This study explored the feasibility of predicting academic achievement in prerequisite Anatomy-Physiology Classes for prospective nursing students and Medical Surgical Nursing Classes for students enrolled in a diploma program. This was accomplished by using three instruments that measure the attitudes of nursing students about the nursing profession or preferences towards learning environments . The purposes of this study were (1) to determine if the subgroup or total scores were correlated with final examination scores for each class, (2) to determine if the subgroup or total scores interacted with one another to increase the power of prediction, and (3) to compare the effects of different teaching styles, upon the instruments used to measure attitudes and preferences

The purpose of this study was to examine student perceptions of the deterrent effect of School Resource Officers on crimes that may occur on school campuses and the factors that may influence those perceptions. The first school resource officer (SRO) program was implemented in 1953 and gained popularity in the 1990s. This study (conducted in 2008) reveals that the majority of students perceive that school resource officers are a deterrent to specific crimes and the overall crime rate on school campuses. The results of the survey indicated that the crimes of rape (74.1%), homicide (73.7%), aggravated assault or threat with a weapon (70.5%), sexual assault (67.0%), robbery (64.9%), and weapon possession (68.4%) had the highest percentage of students who responded agree (strongly agree or agree) that the school resource officer was a perceived deterrent to those crimes on the school campus. The incident with the lowest perceived deterrent effect was truancy with 48.9% of the students responding with strongly agree or agree. Based on a multivariate analysis, this study found that the factors that influenced the students' perceptions of the School Resource Officer as a deterrent to crime were students' age, class standing, school attended, exposure to a SRO, friends' crime history, and family crime history. The students' race, past crimes, income level, and gender were not statistically significant for any of the dependent variables. The examination of the ordinal logistic regression showed the percentage of variance the model explained was low. Based on this research with the limitations presented, the SRO is perceived as a deterrent to crime on school campuses. The deterrent effect was not stronger in any one demographic group. Peer pressure was one factor that was an influence in the majority of studied crimes.

The use of computers equipped with Internet access by students during face-toface (F2F) class sessions is perceived as academically beneficial by a growing number of students and faculty members in universities across the United States. Nevertheless, some researchers suggest unstructured computer use detached from the immediate class content may negatively influence student participation, increase distraction levels, minimize recall of recently presented information, and decrease student engagement. This study investigates graduate students’ beliefs about computer use with Internet access during graduate face-to-face lecture classes in which computer use is neither mandated nor integrated in the class and the effect of such use on student recall. Methods include a 44-item questionnaire to investigate graduate students’ beliefs about computers and two experiments to investigate the influence of computer use during a lecture on students’ memory recall. One experimental group (open laptop) used computers during a lecture while the other (closed laptop) did not. Both groups were given the same memory recall test after the lectures, and the resulting scores were analyzed. Two weeks later, a second phase of the experiment was implemented in which laptop groups were reversed. Results from the first experiment indicated no statistically significant difference in recall scores between the open laptop group (M = 54.90, SD = 19.65) and the closed laptop group (M = 42.86, SD = 16.68); t (29) = -1.82, p = .08 (two tailed). Conversely, the second experiment revealed statistically significant differences in scores between the open laptop (M = 39.67, SD = 15.97) and the iv closed laptop group (M = 59.29, SD = 26.88); t (20.89) = 2.37, p = .03 (two tailed). The magnitude of the difference in mean scores (mean difference = 19.62, 95% CI: 2.39 to 36.85) was large (eta squared = 0.17). Multiple regression analysis suggests two factors accounted for 10% of the variance in recall scores: (1) students’ beliefs about distractions from computer use, and (2) beliefs about the influence of computer use on memory recall. Based on survey findings, participants (N=116) viewed computers and Internet access in graduate classes as helpful academic tools, but distractions from computer use were major sources of concern for students who used computers in graduate classes and those who did not. Additionally, participants believed academic productivity would increase if instructors integrated computer use appropriately in the curricula. Results of the survey and experiments suggest unstructured computer use with Internet access in the graduate classroom is strongly correlated with increased student distractions and decreased memory recall. Thus, restricting unstructured computer use is likely to increase existing memory recall levels, and increasing unstructured computer use is likely to reduce memory recall. Recommendations include changes in the way students use computers, pedagogical shifts, computer integration strategies, modified seating arrangements, increased accountability, and improved interaction between instructors and students.

The assessment of citizen attitudes has, in recent decades, become standard practice within the criminal justice system. However, in assessing the criminal justice system, most research has gathered data on the attitudes and perceptions of specific populations within society (i.e. older citizens) and has not really focused on younger age groups, or more specifically, students enrolled in colleges and universities. The present study examined attitudes of college students in the areas of confidence and utilization of campus police. Utilizing a non-random convenience sample of undergraduate and graduate students (N=393) at a large four-year research institution, participants completed a 21-item survey to measure their confidence and utilization of campus police, resources, and services. The results suggest that confidence does not affect utilization of police and students stated they would utilize police despite their confidence level. However, more significantly, students also indicated that while they would utilize police, they reported they had not. As a result, various recommendations were made to improve communications between students and campus police and directions for future research were also noted.

