2,987 research outputs found
Through the Eyes of School Personnel Administrators: What Matters in Selecting Elementary School Principals
No full textvii, 179 leaves. Advisor: Annette M. LiggettThe problem: The problem of this study is two-fold: first to describe those characteristics that are most likely to appeal to educators when hiring elementary principals in large sized school districts in Iowa. Second, to describe what a typical hiring process looks like in these districts and whether or not that process has changed over time.
Procedures: Data were collected through two sources: A survey of 58 members of the Iowa Association of School Personnel Administrators (IASPA) and twelve follow up in-depth interviews with selected members of this group.
Findings: The following research questions guide this study: Are there characteristics that are clearly more influential than others in the selection of elementary principals? How does the hiring process typically proceed? Is it different from the past? If it is different, how and why? Four major themes emerged from the survey (76% return rate) and interviews. These included: (a) value and respect for others, (b) knowledge of how schools work, (c) licensure requirements and experience, and (d) organizational fit. Developing specific hiring criteria was found to be the most important hiring item in the hiring process. In addition, participants in this study spoke of increased participation and collaboration among people within the district as well as across the state throughout the entire recruitment and selection process.
Conclusions: Three broad conclusions emerged from the findings of this study: First, a candidate who is hired as an elementary principal in a large district in Iowa must be a "people" person - someone who first and foremost values and respects others. Second, a candidate who is hired as an elementary principal must have a strong working knowledge of both instruction and management.
Finally, data from this study indicated that formal and informal hiring networks are alive and well in Iowa
Andragogy vs. Pedagogy: Comparing Adult and Children's Learning Preferences
No full text[iii], 58 leaves. Advisor: Thomas S. Westbrook.The Problem: Andragogy and pedagogy have been regarded as two completely separate methods of teaching for many years. After much debate, the two methods have become opposite ends of a continuum used to describe the extremes of interactions occuring between a teacher and students. The purpose of this study was to explore the extent to which there are differences and similarities in adults' and children's learning preferences.
Procedures: The study included both a review of the literature comparing andragogy and pedagogy, results from a questionnaire developed by the author and interviews of adults and children as to how they learn best, their learning preferences, and what they perceive to be effective learning environments and instructors.
Findings: Results of the study found that adults and children prefer to learn in the same general manner. In addition, no significant differences were found in the methods used to teach adults and children. The results indicate that individuals prefer hands-on activites combined with guided practice from the teacher, interaction with others, positive environments, and relevant materials and topics to their lives.
Conclusions: The conclusions of this research are: fundamentally, children's preferences for learning are smiliar to adults, teaching methods using andragogical and pedagogical procedures are situational and should be used based on the needs of the learner, results neither support no dismiss Knowles' notion of pedagogy and andragogy serving as two ends of a teaching methods continuum. Results from the sample group indicate children's learning preferences favor andragogical approaches rather than pedagogical approaches and children are more concerned with technology and access to it that adults.
Recommendations: It is recommended that others repeat the study with a larger group of individuals, including greater diversity among the adults' educational level, to further recognize similiarities and differences between adults and children and teach adults and children with those methods we would like them to use throughout their lives
Worker Impact on the Change Process in a Food Processing Plant
No full text239 leaves. Advisor: S. Pike HallThe problem. Quality management consultants and change experts generally agree that change must come from the top of an organization. This viewpoint may constitute a fatal flaw in attempts at workplace reorganization in America. This study views the process from a management and worker perspective, looking for evidence that change may be a worker initiated and sustained process. Methodology. This study is a naturalistic inquiry into the change process at a food processing plant in the
Midwestern United States. The enterprise is attempting to reorganize production processes in order to improve the quality of finished products. The researcher is engaged in
facilitating, documenting, and analyzing the change process.
Findings. The researcher engaged in a facilitated, interactive change process with the union and management at the study site, observing, participating, and documenting a
wide variety of activities which surfaced claims, concerns, and issues, and which resulted in an integrated statement of
understanding regarding the change process and actions associated with that process.
Conclusion. This study confirmed that the use of hermeneutic circles is an effective method of surfacing differences in perspective, experience, motivation, and commitment to a change process. This method was expanded by
a storytelling process which surfaced similarities and common ground allowing participants to engage in the development of joint constructions, which led to shared
planning and action. The researcher's human instrument, based on a Rogerian counseling approach, created an environment which allowed both union and management to develop new constructions of their relationship
Central City-Suburban Political Preference: The Case of Des Moines, Polk County, Iowa
No full text88 leaves. Advisor: Dr. William AngrickThe thesis is that there is no difference in political preference of city or suburban residents without a concomitant difference in social status.
The Presidential electoral returns for 1972 and
1976 were correlated with socioeconomic information from the 1970 census of population for Des Moines, Polk County, Iowa. The statistical analysis was done by computer.
