A Phenomenological Study Examining the Collaborative Community Experiences of Veteran Special Educators

This phenomenological study aimed to examine and describe the experiences of veteran special education (SPED) teachers in rural southwest Georgia school districts regarding their collaborative community network experiences within the field. Granovetter’s (1973) social network theory (SNT) encompasses critical concepts of belongingness and connection about job satisfaction over time and throughout educational contexts and guided this study. A phenomenological approach involving teacher interviews, a focus group, and journal prompts was used to examine the experiences of SPED teachers on their social networks. Eleven veteran SPED teachers were interviewed using open-ended interview scripts developed to target the central research question. Convenience snowball sampling was used to find participants in the southwest Georgia region. Interview transcripts were analyzed using an open-coding approach to identify themes. Triangulation was employed across interviews, focus groups, and journal prompts. Five themes arose: (1) iron-sharpens-iron, (2) interpersonal relationships, (3) cohesion, (4) fight or flight, and (5) anchors. Each theme aligned with the study’s guiding central and subquestions and offered qualitative insight into the condition of SPED community networks in southwest Georgia

THE IMPACT OF CRISIS INTERVENTION TEAM TRAINING ON CORRECTIONAL OFFICER BURNOUT IN A SOUTHEASTERN STATE PRISON

This dissertation sought to ascertain whether or not Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training could lower burnout in correctional officers (CO) in a Southeastern state prison system. Using an experimental learning theory in a quantitative, quasi-experimental approach, the researcher administered the pre-test and post-test assessments using Maslach Burnout Inventory to CO before CIT and 4-weeks after they completed CIT. The researcher concluded that CIT lowered burnout on CO in all areas of the MBI but was statistically significantly lower for emotional exhaustion and depersonalization

Tua'll (and then) I used math to tell a story: Using think alouds to enhance agency and problem solving in an indigenous high school mathematics class

Thesis (M.A.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2019This paper examines action research in a high school math classroom with a focus on student discourse and agency. Students' use of language to explain their problem-solving processes was documented and analyzed. Specifically, the focus was on variations in student language and how the teacher responded to students during the problem-solving process. The following questions guided the analysis of what happened in the classroom: 1) How do my students talk about their math process? 2) How do I mediate their problem solving? One of the teacher researcher's earliest realizations was that she interfered in students' opportunities to problem solve on their own. Additionally, the students' explanations of their "problem-solving process" included more narration than justification or explanation of the process. On reflection, the teacher researcher decided to return to the research process to look further into these interactions while students were problem-solving. The second phase of research focused on student agency and how teachers can mediate for their students. Over a four-week period, the teacher researcher looked at the influences of multiple levels of assistance while each student was talking through his or her problem-solving process. Data sources include field notes, student artifacts, videos of student think aloud videos, and transcriptions of group work from the teacher researcher's classroom. The findings provide detailed insights into how these high school students approach math problems and how they describe and explain their problem-solving processes. The teacher researcher explores implications for teacher actions, insights into how students work together, and observations of students discussing their problem solving. Specifically, the teacher researcher noticed a need for language focus in mathematics instruction. In addition, teachers should problem solve with their students, rather than for their students; and allow students to mediate with each other to develop student agency

Computation of maximum gust loads in nonlinear aircraft using a new method based on the matched filter approach and numerical optimization

Time-correlated gust loads are time histories of two or more load quantities due to the same disturbance time history. Time correlation provides knowledge of the value (magnitude and sign) of one load when another is maximum. At least two analysis methods have been identified that are capable of computing maximized time-correlated gust loads for linear aircraft. Both methods solve for the unit-energy gust profile (gust velocity as a function of time) that produces the maximum load at a given location on a linear airplane. Time-correlated gust loads are obtained by re-applying this gust profile to the airplane and computing multiple simultaneous load responses. Such time histories are physically realizable and may be applied to aircraft structures. Within the past several years there has been much interest in obtaining a practical analysis method which is capable of solving the analogous problem for nonlinear aircraft. Such an analysis method has been the focus of an international committee of gust loads specialists formed by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and was the topic of a panel discussion at the Gust and Buffet Loads session at the 1989 SDM Conference in Mobile, Alabama. The kinds of nonlinearities common on modern transport aircraft are indicated. The Statical Discrete Gust method is capable of being, but so far has not been, applied to nonlinear aircraft. To make the method practical for nonlinear applications, a search procedure is essential. Another method is based on Matched Filter Theory and, in its current form, is applicable to linear systems only. The purpose here is to present the status of an attempt to extend the matched filter approach to nonlinear systems. The extension uses Matched Filter Theory as a starting point and then employs a constrained optimization algorithm to attack the nonlinear problem

