Developing a model of library user education for freshman science students

Discusses the cooperative effort between librarians and science faculty at Bucknell University in developing an effective library use education course for incoming undergraduate science and engineering students. Describes course structure and activities, and includes a library instruction bibliography. (five references) (EA)

Influences on career choice in music education audition candidates: Pilot study

The purpose of this pilot study was to survey prospective undergraduate music education majors to learn what motivated them to aspire to a career in music education. Respondents were candidates auditioning, but not yet accepted, for music teacher preparation programs at four institutions (N = 228). Findings corroborate prior research that suggests that school music teachers and/or private lesson teachers are highly influential. This study sought to quantify the types of experiences participants had in teaching roles at the time of their college audition, supporting other research suggesting that such experiences may increase interest in a music teaching career. Recommendations include engaging music educators at all PreK–12 levels in actively recruiting and encouraging future teachers, providing private instructors and performance majors with teacher recruitment information, emphasizing earlier identification and preparation of prospective educators, and refining and continuing the work begun in this pilot study.

Promoting Amphibian Conservation through the College Classroom: Detection of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis among Local Amphibians

Many global amphibian declines have been linked to the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd). The knowledge on Bd distribution provides a fundamental basis for amphibian conservation planning. Yet, such Bd distribution information is currently insufficient, in particular at a regional scale. The college classroom provides an excellent opportunity to expand the knowledge of Bd distribution. Here we provide an example of such research projects to detect Bd prevalence among local amphibians in a college course setting and present the results of work conducted in central Pennsylvania, USA. We collected toe clips and conducted PCR assays of six species, Plethodon cinereus, Desmognathus fuscus, Notophthalmus viridescens, Lithobates catesbeianus, L. clamitans, and L. sylvaticus (59 individuals). Four groups of students independently conducted entire projects, orally presented their findings, and submitted manuscripts to the professor at the end of the semester. This example demonstrates that it is feasible for an undergraduate class to complete a Bd-detection project within a single semester. Such a project not only contributes to Bd research but also promotes conservation education among students through hands-on research experiences. We found Bd infection in only one sample of N. viridescens, but no sign of infection in the rest of the samples. As a relatively high prevalence of Bd has been reported in surrounding areas, our results suggest spatial heterogeneity in Bd occurrence at a regional scale and thus, the need for continued efforts to monitor Bd prevalence.

Career Influences of Music Education Audition Candidates

In this descriptive study, we examined the influences and experiences motivating students to enter college-level music schools as reported by a population of precollegiate students auditioning (but not yet accepted) to music education degree programs. As a follow-up to a published pilot study, this research was designed to quantify the various experiences respondents had as part of their precollege school and community programs that related to teaching and music. Results indicate a strong connection between respondents’ primary musical background and future teaching interest. The top three influential experiences were related to high school ensemble membership (band, choir, orchestra), and the most influential group of individuals in the decision to become a music educator were high school ensemble directors. Respondents from all four primary background groups (band, choir, orchestra, and general or other) rated private lesson teaching as their second strongest future teaching interest, just behind teaching at the high school level in their primary background. Respondents rated parents as moderately influential on their desire to become a music teacher.

Campus Architecture and Student Culture in American Higher Education

Human-environment interaction theory, as it specifically relates to architectural determinism, has an indispensible impact on student culture on college campuses. Under the assumptions of architectural determinism, this thesis examines the relationship between architecture and student culture on 30 American college campuses. Specifically, this thesis looks at uniformity of architectural style and color and the prevalence of traditional styles of architecture in relation to the institutions' campus cultures. The results of the study found that a significant relationship exists between student culture and uniformity of building color, but not between student culture and uniformity of style or the prevalence of traditional styles on a given campus. The thesis concludes with a discussion of the findings, limitations of the study, and suggestions for further research.

