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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

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2012

Rhode Island College

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Articles 1 - 21 of 21

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Lessons Learned: Building A Better Laboratory School, Amanda S. Wilcox-Herzog, Meridyth S. Mclaren Dec 2012

Lessons Learned: Building A Better Laboratory School, Amanda S. Wilcox-Herzog, Meridyth S. Mclaren

NALS Journal

Laboratory schools serve an important function in the education and training of early educators as well as important sites for the development of new knowledge related to best practices in early care and education. To this end, it is important to determine how to promote and preserve Laboratory Schools in the United States. The following paper utilizes existing literature and field data to identify essential components of successful Laboratory schools and provides a case study of a relatively new Laboratory school serving infants and toddlers; both its successes and struggles.


College Mission Alignment: Lessons For Laboratory Schools, Sharon L. Carnahan Ph.D., Diane Terorde Doyle Ma Dec 2012

College Mission Alignment: Lessons For Laboratory Schools, Sharon L. Carnahan Ph.D., Diane Terorde Doyle Ma

NALS Journal

This paper concerns the content, role, and purpose of mission statements in higher education and the the advisability of aligning the mission and activities of a laboratory school with the overall aims of the sponsoring college. We review strategic planning for alignment and share mission-driven activities that we have developed. We end with ideas about receiving recognition for doing the important job of a laboratory school, through disseminating and displaying examples of excellence.


The Practice Of Olympic Wrestling As A Mechanism Of Behavior Modification In Elementary School Special Education Students., José E. Betancourt Nov 2012

The Practice Of Olympic Wrestling As A Mechanism Of Behavior Modification In Elementary School Special Education Students., José E. Betancourt

NALS Journal

The purpose of this study was the investigation of the effect of the practice of Olympic wrestling on the modification of the behavior of sixteen elementary school special education students between the ages of eight and twelve years old. Ninety two percent of this group was enrolled in a special education program of which eighty six percent were classified with ADHD. The investigation lasted ten-weeks during which the students were evaluated before and after their participation in the wrestling program. During this period the students participated in Olympic wrestling training sessions, which consisted of many motor skill activities including axial …


Environmental Justice Discomfort And Disconnect In Ibm's Tainted Birthplace: A Micropolitical Ecology Perspective, Peter C. Little Aug 2012

Environmental Justice Discomfort And Disconnect In Ibm's Tainted Birthplace: A Micropolitical Ecology Perspective, Peter C. Little

Faculty Publications

The ‘‘toxic time bomb’’ of the so-called ‘‘green’’ high-tech industry is no longer a secret. Today, ‘‘[h]igh-tech pollution is a fact of life wherever the industry has operated for any length of time, from Malaysia to Massachusetts’’ (Siegel and Markoff 1985, 163), and so is resistance to high-tech toxic disaster. Since at least the late 1970s, electronics workers, academics, and environmental justice and labor rights activists have ‘‘challenged the chip’’ industry (Smith, Sonnenfeld, and Pellow 2006; see also Pellow and Sun-Hee Park 2003). Their struggle exposed not only the toxic externalities of microelectronic modernization, but also the emergence of redgreen …


Working-Class Students And Historical Inquiry, Leslie Schuster Jun 2012

Working-Class Students And Historical Inquiry, Leslie Schuster

Faculty Publications

For the past twelve years, I have been teaching a lower division introductory historical methods course that uses active learning to introduce students to the issues and practices of historical methods, the "how to" of historical inquiry, research and writing. While there are many models for such a course, including the one described by Jeffrey Merrick in the February 2006 issue of this journal, the design of such a course at my institution requires consideration of an often-overlooked dimension. The student body at Rhode Island College (RIC) is primarily working class, mirroring a significant transformation in the traditional college student …


Blogging About Summer Reading, Janice Becker Place May 2012

Blogging About Summer Reading, Janice Becker Place

Master's Theses, Dissertations, Graduate Research and Major Papers Overview

The purpose of this study was to investigate what happened when grade 11 high school honors students blogged about their summer reading under the monitoring of a teacher during vacation. I proposed that an educational blog might serve as an effective tool during summer vacation to help students retain skills or learning while at a physical distance from their school and teacher. In addition to the blog’s transcripts, a pre-project survey, post-project survey,and post-project interviews provided complementary data to inform my analysis. Qualitative analysis was applied to the blog discussion entries for evidence of peer learning, scaffolding, critical thinking, and …


Gangs And Social Policy, Karen N. Doucette May 2012

Gangs And Social Policy, Karen N. Doucette

Master's Theses, Dissertations, Graduate Research and Major Papers Overview

Youth involvement in gangs in urban areas is significantly increasing. These youth are at high risk for physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders. Exposure to community violence is linked to aggressive behavior, lower academic performance, lower levels of social competence, and negative mental health outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to set the agenda on how to deal with gangs and gang members from a social policy perspective. This paper will outline the nature of the gang problem in Providence, Rhode Island from three different perspectives: Violence, Forgiveness, and Practice. Literature will be presented and discussed and recommendations for …


