Research from the fields of psychology and education suggests that a student’s mindset (beliefs about their intelligence or ability) has a tremendous impact on their setting of goals, reactions to setbacks and failures, and academic performance (Aronson, Fried, & Good, 2002; Blackwell, Trzensiewski, & Dweck, 2007; Dweck, 2000; Dweck, 2006; Good, Aronson, & Inzlicht, 2003; Good, Rattan, & Dweck, 2012; Hong, Chiu, Dweck, Lin, & Wan, 1999). It has also been found that teachers’ mindsets do not necessarily predict their students’ mindsets, namely because teachers do not always teach in ways that align with their mindset. Instead, their beliefs about the nature of mathematics have been found to predict student mindset (Sun, 2015). This may be because if teachers believe that mathematics is a subject of creativity and sense making (a multidimensional belief), they are more likely to teach in ways that emphasize conceptual development and reasoning (practices that convey a growth mindset to students), no matter their personal mindset. Whereas if teachers believe mathematics is more about the rote learning of facts and procedures (a one dimensional belief), they will present it as such (practices that convey a fixed mindset to students). The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between pre-service mathematics teachers’ beliefs and the mindset messages conveyed through their assessment practices. The study focuses on two beliefs: (1) beliefs about mathematics and (2) beliefs about ability (mindset); and three assessment practices: (1) the assessments pre-service teachers create, (2) the feedback they provide students on those assessments, and (3) the next steps they propose after analyzing student performance on the assessment. Using a mixed-methods approach, this study combines a beliefs survey with an in-depth examination of assessments, and accompanying commentaries, submitted by six pre-service mathematics teachers. Assessments and commentaries were evaluated to determine the degree to which the described (and displayed) practices conveyed growth mindset messages, accomplished through the use of pre-existing rubrics created for the educative Teacher Preparation Assessment (edTPA), along with principles of grounded theory and the research on teaching practices that promote growth mindsets in students. Results suggested that having a growth mindset had some relation to pre-service teachers’ (1) planning of growth mindset assessments, (2) use of multiple representations in assessments, and (3) providing of feedback related to students’ efforts. Whereas pre-service teachers with fixed mindsets appeared to leave (1) more technical feedback and (2) more feedback overall. Additionally, stronger multidimensional views appeared more related to the pre-service teachers’ (1) planning of growth mindset assessments, (2) use of multiple representations in assessments, (3) praising a student’s use of a solution method or property, (4) attempting a “strengths-needs” feedback structure, and (5) allowing students to resubmit work. Weaker multidimensional views appeared related to teachers leaving feedback that praised a students’ grade. Findings of this study suggest that interventions aiming to change teacher mindsets may be insufficient for ensuring teachers engage in growth mindset practices. Instead, interventions should focus on changing teacher beliefs and practice concurrently (Philipp, 2007). Providing pre-service teachers with more specific training in the types of assessment practices that convey growth mindset messages to students, as well as requiring them to routinely reflect on their beliefs and practice, may help to accomplish these goals.

Mathematics education researchers have rarely focused on the effects of popular culture on young people’s perceptions of mathematics. Such research is needed to determine what messages students may be receiving; and furthermore, how students may be relating to these messages and if there are any differences by age, ability, ethnicity, or gender. These questions are critically important to the field – its research contributes to the better understanding of how young people are influenced by depictions of mathematics in popular culture. Research questions were explored relating to popular culture, media, and mathematics investigating whether secondary school students receive messages about mathematics from popular culture, the content of those messages, and how young people relate to those messages. An instrument was designed and developed to elicit students’ responses to videos about mathematics and other popular culture artifacts. Of particular interest was determining if perceptions of mathematics in popular culture differ by gender, race, and other demographic factors. There appear to be common messages depicted about mathematics in popular culture; for example, “Asian students are good at math,” “math is hard,” “math is irrelevant to the real world,” “boys are smarter than girls at math,” as well as others. Overall, young people thought popular culture “only shows nerds being good at mathematics” and that “cool kids are not often shown mathematically capable.” Girls and boys showed differences of the domains “math is hard” and “math is fun.” Young people from different ethnic groups had varying perceptions of “other subjects are valued more than mathematics” and “it is cool to be smart in math,” but had similar perceptions of “math is not a skill one is born with.” There is substantial work in this area in the humanities, but not in mathematics, and it is anticipated that researchers and practitioners alike will welcome the results of this research.