The findings support the thesis. In addition, the
findings indicate that lower socioeconomic status registered voters reside in the east side of Des Moines and the contiguous suburban townships and tend to vote Democrat; that the higher socioeconomic status registered voters reside in
the west side of Des Moines and the contiguous suburban townships, and tend to vote Republican; that lower and higher socioeconomic status voters tend to participate proportionately in the actual voting process, once they are registered; and that suburban residents tend to be in a
higher socioeconomic status than city residents
A Comparative Analysis Of Teacher Perceptions Of School Culture In High-Performing And Low-Performing Iowa Schools
No full text114 leavesThe challenge of improving the performance of public schools has been given attention from a variety of advocacy groups, researchers, government agencies, education organizations and schools. Since the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act in 2002, titled No Child Left Behind, the stakes for public schools are higher. Despite this increasing pressure, there are still relatively few examples of schools overcoming the challenges of educating all students and closing the achievement gaps that exist in student subgroups of low socioeconomic status, English language learners, special education, and racial/ethnic minority identification. State departments of education collect a vast array of data to monitor public school performance. In most states, teacher perceptions of school conditions are not among those data; however, teachers matter more to student achievement than any other school factor (Rand, 2012).
This study focused on teacher perceptions of the Nine Characteristics of High-Performing Schools in an effort to determine if teacher perceptions of school culture were predictive of school performance in reading and mathematics. A sequential hierarchical regression analysis indicated that while poverty is a strong predictor of school performance, teacher perceptions of most of the Nine Characteristics of High-Performing Schools is also predictive of school performance in reading and mathematics, a conclusion that has implications for school improvement policy and practices
Zonation and geostrophic flow in Drake Passage
No full textIncludes bibliographical references (leaves 74-76)The Antarctic Circumpolar Current in Drake Passage comprises four regimes which are characterized by distinct temperature-salinity relationships in the near-surface waters and by different depths of common temperature-salinity characteristics in deeper water. Between the Subantarctic Zone in the northern Passage and the Antarctic Zone father south is a transition region, the Polar Frontal Zone. The southernmost regime is the Continental Zone which is restricted to a narrow band near the southern continental slope. Historical hydrographic data are used to determine the mean positions of the fronts which separate the zones. Expendable bathythermograph data show that the two northern fronts, the Subantarctic Front and the Polar Front, fluctuate about 100 km north and south of their mean positions. No seasonal differences in the mean frontal positions are evident. Baroclinic geostrophic transport calculations relative to 2500 db are made from synoptic hydrographic station pairs which span the Passage. The range of all such transport estimates is large when the positions of fronts relative to the station positions are not considered. .The variability of the estimates is reduced to about 20% of the mean transport when calculations are made for station pairs which encompass the Subantarctic and Continental Zones. The mean summer transport of 78.7 x 10^6 m^3 s^-1 is about 10% higher than the winter mean of 70.6 x 10^6 m^3 s^-1. Transport calculations are also made from the average values of dynamic height and transport function within the Subantarctic Zone and the Continental Zone. The mean summer transport of 80.9 x 10^6 m^3 s^-1 is significantly different from the winter mean of 73.4 x 10^6 m^3 s^-1. The largest flow in summer is between the Subantarctic and Polar Frontal Zones, whereas in winter the flow between the Polar Frontal Zone and the Antarctic Zone is predominant. The lower winter transport is associated with a shallower depth of the isopycnals throughout the water column in the Subantarctic Zone..
Coping with an Uncertain Loss: Aspects of Bereavement in Two Families with an Abducted Child
No full textv, 152 leaves. Advisor: Susan Varhely.The problem. Assuming the form of a clinical case
study, this research project was an exploratory study of the family dynamics operative when a child is abducted by a nonfamily member. The problem of the study was to investigate, compare, and categorize the coping patterns of two families
against the framework of attachment theories as described by John Bowlby.
Procedure. The author conducted a series of structured interviews with two families to explore and assess clinical dynamics of bereavement and coping strategies. The results were categorized against the backdrop of attachment theories
developed by John Bowlby.
Findings. The Bowlby model provided an adequate, if not complete, means of assessment of bereavement processes in the two families. One subject adopted a chronic mourning style while the other demonstrated a pattern that focused on
a continued search for their son and which disallowed conscious grieving. Both subjects were observed to be unfinished in the grief process. The uncertainty of the loss seemed to be the prime factor that prolonged grief in both subjects.
Conclusion. The Bowlby model was acceptable in
defining general grief reactions of the subjects. Each family remained in the grief process for prolonged states which was a taxing problem. Parental commitment to the child remained strong in both cases, however. Although differing in degrees, each subject retained a sense of hope
for the safe recovery of the abducted child.
