1,721,062 research outputs found
Re-membering meaning in the spaces
Get PDFviii, 138 leaves ; 28 cmThrough stories of elementary school children she sees as a counsellor and the
tensions existing in those stories, the writer enters into an examination of stories
from her own life. The main question the author attempts to explore is the
importance of narrative and story in her own life and how they function as a site
for resistance, reflection, interpretation and meaning making. The writing itself is
the process as the author attempts a qualitative, phenomenological inquiry into her
own complicity in maintaining existing structures of class, race, gender, morality
and education
The past in the present : a narrative inquiry of a once at-risk child
Get PDFv, 166 leaves ; 28 cm. --Through years of work with at-risk youth, I discovered my calling and decided to become
an educator. My greatest strength as a teacher has always been my insight into the often
difficult lives of my students, as I was once one of them. This inquiry explores various
themes which are common amongst youth at risk through narrative accounts of events
from my own childhood and an examination of the effects of those personal experiences
on my pedagogy as an educator. This inquiry reveals a different perspective of life for
the troubled child and the necessity for intervention. The purpose of this inquiry is to
share these insights through an autobiographical format with other educators so that they
may be better prepared to make positive interventions on behalf of their students. This
project also documents the effects of this style of inquiry on the author both with a
literary review and the personal accounts of the author
What is grief and what can it teach us?
Get PDFxxi, 182 leaves ; 29 cm.While a growing body of grief research focuses on how death affects the lives and the menatl well-being of survivors, death continues to be a mystery and the ultimate human crisis. Grief is now emerging as a concept of increasing significance for health care professionals and it is influencing the care doctors and nurses provide for dying patients and their families. A narrative inquiry format supports this phenomenological study of death and dying from the dual perspectives of the author's professional death experience as a nurse and her personal grief experiences as a daughter. Following the death experience the researcher's elderly father, the author examined grief and considered the grieving process form a phonomenological perspective which extends the scope of the stages of grief (Kubler-Ross, 1969) that are the most familiar to health care professionals. The narrative inquiry emphasizes the interrelatedness of various aspects associated with grief, including knowledge, advocacy, autonomy, support, and spirituality. The study articulates the connections between these aspects on professional and personal levels. The author also discusses trends that are influencing the increasing need for greater understanding of the care of the dying and the ability of the family and health care professionals to respond. Although the family retains an important role in end-of-life-care, in the decades ahead some of their responsiblities may shift to a more formal involvement that will influence the grieving process of the survivors. Whithin the phemonological framework of the researcher's death and dying experience, the author presents information, options, and coping strategies for those involved in such experiences
Interpreting marginality : women, teaching, and marginality
Get PDFii, 35 leaves ; 29 cm. --Interpreting marginality with the help of seven female teachers is the focus of this research.
The author interprets the experiences of these women as they relate their own and others'
marginality in their teaching and their private lives. In this interpretive inquiry, the women
in the study speak a1:x>ut how they have felt marginalized, the impact it might have on their
students, and the responsibility they feel to help others understand their own marginality.
The result is a blend of personal anecdotes and published works focusing on interpreting,
defining and relating to marginality
Realizing the pedagogy of white privilege
Get PDFvi, 52 leaves ; 28 cm. --The objective of this project is to explore the educational history on the Kainai Reserve in
order to comprehend the role of patriarchy and colonialism as forms of racism in
pedagogical practice. Three individuals integral to this research are Canon Middleton,
Buffalo Child Long Lance and the author. The personal process of the learner outlines the
transformation from the expectations that she would become an accepted member of the
Kainai community to the realization that she will always be an outsider to the culture of
the reserve because of her race
Gentle warriors : stresses and solutions of female, lone-parents at the University of Lethbridge
Get PDFvi, 44 leaves ; 28 cm. --Gentle Warnors is a collection of interviews from six, female, lone-parents attending the
University of Lethbridge. The interviews span three years. The interview questions discuss
the history of becoming a single parent and the reasons for returning to school. The stress
factors experienced in this role and the women's coping mechanisms are explored.
The personal process experienced by the author is included. The decisions to change
the project from a quantitative research project to a narrative, qualitative work is explained
Vocabulary and question difficulty in English 30 reading diploma examinations
Get PDFvi, 55 leaves ; 28 cm + 1 computer disk.This study examines sixteen reading tests given to English 30 students
in Alberta between June 1986 and June 1993. The focus of the study is the
vocabulary question, that is a multiple choice question that uses as alternative
answers, words which might be of difficulty to the average grade twelve
student. The words used as alternatives do not appear in context nor do they
appear anywhere else on the exam. The student needs to be able to use the
word correctly in order to answer the question correctly.
