Matching Items (13)
Description
This dissertation describes the development of a state-of-the-art immersive media environment and its potential to motivate high school youth with autism to vocally express themselves. Due to the limited availability of media environments in public education settings, studies on the use of such systems in special education contexts are rare. A study called Sea of Signs utilized the Situated Multimodal Art Learning Lab (SMALLab), to present a custom-designed conversational scenario for pairs of youth with autism. Heuristics for building the scenario were developed following a 4-year design-based research approach that fosters social interaction, communication, and self-expression through embodied design. Sea of Signs implemented these heuristics through an immersive experience, supported by spatial and audio-visual feedback that helped clarify and reinforce students' vocal expressions within a partner-based conversational framework. A multiple-baseline design across participants was used to determine the extent to which individuals exhibited observable change as a result of the activity in SMALLab. Teacher interviews were conducted prior to the experimental phase to identify each student's pattern of social interaction, communication, and problem-solving strategies in the classroom. Ethnographic methods and video coding were used throughout the experimental phase to assess whether there were changes in (a) speech duration per session and per turn, (b) turn-taking patterns, and (c) teacher prompting per session. In addition, teacher interviews were conducted daily after every SMALLab session to further triangulate the nature of behaviors observed in each session. Final teacher interviews were conducted after the experimental phase to collect data on possible transfer of behavioral improvements into students' classroom lives beyond SMALLab. Results from this study suggest that the activity successfully increased independently generated speech in some students, while increasing a focus on seeking out social partners in others. Furthermore, the activity indicated a number of future directions in research on the nature of voice and discourse, rooted in the use of aesthetics and phenomenology, to augment, extend, and encourage developments in directed communication skills for youth with autism.
ContributorsTolentino, Lisa (Author) / Paine, Garth (Thesis advisor) / Kozleski, Elizabeth B. (Thesis advisor) / Kelliher, Aisling (Committee member) / Megowan-Romanowicz, Colleen (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is experienced in a variety of ways within families particularly among siblings with and without ASD. The effects of ASD on sibling relationships are integral to family life. While some studies have examined sibling relationships, research regarding sibling roles exhibited during play activities and social interactions is lacking. Further, siblings' voices are rarely revealed in research on play. In response to a need for greater understanding of the role of play among siblings impacted by ASD, this dissertation used a cultural historical activity theory lens to understand how play and social interactions evolved among siblings since childhood development is informed by access to and participation in play. Siblings may be considered actors with unique cultural histories as they create and re-create their own identities through play. In this study, an emphasis was placed on the complex processes siblings experience while locating their own niche with their families. The study focused on the use of a variety of tools, division of labor, the rules families utilized to interact and how these rules were disturbed. As a result, the study offers a more complete understanding of how play and social interactions affect the ways ASD impact siblings, families, and community members. This study provides holistic views of the development and impact of sibling play on identity development and relationships.
ContributorsPapacek, Amy M (Author) / Kozleski, Elizabeth B. (Thesis advisor) / Tobin, Joseph (Committee member) / Swadener, Beth B (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Teacher learning is a complex and important idea, given the proposed centralized role these individuals have in eradicating the inequitable school outcomes for students of color. It is necessary that researchers document the complex trajectory of learning that occurs as teachers engage in critical reflection on their practice. In the current study, white, female teachers examined the ways their own beliefs, assumptions, and values impacted classroom interactions with students of color, as well as the ways power, privilege, and whiteness manifested in the classroom. Utilizing Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) as a framework for understanding teacher learning as product and process, as well as whiteness and feminist theories as interrogative tools, the complex and iterative learning trajectories of two elementary school teachers are described in detail. The participating teachers engaged in critical reflection in the context of collaborative interviews, in which they reflected upon excerpts from classroom videos using the lenses of whiteness, power, and privilege in order to consider their own and others' teaching related to deeply held beliefs, assumptions, and values.
ContributorsMruczek, Cynthia (Author) / Swadener, Beth B. (Thesis advisor) / Kozleski, Elizabeth B. (Thesis advisor) / Scott, Kimberly A. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
The immigration process changes personal narratives and professional trajectories and challenges identities and individual beliefs. Yet there is currently limited research on European women immigrants' transitions in the United States. This study examines personal and professional trajectories, in the United States, of Eastern European immigrant (EEI) women with prior educational attainment in their country of origin. This study examines the following issues: personal/social learning, developmental and professional experiences prior to and post migration, and social lives after the women's arrival in the United States. The study discusses the results of in-depth interviews with eight EEI women living in Arizona and California and recounts these women's life stories, gathered through open-ended questions that focused on areas of their personal and professional lives, such as childhood, marriage, immigration, education, family relations, socio-economic status, employment, child- rearing, and other significant life events. These areas impacted the women's creation of personal beliefs and their ability to develop new identities in the United States. The study examines EEI women's identity constructions within their life trajectory narratives.
