The subject of this thesis is Hermann Lietz and the Landerziehungsheime. Its purpose is to discover the sources of the Heime in Lietz's life and thought. It seeks to answer the basic question, "Why did Lietz become an educator and what were his motives in establishing the Landerziehungsheime?" The thesis is divided, generally, into three sections. The first attempts to isolate and reconstruct those events in Lietz's biography which were decisive in the shaping of the educator. The second part investigates certain aspects of the thought of J. G. Fichte, P. de Lagarde end R. Eucken, the three major intellectual influences upon the development of Lietz's idealistic Weltanschauung. The third section considers the Landerziehungsheim itself as a result of the interaction between Lietz' s concrete life experience and his philosophical-religious world-view.

The purpose of this study of the epistemology of John Amos Comenius was to discover and make clear the philosophical basis for his pedagogical ideas. It was encouraged by Dr. Dagmar Capkova of the Comenius Institute in Prague who pointed to a limitation of Comenian studies in United States schools, i.e., the study of his ideas apart from their philosophical basis.

For a number of years the educational community has recognized the importance of teaching critical thinking skills to all students; however, a shift in educational pedagogy and philosophy has occurred. Through recent legislation the funding of educational institutions that demonstrate competencies and gains from standardized test scores has been mandated. Although performance measurement regarding the effectiveness of learning environments is useful, students must learn critical thinking skills to compete globally, problem solve effectively, self-actualize, preserve democracy, and promote human rights. The relationship between content and critical thinking presents a unique challenge in American education. This study examined the shift in focus from critical thinking to standards-based assessment in American education and focused on data garnered and analyzed from The California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST). The purpose of this study was to determine if there were differences in the 5 dimensions of critical thinking based on colleges and gender based upon 1,455 graduating seniors for the 2009-2010 academic year on the (CCTST). This study used descriptive and inferential statistics to analyze data. In this quantitative study, data from the (CCTST) were gathered and distributed to the researcher for compilation and statistical analysis. Findings from this study indicate that gender and major college of study significantly influence the means on the dimensions of the CCTST. This study provides information regarding critical thinking skills in a higher education setting and is useful for higher education practitioners in facilitating the development of critical thinking skills. The results of this study add to the body of knowledge regarding critical thinking.

This qualitative study featured two research endeavors. The first was a narrative inquiry of six teachers at Weedpatch Charter School as they understood curricular and pedagogical decisionmaking. These teachers, along with the Weedpatch Charter School founder, participated in this study soon after the curriculum and instruction decision-making had undergone a democratization effort whereby a top-down administrative approach was replaced by a teacher-led effort. Ironically, WCS school leadership welcomed the latter effort, despite the antiteacher legacy of the charter movement, which has long featured “at will” employment and no collective bargaining. The second component of this study was critical discourse analysis (CDA) of the curricular and pedagogical manuals used at WCS before and after the democratization effort. The findings in this study point to a dialectical set of developments at WCS that made it possible for teachers to move from a period of disillusionment into a period of active teacher agency. Similarly, the document analysis findings point to the need for more nuanced understandings of the ideological underpinnings of charter schools. Discourse analysis determined that WCS did not necessarily present a classic example of neoliberalism. Given the latter nuance, the manual that the teachers created was counterhegemonic, liberatory, and ultimately contextual and contingent upon that very unique WCS dynamic. As such, the conclusion of this study was that charter leaders could learn from teacher understandings not by being prescriptive but by abiding by what the author has coined contingent collectivism.

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For this phenomenological study, thirteen participants from two private universities, located in the western region of the United States shared their lived experiences of being a college student who does not request accommodations. The author used recursive analysis to analyze qualitative data from semistructured interviews. Initial codes were combined to create interconnected families of codes. A second level of analysis resulted in seven spaces in which participants described their lived experiences. Findings suggest participants experience various tensions, ranging from incompatible options to competing perspectives, as they negotiate their identify and environment. including the principle of opportunity cost. Recommendations for college administrators and faculty, including Universal Design in higher education are included.