The two research questions are (1) How many questions on Diploma
Examinations between 1986 and 1993 were vocabulary questions? and (2)
What are the difficulty levels of those questions? Difficulty level is defined as
the number of students answering each question correctly, as shown by Alberta
Education statistics.
Individual exams comprised a variety of vocabulary questions ranging
from a low of 7.1 % of total questions to a high of 25.7% of total questions. On
several exams vocabulary questions were among the hardest on the test. In
eight of sixteen exams vocabulary was deemed to be a large factor in
determining student achievement.
The average difficulty level of vocabulary questions varied between 51 %
correct and 71.6% correct for the exams studied. It was found that vocabulary
questions were on average more difficult than the mean for questions of all
types (65%). In ten of sixteen exams, vocabulary questions were more difficult
than questions of other types.
A list is included which contains the 166 words used in vocabulary
questions. A second list includes eleven words that appeared as possible
answers on five or more exams. The author concludes that vocabulary questions make up a significant portion of
questions on Diploma Examinations in English and that these questions
comprise a high proportion of the most difficult questions on the exams.
Further, he concludes that a student's vocabulary is a large factor in
determining achievement on these tests.
It is suggested that vocabulary knowledge is very important for students
writing diploma examinations. Vocabulary acquisition and some approaches to
vocabulary teaching are discussed.
The author also presents a computer game designed for teaching
vocabulary. Called "Olympus," it uses a Hypercard stack and uses a
journey/maze approach. It uses a sample of the 166 word list taken from all
exams.
It was found that vocabulary knowledge is a factor in student
achievement, and it is suggested that vocabulary instruction should be stressed
in the classroom
Narratives of Latino-American immigrant women's experiences
Get PDFviii, 170 leaves ; 29 cm. --This thesis explores the immigration experiences of five Latino-American women who reside in Lethbridge, Alberta. Rather than using interviews as a research protocol, the author used conversation as a tool to explore the narratives of these women’s experiences. Four of the five told their story in Spanish, and after transcribing the conversations, the author used critical inquiry to find common ground between the women’s narratives and her own immigration experiences. This thesis explores topics such as belonging and connections to different communities and how these women use stories of change and continuity in constructing their identities. Language, employment, recognition of previous education as well as separation from their families and support networks were the main difficulties identified. As anticipated, these women accessed federally funded and provincially delivered immigrant settlement services, such as ESL classes. While hesitant to use formal counselling, three of the women accessed these services for gendered matters such as spousal abuse. Relationships based on kinship were crucial resources and central to their narratives as was church, which provided both a familiar and significant source of community and support. This study found that when using conversation the researcher establishes relationships with the participants, other writers/academics, as well as the readers. Thus this thesis suggests that narrative research is fundamentally a relational activity. In this context stories are considered gifts, and the exchange of gifts an important aspect of research design. The narratives were shaped by, and interpreted in light of, various contextual factors such as the women’s relationships with the researcher, and their individual as well as socio-cultural and historical circumstances. The five women who participated in this research were found through community networking, and had some familiarity with counselling–either as service recipients or a professional connection–circumstances which shaped their willingness to participate as well as the stories they narrated about their immigration experiences. In constructing the narratives of their past experiences, from the vantage point of the present, the women emphasize gratitude to Canada and only subtly allude to issues such as racism or stereotyping
Family photos : an exploration of significant exposures
Get PDFxvii, 199 leaves : ill. ; 28 cm.This hermeneutic inquiry into the significance of family photographs in our personal and public lives explores the relationship between the subject, the photographer and the viewer. The discussion uses the photgraphic oeuvres of the author's paternal grandfather and maternal grandmother as the basis of the exploration. Themes which appear include the following: the represented and projected images of a family within family photos; the significance of gender in the making of snapshots; and, the influence of history and religion upon families.
The discussion also includes the relationship between art and photography, art photography and the snapshot genre, the role of women within photography and snapshot photography as a method of visual narrative. The author delves into hermeneutics as an interpretative framework when viewing family photos. Semiotics, and Roland Barthes' Camera Lucida (1981) inform the discussion in addition to Jung's matriarchal consciousness as two alternative frameworks for interpreting family photographs. The study indicates that family photographs are visual artifacts which document and authenticate the lived experiences of the photographer and that they serve as a visual form of life writing. Data from the photographic industry indicates the heavy
involvment of women in family photographs which the study links to the marginalised role of the genre. To interpret the significance of the ubiquitous family snapshot involves the hermeneutic circle as the "text" of the photograph involves the inter-textuality of other previously encountered texts
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