Western Connecticut State University
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THE IMPACT OF A PERSISTENCE INTERVENTION ON THE MATHEMATICAL SELF-PERCEPTIONS OF MALE AND FEMALE FOURTH AND FIFTH GRADE STUDENTS
No full textThis research explored the impact of an intervention designed to increase fourth and fifth grade students’ persistence in mathematics on their mathematical self-perceptions. The researcher utilized a quasi-experimental design in which intact classrooms were randomly assigned to treatment or comparison conditions, as well as follow-up survey methodology. Students in the treatment group received prescriptive informational feedback in mathematical notebooks from their teachers, were taught that abilities are expandable and improvable, and were exposed to role models that taught about the importance of persistence, while students in the comparison group received a traditional mathematics curriculum. The persistence intervention occurred over the course of 12 weeks in a small northeastern suburban school district in which three of the five elementary schools were utilized. Two researcher-designed surveys (demographic and open-ended) and The Math and Me survey (Adelson, 2006) were administered to the students in this study. Data were analyzed using a two-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and cycle coding of the general qualitative data (Saldaña, 2009). The results of the analysis indicated no significant main effect for Type of Intervention or Gender. No significant interaction was found for Type of Intervention and Gender. However in the qualitative results, four themes emerged: Attribution – Effort, Attribution – Ability, Positive Feelings about Math, and Negative Feelings about Math. The responses to the intervention indicated a positive attitude toward the mathematic notebooks, the comments provided, and the Staying in the Struggle (McAnallen, 2002) vignettes. Implications for educators and suggestions for future research are discussed.Doctor of Education (EdD)Education & Educational Psycholog
UNDERSTANDING TEACHER USE OF INQUIRY: INVESTIGATING CATALYSTS AND BARRIERS
No full textThe purpose of this qualitative, multiple-case study was to investigate the catalysts and barriers related to implementing inquiry-based instruction in elementary school from the perspective of third, fourth, and fifth grade teachers. The participants included five teachers who were frequent inquiry users, and four teachers who were infrequent inquiry users. The subjects were interviewed about their teaching styles and beliefs about education, understandings and use of inquiry-based learning, feelings about instructional change, personal experience with inquiry as students, problem-solving preferences, and opinions about the catalysts and barriers to teacher use of inquiry. Each subject was observed and rated on the level of inquiry use on a rubric designed to measure the quality and frequency of inquiry in their lessons. A short problem-solving styles instrument was administered to search for common patterns among teachers.
Triangulation by source (high frequency and low frequency inquiry teachers) and method (observations, interviews, and problem-solving styles assessment) established trustworthiness. The themes that emerged were classified into internal and external spheres of influence. The themes related to the internal sphere of influence were beliefs about educational change, direct instruction practices, student engagement, teacher emotions, teacher knowledge of instructional practices, teacher knowledge of inquiry practices, teacher pedagogical beliefs, teacher problem-solving style, and types of questions posed. The external sphere of influence themes were age and years of teaching experience, collaboration, mandated educational change, mandated testing, parent feedback, peer pressure, professional development, program support, state standards, teacher experience with inquiry as students, and time constraints. The study found that these factors acted as catalysts and barriers to teacher use of inquiry in the classroom. The problem-solving styles instrument yielded no significant differences between the two groups of teachers, indicating that the teachers used their individual problem-solving styles to enhance their teaching in the classroom.Doctor of Education (EdD)Education & Educational Psycholog
Fifth Force
No full textInspired by the four forces of quantum physics and the emergence of a possible fifth force influencing gravitational laws, this book of love poems probes the hidden energy between individuals. Fifth Force explores science, nature, societal stimuli, and the mind-body connection as sources of the human experience of love by posing such questions as: What does love look like in a society that promotes and imprints an obsession with sexual attraction, explosive sensual emotion, and immediate gratification? What is our brain being conditioned to feel? What do we actually feel? Is it possible for us to explore a spectrum of love or are we locked into predetermined pinpoints of adoration?Master of Fine Arts (MFA)Writing, Linguistics, and Creative Proces
Danbury’s Fire Bug of the 1880s and 1890s
