1524 research outputs found
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AN EXPLORATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN READING HABITS AND READING ACHIEVEMENT IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
Get PDFThis study explored the multifaceted dynamics affecting the academic performance of high-achieving elementary students on end-of-year reading exams. It examines the influences of gender, age, genre preferences, the frequency of book borrowing, and language modality of instruction, all within the context of the elementary school library. Methodologically, the study employs a quantitative correlational approach. The data source comprises students\u27 demographics, class assignments, end-of-year reading scores, and library patron records. Through the lens of Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory, this research aimed to enrich our understanding of various interconnected systems in students’ environments, such as family, school, and community, with each level impacting the individual differently. Additionally, drawing on Jeanne Chall\u27s influential framework of Stages of Reading Development, the study investigates how libraries can effectively address readers\u27 diverse needs and abilities at a specific stage of reading development, promoting a culture of literacy and continuous learning. These findings emphasize the influence of societal expectations and the pivotal role of elementary school libraries in providing access to a wide range of reading materials and resources
OPTIMIZING REUNIFICATION CAPABILITIES AT OUTDOOR MUSIC FESTIVALS: EMPOWERING SOCIAL GROUPS TO MAINTAIN SITUATIONAL AWARENESS THROUGH GEOFENCING AND GEOLOCATION
Get PDFThe purpose of this research was to apply Social Identity Theory concepts to a modified Technology Acceptance Model for existing application-based software technologies on android and iOS platforms in an effort to facilitate user expectations of reunification efforts for pre-planned or spontaneous evacuations of Outdoor Music Festivals (OMF). Geofencing technology combined with geolocation sharing software will enable users that “opt-in” the ability to interface, plan, and disseminate instructions when separated from their social groups. While the overarching goal will allow evacuees to maintain baseline situational/spatial awareness, the modified concept, when applied, functions as a pseudo-visual crowd analysis tool for evacuees to locate one another and report their safety status absent a formal or hasty reunification action plan. Enabling the crowd’s ability to increase decision-making skills and self-reporting adds additional layers of accountability and control for festival promoters, state, and local coordinating authorities. Using Firefly Music Festival, located in Dover, Delaware, the research examined a multiday OMF with an on-site camping component and a daily maximum capacity of 50,000 attendees to garner input for respondent data. Research findings demonstrated that the perceived usefulness of an app led to a positive attitude towards using the application and adoption, and thus developing positive intention for actual use of the Firefly Music Festival Mobile App during the festival, by festival attendees
FREQUENCY OF IRRATIONAL BELIEFS IN POPULAR MUSIC GENRES AND THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN IRRATIONAL BELIEF CONCEPTS IN MUSICAL LYRICS AND MENTAL HEALTH OUTCOMES
Get PDFA popular type of media that Americans consume across ages is music. Today’s youth and adults can easily search for and listen to music. Given the increased availability of streaming music and its potential impact on people’s emotional states, this study examined the irrationality of contemporary musical lyrics. The sample consisted of the most frequently streamed songs from the years 2006-2022. A total of 1700 “Hot 100” songs from Billboard.com were collected and analyzed for Irrational Belief (IB) concepts. Genre-specific data was collected from Billboard’s “Year End Charts” for Country (n=1197), R&B/Hip Hop (n=1223), and Alternative (n=656) music for a total of 3076 genre-specific songs. All 4776 songs were analyzed for total irrational belief score content using modern REBT definitions. Results revealed that all genres contained irrational belief language each year from 2006(7)-2019. The genre with the highest degree of irrationality was R&B/Hip music, not Country music, as predicted. There was no significant correlation between the frequency of music played, as represented by ordinal song ranking, and irrational belief concepts. Findings failed to support a significant correlation between the presence of irrational beliefs in popular music, specifically the average number of IB concepts per song in the “Hot 100,” and suicide completion in children, adolescents, and young adults and drug overdose deaths across the lifespan. However, there was a significant correlation between the Frustration Intolerance total score in the “Hot 100” songs and suicide completion/substance drug overdose statistics from 2006-2016(8) for select age groupings. There was also a significant difference between the average number of irrational concepts per song in the overall “Hot 100,” but the opposite of what was predicted was supported, with there being more irrational concepts present in the years prior to the pandemic (2017-2019), not during the pandemic years (2020-2022). These results add to the REBT research on music and have important implications for how clinicians, parents, and educators conceptualize music
