Research has identified job context, specific attributes of professional development (PD), and perceived teacher input as factors that contribute to teachers' attitudes. This sequential mixed methods study tested those findings together and further investigated teachers' beliefs and attitudes about their own professional learning. The first phase of data collection included a 5-item attitude survey, demographic information, and two short-answer questions. Multiple regression analysis of the sample (N = 328) showed four statistically significant contributors to teacher attitude: (i) socioeconomic status of the school, (ii) teacher years of experience at the campus, (iii) content area taught, and (iv) degree attained by the teacher. During the second phase, six focus groups were conducted which confirmed earlier findings and revealed four themes in teachers' attitudes: (1) a need and desire for collaborative, engaging PD; (2) perceived interference from outside forces that supplant teachers' own PD goals and wishes; (3) a need to establish a context and a cohesive plan for long-term career and campus goals; and (4) a subgroup of teachers who believe that PD has little inherent value. Limitations and implications are included.

World-wide concerns about human impact on the environment have led to the in 2015 formalizedParis Agreement and the global Sustainable Development Goals. All generations are needed toachieve these targets. Thus, young people need to receive appropriate, sustainability-focusededucation. Even though higher education institutions respond to this demand, students still lackmotivation for sustainable actions. To increase knowledge about this issue, I investigatedmotivation for pro-environmental behaviour in combination with nature-connectedness - a factorthat has not yet been linked with it. In a sample of 208 students, I analysed the correlationsbetween the connectedness to nature scale (CNS) and the motivation toward the environmentscale (MTES). I found correlations, meaning that students who were strongly connected tonature, tend to be more motivated to engage in pro-environmental behaviour as well. However,this does not imply a causal relationship. I also found that students in programs with a main focuson environmental topics scored higher on the CNS and (most categories of) the MTES than otherstudents, and females scored higher than males. Most of the overall mean scores were alignedwith previous research. However, there is still space for improvement and more research needs tobe done. Thus, I recommend future research to use the CNS and MTES in student populations.Moreover, I advise higher education to provide each student with Education for SustainableDevelopment (ESD). It could be beneficial to focus on critical thinking and active, experientiallearning in ESD, possibly with the usage of outdoor education.

Cette recherche s‘attache à comprendre le phénomène de la contestation de la publicité environnementale. En effet, peu de recherches ont été conduites sur ce sujet. L'objectif de cette thèse est d'explorer les contours de la notion de contestation publicité environnementale tout en identifiant les raisons, les manifestations et les risques qui lui sont associés. Trois études empiriques, une qualitative et deux expérimentales, montrent que qu'il existe des motifs de contestation rattachés aux éléments de la publicité et d'autres liés à la confiance du consommateur envers les publicités vertes. En outre, les manifestations de la contestation peuvent aller de mouvements collectifs et visibles à des comportements plus individuels comme l'évitement et le rejet de la publicité environnementale. De plus, la contestation semble présenter un impact négatif sur l'image de l'entreprise et sur le comportement d'achat du consommateur. Enfin, les résultats indiquent que la provocation - un moyen utilisé par les entreprises selon la littérature pour éviter pas la contestation- a d‘effets négatifs sur les perceptions et les des consommateurs envers la publicité. À la lumière des résultats obtenus, les limites de la thèse sont exposées et les futurs axes de recherche sont proposés. / This research seeks to analyze the phenomenon of environmental advertising contestation. In effect, there is a shortage of studies on these issues. The objective of this thesis is to explore the contours of the environmental advertising contestation concept while identifying the reasons, the manifestations and the risks associated with it. Three empirical studies, one qualitative and two experimental, show that that there are reasons of contestation related to creative elements of advertisement and discourse advertisements and others linked to advertising medium and confidence of consumer toward the advertising source. Moreover, the manifestations of contestation can range from collective and visible movements to more individual behaviors such as avoidance and the rejection of environmental advertising. In addition, the contestation seems to have a negative impact on consumer buying behavior and on the firm's image. Finally, the results indicate that provocation- a tool used by companies according to literature to avoid contestation- has negative effects on consumers‘ perceptions and attitudes toward the advertisement. In the light of the obtained results, the limitations of the thesis are outlined and future avenues of research are proposed.