Input effects on the acquisition of a novel phrasal construction in five year olds

The present experiments demonstrate that children as young as five years old (M = 5;2) generalize beyond their input on the basis of minimal exposure to a novel argument structure construction. The novel construction that was used involved a non-English phrasal pattern: VN1N2, paired with a novel abstract meaning: N2 approaches N1. At the same time, we find that children are keenly sensitive to the input: they show knowledge of the construction after a single day of exposure but this grows stronger after three days; also, children generalize more readily to new verbs when the input contains more than one verb

Illegitimacy in British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Ontario, and Nova Scotia: A Legislative History

Over time, provincial legislation in Canada modified the common law position on the “illegitimacy” of children born outside marriage. They first imposed liability on parents for the support of illegitimate children. Second, they provided for the legitimation of children whose parents subsequently married. Finally, they abolished the concept of illegitimacy. This article describes and compares the legislative histories in four Canadian provinces, which all took somewhat different approaches: British Columbia (BC), Nova Scotia, Ontario, and Saskatchewan. Part II traces the complex history of the legislation dealing with the financial support of illegitimate children; Part III addresses the legislation dealing with legitimation; and Part IV reviews the short history of the abolition of distinctions between legitimate and illegitimate children in all Canadian provinces and territories, except for Nova Scotia. We take a chronological approach within each Part. The article is co-authored with Jennifer Flood

The Rise of Mobile and the Diffusion of Technology-Facilitated Trafficking

In this report, researchers at the USC Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership & Policy (CCLP) reveal how those involved in human trafficking have been quick to adapt to the 21st-century global landscape. While the rapid diffusion of digital technologies such as mobile phones, social networking sites, and the Internet has provided significant benefits to society, new channels and opportunities for exploitation have also emerged. Increasingly, the business of human trafficking is taking place online and over mobile phones. But the same technologies that are being used for trafficking can become a powerful tool to combat trafficking. The precise role that digital technologies play in human trafficking still remains unclear, however, and a closer examination of the phenomenon is vital to identify and respond to new threats and opportunities.This investigation indicates that mobile devices and networks have risen in prominence and are now of central importance to the sex trafficking of minors in the United States. While online platforms such as online classifieds and social networking sites remain a potential venue for exploitation, this research suggests that technology facilitated trafficking is more diffuse and adaptive than initially thought. This report presents a review of current literature, trends, and policies; primary research based on mobile phone data collected from online classified sites; a series of firsthand interviews with law enforcement; and key recommendations to policymakers and stakeholders moving forward

Access to early childhood education in Australia: insights from a qualitative study

Based on interviews with 94 parents in Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, and Western Australia, this report investigates parents\u27 knowledge of and attitudes towards early childhood education. Executive summary This report documents the background, methodology and findings from the Access to Early Childhood Education (AECE): Qualitative Study, undertaken by the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) and commissioned by the then Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR; now the Department of Education) on behalf of the Early Childhood Data Subgroup (ECDSG). This research was commissioned within the context of the National Partnership Agreement on Early Childhood Education (NP ECE), which jointly committed the Commonwealth and all state and territory governments to achieving universal access to preschool by 2013. The AECE Qualitative Study was undertaken in order to develop a qualitative evidence base about how the concept of “access” to early childhood education (ECE) is defined and understood, and to explore what reasons and barriers exist in relation to access to ECE. A qualitative framework was chosen for this study to enable more in-depth study of any barriers to ECE, and/or factors that lead to parents making particular decisions about their children’s use of ECE. &nbsp