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- Creator:
- Crook, Jaclyn Marie
- Description:
- In the study the Houghton Mifflin Selection Test short answer response questions were evaluated for developmental appropriateness and validity in the application of their results for the purpose of establishing reading report card grades for third-grade students. Third-grade and fifth-grade students’ responses were evaluated by two scorer’s and analyzed by grade-level, literal and inferential questions, single-part and multi-part questions. It was determined that third-grade and fifth-grade students each demonstrated difficulty on the short answer response questions possibly due to the validity concerns with each test question
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Education (Curriculum and Instruction)
- Creator:
- Allison, Christina Renee
- Description:
- The purpose of this research was to conduct a case study of teachers to discover effective English language learner strategies used in the classroom which allows teachers to successfully improve student academic achievement. The researcher examined the history and development of English language learners (ELLs), challenges educators face in the classroom, and various theories supporting successful English language strategies. The study focused on three questions: 1) How well are teachers prepared to reinforce practical and effective strategies to promote academic achievement for EL students; 2) What are effective methods for teaching language learning strategies to EL students; and 3) How does current legislation and professional development influence the teacher’s implementation of EL strategies in the classroom? Many educators are feeling pressure from the high demands for student success. The constant influx of new students, the high demand for accountability in state testing, the need for sustained resources and greater preparedness to teach the students in today’s classrooms, contribute to the struggle to ensure academic success for students. If students are not taught to meet their needs, they and the institution of education will fail. Methodology The information gathered for this study was obtained from one elementary school in a large urban school district in California’s Sacramento Valley. The researcher collected the data from staff surveys and observations. The acquired data was gathered from 22 elementary school (K-6) teachers through a questionnaire. Six of them also volunteered to participate in informal observations. Conclusions and Recommendations The findings were supported from current research which verifies strategies to aid teachers who work with English language learners. The staff at Joan D. Elementary specified the need for learning more strategies to support academic success for English language learners. Future research to promote academic success for ELL students is recommended to sustain teachers in meeting the current challenges in education. In addition, further research on strategies and procedures to gain academic success for ELL students is recommended for teachers at Joan D. Elementary School.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Education (Educational Leadership)
- Creator:
- Houston, Erika G. and Orta, Lucia
- Description:
- The purpose of this exploratory research was to identify the barriers that exist for migrant workers in accessing medical services. This study focused on the following barriers: occupational health risks, rural areas, cultural beliefs, economic status, and language. A sample of thirty-nine migrant farmworkers who participated at the E Center Migrant Program in Yuba County, California, was recruited. All 39 participants were from Mexico and completed a 30-item questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and chi-square tests were employed to analyze the data. The findings of this study support findings of other research studies, indicating that this under-served population continues to face the same barriers. More specifically, results from this study revealed that high percentages (46%) of the participants suffer illnesses from pesticides. In fact, thirty-eight percent of the participants had skin problems due to working in the fields. Based on the findings sixty-seven percent of the participants had no knowledge of healthcare programs and fifty-nine percent did not have medical coverage. Finally, the results of the study indicate that the potential barriers for Mexican migrant farm worker continued to be prevalent.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Social Work
- Creator:
- Faller, Jennifer Ann
- Description:
- This thesis traces the presence of theatre’s involvement in the lives of children facing long-term hospitalization as well as children diagnosed with Autism, a neurological disorder affecting socialization skills. Theatre’s involvement begins in the hospital, through the unconscious use of theatrical elements brought to children by child life specialists and continues through the consciously used element of performance by hospital clowns used to empower hospitalized children. Also examined is the play, This is a Test: One Girl’s Fight with Cancer, written by twelve-year-old Shenita Peterson, about her battle with cancer and hospitalization experience. Her play lived a life of multiple performances in the Chicago area including one performed in a teaching hospital for medical students. This case study shows how theatre not only entertains, it is a teaching tool. The final relationship explored is the one between theatre and autistic children. I discovered that theatre has maintained a strong presence in the autistic community through different kinds of therapy used to help teach children with ASD how to communicate and recognize emotion. Like the relationship between theatre and the hospital setting, autistic theatre has not always been a conscious one. The final chapter traces the relationship from unconscious to conscious.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Theatre Arts
- Creator:
- Roehrich, Rikki Lee
- Description:
- This study investigates California newspaper articles from a two year time period to identify the substantive and affective attributes that comprise print media coverage of telemedicine. A total of 206 descriptions were identified and a qualitative content analysis was conducted in order to determine the major attribute categories for descriptions of telemedicine. Seven categories were revealed, including descriptions of: the technologies used for telemedicine, the ability to provide access to medical services, details of implementation, the quality of medical care, financial aspects, the convenience of using telemedicine, and other descriptions. Of these, over half of the descriptions focused on the technology or access attributes of telemedicine. All descriptions were also quantitatively coded for the level of affect. A Chi square analysis revealed that while descriptions were predominantly positive across all of the articles, the urban-based news sources tended to discuss telemedicine in a more positive tone than rural-based sources. Through the emphasis of the access and technology attributes, there is support for the premise that these attributes may become the most salient attributes to the audience. As the tone is predominantly positive, additional research is necessary to determine if this may serve to prime the audience to accept telemedicine.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Communication Studies
- Creator:
- Salgado, Roy Mitra
- Description:
- Statement of Problem Since the 1968 Summer Olympic Games (Mexico City, altitude ~ 2200m above sea level (SL)), a numerous amount of research has been conducted on the effects of hypoxic manipulation (HM) (i.e. altitude training which includes LHTH, LHTL, LLTH, and IHE) for improving SL exercise performance. However, the SL performance results of HM studies are inconclusive. Further, the results of the physiological variables such as VO2max, hematocrit (Hct), and hemoglobin concentration [Hb] are conflicting. Therefore, it is unclear the effects HM may have on SL exercise performance and certain physiological variables. A method of resolving the conflicting data on HM studies is the use of meta-analysis. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to conduct a meta-analysis on HM studies to identify the effects of HM versus normoxic training (NT) on SL exercise performance, VO2max, Hct, and [Hb] in trained athletes. Methods A literature search from 1965 to 2008 was conducted to locate pertinent studies on HM. An inclusion criteria was developed to determine studies that were included in the analysis. Studies included in the analysis met the following inclusion criteria: 1) adequate use of a control group (CG), 2) published performance, or VO2max, or Hct, or [Hb] results with means ± SD and 3) use of trained athletes. If studies met the inclusion criteria, they were read and coded for the following variables: 1) HM model which included LHTH, LHTL, LLTH, and IHE, 2) performance were defined as time in a time trial, or peak power output during a GXT, or total work capacity 3) VO2max as well as Hct and [Hb]. To calculate effect size (ES) the following formula was used: Cohen’s d = (Postm – Prem)/PreSD. ES were than corrected (ESCorr) for sample biasness and then weighted mean of the ES (ESWM) was calculated. Twenty-nine studies met the inclusion criteria for performance with a total of 42 and 49 ESCorr extracted from NT and HM, respectively. Twenty-seven studies met the inclusion criteria for VO2max with a total of 39 ESCorr extracted from NT and HM. Eighteen studies met the inclusion criteria for [Hb] with 23 ESCorr extracted from NT and HM. For Hct, 14 studies met the inclusion criteria with 15 and 17 ESCorr extracted from NT and HM, respectively. Results are reported in means ± 95% CI. Results For performance, HM (0.27 ± 0.02) was statistically greater than NT (0.17 ±0.02). The only two HM models that were statistically greater than NT were LHTH and LLTH. The ESWM ± 95% CI for LHTH and LLTH were 0.38 ± 0.27 and 0.37 ± 0.09, respectively. For VO2max, the only HM model that was statistically greater than NT was LLTH (0.37 ± 0.12). For [Hb], the only HM model that was statistically greater than NT was LHTH (0.53 ± 0.27). There were no significant differences between groups for Hct. As a whole, in the HM group, there was a significant correlation between the ESCorr for VO2max and performance (r = 0.67, p = 0.00008), however no significant correlation was observed between HM ESCorr for [Hb] or Hct and VO2max. Conclusion In conclusion, as a whole, HM is more beneficial to improving SL performance when compared to SL training alone. In addition, the greatest benefits from HM are from LHTH and LLTH. Further, the results of VO2max, [Hb], and Hct between LHTH and LLTH are unclear. Therefore, it is still uncertain what factor(s) mediate the improved SL performance.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Kinesiology (Exercise Science)
- Creator:
- Sohi, Chandan
- Description:
- With dwindling petroleum resources, the need for alternate fuel resources has become immense. Any new fuel source needs to be home grown, economically feasible, and environmentally friendly. Although many such fuels are available for ground transportation, such as ethanol, there are not many options for alternate aviation fuels. One possible replacement fuel for jet fuel is biodiesel. Biodiesel has many similar properties to jet fuel, such as energy density and specific energy. However, production issues, low temperature properties, oxidative degradation provide significant challenges for implementation of biodiesel as an aviation fuel. This author studied these challenges by examining biodiesel produced from microalgae feedstock. The high production rates of microalgae make it an ideal feedstock. Furthermore, the growth of microalgae does not require arable land for growth. Hence, it does not figure into the land concerns of the “fuel vs. food” debate. The author examined methods of improving low temperature properties such as winterization and additives. For fighting oxidative degradation, this author examined research evaluating the procedure of adding antioxidants to lengthen oxidative stability. The study concluded that although pure microalgae biodiesel fuel would meet the criteria of being home grown, economically feasible, and environmentally friendly, the implementation of the fuel is still several years away. However, blends of petroleum diesel and microalgae biodiesel containing up to 30-vol% biodiesel can be implemented due to the better fuel properties of petroleum diesel.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Mechanical Engineering
