16 research outputs found
Conserving "Big Stuff" – lessons learnt
No full textThis paper presents views formed by the author after the experience of conserving large technology objects and aims to encourage thought and discussion about some of the non-conservation aspects of large technology conservation projects. The topics discussed include the preconceived ideas that may affect your project (both your ideas and those of other people), dealing with specialists, contractors and volunteers and looking at the way you use time in a project
Textual Construction of Middle School Math Students as “Thinkers”
No full textThis paper investigates how the mathematical performance of a group of middle school students might be characterized when the text breaks from tradition and constructs students as members of the mathematical community. Firstly, I will consider how a current Canadian textbook presents The Locker Problem through a depersonalized, formalized style that promotes its authority over the student-reader (Rotman, 2006). Next I will argue that the presentation of the problem through a Problem-of-the-Week (POW) format promotes the author/ity (Povey et al, 1990) of the student- reader over the text. Finally, I will present a classroom episode where a small group of students explore The Locker Problem based on the POW format. While some have argued that one can infer the experience of the student-reader through a text’s choice of words (Herbel-Eisenmann & Wagner, 2007), I suggest that the student-reader’s style of performing mathematics might also be inferred based on the text’s presentation of a problem
Stress and coping of parents of hospitalized premature infants
No full textUtilizing a semi-structured interview derived from Lazarus and Folkman's (1984) phenomenological model of stress and coping, 32 mothers and 25 fathers identified stressors associated with having a low birthweight, premature infant hospitalized in a newborn intensive care unit (NICU). From this list of stressors, parents chose the most stressful, rated the extent to which they felt they had control, reported what they did to cope, and completed the Ways of Coping Questionnaire (Folkman & Lazarus, 1988). The results showed that parents identified stressors both within the NICU environment and in several contexts (e.g., family, work) outside of the NICU. In addition, parents used several types of coping strategies including social support and problem solving. However, results also indicated that the NICU experience was qualitatively different for mothers and fathers. Implications for helping professionals and considerations for future research are discussed.Made available in DSpace on 2011-05-07T12:18:04Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2
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The role of sexual orientation in women's career choice: A covariance structure analysis
No full textWomen's career choices have historically been influenced by factors recognized as more complex than those that affect men. Some of these factors are: parenting; career orientation; holding profeminist values; and agentic personality characteristics.The current investigation adds to the knowledge of women's career choice by examining and extending a causal model of vocational choice to include women of both heterosexual and lesbian orientation. Two alternative models were specified and tested sequentially utilizing causal modeling methodology. The first, a general model, was tested on a sample of 199 career-decided heterosexual students attending a large midwestern university and a national sample of 262 career-decided self-identified lesbian students. A second, enhanced model, was tested on the sample of lesbians and contains an additional latent variable unique to that group.In the general model it was hypothesized that four independent variables, family orientation, agentic characteristics, ability, and feminist orientation would predict the dependent variable, career orientation; that career orientation, agentic characteristics, and ability would predict the dependent variable, career choice. The enhanced model contained the same constructs and assumptions with the addition of a variable, lesbian orientation, that was hypothesized to predict career orientation and choice.Following various theoretically defensive modifications, three final models were accepted as the most plausible given the sample data. Family orientation and feminist orientation were not found to influence career orientation in any of the models and lesbian orientation was not of influence in the enhanced model. In the general model for the heterosexual women, career choice was predicted directly by career orientation and ability and indirectly by agentic characteristics; career orientation was predicted directly by agentic characteristics. In the general model for the lesbian women, agentic characteristics predicted career orientation directly and ability predicted career choice directly. Findings were similar for the enhanced model when tested with the lesbian sample.Made available in DSpace on 2011-05-07T12:07:49Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2
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Mediator Personality Type and Perceived Conflict Goals in Workplace Mediation: A Study of Shared Neutrals
No full textThe focus of this thesis was around two questions: Do mediators commonly share a personality typology? and Does personality type affect mediators\u27 perceptions of disputants\u27 goals? The findings of this study have several implications for conflict management and its practitioners. For instance, consideration of one\u27s own personality type can lead to deeper understanding of one\u27s own biases and help develop mediator neutrality. Studies about mediation practitioners can also provide information about this under-represented group for use in career counseling, as well as in public education.
