Western Connecticut State University
WestCollections Repository (Western Connecticut State University)Not a member yet
724 research outputs found
Sort by
THE PERCEPTIONS OF EDUCATORS AND STUDENTS TOWARDS A PROGRAM IN SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING
No full textThe purpose of this study was to understand how educators perceive their role with meeting the social and emotional needs of students, as well how educators and students experience participation in a school-based social emotional learning (SEL) program, with particular focus on the experience of educators and students participating in the Jesse Lewis Choose Love Enrichment Program. As part of this analysis, educators and students were asked to share their views regarding the implementation of this particular SEL program. Data were collected through a qualitative multiple case study design. Study participants were invited to share their views through individual and small group semi-structured interviews. Interview transcripts along with other data sources (program artifacts, classroom observations, demographic surveys) were analyzed and coded. The coded data presented the following themes: Perceived Role of SEL in Schools, Purpose of SEL Instruction, SEL Implementation Requirements, and Benefits of SEL. The findings of the study suggest the following: Educators view SEL as playing an important role in schools, while educator opinions regarding who should deliver SEL instruction vary; Educators and students alike view SEL Instruction as having a multi-faceted purpose that is critical to supporting students; Educators and students feel that schools must meet various implementation requirements in order for an SEL program to be successful; SEL programming offers a vast array of benefits for both educator and student participants.Doctor of Education (EdD)Education & Educational Psycholog
EFFECT OF A NONVERBAL IMMEDIACY TREATMENT ON PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS USING MIXED REALITY SIMULATIONS
No full textThe purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a treatment package consisting of video and reflection, video feedback, and coaching on pre-service teachers’ use of nonverbal immediacy behaviors as they delivered lessons to student avatars in mixed reality simulations. Pre-service teachers delivered lessons at three points of time over the course of a semester within a teacher preparation course. Following each simulation, participants received three components of a treatment package targeted at improving nonverbal immediacy behaviors of teachers. A mixed methods embedded research design provided for the collection of quantitative data, nonverbal immediacy scores, collected via the Nonverbal Immediacy Scale – Observer Report. Qualitative data were collected via researcher observations of simulations and participant exit interviews. Statistical analysis resulted in a significant difference in pre-service teachers’ nonverbal immediacy when Time 2 and Time 3 were compared. No additional significant differences resulted. An analysis of qualitative data resulted in two findings. Finding one was: Video and reflection, video feedback, and coaching fostered pre-service teachers’ reflections on the simulated environment as they delivered lessons within the simulations. Finding two was: Video and reflection, video feedback and coaching within a mixed reality simulation environment improved pre-service teachers’ use of nonverbal immediacy behaviors in student interactions. Connections to literature and implications are made.Doctor of Education (EdD)Education & Educational Psycholog
A Collective Case Study of Educational Servant-Leaders and Personal Growth
No full textToday’s globally-recognized servant leadership philosophy was born from a series of essays written by Robert Greenleaf in the 1970s. In his manifesto, Greenleaf underscored how through the precedence of a desire to serve and then to lead, servant leaders are motivated to help meet the needs of others. Researchers identify various dimensions and characteristics of servant leadership and the servant leader, including a commitment to others’ personal growth. To further explore servant leadership and the personal growth phenomenon within the context of education, an exploratory collective case study addresses how servant leader principals and superintendents understand and facilitate the personal growth of those they serve. Data collected for the study is from questionnaire and semi-structured interviews the researcher developed. Through inductive and deductive data analysis, three conclusions emerged from the study: to facilitate the growth of others, educational servant-leaders (a) utilized emotional intelligence; (b) facilitated their leadership through the principles of a learning organization; and (c) utilized a variety of principles regarding motivation and learning. A discussion of the findings demonstrates that participant servant leaders instituted paradoxical approaches, which leveraged the polarity between individual and group to facilitate the growth of staff as well as their organizations
THE REVENANT SCREEN: Cinematic Hauntings, Horror, and American Culture
