practices through proactive circles or conferences over the course of forty school days. The eight teacher participants recorded the implementation of restorative practices in an action research journal, field notes, and photographs, and they collaborated to discuss strengths, areas in need of support, and next steps. …

Paradigm Pivot: Envisioning A New Education System To Cultivate An Era Of Human Intelligence, Heather J. Leslie Phd

Learning Design Center: Staff Scholarship

This think piece proposes a new paradigm for the education system that moves towards more humane practices and away from more mechanistic, standardized practices in order to cultivate intrinsic motivation, authenticity, and the capacity for each person to develop their unique human abilities in the era of artificial intelligence.

9th Gsep Research Symposium - 2025

GSEP Research Symposium

The Ninth Annual GSEP Research Symposium, themed "Building Bridges to Elevate Humanity: Innovations and Insights in Education and Psychology", was hosted by the Pepperdine University Graduate School of Education and Psychology (GSEP) on June 19–20, 2025, at the historic Château d’Hauteville in Switzerland and virtually via Zoom.

This hybrid symposium convened a vibrant global community of students, alumni, faculty, and scholars to share research that addresses real-world challenges, advances scholarly inquiry, and builds pathways for inclusive collaboration and leadership. Spanning a wide array of topics—from artificial intelligence and mental health to trauma-informed practices, educational equity, social justice, and cross-cultural leadership—the …

"Chatgpt Told Me To Say It": Ai Chatbots And Class Participation Apprehension In University Students, Daisuke Akiba

Publications and Research

The growing prevalence of AI chatbots in everyday life has prompted educators to explore their potential applications in promoting student success, including support for classroom engagement and communication. This exploratory study emerged from semester-long observations of class participation apprehensions in an introductory educational psychology course, examining how chatbots might scaffold students toward active and independent classroom contribution. Four students experiencing situational participation anxiety voluntarily participated in a pilot intervention using AI chatbots as virtual peer partners. Following comprehensive training in AI use and prompt design given to the entire class, participants employed systematic consultation frameworks for managing classroom discourse trepidations. …

Arts-Based Sustainability: From New York To Malawi, Martha B. Lerski

Publications and Research

Recognizing that libraries serve multiple constituencies and subject areas, this chapter documents and advocates for development of transdisciplinary arts-based research (ABR) and culture-related projects linked to environmental challenges. Libraries contribute collections and spaces, as well as the research of library and information scientists. Libraries are currently among invisible contributors to sustainability planning and services. The chapter will link this invisibility to the value of what visual arts refer to as negative space elements in subjects ranging from traditional ecological knowledge to environmental science. Library collections, projects, and research contribute to education for sustainable development (ESD) as required to achieve the …

Daily Creative Practice: A Path To Well-Being For Self + Society, Ellie Cashman

Masters Theses

Daily creative practice is a proven way to promote health and happiness, and to counteract what many are currently calling a global crisis in mental health.

There has perhaps never been a better time to be creative. Our collective healing and future human flourishing depend on it.

The author’s life and teaching experiences are explored, in the context of human history, (social) psychology and the challenges of contemporary culture.

Finally, the author offers a preview of a curriculum for Daily Creative Practice that will be further developed and implemented in Fall 2025, thanks to a grant from RISD’s Graduate Commons. …

Breaking The Pipeline: Exploring Exclusionary Discipline, Restorative Justice, And The Attitudes And Beliefs Of Educators, Ericka J. Varnedoe

Honors College Theses

This study explores the connection between exclusionary disciplinary practices and the school-to-prison pipeline. It highlights how exclusionary discipline, including suspensions and expulsions, disproportionately affects marginalized groups such as students of color, students with disabilities, and LGBTQ youth, further contributing to the school-to-prison pipeline. In contrast, restorative justice, a non-punitive approach, offers a promising alternative. Initially adopted from the criminal justice system, restorative justice has been integrated into school environments to foster positive school climates, improve experiences, and mitigate challenging behaviors. This research examines educators' attitudes toward both exclusionary and restorative practices, as well as their awareness and implementation of restorative …