This thesis explores the role of multimodality in language learners’ comprehension, and more specifically, the effects on students’ audio-visual comprehension when different orchestrations of modes appear in the visualization of vodcasts. Firstly, I describe the state of the art of its three main areas of concern, namely the evolution of meaning-making, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), and audio-visual comprehension. One of the most important contributions in the theoretical overview is the suggested integrative model of audio-visual comprehension, which attempts to explain how students process information received from different inputs. Secondly, I present a study based on the following research questions: ‘Which modes are orchestrated throughout the vodcasts?’, ‘Are there any multimodal ensembles that are more beneficial for students’ audio-visual comprehension?’, and ‘What are the students’ attitudes towards audio-visual (e.g., vodcasts) compared to traditional audio (e.g., audio tracks) comprehension activities?’. Along with these research questions, I have formulated two hypotheses: Audio-visual comprehension improves when there is a greater number of orchestrated modes, and students have a more positive attitude towards vodcasts than traditional audios when carrying out comprehension activities. The study includes a multimodal discourse analysis, audio-visual comprehension tests, and students’ questionnaires. The multimodal discourse analysis of two British Council’s language learning vodcasts, entitled English is GREAT and Camden Fashion, using ELAN as the multimodal annotation tool, shows that there are a variety of multimodal ensembles of two, three and four modes. The audio-visual comprehension tests were given to 40 Spanish students, learning English as a foreign language, after the visualization of vodcasts. These comprehension tests contain questions related to specific orchestrations of modes appearing in the vodcasts. The statistical analysis of the test results, using repeated-measures ANOVA, reveal that students obtain better audio-visual comprehension results when the multimodal ensembles are constituted by a greater number of orchestrated modes. Finally, the data compiled from the questionnaires, conclude that students have a more positive attitude towards vodcasts in comparison to traditional audio listenings. Results from the audio-visual comprehension tests and questionnaires prove the two hypotheses of this study.

The purpose of this study was to learn more about the attitudes of traditional college-age students toward Arnold's Seven Building Blocks decision-making strategy (John D. Arnold, 1978. The Art of Decision Making. New York: Amacom). to identify student characteristics which could predict those students who are most likely to respond in a positive manner to the strategy and to determine which of the steps in the strategy students perceive as being helpful. The sample population consisted of 62 traditional college-age students currently enrolled in four Oregon educational institutions. Data was gathered through the Decision Making Inventory (Johnson, Coscarelli, and Johnson. 1983) and two questionnaires designed for this study. An attitude score regarding the Seven Building Blocks was constructed for each subject by adding together the scores from the two questions which specifically related to student feelings about using the strategy. This resulted in scores ranging from a low of 2 to a high of 7. Statistical analyses involving chi-square tests implemented by contingency tables were used to ascertain the level of association among variables. The results showed no significant difference in attitude based on the internal or external dimensions of decision-making styles. Age, gender, life responsibility status, or type of decision situation. Statistically significant results (p < .05) were shown for the remaining variables. Thus, for this population, characteristics associated with high attitude scores toward the Seven Building Blocks included systematic rather than spontaneous, decision-making styles; at least two years of college education; and high or very high importance attached to being a good decision maker. Building Block 4. "Establish Your Priorities," was overwhelmingly seen as being the most helpful step, followed by Block 3. "Set Your Criteria." Block 6. 'Test the Alternatives." was third, and Block 2. "State Your Purpose." was fourth. Block 5. "Search for Solutions," and Block 7. 'Troubleshoot Your Decision." tied for fifth place. Block I, "Smoke Out the Issues." was seen as being the least helpful. Information obtained from this study will assist educational counselors, advisors and teachers in understanding student attitudes toward decision making and in predicting which students are most likely to respond positively to learning and using this type of decision-making strategy. It is recommended that further study done in this area include investigation regarding the construction of attitude scores, as well as further corroboration of the predictor variables identified. .

