<p> Research has shown that the working environment of physical education influences teacher motivation. Identifying the characteristics of teachers&rsquo; working environment may contribute to developing a productive and motivating working environment for physical education teachers. </p><p> The first part of this dissertation study was focused on developing and validating an instrument that measures physical education teachers&rsquo; job demands/resources perception on five theorized dimensions: organizational resources, physical resources, cognitive demands, physical demands, and emotional demands. The content validity was achieved through expert evaluation of the consistency between the items and the dimensions they represent. The evaluation rendered an average consistency rating of 3.6 on a 5 point scale. The construct validity and reliability were determined with a physical education teacher sample (n=193). Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) established a five-dimension construct structure matching the theoretical construct with factor loadings ranging from .57 to .85. The intraclass correlational coefficients ranged from .75 to .80 for job resources and from .80 to .83 for job demands, respectively. The inter-scale correlational coefficients ranged from .14 to .25, showing both convergent and divergent validity. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) confirmed the construct structure found in the EFA with high dimensional factor loadings ranging from .47 to .81 for job resources scale and from .51 to .86 for job demands scale. The model fit tests produced acceptable indices including the RMSEA &lt; .05. It is concluded that the instrument met the required psychometric standards to be useful to measure physical education teachers&rsquo; perception of their working environment. </p><p> The second part of the study was to determine the extent to which the perceived job demands and resources influence physical education teachers&rsquo; motivation regulatory processes and motivation. An <i>a priori</i> model was proposed for testing based on the integration of the Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and Job Demands-Resources Model. Certified physical education teachers in two southeastern states (n=193) provided self-reported data on perceived job demands and resources in the working environment, motivation regulatory processes, and motivation to teach. Structural equation modeling analysis revealed that increasing job demands in working environment enabled the teachers to adopt more autonomous regulatory processes, such as integrated regulation (&gamma; = .20) but not more controlling regulatory processes, such as external regulation (&gamma; = -.16) and introjected regulation (&gamma; = -.22). The findings of the study provide empirical evidence that relate perceptions of working environment to physical education teachers&rsquo; motivation to teach.</p>

<p> The purpose of this proposal was to develop a grant to create a psychoeducation program for individuals and caregivers with traumatic brain injuries that will be applied at The Brian Injury Association of California (BIAC) located in Bakersfield, California. Based on the literature reviewed, a psychoeducation program for individuals and caregivers with traumatic brain injuries has a strong potential to promote the message of healthy living to BIAC clients. The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation was selected as the potential funding source. Submission and/or funding was not a requirement for the successful completion of the project.</p>

<p> Multiple-baseline across participants design was used to examine the effects of professional development (PD) and coaching on preschool teachers&rsquo; implementation of embedded-explicit literacy instruction to increase children&rsquo;s opportunities to engage in meaningful, intentional, and contextualized literacy behaviors, as measured by Complete Learning Trials (CLTs). Three teachers were videotaped weekly during free-play and observations were coded for CLT accuracy. After professional development, coaching was provided weekly via email. An immediate effect of PD was observed, with considerable variability once remote feedback was provided. Students&rsquo; early literacy skills were measured prior to and at the end of the study to provide a snapshot of children&rsquo;s literacy-related skills. Compared to pre-intervention scores, children&rsquo;s picture naming, rhyming, sound identification and comprehension skills had significantly increased, however, due to the research design these changes cannot be attributed to teachers&rsquo; implementation or non-implementation of explicit-embedded activities alone.</p>

Students who are self-regulated are more likely to succeed academically, whereas students who have deficiencies in their learning have been recognized as having a lack of metacognitive awareness (Valdez, 2013; Zimmerman, 2002). If students are metacognitively unaware in large introductory courses, they may have difficulty knowing when to self-regulate and modify their learning (Lin & Zabrucky, 1998; Stone, 2000). One manner in which researchers have assessed students’ metacognitive awareness is by asking students to estimate how they think they will do on tasks compared to their actual performance, known as calibration. The purpose of this study was to examine students’ calibration and study habits. Participants were undergraduates (N = 384) in an introductory biology course at a southeastern U.S. university. Students completed four surveys that assessed their exam score expectations and the study habits they used prior to each exam. Results showed that students’ estimates are most discrepant from their actual performance early in the semester and become more accurate at the end of the semester. A closer look at students’ study habits revealed that the inaccuracy of students’ exam judgments showed little connection to the study strategies that students used. Findings from this study are important for biology instructors.

