Global ETD Search

191	Education for Democracy: Mixed Methods Case Studies of Teachers' Critical Thinking Dispositions and Their Teaching Styles Behairy, Maram 06 November 2017 (has links) Democracy does not automatically maintain itself by prescribed constitutions and procedural codes (Dewey, 1939), but rather its citizens must have certain dispositions to protect and strengthen it (Biesta, 2006). According to John Stuart Mill (1859/1991), people can tyrannize one another within the structures of a democracy, a concept he phrased “tyranny of the majority” (p. 7). To safeguard against such tyranny and to maintain a democratic way of life conducive to progress, I contend that our schools must be tasked with developing critical thinking dispositions in our future adults. The literature on education for democracy was reviewed and aligned with the critical thinking dispositions defined in the present study. Critical thinking dispositions are taught through interactions that promote them, not only limited to methods of direct instruction, such that they are infused throughout all academic subjects at all grade levels (Facione, 1990). Therefore, the present study explored the relationship between teachers’ critical thinking dispositions and their teaching styles. The main research question was: How do critical thinking dispositions differentiate between teaching styles? To best answer this question 10 mixed methods case studies were conducted of the teachers at one private pre-kindergarten through eighth grade school. The data were collected through a quantitative questionnaire, the California Critical Thinking Dispositions Inventory (CCTDI), and through qualitative observations and interviews. Subsequently, each strand, qualitative and quantitative, was analyzed individually and sequentially. Finally, through cross-case analyses, 10 distinctions in teaching styles were found for teachers who scored high on the critical thinking dispositions: truth-seeking to teacher explorer, truth-seeking to student teaching, open-mindedness to student teaching, inquisitiveness to fallibility, analyticity to emotional adaptability, analyticity to fallibility, analyticity to observational listening, systematicity to nurturing, confidence in reasoning to curriculum expansion, and confidence in reasoning to self-actualization. Understanding these relationships is the start of possibly being able to use teachers’ CCTDI profiles to predict teaching styles and to guide teacher education. Implications for future research include more focused studies around the consistent relationships emerging from the present study and research about students’ development of critical thinking dispositions in relation to teaching styles. Critical Thinking Dispositions Critical Thinking Teaching Style Democracy Education for Democracy Mixed Methods Case Study Case Studies Cross-case analysis CCTDI Curriculum and Instruction Curriculum and Social Inquiry Educational Psychology Elementary Education and Teaching Humane Education
192	“Holla if you hear me”: A Conversation with Black, inner-city youth on career preparedness programs Cooper, Theressa N 01 December 2010 (has links) This research study specifically addressed; how vocational preparedness programs effect the career aspirations of Black youth, within the context of the Middle Tennessee Council Boy Scouts of America’s Exploring program. The goal of this research is to represent Black youth participating in a vocational preparedness program. Interviews, journals, and rich, thick descriptions are utilized in this work. Using the lens of narrative inquiry and cultural studies, I hoped to further the field of career development through the experiences of some of its key players, African American youth. Within the context of their stories five major themes surfaced around the ideas: (1) Advancement via Individual Determination. (AVID), (2) Career Self-efficacy, (3) Roles of significant others in career development, (4) Perceptions of the Exploring program, and (5) what would you like to see happen in the Exploring program? Beyond themes expressed by the research participants, the following underlying factors also came to light; (1) giving voice to Black youth which are part of the marginalized minority population and restoring a sense of narrative power and authority to the youths telling the stories, (2) The Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program as a significant influencer, (3) structure and organization of the Learning for Life program, (4) the role of Black women as significant others in the career decisions of participants, and (5) career choice – trade vs. careers. African American Youth Career Planning Boy Scouts of America Cultural Studies Career Planning Narrative Methodology African American Studies Community-based Learning Community-based Research Community Engagement Curriculum and Social Inquiry Educational Psychology Family, Life Course, and Society Other Education Politics and Social Change Race and Ethnicity Social Psychology and Interaction Sociology of Culture Urban Education