COMBINED CYTOTOXICITY OF THE HERBICIDE GLYPHOSATE AND THE FUNGICIDE MANCOZEB IN MOUSE NEUROBLASTOMA CELLS
Get PDFThe herbicide glyphosate and the fungicide mancozeb are globally applied on a variety of agricultural crops. Residues of both pesticides are frequently detected in food and water. Combined exposure to both compounds is therefore possible. Glyphosate and mancozeb have been separately investigated in previous studies and were shown to induce neurotoxicity. The current study investigates the cytotoxicity of different glyphosate and mancozeb combinations including mixture of mancozeb + glyphosate, combination of mancozeb followed by glyphosate and combination of glyphosate followed by mancozeb and compares neurotoxicity seen with the combinations to that of glyphosate or mancozeb using mouse neuroblastoma Neuro-2a cells. Significant decreases in cell viability were observed with glyphosate (500-10,000 µM), mancozeb (4-10 µM) and with glyphosate (100 µM) and mancozeb (6 µM) combinations. Glyphosate and mancozeb combinations resulted in greater decrease in cells viability than that induced by the same concentration of glyphosate when tested alone. Light microscopy observations were consistent with cell viability data. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observations showed more prominent morphological alterations in glyphosate and mancozeb combination groups compared to either glyphosate or mancozeb including, neuretic processes disruptions, loss of retraction fibers, blebbing and distorted plasmalemma. Metal analysis was done using Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES). Mancozeb and combinations of glyphosate and mancozeb resulted in intracellular elevations in copper, manganese and zinc levels. Intracellular metal levels elevations caused by combination treatments were induced at a glyphosate concentration that didn’t affect metal levels when glyphosate was tested alone. Mancozeb and combinations of glyphosate and mancozeb induced a decrease in GSH/GSSG ratio. Combinations of glyphosate and mancozeb induced a greater decrease in GSH/GSSG ratio than that exerted by glyphosate alone. Antioxidant post-treatment with butylated hydroxytoluene did not alleviate cytotoxicity of either mancozeb or glyphosate + mancozeb mixture. These findings concluded that mancozeb and combinations of glyphosate and mancozeb cause cytotoxicity in Neuro-2a cells through inducing intracellular metal levels elevations leading to redox balance disruptions and oxidative stress. It is further concluded that glyphosate and mancozeb combinations induce greater cytotoxicity, more intracellular metal elevations and redox balance disruptions in Neuro-2a cells than glyphosate alone
WHAT PSYCHOTHERAPY DOSE IS GOOD-ENOUGH? COMPARING THEORETICAL MODELS BY WEEKS AND SESSIONS
Get PDFTo determine optimal psychotherapy doses, researchers commonly rely on one of two competing theories, the Dose-Effect (DE) or the Good-Enough Level (GEL) models, to guide their research. Which model one selects is clinically meaningful, as the models have conflicting evidentiary support. Thus, it is essential to ascertain which theoretical model best fits empirical data. The present study compares the applicability and fit of the DE and GEL theories using total sessions and weeks in treatment as predictors within a community-based, unlimited-duration psychotherapy clinic. Significant determinants of treatment success were investigated. Adult participants’ symptomatology was periodically assessed using the Outcome Questionnaire 45, Second Edition (OQ 45.2). A subsample of clients who completed over two outcome measures without a significant lapse in treatment (n = 311) was analyzed via multilevel modeling. Linear, log-linear, quadratic, and cubic models were constructed and evaluated within each theoretical framework. The superior models from each theory (DE, traditional GEL, and modified GEL) were compared, and the predictive value of using sessions versus weeks was examined. Sociodemographic and clinical variables were integrated into the best-fitting model to explore potential interaction effects. Further, determinants of treatment success and deterioration were analyzed for the full sample of all clients treated (n = 434) including those with early drop out. The findings of this study suggest that the traditional, log-linear GEL model provided the best relative fit to the data for both week and session-based predictors. When compared, week-based predictors had a better model fit and were suggested to explain more of the variability than session-based predictors; however, potential inaccuracies in measuring session variables may have affected these results. Variables related to depressive symptoms (namely, hopelessness, suicidality, previous suicide attempts, and attention problems) showed a significant, positive correlation with initial symptom scores and enhanced the fit of the traditional GEL model. Furthermore, factors including low emotional stability and high symptom scores at baseline and improvements in emotional stability, hope, gratitude, and quality of life during treatment were all associated with better treatment outcomes. Conversely, low patient ratings of the therapeutic alliance during initial sessions were linked to treatment deterioration and dropout
