<p> Academic advising has been found to be an important component in satisfaction and retention among online and distance students. This quantitative study examined the perceptions of both online and allied health students in an allied health program regarding academic advising methods. These perceptions were then examined to determine if there was a relationship to the students&rsquo; overall satisfaction and retention. To determine student perceptions, a convenience sample of both online and face-to-face students from two allied health programs in Louisiana was used. The students were given the Academic Advising Inventory (AAI), which was used to evaluate their perceptions regarding academic advising. </p><p> The review of the literature found that there are two primary models of academic advising: prescriptive and developmental. The literature indicated that different types of students prefer different advising models (Belchier, 1999; Gravel, 2012; Jeschke, Johnson, &amp; Williams, 2001; Kelley &amp; Lynch, 1991; LaPadula, 2003; Luna &amp; Medina, 2007). There are limited findings, however, regarding the preferences of online students. Further, there is no literature describing the preferences of online students in an allied health program. </p><p> This research study investigated student preferences regarding advising in an allied health program. This research study also investigated whether those preferences regarding advising had any effects on the overall satisfaction and persistence of students within an allied health program. Finally, this research study investigated if there were significant differences between the type of advising received between online and face-to-face students in the two programs. </p><p> Based on the data analysis, it was first found that students who experienced developmental advising had higher satisfaction than students who had prescriptive advising. Second, students who experienced developmental advising were more likely to persist in the allied health program than students who had received prescriptive advising. Third, students who experienced advising closely matched to their preferred advising style were more likely to be satisfied than students who experienced a wide gap between actual and preferred academic advising. Finally, it was found that face-to-face students were much more likely to receive developmental advising than online students in the same allied health program.</p><p>

<p> The ultimate goal of teaching history to young people is to create effective, responsible citizens (Fallace, 2009). Despite such ambitious goals, the traditional teacher-centered method of instruction has not proven to have engaged students. As a result, students often rank history as their least-liked subject, particularly at the secondary level. One instructional strategy that may ameliorate this problem is the incorporation of primary sources. Identifying the inhibitors and inducers of primary sources, the researcher in this study explored and described the elements of successful primary source use in the secondary American and world history classrooms of three teacher participants in a qualitative, semester-long case study. Student and teacher perspectives of the impact of primary sources were also considered. In contrast to some of the existing literature, primary sources can be employed successfully and consistently in the secondary history classroom as demonstrated by the three teacher participants in this semester-long study in a large suburban Atlanta, Georgia, school district.</p>

<p> As a high percentage of substance use counselors are in recovery, using adult learning methods such as constructivism and transformational learning are needed to neutralize any preestablished views of treatment modalities that may exist, as well as combat any possible issues of countertransference. Teaching critical thinking leads to student improvement in critical thinking, and critical thinking has been positively correlated with competency level, thus teaching these skills is imperative to the field. However, these skills taught and methods utilized are typically taught in advanced education, something not necessarily required to practice substance use counseling. As the progression of the field of substance use counseling continues to mature, the separation gap between the fields of mental health and substance use counseling continues to close. This study indicates although we have not set nationwide standards for practice as substance use counselors, and the field has not kept pace with mental health counselors in terms of standardization, those in the field are aware of the need for heightened professionalism and are preparing to treat patients to the best of their ability by going above and beyond the current requirement in many cases. The unification of these separate counseling practices would aid in in preparing substance use counselors to work with the complexities of co-occurring disorders as well as streamline the licensing process, aid in resolving current substance use counseling workforce issues, and create more adherence to evidence-based practices, thereby affecting the true bottom line: treatment outcomes. A descriptive comparative research design using the survey method was utilized in this study to answer the overarching research question, is there a difference in critical thinking skills in substance use counselors based on education level as measured by two validated critical thinking skill survey instruments, the Critical Thinking Disposition Scale and the Actively Open-Minded Thinking Scale. The population for this study are professional level NAADAC members, actively working substance use counselors across the United States with varying levels and types of education. Results of the study supported the null hypothesis, there is no difference in critical thinking skills based on education. However, 73% of the population surveyed had obtained a Master&rsquo;s degree or higher, which could explain these results.</p><p>

