Theses and Dissertations at Montana State University (MSU)
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://scholarworks.montana.edu/handle/1/733
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Item Superintendent efficacy and addressing community needs(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 2024) Kirchner, Derek Lee; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Tena VerslandThe purpose of this intrinsic case study was to explore how a self-efficacious superintendent mitigates the challenges of addressing community needs. In previous literature on community dissatisfaction, superintendents who have neglected the needs of community members have lost their jobs. Despite being trained for and required to demonstrate knowledge on ways to identify and address the needs of the school district community, many superintendents fall short and end up being removed from their positions by the school board and community. Self-Efficacy theory postulates that individuals with a high degree of efficacy for their jobs seek out and are more receptive to innovations within their workplaces. This research study utilized a document review of school board meeting minutes, public voting data, and superintendent correspondence to determine instances of community needs. This information was utilized to conduct semiformal interviews with a superintendent to explore strategies he used to address needs in the community. The results of the document revealed that dissatisfaction occurred around four events: the Cougar's Cave playground structure, the Economic Development District, the High School project, and COVID-19. The analysis of the interviews indicated that the superintendent employed three strategies to mitigate community dissatisfaction: Developed a Culture of Learning within the District, Involved the Community, and Built Relationships. The strategies in this research echo what has already been written regarding successful superintendent leadership. Conclusions drawn from this project include the idea that both the superintendent and the school board should research each other prior to offering and accepting employment in a district to ensure superintendent skillsets match district needs. A second conclusion is the superintendent should develop a strong relationship with the school board but should remain open to feedback and concerns from the community. A final conclusion drawn from the research is that the superintendent should selectively choose mentors and be receptive to their advice.Item Implications of reflection on student efficacy and growth in middle school science(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2023) Kessler, Shawn; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: C. John GravesStudents are often asked to reflect on their work. Upon finishing a project, students reflect on their experiences and outcomes, focusing on the learning and content of the unit. However, reflection should be a continuous process and include students becoming aware of their learning approaches. If this aspect of reflection was included while learning was taking place, students could become more aware of how they learn and in turn become more confident in how they approach different topics. The goal of this type of reflection would be to increase student efficacy and increase student growth. To test this hypothesis, students first completed a science self-efficacy test. This established a basis for student confidence in science. To establish overall knowledge of the content, students attempted the summative assessment test before beginning the unit. For each task in the unit, students completed a pre and post-test. Associated with each was a reflection process. Students took a brief survey identifying their study habits and confidence levels. Confidence levels were recorded to determine efficacy growth throughout the unit. Data collected for the research showed a weak positive correlation between student self-efficacy and normalized gains. The qualitative analysis resulted in students becoming more detailed in their reflections as the unit progressed. The conclusion was reached that self-efficacy is not a good indicator of performance, however the act of persistent reflection throughout a unit result in overall academic growth.Item Stream ecology as place-based education(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2023) Schlobohm, Jennifer; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: C. John GravesMuch of modern-day education is not related the lives of students. Place-based education has been noted to increase academic performance, and students' connection to the place they live. This study used the local stream to investigate the impact of place-based education in an Earth and Space science class. Student summative assessment scores and Likert-style surveys were used in both treatment and non-treatment units to analyze academic growth, sense of place, and self-efficacy regarding scientific skills. A questionnaire was given at the end of the treatment unit and used to collect qualitative data to support the conclusions. Normalized gains and percentages of summative assessment scores identified student growth in all areas studied.Item A registered nurse care manager's role in implementing a veteran obesity program(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Nursing, 2022) Fleming-Weiler, Denise Dawn; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Denise RiveraAim: A link exists between obesity, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and numerous other comorbid conditions. Studies have shown that weight reduction has a positive effect on comorbid conditions. The aim is to develop an obesity management program that combats obesity in the veteran population by focusing on self-efficacy and the registered nurse (RN) care manager role. Design: Quality improvement project Methods: The databases searched include Montana State University: CatSearch, Google Scholar, ProQuest, CINAHL, MEDLINE, and EBSCO Web of Science. The study participants include adults who met the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) definition of obesity, with a Body Max Index (BMI) greater than 30 kg/m 2. Results: Further research could yield better practices for successfully implementing weight management treatment and intervention plans if programs