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SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF MIXED LIGAND COMPLEXES OF RUTHENIUM(II) CONTAINING 2,2’-BIPYRIDINE AND 3,3’-DIMETHYL-1,1’- METHYLENEBISIMIDAZOLIUM LIGANDS; A NEW SYNTHETIC APPROACH
Get PDFResearch into solar cells has been prioritized given the global demand for better renewable energy technologies. This demand is a result of the long-term use of fossil fuels, which generates significant pollution in highly populated urban areas. One potential solar cell technology is the dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC). This kind of solar technology utilizes organometallic dyes to expand the types of wavelengths solar cells can use to generate electricity.12 Ruthenium(II) metal complexes of this type have been investigated heavily for this purpose.13,14,36 The main reasoning behind this is the metal-to-ligand charge-transfer (MLCT) phenomenon that such complexes exhibit. MLCT has often been investigated for use in solar cells and sensory molecules.1,2 The objective of this thesis was to synthesize analogs of tris-bipyridine ruthenium(II) using the N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligand 3,3’-dimethyl-1,1’- methylenebisimidazolium (dmmbi). The dmmbi ligand was chosen due to its capacity for π-backbonding with the ruthenium(II) metal center, which significantly alters the stability and electronic properties of the metal complex.27,28 Four complexes in total were to be synthesized as represented by [Ru(bpy)x(dmmbi)3-x](PF6)2, where x ranges from 0 to 3. Three of these four complexes were synthesized successfully and characterized. A new synthetic approach using sodium acetate (NaOAc) as the base was utilized.25 The base is critical for deprotonating the free NHC molecule so that it can coordinate to the metal center. Following synthesis and purification, each complex was characterized. Characterizations included CHN elemental analysis, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, COSY NMR, IR spectroscopy, UV-Vis spectroscopy, and cyclic voltammetry. These characterizations were crucial for analyzing the electronic and optical properties of each complex
THE EFFECTS OF LONG-TERM INCARCERATION ON WOMEN: AN INVESTIGATION OF THE RE-ENTRY JOURNEY OF FOUR LONG-TERM INCARCERATES LIVING AT A RE-ENTRY PROGRAM
Get PDFThe social problem under investigation was that although there had been a general rise in the number of incarcerated women in the United States, these women faced several challenges trying to re-enter society upon their release from incarceration. The purpose of this qualitative single case study research was to explore how a re-entry program, from the perspective of previously incarcerated women, attempted to integrate incarcerated women back into society. The study considered how the re-entry program could be designed to reduce recidivism in women. The research design was a qualitative case study with six data sources: individual interviews of previously incarcerated women, individual interviews with the new program director, individual interviews with a house manager, focus group interviews of previously incarcerated women, observation notes, and publicly available program documents. The data were analyzed thematically and triangulated to identify contextualized common themes: Previously incarcerated women perceived the re-entry program to assist with their needs to re-enter society, previously incarcerated women perceived the re-entry program to be helpful in maintaining their relationship with their family, previously incarcerated women perceived that the re-entry program prevented recidivism through helping them focus on studying or working, previously incarcerated women perceived that the structure of the re-entry program allowed them to experience belongingness and mutual respect, previously incarcerated women perceived that the structure of the re-entry program allowed them to experience being treated like an individual, previously incarcerated women perceived a gap in the projected and actual experience with the re-entry program, and previously incarcerated women perceived a gap in the services of the re-entry program as a result of specified contributors to the mismatch. This study enhances the literature on women’s re-entry experience by identifying multiple areas that play an important role in the reintegration process: program process, individual factors, individual motivation, and individual resourcefulness. The findings can be used to explore how women returning from long-term incarceration can address their needs and plan re-entry outcomes on their own or with indirect support
INVESTIGATING MULTI-AGE SCHOOL PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITY, TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS, AND CLASSROOM PRACTICES
Get PDFThe research aimed to provide a complete understanding of characteristics, facilitators, and challenges in implementing professional learning communities in multi-age schools. This study utilized a mixed-methods multiple case study design. Participants in this study were teachers from two private K-8 multi-age schools. The characteristics of professional learning communities and their influence on school quality and student performance were identified. Results confirmed that experiences in professional learning communities increased teacher involvement in all six domains, especially in collective responsibility, reflective dialogue, and peer collaboration. Results indicated that professional learning communities explained significant variance in teacher-perceived school quality measured by academic expectations, communication, and engagement. The sustainability of a successful professional learning community is vital to school quality. The insight gained from this study revealed several