<p> This research- and text-based project examined the influence of place-based field science education courses on the ethical development and awareness of land on participants through the lens of Aldo Leopold&rsquo;s &ldquo;The Land Ethic.&rdquo; Literature pertinent to the topic was scrutinized, with particular attention to: Aldo Leopold&rsquo;s life and influences, &ldquo;The Land Ethic&rdquo; and supporting texts, ethical philosophy, place-based education, experiential education, and conservation psychology. Five people were selected for interviews based on their standing as experts in their respective fields, representing the various pertinent underlying topics. Interviewees were asked questions surrounding the thesis question. Interview transcripts were qualitatively coded and analyzed for emergent themes and ideas and compared against the texts from the literature review. Though the literature and the research participants found value in place-based field science education in improving the academic skills of participants, they did not find that place-based field education courses would have a significant influence on the ethical development and awareness of participants due to the limited time of most courses. However, the findings of this thesis do not discount the value of place-based field education courses as transformative experiences that might still have a place within the ethical and educational development of some students.</p><p>

<p> The notion of service has enjoyed historical longevity&mdash;rooted deeply within our institutions (i.e., churches, schools, government, military, etc.), reminiscent of indentured servitude, and rarely questioned as a colonizing practice that upholds oppression. Given the relentless insertion of service learning programs into working class communities, the sacrosanctity awarded and commonsensically given to service is challenged and understood within its colonial, historical, philosophical, economic, and ideological machinations. This political confrontation of service learning practices serves to: (a) critique the dominant epistemologies that reproduce social inequalities within the context of service learning theory and practice; and (b) move toward the formulation of a critical bicultural service learning theory and critical principles, in line with the humanizing and emancipatory intent of a critical decolonizing pedagogical practice. </p><p> This dissertation is deeply influenced by the writings of Brazilian educational philosopher Paulo Freire and critical activist scholar Antonia Darder, among others, and incisively examines and critiques service learning through critical bicultural pedagogy and critical decolonizing interpretive methodology. As a radical political project, Darder&rsquo;s decolonizing interpretive theoretical framework provides an opportunity to rupture the abyssal divide that epistemologically privileges the Eurocentric service learning discourse in an effort to place bicultural voices, scholarship, and communities at the forefront of this educational movement. In seeking to move toward equality and liberatory practices, both politically and pedagogically, it is imperative that critical consciousness be the guide to ensure that society does not stand by and accept the displacement and dehumanization of the oppressed by culturally invasive practices of service. </p>

<p>As the world is experiencing unprecedented changes and challenges, it is essential to develop educational approaches that enable current and future leaders to be effective in meeting them. To do so, education must foster transformation of the learner to achieve an inclusive, dynamic, and flexible approach to life. This dissertation involved a case study evaluation of data collected about a leadership curriculum that attempted to accomplish those objectives within a university setting. The curriculum aimed at enabling the expansion and evolution of each participants? worldview. The curriculum, developed specifically for this study, was taught through an integrally-informed approach to transformative learning within a learning community. A comprehensive overview of the constituent parts of the theories integrated in the curriculum, as well as the synthesis of them combined, is presented in the dissertation, including a discussion of the practical application of leadership development delivered within the curriculum through a content-neutral, andragogical approach to an education that transforms. The study analyzed several types of data, including interviews conducted to determine participants? experience of the leadership course, and student journals. The analysis revealed themes regarding how students? worldviews shifted in partial response to engaging in this evolutionary approach to education. These themes included the following: increased self-awareness and self-care; an increase in confidence; a deepening of authenticity; feeling more connected within diverse social environments; acknowledging an explicit worldview expansion; a positive palpable emotional shift in awareness; an increase in perspective taking ability; developing an evolutionary approach to life; and creating enhanced clarity of purpose. The study concluded with suggestions to inform future applications of this curricular model to more rigorous and comprehensive research settings that would enable even more robust data. The findings of this dissertation, as well as those of future projects, will form building blocks for continually refined and potent approaches to facilitating truly transformative education.

<p>LIEB, SHERYL J., Ph.D. In Pursuit of a Pedagogy of Personhood: Existentialism and Possibilities for Educator Liberation. (2015) Directed by Dr. Glenn M. Hudak. 244 pp. In this study, I explore the problem of 21st century educator existential oppression (my term) as the negation of personal and pedagogical personhood that I experienced as a result of my confrontations (across three separate schools) with oppressive policies and practices instituted by the neoliberal business model within the institution of education. I use my story to reflect the individual educator?s situation of dehumanization as it has become embedded within a neoliberal pedagogy of standardization, measurement, and objectification, asserting that this is an increasingly common phenomenon among contemporary educators. I discuss philosophical conceptions of oppression, personhood, and pedagogy through the lens of existentialism, positioned as a humanizing response to the dehumanization of neoliberal educational ideology. Emphasizing the existential attitude of intentional self-consciousness for self- reclamation (personhood) and resistance to oppression, I also address existential tenets that inform my current efforts toward teaching for freedom in the undergraduate classroom. Four existential questions frame the conclusion of this study, the responses to which prioritize the concept of integrity as fundamental to the pursuit of an individual pedagogy of personhood and the rehumanization of education, even inferring the community at large. The methodology of this study is an integration of philosophical analysis and scholarly personal narrative writing (SPN), the latter including reflections and commentaries interspersed throughout the study, along with excerpts from post-class, teaching field notes (spring 2013, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro), most notably in Chapter IV.