Supporting Elementary Educators Through A Nervous System Regulation And Social-Emotional Learning Skills Workshop Intervention: An Musc Capstone Project, Lily Morgan

Entry-Level Occupational Therapy Doctorate - Doctoral Capstone Symposium

Teachers have a great influence on developing children’s emotional intelligence, regulatory capacity, and occupational engagement. These professionals also happen to report some of the highest rates of stress, mental health challenges (Agyapong, B. et al, 2022), and burnout (Xie, M., et al, 2022). Providing teachers with education and support on nervous system regulation, social-emotional learning skills, and related topics can improve their ability to manage job stress, enhance modeling and interactions with students, and improve their quality of life. This project aimed to enhance knowledge, provide access to resources, and serve to support elementary educators at an inner-city school in …

Teaching Social Marketing Concepts Through Prosocial Behavior Lenses, Bela Florenthal

Atlantic Marketing Journal

This study investigates the educational value of a prosocial project embedded in a college-level marketing course. Framed through a humanistic and holistic lens, the initiative integrated acts of kindness (AOKs) to engage students in real-world application of social marketing concepts. Using a mixed-methods approach, data were collected through student reflections and surveys, revealing high levels of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral engagement. Students developed empathy, compassion, and self-awareness, reinforcing the importance of integrating experiential learning into business education. The project also addressed AACSB’s emphasis on societal impact and aligned with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals by promoting emotional well-being and civic …

Explorations Of Social-Emotional Learning In The Arts, Lydia Boyer

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The purpose of this Honors Research Project was to explore social-emotional learning as a practice, to find effective applications for schools, to highlight the connections between the arts and social-emotional learning, and to provide useful methods for the actual implementation. There is a focus on the five main competencies of social-emotional learning which are self- awareness, social-awareness, self-management, relationship-building, and responsible decision- making skills which are translated into various class practices and art projects. Social-emotional learning is a mindset rather than merely a practice and has been practiced latently in education. Art education and social-emotional learning share congruencies in standards, …

The Refractive Thinker® Vol. Xxiv Mental Health: Chapter 9: Triage For Mental Health: Faculty’S Role And Assessment, Cheryl Lentz, Dr. Karen Balcanoff, Dr. Cherri Brown

Publications

The public knows about the importance of triage in the hospital emergency setting, but few are aware of this term in institutions of higher learning. Triage is simply matching students with priority order of resources most needed (Merriam Webster, 2023). Faculty can be the first line of defense or first responders in the classroom to provide students the help they need before escalation ensues. The focus of this article was to review the need for additional faculty training to ensure professors are part of students’ “network of care” (Sarraf, 2021). Disruptive student behavior is easy to detect in the classroom …

Adaptations And Transformations: Perceptions Of Change In Academic Motivation, Resilience, And Covid-19 Stress, Ella V. Gregorio

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Of concern to educators, post-COVID-19 assessments have revealed significant achievement gaps in student performance, as well as significant decreases in adolescent mental health. Less is known about changes in achievement motivation. Here we ask how students perceive their own motivation and whether it changed between “before” the pandemic to the present (Fall 2022 - Spring 2023), about three years after the beginning of the pandemic when many school routines were returning to “normal.” To understand how variance in these perceived changes might be related to pandemic-related stressors, trait resilience, and current mental health, we conducted a large survey study (N …

Teacher Beliefs And Experiences Addressing Healthy Racial And Ethnic Identity Instructionally Through Social Emotional Learning, Juliana Gutierrez

Theses and Dissertations

Children and youth develop within an ecological context that includes family, peers, and broader social environments including school. Children’s understanding of their ethnic or racial group and the meaning they attribute to belonging in that group is also shaped by interactions in their school environment. Most research on school-based social-emotional learning (SEL) programs has focused on student behavioral and academic outcomes. However, as SEL spreads across U.S. K-12 schools, questions have emerged surrounding how children from diverse racial and cultural groups and unequal opportunity can benefit from universal SEL programs. Using a mixed-methods design, this study explores teachers’ understanding and …