factors that enhance the development of professional learning communities in multi-age schools. The first theme, school structural conditions, included subcategories such as time, space, technology and instructional materials, communication systems, district support, and school size as facilitators of professional learning communities in multi-age schools. The second theme, school human and social resources included parental involvement and support, openness to innovation/improvement, professional development, and supportive and caring relationships between students and teachers. The third theme was shared and supportive leadership which included the roles of principal and teacher leader role. Results from this study demonstrated that lack of time, technology, supplies, instructional materials, and parent support were the top challenges in teaching and implementing professional learning communities in multi-age schools. This study offered suggestions for school leaders looking to make practical and authentic changes to improve professional development during school transformation
EDUCATORS’ PERCEPTIONS OF THEIR SELF-EFFICACY IN TEACHING ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS WITH DISABILITIES AND THEIR USE OF CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY
Get PDFResearchers have demonstrated the need for teachers to have the training and preparation to meet the needs of a growing diverse student population that can include students who may present with a variety of needs. This research will explore the experience of educators teaching students who are learning English as a second language and present with a disability. While research has been conducted on the assessment and placement of language learners with disabilities there is a gap in the literature regarding teachers’ experiences and self-efficacy in educating English language learners who have disabilities and their use of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (CRP). This phenomenological qualitative study aimed to explore teachers\u27 perceptions of the skills needed and instructional decision-making regarding teaching this rising student demographic group. Participants of the study consisted of teachers who teach English Language Learners with disabilities on Long Island and they possess a variety of teacher certification areas - General Education, Special Education, English as a New Language, Foreign Language as well as Bilingual Extensions. This study answers research questions on teachers’ perceptions and experiences teaching English Language Learners with a disability (ELLWD). Through interviews, teachers’ identified innate personality traits, specific pedagogical strategies, and the importance of developing relationships to include families as participants. Participants emphasized the necessity of supporting their ELLWD students\u27 social emotional and behavioral needs. Several respondents shared the importance of self-care to avoid burnout, the need for access to more native language support for students as well as the value of more hands-on and highly effective professional development to support CRP. The respondents all indicated an interest in CRP and wanted to learn more about it but stated that there weren’t enough opportunities for them to participate in professional development. Respondents all demonstrated the components of CRP such as creating a warm welcoming environment, communicating with families, overcoming language barriers, having high expectations, and having a positive approach to their students in terms of social-emotional and behavioral needs. The findings underscore the need for districts to consider their professional development opportunities to improve teacher self-efficacy, preserve the high self-efficacy of their effective teachers and develop a joint understanding and implementation of CRP
A REPLICATION STUDY OF THE FACTOR STRUCTURE OF THE ATTITUDES AND BELIEFS SCALE-2: A MEASURE OF IRRATIONAL AND RATIONAL BELIEFS
Get PDFRational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) states that irrational beliefs (IBs) are the core elements that lead to emotional and behavior-related disruptions. IBs are manifested through beliefs people have about how people should, must, or ought to be or act (Sacks, 2004). An example of an irrational belief (IB), is when one must be successful at all things in life, and the possibility of failing in even one is a disaster. On the other hand, rational beliefs (RB) allow people to accept negative situations without viewing them in extremes (Dryden et al., 2010). An example of rational beliefs (RBs) generally is when a person accepts that they are not perfect at everything at hand and that is okay. These IBs and RBs represent a person\u27s fundamental distortions and mental struggles. The Attitudes and Beliefs Scales-2 (ABS-2) measures Ellis\u27 irrational and rational beliefs and is often used to test Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) claims. The ABS-2 includes three dimensions : (1) cognitive processes, (2) in either their irrational versus rational form, and (3) the life context in which the beliefs originate. DiGiuseppe et al. (2020) tested different models that could account for the structure of the ABS-2. They found support for an eight-factor model. These included four irrational processes of demandingness, frustration intolerance, awfulizing, and self-condemnation, and four corresponding rational factors of non-demanding preferences, frustration tolerance, realistic negative evaluations, and self-acceptance. This study attempted to replicate the complicated factor structure of the ABS-2 in a new sample. We used the lavaan structural equation modeling program to perform a confirmatory factor analysis. Since the data was multivariate and normally distributed, we used Diagonally Weighted Least Squares estimation procedures to identify which model had the best fit. The sample consisted of 986 participants from various sources, including outpatient psychotherapy clients assessed at intake, college students, and a sample of adults collected through social media. The results of the study supported our hypothesis that the eight-factor model had the best fit. In addition, the implications for REBT theory and practice were discussed