<p> This paper (1) draws on a review of the literature on instructional video to map onto one model of professional development the learning goals and reflective activities that are most likely to develop the potential of instructional video to change beliefs and develop critical consciousness, and (2) provides anecdotal evidence to explore the potential of instructional video in an asset-focused, transformative, and responsive model of professional development in culturally responsive teaching. The paper concludes that instructional video can be an effective tool for professional development in culturally responsive teaching because people often need to see transformations in teaching and learning before they can believe such transformations are possible. </p><p> PAPER TWO: &ldquo;LISTEN THEN, OR, RATHER, ANSWER&rdquo;: CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGES TO SOCRATIC EDUCATION </p><p> The popularity of Jacques Ranci&egrave;re in recent work in educational philosophy has rejuvenated discussion of the merits and weaknesses of Socratic education, both in Plato&rsquo;s dialogues and in invocations of Socrates in contemporary educational practice. This paper explores the implications of this trend through comparing Ranci&egrave;re&rsquo;s educational thought to an analysis of Socratic education in Plato&rsquo;s Republic. The paper also draws on the educational literature on Socratic education to provide further context to explore the usefulness of both Ranci&egrave;re and Socrates for contemporary teaching. </p><p> PAPER THREE: PEOPLE MAKE REVOLUTIONS, NOT TECHNOLOGY: THE ROLE OF FACEBOOK, TWEETS, AND TEXTING IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF YOUTH ACTIVISM </p><p> This paper explores one teen&rsquo;s experience using social media to organize a high school walkout. Jonathan Ortiz learned about education budget cuts from his teacher, and leveraged social media and texting as political organizing tools. The paper explores what it meant for Jonathan to develop as a youth activist during a time when social media and texting have made organizing faster and more efficient. The paper concludes (1) face-to-face relationships provided the most impactful developmental opportunities for Jonathan as he came of age as a youth activist, and (2) social media may be more likely to support the development of youth activism when adult mentors intervene with strategies of facilitation and teaching.</p>

<p> 21st century skills are vital for students' preparation to successfully live and work as adults in the 21st century. Given the prominence and importance of the 21st century skills, there is a need for more extensive research regarding community activities, service learning, and the development of 21st century skills. The purpose of this study was to examine the level of self-reported improvement in 21st century skill development of youth puppy raisers after participating in a year-long service-oriented experience in the following areas: (a) interdisciplinary skills, (b) learning and innovation skills, (c) information, media, and technology skills, and (d) life and career skills. A quantitative survey instrument was designed based on the Partnership for 21st Century Skills Framework and named The Peace Inventory of 21st Century Skills. The instrument contains four skill domains consisting of 23 total survey items. A four point Likert scale was used to collect self-reported improvement ratings for each of the 23 items. The results from 113 individuals who began puppy raising for Guide Dogs for the Blind after January 1, 2005 while under the age of 18 were collected and analyzed. The means and standard deviations for each of the four skill domains were calculated, and a repeated measures analysis of variance was used to determine if a significant difference existed between the four skill domains. The findings revealed that participants attributed improvement in each of the four 21st century skill domains from the experience as a puppy raiser for Guide Dogs for the Blind. This service-learning experience had the strongest reported impact on both life and career skills and learning and innovation skills. The findings from this research further support and strengthen the literature regarding the benefits of service-learning experiences on youth development, especially in regards to 21st century skills. </p>

This thesis focuses on contemporary religious education within the state system of England and Wales. It explores the influence upon religious education of epistemology, theological and religious formulations, and educational philosophy in the context of the decline of modernism and concurrent emergence of programmes of post-modernism and critical realism. Within this developing context the question of the ability of religious education to make possible the emergence of authentic religious understanding is asked. In Part One, the provenance of religious education between 1944 and 1988 is identified as being that of the tradition of liberal modernism that grew out of the Enlightenment. The basic dualistic epistemological contours of modernism are identified, and it is shown how these give rise to a liberal experiential-expressive understanding of the nature of religion. In similar fashion, modernism engenders specifically modem forms of educational philosophy. Religious education has elected to work within this modernist provenance, making uncritical assumptions that are dependent upon modem philosophical, religious and educational debate, and as a result is unable to uphold the integrity of its subject matter. In Part Two, the nature of deconstructive post-modem responses to the limitations of modernism are outlined, together with the understanding of the nature of religion that such a reaction produces. It is suggested that the implementation of a programme of religious education within this alternative setting would also fail to do justice to the integrity of religion. In Part Three, the response of critical realism to modernism is set out, and the implications of this for an understanding of the nature of religion are explored. A philosophy of education within critical realism is proposed, together with a revised framework for religious education, one able to uphold the integrity of religion, both in terms of its intrinsic diversity and its intrinsically realistic self-understanding

