As part of an extensive examination of open~space elementary schools in the Beaverton School District, a study was conducted to determine how parents view these schools and the "open" concept of education. This is a description of that study. This report will explain why the research was undertaken, provide some background information, on open-space schools, describe the survey design, and discuss both the results of the study and some implications that can be drawn from the results.

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Spoil pile stability in an open pit coal mine is a common problem and the Red Hills Lignite Mine in Choctaw County is no exception. The mine has had spoil stability problems of their spoil dragline bench since the beginning of their activity in 2002. They have managed to stabilize the conditions by installing prefabricated vertical drains (PVD) to consolidate the layers below the spoil dragline bench, which tended to fail due to an increase in pore water pressure. In this study, the capability of analyzing and predicting future pore water pressure conditions is examined. With the use of the stability model Slope/w and local stress calculations, the predictability of the necessity of PVDs and their spatial distribution are analyzed. The outcomes prove to be circumstantial to local pore water pressure and geology changes, therefore, the spacing between drains could be adapted to the local conditions potentially saving costs.

The purpose of the study was to develop, implement, and evaluate a learning center for arts education in a third grade classroom. Specifically, the learning center was designed to increase opportunities for arts education in an elementary classroom, to emphasize the unity of the arts by offering parallel instruction in several art media, and to provide a resource for arts instruction which would not require direct teacher supervision, Arts included in the study were visual art, music, and movement.

This study addresses student attitudes about open badges (after having been required to earn badges as part of their course work or having earned them through the library) and their desire to earn additional optional badges offered across campus. Research has presented conflicting evidence about the potential effect of open badges on student motivation, usually studying students who have had no previous experience with open badges. However, research has also found that open badges are still largely new and unknown for many people, which may affect initial motivation to earn badges. For this reason, our study considered the potential impact that prior exposure to and earning of open badges could have on students' attitudes toward open badges. Our findings are that student motivation to earn additional badges is increased after prior exposure depending on the badge design, badge implementation, and student understanding of how open badges function. We found that students who earned badges through the library software training program had the highest motivation, followed by Ed Tech class students.

There has been growing interest in the role of motivation in motor learning, and specifically how autonomy, competence, and intrinsic motivation may directly benefit the skill acquisition process. Within the autonomy branch of the motivation pillar in OPTIMAL theory, supporting a learner’s basic psychological need for autonomy contributes to a virtuous cycle that enhances expectancies for success (i.e., perceptions of competence) and in turn facilitates motor performance and learning. Although many experiments have concluded support for OPTIMAL theory, these studies have often relied on small sample sizes, have not been pre-registered, and have consistently failed to include appropriate measures that assess key predictions in the theory. The purpose of this dissertation was to address these methodological limitations and test core predictions in the OPTIMAL theory regarding the direct and causal role of autonomy-supportive practice conditions—control over practice and instructional language—on motor performance and learning. Experiments 1 and 2 (Chapter 2) critically tested between the information-processing and motivation-based (i.e., OPTIMAL theory) explanations of the self-controlled learning advantage by providing participants in choice and yoked groups with error or graded feedback (Experiment 1) and binary feedback (Experiment 2). Results showed no self-controlled learning advantage and exercising choice in practice did not increase perceptions of autonomy, competence, or intrinsic motivation, nor did it improve error estimation accuracy. Although these findings are difficult to reconcile with either explanation, they are consistent with a growing body of evidence suggesting self-controlled conditions are not advantageous for motor learning. Experiment 3 addressed a methodological limitation of past self-controlled learning research by including a novel yoked group that was explicitly told they were being denied choice and that their observation schedule was created by another participant. Results showed no self-controlled learning advantage despite finding higher perceptions of autonomy in the choice group. These findings are consistent with Experiments 1 and 2, and further questions the causal role of autonomy-support on motor learning and the robustness of the so-called self-controlled learning advantage. Experiment 4 investigated the influence of different instructional language styles on skill acquisition. Throughout practice participants received task instructions that used either autonomy-supportive or controlling language. Results showed no performance differences in acquisition or retention despite finding higher perceptions of autonomy and competence in the autonomy-supportive group. These findings are inconsistent with key predictions in OPTIMAL theory regarding the role of autonomy in motor learning. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Practice environments that provide learners with autonomy have been argued to be more effective for learning new motor skills compared to more controlling environments. Two techniques that can be used to create autonomy-supportive learning environments are giving learners control over a feature of their practice or the language used when giving task instructions. This dissertation addresses knowledge gaps and several methodological limitations of previous literature by measuring key psychological variables, the use of novel experimental groups, large N studies, modern statistical techniques, and open science practices. Findings showed that under many conditions perceptions of autonomy and competence can be impacted positively; however, these psychological benefits do not reliably translate into superior motor performance or learning. Collectively, results of this dissertation challenge mainstream perspectives regarding a direct and causal role of motivational influences on motor skill acquisition.

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Open Effective Field Theories are a class of Effective Field Theories (EFTs) built using ideas from open quantum systems in which a measured sector (the system) interacts with an unmeasured sector (the environment). It is argued that Open EFTs are useful tools for any situation in which a quantum system couples to a gravitational background with an event horizon. The main reason for this is that for any EFT of gravity one generically expects perturbation theory to breakdown at late times (when interactions with the background persist indefinitely). It is shown that the tools of Open EFTs allow one to resum late-time perturbative breakdowns in order to make reliable late time predictions (without resorting to solving the dynamics exactly). To build evidence of their usefulness to these types of gravitational problems, Open EFT approximation methods are applied to two toy models relating to black hole physics. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Open Effective Field Theories are a class of quantum theories in which a measured sector (the system) is used to make physical predictions with, while interacting with an unmeasured sector (the environment). In this thesis arguments are made that Open EFTs are useful for studying gravitating quantum systems, especially when there is an event horizon present (for example in gravitational fields like that of a black hole). Open EFTs are applied to simple toy problems in such settings to illustrate their usefulness.

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