Predictors of Attitudes toward Lesbians and Transgender Women in Relationships on a College Campus

The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of the attitudes which perpetuate intolerance toward LGBT individuals, and to recognize, in particular, the unique attitudes transpeople face as a minority in the nation and even in the LGBT community. This research contributes to the bodies of research concerning the interrelatedness of intrinsic religiosity, political conservatism, sexism, the rape myth, lack of effective legal protection, and the intolerance of gender non-conformists. I have identified distinctions between attitudes on the part of both women and men, as well as toward different gender non-conformists. I have also taken research as a whole further by assessing the predictors of attitudes toward specific members of the LGBT community in public relationships. The implications of these findings are potentially as far reaching as to have an impact on policies effecting healthcare, education, anti-discrimination and employer rights legislation, on both local and national levels.

Perceptions of Social Mobility in Community College Scholars at Bucknell University

While national leaders have joined the discussion more recently, scholars in the fields of education, psychology, and sociology, have been exploring the ways in which students? socioeconomic background affects the outcomes they experience as a result of their education (Lareau, Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life, 2003).Furthermore, the role played by the education system in creating or diminishing socioeconomic disparity has also been studied in depth (Bourdieu, 1977; Boudon, 1977). However, the journeys of students from low-income families that begin their education at community colleges and continue it, through careful planning or chance, at elite four-year institutions, has not been the subject of much attention. This thesis explores these students? perceptions of social mobility as they have been shaped by their experiences so far in life. This includes the exploration of changes in their perceptions as the contexts for their lives have been changed. Quantitative analysis of survey results and qualitative analysis of participant interviews serve as the data set for this study. The implications ofthe findings for student affairs practitioners are also explored.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PARENTING STYLES, LEARNING AUTONOMY, AND SCHOLASTIC ACHIEVEMENT IN UNDERGRADUATE COLLEGE STUDENTS

Throughout the years, the role that parents play with regard to a child’s academic achievement has been the source of considerable research. The type of parenting style employed by parents, whether it is authoritarian, authoritative, or permissive, has and continues to be a major theme in these studies. One area of particular interest that has been overlooked in these studies, however, is the influence that parents may have on a student’s learning autonomy. Learning autonomy is the idea that a student has internal motivation to learn or achieve. The purpose of this study was to investigate therelationship among the three styles of parenting, learning autonomy, perceived parental autonomy support, and scholastic achievement in undergraduate college students. Sixty-one participants were recruited at a small liberal arts college in the northeastern United States to complete questionnaires, which measured perceived parental authority of the participants’ parents, perceived parental autonomy support, and students’ own learning autonomy. The participants were also asked to list their grade point average. The results revealed positive and negative correlations between many of the variables in the study;however, simple regression analyses did not yield any statistically significant relationships between parental authority, learning autonomy, perceived autonomy support, and scholastic achievement.

Teacher Self-efficacy and Accommodating for Students with Disabilities in the Regular Education Classroom

The purpose of the present study is to investigate how teachers feel about their abilities to educate students with special needs, how their degree of teacher self-efficacy compares to intended courses of action, if teachers develop learned helplessness over time, if there is a relationship between low teacher efficacy and high learned helplessness, and if teacher self-efficacy and learned helplessness differ by gender, educational level, years of teaching experiences, and grade level taught.

International Service-Learning and the Development of Civic Identity: Understanding the Role of Short-Term International Service-Learning and its Influence on the Development of Civic Identity in College Students Using a Mixed Methodological Approach

Higher education has a responsibility to educate a democratic citizenry and recent research indicates civic engagement is on the decline in the United States. Through a mixed methodological approach, I demonstrate that the potential exists for well structured short-term international service-learning programming to develop college students’ civic identities. Quantitative analysis of questionnaire data, collected from American college students immediately prior to their participation in a short-term service-learning experience in Northern Ireland and again upon their return to the United States, revealed increases in civic accountability, political efficacy, justice oriented citizenship, and service-learning. Subsequent qualitative analysis of interview transcripts, student journals, and field notes suggested that facilitated critical reflection before, during, and after the experience promoted transformational learning. Emergent themes included: (a) responsibilities to others, (b) the value of international service-learning, (c) crosspollination of ideas, (d) stepping outside the daily routine to facilitate divergent thinking, and (e) the necessity of precursory thinking for sustaining transformations in thinking. The first theme, responsibilities to others, was further divided into subthemes of thinking beyond oneself, raising awareness of responsibility to others, and voting responsibly.