<p> Racial/ethnic disparities in school discipline have existed for decades (Children&rsquo;s Defense Fund, 1975), and have had a disproportionately negative effect on the educational attainment, social/emotional well being and life chances of students of color. While past research has found that school racial/ethnic balance is amongst the most powerful predictors of the student-level risk and severity of school discipline (Rocque &amp; Paternoster, 2011; Skiba, Chung, Trachok, Baker, Sheya &amp; Hughes, 2014; Welch &amp; Payne, 2010), only a handful of studies have examined how school racial/ethnic balance affects discipline gaps between students of color and their White counterparts (Freeman &amp; Steidl, 2016; Thornton &amp; Trent, 1988). However, careful analysis of previous scholarship suggests that students of color attending schools with higher proportions of White students may be particularly vulnerable to racialized and overly punitive discipline practices (Eitle &amp; Eitle, 2004; Welch &amp; Payne, 2010). The primary purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between school-level racial/ethnic disparities in suspension and the proportion of White students in a school. Regression analysis was used to analyze a nationally representative sample of K-12 schools for each U.S. Census designated student groups of color: American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian, Black, Latinx, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, Two or more Races. Analysis was guided by critical race and intergroup threat theories, which explored the ways that structural racism and perceptions of intergroup threat can produce ideologies, dispositions and actions that deny historically marginalized youth the full benefit of public education (Ladson-Billings &amp; Tate, 1995; Welch &amp; Payne, 2010). Descriptive findings demonstrated that the problem of inequitable suspension rates was perhaps more acute and widespread than previously appreciated. This study provided some of the first empirical evidence of elevated risk of suspension for Asians, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders, students of two or more Races, and students of color in predominantly-White schools. Inferential analysis offered support for two important emerging findings in the school discipline literature. First, analysis indicated that elementary schools tend to have consistently larger racial/ethnic discipline gaps than middle and high schools. Secondly, multivariate analysis showed that the best predictors of school level racial/ethnic discipline gaps were different from those that have best predicted student-level incidence and severity of discipline in previous scholarship. Collectively, results contributed empirical evidence that can help identify the school contexts in which students of color appear to be at elevated risk of suspension, what kinds of reforms might produce more equitable discipline outcomes, where such reforms should be implemented, and how stakeholders can mitigate the irreparable harm caused by racialized discipline policies and practices. Directions for future research are provided, along with recommendations for policy and practice.</p><p>

<p> This study focuses on mass civic adult education reform. It inquires how lessons learned from the Chautauqua Movement, a movement that was funded through philanthropy and exploded throughout the United States and Canada in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, can be applied to popular civic adult education reform today. At its peak, the Chautauqua Movement engaged more than 50 million people annually (or almost 50% of the total population at the time), playing a major role in building shared values among Protestant dominations, and kept adults without access to formal education informed. With the Chautauqua Movement&rsquo;s contraction, a void in mass civic adult education was never filled.</p><p> The aim of this inquiry is threefold. First, it aims to understand the tenets of the Chautauqua movement and how this movement became so popular among adults. Second, it seeks to understand why the Chautauqua Movement declined. Third, this inquiry discusses lessons of the Chautauqua Movement for twenty-first century civic adult education. The approach of this inquiry is a historical case study and uses archives, mapping, and interviews for a mixed methods view of this very complex phenomenon in American history.</p><p>

<p> The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore <i>how </i> and <i>why</i> adjunct instructors address incidences of student plagiarism at a small, private institution in North Carolina. The researcher sought to identify the factors used in determining to address plagiarism, informal sanctions used, and perceived barriers to addressing plagiarism. Rational choice theory was the foundation by which the study was designed, analyzed, and discussed. The study consisted of 56 adjunct instructors: 39 questionnaire participants, 13 semi-structured interview participants, and four focus group participants. Thematic data analysis was used to code narrative data and find common themes throughout the data. Frequency counts were also instrumental in showing similarities among participant responses. Twelve factors for deciding to pursue plagiarism were identified. Results illustrated that addressing plagiarism is highly subjective due to difficulty in determining intent. Participants depended on observable traits such as amount, as well as followed moral and ethical convictions. Results further illustrated that participants always addressed plagiarism and used a combination of six informal sanctions. However, sanctions varied for similar incidents and demonstrated the inconsistent nature of how plagiarism is addressed. The last research question identified seven perceived barriers, including a need for more specific guidelines. Moving forward, the study provided considerations for lessening subjective decisions and inconsistencies in the way adjunct instructors address plagiarism. </p><p>