Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / This study examined computer anxiety and motivation to learn in a computer class, using Csikszentmihalyi's Flow Theory, and Heinssen, Glass and Knight's Computer Anxiety Rating Scale (CARS), to explore the root causes of computer anxiety, and to determine anxiety's relationship to the motivation students have to participate in training. The study considered whether computer anxiety was more appropriately a form of trait anxiety, similar to Spielberger's State/Trait Anxiety, or a transitory state of anxiety independent of personality traits. The researcher assessed initial computer anxiety using the CARS, then sampled students' experience in the computer course during every class period using Csikszentmihalyi's Experience Sampling Form. Possible changes in computer anxiety were measured by mid-semester and end of semester administrations of the CARS, and regression analysis of the incidence of the Flow States. Achievement was measured by course grade, then correlated with incidence of the Flow States, and with pre-course CARS score. Csikszentmihalyi's conceptualization described the anxious state actually experienced in the computer laboratory class. The measurement of trait type of anxiety had no correlation with the students' actual experience of anxiety in the course. It was also determined that Csikszentmihalyi's Flow Theory described the psychological states of the students, and the relationship between students' motivation and their experience of anxiety. There was no correlation between the measurement of the students' trait type computer anxiety and their performance in the classroom, but the students' performance was significantly correlated with both the incidence of the Flow state and the Anxiety state. Student interviews complemented the data collection, and provided additional insight into the interactions between the students, their computers, and the computer laboratory environment. The researcher discussed the theoretical implications of the study, which demonstrated the validity of Csikszentmihalyi's Flow Theory, demonstrated the distinction between state and trait anxiety, and added to the growing body of research concerning Flow Theory. The researcher also discussed implications for educational practice, including careful pre-course screening, attention to intermediate educational objectives, and greater student control over the pace of learning. / 2031-01-02

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The purpose of the present investigation was to determine what professional and personal problems elementary-school teachers face during their initial years of teaching and how they cope with or solve these problems. Beginning teachers abandon the teaching profession at alarming rates causing grave financial burdens to school divisions, schools, and tax payers. The phenomenon has also contributed to the current teacher shortages in particular subject areas and certain geographic locations. Many teachers who left the profession before their fifth year of professional teaching reported the problems associated with teaching as primary reasons for their exodus. Qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted with six in-service elementary teachers. The interviews were conducted in three parts. All of the six participants were between their fifth and tenth year of teaching, and they all taught at the elementary level. The results indicated that they had problems with (a) personal issues and life experiences, (b) school curricula, (c) children with special needs, (d) differentiation of instruction, (e) discipline, (f) workload and time management, (g) parents, (h), student poverty and students' home issues, (j) relationships with students, (k) teacher training, and (l) administration. The participants coped with these problems by using pattern matching indicating that their own life experiences and backgrounds had significant roles in their problem-solving processes. Recommendations are made for preservice and beginning in-service teachers to focus on their educational experiences and biographical information to recall relevant information that will help them to cope with and solve professional problems. / Ph. D.

This thesis explores the design of a T-shaped brick and its influence throughout the course of the project. The T-brick established a significant direction towards weaving masonry and my firsthand recognition of the utmost importance of poetic construction for an architect. This thesis helps to affirm that construction is vital for architecture to be autonomous. Programmatic requirements, technology, social change, new inventions, etc., distract from the potential of architecture. We must first concern ourselves with how a building is to be made and trust that those things outside of architecture will only be right when a building is ready to accept them, not vice versa. But, that is not to say a building should not serve human needs well. Rather, serving needs well is but a bare minimum of good architecture. / Master of Architecture

The problem of this study is to determine, by actual classroom experiment, the most advantageous method of teaching reading to beginners. In the accomplishment of this purpose, the writer made an intensive study of various methods and techniques of teaching beginning reading, a summary of which appears in the second chapter of this thesis, and applied some of the fundamental principles of each method to the actual teaching of beginning reading to her first-grade pupils in the elementary school of Valley View, Texas.

Master of Music / Department of Music / Frederick Burrack / This report gives a detailed description and analysis of two method books used for beginning orchestra classes; Essential Elements for Strings by Michael Allen, Robert Gillespie, and Pamela Tellejohn Hayes, and Strings Basics by Terry Shade and Jeremy Woolstenhulme. Olathe School District #233 in Olathe, Kansas is doing research to decide whether to continue using their current method book, Essential Elements, or switching to a different method book, String Basics, for the 2014-2015 school year. Book 1 from each series is analyzed by looking at the order of concepts taught, how the concepts are introduced, how the book is laid out, illustrations, accompaniment CDs, the teacher’s manual, and additional resources offered by the publishers. The books are then compared and critiqued before a personal recommendation is given on which book would be more beneficial to the students of Olathe.

This case study research explores the experiences of five beginning teachers within four Catholic secondary schools in Australia. The research employs a qualitative approach framed within an interpretative paradigm, drawing on perspectives of symbolic interaction to interpret interview and journal data. These perspectives are used, in conjunction with a conceptual framework derived from the relevant literature, to interpret the experiences of five new teachers against the relevant data. The literature typically investigates the stages of teacher development, where the first year is often seen by researchers as a survival year. Key literature themes include the development of self image and the impact school culture has on beginning teachers. There are two other features less often present in the literature but central in this research. One is the life history of the beginning teacher. A second, which is the major notion employed in this study, is that of professional identity and specifically how identity develops once the novice teacher is immersed within the school organisation. Each teacher was interviewed several times during their first year and each kept a journal. The discussion includes matters of comparison and contrast between the five teachers’ experiences. The symbolic interactionist framework seeks to identify the meanings individuals construct of their experiences. These meanings are located from the journal and interview data gathered. Each text is examined both independently, in relation to other texts and in the light of the conceptual framework. A key procedure is to identify critical events which are then analysed and connections made to the experience of other teachers and literature themes. The key findings of the research include developing a new model for understanding the experience of beginning teachers. The research suggests that the current literature on beginning teachers is limited. It neglects beginning teacher individuality and in particular agency and competency and centrally the dynamic and complex interaction between culture and identity. This research seeks to add significantly to the beginning teacher literature.