ContributorsEllis, Kateryna A (Author) / Arzubiaga, Angela (Thesis advisor) / Nakagawa, Kathryn (Committee member) / Kozleski, Elizabeth B. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
One of the critical imperatives for the development of inclusive school systems is the capacity to nurture and develop teachers who have the skills, critical sensibilities, and the contextual awareness to provide quality educational access, participation, and outcomes for all students; however, research on teacher learning for inclusive education has not yet generated a robust body of knowledge to understand how teachers become inclusive teachers in institutions where exclusion is historical and ubiquitous. Drawing from socio-cultural theory, this study aimed to fill this gap through an examination of teacher learning for inclusive education in an urban professional learning school. In particular, I aimed to answer the following two questions: (a) What social discourses are present in a professional learning school for inclusive education?, and (b) How do teachers appropriate these social discourses in situated practice? I used analytical tools from Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Grounded Theory to analyze entry and exit interviews with teacher residents, principals, site professors, and video-stimulated interviews with teacher residents, observations of classroom practices and thesis seminars, and school documents. I found two social discourses that I called discourses of professionalism, as they offered teachers a particular combination of tools, aiming to universalize certain tools for doing and thinking that signaled what it meant to be a professional teacher in the participating schools. These were the Total Quality Management like discourse (TQM-like) and the Inclusive Education-like discourse. The former was dominant in the schools, whereas the latter was dominant in the university Master's program. These discourses overlapped in teachers' classrooms practices, creating tensions. To understand how these tensions were resolved, this study introduced the concept of curating, a kind of heuristic development that pertains particularly to the work achieved in boundary practices in which individuals must claim multiple memberships by appropriating the discourses and their particular tool kits of more than one community of practice. This study provides recommendations for future research and the engineering of professional development efforts for inclusive education.
ContributorsWaitoller, Federico R. (Author) / Artiles, Alfredo J. (Thesis advisor) / Kozleski, Elizabeth B. (Committee member) / Gee, James P (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
In this dissertation I present data gathered from an eleven-month qualitative research study with adolescents living and working on the streets of Lima, Peru. Through the pairing of photovoice with participant observations, this work incorporates distinctive methodological and theoretical viewpoints in order to complicate prevailing understandings of street life. In this dissertation, I examine the identities that children and adolescents on the street develop in context, and the ways in which photography can be a useful tool in understanding identity development among this population. Through a framework integrating theories of identity and identity performance with spatial theories, I outline how identity development among children and adolescents living on the street is directly connected to their relationships with the urban landscape and the outreach organizations that serve them. The organizations and institutions that surround children on the street shape who they are, how they are perceived by society, and how they view and understand themselves in context. It is through the interaction with aid organizations and the urban landscape that a street identity is learned and developed. Furthermore, as organizations, children and adolescents come together within the context of the city, a unique street space is created. I argue that identity and agency are directly tied to this space. I also present the street as a thirdspace of possibility, where children and adolescents are able to act out various aspects of the self that they would be unable to pursue otherwise. Weaved throughout this dissertation are non-traditional writing forms including narrative and critical personal narrative addressing my own experiences conducting this research, my impact on the research context, and how I understand the data gathered.
ContributorsJoanou, Jamie Patrice (Author) / Swadener, Beth B. (Thesis advisor) / Margolis, Eric (Committee member) / Arzubiaga, Angela (Committee member) / Fischman, Gustavo (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Co-teaching is one of the most popular models for supporting students with disabilities in general education classrooms. In spite of this, there is a paucity of research on student perceptions of co-teaching. The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate student perceptions of co-teaching in a high school biology classroom. Over nine weeks, data was collected from students in a co-taught and traditional classroom through observations and focus groups. Qualitative content analysis identified three themes and eight categories which highlight student perceptions of co-teaching. Themes and categories that emerged were: 1) Environment which included the categories of availability of help, students feeling supported and normalcy of the classroom, 2) Instruction which included student engagement, lesson activity and teacher(s) role(s) and, 3) Relationships which included relationships between teacher(s) and student(s) and parity between teachers. Information from the study deepens researchers' and practitioners' understanding of how students perceive co-teaching and provide new avenues for future research and best practices.
ContributorsLersch, Matthew (Author) / Lersch, Matthew S (Thesis advisor) / Kozleski, Elizabeth B. (Committee member) / Malian, Ida (Committee member) / Swadener, Elizabeth (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
ABSTRACT High numbers of dropouts can be found throughout the country, but research has shown the problem to be most prevalent in minority communities. Although the majority of dropouts were Anglo, the highest event dropout rates were found among American Indians, Hispanics and African Americans. This descriptive study investigated how students negotiate school structure, social supports, and cultural identity to gain an insider or "emic" perspective on youth decision-making regarding whether to drop out or remain in school. Research was conducted in a suburban school district with a high school population of over 10,000 students in grades 9 through 12. Student selection was based on criteria developed through an analysis of district data of students that had dropped out of school over a three-year period from the 2006-2007 to 2008-2009 school years. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven participants of high school age. These participants were placed in one of three sample groups that fit the dropout profile. These groups were (1) students currently attending high school, (2) students who dropped out prior to completing graduation requirements, and (3) students who had graduated. The findings in this study will benefit the educational community as it relates to K-12 education and students leaving school (dropping out). Educators and administrators will be able to evaluate the findings of the study to review current practices and policies within their organization. The data will also give administrators the opportunity to develop and implement programs that can assist students in staying in school.
