Well Mind, Well Life: A Mental Wellness Program for LGBTQ Young Adults

This capstone was in partnership with the LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland. It included the development of a peer-led program for queer-identifying young adults to promote mental wellness. Free resources have been provided to the site to enhance mental wellness promotion at the Center.https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/ot_capstone_posters/1014/thumbnail.jp

Knowles, Kolb, & Google: Prior Learning Assessment as a Model for 21st-Century Learning

For adult students who have committed anew to completing a four-year bachelor’s degree, prior learning assessment (PLA) can be a surprising bonus that affirms their previous life experiences, shortens the degree completion pathway, and ultimately lowers tuition dollars. What students typically do not realize as they enter the process, however, is that PLA can be much more than simply a road to a diploma: When designed with an intentional framework of andragogical principles and experiential emphases, PLA can provide adult students with a lifelong model for self-assessment and higher-level learning in a 21st-century Google era

Master of Arts

thesisThis thesis investigates speech accommodation and dialect leveling in three episodes of the Al-Jazeera program ﻣﻤفتوﻭﻮحﺡ ﺣﺤوﻭﻮاﺍرﺭ ḥuwār mɛftūḥ "Open Dialogue", with particular focus on the phonological change of /ḍ/ > [ð]̣ (or ظﻅﻆﻇﻈ [ʔaɪjɪðạn] in the Tunisian dialect. This study also looks at the phonological change of ظﻅﻆﻇﻈ /ð/̣ > [ẓ] in the Egyptian dialect, as well as lexical and syntactic differences between the use of relative pronouns and particles of negation. The episodes examined vary in their inclusion of speakers from across the Arabic-speaking world, and cover a range of speaking styles from reading to debating, to panel discussions, and street interviews. This thesis posits that Arabic speakers reduce dialect differences when interacting with others not familiar with their dialect, illustrating how Arabic speakers strike a balance between the mutually comprehensible "standard" and their dialect inclinations. While the Egyptian panel maintains both phonological and lexical characteristics of their dialect, the in-studio Tunisian guests predominantly use the standard language. However, there are significantly more dialect features in the speech of on-the-street iv Tunisians. Based on the data set, the Egyptians are able to maintain their dialect in the media setting because it is widely understood throughout the Arab world. Since the Tunisian dialect is not as commonly understood, the Tunisian studio guests use the standard to reach a pan-Arab audience. This sociolinguistic study illustrates the complexities of how Arabic-speakers manipulate their language depending on the social context and their audience and challenges the notion of diglossia. Furthermore, this thesis provides a description of some characteristics of Tunisian Arabic, which has not been well studied in the literature

Creating whanaungatanga: Kaupapa Maori support in the Psychology Department at the University of Waikato

Attendance at university has been recognized by some as a competitive environment that does not cater for the co-operative philosophy followed by many Maori. Within the Psychology Department at the University of Waikato there have been efforts since the Departments early days to place emphasis on the Maori cultural experience, but there were few Maori students and no Maori staff back then. Now, in 2004, the Department has a team of Maori staff and courses with Maori content at both undergraduate and graduate levels. Yet the environment that the students move in is still competitive. Grades are based on individual assessment through undergraduate level. At graduate level the emphasis on group dynamics comes to the fore. The availability and accessibility of Maori staff at different levels in a Kaupapa Maori programme provides one of the strategies of support for maori students at Waikato. This paper discusses the issues around managing, delivering and providing opportunities so that Maori students studying psychology feel supported for the duration of their time at Waikato University

Beginning Teachers’ Perceptions of Preparedness to Differentiate Instruction for Diverse Learners

A two-phase, sequential mixed-methods design was used to assess perceptions of Preparedness (28 items, alpha = .96) to differentiate instruction for N = 36 graduates from one MAT teacher preparation program. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA and t-test procedures. A focus group with N = 10 purposively selected 2010 graduates and interviews with N = 2 graduates each from the 2008 and 2009 classes, and N = 2 faculty were conducted. The following areas presented challenges to teachers when attempting differentiation: pre-existing ideas of how to teach which contradict differentiation, misinformation regarding differentiation, and classroom management skills. This resulted in the unintentional implementation of surface-level differentiation, rather than deep-structure differentiation (Brighton, Hertberg, Moon, Tomlinson, & Callahan, 2005)

Perceived Efficacy of Beginning Teachers to Differentiate Instruction

A two-phase, sequential mixed-methods design was used to assess perceptions of teacher efficacy (10 item survey, alpha = .90) to differentiate instruction for N = 36 graduates from one MAT teacher preparation program. Research questions addressed levels of self-efficacy, perceptions of preparedness, teaching tenure, and number of certifications held. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA and t-test procedures. A focus group with N = 10 purposively selected 2010 graduates and interviews with N = 2 graduates each from the 2008 and 2009 classes, and N = 2 faculty were conducted. No significant relationships were found for tenure and number of certifications. A relationship was found between levels of self-efficacy and feelings of preparedness (r = .91, r2 = .81, p \u3c .001). Pre-existing ideas of how to teach which contradict differentiation, misinformation regarding differentiation, and classroom management skills presented challenges which resulted in the unintentional implementation of surface-level differentiation, rather than deep-structure differentiation (Brighton, Hertberg, Moon, Tomlinson, & Callahan, 2005)

Senior Recital

List of performers and performances

INVESTIGATION OF OMNIVOROUS TROPHIC POSITION IN THE DRILLING GASTROPOD, UROSALPINX CINEREA, USING STABLE ISOTOPE ANALYSIS

Drill-holes found in the fossil record are an important tool to study ecological patterns of the past. It is therefore important to gain a better understanding of the role of extant drilling snails in modern ecosystems. Although traditionally considered a predator, trophic position of 3.0, specimens of the muricid Urosalpinx cinerea from Long Island Sound revealed trophic positions between 2.3 and 2.5, suggestive of an omnivorous diet. This study addresses the generality of this result by examining a U. cinerea population from Wilmington, North Carolina. Preliminary whole body, soft tissue stable isotope analysis of nitrogen and carbon was conducted on five U. cinerea specimens. Isotopic baseline for the study area was calculated using proxy taxa, including Geukensia demissa for the pelagic baseline and Littoraria irrorata for the littoral baseline. Trophic position for these U. cinerea specimens ranged from 2.4 to 2.9. Working hypotheses to explain a trophic position lower than 3.0 in U. cinerea include: trophic omnivory driven by plant consumption, or a lower-than-average nitrogen discrimination factor. Although no studies on the nitrogen fractionation factors of muricids currently exist, the naticid Neverita duplicata from Long Island Sound has recently been demonstrated to have a normal nitrogen fractionation factor and omnivorous isotopic signatures. The difference between the trophic ranges of the two locations may indicate that U. cinerea have a more predatory diet in North Carolina than in Long Island Sound. However, further work is needed to confirm that these values reflect dietary differences, not a below average nitrogen fractionation factor