Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

'Shad' Never Made Them Happy: Pandemic And A Dis-Abling Educational System - Case Of Iran, Negin Hosseini Goodrich, Abouzar Samiei

International Journal on Responsibility

As the pandemic began, Iran quickly faced the worst outbreak in the Middle East during the winter of 2020. Traditional schools were consequently transferred to an online education without implementing appropriate adaptations, and restrictive policies of low-speed Internet and censorship negatively affected the quality of online education. The situation became even worse for Iranian students with disabilities. The Ministry of Education designed a new application, named Shaad (means happy), which was and remains inaccessible for people with disabilities. This qualitative research study explores the educational challenges of the Iranian students with disabilities during the pandemic. The authors argue physical and …

Social Determinants Of Diabetes In Hampton Roads, Virginia, Priyadarshini Pattath

Virginia Journal of Public Health

Background: Recent research demonstrates the need to consider social and economic factors that are the determinants of diabetes along with individual factors. Although the average crude rate of diabetes in Virginia is 10.9%, some of the census tracts report a much higher rate. Neighborhoods in places like Norfolk, Newport News and Portsmouth in Virginia have a diabetes prevalence rate of around 25%. Using a multilevel approach for diabetes interventions will have a much better outcome as social determinants play a significant role in diabetes-related health disparities.

Method: Diabetes prevalence data in seven cities of Hampton Roads, Virginia was linked to …

Addressing Systemic Inequities: A Psychoeducational Group For Advocating For African Americans, Jaree' Barnwell

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

This paper will discuss and describe the development of an open psychoeducational group that will empower people of the community through education to advocate for African American/Black people within institutions that may perpetuate barriers. Acknowledging that one in four people struggle with mental health issues, it is imperative to consider an appropriate treatment modality that destigmatizes mental health and equips participants with information. This group is especially relevant as one in three African Americans, who struggle with mental health concerns, will never receive the appropriate care comparatively afforded to white populations. This thesis will concisely discuss the education system, the …

Multicultural Music Education: Preparedness, Perceptions, And Practice Among Virginia Elementary Music Educators, Benjamin J. Luna

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Benjamin Joel Luna, M. M.

James Madison University, 2021

Supervisor: Lisa M. Maynard

The purpose of this study was to examine the Multicultural Music Education (MME) practices of established (i.e. more than three years of music teaching experience) Elementary Music Teachers in the state of Virginia by examining their responses to a series of survey questions specific to the topic. Participants (N=18) were all current Elementary Music Teachers in the state of Virginia with more than three years of experience.

Participants were asked to use Likert-scale ratings for the majority of the questions but were also given the …

Comparative Analysis Of State Policies For Former Foster Youth, Erin A. Watkins

Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current

This research is a comparative analysis of state policies aiding former foster youth in their transition into adulthood. This research looks at policies in the areas of housing, education, and employment. The objective of this research is to see what state policies are effective in aiding their former foster youth in their transition into adulthood. Effectiveness is evaluated by the National Youth in Transition Database data and Annie E. Casey Foundation data, looking specifically at rates of homelessness, rates of enrollment or attendance in school, and rates of part-time or full-time employment. Results found that the three states analyzed (Illinois, …

How Scholarship Programs Facilitate First-Generation College Students’ Involvement, Maria C. Restrepo Chavez

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

As a first-generation college student, I am interested in the on-campus involvement and experiences of other first-generation college students. First-generation college students are those whose parents did not receive a university degree and tend to come from low-income families. This project explores programs designed to support and enrich the experiences of such students. The Centennial Scholars Program at James Madison University and the Presidential Scholarship Initiative at Virginia Tech aim to increase the socio-economic diversity on each campus. These programs provide students with full funding for four years, mentorship, professional development and social benefits, among others. In turn, students become …

Leadership Instruments Library (Lil) For Graduate Research, Sam Nickels, Karen A. Ford

Leadership Instruments Library

Created by Sam Nickels at the request of the School of Strategic Leadership Studies (SSLS) program at James Madison University, 2016-2017. Anyone should feel free to suggest updates, expand the information on instruments or add new instruments. Send the information to SSLS and we’ll screen the info before adding it to the library. Suggested changes/additions need to be well documented with citations. To provide corrected or new information, please contact the School of Strategic Leadership Studies at James Madison University: SSLS@jmu.edu. We hope you find it useful!

