D.Ed

Ethnocentrism is a cognitive bias whereby people and practices of other cultures are viewed and judged according to what is right and wrong in one's own cultural group. Social studies teachers, when teaching about peoples and cultures, implicitly, if not explicitly, try to prevent the development of an ethnocentric attitude in their students. The purpose of this study was to develop a valid and reliable ethnocentrism scale for use by social studies teachers to gain feedback of how a particular unit of study effected their students. The scale can be used as a pre-post test measure before and after a course or unit of study. The known California E-scale, British Ethnocentrism Scale, and Australian Ethnocentrism Scale became the models for the construction of this scale. The developed ethno-centrism scale is a 30 item Likert summated rating scale using six response steps ranging from "agree very much" to "disagree very much". To insure content validity, test items were based on interviews with members of several minority groups in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia to gather information about practices and customs particular to their culture. The whole study was conducted using grade eight and nine students from four junior high schools in one Lower Mainland School District. The pool of test items were administered to approximately 550 subjects to gain data for item and factor analysis. Two ethnocentrism scales were constructed using items with high reliability rankings. The two forms were administered to groups of students to establish whether the forms were statistically parallel. The forms were not statistically parallel. One form using items with high item reliability rankings was constructed. An intervention study was conducted to check for construct validity. Eight social studies classes in one school were divided into experimental and control groups. The experimental classes were exposed to a three day lesson on ethnocentrism. The developed scale was used as a posttest measure. A significant difference between the two groups was reported. The experimental group means were significantly lower (p < .05), less ethnocentric, than control group means. Finally, the scale was administered to 215 students to gather data for test-retest reliability. At this stage the students were also administered a dogmatism scale and a self concept scale to check for concurrent and construct validity. Test-retest coefficent was high (p = .83) and the Hoyt reliability coefficent for test consistency was high for all administrations of the form ranging from .87 to .94. Recommendations for use of the developed ethnocentrism scale and areas for future research were based on the findings. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

No description available.

The purpose of the present study was to find out which of the two types of attributes of the marketing education program (at the high school level), tangible or symbolic, have the greatest influence on student interest in enrolling in the program. The findings will help program planners to develop appealing and workable promotional campaigns. In addition, the results of this study will also assist in modifying existing aspects of the program that will facilitate in attracting and retaining appropriate students. The methodology involved the usage of two models, the ideal social self-image congruence model and the Bass-Talarzyk attitude model. The first model was used to measure ideal social self-image (the symbolic attributes), where the second one measured the belief/importance variables (the tangible attributes). The instrument used was a questionnaire which was mailed to equal numbers of marketing education students and non-marketing education students in Virginia. A preliminary study was also conducted in which two focus group interviews took place utilizing thirty high school students at two local high schools. The students were asked to respond to questions regarding the tangible and symbolic attributes of the marketing education program at their schools. Multiple regression procedures were used to analyze the data. The findings showed that students are influenced more by the tangible attributes and to a lesser, but significant degree, by the symbolic attributes of the program in relation to their attitudes toward the marketing education program. The non-marketing students were influenced significantly by the symbolic attributes of the program, where as the marketing students were not. It is recommended that an effective promotional campaign be designed which will emphasize the important tangible and symbolic attributes of the program that were found in this study. In addition, the "college-preparation" attribute of the program should be emphasized in the campaign. The promotional campaign should be aimed at the students, teachers, parents, and counselors. Also, the important program attributes found in the study should be used to redesign some aspects of the program, in order to achieve higher program quality. / Ed. D.

No description available.

This study investigates the effect on high school students' attitude toward school, on their academic achievement, on their attendance, and on their participation in extracurricular activities when they have been forced to transfer schools because of changes in school attendance zones. Four hundred four randomly selected high school students from four groups were surveyed in four of Virginia Beach's seven high schools. These four groups were divided as follows: Group I Students who were forced to transfer schools Group II Students who elected to choose junior/senior option in order to remain in their 1982-83 schools Group III Students who were not affected by the attendance zone changes and remained in their 1982-83 schools Group IV Students who transferred into Virginia Beach City Schools from outside the city To determine the effect on attitude, the students were administered an Attitude Toward School Survey. An analysis of variance between the mean scores of the four groups was utilized to determine significant differences among the groups. An Extracurricular Activities Participation Questionnaire was administered to students and an attendance and grade point average worksheet was completed by school personnel to measure the other effects. The results from these instruments were analyzed by the analysis of covariance procedure in order to determine significant differences. In those instances where significant differences were found, the means of the groups were further analyzed by a multiple range test. Results indicated that no significant differences in student academic achievement, attendance, or participation in extracurricular activities were found among the four groups. There were significant differences, however, in attitude toward school among the various groups. The differences in this area resulted in those groups of students who were forced to transfer schools, either from within or from outside of Virginia Beach, having a less positive attitude toward school than those groups of students who chose the junior/senior option plan or who were not affected by the attendance zone changes. / Doctor of Education