The purpose of this study was to explore Morro Bay residents’ attitudes toward tourism and knowledge about tourism in the three major tourism impact categories (economic, socio-cultural, and environmental). A mail-back questionnaire was hand-delivered during the winter of 2011 to 720 Morro Bay residents. In general, Morro Bay residents had slightly positive attitudes toward tourism in their community. The mean attitude score was 3.27 on a 5-point Likert type scale. The subjects had a relatively low level of tourism knowledge. The mean total indirect tourism knowledge score was 2.98 on a 5-point Likert-type scale. Residents’ total direct tourism knowledge score was 0.33 on a scale of zero to one. A multiple regression model was used to test for an association between residents’ knowledge about tourism, community attachment, socio-demographic variables, and residents’ attitudes toward tourism. The only variables that were associated with residents’ attitude toward tourism were: length of residency, interest in learning more about tourism, level of education, household income, subjective tourism knowledge, economic tourism knowledge, and environmental tourism knowledge. The two most significant variables were economic tourism knowledge and environmental tourism knowledge. Future research should test the effectiveness of different methods to increase residents’ tourism knowledge.

Weight bias exists in some health-related degree programs. Overweight and obese persons who experience weight bias in health-related services often delay or avoid medical attention altogether. Guided by the attribution theory, the purpose of this sequential explanatory study was to examine weight bias among health majors at a southwest regional university to illuminate how attitudes can affect the level of care provided to overweight persons. The Attitudes toward Obese Persons (ATOP) scores from a convenience sample of 184 health majors revealed that participants' scores were found to be significantly lower than the midpoint (60) of the ATOP scale, M = 56.68, SD = 16.75, t(183) = -2.69, p < .01, indicating more negative attitudes toward obese persons. As a follow-up measure, 12 interviews were conducted to examine how health majors described their own experiences in working with obese persons. Thematic analysis revealed that the majority of participants expressed common stereotypes to describe obese persons as lazy, lacking self-discipline, and unhealthy. The integration of both sets of data supported the need to develop weight bias curriculum to facilitate social change whereby adaptive approaches to minimize weight bias among students within the classroom and clinical settings become best practice. Future research efforts in the development and evaluation of interventions are needed to reduce weight bias among academic institutions that offer health-related degree programs.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the nature of the relationship that attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help have with religiosity and religious orientation among members of the Greek Orthodox Christian Church in the United States. In addition, this study also investigated the nature of the relationship that confessional involvement has with the following variables: intrinsic religious orientation, extrinsic religious orientation, religiosity, attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help, and ethnic background. This is important because Greek Americans, for reasons perhaps related to culture and religion, have historically displayed a reticence to seek professional psychological help when there are psychological problems. There is a paucity of research on the role religiosity and religious orientation has on seeking professional help for mental health problems. Taking a sample from the members of an urban, large-sized Greek Orthodox parish, participants will complete a questionnaire consisting of demographic data, the Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help scale (ATSPPH) short form-revised (Fischer & Farina, 1995); the New Indices of Religious Orientation scale (NIRO) short form (Francis, 2007); and the Christian Orthodox Religiousness Scale (CORS) (Chliaoutakis et al., 2002). The results will be analyzed to provide information useful in understanding the relationship between religiosity, religious orientation and attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help among members of the Greek Orthodox Church. Implications of these findings and suggestions for further research will be discussed.

The aim of the study is to investigate the effect of creative drama- based instruction on 7th grade students&rsquo / achievement in probability concept and their attitude toward mathematics. Another purpose of the study is to investigate the gender differences regarding mathematics achievement and attitude. The study was conducted with two 7th grade classes from a public school in the 2010-2011 academic year, lasting 17 lesson hours (six weeks). Twenty-two of the participants received Creative Drama Based Instruction (CDBI), and twenty-one received Regular Instruction (RI). Experimental design was used in which two different learning environments / creative drama based instruction and regular instruction was compared. In order to measure students&rsquo / mathematics achievement Probability Achievement Test (PAT) was used. The participants were given Mathematics Attitude Scale (MAS), in order to quantify the levels of attitude towards mathematics. These instruments were implemented before and after the treatment as pre-test and post-test. Independent samples t-test was performed on gain scores of PAT and MAS. Moreover, two way ANOVA was performed to examine the data. Two way ANOVA results yielded that there was a statistically significant difference between the mean scores of Experimental Group and Control Group in terms of achievement in favor of Experimental Group. Moreover, female students had significantly higher mathematics achievement scores than males. The results of mathematics attitude scale showed that the seventh grade students&rsquo / attitudes towards mathematics were not significantly different with respect to teaching method. Also, it could be stated that gender difference regarding of mean attitude scores was not statistically significant.

