Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Educational Leadership & Policy Studies, 2008. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Oct 30, 2009). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-02, Section: A, page: 0527. Adviser: Margaret Sutton.

Thesis (M.S.)--Rowan University, 2006. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Educational Leadership Policy Studies, 2006. / "Title from dissertation home page (viewed July 5, 2007)." Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-08, Section: A, page: 2935. Adviser: Bradley Levinson.

<p> A study of the Holocaust is a challenging task. Schools often dedicate little time to the study of the subject, and teachers are often largely unprepared in regard to their content mastery of the subject, as well as the appropriate pedagogical tools to help guide students through the study of intellectually and emotionally difficult material. Whereas best practice in the field of Holocaust education prescribes the use of primary sources in the teaching of the Holocaust, few studies exist which explore the ways in which teachers select and implement primary sources in their teaching of the Holocaust and the impact it has on what students come to understand about the event. </p><p> A case study of one tenth grade World History II classroom provided qualitative data to help explore the ways primary sources were used in the teaching of the Holocaust. This research describes the relationship between the use of primary sources in this classroom and the development of historical thinking skills among students. The data interpreted in this study indicated that the curation choices of the teacher influenced what students came to know and understand about the Holocaust. Additionally, students demonstrated an ability to develop and practice lower order historical thinking skills related to sourcing, as a result of their use of primary sources in a study of the Holocaust. </p><p> Findings emerged which indicated that the teacher and her students had unique relationships to the content of the Holocaust and to the study of history more broadly. This study offers insight into the intersections of difficult knowledge, Holocaust education, social studies pedagogy, source curation, and discussions of the skills necessary to learn history meaningfully and critically.</p><p>

<p> The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States, is home to approximately 3.4 million U.S. citizens. The literature on Puerto Rican national identity (PRNI) describes how and why it has been debated on the island for more than five hundred years throughout the colonial trajectory, once under Spain and now as a commonwealth of the United States. </p><p> The education system in Puerto Rico, and particularly the social studies curriculum, has been used to promote particular ideologies regarding national identity. This study identifies what middle school teachers teach about PRNI and how seventh grade students identify themselves in terms of national identity. The investigation of curriculum delivery examines the elements that foster the Puerto Rican national character. Social studies educators who neglect the multiplicity of Puerto Rican identities fail to acknowledge that educational practices should be inclusive of the diverse understandings of PRNI. Such an acknowledgment needs to be incorporated to social studies classes where teachers discuss Puerto Rico&rsquo;s relationship with the United States. Examining social studies classes in Puerto Rico becomes the ideal context to develop conjectures about PRNI that include a transnational identity beyond the nation-state paradigms.</p><p> Using a mixed method approach with a concurrent embedded strategy, I identified student perceptions about PRNI, which differ from those of educators. Teachers&rsquo; perceptions, citizenship, ethnic identity, and political ideology become intertwined with the delivery of social studies classes. Nevertheless, students develop their own perceptions of PRNI with only minor reference to the social studies class.</p><p> Students express dissatisfaction with their social studies classes. They also assign a high level of importance to PRNI, express a strong feeling of belonging to the Puerto Rican nation, and describe markers of national identity. The previous categories become pivotal considerations for the assessment of content-rich social studies lessons.</p><p>

In this longitudinal interview-based study, I explore the self-assessed preparation, academic experiences, and social experiences of one ninety-one first-generation and thirty-five continuing generation (those with at least one parent a college graduate) students attending Harvard College and Georgetown University between the years of 2012-2016. Through random sampling techniques and iterative interviews, I examine the variation and change over time among first-generation students’ descriptions of their college going experiences and compare these to their continuing generation peers. I identify points of overlap as well as factors that specifically affect first-generation students’ transition into and experiences of college. I argue that a classification of first-generation students attending elite universities as either “privileged” or “disadvantaged” glosses over the nuanced and varied self-assessments of first-generation students themselves. Instead, I propose considering first-generation students’ characteristics and college experiences—especially at highly selective universities—as multiplex, accommodating both privilege and disadvantage, and transitional in both nature and outcome. In short, the first-generation classification is essentially a social category defined by its liminality, not by a durable set of characteristics. Even though the first-generation experience is complex and varied, there are nonetheless policy and programmatic lessons that administrators can draw to support first-generation and all students as they transition into and proceed through college. This dissertation examines the various pathways to thriving as articulated by first-generation students themselves. In terms of academics, these include academic continuation and academic divergence in a field of study, and academic turnaround versus ongoing academic achievement among first- and continuing-generation students from diverse preparation backgrounds. In terms of social experiences, I explore the tactics of bulwarking, pride work, and assimilation as ways in which first-generation students adopt or eschew the classification as an identity feature in a given social context. Finally, I offer specific policy recommendations to administrators aiming not to see their first-generation students make it through, but to thrive in college and beyond.

