謝淸美. / 複印本. / Thesis (M.A.)--香港中文大學. / Fu yin ben. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 48-54). / Xie Qingmei. / Thesis (M.A.)--Xianggang Zhong wen da xue.

The problem of this study was to determine and report the attitudes of selected undergraduate military veterans toward selected campus organizations at North Texas State University. The purpose of this study was to provide a basis for evaluating and possibly improving the campus organizations at this university. As a result of this study, it was concluded that the majority of responding veterans had very little knowledge concerning the majority of campus organizations. It was concluded that the majority of responding veterans preferred the miscellaneous type of organizations as opposed to the national honorary and professional, departmental, and social types. It was also concluded that all the responding veterans stated the overall groups of campus organizations were between "good" and "fair," and felt they needed help from their advisors about the organizations on this campus.

This study examined if dental students could increase their level of reflective skills over time through composing reflective blogs during their introduction to patient care in their course, Clinical Practice of Dentistry I, and to document and analyze student perceptions of the use of reflective blogs, particularly pertaining to the clinical and metacognitive skills. The participants of this study included 69 third-year dental students. Reflective blogs were analyzed using a reflective rubric adapted from Wetmore, Boyd, Bowen & Patillio, 2010. Student perceptions regarding the use of reflective blogs were documented through a 14-question Likert-opinion survey and focus group interviews. Findings indicated reflective thought level increased significantly in all six reflective thought categories across the three assessed blogs. Overall, student perceptions of the use of reflective blogs were positive as based on a five-point Likert scale survey. They reported particularly high percentages for "I feel comfortable about reflecting on my clinical experiences" at ~ 90% Agree, "Reflective journals allow me to focus and think things over" at ~ 83% Agree, followed by "Reflective journals develop my ability to monitor and reflect on my own thinking processes"~ 74%. Both the qualitative and quantitative results of this study provide favorable evidence that reflective journaling is effective and in large measure is appreciated by students in their clinical phase of dental medical education.

The small Gulf nation of Qatar, despite its vast oil and gas wealth, suffers from a lack of human capital, particularly with respect to deficits in academic outcomes. Despite extensive investment in education, Qataris, and in particular Qatari boys, are still underperforming relative to international standards and relative to its wealth. In this dissertation I explored political, economic, and sociological approaches to investigate factors contributing to the underperformance of male Qatari students. Specifically, I have examined how male Qatari high school students internalize social values and economic and political policies as “signals” that inform and are reflected in their attitudes towards education and learning. I have hypothesized that Qatari male students who perceive the economic entitlement signals, and who perceive wasta (social status) as a venue of success, and who lack civic engagement, will do worse academically. My research focused on Qatari males attending public high schools in Qatar, which are operated by the Ministry of Education, and examined their performance on national standardized tests. To investigate my research question, I conducted a quantitative study using an original survey instrument. The target population included a representative sample of Qatari high school students who were in grades 10, 11, and 12 in the public schools in Qatar. My analysis of the data found mixed results in which economic signals appear to be strongly associated with male academic performance. Furthermore, Qatari high school boys’ perceptions of the value of wasta was correlated with their achievement on test scores. Surprisingly, Qatari high school boys’ perceptions of civic engagement did not appear to associate with Qatari males’ academic underperformance.

This study investigated the effects of selfesteem, controllability, and optimism, the constructs inherent in positive illusions, on perceived racism. The perceived racism scale in this study was found to contain two dimensions, Equal Opportunity (EO) racism and Authority (AUT) racism. Thirty-seven AfricanAmerican, 64 Asian-American and 100 White-American students at Portland States University {101 females, 100 males and mean age of 25 years) served as subjects. The findings revealed that both African- and AsianAmerican students perceived a racist atmosphere from peer students {EO racism) significantly higher than did the White-American students. However, only AfricanAmerican students perceived greater racism from faculty members (AUT racism) than the White-American students. None of the illusions had an effect on perceived EO racism. However, all types of illusions (self-esteem, controllability and optimism) had a significant effect on perceived racism from faculty members {AUT racism). Higher perception of AUT racism was correlated with less self-esteem(~= -.089, R = .12), less controllability(~= -.319, R < .001), and less optimism (~ = -.144, R = .03). The results of this study support empirical evidence showing that the illusions, especially controllability, change individuals in how they perceive racism when the racism is practiced by authorities.

As a descriptive, pilot study utilizing an online survey, this study explores the perceptions of CSUSB student nurses related to their commute and ontime arrival at clinical sites, typically in the San Bernardino and Riverside Counties, and whether or not the commute is perceived as being stressful.

