Academics as parents--parents as academics : a study of the integration of intellectual and child-care labours /

Discussions concerning the challenges of combining work and family are certainly not new, and still actively continue. There is, however, a silence in the related literature regarding a comprehensive description of integrating specifically university academic ~. work and family responsibilities. This silence is especially evident for men who are parents as well as academics. With the participation of 4 key informants, this qualitative research study gave voice to men and women who participate in the academic labour of a Canadian university as professors, and as graduate students, along with the parenting labour of at least 1 child under the age of7. Methodology was developed to reveal in-depth perspectives regarding the work practices employed by 4 key informants as they combined intellectual and child-care responsibilities. Multiple data collection methods included journal reflections, day time observation sessions, a focus group, and a final evaluation questionnaire. Using research findings, together with information extrapolated from Three Models of the Family (Eichler, 1997), this study also took steps toward developing a Proposed "Three Models of the University," to offer explanation for the work practices of the key informants as academics/parents, and also for future consideration in university policy formation.

Mermithid (nematoa: mermithidae) infections of black flies (Diptera: Simuliidae) : seasonal variation and developmental characteristics /

Mermithid nematodes (Nematoda: Mermithidae) parasitize larval, pupal and adult black flies (Diptera: Simuliidae), oftentimes resulting in partial or complete host feminization. This study was designed to characterize parasite-host seasonal variation and to estabUsh the developmental life stage at which feminization is initiated. Data indicate that the total adult population of black flies collected from Algonquin Provincial Park throughout the spring of 2004 was comprised of 31.8% female, 67.8% male and 0.4% intersex individuals. Of the total population, 0.6% was infected by mermithid nematodes (69.0% female, 3.5% male and 27.6% intersex). Seasonal infection trends established over a 12-month period revealed that black flies with different life histories host the same mermithid subfamilies, while black flies with similar life histories host mermithids from different subfamilies. If a simuliid species simultaneously hosts two mermithid species, these parasites are from different subfamilies. Molecular mermithid identification revealed two mermithid subfamilies, Me.somermithinae and Gastromermithinae, present in the simuliid hosts. Mermithid colour variation was not found to be a reliable species indicator. The developmental stage at which feminization is initiated was determined by examining gonad morphology and meiotic chromosomal condition. Results indicate that mermithid-infected black flies exhibit feminization prior to larval histoblast formation. Larvae can be morphologically male (testes present) or female (ovaries present), with morphological males exhibiting either male (achiasmate) or female (chiasmate) meiotic chromosomes; morphological females were only genetically female. Additionally, mermithid infection inhibits simuliid gonad development.

Baroreflex sensitivity and developmental coordination disorder

Developmental coordination disorder (DCD) is a motor coordination disorder that is characterized by impairment of motor skills which leads to challenges with performing activities of daily living. Children with DCD have been shown to be less physically active and have increased body fatness. This is an important finding since a sedentary lifestyle and obesity are risk factors for cardiovascular disease. One indicator of cardiovascular health is baroreflex sensitivity (BRS), which is a measure of short term BP regulation that is accomplished through changes in HR. Diminished BRS is predictive of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. The purpose of this study was to investigate BRS in 117 children aged 12 to 13 years with probable DCD (pOCO) and their matched controls with normal coordination. Following 15 minutes of supine rest, five minutes of continuous beat-by-beat blood pressure (Finapres) and RR interval were recorded (standard ECG). Spectral indices were computed using Fast Fourier Transform and transfer function analysis was used to compute BRS. High frequency and low frequency power spectral areas were set to 0.15-0.6 Hz and 0.04-0.15 Hz, respectively. BRS was compared between groups with an independent t-test and the difference was not significant. It is likely that a difference in BRS was not seen between groups since the difference in BMI between groups was small. As well, differences in BRS may not have manifested yet at this early age. However, the cardiovascular health of this population still deserves attention since differences in body composition and fitness were found between groups.