No full textThe Connecticut State Firemen's Association, which was formed in 1885, reported that incendiarism was an increasing problem around Connecticut, but Danbury's fire bug of the 1880s and 1990s was extraordinary. The fire bug caused the modern equivalent of tens of millions of dollars in damage around Danbury and many of the fires were in such close proximity that there was an area dubbed to be the "Firebug District." The fire bug was elusive to Danbury's police, and by 1891, with three years yielding no real suspect, authorities hired an operative from Pinkerton's National Detective Agency. The Pinkerton operative's investigation ultimately led to no arrests, though after his investigation there were significantly fewer incendiary fires reported and, except for a couple of fires in 1893, none in the press attributed to a fire bug. While there was no single culprit or group that was indicted for Danbury's rash of fires during this period, the fire bug episode was the byproduct and confluence of the political, labor, and ethnic unrest that was playing out on a local and national level. Moreover, the episode punctuated Danbury's difficult transition both in name and nature to becoming a city. In the middle of these fiery expressions was Morris Meyers, the first Chief of the City of Danbury's paid fire department; Meyers was a successful Democrat and a German Jewish immigrant whose important place in the new city government was the embodiment of a shift in the composition of the electorate.This is the final draft version and differs slightly from the published version.</p
The Hidden Old Main
No full textWhile "Old Main" is WestConn's oldest and probably most iconic building, its interior and uses have changed considerably over the last century. For many years it was the college's only or main building (hence the name Old Main) and its original design answered the multiple needs that had to be met by a single facility
Game and Pen
No full textQuestions of Who am I? Where did I come from? and Why am I here? provide fertile energy for anyone’s exploration over a lifetime. Game and Pen is historical research revealed through a creative non-fiction lens recalling one family’s experiences over centuries. Game and Pen sets the story of the successful Schwab family of steel settling into a rural community that honors the harvest of hard work, the grace of love, faith in God, and reverence for home and the providence of the Catholic church, notably Father Demetrius A. Gallitzin. Writing parallel journeys and trajectories within an exploration of culture in time, Game and Pen captures the instinct and significance of the lives of the every creature, the blessings of the every day, and the freedom of choices time ever affords all people by design. As discovery leads toward a return to roots, so life beams and looks forward in the nativities of incarnation. The game and pen never lack for inspiration.Master of Arts (MA)Writing, Linguistics, and Creative Proces
AFRICAN AMERICAN MALE SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCES IN AN URBAN HIGH SCHOOL
No full textThe purpose of the study was to gain a deep understanding of the educational experiences and perceptions of junior and senior African American male secondary school students attending a diverse urban high school in the Northeast. The case study was bound by self-identification as African American male, 11th or 12th grade level, and the school setting. Ten participants were profiled by low, medium, and high GPAs. Data were collected through focus groups, in-depth participant interviews, and observations of informal school environments. Data were analyzed using a constant comparative method as different levels of codes emerged. Analysis of the data suggested themes in nine areas: identity, social dimension of school climate, peer influences, academic dimension of school climate, factors related to academic achievement, school culture, family influences, future selves, and participants’ recommendations for school changes. The significance of each theme and its implication for practitioners and researchers were discussed and offered.Doctor of Education (EdD)Education & Educational Psycholog
The Certainty of Shadows
No full textThe Certainty of Shadows is a collection of short stories and flash fiction. The collection contains short stories told from various perspectives and takes place over a span of centuries, giving the reader insight into Japanese, Korean, Native American and Irish folklore as well as telling tales of defeat, revenge, and acceptance. Each story focuses on the theme of facing internal or external darkness. The flash fiction pieces stand separately from the short stories and give a brief glimpse into desperate and unexpected situations.Master of Fine Arts (MFA)Writing, Linguistics, and Creative Proces
The Lived Experience of the Nurse Practitioner in the Role of the Clinical Preceptor
No full textThe education of nurse practitioners requires a combination of theoretical concepts learned through didactic presentations and application of these concepts through clinical tasks mastered in the practice environment. The nurse practitioner acting as the clinical preceptor is an integral part of this education, as the clinical expertise imparted is imperative to learning the advanced diagnosis and treatment modalities and professional socialization necessary for the advanced practice role. This role has very little definition regarding the ongoing need for support and integration into the academic environment.
