VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Learning partners as an instructional design strategy to promote collaboration and community building in the online classroom
Keywords: Computer-assisted instruction
Teaching, Computer network resources
Education, Computer network resources
Internet in education
Educational technology

This study analyzed how one collaborative learning strategy, Learning Partners, affected various pedagogical outcomes in the online classroom, such as community building, task completion, and learning. Learning Partners is defined as a grouping of two classmates for the purpose of facilitating learning based on course-related goals. Two case studies were used to observe the Learning Partner interactions. Case Study 1 studied 96 students enrolled in the preservice teacher physical and health education program at OISE/UT. Case Study 2 observed 7 doctoral students enrolled at OISE/UT in a seminar course on research issues in computer applications. Using two case studies facilitated the examination of a broad range of conditions that stimulated or conversely inhibited Learning Partner interactions. Both case studies used WebKF (Web Knowledge Forum) as their computer conferencing component to the course. A qualitative approach to data collection was conducted in order to attain a greater awareness of the variables involved with online Learning Partnerships. Pre and post questionnaires were distributed at the beginning and end of the course, field notes were generated based on online observations in the WebKF database, and student interviews were conducted at the mid-point of the academic year. The Learning Partners design generated many positive learning outcomes. Both case studies indicated that Learning Partners helped to establish a sense of online community-making students feel closer to their classmates and feeling less isolated online. Learning Partners also resulted in some students initially feeling less intimidated by computer conferencing. However, the results were not all positive. Students from both case studies indicated that they found the tasks assigned in the courses did not lend themselves well to using a Learning Partner because the tasks were considered to be straightforward enough to do individually, and did not depend greatly on a Learning Partner's input or feedback. If the tasks were made more challenging or more conducive to seeking a Learning Partner's input, many students felt that their Learning Partner would be a good first alternative to turn to for assistance and guidance.
"I saw what I saw": the media creates a miracle cure for anorexia
Keywords: Anorexia nervosa, Treatment
Anorexia nervosa, Media coverage of
Health in mass media
Mass media, Objectivity

This dissertation is a critical case study, which explores the role of the media from 1993 to 1997 in creating Peggy Claude-Pierre as an "angel on earth" and "the last hope" for anorexics. Claude-Pierre founded Montreux Counselling after curing her two daughters of anorexia nervosa. She was featured in a number of magazines, newspaper articles, radio programs, American talk-shows, ABC's 20/20, and NBC's Dateline, as well as programs in Germany, Australia, Canada and the UK. This dissertation further examines the period from 1997 to 2000 in which there was a contest of representations about whether Claude-Pierre was an "angel" or a dangerously charismatic leader of a "cult-like" facility. I approach this study from the perspective that Montreux cannot be understood outside of the common notions of gender, class, and race, nor outside the common understandings of illness, miracles, and science. I propose that the rise of Montreux to prominence within a short period of time is connected to the economic and ideological nature of the media and of professional culture--both maintain a mystique about their ability to "know" and tell the "truth." It is this paradigm of objectivity and progress from whence their knowledge is conveyed to the public. I argue that the media and professionals, in conjunction with discourses of both miracles and empiricism, were all integral to creating Montreux as a world-famous center. The media based their claims about Montreux on testimonials. They ignored their own role in creating Claude-Pierre; therefore, they left the role and responsibility of journalists and talk show hosts as the most powerful storytellers, unchallenged.
Influence of organizational factors on clinical cultural competence
Keywords: Nursing
Health services administration

This qualitative research used a case study method to study clinical cultural competence at one hospital located in a large city in Canada. The study explored the overarching central question: how does the organizational and practice environment influence the understanding and enactment of clinical cultural competence in an organization embarking on a deliberate process of organizational and practice change? Interviews with clinicians, administrators and organizational diversity consultants (N=40), along with field notes and a review of selected documents were used to: (a) examine clinical cultural competence from the clinicians' perspective; and (b) describe key factors and processes within the practice environment that support or limit the provision of such care. The research was situated within a theoretical framework for practice development proposed by Kitson, Harvey McCormack (1998) that identifies practice development to be a function of three key variables: evidence, context and facilitation. The philosophical stance of critical realism was used to analyze the findings. Results indicate that despite a significant organizational commitment to diversity, cultural competence in clinical care was largely limited to awareness and lacking in application in practice. Cultural competence was described in terms of adding a layer of cultural understanding to clinical care; however, this was accompanied by a feeling of inadequacy with respect to cultural issues. This study further revealed an overlap and a need to differentiate between cultural competence and client-centered care. The overall organizational approach was one of mandated change and included the development of various initiatives such as diversity policy and mandatory training for all staff. However, these initiatives were experienced both positively and negatively; indicating a need to examine not just what resources exists in an organization, but also how they are experienced. Although leadership was evident in the form of organizational commitment, it was not translated into care. The findings suggest a reconsideration of two of the most frequently recommended strategies--diversity training and enhancing workforce diversity. In addition, the findings also suggest enhancements to practice development framework to address complex phenomenon such as clinical cultural competence. These are further discussed in the dissertation report.
Evolution of the heart: education's need
Keywords: Learning
Heart, Psychological aspects
Spiritual formation
Mind and body