Some scholars have formed a more expansive view of knowledge that moves beyond the cognitive notion of intellect. For example, emotional intelligence (EI) theory posits that human intelligence encompasses both cognitive and emotional competencies, providing a framework for the concept of contemplative practices in an endeavor to support an eclectic understanding of cognition. Contemplative practices may benefit graduate student disposition and inform areas of educator preparation through the use of emotional adeptness in higher education. The purpose of this study was to: (a) develop a self-report measure: Scale of Contemplative Practice in Higher Education (SCOPE); (b) address the issues of validity and reliability related to the SCOPE; and (c) expand the understanding of contemplative practices in the literature. Data collected from an extensive review of the literature, reference to personal experiences, and consultation with an expert panel were used to generate scale items. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to test the factor model. Analyses resulted in a 30-item factor model with strong reliabilities.

Counseling psychologists are tasked with understanding optimal psychological and cognitive functioning. Recent theoretical predictions (Crisp & Turner, 2011) and growing evidence suggest that cross-race interactions are important ways individuals might improve their cognitive and psychosocial functioning. However, the theoretical predictions from Crisp and Turner have not yet been tested in one model. Further, much of the empirical support for the theoretical predictions has been from studies using 1) undergraduate samples and 2) weak theory-measurement fit. The present study used an online, community survey (N = 270) to test Crisp and Turner’s (2011) predictions that cognitive flexibility would mediate the relationship between cross-race interactions and psychological well-being in both a White sample (N = 198) and a sample of Color (N = 70). Results supported the hypothesized mediational model, indicating that more frequent cross-race interactions were associated with greater psychological well-being, through greater cognitive flexibility. The findings are discussed in the context of Crisp and Turner’s model (2011). Implications for sociological, educational, and psychological professionals are also discussed. Recommendations for future studies include experimental, longitudinal, and intervention studies with strong theory-measurement fit.

This dissertation explores how student housing impacted the college campus of the University of Kentucky in the Progressive Era. Student housing has long been part of the college ideal but lacked full engagement by many administrators. Through three examinations, housing will be shown to have directly influenced the administrative, social, and staffing elements of the college campus. The role student housing played in the interaction of political, rural, and sociological changes on the campus during the time period allows exploration in detail while addressing the changes within those areas of the state as well. While housing was an afterthought by the administration due to oversight and lack of funding throughout much of the examined history (1880-1945), its consideration was still an essential part of student life and part of the college ideal. Housing was a place wholly of the student – while administrators set policies and the government had a concern for it at various times, it was also a place where, originally, a “boys will be boys” mentality slid by, unapproved, but unthreatened. However, how did the politics of the state shape the college and its housing experience? How did the addition of women students, the first of many major additions that were foreign to the original student population of mostly rural males, change the campus and its structures? Originating in the “environment” of student-centered housing – be it boarding houses, Greek houses, or dormitories, the students who populated these facilities would cajole, alter, and sometimes force the campus through both intentional and unintentional engagements and interactions. This dissertation shall establish an understanding of how the administration, particularly the presidency, viewed student housing. Following the introduction, three sections shall detail instances of housing influencing the campus climate in ways previously understudied. First, an examination of the political climate of the state interacted with concerns about student housing as a key factor in ending the presidency of Barker. The second section will show how a judicial ruling created new forms of student services – granting in loco parentis control but also creating the need for the diversification of services beyond what had existed previously. The third section will denote, in detail, how housing women changed the college campus – expanding its borders and the need for services. Through such examinations, a previously unexplored role of student living quarters as affecting the growth and development of the University of Kentucky into the institution it is now shall become apparent.

This study examines factors that affect student motivation and achievement in the middle school eighth grade science classroom, including, teacher-student relationships, student-peer relationships, teacher expectations in science, student preference of instructional delivery (labs vs. lecture), teacher demographics (experience at local school, professional experience, qualifications, age range), and student perceptions of teacher expectations in science. One hundred fifty survey participants were used in this quantitative study which included an analysis of the independent variables affecting student motivation and academic achievement. The findings of this study determined that there is a statistically significant relationship between student motivation and student perceptions of teacher expectations, actual teacher expectations, teacher’s age, teacher’s highest level of education, and whether or not a student received free or reduced lunch.