Recommendations. Recommendations of the study focused on clinical assessment points for professionals involved in bereavement counseling. Unique family, parental, and sibling dynamics were highlighted. Personal awareness issues of the counselor also were discussed. Further research topics included investigating a multi-disciplinary
team approach in solving the problems of childhood abduction and studying grief reactions relevant to various childhood and family life developmental stages
An Analysis of an Interdisciplinary Experience in Art, Music, and Social Science with Fifth Grade Classes in Traditional School
No full text71 leaves. Advisor: Dr. John M. HicksThe problem. Literature in various fields increasingly is stressing the importance of an interdisciplinary approach to education but such programs are not in evidence. This study is an analysis of an interdisciplinary experience
in art, music and social science with fifth grade classes in a traditional school.
Procedure. Three classes of fifth grade children at Barlow Granger Elementary School in Des Moines, Iowa were the population samples of this study. The author was the art teacher who initiated an interdisciplinary study with the music and social science teachers about Africa for student
participation. An African program was given by the children for their parents at the end of the unit of study. A followup study was done the following year with two fifth grade classes, which composed a control group and an experimental group. The experimental group was tested and data was
gathered.
Findings. The results of the study showed that high motivation stimulates children and has far reaching effects. The interdisciplinary experience brought about behavioral changes that tended to be permanent in the students. Small group interaction promoted peer approval.
Conclusions. Art does have a positive effect on the learning process of students through motivation and stimulation.
It aids the human element, helps develop selfconfidence, promotes the feeling of success and provides access to positive behavioral changes. Innovative teaching methods can be implemented in traditional schools. It takes
more teacher energy, cooperation, assistance and administrative backing.
Recommendations. The writer recommends from this
study that further research be done in man's thinking process with teaching methods designed to educate that process. Interdisciplinary teaching has substantial advantages and should be considered by more schools
Thomas and Drake and the Transatlantic Trade in Stained Glass 1900-1950
No full textThis research explores the world of Thomas and Drake, a transatlantic art dealership formed by landscape painter George Grosvenor Thomas (1856-1923), his son Roy Thomas (1886-1952), and glass-painter and glazier Wilfred Drake (1879-1948). Together, they were the only art dealers to have specialised solely in the selling and adaption of Medieval and Renaissance stained glass during the first half of the twentieth century, and did so on an unprecedented scale. Handling thousands of panels, their stock now underpins many collections worldwide, underlining their status as exceptionally important and prolific vendors.
This thesis provides an in-depth and sustained study of the activities of Thomas and Drake, and its predecessor, the Grosvenor Thomas collection. Unravelling their rich stock, often sourced from English country houses (often from those that were the receptacles for high quality displaced continental stained glass, collected by British aristocrats during the early nineteenth century), this work provides part of the next chapter in the story of the trade and dispersal of European glazing schemes. Stained glass is situated as an important interior
design element, especially popular in the revival style mansions of the extremely wealthy, where other original architectonic salvages from once great country estates were also accommodated. The ways in which their stock was physically transformed, both before and after sale, is revealed, as well as the firm’s origins, operations, collaborators, and customers.
Sustained analysis of the different phases of collecting undertaken by Glasgow-born William Burrell (1861-1958), the firm’s most longstanding customer (and founder of the
internationally significant Burrell Collection museum) illustrates Thomas and Drake’s work in context. This is enhanced by new reconstructions of the layout and glazing of Burrell’s final home, Hutton Castle (Scottish Borders), and transcriptions of the extensive correspondence between Wilfred Drake and William Burrell have been reproduced in full for the first time
Faculty grants awarded in FY04
No full textGrant recipients for FY04 include:
Almoazen, Hassan
Bartschat, Klaus
Bohorquez, Maria
Bruinekool, Matt
Buising, Charisse
Collier, Aimee Beckmann
Frank, Garry
Frazier, Aaron (Student)
Hamilton, Neil
Henderson, LaRhee
Krueger, Benjamin (Student)
Krypel, Linda
Larson, Lon
Levitt, Suzanne
Marguina, Cira Pascual
Murr, Anne
Nelson, Charles
Norton, Barb
Pandit, Nita
Petridis, Athanasios
Pettijohn, Kay
Power, Dan
Prijatel, Patricia
Pundi, Kavitha (Student)
Raecker, Scott
Rosburg, Thomas
Rovers, John
Sanders, Arthur
Sanders, Brian
Sanderson, Connie
Shafer, Sherry
Sheriff, Georgia
Shulman, Stuart
Sleister, Heidi
Smith, Carl
Stensrud, Robert
Summerville, Keith
Tice, Brad
Troyer, Ron
Vitha, MarkProgram or research grants awarded during fiscal year 2004, as reported by the Office of Sponsored Programs, Drake University. One file is arranged by type of research or grant (private, state, and federal), and another file is arranged by the quarter in which they were awarded. Private grants: 277,551, and Federal grants: 9,575,62
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