This research suggests that 71% of this group of mediators shared preferences in both the intuition and feeling dimensions, and 42% shared the three dimensions of intuition, feeling and perceiving. According to MBTI literature, individuals who favor intuition tend to focus on relationships and look at the big picture and the connection between the facts. Individuals who prefer to use feeling in decision-making tend to be sympathetic, compassionate, and people-focused. Individuals who prefer to use perceiving tend to be spontaneous and enjoy trusting their resourcefulness in adapting to the demands of a situation.
This study also investigated potential personality affects on mediators’ perceptions of disputants\u27 conflict goals. Personality dimensions, mediator experience, and scenario outcomes were assessed and a statistically significant relationship was found between the intuition dimension and relational goals in one of the four scenarios. Some significant relationships were also found in another of the four scenarios between mediator experience and preferred scenario outcome.
The study group was a small interagency group of workplace mediators called Shared Neutrals, who mediate disputes in Oregon and Washington. The design of the study was different from past studies in its use of contextual conflict scenarios; in the form of an author-developed questionnaire; similar to those used in the medical field to test clinician responses. The study was limited by the restriction of range of the group, by the subjectivity of the author-developed questionnaire, and by the statistical limitations of the MBTI.
Some suggestions are made for future studies, including consideration of factors such as type of training, gender, group dynamics and socialization
Problem posing as storyline: Collective authoring of mathematics by small groups of middle school students
No full textThis dissertation investigates the problem posing patterns that emerge as small groups of students work collectively on a mathematics task, and describes the characteristics of problem posing that result.
This case study is a naturalistic inquiry about four small groups of Grade 8 students in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia who are working in a classroom setting, with the researcher acting as participant/observer and videographer.
The concept of author/ity is used to highlight human agency in mathematics. Small groups, as learning systems, are being considered to be “authors” of their discourse, and the improvisational nature of authoring is discussed. A parallel is drawn between the storyline of a literary work and the storyline that emerges as a group poses problems in order to work its way through a mathematical task.
The metaphor of a tapestry is used as a way of describing how the threads of group discourse weave together. To address the challenge of documenting collective behavior at the group level, a method of data analysis is introduced that “blurs” the data in order to capture patterns that emerge over time – transcripts are color-coded and then shrunk to create tapestries that provide visual evidence of collective problem posing patterns.
This dissertation finds that collective problem posing is an emergent process. Each group poses its own set of problems, and the number of problems posed and their frequency also vary, resulting in individual tapestries for each group. The tapestry patterns are then used to compare characteristics of the groups’ discussions.
Problem posing appears to be an activity that these groups are able to do without receiving formal instruction or direction. The reposing of problems helps to structure each group’s discussion, with the role that each problem plays in the conversation evolving as it reemerges. The concept of groups working as bricoleurs is also explored, with bricolage in mathematics being characterized as a creative and generative process.
The dissertation concludes with a discussion of expertise in school mathematics and what implications an “aesthetic of imperfection” might have in the mathematics classroom.Education, Faculty ofCurriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department ofGraduat
Trends and determinants of inequities in childhood stunting in Bangladesh from 1996/7 to 2014
No full textThis article was published in the International Journal for Equity in Health [© 2016 The Author(s) ] and the definite version is available at : https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-016-0477-7. The Journal's website is at: https://equityhealthj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12939-016-0477-7#Abs1Background
We explore long-term trends and determinants of socioeconomic inequities in chronic childhood undernutrition measured by stunting among under-five children in Bangladesh. Given that one in three children remain stunted in Bangladesh, the socioeconomic mapping of stunting prevalence may be critical in designing public policies and interventions to eradicate childhood undernutrition.