Dr. Sam Nickels, former graduate assistant at SSLS and Dr. Karen Ford, …

Analysis Of African American And White American Cognitive Profiles For Language And Cultural Influences, Nicole Jones

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

Abstract

One of the most concerning aspects of special education is the overrepresentation of African American minority youth receiving special education services. Samuel Ortiz and colleagues considered the issue of the representation of the Latino, English Language Learner (ELL) population in special education services based on cognitive performance in relation to the mainstream population. To target this concern they determined an estimated level of expected cognitive performance of ELL’s and impact of language and cultural differences to help eligibility teams more appropriately interpret and place students with the aid of the Culture-Language Interpretive Matrix (C-LIM) model they developed. The current …

An Examination Of The Feasibility And Impact Of A Mindfulness And Nature Based Intervention For At-Risk Middle School Students, Nahal L. Khalatbari

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

Public schools are faced with the daunting task of both educating students and managing their behaviors exhibited at school. Unfortunately, many schools do not have prevention measures in order to decrease the amount of behavior problems and office referrals. Instead, they handle behavioral issues as they arise in a reactive manner and many times use detention and suspension as consequences. Thus, students miss academic and instructional time and often do not decrease the behaviors. A majority of students who are suspended will be suspended again in the future (Losen & Martinez, 2013). Another issue facing students is a dismal lack …

Teaching Climate Change Concepts And The Nature Of Science: A Library Activity To Identify Sources Of Climate Change Misconceptions, Charity Flener Lovitt, Kristen S. Shuyler

Libraries

A library activity was developed in which students found information about climate science misconceptions from popular and scientific literatures. As part of the activity, students developed a rubric to evaluate the credibility and type of literature sources they found. The activity prepared students to produce an annotated bibliography of articles, which they then used to create a training document about a climate science misconception for staff at a local science center. Evaluation of annotated bibliographies showed that students were able to distinguish between popular and scholarly literature but struggled to identify primary and secondary sources within the scholarly literature. In …

Improving Information Literacy Through Wikipedia Editing In The Chemistry Classroom: Lessons Learned, Ye Li, Charity Flener Lovitt, Anne J. Mcneil, Kristen S. Shuyler

Libraries

Assignments in which students edit Wikipedia may help students learn about the complexities of information creation and production, while engaging them in researching and writing about topics related to class content. This chapter presents two case studies that illustrate how Wikipedia-based activities can be designed to achieve both chemistry and information literacy learning outcomes. In both examples, faculty partnered with a librarian to implement the Wikipedia editing assignments. Through these experiences, those involved learned about Wikipedia and its community, and identified promising practices for project requirements based on formal and informal assessment and observations. Reflections are offered on the value …

A Meta-Analytic Tutorial And A Narrative Review On Motivation Interventions In Education, Rory A. Lazowski

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Abstract (Paper 1)

Dating back to only the early 1970’s, the use of meta-analysis has recently grown steadily in the fields of psychology and education, after initially being used in the physical sciences. Meta-analysis is often lauded as an effective analytic tool to inform practice and policy, disentangle conflicting results among single studies, and identify areas that require additional information for a certain topic. However, because routine use of meta-analysis is relatively recent, there remain methodological issues that require clarity. In addition, as more advanced analytical and statistical techniques emerge, there is a need to examine how these techniques can …

The Nature And Etiology Of Religious Certitude: Implications Of The Ei Framework And Beliefs, Events, And Values Inventory, Timothy W. Brearly

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Religious certitude is often associated with conflict between individuals and groups, though the nature of this relationship is still not clear. To further clarify these dynamics, the historical psychology of religion is reviewed and contrasted with current perspectives from social psychology and neuroscience, with an eye towards better understanding the variance within religious expressions and their associated relationships with intergroup conflict. It is hypothesized that religious certainty is related to a difficulty in engaging with contradictory religious perspectives, and that the pull towards certainty is tied to an individual’s unique psychological structure, much of which is developed through the interaction …