Social Economy and Developmental Disabilities: An Employment Option that Promotes a Form of Authentic Work and Fosters Social Inclusion

Typical employment options for people with developmental disabilities are insufficient. Most employment opportunities that are community-based provide typical workplace and geographical inclusion but tend not to support social inclusion and "belonging". This study explored the innovative employment alternative of social businesses and considered this form of employment for persons with a developmental disability as a viable avenue for meaningful work and social inclusion. A total of six business partners with a developmental disability were interviewed; two partners from three separate worker owned businesses. The partners' descriptions of their job and their workplace composed the interpretative findings. The social businesses provided an avenue for this group of people who tend to be segregated in isolated workshops or marginalized in mainstream work environments and who feel a sense of being "outsiders" to participate in meaningful work in community settings. This group of partners described their job as authentic "work" and discussed the many skills and the work ethic learned from their employment opportunity. In addition to the instrumental aspects of the job, the partners also discussed the group autonomy and self-determination of being their own "bosses". The partners confidently expressed feeling valued, understood in the context of others with similar life experiences, attached to the workplace and connected to a larger community as important outcomes of their businesses. These criteria of social inclusion (Hall, 2010) were complemented by teamwork, friendship and ultimately, with a feeling of being genuine "insiders". Replication of this innovative employment model would be recommended for groups of marginalized people with DD in other geographic areas.

An after-school literacy program : investigating the experiences of students with literacy difficulties, their volunteer tutors, and the tutors' transition into the teaching profession

This research responds to a pervasive call for our educational institutions to provide students with literacy skills, and teachers with the instructional supports necessary to facilitate this skill acquisition. Questions were posed to gain information concerning the efficacy ofteaching literacy strategies to students with learning difficulties, the impact of this training on their volunteer tutors, and the influence of this experience on these tutors' ensuing instructional practice as teacher candidates in a preservice education program. Study #1 compared a nontreatment group of students with literacy difficulties who participated in the program and found that program participants were superior at reading letter patterns and at comprehending the elements of story grammar. Concurrently, the second study explored the experiences of 19 volunteer tutors and uncovered that they acquired instructional skills as they established a knowledge base in teaching reading and writing, and they affirmed personal goals to become future teachers. Study #3 tracked 6 volunteer tutors into their pre-service year and identified their constructions, and beliefs about literacy instruction. These teacher candidates discussed how they had intended to teach reading and writing strategies based on their position that effective teaching ofthese skills in the primary grades is integral to academic success. The teacher candidates emphasized the need to build rapport with students, and the need to exercise flexibility in lesson plan delivery while including activities to meet emotional and developmental requirements of students. The teacher candidates entered their pre-service education with an initial cognition set based on the limited teaching context of tutoring. This foundational ii perception represented their prior knowledge of literacy instruction, a perception that appeared untenable once they were immersed in a regular instructional setting. This disparity provoked some of the teacher candidates to denounce their teacher mentors for not consistently employing literacy strategies and individualized instruction. This critical perspective could have been a demonstration of cognitive dissonance. In the end, when the teacher candidates began to look toward the future and how they would manage the demands of an inclusive classroom, they recognized the differences in the contexts. With an appreciation for the need for balance between prior and present knowledge, the teacher candidates remained committed to implementing their tutoring strategies in future teaching positions. This document highlights the need for teacher candidates with instructional experience prior to teacher education, to engage in cognitive negotiations to assimilate newly acquired pedagogies into existing pedagogies.

Interactions of diploid embryonal carcinoma cells and normal cell mass cells with 2.5 day mouse embryos following aggregation

