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
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Item WHAT BRINGS YOU HERE? CONTEXTUAL INFLUENCES ON MUSICAL ENGAGEMENT(2023) Durbin, Allison Hayley Reisinger; Elpus, Kenneth; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The purpose of this study was to test a conceptual model of contextual influences on 7th graders’ musical engagement in school. Inspired by Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological theory of human development, I devised a conceptual model to represent contextual factors that interact in a person’s world to influence their own music making. I used restricted-use data from the Longitudinal Study of American Youth Third Cohort 2015-2016 to determine what personal and familial characteristics were associated with students’ enrollment in different types of school music classes during their 7th grade year in order to test my proposed contextual model.I used a multinomial logit model to conduct the analysis in order to ascertain which individual-level and familial characteristics were associated with 7th graders enrollment in four different categories of music courses: (a) no music courses, (b) non-band/orchestra/choir (BOC) music courses, (c) choir, or (d) band/orchestra. The restricted-use data from the LSAY Third Cohort contained student-produced responses of the types of music courses they were currently enrolled in as well as questions about their musical habits at home. The data set also contained a caregiver questionnaire that contained questions about the caregiver’s musical engagement with their own child. Results of the analysis supported the proposed conceptual model and indicated a multitude of characteristics that are associated with 7th graders’ enrollment in varying types of music courses. Different covariates were significantly associated with different types of music course enrollment. As such, students enrolled in school music courses should not be considered as a collective. The results from this study support previous research that there is not a singular profile of student who enrolls in different types of music classes (Elpus & Abril, 2019).Item Cyberbullying: an examination of victimization, parent-child communication, collective efficacy and safe behaviors online among young adolescents(2018) McHugh, Meaghan Conte; Gold, Robert S; Public and Community Health; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Each year, approximately 10%-40% of adolescents are the victims of cruel online behaviors such as posting embarrassing photos or videos, purposeful exclusion, harassment, even threats of violence, often referred to as cyberbullying. Cyberbully victimization (CBV) during adolescence, a critical time for physical, mental and emotional development, might lead to adverse short and long-term health impacts and teach the adolescent to mistrust others while suggesting that it is appropriate for peers to intentionally harm each other. Numerous studies have reported the negative health impacts associated with CBV including both internalizing problems (i.e. depression, anxiety, loneliness, and low self-esteem) as well as externalizing problems (i.e. self-harm and drug use). CBV has also been linked to suicide. The current study examined suspected protective factors of CBV from a social ecological model including: demographic and Internet behaviors (individual characteristics), parent-child communication about Internet use (Interpersonal or relationships) and collective efficacy (school community). Data were obtained from a convenience sample of 1,249 young adolescents through a web-based survey administered in multiple public-school classrooms. An important feature of this study was a comparison of a multi-item scale of repeated cyberbully behaviors suggesting that 37% of adolescents were CBV with females (38%) and 8th graders (43%) at greatest risk, compared to a binary item that suggested that only 12% of adolescents were victims (females:13% and 8th graders:15% at greatest risk). Several statistically significant correlates of CBV were identified in this study including safe behaviors online and number of hours on the Internet, quality parent-child communication, and school collective efficacy. For our sample, safe behaviors online partially mediated the association between quality parent-child communication and CBV. Research is needed to understand the mechanism by which parent-child communication might protect against CBV. Suggestions for future prevention and intervention strategies for this complex public health challenge are discussed.Item Prompting Rural Students' Use of Prior Knowledge and Experience to Support Comprehension of Unfamiliar Content(2018) Hattan, Courtney; Alexander, Patricia A; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Prior knowledge activation is foundational to students’ text comprehension. Yet, pedagogical techniques that teachers can use to prompt students’ knowledge activation are limited and empirical data on the relative effectiveness of those techniques is scant. Thus, the purpose of this dissertation was to investigate the effectiveness of traditional and novel knowledge activation techniques for supporting rural students’ comprehension of texts covering unfamiliar content. In this quasi-experimental study, 149 rural middle-school students were assigned to one of three conditions: knowledge mobilization (traditional), relational reasoning (new), or text annotation (control). Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling with text comprehension as the outcome variable and condition, relational reasoning ability, prior topic knowledge, gender, ethnicity, and grade level as predictor variables. The results demonstrated a statistically significant difference for overall comprehension between students in the relational reasoning condition and students in both the mobilization (β = 5.15, p < .00) and control conditions (β = 3.10, p < .00). There were no significant differences between students in the mobilization versus control conditions (β = -1.85, p = .07). Further, there were no comprehension differences for ethnic background or grade level. However, female students outperformed male students, and prior topic knowledge and relational reasoning ability were significant covariates in analysis. Qualitative analysis of follow-up conversations revealed the utility of the relational reasoning condition, especially for low-performing students. The results indicate that not all prior knowledge activation techniques are equally effective for all students engaged in the processing unfamiliar textual content. Additionally, the novel activation technique of relational reasoning proved highly effective for promoting students’ text comprehension.Item A Figured Worlds Perspective on Middle School Learners' Climate Literacy Development(2016) Hestness, Emily E.; McGinnis, J. Randy; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The purpose of this study was to investigate the nature of the relationship between middle school science learners’ conditions and their developing understandings of climate change. I applied the anthropological theoretical perspective of figured worlds (Holland, Lachicotte, Skinner, & Cain, 1998) to examine learners’ views of themselves and their capacities to act in relation to climate change. My overarching research question was: How are middle school science learners’ figured worlds of climate change related to the conditions in which they are embedded? I used a descriptive single-case study design to examine the climate change ideas of eight purposefully selected 6th grade science learners. Data sources included: classroom observations, curriculum documents, interviews, focus groups, and written assessments and artifacts, including learners’ self- generated drawings. I identified six analytic lenses with which to explore the data. Insights from the application of these analytic lenses provided information about the elements of participants’ climate change stories, which I reported through the use of a storytelling heuristic. I then synthesized elements of participants’ collective climate change story, which provided an “entrance” (Kitchell, Hannan, & Kempton, 2000, p. 96) into their figured world of climate change. Aspects of learners’ conditions—such as their worlds of school, technology and media use, and family—appeared to shape their figured world of climate change. Within their figured world of climate change, learners saw themselves—individually and as members of groups—as inhabiting a variety of climate change identities, some of which were in conflict with each other. I posited that learners’ enactment of these identities – or the ways in which they expressed their climate change agency – had the potential to reshape or reinforce their conditions. Thus, learners’ figured worlds of climate change might be considered “spaces of authoring” (Holland et al., 1998, p. 45) with potential for inciting social and environmental change. The nature of such change would hinge on the extent to which these nascent climate change identities become salient for these early adolescent learners through their continued climate change learning experiences. Implications for policy, curriculum and instruction, and science education research related to climate change education are presented.Item An Examination of Parental Engagement During the Middle School Years(2015) Jackson, Sheila Michelle; McLaughlin, Margaret J.; Timmons-Brown, Stephanie; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The purpose of this quantitative study was to explore the previously unexamined phenomenon of middle school parental engagement in a large urban/suburban/rural school district of 209 schools in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Across 22 middle schools serving grades six-eight, this study collected and examined perceptions of the three key adult stakeholder groups – administrators, teachers, and parents – most actively involved in middle school parental engagement as described within the theoretical framework of academic socialization. Their reports of observable parental engagement activities were used to document how district stakeholders operationalize behaviors that represent the five actionable constructs and three themes of academic socialization to determine how the district “fares” in employing academic socialization as a middle school parent engagement strategy. The study also applied quantitative descriptive analysis through a one-way ANOVA to determine the significance of observable variations in actionable constructs between the perspectives of the three stakeholder groups. Finally, the study illuminated, through regression modeling, when confounding factors/independent variables such as race, income, school size, administrator and teacher experience, parents’ educational background, etc., impacted operationalization of academic socialization behaviors for middle school parent and family engagement. Rejecting the null hypothesis, the study found that the three stakeholder groups had statistically significant differences in perceptions of their implementation of activities aligned to academic socialization. This study ultimately illuminated ways in which these adult stakeholder groups share similar and varied perceptions about their engagement actions that support the achievement and maturation of middle school students. Significantly, this study provided key findings that illuminated areas that can be systemically addressed to transform middle school parent engagement practices through applied academic socialization theory into consistent and effective collaborative efforts between the home and school. The process of operationalizing academic socialization was outlined in terms that any school or district can follow to improve programs and practices of middle school parental engagement to serve in the best interests of students during this period of great transition for both child/adolescent growth and development and adult navigation of systems to provide support for students in this unique stage of growth and maturation.Item Reform-Oriented Collaborative Inquiry as a Pedagogy for Student Teaching in Middle School(2015) DeMink-Carthew, Jessica Jane; Valli, Linda; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Specialized middle level teacher education programs are purported to be a potential lever for middle level education reform. Preparing teachers to enact reform-oriented visions of teaching, in the context of uneven, if not stalled, middle level education reform presents a formidable challenge as student teachers attempt to challenge the status quo. Yet, despite a growing body of literature on specialized middle level teacher education, the critical student teaching year remains under-researched. This dissertation thus proposes and investigates Reform-Oriented Collaborative Inquiry (ROCI) as a pedagogy for supporting reform-oriented student teaching in middle school. Employing a nested design, this dissertation uses two qualitative studies to explore ROCI from a variety of perspectives. The first study describes how four student teachers and one teacher educator used ROCI to create a student-driven social action project that was reform-oriented and responsive to their field placement school. An analysis of middle school student feedback regarding the social action project is also provided. The second study investigates the challenges and benefits experienced by the group as they attempted to innovate using ROCI as well as the insights they developed regarding what it takes to participate in middle level education reform. The challenges discussed include a disconnect between College of Education and field placement visions of teaching, being "just an intern," cultivating student engagement in "new" teaching approaches, time, and collaboration. The benefits of participation in ROCI include its successful support of reform-oriented innovation, increased understanding and confidence in reform-oriented teaching practices, relationships with students, and new insights for the teacher educator. Student teacher insights indicate that participating in middle level education reform requires collaboration with multiple stakeholders, strategic communication, flexibility and patience. Findings point to several implications for teacher education. These include the development of teacher education curricula that prepare preservice teachers for reform-oriented student teaching as well as the potential for ROCI to serve as a framework for building capacity in reform-oriented teaching in partnership schools as well as through induction. The challenges faced also underscore the need to address the multiple political, structural, and financial challenges that make investing in school-university partnership work difficult.