The Role of Parental and Family Involvement in the Persistence of Freshman First-Generation College Students

The number of first-generation college students has increased steadily over the years. These students faced many barriers to their academic success as they transitioned to college including limited support from family members. This qualitative study utilized a phenomenological approach to understand what role, if any, the support of parents and family helped first-generation students to persist in their academics during the first year of college. Six sophomore first-generation college students from a private Catholic institution in an urban setting in the Midwest were interviewed for the study along with six of their family members. The sophomore first-generation students reflected on their experiences during the first year of college. Participants discussed how they perceived and understood family support in their home life, the relationships between students and parents, and the way students interacted with their peers. Three findings emerged from the research: (1) the support provided by parents was instrumental in helping first-generation college students persist during their first year in school, (2) students and parents understood the college experience from different points of views, resulting in family tension and a “push and pull” dynamic that fostered an educational resilience among the students, (3) parents were more able to support students with financial resources and emotional encouragement and less able to address mental health issues. These findings showed the need for parental programming to support the educational experiences of first-generation college students and mechanisms to help parents become aware of the mental health challenges of students

On using a pyroclastic deposit as a manned lunar base site

Hawke et al. (1990) suggest that ilmenite found in Apollo 17-type pyroclastic glass may provide feedstock for the hydrogen reduction of ilmenite process for producing lunar oxygen. They also suggest that the ilmenite may help retain solar wind hydrogen and helium which can be extracted for use at a lunar outpost or even transported back to Earth for fusion fuel in the case of helium-3. Therefore, they suggest that ilmenite-rich material may be the best candidate. Here, researchers propose a somewhat different approach. They propose that the pyroclastic glass can be reduced directly to produce oxygen and one or more metals. Sulfur would be another important byproduct of the processing. This process would eliminate the need for having specific minerals such as ilmenite or for doing any mineral concentration. The bulk pyroclastic would provide the feedstock. Some recent experiments at the Johnson Space Center suggest that an iron-rich composition would be the most suitable for this direct feedstock reduction and that the titanium content may not be important. Also, the lunar pyroclastic deposits would be extremely useful in constructing and supporting a lunar base

Teaching information management to honors degree students:The information challenges approach

The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of what the authors believe to be a useful approach to teaching Information Management concepts and skills at honors (Hons) degree level. With Information Management being a somewhat diverse area, incorporating a number of areas and skills, one of the potential problems is considering how the subject can be taught to honors degree students in a flexible and meaningful way, while keeping abreast of new developments and thinking from academia and industry. The authors helped develop and deliver one possible approach to teaching Information Management at honors degree level that will be discussed in this paper, namely Information Challenges

Postgraduate research supervision:An 'agreed' conceptual view of good practice through derived metaphors

The paper explores the role of the postgraduate supervisor through advising, mentoring, and monitoring for the varied and complex process towards successful doctoral thesis completion. There is a scarcity of research into this important area, and we therefore undertake a comprehensive literature review to determine the current state of knowledge and international approaches. This involved an initial analysis of policy documents from European and Australian universities to provide insights into institutional norms. Primary data collection was then collected through surveys and personal interviews with a range of experienced academics involved in postgraduate supervision. We identify three metaphors related to a 'machine', 'coach' and 'journey' as critical perspectives towards professional student engagement. Our findings are believed to be of benefit to academics and doctoral candidates involved in challenging and original research

Wintertime cloud systems over the Colorado Rockies: three case studues

December 1980.Includes bibliographical references.Sponsored by National Science Foundation ATM-7819261