This dissertation describes the details of a study that explored what possible effects might occur in the area of oral language skills when kindergarten-age children from low socioeconomic backgrounds are exposed to sophisticated vocabulary and are engaged actively through dramatization and movement with a school's existing literacy curriculum. A…

College students who are unprepared for financial decision making may make risky decisions such as compulsive spending and debt accumulation. Financial stress impacts both academic achievement and retention. The current literature addresses the deficiency college students have when making financially responsible decisions, but little is mentioned…

Recalling and reframing a personal life story in the form of a fairy tale, then engaging in a practice on meditation and reflecting on it, is one way older adults can relieve their positive experience and thereby impact their mental and emotional health and well-being. Although prior research has established the benefits of narrative therapy (NT)…

This research study compared the effects of the intrusive form of developmental academic advising (IDAA) and the influence of additional academic support services on the mean cumulative Grade Point Averages (GPAs) of 4 randomly assembled groups of academically at-risk college students during 2 separate semesters. Academically at-risk students are…

This study examined the relationships between a social-emotional learning program and the 5 dimensions of emotional intelligence and whether the relationships were moderated by gender. The problem addressed in the study was the lack of research focused on the development of emotional intelligence at the middle school level. The participants…

This quasi-experimental study was designed to research the effects of student attitudes and achievement levels when introduced to learning-style based interventions through the use of homework prescriptions. Success of these interventions was measured through the comparison of test scores for students who received instruction through…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the specific effects of targeted English Language Arts (ELA) instruction using multimedia applications. Student reading comprehension, student attitude toward computers, and student attitude toward school were measured in this study. The study also examined the perceptions, of selected students, of the…

Despite No Child Left Behind mandates, the math achievement gap is still prevalent in schools in the United States, and efforts to address this problem have demonstrated little documented progress. The purpose of this study was to evaluate an intervention strategy used to address the math achievement gap. In this study, social capital theory,…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of a computer-based multimedia software program on the oral reading fluency of at risk second-grade learners. The study determined if a cause-effect relationship existed between one factor, "the independent variable" and a second factor, the dependent variable. A Two-way…

We present an evaluation of the Writing Pal (W-Pal) intelligent tutoring system (ITS) and the W-Pal automated writing evaluation (AWE) system through the use of computational indices related to text cohesion. Sixty-four students participated in this study. Each student was assigned to either the W-Pal ITS condition or the W-Pal AWE condition. The…

Research has suggested many children with learning disabilities (LD) have deficits in working memory (WM) that hinder their academic achievement. Cogmed RM, a computerized intervention, uses adaptive training over 25 sessions and has shown efficacy in improving WM in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and a variety of…

This quasi-experimental study examined the effect of a phonological awareness professional development program on teachers' phonological awareness knowledge, the impact phonological awareness knowledge had on the frequency and complexity of phonological awareness instruction, and the impact the instruction had on students' phonological awareness.…

This research used an evidenced-based experimental 2 x 2 factorial design General Linear Model with Repeated Measures Analysis of Covariance (RMANCOVA). For this analysis, time served as the within-subjects factor while treatment group (i.e., static and signaling, dynamic and signaling, static without signaling, and dynamic without signaling)…

Following the belief that diversity breeds innovation in scientific endeavors, there is a national push for more diversity in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce in order to maintain national economic competitiveness. Currently, STEM-related employment is only 28% non-White; however, greater efforts to recruit…

Background: The audience response system (ARS) allows students to respond and interact anonymously with teachers via small handheld wireless keypads. Despite increasing popularity in classroom settings, the application of these devices to health education programming has not been studied. We assessed feasibility, engagement, and learning among…