- Creator:
- Wehner, Edna Verzosa
- Description:
- Children from disadvantaged homes often come to school unprepared because of a lack of emergent literacy development typically developed at home and preschool. This includes emergent reading, emergent writing, print motivation, language development, vocabulary knowledge, phonological awareness, and alphabet knowledge. Therefore, I conducted a case study of a middle class 3-year-old boy for eight months to observe how he develops emergent literacy. His emergent literacy concepts and skills were assessed every two months and his literacy related experiences at home and preschool were noted and studied to determine their influence on his growth. Sources of Data Assessments were given five times. Emergent reading was assessed with the Print Awareness Inventory (Searfoss & Readence, 1994) and Concepts about Print observation task (Clay, 1993). Writing samples were analyzed to determine emergent writing. Receptive and expressive vocabulary was determined with the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, Revised 4 (PPVT-R4) (Dunn & Dunn, 2007) and Expressive Vocabulary Test (EVT) (Williams, 1997), respectively. Oral language development was determined with Monroe’s Oral Language Scales (Monroe, 1951) and a category oddity task (Lonigan, Burgess, Anthony & Barker, 1998). The Phonological Sensitivity Assessment (Lonigan et al., 1998) was used to determine phonological awareness. Letter name and sound tests based on Clay’s letter name identification task (Clay, 1993) were used to determine alphabet knowledge. Also, notes about literacy experiences were taken mostly daily and analyzed to determine categories, patterns, and themes. Conclusions Reached Across the eight months, there was significant growth in most areas. At the beginning, the child was at the concepts of print stage of emergent reading. He grew from stanine 3 to stanine 4 on the Concepts about Print observation task because of pretend reading. Writing forms advanced from scribbling to nonphonetic letter forms because of drawing and writing. Growth in vocabulary was most dramatic. Receptive and grew from percentile 77, stanine 6, to percentile 99, stanine 9. Expressive vocabulary grew from percentile 84, stanine 7, to percentile 96, stanine 9. Oral language skills progressed from labeling to sentence construction. Growth in oral language and vocabulary was due to storybook reading. The child became phonologically aware of words and then syllables because of several factors. He knew all uppercase letters at the beginning of the study, and grew from identifying 69.23% of lowercase letters to 76.92% because of direct teaching, but knew few letter sounds. Themes explored included the differential educational experiences of the home and preschool, role of popular culture, and technology. Implications for future research was discussed.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Education (Language and Literacy)
- Creator:
- West, Julie Ann
- Description:
- From a family systems perspective, it is believed that the marital relationship is interrelated with the parent-child relationship, and was hypothesized in this study that mother-child relationships would be of poorer quality in families with a history of intimate partner violence (IPV) as compared to families without, particularly in the context of needed maternal authority. The sample consisted of 104 mother-child dyads with children ages two to eight years old. Dyads participated in three tasks that varied in amounts of necessary maternal authority, and were assessed with the Brief Emotional Availability Screener – Trianalog. Results showed no effect of IPV on the mother-child relationship under low maternal authority conditions. However, a trend that approached significance showed decreased relationship quality during the high maternal authority condition among dyads with IPV history. The findings are discussed with respect to future research and clinical implications are addressed.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Psychology (Counseling Psychology)
- Creator:
- Small, Michael Allen
- Description:
- In recent years, parental involvement has become the focus of attention for many researchers interested in investigating factors that influence academic achievement. While there are many possible reasons for this continued interest, it is important to continuously re-evaluate the factors that influence academic progress as a means of reducing social inequality and narrowing the gap between rich and poor. In addition, family structure and the factors that inhibit or enhance parental involvement are undergoing constant change. The purpose of this study is to replicate an earlier study, Effects of Parental Involvement and Family Structure on the Academic Achievement of Adolescents (Jeynes, 2005), that found that many types of parental involvement are positively correlated with the child’s academic achievement. Sources of Data In addition to a substantial review of the current literature on the subject of parental involvement, family structure, and academic achievement, the main sources of data used in the development and production of this thesis are the National Education Longitudinal Study 1988-2000, and the Education Longitudinal Study 2002-2004. Conclusions Reached The results of this study are consistent with the findings in the original study and lend credence to the ideas that intact family structure and certain types of parental involvement have positive effects on academic achievement. Moreover, the consistency in scores may indicate that living with both biological parents — even in cases where divorce is the eventual outcome — is associated with higher test scores in comparison to situations where the parents are never married. Regarding specific elements of parental involvement, parents checking-up on their students’ academic activities is associated with statistically significant, negative effects. On the other hand, parents who discuss school classes, activities, and things studied, and parents who attend school related events and activities are associated with statistically significant, positive effects on academic achievement. The largest positive effect on academic achievement is associated with socioeconomic status (SES).
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Sociology