Engagement with educational instruction and related materials is an important part of learning and contributes to test performance. There are various measures of engagement including self-reports, observations, pupil diameter, and posture. With the challenges associated with obtaining accurate engagement levels, such as difficulties with measuring variations in engagement, the present study used a novel approach to predict engagement from posture by using deep learning. Deep learning was used to analyze a labeled outline of the participants and extract key points that are expected to predict engagement. In the first experiment two short lectures were presented and participants were tested on a lecture to motivate engagement. The next experiment had videos that varied in interest to understand whether a more interesting presentation engages participants more, therefore helping participants achieve higher comprehension scores. In a third experiment, one video was presented to attempt to use posture to predict comprehension rather than engagement. The fourth experiment had videos that varied in level of difficulty to determine whether a challenging topic versus an easier topic affects engagement. T-tests revealed that the more interesting Ted Talk was rated as more engaging, and for the fourth study, the more difficult video was rated as more engaging. Comparing average pupil sizes did not reveal significant differences that would relate to differences in the engagement scores, and average pupil dilation did not correlate with engagement. Analyzing posture through deep learning resulted in three accurate predictive models and a way to predict comprehension. Since engagement relates to learning, researchers and educators can benefit from accurate engagement measures. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2020. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

The purpose of this research was to assess the effects of the Utah State University Pupil Self-Concept Program on the performance of inservice elementary school teachers and on the self-concepts of pupils in their classrooms. Four volunteer teachers were trained in the SelfConcept behaviors as part of an inservice course. A single-subject multiple baseline design was used to determine teacher effects for these four teachers. The first teacher was the main subject, and the study was then directly replicated three times using the other three experimental teachers. Data on these four subjects were collected through observation of program-related teacher behaviors. Results from the Teacher data indicated that teachers will indeed exhibit changes in their use frequency of the USU Pupil Self-Concept Program verbal behaviors when each of these behaviors is taught. The use of negative behaviors decreased in frequency while the use of positive behaviors increased in frequency. Results from this data indicated that pupils whose teachers are trained to emit the Program's specific language skills receive significantly higher self-concept scores than do pupils whose teachers do not receive this training, provided there are no other interaction styles used in the classroom than that of the trained or untrained teacher. A quasi-experimental design was used to assess pupil effects as a result of teacher training. The pupils in the four trained teachers' classes served as the experimental group. The control group consisted of the pupils in three additional volunteer teachers' classes. These teachers were not trained; therefore, the pupil control group received no treatment. A pupil self-concept measure was administered before and after the inservice course.

This study of the pupil-progress reports of the elementary school of the state of Utah came about as the result of an assignment of the late Superintendent Keith Wahlquist. In answer to requests of local teachers and principals, a committee was assigned to make an investigation and recommendations for a revision of our reporting system. The work with the committee led to further study, which finally led to the writing of this thesis.

abstract: Previously accomplished research examined sensory integration between upper limb proprioception and tactile sensation. The active proprioceptive-tactile relationship points towards an opportunity to examine neuromodulation effects on sensory integration with respect to proprioceptive error magnitude and direction. Efforts to improve focus and attention during upper limb proprioceptive tasks results in a decrease of proprioceptive error magnitudes and greater endpoint accuracy. Increased focus and attention can also be correlated to neurophysiological activity in the Locus Coeruleus (LC) during a variety of mental tasks. Through non-invasive trigeminal nerve stimulation, it may be possible to affect the activity of the LC and induce improvements in arousal and attention that would assist in proprioceptive estimation. The trigeminal nerve projects to the LC through the mesencephalic nucleus of the trigeminal complex, providing a pathway similar to the effects seen from vagus nerve stimulation. In this experiment, the effect of trigeminal nerve stimulation (TNS) on proprioceptive ability is evaluated by the proprioceptive estimation error magnitude and direction, while LC activation via autonomic pathways is indirectly measured using pupil diameter, pupil recovery time, and pupil velocity. TNS decreases proprioceptive error magnitude in 59% of subjects, while having no measurable impact on proprioceptive strategy. Autonomic nervous system changes were observed in 88% of subjects, with mostly parasympathetic activation and a mixed sympathetic effect. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Biomedical Engineering 2019

The history of human progress is also a history of the growth of evaluative processes. From simple types of self-analysis to complex stages of appraisal wherein survival depends on continuous research and intensive evaluation, human progress has gone hand-in-hand with evaluation. Concomitant with the evaluative process has been the interpretation and transmission of evaluation to the individuals concerned.

This Diploma Thesis deals with the issue of knowledge of second grade pupils of a selected elementary school regarding selected infectious diseases. The aim of this diploma thesis is to find out to what extent pupils aged 11 - 15 are informed about infectious diseases, their transmission, treatment possibilities, protection against them and to what extent their school participates in such awareness procedures. The theoretical part includes the definition and approximation of basic terms concerning epidemiology, hygiene and microbiology. It provides basic information about infectious diseases, transmission methods, protection against them and their treatment. The practical part analyses and evaluates the data obtained by the questionnaire survey among second grade pupils of the selected elementary school. A total of 186 questionnaires were used to evaluate the results. Indeed, the results confirmed that the pupils' knowledge of infectious diseases is not sufficient for their own health and safety development. Many pupils have misinformation about vaccinations, incubation periods and protection against infectious diseases. I would therefore assume, we need to get closer to the pupils` problems of infectious diseases and to improve knowledge in these areas. Furthermore, it is necessary to strengthen...