Trauma-Informed Teaching Perspectives Of Arts And Non-Arts Educators: A Mixed Methods Study For Transformational Change, Annie C. Shrawder

Education Doctorate Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to understand and answer the overarching research question: To what extent are PA educators prepared to recognize and respond to students impacted by trauma and Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)? This question is investigated using a mixed methods action research design on the preparedness of k-12 arts and non-arts educators within one school district. This study unpacks the level of preparedness of educators teaching students with trauma and adverse childhood experiences. The data analysis provided perspectives of non-arts teachers and arts teachers in one school district. Additionally, academic research revealed that the arts positively counteract …

Interprofessional Community Schools, Shauna Curran, Morgan Bassett, Belle Betit, Kelly Couch, Allie Hegarty, Katelynn Leblanc

CAIEP Spring Showcase 2024

This presentation details the key components of community schools and their importance to community members and students alike. Comprised of four primary pillars, these schools focus on expanding learning opportunities, bringing in a variety of student supports, serving families collectively, while emphasizing the collaborative element of leadership. Community schools serve as an integration point of various elements of a community to come together in order to produce maximum benefits for all.

Transformative Visions Of Qualitative Inquiry: Performative, Philosophical, And Artistic Transformations, Niroj Dahal

The Qualitative Report

I am writing this review, Transformative Visions for Qualitative Inquiry, considering performative, philosophical, and artistic transformations as an essential reading for faculty and students—novice and veteran. It inspires readers, writers, and novice and veteran researchers in various social sciences disciplines and educational landscapes to envision innovative approaches to healing from crises like the COVID-19 pandemic and/or earthquakes. These processes encourage resisting, recovering, connecting, finding joy, and embracing life. Likewise, Transformative Visions for Qualitative Inquiry centers on the concept of transformation and its potential for the future of qualitative research amidst a world grappling with the multifaceted implications of COVID-19, …

The Finnish Line: An International Teacher Exchange Program, Anthony Marano

West Chester University Master’s Theses

This delve into the educational landscape of the United States and Finland uncovers areas of potential growth in the United States with the incorporation of the Finnish Model. By examining first hand experiences inside the Finnish education system, this study proposes a program that could bring international developments in academics, and overall happiness into our domestic education system. First will be presented the position and philosophy from which this thesis will be approached. This will help to prove relevance when viewed through this specific and critical lens. Next, will be a brief historical overview of the systems in question and …

Embracing Uncertainty: A Narrative Case Study On Teacher-Learner Relationships Through Restorative Justice Practices In Education, Zachary Schafer, Guy Trainin

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

Restorative justice practices in educational settings recognising trauma and extreme life circumstances have become increasingly relevant since the COVID-19 pandemic and the growing impacts of climate change. This narrative inquiry uses Clandinin and Connelly’s suggestions for data collection and narrative structure to describe the interactions between one teacher and one learner over the course of two years in a programme created as an alternative to school suspension. Using a dual framework combining a variety of perspectives from restorative justice practices and Chen’s model of uncertainty management in science education, the researchers iteratively and thematically analysed the teacher-learner interactions. The storied …

Education And The Epistemological Crisis In The Age Of Chatgpt, Casandra Silva Sibilin

Publications and Research

The emergence of ChatGPT and its ability to imitate student work has precipitated a crisis in education. Responses range from practical efforts to detect or prevent ChatGPT use to existential reflection about learning and assessment. However, the crisis is also epistemological, with educators struggling to determine what students know and fearing that student knowledge is diminishing. The educational philosophies of Socrates, Dewey, and Freire suggest that recognition of ignorance of different kinds (inquisitive, predictive, and practical)on the part of educators is uncomfortable but essential for improving the aims and methods of education. In this way, ChatGPT and the philosophy of …

Book Review It Takes An Ecosystem: Understanding The People, Places, And Possibilities Of Learning And Development Across Settings, Denise Montgomery

