Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Educational activity'

The purpose of this study was to explore if there was a connection between regular aerobic physical activity and the stress and energy levels of principals as they reported it. To begin the research, the current aerobic physical activity level of principals was discovered. Additionally, the energy and stress levels of the principals who do engage in aerobic physical activity on a regular basis, as well as those who do not, were determined.

The conceptual framework for this study was based on the high-performance pyramid theory by Loehr and Schwarz (2001). They theorize that emotional health, mental acuity, and spirituality or a sense of purpose, are supported by physical well being, which is the foundation of the pyramid. When all of the levels are working in harmony, an individual is at his or her ideal performance state.

This study used an Internet survey administered through Survey Monkey via e-mail by the Center for Educational Improvement (CEI), distributed to a national sample of their members, with a response rate of 26%. The data were analyzed using frequencies and percentages, as well as chi square and t tests. Percentages of responses were displayed to describe the data for particular questions that used a rating scale. Findings revealed the majority of principals (65.7%, n=73) do not engage in the recommended amount of aerobic physical activity and that most principals (56.7%, n=63) engage in aerobic physical activity two days or less per week.

This study found the number of principals that engage in the recommended amount of aerobic physical activity and the energy and stress levels of principals that do and do not engage in regular aerobic physical activity. Now that we know the approximate amount of principals who engage in the recommended amount of aerobic physical activity, additional research in this area can be completed. This study indicates there is a need to further research the topic to find if principal leadership is or is not impacted by the amount of aerobic physical activity completed by the school principal.

The emergence of the Internet and the World Wide Web in particular, impact increasingly on the activities of commerce and industry and in the process also change the manner in which courses are delivered in higher education. The aim of this study ws to investigate the relationship between certain antecedent factors and the adoption of a specific technology called WebCT among lecturers within a business faculty at a higher education institution.

The principal is ultimately responsible for decisions regarding the master schedule at the elementary level of education (Canady & Rettig, 2013; Young, 2008), and these scheduling decisions are influenced by multiple factors (Benamati, 2010; Harris, 2013; Howard & Rakoz, 2009). Although principals have become increasingly aware of the need to use data to make informed decisions (Holcomb, 2012; Marzano, Waters, & McNulty, 2005; O’Neal, 2012), data pertaining to the relationship between scheduled opportunities for students to participate in physical activity and academic achievement is limited. The purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding of principals’ scheduling decisions regarding how much time is designated for daily physical activity for third grade students in Virginia and the relationship between these decisions and academic performance.

A survey of public school principals was used to collect information regarding scheduling decisions, as well as the role of accountability, wellness legislation, and other factors that may possibly influence decisions. This survey collected scheduling information regarding the opportunity for students to participate in physical activity as part of the scheduled curriculum. These data were compared to each school’s academic achievement, which was measured by students’ performance on Virginia’s Standards of Learning (SOL) exams in third grade reading as reported by school leaders.

Based on the results of this study, school leaders identified multiple factors influencing their scheduling decisions pertaining to opportunities for students to participate in physical activity. These factors of influence were coded into six categories: accountability demands of the SOLs, student health, autonomy limitations, time limitations, resource limitations, and liability risks. School leaders reported accountability demands of the SOLs as having the greatest influence on their scheduling decisions.

Based on the data reported by school leaders, there is a significant positive correlation between the daily duration of scheduled physical activity and the academic performance of the school on the Grade Three Reading SOLs. Adjusting for socioeconomic status using the percentage of students receiving free or reduced priced meals, the scheduled duration of physical activity was a better predictor than the duration of reading instruction in predicting academic performance.

Behavior management is becoming overwhelming in today's educational system. Many teachers are struggling to keep their students engaged in their classrooms. The goal of this study was to show educators that incorporating vigorous exercise on a daily basis for a short amount of time (fifteen minutes) has the potential to reduce common off-task behaviors, such as students laying heads down, talking off-task, and being out of their seat. Quantitative data was collected by comparing before and after number of off-task behaviors for each week of the study. Qualitative data was collected through a survey that the students completed. During my study, I found my students' off-task behaviors did not decrease significantly with the implementation of vigorous physical activity. The quantitative data actually showed an increase in the total number of off-task behaviors. Qualitative data resulted in students rating their behavior as improved after implementation of physical exercise. Further research in this area is needed because off-task behavior in a classroom reduces time spent with instruction and learning. Educators today need to discover new techniques that will engage students throughout the school day. Enabling students to work towards being a more focused learner will only improve their overall school experience.

The purpose of the study was to compare 2D and 3D visual presentation styles, both still frame and animation, on subjects' brain activity measured by the amplitude of EEG alpha wave and on their recall to see if alpha power and recall differ significantly by depth and movement of visual presentation style and by spatial intelligence. In addition, the study sought to determine whether there is any significant interaction between spatial intelligence and visual presentation style on alpha power and recall, and to determine whether any relationship exists between alpha power and recall.

