Diversity in education: changing faces

As America becomes more and more diverse, public schools are forced to adapt to the changing faces in education. The purpose of this study was to promote culturally responsive teaching and analyze programs that impact non-Asian minority students in a suburban school district. The intern used observations, surveys, and interviews to study programs at the Charles W. Lewis Middle School in Blackwood, New Jersey. The research began by examining the school\u27s culture and then went on to form committees and groups to promote diversity throughout the building. During this research, the intern determined that non-Asian minority students were disproportionately represented in special education, regular education, and gifted programs. White students were also afforded more opportunities for academic success than minority students. Through culturally responsive teaching, special programs were established to boost self-esteem, promote diversity, and increase academic performance among minority students

Mathematics anxiety and cognition : a computational modelling study

Anxiety about performing numerical calculations is becoming an increasingly important issue. Termed mathematics anxiety, this condition negatively impacts performance in numerical tasks which can affect education outcomes and future employment prospects. The disruption account proposes this poor performance is from the anxiety and its worrying thoughts disrupting the limited resources of working memory (specifically the attentional and inhibitory functions) leaving less cognitive resources available for the current task. There are many behavioural studies on mathematics anxiety. However, its underlying cognitive and neural mechanisms remain unclear. This thesis examines the relationship between mathematics anxiety and attentional control using neural network modelling, there are no neural network models simulating mathematics anxiety. The numerical Stroop task and the symbolic number comparison task were modelled with a single neural network model architecture examining the effect of modifications to both tasks. Different model modifications were used to simulate high and low math-anxious conditions by modifying attentional processes and learning. The model simulations suggest that mathematics anxiety is associated with reduced attention to numerical stimuli. These results are consistent with attentional control theory where anxiety decreases the influence of the goal-directed attentional system and increases the influence of the stimulus-driven attentional system. Notably, when simulating the numerical Stroop task, the high math-anxious model with reduced attention to numerical stimuli experienced less neural activation in the response layer for the inhibitory condition than the low math-anxious model, suggesting an under activation of working memory resources when experiencing conflict. Furthermore, the model was able to account for several other cognitive conditions, including reduced learning, the physical Stroop task across learning, and the speed-accuracy trade-off

Neo medieval urbanism : timeless urban design strategies gleaned from lasting European cities

textNeo-medieval urbanism is the proposal to build urban villages in larger metropolitan areas by mimicking the design of medieval European cities. This development type is modeled after German and Italian medieval towns that existed as independent city states from the 11th century. This method for designing new communities is consistent with the high demand for walkable urbanism and the trend toward transit-oriented development. Neo-medieval urban design has the potential to create human and ecological value through an architecture that restores pedestrians as the principle users of the city and builds community. Neo-medieval features such as scale, aesthetics, context-sensitivity, and natural relationship come together in a comfortable place for people. Such design would achieve environmental objectives including using less fossil-fuel energy and lower aggregate resource consumption. Quality of life improvements when coupled with an inclusionary housing policy, would enable a variety of income groups to live well. Furthermore, neo-medieval urbanism could be a tool for local economic resilience. Neo-medieval neighborhoods need not break much from their lasting European counterparts and thus could be home and workplace to some 5,000-50,000 people. Site studies of Bologna, Siena, Lucca, and Venice in Italy and Bamberg, Rothenberg, Regensburg, and Freiburg in Germany grounded this project. Methods for producing Neo-medieval urban villages include discussion of design features, a process for designing a neo-medieval neighborhood, and a model neo-medieval zoning code. Additionally, the conceptual design for the Lakeline TOD in Austin, Texas serves as a visualization. This paper concludes that neo-medieval urbanism could achieve many local policy objectives and is the ideal form for transit-oriented development and urban villages within cities.Community and Regional Plannin

Political activism among Dominican women in literature : imagined experiences and rising voices

My thesis examines the literary portrayal of women in Dominican politics as historical figures/actors and how Dominican women have also used the medium of literature to draw attention to these lesser known heroines and inspire future participation and involvement in public life. The creation of fiction out of history, through which authors imagine the inner lives and feelings and motivations of Dominican women protagonists, can add a new dimension to the study of women and gender in the Dominican Republic, especially when written by Dominican women authors. More specifically, I will explore the following issues and areas: 1) how the works revise or expand on the traditional interpretation of political activism 2) how the works honor women historical actors, giving them a voice and 3) what the works reveal about the gendered nature of political activism. The novels I will be analyzing are Julia Alvarez’s novels In the Name of Salome and In the Time of Butterflies, as well as Charamicos by Angela Hernandez. These works are based on real women activists who have been fictionalized in the novels, such as Salome Urena de Henriquez and the Mirabal sisters, as well as “imagined” or “fictional” women who are not based on specific Dominican women, but rather a fictionalized compilation created to embody the experiences of many, such as the characters in Charamicos. My analysis of the literary representation of women’s activism draws from the fields of gender, political, historical and literary studies, however Joan W. Scott’s discussion of her-story and social history, as well as Paul Ricoeur’s theories on the relationship between memory and history are especially useful. In conclusion, I show that these novels have created a space for the imagined experiences of these women and given them a voice which was lacking, since these women activists have been left hidden in the pages of history, without detailed autobiographies or much more than a paragraph even in recent historical publications. I will also explore future research considerations that would build on the work in this thesis and further contribute to the expansion of the field of Dominican women’s studies