<p> The current study examined the effects of gender, ethnicity, number of years enrolled in a current university, number of years in graduate school, number of years enrolled in a current graduate program, Conscientious Perfectionism, Self-Evaluative Perfectionism, and satisfaction with life on campus connectedness among a sample of 345 graduate students. The number of years enrolled in a current university, Self-Evaluative Perfectionism, and satisfaction with life were all significant predictors of campus connectedness. Interaction effects indicated that students with high satisfaction with life scores but low Self-Evaluative Perfectionism scores were more likely to experience greater campus connectedness and White students were more likely to experience greater campus connectedness when satisfaction with life scores were high. No significant differences in campus connectedness were found among Non-White students. Limitations, future directions, and implications for both counseling and graduate programs are discussed.</p>

<p>It was not known if and to what extent there was a relationship between the degree to which community college students believed that learning was enhanced when teachers tailored instruction to individual learning styles and student perceived academic locus of control (PAC). Learning styles theory and locus of control theory formed the theoretical framework for this quantitative correlational and descriptive study. Two research questions guided this work: (1) Is there a relationship between the extent to which community college students believe that learning is enhanced when teachers tailor instruction to individual learning styles and student PAC? (2) To what degree do community college students believe that learning is enhanced when instructors tailor their teaching to students&rsquo; individual learning styles? The population for this study included a convenience sample of 145 students enrolled in at least one class at a large community college. The Revised Trice Academic Locus of Control Scale was used to measure students&rsquo; PAC, and Dekker et al.&rsquo;s (2012) Neuromyth Survey was used to measure students&rsquo; belief in the learning styles myth. A point-biserial correlation analysis was conducted to answer the first research question, and descriptive statistics were used to answer the second research question. The results of the study showed that students strongly believed in the myth of learning styles (<i>N</i> = 138) but found no significant relationship between this belief and student PAC (<i>r_PB</i> = 0.010, <i>p</i> = .906). The findings of this study added to the literature on learning styles, PAC, and neuromyths and resulted in several implications for students and educators. </p><p> <i>Keywords</i>: neuromyths, learning styles, perceived academic locus of control (PAC) </p>

<p> Evidence Based Practices (EBPs) in schools show promise in meeting the behavioral health needs of urban students, however there are multiple barriers to implementation. Providers&rsquo; attitudes towards EBPs may be one of these barriers. Through a cross sectional survey design, this dissertation answers four major research questions: 1) Is the EBPAS-50 an appropriate tool to use with school based behavioral health providers, 2) Do attitudes vary depending on level of experience (student vs. professional), 3) Do attitudes vary depending on a practitioners&rsquo; hire status (school-hired vs. non-school hired), and 4) Do EBPAS-50 scores predict implementation of EBPs? Participants were 160 school behavioral health providers who provided at least one hour per week of direct or indirect services within the Boston Public Schools. Results indicated that the factor structures for the EBPAS-50 and EBPAS- 15 did not hold with this population, however the EBPAS-15 was used for further analysis as it has been validated many times since its introduction. Using the EBPAS-15: 1) graduate students reported more positive attitudes than professionals, 2) school-hired providers reported more positive attitudes than non-school hired providers, and 3) there was no correlation between attitudes and use of EBPs. Though differences may have been statistically significant, it is questionable as to whether these differences are practically significant as the average, rounded, response from providers indicated that they agreed with EBPs to &ldquo;a great extent&rdquo;. This suggests need for ongoing research to identify: 1) aspects of evidence based practices that are important to school-based providers, and 2) a revised tool to measure the attitudes of school-based providers towards EBPs.</p>