The purposes of this study were to explore the actual condition of beginning teachers¡¦ job-related problems and induction needs, as well as to analyze the relationship between beginning teachers¡¦ problems and induction needs. In order to achieve the aims, the use of questionnaire was mainly conducted through the study, with complement of semi-structured in-depth interview. A total of 322 questionnaires were sent to the 49 junior high schools in Kaohsiung County, and 224 questionnaires were collected back. The effective return rate was 70¢H. The collected data was described, analyzed through descriptive statistics, F-test, One-Way ANOVA and Pearson¡¦s Product-Moment Correlation. Furthermore, the qualitative interviews with 8 beginning teachers were analyzed to know more about beginning teachers¡¦ job-related problems and induction needs. Conclusions derived from the present study are as following: 1.The degree of problems perceived by the beginning teachers in junior high school was moderate, and the most difficult part for them was ¡§teaching and classroom management¡¨. What made beginning teachers in junior high school feel most difficult were the low achievement of students, the paradox of school management, and the difficulty in maintaining the classroom-discipline. 2.In the analysis based on background variables, the degree of problems perceived by the beginning teachers in junior high school was significantly different among teachers of different school size, but not significantly different according to gender, teaching experience, position, educational background, teacher internship program, and school location. 3.The most urgent induction needs for beginning junior high school teachers was to increase the knowledge about teaching and classroom management such as the techniques for managing problem behaviors, the effective strategies for organizing class procedures, and the teaching skills to enhance teaching effectiveness. 4.Beginning teachers hopes the above knowledge could be inducted in the ways of arranging seminars, communication with expert teachers ,and classroom observation on them. 5.In the analysis based on background variables, the degree of induction needs perceived by the beginning teachers in junior high schools was significantly different among teachers of different school size. Furthermore, the induction ways of beginning teachers in junior high schools were significantly different among teachers of different gender, teaching experience, and school size. 6.There were significant positive correlations between the whole problems and induction needs of beginning teachers in junior high school. The higher problem level which the beginning teachers perceived on the whole job problem, the more urgently they feel in needs of induction.

Teacher attrition, particularly of beginning teachers, is concerning. Extensive research has been conducted on teacher attrition and teacher characteristics; however, less research exists on teacher retention and related teacher belief systems. This study examined the beliefs of a particular subset of teachers - teachers who have stayed in the profession in their first 3-5 years (N = 67). It explored if and how initial and current beliefs about students buffer the challenges teachers face in their entry years in the profession, if these beliefs change across time, and if these beliefs vary across grade level and school-level socioeconomic setting (SES). This study also examined a subset of teachers (n = 21) to explore how preservice teacher and classroom observation data can inform teachers’ beliefs about student learning in their first years of teaching. Results indicated that teachers’ beliefs about students become more integrated across time and demonstrate growth in expertise in teachers’ beliefs about students. Also, teachers held more positive perceptions of students over time in addition to a greater emphasis on the importance of preparation, completion, trying another way when you struggle, finishing strong, and having a plan when you are done. Grade level differences in beliefs existed in the first year, but disappeared across time. Further, no significant differences in beliefs about students across school-level SES were present as teachers entered the classroom and did not change as they adapted to these settings. The positive and more coherent beliefs that teachers held in their third, fourth, and fifth year of teaching (as compared to their first) suggest that these beliefs help them cope in their first five years in the profession.

As teachers begin their careers they develop a psychological contract with their organization (Rousseau, 1995); beginning teachers have expectations about what supports will be available and what they will give the organization in return. To ensure that the most effective teachers are working in classrooms it is important to identify and provide the necessary induction supports that beginning teachers need to reach their potential and ensure that they are flourishing in our schools. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship among rural Saskatchewan beginning teachers’ perceptions of their psychological contract with their organizations, the induction supports received, and beginning teacher flourishing in schools. The main objective of this research was to answer the following research questions: 1) How do rural beginning teachers describe the actual induction supports they are receiving from their organizations? 2) How do rural beginning teachers perceive and understand the reciprocal elements of the psychological contract with their organizations? 3) How do rural beginning teachers perceive their flourishing in schools? 4) What relationship exists among beginning teachers’ perceptions of their psychological contract, induction support provided and beginning teacher flourishing in schools? A mixed methods approach was used. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from 110 beginning teachers in 21 rural Saskatchewan schools divisions using the Supporting the Psychological Contract toward Flourishing (SPCF) survey. Rural Saskatchewan beginning teachers acknowledged receiving positive induction support in the areas of: administrative support, procedures and protocols, consultation with experienced teachers, support with collegiality and belonging, resources, and professional development. They required more support with mentorship, levels of extra-curricular involvement, classroom management, and first year meetings. Beginning teachers perceived that they were strongly committed to their organization and that their employer was generally fulfilling their obligations to them as employees. Beginning teachers in elementary schools, and in some cases K-12 schools, felt better support than those in middle/ high schools. Beginning teachers perceived a low degree of flourishing as they began their careers; however, after one year, they experienced growth. Finally, relationships were noted among beginning teachers’ psychological contract and induction, their psychological contract and flourishing, and between induction and flourishing. Implications for theory and practice are presented regarding beginning teacher induction constructs, gender and type of school influences, and the relationship among induction, psychological contract, and flourishing. Future research is required in the areas of beginning teacher induction, psychological contract, flourishing and the relationship among all three concepts.