Spontaneous teratocarcinomas are ovarian or testicular tumors which have their origins in germ cells. The tumors contain a disorganized array of benign differentiated cells as well as an undifferentiated population of malignant stem cells, the embryonal carcinoma or EC cells. These pluripotent stem cells in tissue culture share many properties with the transient pluripotent cells of the early embryo, and might therefore serve as models for the investigation of developmental events ill vitro. The property of EC cells of prime interest in this study is an in vivo phenomenon. Certain EC cell lines are known to be regulated ill vivo and to differentiate normally in association with normal embryonic cells, resulting in chimeric mice. These mice have two genetically distinct cell populations, one of which is derived from the originally malignant EC cells. This has usually been accomplished by injection of the EC cells into the Day 3 blastocyst. In this study, the interactions between earlier stage embryos and EC cells have been tested by aggregating clumps of EC cells with Day 2 embryos. The few previous aggregation studies produced a high degree of abnormality in chimeric embryos, but the EC cells employed had known chromosomal abnormalities. In this study, two diploid EC cell lines (P19 and Pi0) were aggregated with 2.5 day mouse embryos, and were found to behave quite differently in the embryonic environment. P19 containing aggregates generally resorbed early, and the few embryos recovered at midgestation were normal and non-chimeric. Pi0 containing aggregates survived in high numbers to midgestation, and the Pi0 cells were very successful in colonizing the embryo. All these embryos were chimeric, and the contribution by the EC cells to each chimera was very high. However, these heavily chimeric embryos were all abnormal. Blastocyst injection had previously produced some abnormal embryos with high Pl0 contributions in addition to the live born mice, which had lower EC contributions. This study now adds more support to the hypothesis that high EC contributions may be incompatible with normal development. The possibility that the abnormalities were due to the mixing of temporally asynchronous embryonic cell types in the aggregates was tested by aggregating normal pluripotent cells taken from 3.5 day embryos with 2.5 day embryos. Early embryo loss was very high, and histological studies showed that the majority of these embryos died by 6.5 days development. Some embryos escaped this early death such that some healthy chimeras were recovered, in contrast to recovery of abnormal chimeric embryos following Pl0-morula aggregations, and non-chimeric embryos following P19-morula aggregations. This somewhat surprising adverse effect on development following aggregation of normal cell types suggests that there are developmental difficulties associated with the mixing of asynchronous cell types in aggregates. However, the greater magnitude of the adverse effects when the aggregates contained tumor derived cells suggests that EC cells should not be considered the complete equivalent of the pluripotent cells of the early embryo.

Families with Children with Autism, Developmental Delay, and Typical Development: The Relationships of Parenting Self-Efficacy, Parenting Strategies, and Child Problem Behaviour

Parents of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and developmental delays (DD) may experience more child problem behaviours, report lower parenting selfefficacy (PSE), and be more reactive than proactive in their parenting strategies than those who have children with typical development (TD). Differences in PSE and parenting strategies may also influence the extent to which child problem behaviours are experienced by parents who have children with ASD and DD, compared to those who have children with TD. Using a convenience sample of parents of children with ASD (n = 48), DD (n = 51), and TD (n = 72), this study examined group differences on three key variables: PSE, parenting strategies, and child problem behaviour. Results indicated that those in the DD group scored lower on PSE in preventing child problem behaviour than the ASD group. The TD group used fewer reactive strategies than the DD group, and fewer proactive strategies than both the ASD and DD groups. For the overall sample, higher reactive strategies use was found to predict higher ratings of child problem behaviour, while a greater proportion of proactive to reactive strategies use predicted lower ratings of child problem behaviour. PSE was found to moderate DD diagnosis and child problem behaviour. Implications for a behavioural (i.e., parenting strategies) or cognitive (i.e., PSE) approach to parenting are discussed.

Predictors of academic achievement and social competence in adolescence : facilitation, inhibition and general cognitive processing /

The relevance of attentional measures to cognitive and social adaptive behaviour was examined in an adolescent sample. Unlike previous research, the influence of both inhibitory and facilitory aspects of attention were studied. In addition, contributions made by these attentional processes were compared with traditional psychometric measures of cognitive functioning. Data were gathered from 36 grade 10 and 1 1 high school students (20 male and 16 female students) with a variety of learning and attentional difficulties. Data collection was conducted in the course of two testing sessions. In the first session, students completed questionnaires regarding their medical history, and everyday behaviours (the Brock Adaptive Functioning Questionnaire), along with non-verbal problem solving tasks and motor speed tasks. In the second session, students performed working memory measures and computer-administered tasks assessing inhibitory and facilitory aspects of attention. Grades and teacher-rated measures of cognitive and social impulsivity were also gathered. Results indicate that attentional control has both cognitive and social/emotional implications. Performance on negative priming and facilitation trials from the Flanker task predicted grades in core courses, social functioning measures, and cognitive and social impulsivity ratings. However, beneficial effects for academic and social functioning associated with inhibition were less prevalent in those demonstrating a greater ability to respond to facilitory cues. There was also some evidence that high levels of facilitation were less beneficial to academic performance, and female students were more likely to exceed optimal levels of facilitory processing. Furthermore, lower negative priming was ''S'K 'i\':y-: -'*' - r " j«v ; ''*.' iij^y Inhibition, Facilitation and Social Competence 3 associated with classroom-rated distraction and hyperactivity, but the relationship between inhibition and social aspects of impulsivity was stronger for adolescents with learning or reading problems, and the relationship between inhibition and cognitive impulsivity was stronger for male students. In most cases, attentional measures were predictive of performance outcomes independent of traditional psychometric measures of cognitive functioning. >,, These findings provide support for neuropsychological models linking inhibition to control of interference and arousal, and emphasize the fundamental role of attention in everyday adolescent activities. The findings also warrant further investigation into the ways which inhibitory and facilitory attentional processes interact, and the contextdependent nature of attentional control.associated with classroom-rated distraction and hyperactivity, but the relationship between inhibition and social aspects of impulsivity was stronger for adolescents with learning or reading problems, and the relationship between inhibition and cognitive impulsivity was stronger for male students. In most cases, attentional measures were predictive of performance outcomes independent of traditional psychometric measures of cognitive functioning. >,, These findings provide support for neuropsychological models linking inhibition to control of interference and arousal, and emphasize the fundamental role of attention in everyday adolescent activities. The findings also warrant further investigation into the ways which inhibitory and facilitory attentional processes interact, and the contextdependent nature of attentional control.