Critical Race Religious Literacy: Exposing the Taproot of Contemporary Evangelical Attacks on CRT
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CULTURAL RESPONSIVENESS TRAINING IN TEACHER PREPARATION PROGRAMS: A QUALITATIVE CASE STUDY
Get PDFThe American education system has experienced a change in the racial and ethnic background of the student population nationally and in the Long Island, New York region. Yet, the teaching population remains mostly white and female. Teacher preparation programs train teachers in content, pedagogy, and adolescent development. During the training, teachers need to develop their ability to connect and understand their students\u27 cultural and racial norms that may not exist in their program of study. This is no fault of the teacher or program but may be an inherent piece missing from the systems established to credential preservice educators. With the cultural landscape of America changing over the past 20-30 decades, i.e., ‘The Browning of America,” the cultural norms of the students and their families may not reflect the same ideals of the institution. This qualitative case study aims to explore the teacher preparation program at a university in Long Island, New York. It examines the program requirements and how it develops teachers during their preservice studies and early years as educators serving students of color. This study examines whether their experiences in the program impacted their ability to reach and teach students with different cultural backgrounds. Participants of this study consist of preservice teachers and teachers with less than five years of teaching experience. Three research questions are framed as the focus of this case study: How is cultural responsiveness addressed in the curriculum of university-based teacher preparation programs? What have preservice teachers learned about culturally relevant pedagogy, and how do they demonstrate that knowledge? How do preservice teacher preparation program’s students describe and express their knowledge of and efficacy in implementing culturally responsive practices in the classroom
THE EXPERIENCES OF FORMERLY INCARCERATED BLACK MALE STUDENTS AT A NORTHEAST COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Get PDFThe purpose of this phenomenological inquiry is to understand the experiences of formerly incarcerated Black male students who attend a Northeast urban community college and the unique barriers they encounter while navigating the institution. The United States imprisons more people than any country in the world, and Black men are disproportionately overrepresented in the United States criminal legal system. At the same time, Black men, are severely underrepresented in higher education and lag behind their White and female counterparts in nearly all indicators of collegiate success, including enrollment, retention, and graduation rates. Formerly incarcerated individuals face unique and substantial barriers to societal reentry, college access, and college success. Community colleges are the most accessible institutions for formerly incarcerated students and the most utilized vehicle for post-secondary attainment by Black students. However, a dearth of research exists on formerly incarcerated Black male students who attend community colleges. The present study utilizes criterion sampling to conduct semi-structured interviews with twelve formerly incarcerated Black males who attend High Point Community College. Employing a rigorous phenomenological approach, this study aims to produce findings to help higher education institutions, particularly community colleges, to craft more equitable policies, programming, and practices and improve the enrollment, retention, and success rates of students who have been impacted by the criminal legal system
PREKINDERGARTEN TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF THEIR ROLE IN LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT IN PLAY
Get PDFThis study was designed to develop a deeper understanding of prekindergarten teachers’ perceptions, beliefs, and understandings of their role in language development in supporting language development through play. Purposive sampling was used to gather a sample of 12 prekindergarten teachers who taught in classrooms worldwide. The study was guided by a qualitative research design and data were collected through semi- structured interviews. The conceptual framework that underpinned this study was based on Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory and Jerome Bruner’s theory of play. Six themes emerged from the data analysis: (a) play and language go hand in hand, (b) how I see play is how it shows up, (c) teacher’s role is layered, (d) planning is ongoing, (e) play first then curriculum, and (f) building pedagogy is a process. The implications for positive social change include viewing prekindergarten as a great equalizer in reaching marginalized populations, making it vital that policymakers prioritize prekindergarten programs. Training prekindergarten teachers who serve these marginalized communities in ways to effectively and consistently use play activities to develop language can help these young students succeed now and in their later academic years, which can result in closing the opportunity gap