ContributorsGilbert, Craig (Author) / Kozleski, Elizabeth B. (Thesis advisor) / Fischman, Gustavo (Committee member) / Deprez, Suzie (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Inclusive education has become a global movement through the policies of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (e.g., Salamanca Statement). These policies led many developing nations to adopt these policies in their national policy agendas. Turkey has developed inclusive education policies that deal with the education of students with disabilities (SwD). However, although SwD are the largest group who are marginalized and excluded from educational opportunities, there are other groups (e.g., cultural-linguistic minorities) who experience educational inequities in access and participation in learning opportunities and deal with enduring marginalization in education. This study examined a) Turkish teachers’ and parents’ conceptualizations of inclusive education for diverse groups of students, namely SwD, Kurdish students (KS), and girls, who experience educational inequities, b) how their construction of students’ identities influenced students' educational experiences in relation to inclusive education, c) how their stories revealed identities, differences and power, and what role privilege played in marginalization, labeling, and exclusion of students within conceptualizations of inclusive education. I used cultural historical activity theory (Engeström, 1999) and figured worlds (Holland et al., 1998) to understand the teachers’ and parents’ interpretations and experiences about inclusive education. This qualitative study was conducted in four different schools in Maki, a small southwestern city in Turkey. A classroom photo, with a vignette written description, and a movie documentary were used as stimuli to generate focus group discussions and individual interviews. I conducted classroom observations to explore the context of schooling and how students were positioned within the classrooms. Classroom artifacts were additionally collected, and the data were analyzed using a constant-comparative method. The study findings demonstrated that students had different equity struggles in access, meaningful participation, and having equal outcomes in their education. The education activity system was not inclusive, but rather was exclusive by serving only certain students. SwD and girls had difficulty accessing education due to cultural-historical practices and institutional culture. On the other hand, Turkish-only language policy and practices created tensions for KS to participate fully in education activity systems. Although stakeholders advocated girls’ education, many of them constructed SwD’s and KS’ identities from deficit perspectives.
ContributorsKilinc, Sultan (Author) / Arzubiaga, Angela (Thesis advisor) / Kozleski, Elizabeth B. (Thesis advisor) / Swadener, Elizabeth Blue (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
This dissertation discusses the findings of an ethnographic exploratory study of Turkana nomadic pastoralist children's sociocultural practices of their everyday lifestyles and science curriculum and instruction in Kenyan early childhood curriculum. The study uses the findings from Turkana elders to challenge the dominant society in Kenya that draws from Western education ideology to unfairly criticize Turkana traditional nomadic cultural practices as resistant to modern education. Yet Turkana people have to rely on the cultural knowledge of their environment for survival. In addition, the community lives in abject poverty caused by the harsh desert environment which has contributed to parents' struggle to support their children's education. Cultural knowledge of Turkana people has received support in research demonstrating the role cultural lifestyles such as nomadic pastoralism play as important survival strategy that enable people to adapt to the harsh desert environment to ensure the survival of their livestock critical for their food security. The study documented ways in which the Kenya national education curriculum, reflecting Western assumptions about education, often alienates and marginalises nomadic children, in its failure to capture their cultural Indigenous knowledge epistemologies. The research investigated the relationships between Turkana children's sociocultural practices of pastoralist lifestyles and the national science curriculum taught in local preschools and first grade science classrooms in Kenya and the extent to which Turkana children's everyday life cultural practices inform science instruction in early childhood grades. Multiple ethnographic methods such as participant and naturalistic observation, focus group interviews, analysis of documents, archival materials, and cultural artifacts were used to explore classrooms instruction and Indigenous sociocultural practices of the Turkana nomads. The findings from the elders' narratives indicated that there was a general congruence in thematic content of science between Turkana Indigenous knowledge and the national science curriculum. However, Turkana children traditionally learned independently by observation and hands-on with continuous scaffolding from parents and peers. The study recommends a science curriculum that is compatible with the Indigenous knowledge epistemologies and instructional strategies that are sensitive to the worldview of nomadic children.
ContributorsNg'asike, John Teria (Author) / Swadener, Beth B. (Committee member) / Luft, Julie (Committee member) / Tobin, Joseph (Committee member) / Brayboy, Bryan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2010