No full textThis thesis analyzes ghosts and hauntings in horror cinema from the earliest inceptions through the early twenty-first century through the lens of cultural history. Through a synthetic treatment of literary and filmic scholarship, historical consideration, and textual analysis, this examination reveals how ghosts and hauntings within American horror cinema reflect the cultural preoccupations of contemporary society' especially, but not limited to, their fears and anxieties. A survey of pre-cinematic ghost depictions contextualizes the reception and creation of the earliest cinematic offerings. For the first half of the twentieth century American filmic ghosts reflected the prevailing incredulous attitudes towards Spiritualism. Though the ghost was traditionally an entity to incite fear, Americans were slow to accept the real ghost as a viable cinematic monster. In the 1960s horrific film ghosts were finally taken seriously, serving as manifestations of mental fragility, and in the 1970s resonated with a struggling American working-class. Haunted structures served as reminders of contemporary economic fears and the financial burdens placed on families. By the 1980s ghosts became more destructive though soon lost their ability to frighten. At the millennium's turn, ghosts acted as totems of reconciliation but after tragedies of September 11, 2001, were connected to anxieties surrounding technological dependence. Finally, by the early 2010s ghosts were largely demonic entities bent on destroying middle-class notions of economic security and traditional familial roles, resultant of the recent economic recession.Master of Arts (MA)Histor
A COMPARISON OF PROBLEM-SOLVING CONFIDENCE AND PROBLEM-SOLVING STYLES IN TRADITIONAL AND TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOLS
No full textFor more than 100 years the United States has invested funds into public high schools and career technical centers to support youth workforce development, yet little research is represented in the literature on this area. This is especially true for problem-solving confidence and problem-solving styles for teachers and students. The purpose of the study was to explore traditional high school and technical high school settings through the lens of teacher and student problem-solving confidence and problem-solving styles. Problem-solving, as a 21st Century Skill, is recommended for both teachers and students to improve outcomes in the classroom, and similar to career technical centers it is not well represented in the literature. In this study, data from three instruments were collected from a total of 70 teachers for one instrument, 55 teachers for another instrument, and 221 students for both instruments in two types of high schools: a traditional high school and technical high schools in the northeastern United States. Data were collected from the Problem-Solving Inventory (PSI) for problem-solving confidence; VIEW: An assessment of problem-solving style (VIEW) for problem solving style; and a researcher created demographic questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), and multiple linear regression (MLR) were used to answer the research questions under study. The results demonstrated no statistically significant differences for teachers on the PSI subscales or dimensions of VIEW. However, teachers at traditional high schools self-reported slightly lower Problem-Solving Confidence and they shared the same problem-solving styles as teachers in the technical high schools according to mean scores for both the PSI and VIEW. A statistically significant difference was found for students based on high school setting according to the PSI, with technical high school students demonstrating more Problem-Solving Confidence, less avoidance to problem-solving, and better control of emotions while problem-solving. Students at the technical high school also preferred the problem-solving style of Person over Task from VIEW’s dimension designated as Ways of Deciding.Doctor of Education (EdD)Education & Educational Psycholog
COURAGE IN THE CLASSROOM: THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING ON STUDENT PERCEPTIONS OF COURAGE
No full textThis study was designed to gather information regarding the impact of social emotional learning (SEL) programming with a specific focus on student perceptions of courage. There is limited research in the field of education that characterizes courage. The researcher sought to understand perceptions of SEL competencies between students who were involved in an SEL lesson-driven condition that met particular inclusion criteria and students in a comparison group that also met specific inclusion criteria, as well as to uncover patterns in students’ thoughts about courage. A sample of convenience was comprised of fourth and fifth grade students from one state in the northeastern U.S. This mixed methods study incorporated a causal comparative design using intact groups as well as a multiple case study design. The researcher examined characteristics of social emotional learning competencies, including courage. Individual interviews were conducted to further understand student perceptions of courage. The results of a 2x2 ANOVA indicated that there was no significant difference between students’ scores on SEL competencies for students not involved in a specific, lesson driven SEL program compared to students who were involved in a specific, lesson driven SEL program (F(1,155) = 1.901, p = .170, partial eta squared = .012). There was a significant difference for gender, (F(1,155) = 13.301, p = .000, partial eta squared = .079). Female students (M = 3.451) had significantly higher mean scores on SEL competencies than male students (M = 3.283). The following four themes emerged regarding students’ perceptions of courage: (a) characteristics of integrity, (b) persistence, (c) what it takes to be courageous, and (d) cultivating courage at school.Doctor of Education (EdD)Education & Educational Psycholog
THE VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY OF A SINGLE-POINT RUBRIC TO ASSESS STUDENT WRITING PERFORMANCE