This qualitative dissertation conducted a critical discourse analysis of youth and adult discourses about the transition to high school. Despite being a well-researched field, studies of the transition to high school and interventions in the transition to high school do not prioritize youth perspectives. To remedy this shortcoming and examine youth discourses, I collected data from youth giving advice about beginning high school on TikTok. By conducting a critical discourse analysis of these videos and comparing discourses from school website data and school counseling textbooks, I developed findings that showcase the complexities of the transition to high school and call into question views based solely on academic measures. Youth and adult discourses agree that timeliness, organization, and self-knowledge are important for a successful transition. Youth discourses uniquely focus on advice to avoid relational violence and present an ambivalent view of friendship. Discourses of school tours that showcase amenities and serve as advertising for the school are uniquely adult. I used these findings to theorize the transition to high school as a curriculum and call for a vision of youth and adults co-creating the transition-as-curriculum.

This dissertation explores the relationship between embodied learning and social engagement through the perspectives of four high school dance students. Embodied learning has been recognized for enhancing education by promoting active engagement, deepening comprehension, and improving retention. It was the focal point of the investigation, which took place at an independent kindergarten through twelfth-grade school in an urban area. Data collection involved interviews and reflections from student participants, with careful coding applied to identify emerging themes and patterns. These themes provided insight into how students' embodied experiences related to their social engagement. Although the reflections were collected post-movement exploration, they captured the students' thoughts and learning processes while in motion. The biggest affordance of this study is its emphasis on youth perspective. The findings shed light on students' capacity to synthesize their embodied learning in dance class, particularly when given reflective time, and the potential implications for their social engagement. By examining the intersection of embodied knowledge and social engagement from the students' perspectives, the dissertation contributes valuable insights into the role of movement in education and its broader implications for students' engagement in their communities.

This dissertation examines how high school mathematics research mentorships shape students' integration into mathematics through the development of self-efficacy, identity, and values. Using the Tripartite Integration Model of Social Influence (TIMSI) as a theoretical framework, this study investigates the mechanisms through which mentorship experiences foster these developmental constructs. Through in-depth interviews analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), the research reveals how adaptive scaffolding, professional skill building, collaborative dynamics, and fostering belonging interact to support mentees' growth. The findings highlight the importance of domain-specific mentoring strategies, thoughtful selection of research questions, and real-world applications in fostering engagement. The study also reveals significant equity concerns, as most participants attended well-resourced schools with established research cultures. Recommendations include expanding access through virtual mentorships and regional initiatives. While limitations include sample diversity and retrospective design, these constraints inform future research directions in mentorship scalability and longitudinal impact. This research extends TIMSI to the high school mathematics context while providing actionable recommendations for mentorship program design. The findings inform strategies for expanding access to research mentorships, particularly for students in underserved communities, while maintaining program quality and effectiveness. This study addresses critical gaps in understanding how early research experiences shape students' mathematical development and integration into the field.

丘海雄. / Thesis (M.A.)--香港中文大學, 1987. / Reprint of manuscript. / Qiu Haixiong. / Thesis (M.A.)--Xianggang Zhong wen da xue, 1987. / 導論 --- p.1 / Chapter 第一章 --- 研究的問題 --- p.8 / Chapter 第二章 --- 理論與假設 / Chapter 第一節 --- 理論回顧 --- p.14 / Chapter 第二節 --- 變項與假設 --- p.21 / Chapter 第三章 --- 研究的方法 / Chapter 第一節 --- 自陳法 --- p.55 / Chapter 第二節 --- 樣本與資料收集過程 --- p.59 / Chapter 第三節 --- 概念的操作化和量度 --- p.63 / Chapter 第四章 --- 研究結果與分析 / Chapter 第一節 --- 兩變項分析 --- p.75 / Chapter 第二節 --- 多變項分析 --- p.79 / Chapter 第三節 --- 男女兩個群體的比較 --- p.98 / Chapter 第五章 --- 結論 / Chapter 第一節 --- 研究結果 --- p.107 / Chapter 第二節 --- 局限性 --- p.112 / Chapter 第三節 --- 討論與建設 --- p.114 / 注釋 --- p.117 / 中文參考資料 --- p.1 / 英文參考資料 --- p.1