The transfer of learning is arguably the most enduring goal of education. The history of science reveals that numerous theories transfer from natural-science to the socio-political realm, but educational practitioners often deem such transfers romantic and rhetorical, ignoring the opportunities and challenges such transfers may hold. In terms of opportunities, romantic transfer encourages students to relate science to events in social life and further to discover new ways to understand social issues and propose social hypotheses. In terms of challenge, romantic transfers are often based on superficial and even imprecise understandings of science and depend on oversimplified labels and metaphors. In many cases, the romantic transfers are imaginative. Although logically romantic transfers are based on analogical resonance, empirically they are hardly proven to be valid. Nevertheless, when students imagine social and ideological implications of the hard science terminologies and theorems, they are at risk for considering the emergent ideologies as proven by hard sciences that are often considered authoritative, objective, and universal. Literal understanding of science-inspired by still unexamined ideologies can lead to maladaptive and even dangerous social actions. Because many of the romantic transfers are interdisciplinary and controversial, teachers may avoid explicit discussion about romantic transfer with students, and do not wish to assume responsibility of doing so. However, the question remains whether avoiding explicit discussion and debates about romantic transfer would inhibit students from spontaneously romanticize science concepts. This dissertation presents four studies that systematically investigate questions of romantic transfer—informal, emergent, and metaphorical boundary transections from natural science to social ideologies that often occur unexpectedly. My first study shows that participants who scored high in transferential thinking style also scored high in scientism beliefs and that participants who scored high on both tend to give literal interpretations to (religious) text. Following, my second study shows that students who reviewed the conservation of energy in physics are more likely to believe that luck is conserved, a naïve karmic religious idea. My third study shows that students are able to transfer spontaneously from theories in physics to more politically charged contexts. Specifically, students who learned the theory of entropy are more likely to prefer tightened social control, whereas students who learned self-organization theory are more likely to prefer stronger individual agency and relaxed social control. Study-4 involved interviews with the participants from Study-3 and shows that students’ narratives about social control are largely consistent with the thermodynamic concepts they have learned. Occasionally, students can critically evaluate the plausibility of their romantic transferences. This dissertation shows that science instruction implicitly empowers students to make social hypotheses and to engage in moral-civic-political discourse. To consider pedagogies that respond to such an opportunity without falling victim to hasty generalizations, we need both science and civic educations to equip students with the methods to examine self-generated social hypothesis. We also need pedagogies that promote the awareness and tolerance of metaphors to offset the dangers of literalism.

<p> This qualitative multi-case study investigated strategies social studies teachers use to incorporate historical thinking skills in fourth and fifth grade classrooms to support the development of skills needed for understanding historical concepts. Three fifth grade teachers and one fourth grade teacher from four school systems participated in the study. Teachers completed an initial questionnaire to assess their use of historical thinking strategies. This was followed by a series of interviews and observations to determine how teachers incorporated these strategies. Constructivism was the theoretical basis for this study, and centered on how learners construct knowledge of the world around them. Three interviews and three observations were completed. Field notes were taken during observations and student work samples were collected. Information obtained through discussions with the participants revealed five overall themes: tools teachers used, ways to help students connect to history, critical thinking, helping develop student engagement, and processes leading to historical thinking. Historical thinking strategies the participants used assisted students in connecting with history and increased their engagement in the content. Findings suggest the participants wanted experiences that kept their students interested and engaged in learning. Throughout the study, participants worked to provide experiences for their students that were meaningful and helped them connect to history.</p><p>

Ce projet présente une analyse des représentations de groupes ethniques dans les manuels scolaires d'études sociales destinés aux élèves des écoles de langue française de l'Ontario de cinquième et sixième année. L'analyse critique du discours, qui vise à relever les relations entre le texte, le langage, les groupes et les pratiques sociales, nous révèle comment sont représentés les groupes ethniques. Inspiré d'English Learning Area, nous avons retenu quatre catégories pour tenter de mettre en lumière les attitudes, les valeurs et les croyances cachées dans un discours : la structure, la construction des personnages, les omissions et les pouvoirs. Notre recherche démontre qu'il y a présence de relations de pouvoir dans le contenu latent des manuels analysés. Cette conclusion nous amène à formuler des suggestions. Ainsi, cette recherche propose des pistes de solution qui permettraient une représentation plus juste des groupes ethniques dans le matériel scolaire.

Master of Science / Department of Journalism and Mass Communications / Soontae An / Since the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) relaxed regulations on broadcast DTC advertising in 1997, DTC advertising has become a prominent part of public health communication. The purpose of this study is to assess the stigma reducing components of DTC ads based on the attribution theory and recategorization theory. Taken together, the combination of these two health communication theories can provide a useful framework to assess whether DTC advertising has made a sufficient effort to reduce the barrier in an attempt to motivate people to take appropriate actions for their treatment. A content-analysis of the past ten years from 1998 to 2008 of DTC ads of stigmatized diseases was done to critically evaluate the practice of DTC ads. Results focus on the prevalence of onset controllability (e.g., whether contracting an illness is blamable or not), offset responsibility (e.g., whether people have efforts to cope with or not) and recategorization (e.g., in-group) as textual cues and visual cues in the ads. Only half of ads (57%) offered a stigma reducing strategy. The most prevalent for both textual cues and visual cues were recategorization. However, an unbalance of stigma reducing components implies a meaning that Corrigan and Penn (1999)’s strategy of interventions to reduce stigma could not effectively function. Therefore, it required appropriate adjustments by onset controllability, offset responsibility and recategorization.