Full text linkRubrics have become a widely accepted instructional and evaluation tool in contemporary classrooms. As a mechanism for formative assessment, rubrics have been found to clarify task criteria, increase motivation and self-efficacy, and provide greater efficiency and objectivity to the grading process. In this study, a convenience sample was employed to correlate student performance using a single-point rubric with student performance using a scaled analytic rubric with pre-established validity and reliability. Gender, course enrollment, grade-point average (GPA), self-reported use and student perceptions of the efficacy of single-point rubrics were also utilized as independent variables. Grade-point average and the participants’ scaled analytic rubric scores were significant predictors of participants’ single-point rubric scores, establishing validity for the single-point rubric. Student scores from single-point rubrics were also be utilized to determine inter-rater reliability and item analysis was conducted to determine inter-rater agreement. A strong, positive significant correlation between rater one and rater two essay scores suggests inter-rater reliability, abetted by a high percentage of inter-rater agreement in rater one and rater two scoring of individual items on the single-point rubric.Doctor of Education (EdD)Education & Educational Psycholog
At the Altar of the Past
No full textIn October 1966, Tad Forte said goodbye to Ellis Buck and joined the war in Vietnam. Before he left, he slipped a ring on Ellis’s finger. She promised to wait for his return, but a promise, when the world is at war, is a hard thing to hold on to. Young, beautiful, and afraid to be alone, Ellis meets another man. Almost two years later, Tad, fully recovered from wounds that nearly killed him, left the Newport Naval Hospital. He settled in Charlestown, Rhode Island, living there alone for the next thirty years. There are things that make him happy: old cars, his dog Hank, slow mornings along the ocean’s edge, and the solitude of winters long after the tourists have fled inland. All things considered, he has more than he’d ever expected. But lately too many sleepless nights, too many shadows in the dark, too many dreams of his time in Vietnam and of Ellis threaten the shaky truce he’d made with his past. In an attempt to silence voices that haunt him, he returns to his boyhood hometown, leading him back to Ellis, rekindling the fierce love they’d once shared. But Ellis has secrets that, once told, can destroy Tad’s life and the lives of everyone Ellis loves. Married for more than half her life, Ellis will be forced to choose between a life of comfort with a husband and daughter who love her and a new life with Tad, the one man she loves more than any other. Before she can make a decision, Ellis shockingly passes away, ripping Tad’s world apart for a second time. Ellis’s secret, the daughter that Tad never knew he had, waits in a letter tucked deep in a box of memories.Master of Fine Arts (MFA)Writing, Linguistics, and Creative Proces
Just Your Average Flag Twirler
No full textJust Your Average Flag Twirler is a coming of age story about Darlene “Weezy” Weasner, a sixteen-year-old girl who loves color guard. Ever since she joined marching band in ninth grade, she’s created a family among her classmates to void the gap of her absentee parents who pay more attention to her older siblings. She often relies on color guard to be her emotional outlet for stress, especially after losing a beloved uncle.
Weezy believes her junior year will be extraordinary, especially when she learns she will perform in the All-American Marching Band, a select group of marching band and color guard students from across the country who perform in New York City on Thanksgiving Day. But when the school threatens to cut the marching band program due to a lack of funding, Weezy must step up and help her fellow classmates prove to the Board of Education why they need to keep the marching band program.
After the color guard’s captain has a bad accident and breaks her foot, Weezy finds herself captain of the color guard, giving her the perfect opportunity to prove to herself and her parents she’s capable of leading a team. As the pressures of color guard begin to build, Weezy proves to herself and her parents she has the talent to lead her team to nationals while representing her school at the All-American Band.Master of Fine Arts (MFA)Writing, Linguistics, and Creative Proces
(inter-) Connected: A Case Study of School-Home Communication in the Age of Social Media
Full text linkThe advent of social media has, in many ways, changed the way people communicate with one another as it has added a real-time component and multiple platforms from which people can communicate. School districts are not exempt from the evolution of communication into the digital realm. Districts have an obligation to maximize their home-school communication and interactions with stakeholders in positive ways that seek to build rapport and trust with community members. Therefore, this case study sought to understand the ways that stakeholders including school district administrators, Board of Education members, and parents utilized social media to communicate policy and procedures--both formally and informally. Of particular interest, were the types of topics that are raised by parents on social media and how these become manifest as issues that the school district must address. Findings revealed that while the school district had a desire to communicate efficiently and accurately with stakeholders, administrator’s varying levels of comfort and knowledge base regarding effectively utilizing social media meant that it was inconsistently utilized for communication. To ensure social media is used effectively districts must create policies regarding communication within the district and maintain consistency of use across schools and stakeholders. Moreover, findings showed that social media groups promote a sense of belonging and community for users. These spaces give voice to community members who might not otherwise be heard and provide the opportunity for inclusive and meaningful discourse from peers. However, not having policies to explicitly oversee the use of social media as way to communicate with the public leaves implementation up to the discretion of the individual school administrator, which leads to inconsistencies in communication strategy across a school district