The subjects in the present study were one hundred and twenty three undergraduate students at a university in the Midwest. After taking Vandenberg & Kuse's Mental Rotations Test, subjects were divided into low and high spatial intelligence groups, and subjects in each spatial intelligence group were evenly assigned to four different types of visual presentation style (2D still frame, 2D animation, 3D still frame, and 3D animation), receiving an instruction on LASIK eye surgical procedure in its respective visual presentation style. During the one-minute visual instruction, subjects' brain activity was measured and recorded using a wireless EEG headset. Upon completion of the instruction, subjects were given a 10-item multiple-choice test to measure their recall of the material presented during the instruction.

Two 2 (spatial intelligence) x 2 (depth) x 2 (movement) factorial Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were conducted, one with alpha power as a dependent variable and the other with recall as a dependent variable, to determine whether there is a significant difference in alpha power and recall by spatial intelligence and visual presentation style, as well as whether there is an interaction between these variables that affects alpha power and recall. The Pearson Correlation Coefficient was calculated to examine relationship between alpha power and recall.

The present study found (a) EEG alpha power did not differ by the difference in depth and movement, (b) 2D and animation were found to be more effective on recall, (c) alpha power did not differ by spatial intelligence, (d) recall did not differ by spatial intelligence, (e) there was a significant interaction between spatial intelligence and movement that affected alpha power; still frame resulted in higher alpha power for low spatial learners, and animation resulted in higher alpha power for high spatial learners, (f) there was a significant interaction between spatial intelligence, depth and movement on recall; for low spatial learners, 2D animation resulted in significantly higher recall than both 2D still frame and 3D animation, and for high spatial learners, 3D animation resulted in significantly higher recall than 3D still frame, and both 2D still frame and 2D animation resulted in close to significantly higher recall than 3D still frame, and (g) there was a mildly inverse relationship between alpha power and recall, brought on by a strong inverse relationship in 2D still frame revealing a 'higher alpha power-lower recall connection' for low spatial learners and a 'lower alpha power-higher recall connection' for high spatial learners.

Within the field of K–12 education, collaborative partnerships between research institutions, state and local school systems, and intermediary actors are becoming more prevalent, especially in some of the largest urban school districts in the United States. Despite their growth, very little is understood about the internal working dynamics of these partnerships and the discursive processes explaining how these institutions, with very different cultures, histories and missions are coming together to bridge professional knowledge. The purpose of this study was to understand the similarities and differences between the researchers, developers, and practitioners in one such partnership, The National Center on Scaling Up Effective Schools (NCSU). Drawing from key documents, six months of design team meetings, field notes, participant feedback and reflection forms, debrief meeting notes, progress reports, meeting agendas and notes, and participant cognitive interviews, I used Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) and positioning theory to understand the partners’ interacting ‘activity systems’ and how they positioned themselves and one another in the evolving context of the NCSU’s design work as they worked as a District Innovation Design Team (DIDT). This also helped me understand the contradictions that led to the tensions that unraveled within the partnership. Positioning provided key insight about the cultural and historical contexts of the partners. It also informed how the partners gradually evolved into community, despite the variety of boundary spanning strategies used somewhat prematurely by the developers in an effort to accelerate their formation into a collective identity. Evidence suggests that once the design team engaged in school and district-level data collection and analysis to inform the similarities of their school contexts, they were able to see themselves as a collective. During design team meetings the researchers and developers functioned successfully as boundary spanners. However, outside of the meetings they tended to struggle much more to find a ‘lingua franca.’ This relates to the first tension that emerged within the partnership over time – attaining the object with adequate expertise. Each partner had a specific area of expertise that served as a critical tool in the design of the prototype. The real expertise however, was in how different individuals positioned themselves to access this valuable expertise. All three of the partner institutions held fast to their original role designations, assumptions and expectations about the obligations of themselves and one another, which was in conflict with the fluid nature of the design work in which they were engaged that necessitated an openness to evolving roles. The second tension that emerged was attaining the object with adequate resources, including: time, human resources, and district support. The concepts of boundary spanning and boundary objects were central to understanding my findings related to how the different partners crossed institutional and hierarchical lines. The long-term nature of many partnerships in education provides the opportunity for participants from diverse institutional backgrounds to establish a shared knowledge base and range of shared experiences to draw from; thus “leveling the playing field” of expertise over time. As a result, this encourages a more egalitarian mindset, and decreases the potential for an imbalance of power. This expertise became a vital cultural tool for the new community of the School Innovation Design Teams (SIDTs) to draw from as they then took the prototype design and used it as their key tool and rule for development and refinement. How the partners positioned themselves, given their institutional role served as either a tool for boundary crossing or hindered it with ‘boundary blocking.’ Intermediaries bring a new dimension to partnerships for education researchers to explore in the context of school improvement. This dissertation is one of the first of its kind to look at intermediaries in this way and provides timely insight into how education partnerships function when harnessing the expertise of these less understood organizations.