focus on self-efficacy and collaboration with established programs. Additionally, more research would help identify an obesity registered nurse care manager's impact in combating obesity in the veteran populationItem STEM major choice: high school and collegiate factors(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 2022) Tran, Que Nguyet; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Tricia SeifertA huge present and future workforce demand exists in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields. Bolstered by a number of US policies and research that associates STEM majors with pursuing STEM careers, higher education institutions have aimed to support students to major in STEM fields in an effort to meet the needs of the STEM workforce. Despite these postsecondary efforts, the challenge begins in earlier levels of schooling with a shortage of licensed and highly qualified science and math teachers nationwide. Although many studies have examined math and science expectancy values and self-efficacy among high school students to predict their intention to major in STEM major choice, few have investigated both high school and college level variables to understand student STEM major choice declared in their third college year. Thus, this study fills the gap using the most recent STEM-focused national representative survey data -- High School Longitudinal Study 2009 (HSLS:09). Three research questions are: (i) To what extent do high school math and science motivation and self-efficacy, collegiate factors, and personal circumstances promote or hinder students' STEM major choice, controlling for student background characteristics? ; (ii) To what extent do collegiate factors and personal circumstances predict the probability of STEM major choice, controlling for student background characteristics? (iii) What factors predict college STEM GPA? This study employs theories of Situative expectancy value theory and Social cognitive career theory to develop a conceptual framework. Logistic regression was used to analyze the first two questions, and linear regression used for the third question. The first research question found gender, math attainment value, science attainment value, college STEM credits earned, and STEM GPA are predictive of the probability of STEM major choice. In the second research question, among college-period variables, gender, college STEM credits earned, and STEM GPA are predictors of STEM major choice. The third research question found race, social economic status, faculty research participation, career services on campus used, work schedule and academic performance interference, and disability are predictors of the average STEM GPA. Implications for theory, research, and practice are discussed.Item Mindfulness-based social emotional learning in the science classroom(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2021) Cochrum, Caleb Denver; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Greg FrancisThis study evaluated the impact of implementing daily mindfulness and biweekly social emotional learning lessons into a sophomore level Physical Science classroom. Qualitative and quantitative data collected through student surveys, attendance data, content-based assessments, was analyzed to assess the overall impact on student learning, classroom culture, and student self-efficacy. Results indicate that the use of mindfulness and social emotional learning curricula significantly improves classroom culture, while also having a marginally positive impact on academic performance and student self-efficacy.Item Developing self-efficacy toward writing research methods and classroom practices through awareness of writing experiences for high school students(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 2020) Frieling, Nicole Pamela; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Sarah PenningtonSelf-efficacy research of students' participation with the writing process considers the factors of ideation, convention, and self-management, or rather, the research depends on the skills and techniques of the student writer. While there is much research dedicated to exploring variables of experience within these factors, such as gender, age, demographics, etc., there is very little research which considers the factor of experience as a whole dimension of each unique students' writing process. This study investigated the writing self-efficacy beliefs held by junior and senior high school students in relation to their associations with writing conception, and how writing experiences might contribute to how self-efficacy and conception are established. Scores of self-efficacy and ratios of writing conception were gathered using surveys. Then, using an ANOVA hypothesis test for significance, self-efficacy scores were analyzed based on conception of writing. Further, open-ended questions were also administered through the survey gathering responses to understand student writing experiences. In conjunction with these responses, student participants created storyboards of their lifelong writing experiences. These artifacts were coded using Krippendorff (2013) coding techniques. The results show a relationship between how students' self-efficacy scores differ based on their conception of writing. Further, the results of this study imply there is a relationship between writing experiences, conception, and self-efficacy. In particular, this sample revealed themes associated with collaboration in writing. However, the results of this particular sample are not the end goal or purpose of this study. Rather, it is to demonstrate the necessity for considering students' experiences with writing in each unique sample of self-efficacy toward writing research. Educational implications and further research are discussed.Item Employee innovation to promote employee engagement(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Engineering, 2021) Clennan, Katie Kelly; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Bill SchellEmployee innovation as a form of employee engagement is affected by numerous organizational factors and personal employee attributes. This study modeled the system of factors impacting the manifestation of employee innovation. Additionally, this model evaluates the achievement of engagement and impact on the competitive advantage as a result of employee