193	Decolonial Multiculturalism and Local-global Contexts: A Postcritical Feminist Bricolage for Developing New Praxes in Education Sprecher, Katharine Matthaei 01 August 2011 (has links) This dissertation presents a conceptual bricolage that explores complex, reflexive, and interrelated dimensions of educational praxes. My work is grounded in the assertion that the ever-changing, local-global nature of contemporary societies requires new approaches to curricula, pedagogies, policies, and practices in U.S. schools to meet the challenges and opportunities of a global era. Presenting my research and findings as four articles, I begin with a dialectical analysis of theoretical and pedagogical literatures to develop an adaptable framework for decolonial multicultural education. In Article 1, I demonstrate how this framework synergizes aspects of social reconstructionist and critical multicultural, global, and decolonial educations, while re-emphasizing possibilities for relational learning in local-global classrooms. In Article 2, I examine a unique local-global context: the matriculation of resettled refugee children into host country schools. This project integrates the decolonial multicultural framework with literatures on ecological interventions for refugee students to address grief, trauma, loss, poverty, acculturation, and host culture hostilities. The theoretical frameworks are infused with considerations concerning children’s lived experiences as complex beings rooted in multiple, fluid, and intersecting contexts. In Article 3, I present a pilot case study on students with refugee status who attended a public school in the South. I discuss qualitative data from participant observations and staff interviews. Using the framework I developed in Article 2 for ecological, decolonial multiculturalism, this study discusses the emergent themes of teacher training, ecological interventions, deficit and assimilationist approaches, and hostile school peer relations. Finally, in Article 4 I argue for a shift in the teacher professional role to include systemic support for ongoing teacher research as a way to address the complexity, multiplicity, and reflexivity of local-global classrooms. I propose postcritical ethnography and feminist praxis-based methodologies as tools to help teacher-researchers learn about and respond to their students. My dissertation thus entails four articles interconnected by the theme of decolonial multicultural education, and enriches framework considerations by exploring the local-global contexts of students with refugee status, specific refugee students in a U.S. school, and potential uses of postcritical and feminist qualitative methodologies for decolonial multicultural teacher-researchers. decolonial multicultural refugee education feminist bricolage Curriculum and Instruction Curriculum and Social Inquiry Educational Psychology Educational Sociology Elementary Education and Teaching Inequality and Stratification Other Social and Behavioral Sciences School Psychology Urban Education
194	Chinese Enough For Ya? Disrupting and Transforming Notions of Chineseness through Chinesenough Tattoos Chan, Karen Bic Kwun 31 August 2012 (has links) Using interpretive methods of social inquiry, this thesis explores the socio-political significance of body tattoos made of Chinese-like text, which have recently become popular Western phenomena. It theorizes how contemporary Western tattooing complicates bodily and social boundaries, providing context to interrogate ideas of authenticity. Coining the term "Chinesenough" (from “Chinese” and “enough”), I describe how many such tattoos do not reflect in Chinese what many wearers and viewers assume they do. I contrast how Chinesenough tattoos (re)produce whiteness to the multiple and contradictory Chinesenesses that are also (re)produced. Reading Chinesenough flash art on tattoo studio walls as objects constituting social space, I consider the social meaning of their English subtitles and manner of organization. I theorize the body’s absence from Chinesenough flash art while articulating my body’s sense experience of encountering the same. Finally, I produce and theorize five illustrations that carnivalize Chinesenough iconography to disrupt and transform the phenomenon. Authenticity Hybridity Chineseness Chinese Chinese Tattoos Tattooing Body Modification Flash Art Arts Informed Inquiry Arts Informed Research Whiteness Hanzi Kanji Diasporic Studies Interpretive Social Inquiry Carnivlesque Cultural Appropriation Chinese Canadian Social space Subtitling Sense Experience Absent Body Third Space Anti-fashion Asian Studies Asian American Studies Asian Canadian Studies Cultural Studies Visual Culture Phenomenology 0631 0626 0344 0515 0534 0326 0304 0305 0332
195	Chinese Enough For Ya? Disrupting and Transforming Notions of Chineseness through Chinesenough Tattoos Chan, Karen Bic Kwun 31 August 2012 (has links) Using interpretive methods of social inquiry, this thesis explores the socio-political significance of body tattoos made of Chinese-like text, which have recently become popular Western phenomena. It theorizes how contemporary Western tattooing complicates bodily and social boundaries, providing context to interrogate ideas of authenticity. Coining the term "Chinesenough" (from “Chinese” and “enough”), I describe how many such tattoos do not reflect in Chinese what many wearers and viewers assume they do. I contrast how Chinesenough tattoos (re)produce whiteness to the multiple and contradictory Chinesenesses that are also (re)produced. Reading Chinesenough flash art on tattoo studio walls as objects constituting social space, I consider the social meaning of their English subtitles and manner of organization. I theorize the body’s absence from Chinesenough flash art while articulating my body’s sense experience of encountering the same. Finally, I produce and theorize five illustrations that carnivalize Chinesenough iconography to disrupt and transform the phenomenon. Authenticity Hybridity Chineseness Chinese Chinese Tattoos Tattooing Body Modification Flash Art Arts Informed Inquiry Arts Informed Research Whiteness Hanzi Kanji Diasporic Studies Interpretive Social Inquiry Carnivlesque Cultural Appropriation Chinese Canadian Social space Subtitling Sense Experience Absent Body Third Space Anti-fashion Asian Studies Asian American Studies Asian Canadian Studies Cultural Studies Visual Culture Phenomenology 0631 0626 0344 0515 0534 0326 0304 0305 0332
