Matching Items (7)
Filtering by
- Genre: Doctoral Dissertation
Description
This dissertation uses constructivist pedagogy to teach acting via Practical Aesthetics, a system of actor training created in the mid/&ndash1980s; by David Mamet and his college acting students. Primarily taught at the Atlantic Theatre Acting School in New York City, Practical Aesthetics has been the focus of little academic research. The same lack of research regarding constructivist pedagogy exists in academic theatre scholarship. The author takes a step toward rectifying this situation. Using an action research methodology, based on approximately thirteen years of teaching experience, the author suggests that Practical Aesthetics and his accompanying voice and movement exercises can be effective in training novice actors. The author melds theory and practice into the educational approach called Praxis to create specific detailed lesson plans which can be used to implement Practical Aesthetics. These lessons constitute primary research on this topic. Compatible voice and movement exercises are also included to provide a comprehensive semester length digest. The first chapter is an introduction, the second outlines Practical Aesthetics, the third focuses on constructivism, the fourth discusses teaching acting using Constructivist Learning Design, the fifth provides narrative lessons that can be used in the classroom, and the closure provides a review as well as suggestions for further research. An intriguing point made in the closure is a call for studies that might determine Practical Aesthetics' applicability and usability in other fields such as law, business, politics, public speaking, and even non-profit work. Although the primary audience for this dissertation is secondary school and college acting instructors, any scholar studying acting theory or constructivist pedagogy may find value in its contents.
ContributorsDobosiewicz, Troy L. (Author) / Saldana, Johnny (Thesis advisor) / Etheridge Woodson, Stephani (Committee member) / Eckard, Bonnie (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
With the rapid growth of mobile computing and sensor technology, it is now possible to access data from a variety of sources. A big challenge lies in linking sensor based data with social and cognitive variables in humans in real world context. This dissertation explores the relationship between creativity in teamwork, and team members' movement and face-to-face interaction strength in the wild. Using sociometric badges (wearable sensors), electronic Experience Sampling Methods (ESM), the KEYS team creativity assessment instrument, and qualitative methods, three research studies were conducted in academic and industry R&D; labs. Sociometric badges captured movement of team members and face-to-face interaction between team members. KEYS scale was implemented using ESM for self-rated creativity and expert-coded creativity assessment. Activities (movement and face-to-face interaction) and creativity of one five member and two seven member teams were tracked for twenty five days, eleven days, and fifteen days respectively. Day wise values of movement and face-to-face interaction for participants were mean split categorized as creative and non-creative using self- rated creativity measure and expert-coded creativity measure. Paired-samples t-tests [t(36) = 3.132, p < 0.005; t(23) = 6.49 , p < 0.001] confirmed that average daily movement energy during creative days (M = 1.31, SD = 0.04; M = 1.37, SD = 0.07) was significantly greater than the average daily movement of non-creative days (M = 1.29, SD = 0.03; M = 1.24, SD = 0.09). The eta squared statistic (0.21; 0.36) indicated a large effect size. A paired-samples t-test also confirmed that face-to-face interaction tie strength of team members during creative days (M = 2.69, SD = 4.01) is significantly greater [t(41) = 2.36, p < 0.01] than the average face-to-face interaction tie strength of team members for non-creative days (M = 0.9, SD = 2.1). The eta squared statistic (0.11) indicated a large effect size. The combined approach of principal component analysis (PCA) and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) conducted on movement and face-to-face interaction data predicted creativity with 87.5% and 91% accuracy respectively. This work advances creativity research and provides a foundation for sensor based real-time creativity support tools for teams.
ContributorsTripathi, Priyamvada (Author) / Burleson, Winslow (Thesis advisor) / Liu, Huan (Committee member) / VanLehn, Kurt (Committee member) / Pentland, Alex (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
The purpose of this dissertation was to document the teaching practices and underlying intentions of teachers in a Waldorf early childhood program in relationship to integrative movement and its connections to learning for the kindergarten through grade three learner. Current concerns about unhealthy sedentary lifestyles and the decreasing emphasis on physical activity/movement in public schools are growing. This dissertation explores current educational research related to the effects of movement on cognitive processing and the potential effects of movement on learning, particularly in a Waldorf-based early childhood program in which movement is integrated into all aspects of learning (including all academic subjects). This dissertation includes a literature review of current research and theory, and a qualitative micro-ethnographic case study of a Waldorf-based early childhood program that involved teacher observations and interviews. Key findings: the Waldorf-based early childhood program provided practical methods for (1) encouraging various modes of free play intended to enhance a child's physical, social/emotional and academic development, (2) integrating teacher-led movements into the daily curriculum, (3) utilizing movement to aid cognitive processing and prepare students for more sedentary academic work, (4) integrating remedial work into the daily classroom curriculum, and (5) utilizing intentional movement to help a child learn to embody stillness as a means of focusing attention and energy. Movements integrated into the curriculum by the teachers created observable positive effects on the students: eagerness to participate, recall, extending focus and attention, and creating social awareness and cooperation. Conclusions: (1) Waldorf-based education programs may provide practical examples and theoretical perspectives relevant to the creation of an integrated and comprehensive movement-based curriculum for the early childhood learner, and (2) The Waldorf teachers studied provide a counter-position to early childhood teaching practices that utilize movement as a break from sedentary learning. This study revealed the effects of imposing or integrating stillness into a movement-rich curriculum. Future recommendations include more comprehensive research on Waldorf-based educational programs and educational research that reaches beyond movement's potential positive or negative effect on a student's academic progress to study in more depth how and why movement impacts learning for the young child.