ADJUNCT INSTRUCTORS’ PREPAREDNESS TO SUPPORT STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES AND THE DIVERSE LEARNING STYLES OF ALL STUDENTS
Get PDFAs noted by the National Center for Education Statistics (2020), the enrollment of students with disabilities in the higher education environment continues to grow. As more students with disabilities transition into the postsecondary environment, their diverse learning needs and required supports must be addressed to ensure their postsecondary success. Although research has shown how all instructors need to be better aware of supporting the needs of students with disabilities within the postsecondary classroom (Cory, 2011), there is a particular need to explore the experiences of adjunct faculty supporting students with disabilities within these classrooms, as this area has been researched infrequently. In the postsecondary environment there is a need to abide by the regulatory requirements of four separate legislative acts to properly accommodate the supports of students with disabilities and all students with diverse learning styles and needs, as opposed to the K–12 environment whose entire advocacy structure is regulated by IDEA (2006), a single legislative act. This has created a highly complex set of rules and regulations for higher education faculty to navigate. These facts, coupled with the persistent lack of equitable educational experiences for students with disabilities in higher education raise the importance of this study to a noteworthy level. The phenomenological study explored the experiences of a group of adjunct instructors in order to reduce the individual experiences with a phenomenon to a description of the universal essence. As stated by Peoples (2020), the purpose of phenomenological research is to generate the lifeworld experiences of a certain population. The adjunct instructors who participated had all achieved the educational level of master’s degree or higher. Three of the 12 had training and/or experience teaching at the K–12 level, seven of the 12 had personal experience interacting with a person with a disability, and five of the 12 work in one of the following helping arts: psychology, social work, and human services. They were employed as adjunct instructors at different institutions of higher education, some at multiple institutions. The institutions were both private and public, with a mix of small and large institutions. Professionals in many disciplines are required to maintain their professional skillset and keep it up to date with the latest theoretical developments in their respective fields. In higher education, we hold ourselves to that same standard of other professions; we continually seek out the information needed to keep ourselves at the forefront of our profession, but we can no longer ignore that we may have been neglecting a significant portion of our educational staff: those known as adjunct instructors. As a professional in the field, I take comfort that, among the participants in this study, unanimous professionalism was expressed—they all shared the belief that they were hired to meet the responsibilities of their role, and those responsibilities included teaching every student in front of them and providing every single student with an equitable educational experience in their classroom
FREE-CHOICE READING AND ITS IMPACT ON READING PERCEPTION AND ACHIEVEMENT AMONG SIXTH GRADERS: A MIXED METHODS STUDY
Get PDFAdolescence is a critical time period when it comes to fostering lifelong interest and practices in reading, yet a decreasing number of middle school students are performing at Proficient and Advanced levels in reading. The purpose of this study was to examine whether providing middle school students with an increased level of choice in their reading material during independent, in-class reading resulted in a change in their reading attitudes and perceptions, and consequently, their reading achievement scores. Using a mixed methods action research design, I provided sixth-grade students with free-choice independent reading in class. I used a pretest–posttest format with the IXL English Language Arts Diagnostic to assess reading achievement and collected data from surveys, focus group discussions, and individual interviews to determine how free-choice, in-class independent reading influenced students’ perceptions of reading. I also used the survey, focus group, and interview data to investigate how those perceptions consequently affected students’ reading achievement. My findings provide additional evidence to support the need for a change in the way in which reading is taught in middle school. With the increasing concern among educators about adolescent reading achievement and the pressure put on educators to increase test scores, this study illustrates to researchers and educators alike that improving adolescent students’ reading achievement may be accomplished through engaging students in free-choice, independent reading rather than the one-size-fits-all, traditional curriculum
LATENT PROFILES OF PHYSICAL AGGRESSION AND PROSOCIAL BEHAVIORS IN INFANCY AND TODDLERHOOD