196	SEX AND GENDER IDENTITY: A NEW PERSPECTIVE FOR COLLEGE STUDENT DEVELOPMENT Wise, Steven Ray 01 January 2014 (has links) One of the goals of college student development professionals is to help undergraduate students develop a meaningful sense of personal identity. Early in the history of the profession, practitioners borrowed freely from related fields such as sociology and psychology to guide their practice, but beginning around the 1960s, scholars began in earnest to develop their own unique body of literature. In this work I examine the development of that scholarly work as it relates to identity development—specifically the evolution of understanding around the issues of sex and gender identity development. Beginning with William Perry, whose work has impacted so many theories that followed his, I review the work of Nancy Chodorow, who was among the first to note that student development theory based on male samples disadvantaged women, Marcia Baxter-Magolda, Carol Gilligan, Ruthellen Josselson, Mary Field Belenkey, Blythe McVicker Clinchy, Nancy Rule Goldberger, and Jill Mattuck Tarule…and…. I discovered that each of these scholars approached sex and gender from a binary, essentialist, deterministic position which served to limit the understanding of sex and gender issues in the field of college student development. During the same period, work in the fields of anthropology, gender studies, psychology, sociology, and women’s studies were greatly expanding their understanding of sex and gender as components of identity. In this work I identify the deficiencies and limitations in the research in the field of college student development related to sex and gender identity development; note the challenges to our work with college students because of those deficiencies and limitations, and make practical recommendations to three groups of professionals who operate in the field of college student development—theorists and scholars, practitioners, and educators and provide a model for efficiently effecting change in the field. Gender Identity Development Sex Identity Development Androgyny Personally Meaningful Sense of Identity College Students Counseling Curriculum and Instruction Curriculum and Social Inquiry Educational Leadership Gender and Sexuality Higher Education Higher Education Administration Psychology Social and Behavioral Sciences Sociology
197	Lived Legal Expertise: Mobilizing the Political Agency of Incarcerated Youth Schiffer, Ian S 01 January 2017 (has links) This thesis analyzes how caring relationships and an emancipatory approach to law related education (LRE) within juvenile justice facilities can cultivate political agency. I focused specifically on Camp Afflerbaugh-Paige, an LA County juvenile probation facility, in La Verne, CA, as a case study. During three months of teaching a law related education class and embedding myself at the facility with an asset-based framework, I encountered a wealth of knowledge that incarcerated juveniles possess, not from formal education or research, but based in their own lived experiences. Los Angeles County Probation spends $233,000 per student per year; assuming best intentions of those in charge and the actors, the students, with a wide array of expertise, should be thriving within these institutions and set up for success upon their release. Unfortunately, though, students’ academic, entrepreneurial, and legal expertise are criminalized rather than cultivated by the juvenile justice system. Through a policy class, the students created reforms to address the challenges of a paramilitary camp that neglects students’ emotional, physical, and mental health. The challenges in the environment complicate the political agency of students within the camp and post-release. I am making the claim that the political agency of the students is visible and the assets are tangibly cultivated by an emancipatory pedagogy, ethic of care, and the law related education curriculum. Critical Pedagogy Juvenile Justice Law Related Education Political Agency Policy Reform Community-Based Research Curriculum and Social Inquiry Education Policy Inequality and Stratification Juvenile Law Legal Education Policy Design, Analysis, and Evaluation Politics and Social Change Public Policy Social Control, Law, Crime, and Deviance Social Policy
198	Comparison of Linear Functions in Middle Grades Textbooks from Singapore and the United States Fowler, Linda D 27 March 2015 (has links) Many U.S. students do not perform well on mathematics assessments with respect to algebra topics such as linear functions, a building-block for other functions. Poor achievement of U.S. middle school students in this topic is a problem. U.S. eighth graders have had average mathematics scores on international comparison tests such as Third International Mathematics Science Study, later known as Trends in Mathematics and Science Study, (TIMSS)-1995, -99, -03, while Singapore students have had highest average scores. U.S. eighth grade average mathematics scores improved on TIMMS-2007 and held steady onTIMMS-2011. Results from national assessments, PISA 2009 and 2012 and National Assessment of Educational Progress of 2007, 2009, and 2013, showed a lack of proficiency in algebra. Results of curriculum studies involving nations in TIMSS suggest that elementary textbooks in high-scoring countries were different than elementary textbooks and middle grades texts were different with respect to general features in the U.S. The purpose of this study was to compare treatments of linear functions in Singapore and U.S. middle grades mathematics textbooks. Results revealed features currently in textbooks. Findings should be valuable to constituencies who wish to improve U.S. mathematics achievement. Portions of eight Singapore and nine U.S. middle school student texts pertaining to linear functions were compared with respect to 22 features in three categories: (a) background features, (b) general features of problems, and (c) specific characterizations of problem practices, problem-solving competency types, and transfer of