Movement in Education explores the impact of movement on the quality of a student’s learning experience in education. This thesis is the culmination of four years of study from 2019-2023 in East Tennessee State University’s education and dance programs. Participating in these programs has provided me with many opportunities to explore the impacts of movement pedagogy in elementary education. The research portion of this thesis focuses on the educational benefits of incorporating movement into classroom activities and assessments. The experiential portion of this thesis focuses on both observations and data collected from students in a 3rd grade classroom who participated in movement activities and assessments designed and implemented by me and my experience choreographing a ballet based on The Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe. Finally, I reflect on how these experiences have impacted my teaching philosophy for elementary education.

Using a wearable tactile display three experiments were conducted in which tactile messages were created emulating five standard US Army and Marine arm and hand signals for the military commands, namely: "Attention", "Halt", "Rally", "Move Out", and "Nuclear Biological or Chemical event (NBC)". Response times and accuracy rates were collected for novices responding to visual and tactile representations of these messages, which were displayed either alone or together in congruent or incongruent combinations. Results indicated synergistic effects for concurrent, congruent message presentations showing superior response times when compared to individual presentations in either modality alone. This effect was mediated by participant strategy. Accuracy similarly improved when both the tactile and visual presentation were concurrently displayed as opposed to separately. In a low workload condition, participants could largely attend to a particular modality, with little interference from competing signals. If participants were not given instructions as to which modality to attend to, participants chose that modality which was received first. Lastly, initial learning and subsequent training of intuitive tactile signals occurred rapidly with large gains in performance in short training periods. These results confirm the promise for tactile messages to augment visual messaging in challenging and stressful environments particularly when visual messaging is maybe preferred but is not always feasible or possible.

Peekaboo! Where is play? is a qualitative study that explores the extent kindergarten teachers implement play in light of increasing academic expectations. The increase in academics in young children’s schooling and the benefits of play have been well-documented. Unlike most of the research on play, this study was conducted in a town in the northeast region of the United States. Through questionnaires, interviews, and the kindergarten classroom schedules as the primary data collection of this case study, twenty-two active kindergarten teachers agreed to participate. The study centralized around three guiding research questions: 1) How have kindergarten teachers designed times for play, if at all? 2) How do kindergarten teachers’ views on play inform their practice? 3) What are the resources necessary for kindergarten teachers to maximize the educational benefits of play? An analysis of online questionnaires, weekly class schedules, and follow-up interviews allow the researcher to get an insight into the participants’ practice. The significant findings were grounded in the constructivist theory of learning. All the participants claimed to have adopted a learning-through-play methodology. They chose to implement time for play, providing a rich learning environment where students could interact cognitively and socially. Since the participants believed play to be an organic part of development and a tool for learning, teachers switched to a facilitator role during play. At the same time, children were led by their curiosity and interest. Participants also included elements of play in their teacher-directed lessons. However, they needed the district's unwavering support in professional development, financial resources, collegial assistance, and teacher input to maximize and sustain the benefits of play in their classroom. / 2025-05-16T00:00:00Z

Art programs have always been essential to education; they have provided students with a safe place to express themselves and make risk-free choices. However, due to budget cuts to the public school systems, art education is in jeopardy. The impact of the budget cuts on art education is widespread and has reduced student access to the arts and lowered the quality of the art education programs within our public school system. Schools can only provide students with the necessary resources, such as art supplies, technology, and professional development for art educators, with adequate funding. When schools are not receiving adequate funding for the arts, it makes it more difficult for students to explore different mediums and develop their artistic skills. This research aimed to examine the benefits of art education and related supporting research to create a Bitmoji Advocacy Classroom that will house resources for art educators to leverage use with legislators, policymakers, school districts, and parents. It will combine arguments regarding the essential benefits of art education to establish that the arts should be a priority in schools. The Bitmoji Advocacy Classroom will be a reference for art education advocates to enlighten policymakers and school districts, allow them to explore options for supplementing their budget, and access free Professional Development resources and materials to use in their classroom.

Yes

No description available.