Thesis (MEdPsych (Educational Psychology))--University of Stellenbosch, 2008. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The focus of this study is a reflection by an educational psychologist of a five year old girl and her use of art media during her therapy sessions. The rational behind art therapy is that underlying feelings and problems are brought to the surface through the interaction with art media and art production (Oster & Crone, 2004). This enables the client to perceive the problem visually and learn how to process it. Educational psychologists are not necessarily trained to do art therapy. However the use of creative media can form part of their practice. A principle of art therapy – to create a safe environment for the person to work uninterrupted, was used in this study. A qualitative ex post facto study was used to complete this research. This entails a study of an occurrence (a child‟s use of art media in therapy) after it has been observed by the researcher. The aim of this research was to study, by means of a case study, a five year old girl‟s interaction with art media such as paint, clay and felt-tip pens throughout her therapy process. The amount of time spent with media, techniques and colours used, symbols made, as well as verbal and non-verbal behavior was observed. The participant‟s therapy sessions and informal interviews with her mother were recorded on video. The videotapes were studied and field notes of these, together with personal records and the artistic products that resulted from her sessions were used for data-collection. In addition and to enrich the study the possible meaning of the symbols depicted were also discussed. Inductive data-analyses (bottom to top) were used to process the data. The researcher‟s perspective during the study was of a reflective practitioner. The description of the participant‟s interaction with art media showed that she became more involved with it as time passed. There were noticeable changes in her use of colour, techniques and media. A positive change in her verbal and nonverbal behaviour was observed towards the end of her therapy-process.

<p> The current study examines California special education hearing officer (SEHO) case records for due process hearings held to settle disputes between families and the juvenile justice system. A mixed methods research design was used to explore trends and characteristics of the youths, families, types of disputes, and prevailing parties. Results indicate most of the cases involved male students aged 12-18 who met eligibility for emotional disturbance, seven types of complaints were filed, and families prevail more often in both substantive and procedural cases. The results of this study raise ethical concerns about juvenile justice agencies' ability to provide special education resources for court-involved youth.</p>

This research was conducted to obtain information to clarify the nature of the relationship between degree of prematurity and associated perinatal complications and academic achievement. Previous investigations have suggested that children born prematurely do experience academic deficits, however, significant relationships between prematurity and achievement have not consistently been reported. Advances in neonatal medical care in the past 20 years has ensured the survival of extremely fragile premature infants that previously would have perished. There has been great interest in the developmental progress of these premature survivors. In spite of this interest, questions still remain about academic progress. The present sample included 188 first grade students who were born prematurely. All students were enrolled in a prospective longitudinal follow-up program upon graduation from the neonatal intensive care nursery. Structural equation model testing (LISREL) was used to examine the structure of the relationships between the independent variables and academic achievement. Independent variables included the following; degree of prematurity, perinatal illness, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and preschool experience. Structural equation model testing revealed that none of the eleven models tested provided a good fit for the data. Hierarchical model testing indicated that one model was preferred over the others. The model that provided the most parsimonious representation of the data specified that there was no direct relationship between degree of prematurity and achievement nor was there a direct relationship between perinatal illness and achievement. This model also included direct relationships between ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and preschool experience and achievement. This analysis revealed that within this sample of premature survivors of neonatal intensive care, neither degree of prematurity nor perinatal illness were significantly related to academic achievement. The significance of socioeconomic status has been well documented in the literature and is supported by this investigation. While preschool experience was significantly related to achievement, the relationship was not in the anticipated direction. That is, children with preschool experience had lower achievement scores than children with no preschool experience. These unexpected results were discussed in terms of the lack of sensitivity of the preschool measure.