representation. Features were coded using a codebook developed by the researcher. Tallies and percentages were reported. Welch's t-tests and chi-square tests were used, respectively, to determine whether texts differed significantly for the features and if codes were independent of country. U.S. and Singapore textbooks differed in page appearance and number of pages, problems, and images. Texts were similar in problem appearance. Differences in problems related to assessment of conceptual learning. U.S. texts contained more problems requiring (a) use of definitions, (b) single computation, (c) interpreting, and (d) multiple responses. These differences may stem from cultural differences seen in attitudes toward education. Future studies should focus on density of page, spiral approach, and multiple response problems. textbook comparison linear functions textbook mathematics textual analysis Singapore Common Core curriculum codebook conceptual learning Cognition and Perception Cognitive Psychology Curriculum and Instruction Curriculum and Social Inquiry Educational Psychology Educational Sociology International and Area Studies International and Comparative Education Mathematics School Psychology Science and Mathematics Education Social Psychology
199	Efficacy and Implementation of Automated Essay Scoring Software in Instruction of Literacies to High Level ELLs Alvero, Aaron J 07 July 2016 (has links) This thesis explored the integration of automated essay scoring (AES) software into the writing curriculum for high level ESOL students (levels 3, 4, and 5 on a 1-5 scale) at a high school in Miami, Fl. Issues for Haitian Creole speaking students were also explored. The Spanish and Haitian Creole speaking students were given the option to write notes, outlines, and planning sheets in their L1. After using AES in the middle of the writing process as a revision assistant tool, 24 students responded to a Likert Scale questionnaire. The students responded positively to the AES based on the results of the Likert scale questionnaire: 71% responded “agree” and “strongly agree” to the question “Other students would benefit from using writing software before handing in a final draft.” Also, the majority reported that they valued teacher feedback. None of the students chose to use their L1 to write notes/outlines. literacy writing education Haitian Haiti high school automated essay scoring self-efficacy computers technology feedback teaching English education students Curriculum and Instruction Curriculum and Social Inquiry Educational Methods Instructional Media Design International and Comparative Education Secondary Education and Teaching
200	The Relationship between Classroom Interactions and Exclusionary Discipline as a Social Practice: A Critical Microethnography Pane, Debra Mayes 12 November 2009 (has links) Exclusionary school discipline results in students being removed from classrooms as a consequence of their disruptive behavior and may lead to subsequent suspension and/or expulsion. Literature documents that nondominant students, particularly Black males, are disproportionately impacted by exclusionary discipline, to the point that researchers from a variety of critical perspectives consider exclusionary school discipline an oppressive educational practice and condition. Little or no research examines specific teacher-student social interactions within classrooms that influence teachers’ decisions to use or not use exclusionary discipline. Therefore, this study set forth the central research question: In relation to classroom interactions in alternative education settings, what accounts for teachers’ use or non-use of exclusionary discipline with students? A critical social practice theory of learning served as the framework for exploring this question, and a critical microethnographic methodology informed the data collection and analysis. Criterion sampling was used to select four classrooms in the same alternative education school with two teachers who frequently and two who rarely used exclusionary discipline. Nine stages of data collection and reconstructive data analysis were conducted. Data collection involved video recorded classroom observations, digitally recorded interviews of teachers and students discussing selected video segments, and individual teacher interviews. Reconstructive data analysis procedures involved hermeneutic inferencing of possible underlying meanings, critical discourse analysis, interactive power analysis and role analysis, thematic analysis of the interactions in each classroom, and a final comparative analysis of the four classrooms. Four predominant themes of social interaction (resistance, conformism, accommodation, and negotiation) emerged with terminology adapted from Giroux’s (2001) theory of resistance in education and Third Space theory (Gutiérrez, 2008). Four types of power (normative, coercive, interactively established contracts, and charm), based on Carspecken’s (1996) typology, were found in the interactions between teacher and students in varying degrees for different purposes. This research contributes to the knowledge base on teacher-student classroom interactions, specifically in relation to exclusionary discipline. Understanding how the themes and varying power relations influence their decisions and actions may enable teachers to reduce use of exclusionary discipline and remain focused on positive teacher-student academic interactions. exclusionary discipline critical social practice critical microethnography nondominant students critical theory of literacy qualitative methodology alternative education reconceptualizing teacher education disenfranchised students Curriculum and Instruction Curriculum and Social Inquiry Education Inequality and Stratification Linguistic Anthropology Social and Cultural Anthropology Sociology

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