<p> The most recent phase of curriculum reform in the era of accountability is the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) which have essentially reshaped the landscape of public education. Its objective of preparing K-12 students for college and career upon high school graduation have prioritized English language arts, mathematics, and science over social studies, which is not part of widespread high-stakes testing for elementary students. This qualitative case study investigated eleven intermediate elementary teachers&rsquo; perceptions of alignment between CCSS and the elementary social studies curriculum. Data gathering analysis included two semi-structured interviews and an archival analysis of the mandated curriculum. The data revealed that perceptions of alignment vary among teachers and were influenced by the perceived effects of inadequate instructional time and resources, lack of content knowledge, and insufficient district levels of professional support. Teachers perceived some similarities between the methods of thinking skills, such as historical thinking and higher-order thinking, and the English/Language Arts standards of the Common Core and their district social studies curriculum. Despite perceived inadequate instructional time and resources, teachers believed that elementary social studies must be an instructional priority and found ways to include social studies through interdisciplinary approaches. Recommendations include district-level professional development focused on an integration between CCSS and social studies modeled in classroom practices. These approaches may improve use of instructional time and resources and reduce the marginalization of elementary social studies.</p><p>

This thesis examines how high school Canadian history textbooks authorized for use in Ontario from 1945 to the present have represented knowledge about race, racism, and opposition to racism in relation to the nation and national identity. Through a Foucault-informed critical discourse analysis, the thesis documents how racism permeates the taken-for-granted structures of schooling, how the imagined community of Canada is reproduced, and how ideas about the nation, race, racism, and opposition to racism are put into cultural circulation as normalized regimes of truth. My findings can be summarized briefly as follows: (1) Canadian history textbooks continue to circulate the 18th century idea that humanity is divided into sets of biological or naturally occurring races, in spite of it having been recognized for some time that races are social constructions, not facts of nature; (2) Racism has consistently been reduced to irrational, abnormal, extreme, and individualized problems of psychological or moral deficit and represented as either foreign to Canada, isolated incidents within Canada, or part of a distant past and with consequences solely for the racially subjugated; and (3) Opposition to racism has been represented in these textbooks as a state-driven enterprise stressing tolerance of the Other and privileging the idea that racism can be eradicated or stopped wherever it is seen to start. I argue, moreover, that the circulation of this knowledge about race, racism, and opposition to racism helps to prop up particular nationalist mythologies, most notably the myth of Canada as a uniquely tolerant and pluralistic nation-state which has effectively resolved the problem of racism. The effect is to depict Canada as a 'better place to live,' a model for other nations to emulate, and a place with a moral responsibility to uplift apparently inferior places in the world. I conclude by discussing how the institutionalized arrogance necessary to represent Canada as a space of vanquished racism or as a place of antiracist achievement perpetuates mythologies of white settler benevolence as it at once obscures the banal racisms upon which the modern nation-state is built and re-built.

This study investigated the effects of Picture Rehearsal with and without covert reinforcement on the turn-taking behavior of four children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder and placed in a public school. A counterbalanced multiple baseline design across participants was used to examine treatment effects. Data were analyzed using visual analysis and statistical analysis. Visual analysis included an inspection of adjacent phase changes in means, levels, trends, and latency of change. A time-series analysis was used to identify statistically significant trends in the data. Results indicated that the Picture Rehearsal with the covert reinforcement condition was more effective at increasing turn-taking behavior than the Picture Rehearsal without the covert reinforcement condition. These results offer some support for covert conditioning; however, conclusions are limited by a number of factors. Additional research is needed in order to obtain more reliable conclusions.

No description available.