innovation. A questionnaire for psychometric indicators was provided to two government owned production maintenance groups at the same naval base. Using structural equation modeling with latent variables, this study collected 190 survey responses to measured indicators for innovation, formal devices, relationships, self-efficacy, and motivations. Additionally, historical data was collected to measure indicators for engagement and perceived competitiveness. This study supports innovation as method for achieving employee engagement with a positive, significant direct effect between the latent variables. The chosen metrics for perceived competitiveness indicators did not hold strong correlations and further analysis resulted in indeterminant effects of innovation on performance metrics. This study confirmed the presence of previous factors found impactful to employee innovation, but with further analysis on the direct and indirect relationships within the system. Organizational factors such as formal devices and relationships did not have a direct impact on innovation and are mediated by intrinsic attributes such as self-efficacy and motivations. These intrinsic attributes have a significant impact on innovation and are mediated by the presence of formal challenges within the workplace. Furthermore, control mediates the effect of formal devices on the first step of the innovation process specifically, idea generation. The use of organizational factors in pursuit of employee innovation is achieved through the realization of employees' personal intrinsic attributes of self-efficacy and motivation.Item Using student perception of college environment for developing academic self-efficacy in engineering and computing education(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 2021) Clark, Jennifer Irene; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Tricia SeifertNext Generation Experts (NGE) are needed to fill engineering and computing careers. Access to college degree programs in these disciplines has been identified as an important contribution in addressing this problem. Students enter university with varying levels of academic readiness based on environmental circumstances outside their control. In Montana, many communities are limited in their ability to provide advance math and science coursework with even fewer providing engineering or computer science topics. Montana State University (MSU) is the state's land grant institution is charged with educating the sons and daughters of Montana's working class citizens. This problem of practice study considers the experience of academically underprepared (AUP) students interested in engineering or computing with retention initiatives in the Norm Asbjornson College of Engineering (NACOE). Understanding student perceptions of how the college environment influences academic self-efficacy development with engineering and computer science content can provide direction for retention programming. This qualitative study uses a complex theoretical framework, and phenomenography as a research approach to consider the range of student experience with an AUP retention program in the NACOE. Thirteen students participated in a study version of the AUP retention program which consisted of 6- topic focused, weekly meetings. Eight students provided feedback through a 1:1 interview following a semi-structured interview protocol. Interviews were transcribed, coded, and analyzed using an iterative process introducing a shift in perspective related to the relationship between physiological states and their influence over mastery, vicarious, and social persuasion experiences. Physiological states sit in the space between environmental experiences continually shading engagement between the environment and student. Findings described how physiological states interact with mastery, vicarious, and social persuasion experiences. Environmental factors, including people, had an influence on the developing relationship between AUP students who participated in a study version of the AUP retention program. Demonstrating the importance of structure, this study showed the value of community in developing relationships between students and academic content. Normalizing the variety of academic readiness levels shifts from deficit thinking to an allowance of gracious space to begin a college degree from any point without a hidden script of expectation. Borrowing from the college athletics' programs, introducing a Redshirt year changes the game. The Redshirt in Engineering Consortium borrowed and implemented this idea to support recruitment and retention in AUP populations. AUP students are also the NGE in engineering or computing. It is the responsibility of current experts to teach them they have potential to be successful in these disciplines through inclusive environments.Item Evaluating provider opinion of telepsychiatry(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Nursing, 2021) Brannen, Hilary Jane; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Tracy HellemTelepsychiatry, or two-way video conferencing for psychiatric purposes, has been around for the last 60 years. However, full implementation of its usage has stalled. Research has shown that clinical outcomes and patient satisfaction are equivalent to or superior when utilizing telepsychiatry, but provider satisfaction is lower. The aim of this project was to initially survey medication providers of psychiatric services at a statewide community mental health center in Montana to determine barriers that may exist to implementation and then provide education to determine whether that would impact their overall opinion of the modality. However, during the time between initial survey and follow-up survey, the COVID-19 global pandemic occurred and forced all providers to utilize telepsychiatry exclusively to continue providing care. This driving force of change allowed for the providers to increase their overall opinion of the feasibility, benefit, and confidence and belief in the modality. Continued challenges were noted but an overall increase of knowledge about telepsychiatry was also found. These findings are encouraging for increasing utilization of telepsychiatry by providers to provide access to mental health services in more rural and underserved communities.
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