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The purpose of this guide is to provide human services personnel, human resources personnel and coordinators for community organizations information to assist and support families in raising their children. Throughout this publication we will be using the terminology of human services/human resource personnel and community leaders such as extension and others interchangeably as we proceed through the guide. While the age of information has caused an explosion in the availability of self-help, do-it-yourself, treaty yourself materials and resources, raising children is not conducive to a self-study approach. It is a labor-intensive, challenging and rewarding roller coaster of emotional, physical and intellectual ups and downs. It requires constant analysis as children's needs and the home, school and community environment change. Karen Banks

Two longitudinal studies were conducted to explore the mother-infant communication process during the first four months of postnatal life. One study focused on mothers' experiences communicating with their infants. Forty-seven mothers were interviewed when their infants were 6 to 8 weeks of age; 42 of the same mothers were interviewed when their infants were 16 to 18 weeks of age. Mothers were asked questions about their interactions with their infants, how they talked to their infants, why they talked to their infants, how they learned to talk to their infants, and what th,eir beliefs were about the relationship between talking to infants and development. A model was constructed from these data, conceptualizing the communication process between mothers and their young infants. Four themes were identified: expert advice influenced some mother-infant communication; mothers and infants co-regulated some of their communication; maternal communication behaviors were consistent across age and ethnicity; and experience talking to pets influenced some new mothers' speaking styles. Ph. D.

The purpose of this exploratory qualitative study was to investigate the practice of scientific inquiry in two secondary biology classes and one agriculture class from different schools in different communities. The focus was on teachers' interests and intentions for the students' participation in inquiry, the voices contributing to the inquiry, and students' opportunities to confront their conceptions of the nature of science (NOS). The Partnership for Research and Education in Plants (PREP) served as the context by providing students with opportunities to design and conduct original experiments to help elucidate the function(s) of a disabled gene in Arabidopsis thaliana. Transcripts of teacher and student semi-structured interviews, field notes of classroom observations and classroom conversations, and documents (e.g., student work, teacher handouts, school websites, PREP materials) were analyzed for evidence of the practice of scientific inquiry. Teachers were interested in implementing inquiry because of potential student learning about scientific research and because PREP supports course content and is connected to a larger scientific project outside of the school. Teachers' intentions regarding the implementation of inquiry reflected the complexity of their courses and the students' previous experiences. All inquiries were student-directed. The biology students' participation more closely mirrored the practice of scientists, while the agriculture students were more involved with the procedural display of scientific inquiry. All experiences could have been enhanced from additional knowledge-centered activities regarding scientific reasoning. No activities brought explicit attention to NOS. Biology activities tended to implicitly support NOS while the agriculture class activities tended to implicitly contradict NOS. Scientists' interactions contributed to implied support of the NOS. There were missed opportunities for explicit attention to NOS in all classes. The major voices contributing to the inquiry in all classrooms included those of teachers, students, technology, scientists, textbooks, and mandated standards; however, they were more prevalent in the biology classrooms than the agriculture classroom. The powers influencing the voice frequency may be related to the teachers' own teaching and research experiences, as well as the alignment of the expectations and values of students' participation in scientific inquiry and those associated with the school-classroom communities and the students' identities. Ph. D.

This study investigated the effects of motivational email messages on learner self-efficacy and achievement in an asynchronous college algebra and trigonometry course. A pretest-posttest control group design was used. Of the 196 initial participants randomly assigned to treatment groups, 125 participants with an average age of 18.21 years completed the study. The final control and experimental groups consisted of 57 (n=17 male, n=40 female) and 68 (n=14 male, n=54 female) participants respectively. Self-efficacy to learn mathematics asynchronously (SELMA) was measured before the treatment was administered. Email messages designed to be efficacy enhancing were sent to the experimental group weekly for 4 weeks. The control group was sent email messages designed to be neutral with respect to self-efficacy weekly for 4 weeks. SELMA and math achievement were measured after the email messages were sent in week 4. Analysis of covariance was performed using the pretest SELMA measure as a covariate to detect post-treatment differences in SELMA between the control and experimental groups. No significant differences were detected at the 0.05 alpha level. Paired-sample t-Tests revealed significant increases in SELMA for both the control and experimental groups over the treatment period. Linear regression analysis revealed a weak positive relationship between SELMA and math achievement. The findings are discussed in the context of the related literature and directions for future research are suggested. Ph. D.