This study examines introductory textbooks images across a variety of disciplines, with particular focus on the ways in which race and gender are shown. This study goes beyond a basic analysis of textbooks, however, and also explores student perceptions of textbook images. My data show that compartmentalization of gender and race into certain themes still occurs within some textbooks. Specifically, white men were more likely to be depicted as hard workers and contributors to the field than any other race and gender. Despite these results, students seemed mixed on the importance of textbook images with many students focused on the extent their textbook was useful for class.

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.

This study was an investigation of the beliefs, values, and attitudes of black students which guide their behavior. The cultural factors investigated included: student occupational and educational aspirations; student academic strategies; and people and.forces impacting upon student beliefs. The purpose was to determine if the characteristics of a caste minority, as defined by Ogbu, were exhibited by the black students in a relatively affluent school district. Ethnographic methods were selected for data collection and analysis. Participants in the study were 46 black students attending a small, intermediate school and their teachers, counselors, parents, peers, and significant others. Findings indicate that the black students seem to be part of a modified caste system. They had high occupational aspirations but perceived a "secondary job ceiling", requiring them to be better qualified than whites competing for the same job. Few students who aspired to professional or celebrity careers were aware of the training, discipline, and good fortune needed to achieve their goals, and few of them selected school strategies to promote academic success. Parents spoke of their belief in education but were frequently unable to translate their belief into active support for students. Teachers exhibited a lack of knowledge of the black student culture and attributed black underachievement to cultural deprivation and lack of parental concern. Educational planners must be aware of the difficulties faced by black students in selecting goals and strategies and need to develop and reorient programs to assist black students in crossing cultural barriers. / Ed. D.

Chemistry is a difficult subject for many students and often deters them from pursuing related careers or other paths of study. An obstacle that causes students to stumble is the comprehension of chemistry’s myriad abstract concepts. Strong visuospatial skills and modelling are required to understand the nuances of topics such as atomic structures, molecular behaviors, and others. Teaching tools like “ball and stick” molecule kits or virtual demonstrations are useful but have their limitations. Especially when presenting the connections between the macroscopic world and their abstract, atomic-scale representations (i.e., the sub-micro world (Johnstone, 1982)), there are few tools that have proven effective. In this 2 x 2 between-subjects experimental study, a virtual reality (VR) laboratory simulation is utilized in conjunction with a sub-micro intervention. The timing of the sub-micro intervention (pre-lab vs. integrated into a specific point in the simulation) and the level of embodiment (physical manipulatives vs. VR) are the two independent variables. Eighty students (N = 80), ages 11-18 years old, from a local community center participated in this study, completing a pretest, the laboratory simulation, the sub-micro intervention, and a post-test. The pre- and post-test measures included multiple-choice, free-response, drawing questions, and an attitudinal survey. Key findings were that integrating the intervention, no matter which level of embodiment, led to significantly higher gains in learning. The combination of using physical manipulatives and integrating them within the lab exercise demonstrated the most gains, although the VR Integrated condition also showed improvement. The VR Integrated condition also showed significant improvement in three out of the four drawing categories (i.e., molecule shape, atom quantity, and relative sizes), more than any other condition. The VR conditions also showed significant growth in positive student attitudes towards science, technology, and potential future careers in these subjects. The implications are that while practically, VR may not provide enough advantage over physical manipulatives to replace them as classroom learning tools, VR is an effective tool to teach abstract chemistry concepts. It enabled students to perform better on visuospatial measures and proved to be highly motivating for furthering learning in science and technology.

This study embarks on a survey of students’ attitudes towards Kiswahili studies at the University of Ghana. Although Swahili is said to be one of the world’s globalized languages in terms of its status as an academic discipline, as an African language, it is studied in relatively few non-East African countries. The University of Ghana is one of the few African universities, which has had Kiswahili as a course of study for over fifty years. Over this period, each year a number of students graduate with combined majors in Kiswahili and other courses. Against a background of perceived negative attitudes towards the study of Kiswahili at the University, the main objective of the study was to investigate the attitudes of students of Kiswahili at various levels (second to final year) towards Kiswahili studies, with the aim of uncovering (1) the key factors that determine these attitudes, (2) changes in their attitudes and perceptions if any, and factors that necessitated the change of attitudes from negative to positive and (3) the overall impression of these students about the study of Kiswahili at the University of Ghana and its importance to their future careers. The survey was conducted by administering a 32-item instrument with a target number of 100 students. The result of the quantitative and qualitative analyses of the data showed that most students had negative attitudes towards the course prior to their enrolment due to a lack of knowledge about it. However, subsequent to enrolment and studying for some time, these attitudes changed to positive.

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