Emergence of normative beliefs legitimizing antisocial behaviour in adolescents : the roles of monitoring, attachment, and temperament /

Beliefs about the rightness or wrongness of engaging in various antisocial acts, referred to here as nonnative beliefs legitimizing antisocial behaviour (nblab), have been shown to playa role in the emergence oflater antisocial behaviour. The current study represented an attempt to understand whether parental monitoring and parent-child attachment have differential relationships with these antisocial nonnative beliefs in adolescents of different temperaments. The participants, 7135 adolescents in 25 high schools (ages 10- 18 years, M = 15.7) completed a wide-ranging questionnaire as part of the broad Youth Lifestyle Choices - Community University Research Alliance project, whose goal is to identify and describe the major developmental pathways of risk behaviours and resilience in youth. Two aspects of monitoring (monitoring knowledge and surveillance/tracking), attachment security, and two measures of temperament (activity level and approach) were examined for main effects and in interactions as predictors of adolescent nonnative beliefs. All of these measures were based on adolescent self-ratings on either 3- or 4-point Likert-type scales. Several important results emerged from the study. Males were higher than females in nblab; parental monitoring knowledge and adolescent attachment security were negatively related to nblab; and temperamental activity level was positively related. Monitoring knowledge, the strongest of the predictors, was much more strongly related to nonnative beliefs than was parental surveillance/tracking, supporting the contention that it is how much parents actually know, and not their surveillance efforts, that predict adolescent nonnative beliefs. A surprising finding that is of the utmost importance was that, although several of the interactions tested were significant, none were considered to be of a meaningful magnitude (defined as sr^ > .01). The current study supported the suggestion that normative beliefs legitimizing antisocial behaviour are multiply determined, and the results were discussed with respect to the observed differential relations of parental monitoring, parent-child attachment, temperament, age, and gender to antisocial normative beliefs in adolescents. Also discussed were the need to test other parenting, temperament, and other variables that may be involved in the development of nblab; the need to directly test possible mechanisms explaining the links among the variables; and the usefulness of longitudinal research in determining possible directions of causality and developmental changes in the relationships.

An electrophysiological examination of intentional and inadvertent sleep onset : the effect of intention on the sleep onset process