This thesis aims to reveal the key component to learning—the understanding of the conscious heart. Once the understanding of the conscious heart and its courage is accepted, individuals can remain open to life experience. A holistic learning environment encourages an awareness of this consciousness. This thesis ultimately explains the heart's link to the mind, and how this link can be further developed through the actions of the body, for instance participating in art; revealing each individual's creative potential flourishes once the imagination is unleashed. It is hoped that, once these concepts are understood, the individual will believe in the power of his creative potential. By explaining the primordial origin, this thesis aims to bring forth an awareness that is required to teach and live everyday. This thesis hopes to bring out the creative potential that is within everyone, a potential that can be expressed without worry of fear or judgement.
A critical feminist analysis of the marginalization of immigrant women engineers: subtle semantics, redundant assessments and conflicting jurisdictions
Keywords: Women engineers, Certification
Women engineers, Canada
Women immigrants, Canada
Women engineers, Employment
Women engineers, Canada
Women immigrants, Employment
Women immigrants, Canada
Race discrimination, Canada
Sex discrimination against women, Canada

As more racialized professionals have immigrated to Canada, the contradiction between recruiting immigrant professionals for specific labour market needs and recognizing them as such has become more evident. For racialized immigrant women with expertise in male dominated professions the barriers are profound. Using available data, this study has estimated that 12,077 women engineers have immigrated to Canada since 1978 yet there has been no research on issues of immigrant women's access to engineering or the economic integration of immigrant women engineers. This thesis examines the critical role that both regulatory bodies and racism in immigration policy play in the marginalization of immigrant women engineers. Within the literature, issues of gender and race have been conceptualized independently. There has been little focus on the ways in which gender and race interact as relational processes in shaping access to professional engineering. This theoretical thesis concludes with implications for policy and future research.
A critical analysis of Cirque du Soleil, 1987-2001
Keywords: Circus, Québec (Province)

Cirque du Soleil originated in 1982, in Baie St. Paul, Quebec. The New Circus genre does not use animals in its performances, nor does it present death-defying acts, instead, it presents theme-based circuses. As an example of the New Circus form Cirque du Soleil presents heavily stylized performances, which contain complex ideas and images. This thesis has three major goals: (1) to interpret the signs and symbols found in a Cirque du Soleil performance; (2) to explain how balance, energy, equivalence, and other aspects of ‘theatre anthropology’ aid in the understanding of the morphological elements (lighting, costumes, sound, etc.) found in a Cirque du Soleil production; and (3) to examine how the various performers within Cirque du Soleil have (or have not) evolved out of traditional circus archetypes such as the clown, ringmaster, and acrobat. A basic semiotic model is employed in the interpretation of the signs and symbols located within a Cirque du Soleil production. This semiotic paradigm begins with the assumption that the circus performance has a message to convey. Logically it follows that it is the responsibility of the circus artist to communicate meaning to the spectator whose task it is to decode or interpret the performance. Theories on the use of the body developed by Eugenio Barba and Nicola Sarvarese in A Dictionary of Theatre Anthropology are utilized to assist with the reading of signs in the circus ring. As well, through an analysis of the symbols within the Cirque du Soleil ring, circus acrobats, clowns, and ringmasters that have evolved from archetypes found in the traditional circus can be identified. This thesis is also an historical text, which documents details of a number of Cirque du Soleil performances and acts.
Jazz in the gallery: how culture enters cultured space
Keywords: Racism and the arts, United States
Racism in popular culture, United States
Jazz, Social aspects
Jazz, United States