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to explore and define the behavioral and thought processes that affect exercise engagement and adherence in college students with schizophrenia. A mixed methods approach was proposed utilizing an online survey followed by semi structured interviews. The online survey used was the Exercise Benefits and Barriers Scale (EBBS) Adult Version and the semi structured interview questions were produced by the researcher. The potential participants for this study were students who were 18 years of age or older and registered with the Disability Resources and Services Department at Temple University. The participants were also to have already experienced their first episode of psychosis (FEP). The online survey yielded no completed questionnaires. The online survey consisted of the 43 question EBBS Adult version and a basic demographic questionnaire. The EBBS utilized a 4-point Likert scale ranging from ‘strongly disagree’ to ‘strongly agree.’ At the end of the survey, an optional question was added if participants wanted to take part in a semi-structured interview. The semi-structured interview also yielded no participants. Interviews were designed to develop a more in depth understanding of personal schizophrenia symptoms, how well symptoms are managed by the individual, and how exercise plays a role in their management. Interviews were to be transcribed verbatim and coded using transcendental phenomenology theory to explore the phenomenon of exercise adherence and non-adherence. Considering the lack of responses, social stigma surrounding mental illness could be a contributing factor. Discrimination surrounding mental illness has been shown to lower quality of life for individuals with a mental illness, increase unemployment rates, and increase anxiety and depression rates. Another potential contributing factor to low survey completion rate was the length of the EBBS. The population diagnosed with schizophrenia could benefit from research involving a six month exercise implementation. The EBBS or a shortened modified version could be utilized in pre and post testing along with exercise testing in the pre and post form analyzing the five areas of physical fitness. Semi-structured interviews would be beneficial to do prior, during, and at the end of the exercise intervention to acquire a well rounded view of the perceptions of exercise engagement. A follow up survey and interview would be completed after two months to examine continued or discontinued exercise engagement and the associated reasons. A case study or narrative research would be a second beneficial study. One or two participants who currently engage in exercise and are considered in the maintenance stage of behavior change would be followed and interviewed over the course of a year or longer. It would be valuable to examine a participant who is currently engaged in exercise since this is a phenomenon in this population. A qualitative research approach would give better insight into how these individuals perceive exercise, exercise barriers, or current and past exercise motivators. This in turn can better mold future research designs and exercise implementations to address the exercise motivation obstacle in people with schizophrenia. / Kinesiology

The purpose of this study was two-fold: to quantitatively explore competitive rowers' perspectives of the benefits and barriers to exercise, and to use follow-up qualitative interviews to elicit insight into rowers' views of their sport culture, personal experience, and what it takes to be a dedicated, adherent athlete. A mixed-methods approach was used with online surveys and semi-structured interviews. Participants were club and university rowers in the Northeast Atlantic region, all of whom were at least 18 years of age and actively rowing at the time of study One hundred thirty-one athletes, 77 female and 54 male, participated in the quantitative phase of the study. The online survey included the Exercise Benefits/Barriers Scale (EBBS), a 43-item, 4-point Likert scale measure, and a Basic Demographics Questionnaire (BDQ). The EBBS measured perceived benefits of and barriers to physical exercise. Statistical analysis revealed no strong correlations between the EBBS factors and demographic data. An eight-factor solution resulted, with five benefits (psycho-physical competence, daily functional efficiency, psycho-emotional stability, preventative health, and social interaction) and three barriers (personal inconvenience, physical exertion, and family encouragement). The eight-factor solution correlated strongly with the original nine-factor solution from Sechrist, Walker, and Pender (1987). Nine participants, five men and four women, participated in follow-up interviews. Interviews were performed at a time and place convenient for the rower. The purpose of the interview was to elicit specific, genuine, rich content related to their rowing experience and how the benefits and barriers to physical activity and their place in rowing culture affect exercise adherence. Using an inductive-deductive approach prescribed by grounded theory, two core categories and additional sub-categories were developed in the coding process. From the data analysis, hindering factors and facilitating factors emerged as the core categories. Physical conditioning and health, optimization of personal characteristics, psycho-emotional stability, strong social community, environment, and interpretation of perceived barriers were subsumed under facilitating factors. The following sub-themes were contained in hindering factors: exercise demands, environment, and social issues. Rowers perceived strongly the benefits of their rowing experience, and stated that barriers are inherent to exercise and they are responsible for adapting to them. / Kinesiology

This dissertation is composed of three essays that analyze the significance of the Food Stamp Program (FSP) for low-income households. The first essay entitled “Intensity of Food Stamp Use and Transient and Chronic Poverty: Evidence from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics” examines the impact of intensity of use of FSP benefits on household exposure to transient and chronic poverty with respect to food and housing expenditures. The study finds that FSP is used for both long-term expenditure support and as a smoothing mechanism before the welfare reform, and only for smoothing expenditures after the welfare reform. Factors that influence both components of poverty are number of children, human capital, minority status and local economic conditions. Another finding is that shorter recertification periods reduce the length of FSP use, and indirectly result in higher poverty. The second essay entitled “The End of the Paper Era in the Food Stamp Program: The Impact of Electronic Benefits on Program Participation” documents the impact of the implementation of the statewide Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) system on household participation behavior in the entire period of nationwide implementation. The major finding is that the switch from paper coupons to EBT cards induces participation among eligible households, most likely by reducing the stigma associated with FSP participation. The effect of the EBT system on participation probabilities is the largest among households residing in the rural South, those not headed by a single mother or those with a White household head. The third essay entitled “The Dynamics of Food Stamp Program Participation: A Lagged Dependent Variable Approach” investigates the existence of state dependence and its sources by analyzing the dynamics of participation in the FSP using a lagged dependent variable approach. Results show that FSP receipt in the previous period is an important determinant of current FSP receipt. Estimated persistence rates declined significantly after 1996, suggesting that long-term welfare dependency was reduced after the welfare reform, at least with respect to the FSP. The source of state dependence in FSP participation among low-income households is mostly structural implying that a welfare trap does exist for these households. / Ph. D.