Pediatric Genetic Counselor Perspective on Serving the Foster Care Population and the Integration of Genetic Information within the Health Passport

Many states within the foster care system have adopted a document referred to as the health passport, which provides a condensed summary of a child\u27s health history. This passport is intended to remain with the child as he/she moves between placements to improve communication between foster parents, caseworkers, and medical professionals. This exploratory research study examines the foster care system\u27s utility of a child\u27s health passport and opportunities for improvement through an online survey of the pediatric genetic counselor population. First, counselor perspectives on serving foster children were gathered and summarized into themes. Major elements and/or obstacles of counseling the foster care population involved limited information and records, barriers to genetic testing, and psychosocial differences between caretakers. Second, counselors provided input regarding the inclusion of genetic information within the passport. Specifically, topics such as the counselor\u27s interaction with the passport document, prioritization of information to be included, and recommendations for utilization of the passport were addressed. Of the 81 participants who completed the survey, only 11% had previous familiarity with the document, yet 83% expressed that it would be useful in their practice. Participants were asked to rank items in order of importance regarding inclusion in a health passport and the median value was assessed to determine the order. Maternal pregnancy history was reported as the most important item (4.79), followed by Birth history (4.46), Family history (3.62), Developmental history (3.31), Previous genetic testing (3.21), and Patient personal medical history (1.56). The outcome of this study was to interpret genetic counselors\u27 informational needs and explore how the health passport could address these needs and be incorporated in practice. These results could enhance genetic counselor effectiveness and improve continuity of care for these children

Perception and Reality: An Examination of American Print Advertising

I contend current American print advertising relies on the objectification of the body, both male and female, in conjunction with the use of utopian ideals to sell products. The nature of the print ad and mass media is such that they gratuitously inform our cultures ideas on gender and normalcy. By depicting unrealistic images of normalcy and unattainable representations of beauty, advertising not only creates consumer anxiety to purchase products beyond economic means, but also to manipulate our bodies unnaturally, and it creates tension in relations between genders. As a Graphic Designer, I strive to not only reverse this process in my work but to inform and educate viewers on these issues using the same medium within which the issue lies, print

The Power Fantastic: How Genre Expectations Mediate Authority

This dissertation reconciles academic and popular uses of the term genre, concluding that genre is a transmedial, mutable, associative, recognized system regulated through tacit understandings of prestige and power in a given Social space. The study employs a digital humanities method (dependent on digitally facilitated data analysis), conducting descriptive discourse analysis on collected online discussions from fan spaces concerning the fantasy genre and matters related to fantasy. In this way, I construct an image of the fantasy genre, and genre in general, as a multimodal space in which material freely passes between traditional and new media and participants actively negotiate their own authorities

Resurrecting the Women of The Waste Land

This thesis argues that T.S. Eliot\u27s The Waste Land is Eliot\u27s version of a modern fertility ritual with women as the principal drivers of the narrative. Women show both the depth of desolation that spiritual bankruptcy brings, but ironically contain within them the hope and possibility for redemption. Through figures such as the Sybil, Madame Sosostris, Lil, Philomela, and Ganga, Eliot shows the full range of emotion and possibilities to be found in The Waste Land. Ultimately, women are the catalysts in the poem - they make up the steps of the fertility rituals set out by Jessie Weston in the book that so influenced Eliot: From Ritual to Romance. Ultimately, with the help of the women both in his life (Vivienne Eliot and Emily Hale) as well as those of ancient history and myth, Eliot completes his spiritual quest to find everlasting peace

Comparing the effects of tailored behavioral feedback and descriptive social norms intervention messages on excessive social media use

Master of ScienceDepartment of Psychological SciencesLaura A. BrannonExcessive internet use can have various consequences such as low job performance, poor academic performance, and issues in interpersonal relationships. Previous research in the area has focused on treating this issue after it reaches the level of a diagnosable addiction disorder. However, it is important to understand whether excessive use can be discouraged and potentially reduced before users develop an addiction disorder. Currently, one of the most popular uses of the internet is social media; therefore, the current study specifically targeted excessive social media use. In an effort to discourage excessive social media use, two different message intervention approaches were implemented. A behavioral feedback message addressed excessive use at the individual level by providing information about the potential consequences from their current amount of social media use. A social norms message provided general information about the average adult’s social media use. These interventions were compared to a control message (no information about excessive use) as well as a generic consequences message (general consequences one may experience from excessive use). Using a multiple regression analysis, the study found that those who read the behavioral feedback message were more likely to report that they believed that they spend too much time on social media. In contrast, a second multiple regression analysis found that those who read the social norms message were more likely to report that they intended to reduce their social media use in the future. In the domain of social media, it seems that behavioral feedback has more of an effect on attitudes, while social norms has more of an effect on intended future behavior. These findings do not indicate whether one type of intervention is more favorable than the other; rather, it seems that the two interventions may be working through different mechanisms, such that one may result in attitude change before behavior change, while the other may result in the opposite