This paper explores the process by which cultural phenomena become institutionalized and validated within the social category of “art” in the U.S. Employing jazz as the primary example, this work shows how institutions, particularly museums, participate in organizing an inequitable society by regulating aesthetic categories in ways that facilitate the oppression of minoritized groups. Drawing on institutional ethnography, the thesis explicates Bunk Johnson's jazz career in the 1940s, examining how curators and critics constructed his revival. The analysis reveals how oppositional arts and artists are managed and integrated into the category of “Art” in ways that uphold dominant hierarchies. Primitive art, outsider art, and the embrace of post-modernism within the cultural sector are also examined in terms of this process. The thesis ultimately suggests that cultural institutions can work for rather than against social transformation by creating genuine space for oppositional art forms, artists, and administrators who problematize and offer alternatives to the traditional canon.
The fallacy of equality: 'Anti-citizens', sexual justice and the law in India
Keywords: Equality before the law, India
Sex discrimination, Law and legislation
Sex discrimination, India
Heterosexuals, Legal status, laws, etc
Heterosexuals, India
Sodomy, India
Sex crimes, India

The determinants of citizenship seemingly have little or no relevance to the sexuality of the citizen. However when it comes to the matter of exercising citizenship rights, sexuality acquires great significance -- where the normative subject of citizenship is the heterosexual citizen. Ideas of citizenship are predicated on hegemonic heterosexuality. Based on this understanding this paper attempts to map how the lives of the sexually marginalized in India, who I refer to as the sexual 'anti-citizen', are regulated and disciplined through the dual operation of criminal law and heteronormativity. Drawing from the influential works of French philosopher Michel Foucault and American anthropologist Gayle Rubin the paper argues how the anti-sodomy law in India -- Sec. 377 of the Indian Penal Code that criminalizes 'unnatural offences' -- operates through a 'panoptic' model that results in creating 'sexual hierarchies', acutely disenfranchising sexual 'anti-citizens' from guarantees to basic rights and freedoms.
Psychometric assessment of gender identity
Keywords: Gender identity disorders
Gender identity disorders in children
Sex role in children
Psychometrics

Although gender dysphoria is generally conceptualized in a categorical manner, several lines of evidence support the need for a dimensional conceptualization. The present study examined the psychometric properties of the Gender Identity Questionnaire for Adolescents and Adults (GIQAA), a dimensional measure of gender identity/gender dysphoria, and the Recalled Childhood Gender Identity/Gender Role Questionnaire (RCGI), a measure of recalled childhood gender role behaviour. In Study 1, the GIQAA and RCGI were administered to adolescents with gender identity disorder and two comparison groups: clinical controls and males with transvestic fetishism. In Study 2, the measures were administered to adult gender identity and clinical control patients. In both studies, there was evidence for discriminant validity in that the gender identity patients had significantly more gender dysphoria and recalled more childhood cross-gender behaviour than the comparison groups. Conceptual and applied issues are discussed.
Those who (still) live on earth: a study of the ancient Egyptian Appeal to the living texts
Keywords: Inscriptions, Egyptian
Egyptian language
Tombs, Egypt
Civilization, Ancient

The specific nature of the Appeal to the living texts in ancient Egypt is investigated from the Old Kingdom through the New Kingdom. The Appeal texts are defined in terms of three separate elements: (1) an invocation or address; (2) a request to provide offerings, speak the offertory prayer on behalf of the deceased, or to provide other appropriate behaviour; and (3) motivations, both positive and negative, provided to entice future generations to carry out these requests.
The language experience and achievement programme: case study of an educational change initiative in northern Pakistan
Keywords: English language, Study and teaching
English language, Study and teaching
English language, Pakistan
Educational change, Pakistan
Language and education, Pakistan
Teaching, Pakistan
School improvement programs, Pakistan

The Language Enhancement and Achievement Programme (LEAP) was an educational change initiative that was carried out in Northern Pakistan between 1995 and 2003. Its purpose was to improve the English and teaching methodology of teachers. Using Fullan's theoretical framework, this study attempted to determine how aspects of LEAP's initiation, implementation and continuation affected its chances of bringing change to the beliefs and practices of teachers in the Northern Areas. The opinions of LEAP graduates and educational leaders were solicited. The study concluded that while the LEAP Programme had some of the characteristics of a successful reform effort, it was also deeply flawed, and had been designed and managed without reference to the accumulated knowledge on educational change. The study questions the choice of English as the language of instruction in some schools of the Northern Areas. It also recommends that a theory of educational change be devised for developing countries.
Social exile: the cycle of peer victimization for children with ADHD
Keywords: Bullying in schools
School violence
Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder
Short-term memory
Hyperactive children, Education
Aggressiveness in children
Students, Crimes against