As college students are preparing to enter the workforce as professionals, it is important that we examine their explicit and implicit attitudes toward older workers to investigate what organizations can do on behalf of older workers. For instance, organizations may have policies that are giving preferential treatment toward older workers and reinforcing younger workers’ negative attitudes. For the present study, I used a scenario based-procedure in which participants read about an older worker who has been promoted based on an employment policy that favors older workers or the most competent workers. I examined students’ pre- and post explicit and implicit attitudes toward older individuals for each condition. Students in the preferential treatment condition did not have significantly different explicit attitudes from students in the merit condition, thus Hypothesis 1 was supported. Aside from treatment, students’ post implicit attitudes significantly decreased (i.e., were less negative) from students’ pre-implicit attitudes. Therefore, Hypothesis 2 was partially supported. In addition, students in the preferential treatment condition exhibited only negative emotions toward the older worker and not harmful behaviors. Therefore, Hypothesis 3 was partially supported. Finally, there was no impact of preferential treatment toward older workers on students’ aging anxiety. Implications of these findings with regard to both implicit and explicit attitudes toward older workers are discussed.

Many pre-health students are required to take introductory physics as undergraduates, though they often struggle to see the relationship between medicine and what they learn in these courses. In order to help students make that connection, reformed curriculum was adopted that teaches physics through the context of biomedicine. This dissertation will discuss the development, implementation, and assessment of the reformed curriculum for the introductory and intermediate level physics courses that targets the needs of pre-health students. The curriculum created during this project include laboratory activities, multimedia content, and other instructional materials all of which present physics in biomedical contexts. The laboratory activities focus on exploring the physical principles behind common medical devices or concepts such as body composition analyzers or computed tomography. This often required researching, designing, and building devices for use in the classroom. Videos interviews with biomedical experts detail how physics is used in their fields. The texts written for these courses serve as a fundamental scientific introduction to the physical concepts and technical discussions of their application in biomedicine. An online homework platform allows for the implementation of a flipped classroom. Homework integrates the material, probing both conceptual understanding and problem solving. Multiple forms of assessment have been used to improve the content and clarity of the curriculum. The research for this project includes a study of the impact of these course reforms on students' attitudes toward physics. Shifts in attitudes were assessed using the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS), course surveys, student interviews, and conceptual quizzes. Data was collected from students in the reformed course and a concurrent course taught using a traditional physics curriculum that does not have a focus on biomedicine. The results show that students' attitudes were affected by the reforms in multiple ways including students' ability to contextualize physical phenomenon through biomedical applications. Direct responses from the students indicated that they appreciated that the course included biomedically relevant content. They stated that the course had helped them to make connections with physics that they were not able to make in previous physics classes. However, a portion of the students qualified their approval of the course reforms by stating, for example, that they felt they were missing out on other topics due to the biomedical focus. There is evidence that other factors such as class meeting time could have played a role in students' attitudes as well. Students were surveyed multiple times throughout the year. Results of these surveys show that students' attitudes tend to decrease during fall term, but improve after winter and spring term. These results suggest that greater gains in favorable attitudes could be achieved by course reforms in fall term, where positive attitudes are at a minimum. Illustration-based quizzes were administered to assess students' conceptual understanding and contextualization of different physical phenomena. The quizzes featured open-ended prompts about illustrations similar to those often seen in physics instruction. Few significant differences in conceptual understanding were found between students in the reformed and traditional courses. However, students in the reformed course were more likely to cite biomedical applications of the physical phenomena. These course reforms teach physical principles through their application to biomedical technology and have positively impacted students' appreciation for the relationship between physics and biomedicine.

This study was conducted to examine the traits and goals of students enrolled in the ESL program at Clark College in Vancouver, Washington over the past two academic years (1992 and 1993). The study looks at the degree of awareness that these students have of further educational opportunities in the academic and vocational areas, and the degree to which the ESL program at Clark College engenders this awareness. Data was collected from two cohorts of students enrolled in the ESL program on two separate occasions, each approximately one year apart. The goals of the study included the following: ( 1) gathering background data for the students attending the ESL program; (2) collecting information regarding students' past and present knowledge of computer technology; (3) awareness of the financial aid programs available; (4) future goals in the areas of education and employment. Comparison of the responses from the two cohorts provides instructors and administrators a clear picture of the students they are serving and provides the rationale for providing the material and logistical support required to allow ESL students to enter into mainstream programs at the community college level.

In response to the increasing number of United States school students from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds at all grade levels, often called "simultaneous bilinguals," the U.S. school districts are opening schools that offer bilingual instruction. One instructional strategy that seems promising is the "Bridge," where students contrast and connect the literacy skills learned in one language to the literacy skills in their other language. An underlying component of learning a language is student attitude and motivation to learn. Research also seems to indicate that student attitude and motivation toward biliteracy can affect their achievement. There seems to be a lack of research on how students respond to becoming biliterate. The purpose of this study is to explore how simultaneous bilingual middle school students respond to becoming biliterate in Spanish and English as a result of participation in a humanities dual language/immersion class, taught through the instructional strategy the Bridge. This study used a case study design. The focus was on 12 simultaneous bilingual middle school students who had at least three years of bilingual education. The methods used to gather data were: the students' achievement in biliteracy, a survey, a Draw-a-Bilingual-student activity, a narrative response, and a focus group. I identified five themes from the data analysis: (a) Positive role of family in developing biliteracy; (b) Confidence in becoming biliterate; (c) Using their biliteracy skills in the community; (d) Biliteracy valued for their future; and (e) Appreciation of bilingual programs in our schools. Future research should continue to investigate the power of the Bridge strategy in furthering student success in becoming biliterate.