The main purpose ofthis study was to examine the effect ofintention on the sleep onset process from an electrophysiological point ofview. To test this, two nap conditions, the Multiple Sleep Latency Test (MSLT) and the Repeated Test of Sustained Wakefulness (RTSW) were used to compare intentional and inadvertent sleep onset. Sixteen female participants (aged 19-25) spent two non-consecutive nights in the sleep lab; however, due to physical and technical difficulties only 8 participants produced compete sets of data for analysis. Each night participants were given six nap opportunities. For three ofthese naps they were instructed to fall asleep (MSLT), for the remaining three naps they were to attempt to remain awake (RTSW). These two types of nap opportunities represented the conditions ofintentional (MSLT) and inadvertent (RTSW) sleep onset. Several other sleepiness, performance, arousal and questionnaire measures were obtained to evaluate and/or control for demand characteristics, subjective effort and mental activity during the nap tests. The nap opportunities were scored using a new 9 stage scoring system developed by Hori et al. (1994). Power spectral analyses (FFT) were also performed on the sleep onset data provided by the two nap conditions. Longer sleep onset latencies (approximately 1.25 minutes) were obseIVed in the RTSW than the MSLT. A higher incidence of structured mental activity was reported in the RTSW and may have been reflected in higher Beta power during the RTSW. The decent into sleep was more ragged in the RTSW as evidenced by an increased number shifts towards higher arousal as measured using the Hori 9 stage sleep scoring method. 1ll The sleep onset process also appears to be altered by the intention to remain awake, at least until the point ofinitial Stage 2 sleep (i.e. the first appearance of spindle activity). When only examining the final 4.3 minutes ofthe sleep onset process (ending with spindle activity), there were significant interactions between the type ofnap and the time until sleep onset for Theta, Alpha and Beta power. That is to say, the pattern of spectral power measurements in these bands differed across time as a function ofthe type ofnap. The effect ofintention however, was quite small (,,2 < .04) when compared to the variance which could be accounted for by the passage oftime (,,2 == .10 to .59). These data indicate that intention alone cannot greatly extend voluntary wakefulness if a person is sleepy. This has serious implications for people who may be required to perform dangerous tasks while sleepy, particularly for people who are in a situation that does not allow them the opportunity to engage in behavioural strategies in order to maintain their arousal.

An exploration of transformation theory and the western tradition: a critical evaluation of a graduate studies class

This qualitative study is an exploration of transformation theory, the Western tradition, and a critical evaluation of a graduate studies class at a university. It is an exploration of assumptions that are embedded in experience, that influence the experience and provide meaning about the experience. An attempt has been made to identify assumptions that are embedded in Western experience and connect them with assumptions that shape the graduate class experience. The focus is on assumptions that facilitate and impede large group discussions. Jungian psychology of personality type and archetype and developmental psychology is used to analyze the group experience. The pragmatic problem solving model, developed by Knoop, is used to guide thinking about the Western tradition. It is used to guide the analysis, synthesis and writing of the experience of the graduate studies class members. A search through Western history, philosophy. and science revealed assumptions about the nature of truth, reality, and the self. Assumptions embedded in Western thinking about the subject-object relationship, unity and diversity are made explicit. An attempt is made to identify Western tradition assumptions underlying transformation theory. The critical evaluation of the graduate studies class experience focuses upon issues associated with group process, self-directed learning, the educator-learner transaction and the definition of adult education. The advantages of making implicit assumptions explicit is explored.

Correlates and outcomes of severe bullying: internalizing maladjustments of adolescent bullies, victims and bully- victims

The current study examined the association between involvement in bullying and victimization and internalizing difficulties such as self-esteem, social anxiety, depression and body image. Possible gender differences were also examined. The participants, high school students from Southern Ontario (N=533), were drawn from a larger, data set as part ofa study that was completed by the Youth Lifestyle Choices: Community Research Alliance (YLCCURA). The students completed a self-report questionnaire on a number ofmeasures; including, bullying, victimization, self-esteem, social anxiety, depression and body image. The results of this study suggest that those students who self-identified as victims and bully-victims also report higher levels of anxiety and depression than controls and bullies. Severe victims and bullyvictims had a lower body image than severe bullies and controls, whereas severe bullies seem to have a higher body image score than controls. These results are relevant when considering treatments and interventions for students experiencing adjustment difficulties who may also be at risk for bullying victimization. The results also suggest that particular attention needs to be focused on those adolescents who play multi-roles in bullying situations (i.e., bully-victims), since these students may come to the attention ofthe school system for externalizing behaviours, but may also need assistance for internalizing maladjustments.