Becoming An Administrator, F. Patrick Lattuca Iii May 2012

Becoming An Administrator, F. Patrick Lattuca Iii

Master's Theses, Dissertations, Graduate Research and Major Papers Overview

This study is part of a limited but growing body of research that examines and describes the social side of pulic school administration. Most training programs that prepare public school administrators are highly effective with regard to providing students the theoretical foundation that surrounds administrative roles, but as the literature illustrates, there is a gap between theory and practice. This autoethnographical dissertation addresse this gap by providing an analytical description of what individuals do when acting as a public school administrator. Specifically, this study follows the transition into an assistant principalship and how the author was socialized into that role


What's Best For Women: Examining The Impact Of Legal Approaches To Prostitution In Cross-National Perspective And Rhode Island, Malinda Bridges May 2012

What's Best For Women: Examining The Impact Of Legal Approaches To Prostitution In Cross-National Perspective And Rhode Island, Malinda Bridges

Honors Projects

This research analyzes legal approaches to prostitution on a cross-national level in order to determine if legal methods that regulate prostitution have an effect on prostitution. In order to examine these concepts, legel approaches were first identifed in the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden. Following this analysis, the effects of these legal approaches are reported. Instead of working from a strictly sociological standpoint, this project focused greatly on the legal aspects that affect prostitution.


Generational Differences: A Look At Dialectic Formation In Cranston, Rhode Island, Michaela Delgallo May 2012

Generational Differences: A Look At Dialectic Formation In Cranston, Rhode Island, Michaela Delgallo

Honors Projects

In most dialects, the pronunciation of the words bear and beer is different. However, dialects found in Charleston, SC and New Zealand merge the vowel sounds found in these words. In both locations, it appears that there is a sound change in progress, resulting in different pronunciations among generations. Cranston, RI may also have this merger and may be undergoing a sound change as well.
To explore this possibility, acoustic recordings and analyses have been made of 18 participants from Cranston. Each participant produced different pairs of words that contained the vowels heard in beer and bear. Three different …


Perceived Job Readiness Among The Previously Incarcerated, Amy Audet Apr 2012

Perceived Job Readiness Among The Previously Incarcerated, Amy Audet

Honors Projects

This study aims to determine the primary factor in employment readiness for previously incarcerated individuals. Ex offenders were were surveyed for job readiness using a scale developed in the studies' literature review. This scale emcompasses factors such as skills, knowledge, confidence and goals. Surveys were also done according to age, age of first incarceration, incarceration history and job training history. Because this population is marginalized, this study may bring new awareness about the effects of employer discrimination and the need for future programs to increase job readiness among the previously incarcerated individuals.


Food Inequality And Social Justice, Jim Almo Apr 2012

Food Inequality And Social Justice, Jim Almo

Honors Projects

Inequality in regular access to healthy food is a complex social justice issue in the United States. The health ramifications of poor food access and the unaffordability of healthy food choices are a consequence of economic systems based on a hierarchy of race, gender, and class structures. This research explores this inequality through the medium of three organizations that are challenging this systemic violence toward marginalized peoples. City Meal Site, Big Train Farm, and The Environmental Justice League of Rhode Island serve different populations with the unified goal of getting healthy food into the hands and mouths of people through …


The Infamous ‘One Percenters’: A Review Of The Criminality, Subculture, And Structure Of Modern Biker Gangs, Danielle Shields Apr 2012

The Infamous ‘One Percenters’: A Review Of The Criminality, Subculture, And Structure Of Modern Biker Gangs, Danielle Shields

Faculty Publications

Owing to the difficulty of conducting empirical research within sophisticated and highly organized criminal enterprises, modern biker gangs have long remained an enigma within law enforcement and academic circles. Despite their secrecy, with an army of an estimated 20,000 members and an unknown number of associates willing to do their bidding, these organizations are responsible for drug trafficking in the streets and within prisons, violence, theft, prostitution rings, and other dangerous criminal behavior both domestically and abroad. In order to address the dearth of readily available information regarding modern biker gangs, this paper serves as a review of the current …


Biased Visual Attention To Out-Group Members' Skin Tone Does Not Lead To Discriminatory Behavior, Sathiarith Chau Apr 2012

Biased Visual Attention To Out-Group Members' Skin Tone Does Not Lead To Discriminatory Behavior, Sathiarith Chau

Honors Projects

According to the racial phenotype theory, the extent to which members resemble or depart from the physical prototype of a particular race will determine how strongly the perceiver associates them with preconceived racial stereotypes. For Blacks, skin color was predicted to be a primary feature attended to and those with dark skin were more negatively stereotyped. The current study aimed to explicitly measure visual attention during judgment of faces through the use of eye-tracking. Past methodologies measuring the attention to skin tone and its relationship to stereotype judgment were not directly measured. The study used a mixed model design: Label …