This study focused on the experiences of ethnic minority nursing students at a predominately white institution, the Health Sciences University School of Nursing in an attempt to learn more about the stress, appraisal, and coping of this group of individuals. The University School of Nursing was selected as a comparison site as it offered a setting with no predominate ethnic group. Faculty•s perceptions of students stress, appraisal and coping were sought to provide a context for the students• experience. A review of the literature indicated that ethnic minority students in predominately white universities experience alienation. At some universities white and ethnic minority students and faculty differ in their perceptions of what should be offered as support to ethnic minority students. Studying the experiences of students at a health care science university, dedicated to the health and care of individuals provided useful insights. Of particular importance was the investigation of what constituted problematic and nonconstructive relationships and structures. Symbolic interactionism, socialization theory, stress, appraisal and coping theory and attribution theory offered sensitizing concepts from which 23 ethnic minority nursing student and 12 nursing faculty interviews were taped, and analyzed. A constant comparative method of qualitative analysis proposed by Glaser and Strauss offered a systematic approach in developing substantive concepts. Common to most nursing students was the phenomenon of making it in nursing school. Making it was characterized by two main categories, being out of control and gaining control. Being out-of-control was understood as the stress producing threats of conflicting demands of family, work and school and being sanctioned, the evaluation and approval by faculty of ones• professional performance. Gaining control included managing multiple demands, reaffirming ones• choice of nursing and disengaging from the student role to becoming a nurse. A set of experiences unique to ethnic minority students was identified when some aspect of ethnicity was central to the problematic experience. A core phenomenon of exclusion as a threat to identity emerged. Three forms of exclusion were identified: (1) linguistic difficulty; (2) interpersonal disregard; (3) ethno-cultural incongruity. Students 1 acceptance of responsibility for the problematic situation influenced their coping strategies. Holding back, keeping silent, disengaging and giving up were the usual coping responses. Only when the stakes were high, for example passing a course, would students speak out, negotiate or confront to in order to preserve their academic progression. Faculty accurately identified students 1 stresses as: staggering under the load, building a professional identity, experiencing isolation and facing cultural unresponsiveness. Faculty misidentified some of students 1 withdrawal coping behaviors as a cultural norm of being quiet or reserved. In addition, faculty offered descriptions of their own stress in teaching ethnic minority students with English as a second language such as trying to decide when to bend over backwards to help the students and when to draw the line. The most important conclusion reached was that ethnic minority students experienced a set of stressors linked to their perceptions of their ethnic status. A major stressor was exclusion, in that it interfered with the core task of becoming socialized as a nurse. Weak social bonds within the school of nursing and to the profession can hamper the recruitment of others from a particular ethnic group to the school and ultimately into the health care profession. A focus on the interpretation of interpersonal events in health care settings is crucial in surfacing the cultural nuances of understanding and meaning. Recommendations were made to: (1) develop an enriched grounded theory and promote mutual understanding through faculty, nursing staff and student group interviews and (2) increase the comprehensiveness of ethnic minority student retention data bases.

This study explores the relationship between student judgments of teacher expectations and academic success, student self-concept and academic success, and student judgments of discrimination experiences and academic success. In the winter of 2018, a sample of 176 communication students at a northwestern university completed revised versions of the Teacher Treatment Inventory (TTI) and the Self-Description Questionnaire III (SDQ III), as well as the original Everyday Discrimination Scale (EDS). College-age students found the TTI confusing, and many participants said they did not have a relationship with their college professors. The hypothesis that suggested student judgments of teacher expectations would positively correlate with anticipated course grade was not supported, and no significant differences were found between male and female students' judgments of teacher expectations, as well as no significant differences among students of different races on judgments of teacher expectations. The hypothesis that student self-concept would positively correlate with anticipated course grades was partially supported. While some participants did judge themselves to have experienced forms of discrimination, those discriminatory experiences did not result in a significantly negative correlation with anticipated course grades. Implications for understanding expectancy effects and student self-concept as a pedagogical tool for increasing academic success are discussed.

Research suggests that participation in the School Breakfast Program positively impacts academic success by improving student behavior, cognitive functioning, and attendance. Additionally, the School Breakfast Program appears to improve food insecurity, overall health and weight-related issues. However, compared to the National School Lunch Program, participation in the School Breakfast Program has been historically low, especially at the high school level. Using an integrated composite framework, a combination of social cognitive theory and ecological systems theory, as the conceptual model, this qualitative case study explored factors influencing student breakfast eating and participation in the school's breakfast program within a college-preparatory high school serving culturally diverse, predominantly low-income students. I used an all-staff survey as a qualitative data collection tool, and semi-structured interviews with school staff, student focus groups, and a Draw-A-High-School-Student-Breakfast Test to collect qualitative data. Using thematic networks as an analysis tool, I examined the attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of school staff and students about breakfast eating and participation in the school's breakfast program. The study found that communication about the School Breakfast Program, arriving to school in time to eat, and relationships with food service staff, influence participation in the School Breakfast Program. The findings are discussed in terms of their significance on practice and policy within both education and public health sectors. The study concludes with recommendations for future research.