The nature of avidyÄ in Buddhism and VedÄ nta

This thesis deals with the nature of ignorance as it was interpreted in the Upani~adic tradition, specifically in Advaita Vedanta, and in early and Mahayana Buddhism , e specially in the Madhyamika school of Buddhism. The approach i s a historical and comparative one. It examines the early thoughts of both the upanis.a ds and Buddhism abou t avidya (ignorance), shows how the notion was treated by the more speculative and philosphically oriented schools which base d themselves on the e arly works, and sees how their views differ. The thesis will show that the Vedinta tended to treat avidya as a topic for metaphysical s peculation as t he s chool developed, drifting from its initial e xistential concerns, while the Madhyamika remained in contact with the e xistential concerns evident in the first discourses of the Buddha. The word "notion" has been chosen for use in referring t o avidya, even though it may have non-intellectual and emotional connotations, to avoid more popular a lternatives such as "concept" or "idea". In neither the Upani,ads, Advaita Vedanta, or Buddhism is ignorance merely a concept or an idea. Only in a secondary sense, in texts and speech , does it become one. Avidya has more to do with the lived situation in which man finds himself, with the subjectobject separation in which he f eels he exists, than with i i i intel lect ual constr ucts . Western thought has begun to r ealize the same with concerns such as being in modern ontology, and has chosen to speak about i t i n terms of the question of being . Avidya, however, i s not a 'question' . If q ue stions we r e to be put regarding the nature of a vidya , they would be more of t he sort "What is not avidya?", though e ven here l anguage bestows a status t o i t which avidya does not have. In considering a work of the Eastern tradition, we f ace t he danger of imposing Western concepts on it. Granted t hat avidya is customari ly r endered i n English as ignorance, the ways i n which the East and West view i gno rance di f f er. Pedagogically , the European cultures, grounded in the ancient Greek culture, view ignorance as a l ack or an emptiness. A child is i gnorant o f certain t hings and the purpose o f f ormal education , in f act if not in theory, is to fill him with enough knowledge so that he can cope wit h t he complexities and the e xpectations of s ociety. On another level, we feel t hat study and research will l ead t o the discovery o f solutions, which we now lack , for problems now defying solut i on . The East, on the o t her hand, sees avidya in a d i fferent light.Ignorance isn't a lack, but a presence. Religious and philosophical l iterature directs its efforts not towards acquiring something new, but at removing t.he ideas and opinions that individuals have formed about themselves and the world. When that is fully accomplished, say the sages , t hen Wisdom, which has been obscured by those opinions, will present itself. Nothing new has to be learned, t hough we do have t o 'learn' that much. The growing interest in t he West with Eastern religions and philosophies may, in time, influence our theoretical and practical approaches to education and learning, not only in the established educati onal institutions, but in religious , p sychological, and spiritual activities as well. However, the requirements o f this thesis do no t permit a formulation of revolutionary method or a call to action. It focuses instead on the textual arguments which attempt to convince readers that t he world in which they take themselves to exist is not, in essence, real, on the ways i n which the l imitations of language are disclosed, and on the provisional and limited schemes that are built up to help students see through their ignorance. The metaphysic s are provisional because they act only as spurs and guides. Both the Upanisadic and Buddhist traditions that will be dealt with here stress that language constantly fails to encompass the Real. So even terms s uch as 'the Real', 'Absolute', etc., serve only to lead to a transcendent experience . The sections dealing with the Upanisads and Advaita Vedanta show some of the historical evolution of the notion of avidya, how it was dealt with as maya , and the q uestions that arose as t o its locus. With Gau?apada we see the beginnings of a more abstract treatment of the topic, and , the influence of Buddhism. Though Sankhara' S interest was primarily directed towards constructing a philosophy to help others attain mok~a ( l iberation), he too introduced t echnica l t e rminology not found in the works of his predecessors. His work is impressive , but areas of it are incomplete. Numbers of his followers tried to complete the systematic presentation of his insi ghts . Their work focuses on expl anat i ons of adhyasa (superimposition ) , t he locus and object of ignorance , and the means by which Brahman takes itself to be the jiva and the world. The section on early Buddhism examines avidya in the context o f the four truths, together with dubkha (suffering), the r ole it p l ays in t he chain of dependent c ausation , a nd t he p r oblems that arise with t he doctrine of anatman. With t he doct rines of e arly Buddhism as a base, the Madhyamika elaborated questions that the Buddha had said t e nded not t o edi f ication. One of these had to do with own - being or svabhava. Thi s serves a s a centr e around which a discussion o f i gnorance unfolds, both i ndividual and coll ective ignorance. There follows a treatment of the cessation of ignorance as it is discussed within this school . The final secti on tries to present t he similarities and differences i n the natures o f ignorance i n t he two traditions and discusses the factors responsible for t hem . ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank Dr. Sinha for the time spent II and suggestions made on the section dealing with Sankara and the Advait.a Vedanta oommentators, and Dr. Sprung, who supervised, direoted, corrected and encouraged the thesis as a whole, but especially the section on Madhyamika, and the final comparison.