The goal of this study was to gain insight into the experience of chronic peer victimization for children with ADHD. Using an interview guide, four boys with diagnosed ADHD, aged 11 to 13 years, their parents, and their teachers were interviewed about the children's bullying experiences. Qualitative analysis of the interview data revealed that social exclusion was the most salient form of peer harassment, that the boys were perceived as being different from other children, socially isolated, and psychologically and emotionally beaten down . The pervasiveness of social exclusion and isolation led to the development of the core category of Social Exile. For these children, social skills deficits, emotional volatility, immaturity, and a lack of insight characterized being different. Being different was perceived as causing much of the victimization perpetrated upon the boys, which subsequently led to severe psychological and emotional distress.
Playing the role of a science student: exploring the meaning of the science student role and its relationship to students' identification in science
Keywords: Science students, Attitudes
Self-perception in adolescence
Science, Study and teaching (Secondary)
Identity (Psychology) in adolescence

The results suggest a clearly defined science student role that is dominated by traditional understandings of scientific attitudes. The Phase 2 results suggest that the expectations can be represented by four subscales: intelligence, scientific mindedness, scientific skill, and appropriate behaviour. The results of Phase 3 demonstrate that student ratings of themselves as intelligent and scientifically minded were strong predictors of their self-reported identification with science, accounting for almost half of the variance in student outcomes. The results highlight the enduring power of the traditional meanings associated with science and highlight the importance of explicitly challenging these perceptions in the classroom. Learning and succeeding in school is a process that involves the whole person and is situated within the social context of the school and classroom. As science educators, this means exploring how and why individuals come to see themselves as science students. To examine this process, I have used a framework of role identity theory, which takes the perspective that in all situations there are roles that carry with them behavioural and attitudinal expectations. Individuals develop role identities when they are able to match their self-perceptions with the meanings of the role. This study explores the meaning of the science student role and its impact on student identification in science using a three-phase, mixed-methods design. In Phase 1, an exploratory qualitative phase, student responses (n = 95) were collected through open-ended questionnaires and follow-up interviews and used to create a framework for understanding the role and the expectations associated with it. Phase 2 used this framework to create a questionnaire asking students (n = 129) to compare the expectations in science to those in other classes. Phase 3 took the role components from Phase 2 and asked students (n = 292) to rate themselves and ideal science students with respect to these expectations. Regression was used to understand how students' comparisons of themselves to the role related to their definitions of themselves as science students and to their future plans in science.
The facts of life: the sex instruction of Ontario public school children, 1900-1950
Keywords: Sex instruction for children, History
Sex instruction for children, Ontario
Sex instruction for children, Social aspects
Sex instruction for children, Ontario

During 1900 to 1950 a broad and uneasy coalition of sex reformers--educators, physicians, feminists, sexologists, social workers and public health officials--who identified themselves with the social purity movement prior to the First World War and then with the social hygiene movement after 1918 raised their voices in favour of incorporating sex instruction into Ontario public elementary and secondary schools. The impetus for children's school-based sex instruction was the moral and medical threat posed by what was perceived to be the dreaded corollary of prostitution and the double standard of sexual morality: venereal disease. Sex reformers' discourse on incorporating sex instruction into Ontario public elementary and secondary schools would peak in intensity as venereal disease rates in the civilian and military populations rose co-incident with the First and Second World Wars. This study argues that first, children's sex instruction--variously labelled purity education, sex hygiene, social hygiene, sex education, eugenical instruction and family life education--was heavily influenced by the paternalism, classism and racism of the social purity movement as it came to be constituted after 1885. Second, even when supervised by the social hygiene movement after the Great War, children's sex instruction was predicated upon the post-1885 social purity movement's emphasis on the moral approach to sex reform. This moral approach involved a two-fold undertaking: training the child's will in favour of sexual self-control and imparting rudimentary information on sexual physiology. Third, children's sex instruction was rationalized by the post-1885 social purity movements invoking of three spectres of child-life familiar to middle-class child savers: the child ignorant of sexual matters, the feeble-minded child and the juvenile delinquent. Classed, gendered, racialized and sexualized, these spectres served as "poison containers" or receptacles into which sex reformers poured their anxieties over venereal disease, thus allowing them to conveniently ignore the societal inequalities which contributed to the spread of the malady. As such, between 1900 and 1950, sex instruction, or what British sexologist Havelock Ellis termed "the instruction of children in the essential facts of life," had less to do with teaching children about sexual anatomy, biology, physiology and psychology and much more to do with channelling Canadians toward compulsory heterosexuality, reproducing the patriarchal nuclear family, maintaining the hegemony of the Anglo-Saxon race, building a healthy, patriotic citizenry and protecting the nation state from harm.