Methods
Six rounds of Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey data are utilized, spanning the period 1996/97 to 2014. Using recognized measures of absolute and relative inequality (namely, absolute and relative difference, concentration curve and index), we quantify trends, and decompose changes in the concentration index to identify factors that best explain observed dynamics.
Results
Despite remarkable improvements in average nutritional status over the last two decades, socio-economic inequalities have persisted, and according to some measures, even worsened. For example, expressed as rate-ratios, the relative inequality in under-five stunting increased by 56% and the concentration index more than doubled between 1996/97 and 2014. Decomposition analyses find that wealth and maternal factors such as mothers’ schooling and short stature are major contributors to observed socio-economic inequalities in child undernutrition and their changes over time.
Conclusions
Reflecting on recent success around socioeconomic and gender equity in child mortality, and the weak legacy of nutrition policy in Bangladesh, we suggest that nutrition programming energies be focused specifically on the most disadvantaged and applied at scale to close socioeconomic gaps in stunting prevalence.Publishe
Joakim Hjortland
No full textFor most Americans, soccer is a weekend activity for little boys and girls, but travel outside our unenlightened borders and you quickly learn that soccer (or football to everyone else) is a religion. So it was for Joakim Hjortland, who discovered his passion for football when he was 6. Joakim, one of Andrews University’s growing number of online students, is a religion major who is studying from his home in Bergen, Norway. Until he turned 17, Joakim planned on a career as a member of a FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association) team with golden dreams of World Cup games. But all of that changed when God showed Joakim that there are trophies more important than the World Cup. Joakim is now living a life of service as a speaker, author and an elder in the Bergen Seventh-day Adventist Church. More than that, Joakim has channeled his enthusiasm and intensity into a growing ministry. He is putting what he has learned in his Andrews University program to practical use by spreading the word of God and changing the world. Take a step into Andrews University’s virtual campus and learn more about Joakim and his remarkable journey in Stories of Andrews at andrews.edu/stories.
Alayne Thorpe Dean, School of Distance Education & International Partnerships/School of Graduate Studieshttps://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/stories-2018-spring/1003/thumbnail.jp
Enlightened Travelers? Cultural Attitudes, Cultural Competency and Study Abroad
No full textabstract: In this study the impact of outside the classroom activities and experiences of study abroad participants on cultural attitude change and perceived cultural competence was investigated. Motives to participate, expectations and outcomes of study abroad programs were also explored. The study used a mixed methods approach and was conducted in three parts including an exploratory sequential component followed by a concurrent embedded component. The exploratory sequential component included a photo elicitation project, the results of which contributed both to the results of the study and the development of the questionnaire used in the concurrent embedded component. The concurrent embedded component used a pre and post-test survey design and included a qualitative writing exercise with select participants between the completion of their pre and post-test questionnaires. The results suggest that study abroad participation does result in changes in both participants' cultural attitudes and cultural competency. It was hypothesized that length of time abroad and the cultural distance of the host country would have an influence on the change in cultural attitudes and cultural competency. As found in previous research, length of time abroad was not found to be a major contributing factor to this change when considering the results of the pre and post-test survey. However, the results of the qualitative studies resulted in many questions about the impact of length abroad. Participants in longer-term programs discussed changes in their cultural attitudes in a more complex way than short-term participants. Longer-term participants expressed changes in their cultural competency differently as well, though not in a way that it can be conclusively said they were more culturally competent. The reverse was the case for cultural distance. Cultural distance was a factor in the changes in cultural competency, however not in cultural attitudes when considering the results of the quantitative component. The qualitative results seem to bring up more questions. While shorter-term participants discussed cultural competency differently than longer-term participants, surprisingly the short-term programs had a higher percentage of participants studying in countries with large cultural distance than did long-term programs.Dissertation/ThesisPh.D. Community Resources and Development 201