Closing the summer learning gap for vulnerable junior kindergarten students

Under current academic calendars across North America, summer vacation creates a significant gap in the learning cycle. I t has been argued that this gap actually decreases student achievement levels over the course of the summer. In a synthesis of 39 studies Cooper, Nye, Charlton, Lindsay, & Greathouse (1996) indicated that summer learning loss equaled at least one month of instruction as measured by grade level equivalents on standardized test scores whereby children's test scores were at least one month lower when they returned to school in the fall than scores were when students left in the summer. Specifically, Cooper et aI., (1996) found that the summer learning loss phenomena may be particularly troublesome for less advantaged children including those with speech and language delays, children at-risk for reading disabilities, children from lower socio-economic backgrounds, and children learning English as a second language. In general, research illustrated clearly that the summer learning gap can be particularly problematic for vulnerable children and furthermore, that literacy skills may be the area of achievement that is most affected. A foundational pillar to this research project is including primary caregivers as authentic partners in a summer literacy program designed to support their children's literacy needs. This pillar led the research team to use the Learning Begins at Home: A Research-Based Family Literacy Program Curriculum designed by Antoinette Doyle, Kathleen Hipfner-Boucher, and Janette Pelletier from the Ontario Institute for the Studies of Education. The LBH program is designed to be flexibly adapted to suit the needs of each individual participating family. As indicated by Timmons (2008) literacy interventions are most powerful when they include authentic family involvement. Based on this research, a requirement for participating in the summer literacy program was involvement of a child and one of their primary caregivers. The participating caregiver was integrally involved in the program, participating in workshop activities prior to and following hands-on literacy work with their child. By including primary caregivers as authentic partners, the research team encouraged a paradigmatic shift in the family whereby literacy activities become routine within their household. 5 Participants in this study were 14 children from junior kindergarten classrooms within the Niagara Catholic District School Board. As children were referred to the program, they were assessed by a trained emergent literacy specialist (from Speech Services Niagara) to identify whether they met the eligibility requirements for participation in the summer program. To be eligible to participate, children demonstrated significant literacy needs (i.e. below 25%ile on the Test of Preschool Early Literacy described below). Children with low incidence disabilities (i.e. profound sensory impairments, severe intellectual impairments, developmental disabilities, etc) were excluded as participants. The research team used a standard pre- and posttest design whereby all participating children were assessed with the Test of Preschool Early Literacy (Lonigan et aI., 2007), and a standard measure of letter names and sounds. Pretests were administered two weeks prior to the commencement of the program and the first set of posttests was administered immediately following the program. A second set of posttests was administered in December 2009 to measure the sustainability of the program. As a result of the program, all children scored statistically significantly higher on their literacy scores at the post-program assessment point immediately following the program and also at the Dec-post-program assessment point. These results in general indicated that the summer family literacy program made an immediate impact on the emergent literacy skills of participating children. All participating children demonstrated significant increases in print and phonological awareness as well as their letter sound understanding.

Aboriginal women in education : Honouring our experiences a vision of access to and success within the university

This thesis explores Aboriginal women's access to and success within universities through an examination of Aboriginal women's educational narratives, along with input from key service providers from both the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal community. Implemented through the Wildfire Research Method, participants engaged in a consensusbased vision of accessible education that honours the spiritual, emotional, intellectual, and physical elements necessary for the success of Aboriginal women in university. This study positions Aboriginal women as agents of social change by allowing them to define their own needs and offer viable solutions to those needs. Further, it connects service providers from the many disconnected sectors that implicate Aboriginal women's education access. The realities of Aboriginal women are contextualized through historical, sociocultural, and political analyses, revealing the need for a decolonizing educational approach. This fosters a shift away from a deficit model toward a cultural and linguistic assets based approach that emphasizes the need for strong cultural identity formation. Participants revealed academic, cultural, and linguistic barriers and offered clear educational specifications for responsive and culturally relevant programming that will assist Aboriginal women in developing and maintaining strong cultural identities. Findings reveal the need for curriculum that focuses on decolonizing and reclaiming Aboriginal women's identities, and program outcomes that encourage balance between two worldviews-traditional and academic-through the application of cultural traditions to modern contexts, along with programming that responds to the immediate needs of Aboriginal women such as childcare, housing, and funding, and provide an opportunity for universities and educators to engage in responsive and culturally grounded educational approaches.