Influence Of Entrepreneurship Education On Entrepreneurship Development In Post-Secondary Education, Kenneth Newbold

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Entrepreneurship education programs have expanded across post-secondary education in the past thirty years, leading to an increased need to further understand the impact entrepreneurship education has along the construct of entrepreneurship development. Three related studies comprise this research and were conducted to investigate the effect entrepreneurship education has on entrepreneurship development. Students, existing entrepreneurs, and alumni were surveyed in these three studies to compare differences between participants and non-participants in educational experiences. The present research builds upon the existing body of knowledge and seeks to provide research and psychometric contributions to the field by studying specific educational interventions and modifying …

A Unified Approach To Well-Being: The Development And Impact Of An Undergraduate Course, Kimbelry Erica Kleinman

Dissertations, 2014-2019

With the rise of positive psychology, there has been a burgeoning literature on the construct of well-being. Unfortunately, as is the case with much psychological research, the literature is not assimilated and integrated into a broad model for understanding psychology and human nature writ large. Connecting such research to a deep theoretical and philosophical model is particularly important with a construct like well-being because it both is a complicated and central construct for the field. There were two main objectives to the study. First, the goal was to develop a college student course on well-being that was conceptually grounded in …

A Systematic Evaluation Of The Immediate Feedback Assessment Technique, Whitney Flemming Smiley

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Currently, researchers are conducting many studies on n improving teaching methods. However, research is underdeveloped is improving testing formats so that they can promote student achievement. One way of improving testing could be to incorporate feedback into the testing procedure. This study replicated and extended past research done Epstein, Epstein, & Brosvic’s (2001) by for a testing technique called the Immediate Feedback Assessment Technique (IF-AT), which allows test takers to receive immediate feedback on each response during testing. I extended Epstein’s research by including two new conditions (scantron with feedback and computerized IF-AT). Results showed that adding feedback into the …

Interteaching And The Testing Effect: How Quizzes Alter The Efficacy Of Interteaching, Tonya Lambert

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

In recent years, educational systems have come under great scrutiny. In response to this scrutiny, researchers have developed numerous behavior-analytic teaching methods, the most recent being interteaching. In a growing number of studies, interteaching has proven to be more effective than traditional methods of instruction, but little research has examined ways to make interteaching even more effective. Research on the testing effect suggests that frequent testing may improve student-learning outcomes. Thus, including post-discussion quizzes as a part of interteaching might be one way to make it more effective. In the present study, participants completed interteaching in a simulated classroom setting. …

The Role Of Education On Awareness Of Ammunition-Dismantling Risks, Brunilda Zenelaga

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The blasts from an ammunition dismantling factory in Gërdec, Albania, an accident caused by untrained employees at the facility, resulted in deaths and injuries and damaged homes for factory workers and nearby villagers in March 2008. This article suggests that training employers and workers to follow necessary safety procedures, as well as raising village awareness of the dangers of these ammunitions facilities, will help prevent such tragedies from occurring in the future.

How Students And Educators Can Get Involved In Mine Action, Cisr

Global CWD Repository

Students have a number of available options for getting involved in helping the global mine action community. Below are some examples of programs in which students can participate!

Integrated Mine Action: A Rights-Based Approach In Cambodia, Sally Campbell

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The lives of some of the most impoverished Cambodians are beginning to improve as a result of new governmental programmes and nonprofit assistance that award land, provide training and offer other opportunities. Integrating mine action with other development programmes is building a sustainable economic community in Cambodia.

Connecting Global Education With Activism: Building A Local And Global Community, Marta Colburn

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Getting children active in international events can be done through effective classroom learning experiences. This educator explains how tragedy can lead to a better understanding of diversity.

Munitions And Mines: Peace Education For Laos, Titus Peachey

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

From the end of the Vietnam War to 1994, 10,000 Laotians fell casualty to the millions of pieces of UXO within their borders. The author recounts the role of Mennonite Central Committee and other NGOs in reversing this situation.