Get PDFPhysical aggression is known to be common and prevelant in infancy and toddlerhood. Individual differences in physical aggression can be relatively stable already in infancy and toddlerhood, and predict a range of negative outcomes later in life. Several studies have identified children who exhibit high levels of aggression throughout their childhood beginning in infancy and toddlerhood. Most research has focused on identifying risk factors associated with such chronic aggression. Surprisingly, there is very little attention paid to the role prosocial behavior plays in the early development of aggression. Yet, some evidence suggests that aggression and prosocial behavior can go hand in hand earlier in the development. Recent studies have even identified different groups of children who demonstrate distinct trajectories of aggression and prosocial behavior beginning in toddlerhood. Despite that both aggression and prosocial behavior emerge during the first two years of life, there is a dearth of studies examining the co-development of aggression and prosocial behaviors during that developmental period. Thus, the goal of this cross-sectional study was to examine whether I could identify distinct profiles of 4- to 15-month-old children based on their physical aggression and prosocial behavior, and whether profile membership would be differentially associated with children’s age, motor skills, temper loss, and harsh-parenting. Participants included a sample of 376 mothers in the US of infants of 4 to 15 months, (6.4% boys; Mage = 9.41 months), who completed scales measuring infant exploratory and directed aggression, prosocial behaviors, early motor development, temper loss, and harsh parenting. I conducted latent profile analyses. Relying on several fit indices, the present study identified 5 different profiles of children, aged 4-to 15 months, who displayed varied levels of prosocial behavior and/or physical aggression. The study covariates were also differentially related to behavioral profiles. These results highlight the importance of studying the early development of physical aggression together with prosocial behavior to better understand the deficits and skills of different aggressive children. Taking a person-centered approach allows researchers to identify different subgroups of infants who may benefit from different intervention efforts, depending on their unique set of skills and deficits
EXPLORING THE EFFECTS OF TECHNOLOGY PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ON THE 8TH GRADE NAEP MATHEMATICS ACHIEVEMENT
Get PDFThe purpose of this study was to examine if teachers’ participation in the educational technology professional development was a significant predictor in the 8th grade students’ mathematics achievement on the 2013 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). This non-experimental study analyzed selected variables from the 2013 NAEP 8th grade mathematics restricted dataset. The study considered students’ socio-economic status (SES), gender, race/ethnicity, teachers’ educational technology professional development, tenure-certification, and professional development on mathematic peer collaboration. Factors were created in principal component analysis with promax rotation method. The researcher has also used hierarchical regression analysis to explain how much of student achievement can be predicted through the independent variables. The study was guided by the amalgamation of two theoretical framework with Bandura’s self-efficacy (2013): Schulman’s Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) from 1987 and Mishra and Koehler’s Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) from 2006. The researcher used multiple regression analysis and hierarchical regression to assess the effects of SES, gender, race/ethnicity teachers’ educational technology professional development, tenure-certification, and professional development on mathematic peer collaboration with mathematics achievement serving as the dependent variable. In the initial step of the regression analysis, SES was considered as independent variable. In the following step, the students’ gender was included as an additional variable. This permitted the researcher to identify the influence of the students’ gender on the amount of explained variance. In the next step, the factor of educational technology professional development along with other factors were added to the analysis. The researcher was able to isolate the effect of the factor the amount of variance explained by repeating the process and filtering it for each of the race/ethnic subgroups reported in the NAEP. All these factors were then analyzed in hierarchical regression with mathematics achievement as the dependent variable to check the level predictability by each independent variable. Teachers should possess the necessary skills, including proficiency in technology, to develop lessons that effectively incorporate technology in instructional practices. The present study adds to the existing research that highlights the significance of technology-focused professional development for educators
Exploring Sexual Health Education Disparities Among Latina Immigrants in Jackson Heights, N.Y.
Get PDFThe purpose of the current study is to explore the factors that influence sexual health decisions of female Latina immigrants with low socioeconomic status in an urban area. We aimed to evaluate the possible preventive steps to lower their risk of contracting STDs. The need for this study was highlighted by research findings that suggest that health disparities among Hispanic immigrants have had a significant impact on their poor quality of life due to lack of proper access to medical care and misdiagnosis due to differences in risk factors and manifestations of the disease. Sexual health is a constant issue in the immigrant Hispanic community due to the high incidence rates related to this specific population. The research data collection was based on a survey given out to Latina female immigrants ages 18-45 in Jackson Heights, NY