Stereological Assessment Of The Thalamus In A Rat Model Of Periventricular Nodular Heterotopia, Jason Lennox Apr 2012

Stereological Assessment Of The Thalamus In A Rat Model Of Periventricular Nodular Heterotopia, Jason Lennox

Honors Projects

Malformations of neocortical development such as microgyria (MG) and periventricular nodular heterotopia (PNH) have been observed in the brains of language learning impaired (LLI) humans. Rats with MG have shown rapid auditory processing (RAP) deficits similar to acoustic deficits observed in some human LLI populations. Threlkeld et al., (2009) previously reported RAP and other learning impairments in rats with PNH resulting from disruption to embryonic neuronal cell division by way of Methylazoxymethanol (MAM) treatment on embryonic day 15 (E15). The thalamus and its subnuclei may be vulnerable to neurodevelopmental disruptions. Studies of MG rats have shown changes in cell size …


Sex Education In Our Schools, Kelley Conti Apr 2012

Sex Education In Our Schools, Kelley Conti

Honors Projects

This research project involved interviewing 42 parents with children between the ages of 12 to 18-years-old regarding their views and opinions on sex education for today’s youth. All 42 parents agreed they wanted a more informative sex education for their children than what they were exposed to as children. This included those with formal sex education as well as those that learned from peers, siblings or in their neighborhood. Another aspect all parents agreed on was the need for a more comprehensive sex education. Thirty-eight parents thought abstinence should be included as an option in sex education classes but not …


Explicit Weight Biases Are Curvilinear: Testing Pathogen Avoidance, Intergroup Relations And Socialization Theories., Lauren Chaunt Apr 2012

Explicit Weight Biases Are Curvilinear: Testing Pathogen Avoidance, Intergroup Relations And Socialization Theories., Lauren Chaunt

Honors Projects

The present study builds on research (Malloy et al. 2011) that weight bias is best fit by a curvilinear function, that is; trait judgments should vary significantly as a function of weight. More weight bias should be elicited by those body types at extreme weights (i.e., skeletally thin and morbidly obese). Targets at such extreme weights were included to adequately test a new theoretical model of weight bias termed the Pathogen Avoidance Theory. Other theories of weight bias were also considered; Socialization and Intergroup Relations. Participants were presented with six female body types varying in weight and were then asked …


The War Next Door: Peace Journalism In Us Local And Distant Newspapers' Coverage Of Mexico, Katherine Lacasse, Larissa Forster Jan 2012

The War Next Door: Peace Journalism In Us Local And Distant Newspapers' Coverage Of Mexico, Katherine Lacasse, Larissa Forster

Faculty Publications

This study explores the relationship between proximity to a conflict and the tendency to use peace journalism rather than war journalism modes of reporting. In the context of the current drug war occurring in Mexico, articles from both local, border region US newspapers and from distant US newspapers were coded according to their usage of war or peace journalism frames. Analyses revealed that local newspapers utilized more peace journalism frames overall, and presented a less pessimistic and negative view of the conflict and parties. Distant newspapers, however, were more likely to showcase complexity of the conflict and many parties and …


An Opposing Self, Christine M. Gamache Jan 2012

An Opposing Self, Christine M. Gamache

Master's Theses, Dissertations, Graduate Research and Major Papers Overview

People have always been both frightened and fascinated by the unknown, and themes touching on the existence of things beyond human understanding have longevity in the literary arena as well as in popular culture. One such theme is that of the doppelgänger, or double, which has been around for centuries but was first made popular by Jean-Paul’s (Johann Paul Friedrich Richter) work Hesperus in 1795. Due to a resurgence in the nineteenth century in the popularity of Gothic literature, doppelgängers, or variations of this double motif, found their way into some of the most famous works of literature …


Essential Ethics Education In Social Work Field Instruction: A Blueprint For Field Educators, Frederic G. Reamer Jan 2012

Essential Ethics Education In Social Work Field Instruction: A Blueprint For Field Educators, Frederic G. Reamer

Faculty Publications

Ethics content in field instruction is a vital component of social work education. Ethical standards and knowledge have expanded significantly in recent years. The author provides a comprehensive overview of core ethics content that should be incorporated into students’ internships, and also highlights key themes that should be addressed. Essential ethics content addresses core social work values, students’ personal and professional values, ethical dilemmas in field placements and social work practice, ethical decision-making frameworks and strategies to manage ethics risks.


Beyond The Black Horizon, Aaron Bruce Jan 2012

Beyond The Black Horizon, Aaron Bruce

Master's Theses, Dissertations, Graduate Research and Major Papers Overview

Although U.S. colleges and universities continue to discuss creative ways to increase the number of African American collegians participating in study abroad, this research is limited when revealing the unique perspectives of African American collegians who have studied abroad. Traditionally an emphasis on program success has been placed on the quantity of study abroad participants rather than the quality of African American student support and engagement; the personal reflections through the lens of African American race and identity are often overlooked. A series of culturally responsive, guided interviews were conducted with African American collegians from a variety of institutions across …