ContributorsDarian, Andrew (Author) / Surbeck, Elaine (Thesis advisor) / Swadener, Elizabeth (Committee member) / Christie, James (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Research in fulfillment of the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts in performance has included CD recording projects, commissions of new pieces, as well as papers on existing pieces that push the performer beyond traditional playing by incorporating extended techniques, multimedia, technology, or movement. This study attempts to synthesize these ideas by commissioning a new work for clarinet and electronics that can be performed alone, combined with movement, or with an interactive video accompaniment. Primary work for this project has been the audio recording, music video, and live dance performance of the new work, entitled Agents of Espionage, which can be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAZ20kCb0Qg or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94- C7wWTeKs&context;=C4063fdcADvjVQa1PpcFPv1fBtuWcqgV638q_BRacH7 XWR-xy1B7A=. The entirety of the project, including creating the music, video, audio recordings, and dance was completed on a limited budget of under $500USD, using all student performers and creators. The accompanying written document outlines the various steps for completing each portion of the project, interviews with the artists involved, including Zachary Bramble, composer; Jason Mills, videographer; and Jacquelyn Achord, choreographer; and an analysis of the music from the performer's perspective. This paper should convey ideas about how future undertakings of this sort are possible. This work has been greatly inspired by Martin Fröst and his collaboration with Fredrik Hogberg on the piece The Invisible Duet.
ContributorsViliunas, Brian Bodo (Author) / Spring, Robert (Thesis advisor) / Hill, Gary (Committee member) / Marshall, Kimberly (Committee member) / Schuring, Martin (Committee member) / Rogers, Rodney (Committee member) / Gardner, Joshua (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Anthropological attention to landscapes has revealed them to be more than where people subsist: landscapes are inherently social entities. People create landscapes in their interactions with the environment and each other. People conceptualize, or imbue the landscape with meaning such that given places serve to impart cultural knowledge, identity, and social order. The link between people and their landscape thus underscores the importance of a landscape focus in the attempt to understand people. Furthermore, as a product of cultural behavior, the landscape constitutes a form of material culture that may be marked in ways that are consistent with how it is conceptualized. The material dimension of people's relationship with their landscape renders it a fruitful focus of archaeological inquiry. The main goal of this study is to identify how the Wixárika of Jalisco, Mexico, conceptualize the landscape, and to assess its relevance to understanding the ancient past. As adherents of a Mesoamerican tradition, the Wixárika offer a distinctive perspective on the landscape, and one with potential to elucidate the ancient past.
Given that a major share of a society's culturally significant cognitive features is expressed most productively by means of language, in this study I rely on aspects of language to ascertain Wixárika landscape conceptualization and materialization. Through the linguistic analysis of placenames and place-talk, I determine the meanings with which the Wixárika landscape is imbued. Through the analysis of the utterance of placenames, I provide examples of how the landscape is instilled with meaning. Utilizing native terminology, I characterize the content of the Wixárika landscape, and describe the process, in terms of movements, whereby the landscape is actualized.
Results indicate that the Wixárika conceptualize their landscape in diverse ways, including as a dwelling, a repository of memories, and a source of identity. The process and manifestation of Wixárika landscape conceptualization yield insights pertinent to understanding ancient landscapes, especially with regard to content and scope. This study is significant in that it represents the landscape from an indigenous perspective. It also sheds light on the construction of a living landscape, and thus is a useful framework for contemplating the past.
Given that a major share of a society's culturally significant cognitive features is expressed most productively by means of language, in this study I rely on aspects of language to ascertain Wixárika landscape conceptualization and materialization. Through the linguistic analysis of placenames and place-talk, I determine the meanings with which the Wixárika landscape is imbued. Through the analysis of the utterance of placenames, I provide examples of how the landscape is instilled with meaning. Utilizing native terminology, I characterize the content of the Wixárika landscape, and describe the process, in terms of movements, whereby the landscape is actualized.
Results indicate that the Wixárika conceptualize their landscape in diverse ways, including as a dwelling, a repository of memories, and a source of identity. The process and manifestation of Wixárika landscape conceptualization yield insights pertinent to understanding ancient landscapes, especially with regard to content and scope. This study is significant in that it represents the landscape from an indigenous perspective. It also sheds light on the construction of a living landscape, and thus is a useful framework for contemplating the past.