Journal of Youth Development

It Takes an Ecosystem: Understanding the People, Places, and Possibilities of Learning and Development Across Settings, edited by Thomas Akiva and Kimberly H. Robinson, is a call to take a holistic and dynamic ecosystem approach to thinking about, designing, developing, and investing in the allied youth fields to more equitably and effectively support young people’s learning and development. Published in 2022, the volume outlines a vision for out-of-school time programs and systems, schools, community-based organizations, and the public sector to move beyond focusing separately on individual systems to a learning and development ecosystem approach that more accurately and inclusively reflects …

Impact Of Social Emotional Learning On Exclusionary Discipline, Joanna T. Carrillo Rowley

Education Theses and Dissertations

A middle school campus in a Southeast urban community used a Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) Cycle, an inquiry method in improvement science, to address high exclusionary discipline rates by implementing Social Emotional Learning (SEL) strategies and Restorative Practices (RP) to transform school culture. A reform to a comprehensive discipline program was developed to minimize the amount of exclusionary discipline outcomes (in-school suspension [ISS], out-of- school suspension [OSS], and expulsion) among students while increasing student attendance rates, student achievement, and teacher retention. Three distinct cycles will be examined, each concentrating on a different problem of practice and intervention. These methods were introduced, practiced, …

Growth Mindset Intervention And Its Impact On Productive Struggle In The Eighth-Grade Mathematics Classroom, Jordy Wilson

Doctor of Education in Secondary and Middle Grades Education Dissertations

This study aims to seek means to increase student productive struggle while adhering to the strenuous performance demands by our school systems. This study examines connections between growth mindset interventions, attitude towards struggle, and productive struggle in the mathematics classroom. Growth mindset interventions have been shown to change mindsets and to help students become more willing to engage in challenging problems and deal with difficult situations and struggle. Productive struggle is the engagement with difficult problems with the understanding that breakthroughs occur from confusion and struggle and has been linked with students’ conceptual understanding in the mathematics classroom. It has …

Failure Facing Pedagogy In First-Year Rhetoric And Composition Classrooms, Karuna Minh Hin

English (MA) Theses

Failure in academia is commonly defined as not succeeding, missing the mark, or receiving a “below average grade or score” (Inoue 333). However, this perception of failure works to instill a fear in students that may last through their academic journey. Throughout a student’s academic journey, they are taught to operate within the binary of success and failure. “According to self-worth theory, in school, where one’s worth is largely measured by one’s ability to achieve, self-perceptions of incompetence can trigger feelings of shame and humiliation" (De Castella, Byrne and Covington 862). Teachers have attempted to address this problem throughout first-year …

Impostor Phenomenon, College-Going Knowledge, And Staff Expectations: Ramifications On First Time In College Students Enrollment, Julia A. Vickery

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A lack of technically trained, skilled, and educated workforce has become a critical issue in Texas. Furthermore, an educated workforce improves communities and individuals with economic, health, and personal benefits. Community colleges not only provide open-access admissions and low-cost tuition but are specifically aligned with educating the technical and industrial skilled workforce. Although a post-high school education has never been more accessible or necessary for obtaining high-earning jobs, post-high school college enrollment is declining, and conventional reform strategies do not appear to be effecting change. Graduating high school students aspire to attend postsecondary training by applying and being accepted but …

知源育利用のガイド, Yoshihiko Ariizumi

Learning, Teaching, & Researching Optimization

知源育を応用するための様々な角度からのヒントを学ぶことができるガイドです。実勢んをしながら、時々このガイドを参照することで、より高いレベルでの実践が可能になるでしょう。

Barriers For Learners In Postsecondary Education In The Age Of Covid: A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Study, Michael C. Farris

Graduate Dissertations and Theses

Postsecondary education changed dramatically in March of 2020. Colleges and universities across the nation were forced to acknowledge the immediacy of the crisis created by the COVID-19 pandemic and completely transition their learning and academic support models to a virtual environment. This transition, in many cases, took place over a matter of days, to ensure some measure of continuity for their students. At Central Virginia Community College (CVCC), a public, two-year college serving approximately 3,400 students in the greater Central Virginia region, the transition occurred expeditiously, and with a strong sense of purpose—helping the students we serve stay connected to …