The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experience of the nurse practitioner in the role of clinical preceptor using a phenomenological approach. This approach, primarily attributed to the work of the philosopher Edmund Husserl, was relevant, as it is rooted in the concept that the ‘lived experience” is a fundamental source of knowledge.
Purposive sampling using an initial recruitment letter, followed by the snowball method resulted in 16 participants, with data generated using three research questions and collected by confidential interviews. Data analysis incorporated the qualitative methods of Colazzi and the constant comparative techniques described by Lincoln and Guba.
Seven themes were identified, and the findings encompassed both stressors and satisfactions found in the clinical preceptor role. The predominant findings included the rationale for engaging in the preceptor role, the need for increased communication between academic faculty and clinical preceptor, and acknowledgements received by the clinical preceptors from their students and the academic faculty. This study showed significance by illuminating the challenges in the clinical preceptor role and how academic faculty can help support this role, as perceived by the clinical preceptors. Actual methods of support are presented, along with articulated stressors and satisfactions experienced while engaged in the role.
The outcome was to garner and present needed support mechanisms that would be helpful to nurse practitioner educators to secure, maintain and support this vital component of advanced practice education.This research study was conducted with the hope that it will be of value to academic nursing faculty and clinical preceptors, who through the sharing of their expertise, are motivated to develop and support the future of the profession through the students they teach.
It is only through the sharing of knowledge that we truly demonstrate that we are professionally vested in the future and support the purpose of advanced practice nursing.Doctor of Education (EdD)Nursin
AN INVESTIGATION OF THE STUDENT USE OF TACTUAL LEARNING-STYLE PREFERENCE TECHNIQUES AND STUDENT SELF-PERCEPTION
No full textStudents across the United States are routinely administered state assessments to measure academic progress in the grade level they have been assigned. These tests have become the measure of a district or school's ability to meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). Many students are not able to attain the expected of level of proficiency. In 20II in rural high-need school districts in New York State,43 percent of third through fifth grade students did not make AYP in mathematics (non-AYP students; New York State Education Department, 20ll). The Common Core Standards have been implemented to ensure that students graduating from high school are prepared to succeed in college or a career (Common Core, 2014). Students who are unable to show proficiency in elementary school arc at risk of dropping out of school prior to graduation.
The purpose of this exploratory study was to compare the learning-style preferences of fifth grade students who achieved adequate yearly progress in mathematics and those who did not achieve AYP. The study investigated non-AYP students' use of tactual learning-style preference strategies and the perceptions of these students in the use of tactual materials. Fifth grade students in this study were administered the Learning Style: Clue to You! (LSCY), a learning-style assessment used to determine preferences and strengths for learning. Assessment data were used to determine the similarities and differences between AYP and non-AYP students with a Chi-square Crosstabulation test. The learning-style elements for auditory learning and time of day revealed significance between the groups.
Further analyses were completed with a Chi-square Goodness of Fit test to determine the learning-style preferences of non-AYP fifth grade students. Eleven of the 22 elements revealed significance within the group in the strands related to environmental, emotional, sociological, and physiological preferences.
Prescriptive training was provided to a select group of non-AYP students in using learning strategies that matched their tactual learning-style preference. Qualitative data were collected through the use of student portfolios, interviews, a focus group, and student self-reflections. Semi-structured interviews and a focus group were conducted to explore the use of the learning-style profile and the application of tactual strategies with mathematics. These data were examined to determine a better understanding of the connection between learning styles and students' perceptions. Analysis of the qualitative data revealed that students were able to identify preferences related to their learning style and students had an increased awareness of themselves as a learner.Doctor of Education (EdD)Education & Educational Psycholog