This research explored college students’ attitudes toward online romantic relationships and their intentions to develop this type of relationship. Borrowing elements from both social cognitive theory and the theory of reasoned action, this study introduced a model that combined perceptions of indirect past experiences, beliefs, attitudes and social norms and associations with people’s intentions to form romantic relationships over the Internet. Under the premise that people learn through observation, this study argued that when direct experience is lacking (as was the case with this sample), other sources of indirect experiences with online romantic relationships (perceptions of significant others’ past experiences and exposure to media messages about online romantic relationships) would relate to people’s beliefs about these relationships and their perceptions of what significant others think (social norms). Based on the theory of reasoned action, it was hypothesized that people’s beliefs about online relationships would then be related to their attitudes toward such relationships. Lastly, also under the framework of reasoned action, it was hypothesized that both attitudes and social norms would predict people’s intentions to form or develop romantic relationships over the Internet. The purpose of this study was thus to examine how well predictors from social cognitive theory and the theory of reasoned action explained intentions to form online romantic relationships. A pilot study was conducted to derive beliefs and attitudes toward online romantic relationships and to test the main instrument. In the main study, 226 college students with no prior direct experience forming online romantic relationships completed a web-based self-administered questionnaire. A structural equation modeling (SEM) approach was used to assess the relative importance and the strength among the different constructs. Results indicated that the overall model fit the data well. The final model accounted for 46% of the variance in people’s intentions to form online romantic relationships. Perceptions of friends’ and family’s past experiences with online romantic relationships were significantly related to people’s beliefs about these relationships. However, only friends’ past experiences was related to social norms. Exposure to media (news stories or ads about dating sites) was not related to either beliefs or social norms. Consistent with the theory of reasoned action, beliefs were strongly correlated with attitudes about online romantic relationships, and lastly, both attitudes and social norms emerged as instrumental factors in predicting participants’ intention to develop online romantic relationships. Overall, the findings confirmed the importance of integrating indirect past experiences in understanding people’s attitudes and intentions to form romantic relationships over the Internet. The theoretical and methodological implications of these results for the study and understanding of online romantic relationships are discussed.

To date, little research has documented the prevalence of anti-gay behaviours on Canadian university campuses or directly explored heterosexual mens and womens self-reported reasons for holding negative attitudes toward gay men and engaging in anti-gay behaviours. Consequently, the purpose of the current study was to: (1) assess the prevalence of anti-gay attitudes and behaviours on a Canadian university campus using the Attitudes Toward Gay Men Scale (ATG) and the Self-Report Behaviour Scale Revised (SBS-R); (2) describe heterosexual mens and womens lived experiences as perpetrators of homonegativity; and (3) explore how heterosexuals find meaning in their homonegativity within personal and social contexts. A mixed-methods approach was used wherein a quantitative questionnaire was administered to 286 university students in the first phase of the study. The majority of the participants scored below the midpoint of the ATG and they most often reported engaging in subtle behaviours directed toward gay men. In the second, qualitative phase of the study, open-ended interviews were conducted with eight individuals (four men and four women) who held negative attitudes toward gay men and had engaged in anti-gay behaviours. The interviews were analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. The participants lived experiences of homonegativity were primarily characterized by their feelings of discomfort upon observing gay men display affection and their perceptions that gay men are feminine. For the most part, participants used their religious beliefs, negative affective reactions toward homosexuality, and their beliefs that homosexuality is wrong and unnatural to understand their homonegativity. Further, the participants indicated that they had only engaged in subtle anti-gay behaviours, such as joke-telling, social distancing, or avoidance. Many of the participants were concerned about being perceived as prejudiced and, consequently, monitored the behaviours they directed toward gay men. Limitations of the study and directions for future research concerning anti-gay behaviours are also presented.

The main purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of multiple intelligences based instruction (MIBI) over traditionally designed instruction on ninth grade students&rsquo / achievement in the unit of basic compounds of living organisms concepts and attitude toward biology as a school subject. In addition, the effect of gender difference on achievement in the unit and attitudes toward biology were investigated. Students&rsquo / science process skills were also investigated. 59 ninth grade students from two different classes taught by the same teacher at a public Anatolian high school in Kirsehir were enrolled in the study during first semester of 2011-2012 academic years. The classes were randomly assigned as control group and experimental group. While control group students were instructed by traditionally designed biology instruction, the experimental group students were instructed with MIBI over a period of ten weeks. Basic compounds of living organisms achievement test and attitude scale toward biology were given to both groups as a pre-test and post-test. Science Process skills test was given at the beginning of the study to determine students&rsquo / science process skills. Interviews were hold with some students in the experimental group and the teacher to get their opinions about the implementation of MI based instruction. Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA) was used to analyze the data. The results of the study revealed that MIBI compared to traditional instruction was more effective to improve students&rsquo / achievement in the unit of basic compounds of living organisms. However there was no significant effect of MIBI on students&rsquo / attitude toward biology. Moreover there was no significant effect of gender difference on both students&rsquo / achievement in the unit and attitudes toward biology. The results of interview showed that both students and the teacher had positive opinions toward MIBI.