When cultural values differ, it is difficult for people not to judge one another's behavior on the basis of their own individual and/or cultural values. Given the profound differences in Russian and American culture, the question of what happens when these two cultures interact comes to mind. The purpose of this study was to describe the relationship of culture specific orientation, coupled with a two week sojourn in Russia on the sojourners' perceptions of cultural values. The sojourners were high school athletes participating in the first part of a Russian - American Track and Field Exchange. In order to ascertain the students' value orientations, each student completed six Value Orientation Worksheets. Before the pre-departure orientation the students' completed two worksheets composed of fifteen questions, one according to their own cultural values, and one for their perception of Russian cultural values. The students completed two additional worksheets after the pre-departure orientation sessions, and two worksheets ten months after the sojourn. Analysis of the post-orientation worksheets suggests that the orientation sessions had a greater impact on the students' reported perceptions of their own cultural values than in changing their reported perceptions of Russian values. Unlike the post-orientation responses, an analysis of post-sojourn responses indicated that the sojourn experience appears to have had a comparable affect on the students' reported perceptions of their own cultural values and their reported perceptions of Russian cultural values. Post-sojourn worksheets revealed that agreement among the students after the shared orientation sessions was not a reliable predictor of agreement after the sojourn. In many cases, the individuality of the sojourn experience appears to have overcome the shared informational orientation training. Continued research in this field is needed to determine whether or not the tendencies uncovered in this study can be generalized to include a wider population, specifically - American high school student/athletes traveling abroad for a short term sojourn.

Student disaffection, a pervasive problem in middle school classrooms, is costly not only for disaffected students themselves (e.g., declines in GPA, high school drop out) but also for their teachers (e.g., stress-related health outcomes). Despite its importance, however, open questions remain regarding both the development of disaffection during early adolescence and the classroom dynamics that underlie changes in disaffection. This dissertation includes two free-standing manuscripts that explore these open questions regarding the development and classroom dynamics of disaffection. Each focuses on different developmental time scales and employs different methodological approaches to examine these important, but unanswered questions. Drawing from a database of classroom observation videos, study one is a multiple case study focusing on four classrooms, which were selected based on school-level socioeconomic status and student-reported disaffection. This study was designed to explore 1) how disaffection is first initiated, 2) how it develops across single class periods, 3) how teachers generally respond to student disaffection, and 4) whether different kinds of teacher responses reduce or amplify disaffection. Student disaffection and teacher responses to disaffection were observationally coded and analyzed resulting in the following findings. First, students were initially most frequently socially off task during individual work time or relatively passive whole group time. Second, six patterns of how disaffection changed over the observed class periods were found with each pattern representing distinct student experiences and varying degrees in severity of disaffection. Third, while teachers' overall responses to disaffection could be classified as generally supportive (involvement and autonomy support) or defensive (withdrawal and controlling behavior), the teachers were not strictly adherent to one response style. Finally, five kinds of teacher responses to disaffection (supportive, quick fix, no response, mixed, and defensive) were found, each with varying degrees of effectiveness at resolving disaffection. Drawing from a 5-year longitudinal cohort-sequential dataset, study two is designed to describe the normative trajectories of disaffection across the early adolescent years and then to also examine the classroom dynamics that underlie these developmental changes in disaffection. Surveys of students' experiences of disaffection and perceptions of their relationships with their science teachers and teachers' views of student disaffection were collected twice per school year and subsequently analyzed. Latent growth curve models examined the development of disaffection finding both behavioral and emotional forms to have gradually increasing linear trajectories across the early adolescent years. Additionally, both initial levels in fall of 6th grade and rates of change significantly differed between students. Regarding the classroom dynamics of disaffection, the supported model suggests that teacher views of disaffection directly and indirectly through student-teacher relationships predict concurrent student experiences of disaffection and that earlier student experiences of disaffection predict changes in teacher views of disaffection across the school year. Taken together, the studies in this dissertation contribute to our growing understanding of how disaffection develops both across single middle school class periods (study 1) and across early adolescence (study 2). Additionally, these studies are among the first to investigate the classroom dynamics that may explain why disaffection develops over these multiple time frames. Implications of each study and the collective findings of this dissertation are considered in the respective discussion sections in Chapter 3, 4, and 5.

This thesis describes a study of the attitudes towards science and learning environments among junior secondary school science students in New Zealand, focussing particularly on Maori and Pacific Island students. The rationale for the research was that ethnic minority group students often experience difficulties in adapting to modern science education. The study was restricted to forms three, four and five of the New Zealand education system in order to focus attention primarily on the development of recommendations for enhancement of science education outcomes which relate to the early years of science education.The study aimed to investigate student attitudes towards science and their perceptions of their learning environments by using questionnaire surveys and interviews in order to produce complementary information about students' attitudes and perceptions. The study produced some unexpected findings. For example, Maori and Pacific Island students displayed more positive attitudes towards science than others, and female students displayed more positive attitudes than males. These findings contradict those of many previous studies.The findings of the study are used to provide input to the development of recommendations for the enhancement of educational outcomes for all students, but especially for ethnic minority students in science.