Liberal Education, Effective Practice, and Diversity

This session will be based on three presentations that focus on the relationship between liberal education, effective practice and diversity from different perspectives. George Kuh will present data indicating that the educational benefits of "high impact" learning experiences (such as experiential education and undergraduate research), which are significant for all students, are often greater for students from underserved and minority backgrounds than for their majority counterparts. Armando Bengochea will discuss the ways in which an emphasis on effective practice can enhance the educational experiences of students of color within a liberal arts curriculum. Steve Stemler will report on research showing that including practice-oriented criteria in assessments of student achievements and capabilities can assist colleges and universities in identifying and educating minority students with high potential to succeed both in college and beyond college.

Specialisation and specialist education in prosthetic dentistry in Europe

This presentation reports on the results of a meeting of prosthodontists from selected European countries. The aim of the meeting was to analyse and promote specialisation and specialist education in Prosthetic Dentistry in Europe. Representatives for Europe were selected from the European Prosthodontic Association (EPA) board, the Education and Research Committee of International College of Prosthodontists (ICP), countries with a legally recognised speciality, countries without a recognised speciality but organised training programmes and countries with neither of these situations. Data about specialisation and specialist training in Prosthodontics in Europe was scrutinised and discussed. The programmes for countries with specialist training had relatively similar content, mostly of three years duration. There was strong agreement that a recognised speciality raises the level of care within the discipline for both specialists and non-specialists. In several of the countries where a speciality had been introduced it had been initiated by pressure from public health planning authorities. The conclusions are that from a professional viewpoint an advancement of the speciality over Europe would develop the discipline, improve oral health planning and quality of patient care. A working group for harmonisation was recommended.

Governmentality in higher education : a critical analysis of the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE)

In this dissertation, the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) serves as a nodal point through which to examine the power relations shaping the direction and practices of higher education in the twenty-first century. Theoretically, my analysis is informed by Foucault’s concept of governmentality, briefly defined as a technology of power that influences or shapes behavior from a distance. This form of governance operates through apparatuses of security, which include higher education. Foucault identified three essential characteristics of an apparatus—the market, the milieu, and the processes of normalization—through which administrative mechanisms and practices operate and govern populations. In this project, my primary focus is on the governance of faculty and administrators, as a population, at residential colleges and universities. I argue that the existing milieu of accountability is one dominated by the neoliberal assumption that all activity—including higher education—works best when governed by market forces alone, reducing higher education to a market-mediated private good. Under these conditions, what many in the academy believe is an essential purpose of higher education—to educate students broadly, to contribute knowledge for the public good, and to serve as society’s critic and social conscience (Washburn 227)—is being eroded. Although NSSE emerged as a form of resistance to commercial college rankings, it did not challenge the forces that empowered the rankings in the first place. Indeed, NSSE data are now being used to make institutions even more responsive to market forces. Furthermore, NSSE’s use has a normalizing effect that tends to homogenize classroom practices and erode the autonomy of faculty in the educational process. It also positions students as part of the system of surveillance. In the end, if aspects of higher education that are essential to maintaining a civil society are left to be defined solely in market terms, the result may be a less vibrant and, ultimately, a less just society.

Local Resources for Learning/Teaching CS for Pre-College Students/Teachers

Presentation by Dr. Frank Ackerman. Additional information can be found on Montana Tech's Department of Computer Sciences website.

Let’s Require Civics Education at All Levels

A Montana Public Radio Commentary by Evan Barrett.