Browsing by Subject "Elementary School"
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Item The Effect of HIIT Physical Activity Paths on Disruptive Behaviors of Elementary Aged Students(2020-05-10) Melefsky (Sowers), Ashley; Masters of EducationThe purpose of this study was to examine the effect of high intensity interval training (HIIT) workout paths on the frequency of disruptive behaviors with elementary-level students. This study was a quasi-experimental, pre/post-test design that included fourteen third graders in a general educational classroom setting. The participants ranged from ages eight to nine. The null hypothesis stated that there would be no difference between the weekly average numbers of disruptive behaviors when using HIIT physical activity paths or not using HIIT based on a comparison of pre-test/post-test data. The HIIT physical activity paths included five different workouts for children to complete at least three times daily before content instruction. The instrument to track data utilized a weekly tracking sheet to record all identified behavior frequencies. The disruptive behaviors were collected through observation during the pre-test and identified as “hands on others, calling out, talking to others, refusal to do work, hyperactivity, and yelling.” The null hypothesis was rejected as four of the six behaviors exhibited a downward trend when comparing the pre-data to the final Week 6 data collected during the study. Physical activity can be associated with a decline in disruptive behaviors for Grade 3 classrooms similar to the study group.Item The Effect of Mentoring Relationships on Negative Office Referrals(2019-07-09) Jones, Erika; Bowman, Christina; Brager, Gary; Masters of EducationThe purpose of this study was to determine is mentoring relationships, specifically the implementation of the Check In Check Out program, would decrease negative behavior in students. The measurement tool used in this study was the county recorded office referrals, tracked over the course of three quarters of the school year. The study used a quasi-experimental design where 12 students were chosen based on their office referrals in Quarter 1 to participate in the mentoring program. Although further study of the Check In Check Out program is necessary, this study showed that it did have a strong impact on decreasing the number of office referrals the participating students earned in the two quarters of implementation.Item Elementary School Children's Math Utility Conceptions: Associations with Parents' Conceptions, Math Achievement, and Home Math Engagement(2018-01-01) Metzger, Shari Renee; Sonnenschein, Susan; Psychology; PsychologyThis dissertations was made up of three studies, with the overall goal of examining first through fourth grade children's math utility conceptions—knowledge and beliefs about the usefulness of math—and how those conceptions relate to their parents' conceptions and children's math achievement. All three studies used the Math Utility Conceptions conceptual model, an expansion of multiple theoretical models, to investigate children's math utility conceptions. The first paper examined children's math utility conceptions and grade-level differences in math utility conceptions and home math engagement. Most children viewed math as heavily focused on low-level math operations and as learned and used primarily in school. Older children had more awareness of math in daily activities, but had a more school-based view than younger children. The second paper primarily investigated the associations between parents' and children's math utility conceptions and children's home math engagement. Parents' math utility conceptions positively predicted children's math utility conceptions; this relation was moderated by the frequency with which children engaged in math activities at home and how often children see their parents using math. Results suggest that children develop their knowledge and beliefs about math utility from their parents as well as through engagement in math-related activities. The third paper explored the relation between children's math utility conceptions and their math achievement. Overall math utility conceptions predicted math reasoning skills. Children's productive disposition significantly predicted their math achievement. The associations between math applicability, math utility, and math achievement were different for older and younger children. Results suggest that the relation between children's math utility conceptions is complex, but the extent to which elementary-age children view math as useful and worthwhile is associated with children's math achievement. Overall, these results may guide math curriculum development for elementary-aged children to more intentionally use real-world applications to teach math concepts and, in doing so, improve children's understanding of the importance of math in their daily lives. By increasing young children's knowledge of applications of math outside the school context and beliefs about the usefulness of math, parents and educators could help to increase children's math proficiency.Item Income-Based Disparities in Early Elementary School Science Achievement(The University of Chicago, 2017-10-30) Curran, F. ChrisThis study documents gaps in kindergarten and first-grade science achievement by family income and explores the degree to which such gaps can be accounted for by student race/ethnicity, out-of-school activities, parental education, and school fixed effects. In doing so, it expands on prior research that documents disparate rates of science achievement by income in upper elementary and high school. The study uses nationally representative data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study of 2011. Findings suggest a science achievement gap of approximately 1 standard deviation between students from families near the 90th percentile of income and those from families near the 10th percentile of income. Race/ethnicity, out-of-school activities, parental education, and school fixed effects explain approximately one third of this gap each. The results suggest the need to focus on both in-school and out-of-school factors as part of a concerted effort to improve equity in science education.