Within the current national atmosphere of accountability and high-stakes testing, many teachers are changing their instruction to return to more traditional strategies that emphasize rote memorization. As a result, classroom curriculum and student learning are narrowing. This study sought to explore the potential of graphic organizers as an instructional strategy to expand student content knowledge beyond rote memorization to include more organized, complex, meaningful learning. For the purpose of this study, graphic organizers are described as visual displays of concepts, their component parts, and the relationships among their parts. This study was conducted over a six week period in a third grade classroom in a rural elementary school in Virginia. Ten focus students were identified for in-depth data collection on their learning process as recorded during science instruction. Although existing research strongly supports graphic organizer effectiveness as an instructional strategy toward general student achievement, little is known about the type of learning they support or the process by which students' knowledge develops. Thus, this research utilized qualitative methodological strategies in order to investigate this process. Data collection methods included field notes, student artifacts, and participant interviews. Constant comparative methodology was employed to analyze data. The theoretical framework of constructivism, espousing that newly acquired information is connected to prior knowledge forming complex, organized networks of conceptual understanding, guided this qualitative study. Findings resulted in emergent themes including student motivation, simplicity, efficiency, visual hierarchical organization, reconstructing knowledge, and cooperative socialization. Documentation of the learning process as opposed to a comparison of pre/post measurements clearly indicated that student thinking gradually became more complex and organized in nature. As students worked with graphic organizers, and participated in study activities, their knowledge moved from a form of listing facts to resemble more complex, interconnected networks. Implications of this study for practice include appropriate instruction and practice for students with graphic organizers as a strategy and a tool, value as an assessment tool, and potential for use with complex classroom populations. Suggestions for future research are given for teacher training on how to use graphic organizers effectively, interdisciplinary use of graphic organizers within one context, potential benefit for struggling and diverse learners, a continuing focus on process as opposed to product, and an examination of the connection between graphic organizer activities and sorting. Ph. D.

The increasing presence of "Latinos" in higher education presents a challenge to the academy, particularly in understanding their adjustment to the college environment (Umana-Taylor, Diversi & Fine, 2002). This study investigates how ethnically diverse "Latino\a" undergraduates construct and affirm ethnic identity. The findings suggest that a "Latino\a" pan-ethnicity is problematic because of the diversity of national origins, family histories, linguistic preferences, and cultural traditions that exists among the different nationalities that comprise this ethnic group. Unlike previous generations of immigrants, new diaspora "Latinos" seek integration into American society as bilinguals with linguistic command for both Spanish and English and resist abandonment of national identities and culture. These are suggestive of transnational identities that are multiple and adaptive to a variety of contexts and situations; rather than being fixed and constant. Ph. D.

A review of the research indicates that identifying self as a teacher can be a life-long, complex personal and social process. This researcher investigated 4 pre-collegiate students' construction of a teaching identity during their participation in an introduction to teaching course conducted in a rural high school located in a southeastern state. Two purposes framed this investigation, 1) to gain an in-depth understanding of the pre-collegiate students' past and present experiences related to teaching and the meanings the students make of these experiences, and 2) to examine these experiences as connected to construction of personal teaching identities. Using a life history methodology, data sources included 3 interviews, drawings of self as a teacher, journal writings, and personal experience writings. The findings are presented in 4 narratives one for each participant. Each narrative, represented by an exemplar quote, (i.e., Being There, Being a Kid, Right Heart, Being A Helper) illuminates the nature of the participants' teaching prototype, which emerged from past and present educational experiences. Results indicate that the participants possessed well-defined beliefs pertaining to caring teachers and to teaching as a profession, in addition, to commonly held cultural teaching beliefs. These beliefs guided their course experiences and self-assessment of a teaching identity. Although the identification to a teaching identity varied among the 4 participants, results indicate that 1 participant was actively constructing a storied teaching identity. A storied teaching identity involved a significant nuclear episode with a teacher that became the bound context for a teaching story. This type of high school level career studies course can assist in strengthening the recruitment pool of teacher education candidates and assist in testing a vocational teaching identity. Implications are offered for future research involving pre-collegiate students enrolled in an introduction to teaching course and investigation of storied teaching identities. Ph. D.

This study seeks to explore, and in exploring to describe, and illuminate, Al-Amal a private bilingual school in Kuwait that adapts and implements a curriculum designed by U.S. educators in three main academic subjects (English, science, and mathematics), while at the same time, focuses extensively on an Islamic studies curriculum. The main incentive for selecting this focus was the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Since that date, the mass media have paid much attention to Islam and to Muslim society, particularly to its educational system, which has usually been viewed with skepticism (Charif, 2002; Rugh, 2002). This study focuses on a single school, for the general insight it can offer into a number of related research questions: How do Islamic parents who send their children to this school define the spiritual and/or religious needs they want their children to possess, and what role does the school play in fulfilling such needs? How do spiritual/religious and academic needs intersect within the formal curriculum at the school, as a result of daily interactions between teachers and children? Finally, in the midst of increased westernization and globalization, how do the teachers of this school negotiate the influences of western values on their students and curriculum? By exploring the nature, philosophy, and context of one Islamic school, this study seeks to enable readers to understand more fully and accurately how those involved with such an institution cope with the various challenges they meet in the global sphere. To reach its goal, this study utilizes a number of research methods and tools, including direct observation, interviews, a research diary and reflection, and a traditional literature review. Ultimately, this study suggests that Al- Amal possesses unique complexities and contradictions. Those characteristics derive from the institution's transformation of traditional Islamic schooling in order to prepare its students for life in the global arena and from its desire to develop both academically and spiritually a new generation of Muslims better able to cope with the challenges they confront in this arena. Ph. D.

