Thesis (Ed.D.)--Liberty University School of Education, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

D.Ed.

The basic problem involved in developing the curricular activity program at Galt High School was two-fold: (1) In what ways could the formal curriculum be modified and the schedule be adjusted in order to incorporate an informal club-activity program without impairing the regular educational opportunities?; (2) Could the use of school time for such a program be justified?

The investigator has undertaken this study to determine whether the present orientation course at Oakdale High School meets the needs of youth whom it serves. Interest in the problem was aroused through controversy form time to time regarding the practicability of such a course as part of the curriculum, since some of the high schools in the county either do not have, or no longer include, Orientation in the curriculum as a separate course.

The general problem was to determine personality differences among a hierarchy of high school female athletes in various socio-economic groups. The specific problems were: (1) To determine if there were any significant personality trait differences among three socio-economic groupings of superior athletes.; (2) To determine if there were any significant personality trait differences among three socio-economic groupings of average athletes.; (3) To determine if there were any significant personality trait differences among three socio-economic groupings of nonathletes.; and (4) To determine if there were any significant personality trait differences among superior, average, and nonathletes.

"The literature on teaching and curriculum development for the past two decades has emphasized the importance of relating curriculum and teaching to the problems or concerns which are of significance to the pupils...As homemaking teacher in the Liberty County High School, the writer is anxious to make homemaking as effective as possible for the pupils in this school. Consistent with the principle stated above, the identification of the problems which are unique to these pupils is a first step in this task. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to identify the problems of youth in Liberty County as seen by the pupils enrolled in the Liberty County High School, and to explore their implications for the teaching of homemaking in that school. In many studies of this kind the researchers have administered either the Mooney Problems Check List or the S.R.A. Youth Inventory as a basis for identifying the problems of youth involved. The procedure followed in this study, however, included the development of a problems check list unique to this school. It was felt that this was necessary because of the nature of the school population itself, and because it was believed that in the Liberty County High School this procedure would be more effective in identifying the problems of concern to the pupils involved than having them simply check a standardized scale developed for use with large number of youth scattered throughout the country. In addition, the writer was anxious to get information concerning certain citizenship attitudes of the pupils, and their vocational and educational goals"--Introduction. / "August, 1958." / Typescript. / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Science." / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 29).

"Nutrition is fast becoming a popular science among many age groups. Young people, especially athletes, are becoming more aware of the correlation between diet and health. Also, with such a great amount of emphasis placed on physical beauty, more people are interested in the study of nutrition for vanity purposes"--Introduction. / "August, 1978." / Typescript. / "Submitted to the Department of Home Economics Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science." / Advisor: Jane Gatewood White, Major Professor. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 41-42).

This mixed-methods study explores how transnational high school students in the U.S. understand and experience a kind of curriculum called global citizenship education (GCE) and how GCE might influence them to think or act, in conjunction with how the students’ perspectives may differ based on their intersecting identities, particularly the categories of socioeconomic status (SES), race, and gender. Transnational students are defined as young people who maintain substantial connections with multiple nations in the form of affective attachments, physical movements, and flows of ideas. Practically, young people approximately 14-19 years of age, who attend high school in the U.S. and have lived in at least one other country, qualified for this study. In the past two decades, GCE has received increasingly more attention from K-12 schools and education research. While GCE is being promoted as learning that is useful to prepare young people for globalization and our unpredictable future, there is currently a small body of existing literature on how students understand and experience GCE. As such, informed by postcolonial/decolonial theories, as well as a view of curriculum as being dialogic and agentively constructed by students as they learn, I foreground the voices and experiences of youth as they engage with GCE. I began with a qualitative phase, including image-elicitation focus groups, semi-structured individual interviews, and optional final projects, where a visual component served the participatory purpose of encouraging youth to direct the research and to represent their ideas in a form beyond language. Preliminary analysis of the qualitative data informed the construction of a quantitative survey, which received 33 completed responses via Qualtrics. The survey shows that the students more readily take up GCE as skills and (conceptual) understandings rather than as concrete bodies of (factual) knowledge that they have acquired, and that the youth perceive GCE to more powerfully influence them to develop their thinking rather than to change in their actions, particularly in response to social justice issues. This raises questions around how educators should best determine the goals and content of GCE programs and practical constraints around promoting “critical” versus “soft” forms of GCE. Secondly, the qualitative participants each took up GCE differently, suggesting that one key strength of this kind of curriculum can be its broad and inclusive nature, allowing individuals to adopt it in ways that make sense for them. In addition, strong and effective GCE consists of learning that takes into account, or even better, actively leverages students’ existing knowledge and skills, cultural backgrounds, and interests. Thirdly, GCE seems to compete with the demands of assignments, grades, and other credentials students must accumulate to be admitted to college, particularly when such curricula are not integrated into the planned activities of the school day. The students are also quite attached to place, including both in-person learning and face-to-face interactions with friends and family, which is in tension with a deterritorialized framing of GCE with lofty goals for all humanity. One implication is the importance of accounting for the meaning of specific physical places in youths’ lives as we consider the goals and purposes of GCE programs. Finally, qualitative data highlight that the intersecting identities, especially the categories of SES and race, in the context of structural inequalities in U.S. education, really make a difference in how transnational youth take up GCE. The survey adds gender as another layer, showing that girls perceive GCE to include a broader range of topics, that more activities at school contribute to their GCE, and that they are more influenced by GCE to think and act differently. As we tailor GCE to suit students’ backgrounds and attachments to place, identities may be a useful tool to help us think about how structural forces may shape the way students take up GCE and adjust programs accordingly. Of course, we must also remain attentive to the fact that perhaps GCE will always be implicated in structural inequalities, and as such, to continue to resist simply essentializing students based on broad identity categories. In the above ways, this study contributes to further research and theorizing about how GCE can better serve the needs of not only transnational but all youth.

This case study explored the ways that aspects of a high school blended learning program (pseudonym: BL High) encourage or discourage personalization. For K-12 learners a major concern exists in the increasingly rigid dominion of the programmatic over the personal, which leaves many students disengaged and disconnected. Having expanded the ways in which students can interact with curriculum and teachers, 21st-century technology introduces new conditions that may, or may not, encourage personalization instead of standardized, efficiency-based policies and practices.In response to digital technology’s possible impact on education, this study documents student and teacher experiences as evidence of the ways in which personalization is encouraged or discouraged. Personalization was approached generally as a matter of context and power, such that factors shaping the learning process could be altered and that each learner could make decisions about those factors. Through the participation of nine students and three teachers, data were collected in interviews, photographs, and program and course documents. Findings showed that personalization at BL High was a complex matter that occurred through a collection of factors and a series of decisions. That collection of factors allowed students to engage in learning in and out of school while also supporting connections to school peers and teachers. The collection of factors was labeled the PATH model of personalization and was conjunctively defined as the overlap of program, agency, time, and help. Overarching findings were threefold: (a) the learning process at school involved far less flexibility in content and assignments than anticipated, (b) that limited flexibility coincided with student learning and agency that extended to personal passions beyond the school program, and (c) flexible timing existed as a double-edged sword, providing students with the opportunity to structure their use of time and pursue passions of their choosing but also leaving them at risk of time management challenges and stalled academic progress. Implications are discussed for researchers, teachers and school leaders, and the field of gifted education.