ContributorsKantor, Loni (Author) / Nelson, Ben (Thesis advisor) / Hegmon, Michelle (Committee member) / Isaac, Gwyneira (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
This dissertation examines songs, sticks, and stories pertaining to Tohono O'odham pilgrimages to Magdalena, Sonora, Mexico, the home of their patron saint, Saint Francis. In the sense that Tohono O'odham travel to Magdalena in order to sustain their vital and long-standing relationship with their saint, these journeys may be understood as a Christian pilgrimages. However, insofar as one understands this indigenous practice as a Christian pilgrimage, it must also be noted that Tohono O'odham have made Christianity their own. The findings show that Tohono O'odham have embedded, or emplaced, Christianity within their ancestral landscapes, and that they have done so in a variety of ways through songs, staffs, and stories. This work emphasizes connections between O'odham processes of producing places and persons. Songs associated with the journey to Magdalena, which contain both geographical and historical knowledge, foreground the significance of place and the movements of various persons at the places mentioned within them. The staffs of O'odham walkers, like other sticks, similarly contain both geographical and historical knowledge, evoking memories of past journeys in the present and the presence of Magdalena. Staffs are also spoken of and treated as persons, or at least as an extension of O'odham walkers. O'odham stories of good and bad walkers illustrate contested O'odham ideologies of socially sanctioned movements. Finally, this dissertation concludes by demonstrating some of the ways in which O'odham senses of their own history diverge from academic models of Tohono O'odham history and the history of Christianity in the Americas.
ContributorsSchermerhorn, Seth (Author) / Swanson, Tod D (Thesis advisor) / Brown, Eddie F. (Committee member) / Feldhaus, Anne (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Stroke is a debilitating disorder and 75% of individuals with stroke (iwS) have upper extremity deficits. IwS are prescribed therapies to enhance upper-extremity mobility, but current most effective therapies have minimum requirements that the individuals with severe impairment do not meet. Thus, there is a need to enhance the therapies. Recent studies have shown that StartReact -the involuntary release of a planned movement, triggered by a startling stimulus (e.g., loud sound)- elicits faster and larger muscle activation in iwS compared to voluntary-initiated movement. However, StartReact has been only cursorily studied to date and there are some gaps in the StartReact knowledge. Previous studies have only evaluated StartReact on single-jointed movements in iwS, ignoring more functional tasks. IwS usually have abnormal flexor activity during extension tasks and abnormal muscle synergy especially during multi-jointed tasks; therefore, it is unknown 1) if more complex multi-jointed reach movements are susceptible to StartReact, and 2) if StartReact multi-jointed movements will be enhanced in the same way as single-jointed movements in iwS. In addition, previous studies showed that individuals with severe stroke, especially those with higher spasticity, experienced higher abnormal flexor muscle activation during StartReact trials. However, there is no study evaluating the impact of this elevated abnormal flexor activity on movement, muscle activation and muscle synergy alterations during voluntary-initiated movements after exposure to StartReact.
This dissertation evaluates StartReact and the voluntary trials before and after exposure to StartReact during a point-to-point multi-jointed reach task to three different targets covering a large workspace. The results show that multi-jointed reach tasks are susceptible to StartReact in iwS and the distance, muscle and movement onset speed, and muscle activations percentages and amplitude increase during StartReact trials. In addition, the distance, accuracy, muscle and movement onsets speeds, and muscle synergy similarity indices to the norm synergies increase during the voluntary-initiated trials after exposure to StartReact. Overall, this dissertation shows that exposure to StartReact did not impair voluntary-initiated movement and muscle synergy, but even improved them. Therefore, this study suggests that StartReact is safe for more investigations in training studies and therapy.
This dissertation evaluates StartReact and the voluntary trials before and after exposure to StartReact during a point-to-point multi-jointed reach task to three different targets covering a large workspace. The results show that multi-jointed reach tasks are susceptible to StartReact in iwS and the distance, muscle and movement onset speed, and muscle activations percentages and amplitude increase during StartReact trials. In addition, the distance, accuracy, muscle and movement onsets speeds, and muscle synergy similarity indices to the norm synergies increase during the voluntary-initiated trials after exposure to StartReact. Overall, this dissertation shows that exposure to StartReact did not impair voluntary-initiated movement and muscle synergy, but even improved them. Therefore, this study suggests that StartReact is safe for more investigations in training studies and therapy.
ContributorsRahimiTouranposhti, Marziye (Author) / Honeycutt, Claire F. (Thesis advisor) / Roh, Jinsook (Committee member) / Berman, Spring (Committee member) / Lee, Hyunglae (Committee member) / Marvi, Hamid (Committee member) / Schaefer, Sydney (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020