Författare: Fredrik Rosdahl Titel: Elevinflytande Nyckelord: Elevinflytande, intervjuer, Lgr-11Syftet med denna undersökning är att undersöka hur eleverna på en skola upplever elevinflytande. Elevinflytande är något som alltid har intresserat mig, att få möjligheten att påverka ens utbildning och arbets-/lärningsmiljö upplever jag som något väldigt viktigt. Under min egen skolgång var det inte förrän i högstadiet och gymnasiet som elevinflytande togs på allvar av skolan. I denna undersökningen kommer jag undersöka hur elevinflytande ser ut och fungerar på en låg- och mellanstadieskola. Undersökningens syfte är att upplysa hur elever upplever att elevinflytande fungerar på deras skola.Jag har tagit del av olika teorier om elevinflytande och hur man som pedagog kan arbeta med elevinflytande i skolan. Teorier så som John Dewey "learning by doing", som betonar vikten av att låta elever vara delaktiga i sin egen utbildning och få prova sig fram för att växa till kompetenta demokratiska medborgare. Min empiri bygger på intervjuer med rektorn, personal samt elever på en skola i västra Skåne samt intervju med en lärare på en skola i norra Skåne. Min empiri bygger också på observationer utav klassråd i olika klasser samt elevrådsmöte.Resultatet av denna studien presenteras i större utsträckning i resultats kapitlet i examensarbetet. Kortfattat, så visar resultatet av denna undersökningen att de medverkande eleverna upplever en stor möjlighet att få påverka sin skola och undervisning via elevinflytande.

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Economic preferences are fundamental to risky decision making and other economic decision- making. Unlike traditional economics, which routinely assumes that individuals are endowed with stable preferences and try to maximize the expected utility when facing risky decision-making problems, behavioral economics and neuroeconomics offer research strategies that help us explore the factors that influence economic preferences and risky decision-making process. This dissertation consists of three essays studying the underlying experiential influences on economic preferences and neurobiological effects on risky decision making. Chapter 2 examines whether experiences during adolescence have a long-term effect on economic preferences. Between 1966 and 1976, China's Sent-Down Movement required seventeen million urban teenagers to spend several years living and working in rural areas. The program had a number of goals for participants, including learning empathy for rural laborers and developing collectivist values. The sent-down movement can be regarded as a natural experiment, which allows us to investigate whether this government policy was successful in effecting a lasting change to economic preferences. Using a modified Global Preference Survey and employing a regression discontinuity design, we find that the experience of being Sent-Down significantly changed participants' risk preferences, other-regarding preferences, and attitudes toward government. Chapter 3 explores how the arousal system modulates attention and investment behavior. Experimental research shows that human decision making is shaped by emotions associated with an outcome's success or failure. Regret, for example, is a powerful predictor of future investment decisions in asset markets. Using a fictive learning model to capture regret, we examine changes in pupil diameter of participants performing a sequential investing task. By manipulating task uncertainty, we show that pupil dilation is positively correlated with both asset price variance and regret. In addition, pupil linked arousal is positively associated with the learning rate. We conclude that the pupil–linked arousal system helps regulate investment behavior in a dynamic market environment. Chapter 4 explores the complex process by which people make risky choices. While traditional models, like expected utility theory, model choice as the selection of the outcome with the highest probability-weighted value, research shows that in some environments these models do a poor job of describing behavior. This study explores the role of attention, pupil-linked arousal, and salience in risky choice. First, we replicate earlier findings that those choices are consistent with expected utility theory when the calculation is easy, however, as the calculation becomes harder, they make decisions by comparing unweighted payoffs and are attend to the salient option. Further, we find that pupil-linked arousal is associated with the level of cognitive effort needed to calculate expected utility. Finally, we show that arousal reflects cognitive effort associated with resisted selecting a more salient option. / Doctor of Philosophy / Economic decisions are those involving trade-offs where an individual must give up one item or possibility to get another. Economic preferences define which outcome an individual will value more, and helps explain why, for example, some people invest their money in high-risk and high- yield bonds while others keep their money in their savings account. Economists and other social scientists are interested in the differences between individuals' economic preferences, how they are formed, and how they translate into peoples' decisions. Risky decision making is one common type of economic decision that people make daily, for example, investing in the stock market, gambling in casinos, buying lottery tickets or trying a new restaurant. We know that when two people make different decisions that sometimes it is because they have different preferences, and sometimes it is because they go about making decisions in different ways. This dissertation explores whether people's early experiences have a long-term impact on economic preferences (Chapter 2), and investigate the roles that attention, emotional arousal, and information salience play in risky decision making (Chapters 3 4) using research methods from behavioral economics, experimental economics, and neuroeconomics. The scientific mission of this dissertation is to deepen our understanding of how and why people make choices. We add to the evidence that economic preferences are not inborn and stable; instead, they are shaped by people's experiences. We also explore risky choices like investing money and find that while people often try to minimize regret, our emotional arousal system significantly affects our attention patterns and behavior. In addition, when faced with decisions requiring calculations that are hard to do in your head, people make different decisions than when the calculations are easy. Overall, we paint a picture of human decision-makers whose past experiences and current options determine both the nature of their choices and how they make them.