Theses and Dissertations
This collection includes both ASU Theses and Dissertations, submitted by graduate students, and the Barrett, Honors College theses submitted by undergraduate students.
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- Creators: Division of Teacher Preparation
Description
"Maybe it's hatred I spew, Maybe it's food for the spirit." "I was not born under a rhyming planet." One of the above quotes is by the famous poet William Shakespeare and the other is by famous rap artist, Eminem. In modern society, many students view the works of artists like Eminem to be understandable and even relatable, while the works of classic poets like Shakespeare are a foreign language. However, when the lines are isolated from their entirety, it is very hard to determine the author of each. This Creative Project focuses on how we can use the works of modern lyricists to help teach the works of traditional literature. Not all students are fond of poetry and many of them view literary analysis as a tedious activity. However, almost everyone enjoys listening to music. This Creative Project shows how listening and interpreting modern song lyrics can be used as a tool to teach literary analysis. One of the main reasons students have difficulty with literary analysis is that they have trouble relating to the wording and style of the literature. By analyzing works more familiar to them (i.e. Kendrick Lamar, The Beatles, or Bob Dylan) the skills will be more easily transferable to analyzing traditional literature. The idea that songwriters can be comparable to famous poets has been picking up traction in recent years. In fact, in 2016, Bob Dylan, American singer and songwriter, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature breaking a trend of novels being awarded. This project's goal is to create a class unit for high school English students that teaches analytical skills for contemporary texts (i.e. modern song lyrics). In addition, a unit was created that used the analysis of contemporary lyrics in a middle school Social Studies course. This differentiation shows that development of literary analysis skills are applicable to subjects other than English Literature.
ContributorsCramer, Philip (Co-author) / Weinstein, Julian (Co-author) / Bjork, Robert (Thesis director) / Green, Randell (Committee member) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor) / Division of Teacher Preparation (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
Early adolescence is a pivotal stage of social and emotional development. Socialization traditionally occurs in person, but social interactions via technology (e.g., social media, video games) have grown in popularity. However, little research has been conducted on how early adolescents interact with technology and how these interactions relate to their socialization as well as other factors such as reading habits or academic achievement. Seventh and eighth grade students (n = 719) completed a survey that captured information about their technology use, their academic habits and performance, and extracurricular involvement. It was hypothesized that those involved in more extracurricular activities would use the internet more socially and that internet use would be negatively correlated to both academic performance and recreational reading. Responses indicated that a majority of students have access to technology (e.g. internet, computers, television, gaming consoles, and tablets) in their homes. Social media use differed drastically between platforms. Analyses indicated a relation between amount of extracurricular activities on social television watching and social internet use, but not on social gaming. A significant negative correlation was found between recreational reading and time spent socializing online, but there was no significant effect of these factors on academic performance. Thus, hypotheses were partially supported by the relation between amount of extracurriculars and social internet use and the negative correlation between time spent socializing online and recreational reading.
ContributorsHorner, Kate Elizabeth (Author) / McNamara, Danielle (Thesis director) / McCarthy, Kathryn (Committee member) / Davis, Mary (Committee member) / Division of Teacher Preparation (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
Description
In previous research, Luthar and Barkin (2012) found that across three different samples collected from three high-achieving schools, adolescents reported elevated rates of maladjustment behaviors, which include substance use, and internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Additionally, past research has also indicated that these maladjustment behaviors are related to parent relationships. A group of high-achieving adolescents that research has not yet focused on are those attending boarding schools, who may have higher-quality relationships with parents due to less daily strife. This study aimed to examine high-achieving adolescents across five samples from five high schools, two of which were boarding schools. This study hypothesized that the high-achieving adolescents attending both boarding schools would report lower rates of substance use, internalizing and externalizing symptoms, and lower rates of perceived parent criticism and expectations in comparison to those attending the day schools. Substance use, internalizing and externalizing symptoms, and parent relationships were measured using self-report measures that were completed by students attending these schools. Results showed that both boarding schools reported elevated rates of substance use in comparison to the three day schools and these rates measured above national norms. At the same time, both boarding schools reported lower rates of internalizing and externalizing symptoms when compared to rates reported by the day school students. This study also found that there were differences among parent relationship measures, such as criticism and expectations, among all school samples. Results of this study also showed that aspects of parent relationship, such as parent knowledge, were associated with rates of substance use among all school samples. In summary, boarding school students showed elevated substance use, similar parental relationship quality, and lower mental health symptoms compared to day school students. For all students, some aspects of the parental relationship were related to levels of substance use.
ContributorsTaracena, Emily Gabriella (Author) / Luthar, Suniya (Thesis director) / Infurna, Frank (Committee member) / Davis, Mary (Committee member) / Division of Teacher Preparation (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12