<p> A mini-economy is an ongoing classroom project in which elementary school students apply for jobs, receive simulated income, go shopping at the classroom store, and ultimately create their own businesses. This study uses design-based research methodology to find out what classroom practices emerge when the College, Career, and Civic Life Framework for Social Studies State Standards (C3 Framework) (National Council for the Social Studies, 2013) is used by elementary teachers as the basis for instruction in the context of a classroom mini-economy, and how analysis of those practices can be used to improve instructional design. Design-based research seeks to simultaneously create and analyze teaching materials, with the purpose of improving both the materials themselves and the research literature on which the materials are based. In this case, the goal of the teaching materials was to improve the authenticity and rigor of the teacher-participants&rsquo; classroom mini-economies. Therefore, the study draws upon research literature in Authentic Intellectual Work, as well as inquiry teaching in social studies, particularly in economic education. </p><p> Authentic Intellectual Work (AIW) is a way to think about curriculum, instruction, and assessment. It seeks &ldquo;to identify some kinds of intellectual work as more complex and socially or personally meaningful than others&rdquo; (King, Newmann, &amp; Carmichael, 2009). It consists of construction of knowledge, disciplined inquiry, and value beyond school (Scheurman &amp; Newmann, 1998). Inquiry teaching in social studies has taken many forms, most currently in the C3 Framework, which was the approach used in this study. The C3 Framework conceptualizes inquiry as &ldquo;the disciplinary concepts and practices that support students as they develop the capacity to know, analyze, explain, and argue about interdisciplinary challenges in our social world&rdquo; (National Council for the Social Studies, 2013, p. 6). Classroom mini-economies in particular fall within the realm of the social science of economics, so the study pays special attention to the literature on K-12 economic education. </p><p> The study reveals ways in which teachers were able to use the C3 Framework to build authenticity in the mini-economy, though it also reveals that teachers were willing to dilute the quality of the inquiry process when it fit with their larger goals. The findings suggest that inquiry as conceived in the C3 Framework can be used as a powerful tool for equipping students for an increasingly complex social world. However, the inquiry process is at its best when lesson materials that use it are carefully designed to meet teachers&rsquo; desires to provide interdisciplinary and real-world experiences for their students.</p>

<p>Education today needs to be different than the education that has been prevalent in U.S. public schools for generations of students, in part because of the rapid rise of technology in recent years. Students need to be able to employ 21st century skills in today&rsquo;s workforce. The current study&rsquo;s purpose was to measure the educational impact of Project Based Learning (PBL) in eighth grade social studies on students&rsquo; academic achievement, attendance, and discipline in a north Texas School district. The researcher analyzed historical State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) data, attendance data, and discipline data housed in the Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS). Achievement results were measured using scale scores from the STAAR eighth grade social studies, reading, and mathematics tests. The groups (PBL and nonPBL) were then compared using independent sample t-tests and a series of MANOVA tests to compare the specific objectives within the subject tests. The results of the study indicated that PBL students performed better on the STAAR social studies test and all four of the social studies objectives tested by STAAR than nonPBL students. Attendance and discipline rates were then compared using independent sample t-tests. </p><p> The results showed that PBL students do not have higher attendance rates and lower discipline rates than students in nonPBL settings. Recommendations made by the researcher related to further expansion of PBL within social studies and science classrooms in the District as well as additional research opportunities. </p><p> <i>Keywords</i>: project based learning, accountability, student engagement, student attendance, student discipline, student achievement, 21st century skills </p>

Case management by professional nurses is a rapidly expanding function within managed care systems. The purposes of this study were to describe the extent of perceived control over nursing practice, job stress, and work satisfaction among 30 Nurse Case Managers (n = 30) practicing in two different models of nursing case management and to describe the impact of control over nursing and job stress on work satisfaction. Three instruments were used: Control Over Nursing Practice Scale, Nurse Case Manager Job Stress Index, and Index of Work Satisfaction for Nurse Case Managers. Work satisfaction was positively correlated with control over nursing practice (r =.65, p =.01) and a negatively correlated with job stress (r = -.43, p =.01). Demographic characteristics were not correlated with the variables under study. Control over nursing practice had a stronger impact (B =.59) on work satisfaction than did job stress (B = -.33); together they explained 53 percent of the variance in work satisfaction.