Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Mathematical Anxiety In The Turkish Context: Mathematical Experiences Of High School Students, Vahap Yorgun, Serdal Mert

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

Although a handful of studies have investigated the prevalence of math anx- iety among Turkish school children and its relationship with several variables like attitudes toward math, gender, self-efficacy, parental style, there is as of now no study focusing on development psychological interventions to cope with math anxiety. Most of the extant studies use quantitative approaches, but in order to develop intervention programs, researchers need to know how math anxiety develops, what kinds of personal variables or factors take place in this process, and what kind of emotional and cognitive reactions hold by students about math. Thus in our research, …

A Checklist To Design And Evaluate Systems-Informed Wellbeing Initiatives: A Mixed Methods Validation Study, Jaclyn Gaffaney

CGU Theses & Dissertations

The COVID-19 pandemic shed light on global mental health struggles, underscoring the need to prioritize wellbeing. Many disciplines currently research aspects of wellbeing, ranging from psychology, behavioral economics, public health, and public policy, to prevention, evaluation, and education. However, researchers have rarely integrated insights across disciplines or extracted meaningful nuance from real-world applications. Many wellbeing interventions can also fall short due to poor design and execution as well as inadequate application of systems thinking and culturally responsive lenses. This dissertation addressed these gaps by creating a structured framework for crafting and assessing systems-informed wellbeing initiatives in the form of the …

Improving Critical Thinking In Written Assignments: Human Vs. Chatgpt Tutor In Socratic Questioning Intervention, Katia Martha

Scripps Senior Theses

The purpose of the proposed study is to trial a short Socratic Questioning (SQ) intervention in the writing process, facilitated by either a human or ChatGPT tutor, and explore the effects that this may have on students’ critical thinking (CT), which will be coded from their written responses. Participants will be undergraduate college first years in the local California area who are fluent in English and have no learning disabilities. This study involves two visits, spaced a week apart, to gather pre- and post- test data for evaluating the effectiveness of the SQ intervention in improving CT. Both visits will …

The Influence Of The "Emotionally Disturbed" Classroom Label On General Education Teachers' Sense Of Efficacy, Giovanna Perricone

Scripps Senior Theses

Students identified as “emotionally disturbed” face resistance to inclusion in classrooms with typically-developing peers on the part of the general education teachers. This study aims to address whether the classroom label of “emotionally disturbed” affects teacher efficacy and whether this relationship is moderated by the amount of applied inclusion training a teacher has received. General education teachers will read identical case studies of a student who either spends some of his school day in an “Emotionally Disturbed Class” or a “Self-Regulation Skills Class.” They will complete a measure of student-specific teacher efficacy and then report how many hours of inclusion …

The Giving Tree Academy, David A. Hurdle

CMC Senior Theses

A proposal for a new preschool based in Pomona, California, targeted towards children from low-income backgrounds. Includes extensive research on preschool nationwide, the state of California, and in Pomona. Within the paper a new preschool curriculum and specific teacher practices are discussed. Intended as a model for a new school. or to be adapted for use in educational policy.

Female Superiority In Social Cognition: Can Pretend Play Help The Boys Catch Up?, Maria Weiss

Scripps Senior Theses

The effect of pretend play on 150 (~ 75 girls; 75 boys; M=3 yro) preschool children’s social cognition will be assessed through a semester long intervention study. Research has reported a trend of female superiority in empathy and ToM and a likelihood of young girls to engage in pretend play more frequently and to a higher degree than young boys. Previous research has also found a relationship between play and social cognition, as through the act of imagination, one is able to thoroughly take on the perspectives of someone other than the self. This study attempts to show a …

The Common Core: An Enhancement Or Hindrance For The Youth Of America?, Haley L. Alderete, Haley L. Alderete

CMC Senior Theses

Education in America differs from other nations and may benefit from modeling some of these foreign practices. Although there are many improvements that the country could make, curriculum could be one of the sources of inadequacy in the education system and is often what receives the most attention. Therefore, the subsequent sections will explore the United States’ major attempt in improving education through creating consistency through the Common Core curriculum. In all, if the United States seeks to maintain its power in various sectors, it must strengthen its education system to ensure success.

Learning Requires Attention For Binding Affective Reinforcement To Information Content, Chia Mun Foo

Scripps Senior Theses

Humans are limited in their capacity to process information about the environment; to choose the most salient details to process, we have to make rapid value appraisals and prioritize our attentional resources. In this proposed study, it is expected that attention is required to learn from affective information. Learning is measured by the difference between update (the difference between the first and second estimation) and the estimation error (the difference between the average likelihood and the first estimation). Using a belief-updating paradigm, participants will be asked to estimate their likelihood of encountering a negative event, once before and once after …

Landscapes To Learnscapes: Exploring Schoolyard-Based Education, Emily I. Palena, Caroline T. Spurgin

Pitzer Senior Theses

This thesis explores schoolyard-based education as a viable and necessary method for rectifying the shortcomings within the American public school system and the Nature-deficit Disorder epidemic. We argue that schoolyard-based education should be fully integrated into the school system, not in the sole form of popularized school gardens, but as a standard teaching method. We show this using extensive research and a case study of three elementary schools in Claremont, California.

Investigating Young Children's Music-Making Behavior: A Developmental Theory, Paul G. Morehouse

CGU Theses & Dissertations

We have many developmental theories contributing to our understanding of children as they meander steadfastly toward maturation. Yet, none have reported on how young children interpret the qualitative meaning and importance of their own music-making experiences. Music created by average, not prodigious, young children is perceived by adults as “play” music rather than “real” music. But do young children take the same view as adults? When Piaget speaks of the young child’s qualitatively unique view and experience of the world (Ginsberg & Opper, 1988), can we assume that his statement encompasses young children’s predispositions related to music-making?

Music is understood …

The Role Of The Socio-Cultural And Developmental Context On Special Education, Amanda Lam

CMC Senior Theses

Existing research on inclusive education deals primarily with the effectiveness of inclusion programs and the theoretical frameworks behind their limitation. However, no extensive research has been conducted that explores the role of the socio-cultural context and the development level in determining the best way in which the educational needs of children with special needs can be met. Recognizing that the effectiveness of different special education services may depend on the socio-cultural context as well as the development level, this literature review seeks to identify the ideal method of treating children with disabilities in developed and developing countries. By assessing the …

Patterns Of Emotion Within Mathematics Problem-Solving, Frances A. Rosamond

Humanistic Mathematics Network Journal

There is often a divide between the experience of positive emotions toward math on the part of mathematical educators and negative emotions toward math on the part of students. This paper utilizes psychologist Richard Lazarus's work on the effects of positive emotions in order to highlight their benefits for mathematical pedagogy, to explain the author's experiment applying Lazarus's theory, and to suggest ways this application might support and foster positive emotions in students.