Theses and Dissertations from UMD

Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2

New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM

More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.

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Subject: search.filters.subject.Curriculum Development

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Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    THE EASE PROGRAM: THE DEVELOPMENT OF A DISTRESS TOLERANCE INTERVENTION FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL ADOLESCENTS
    (2012) La Touche-Howard, Sylvette Antonia; Daughters, Stacey B.; Public and Community Health; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Although many middle school adolescents consider the middle school grades to be an exhilarating time of momentous change in their lives, others struggle not only with academic challenges but also with the inability to handle negative emotional states. Middle school adolescents often seek ways to cope with the distress they experience. Evidence indicates that adolescents are rarely adequately equipped with the necessary skills to deal with these stressful situations. Moreover, studies indicate that their distress tolerance, defined as the ability to persist in goal directed activity while experiencing emotional distress, is associated with increased risk behavior. Given preliminary evidence that low distress tolerance is associated with risky health behavior amongst adolescents, the overall goal of this study was to develop an adolescent appropriate intervention for improving distress tolerance skills, drawing on techniques from Dialectical Behavior therapy, with four main objectives: (1) to enable adolescents to understand the relationship between their emotions and behavior; (2) to educate adolescents on how to identify and label their emotions; (3) to teach skills to adolescents that will enable them to cope with their difficult emotions; and (4) to provide adolescents with skills that will enable them to avoid engaging in later risk behavior. To aide in the development of this intervention, a multi-method approach was employed using focus groups (n=20), in depth interviews (n=15) and a 3 round Delphi method (n=12). Results from this study were used to develop, modify and finalize a distress tolerance intervention (EASE- Empowering Adolescents to deal with Stress and Emotions) for middle school adolescents.
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    Role of Caring in Three Physical Education Teachers' Classroom Environments
    (2011) Bae, Mihae; Ennis, Catherine D; Kinesiology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Even the most caring teachers need to feel appreciated by their students. Noddings proposed a circle of care in which teachers develop a caring classroom environment and initiate care for students. A positive response from the student is required in order to close the circle of care. Although researchers have described the characteristics of caring teachers, there is little research to examine the diverse ways that students reciprocate. The purpose of the current ethnographic research was to examine the class environments that physical education teachers created for their students. The research question that guided this study was: "What was the place of caring in three physical teachers' class environments." To address the question, I conducted an ethnographic, multi-site, case study involving sixth-grade classes from three different middle schools in a suburban school district. In each school I observed one teacher teach two classes. I used qualitative research to collect class observations and teacher and student interview data, focusing on the identification of interpersonal interactions between teachers and students. At the conclusion of the observation period, the three physical education teachers administered a 15 min. written questionnaire to all the students in their two classes. I also conducted one-on-one interviews with 28 students. After the student interviews, I conducted semi-structured interviews with each teacher. I analyzed data inductively and deductively using open, axial, and selective coding and adopted specific strategies to enhance the trustworthiness and transferability of these findings. Results suggested that the three physical education teachers created and maintained effective classroom environments and held expectations for students associated with learning. However, each teacher's approach to teaching was unique and produced characteristic influences on student learning. The class environments maintained by the teachers led to a wide range of student responses. The students' satisfaction with the classroom environments seemed to be influenced by their interpretation of relationships with their teachers. One physical education teacher in this study facilitated a variety of interpersonal interactions with students assisting each other in building skills and performing. This environment provided for interpersonal exchanges and relationships, closing the circle of care.
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    Constructing a Model of ESOL Content-Based Instruction with Native Language Support: Self-Reflective Action Research Grounded in Cultural-Historical Activity Theory
    (2010) Walstein, Irina M.; Oxford, Rebecca; Martin-Beltran, Melinda; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
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    Teaching Historical Thinking: The Challenge of Implementing Reform-Minded Practices for Three First Year Teachers
    (2010) Cochran, Melissa Marie; Monte-Sano, Chauncey; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Researchers in history education have argued the importance of closing the gap between how history is practiced in the discipline and how history is taught in schools. This study explores how three teachers who had learned to teach historical thinking in their teacher education program then implemented these practices in their first year of teaching. Data collected over a two-year period included observations of teachers in their methods courses and field placements; a pre-test and post-test administered before and after the completion of the teacher education program; observations of two units of instruction per teacher during their first year teaching; interviews with teachers during their teacher education program and first year of teaching; and analysis of documents collected over the two year period. Case studies revealed that one of the three teachers routinely taught historical thinking while the other two teachers implemented discipline-based practices less frequently. Cross-case analysis showed that each teacher's development and enactment of research-based practices varied. While the teachers' learning and working contexts, including teacher education and the school and district contexts, influenced if and how teachers taught historical thinking, a number of other factors contributed to teachers' decision making. These included teachers' understandings of the discipline, knowledge of how to make these thinking strategies accessible to students, vision and beliefs about teaching history, available tools and resources, and individual dispositions. This study highlights the intricate nature of how teachers learn and develop and offers insight into how researchers and practitioners can support new teacher learning. This includes continuing to improve teacher education to enhance life-long learning; better aligning the goals of local schools and districts with those of research-based teacher education programs; and providing ongoing supports, such as induction programs sponsored by the University, once teacher candidates graduate. This study also suggests the need for communities of practitioners who share reform-minded goals and collaborate regularly to inquire about and improve practice.
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    Being through Books: A Phenomenological Study of Constructing a Sense of Self through Fiction
    (2010) McShane, Laura Marie; Hultgren, Francine; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Fiction provides us with diverse frames of reference and knowledge through which we make meaning of events in our lives and deepen our understanding of our own lived worlds. Using Max van Manen's methodology for phenomenological research, this study explores the lived experience of creating a sense of self through reading fiction. Through hermeneutic analysis of text developed from conversations with and written reflections from committed readers who identify fictional narrative as a major influence upon their lives, I address what it means to become ourselves through books. Fiction brings us across worlds, moves us across stages and states of being, allows us to see ourselves in mirrors and across to others through windows. Participants articulate the importance of fiction in troubling their given notions of the world, providing gateways to wider worlds and role models for new identities, and helping them to make meaning of their lives and lifeworlds. They describe dwelling at multiple thresholds, liminal spaces between quotidian reality and fictional worlds, and how negotiating those worlds brings them to self-knowledge, self-reflection, and their authentic selves. These six women, voracious readers for a range of decades, portray reading as an engagement with imagination that uncovers the hidden, transporting them from being out-of-place into multiple rich and supportive lifeworlds. The ultimate product of the self revealed through fiction is the essence of our being--that core of self expressed by the concept of Da-sein (Heidegger, 1953/1996), which carries the notion of "being there." As we story ourselves into sentience, we emplace ourselves within our own lifeworlds, recognizing our own core of being, and creating the narrative that becomes a lifelong discourse and ongoing journey, our own currere. Understanding the experience of self-creation through fiction opens up pedagogical engagements that recognize students as beings who engage in self-reflection through narrative, and connects the power of narrative to support their being-in-the-world. Taking advantage of the quality of "across-ness" in liminal spaces, teachers can become participants in the self-storying of students, and partners in their self-construction, leading to transformation that represents real education, not just schooling.