The purpose of the current study was to examine the mediating role of language in explaining the relation between home environment and prefrontal functioning. Participants were 30 children from two preschool centers (Virginia Tech Lab School and Radford Head Start Center) representing a wide range of socio-economic status. Children's working memory was assessed through performing two verbal tasks, namely the Day/Night task and the Yes/No task and a non-verbal task, the Tapping task. Language, in turn, was assessed through the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT-III). The criteria proposed by Baron and Kenny (1986) were followed to test for the mediational hypothesis, as well as an alternative hypothesis stating that working memory might mediate the relation between home environment and language. Results indicated that language did mediate the relation between home environment and prefrontal functioning, particularly working memory. The alternative hypothesis did not prove to be successful. Theoretical and educational implications of these findings are discussed. Master of Science

This research explores the experiences and attitudes of nine full-time students with disabilities at Virginia Tech who choose to conceal their identity as individuals with disabilities in various contexts. The definition of disability is expanded to include those individuals who perceive themselves to be disabled, with or without meeting diagnostic or legal criteria, since many of those who conceal their differences may choose not to pursue such forms of official classification and identification. In a series of interviews, participants provide insight into their experiences, labels and discourse that have shaped those experiences, and outcomes of identification as individuals with disabilities. A variety of themes emerging from the interviews, under the categories of experiences, labels and discourse, and outcomes of disability, are analyzed and discussed. This research aims to explore and develop a greater understanding of these individuals and what their stories have to offer through an emic perspective. Ph. D.

Teacher absenteeism, retirement, and attrition have led to a widespread shortage of substitute teachers throughout the United States , resulting in the hiring of individuals who lack teacher certification and educational pedagogy. In the past decade, West Virginia joined many other states confronted with the decreased substitute teacher pool and the hiring of non-certified individuals in the classrooms. With the highly qualified teacher requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), focus was situated on the adequate qualifications of substitute teachers. Many substitute teachers do not have the educational pedagogy or teacher certification necessary to be considered highly qualified by the NCLB. Mandatory training for non-certified substitute teachers lacking proper certification and educational pedagogy became the focus to qualify these individuals for the classroom. This study focuses on the self-efficacy of non-certified individuals attending the substitute teacher training in the Regional Education Service Agencies (RESAs) in the state of West Virginia to determine if their self-efficacy beliefs change after two days of mandatory substitute training or after classroom experience. The Teacher's Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES) developed by Tschannen-Moran and Woolfolk-Hoy (2001) was the instrument used to measure the self-efficacy of non-certified substitute teachers. Findings indicate that the teaching self-efficacy of non-certified substitute teachers significantly increased from pre-training to post-training, but significantly decreased from post-training to post-teaching experiences. Additionally, findings revealed that age and gender did not have a significant influence on self-efficacy from pre-training, to post-training, to post-teaching. Finally, applications and ramifications of these results are then discussed. Ph. D.

A qualitative inquiry was launched to explore occupational stress among Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs). Four research questions were posed: 1) What are the roles and responsibilities of the CRNAs as they see them? 2) What are the CRNAs perceived stressors encountered on the job? 3) What are their coping strategies related to the perceived stressors? 4) What is the relationship between CRNA job stress and interpersonal work connections? Twenty CRNAs, with varying anesthetic backgrounds, and 15 of their co-workers from North Carolina and Tennessee participated in the study. Semi-structured interviews, clinical observations, and artifact data (i.e., photographs) were employed to answer the research questions. The perceived occupational-related stressors that were recognized by the CRNAs pertain specifically to patient care, anesthesia work in general, interpersonal job relationships, inadequate surgical preparation, the operating room environment, and physical stressors. Staying focused upon the task at hand (i.e., patient care), the use of humor, verbalization and internalization of concerns, along with adopting personal hobbies were identified by the anesthetists as coping mechanisms to combat work-related stress. The participants take their professional duties to their patients and devotion to their fellow colleagues seriously - so much so that they rarely take vacation time or sick leave. After data analysis, six major themes surfaced: the role of being an attentive, reliable co-worker alleviates the antagonism found within OR relationships; maintaining open lines of communication is an effective way to address concerns and prevent staff conflict; among the CRNAs, occupational-related stressors create concern for patient safety; interpersonal work relations cause more stress than any of the other perceived job stressors; engaging in personal hobbies assists the CRNA in coping with work-related stress; and the nurse anesthetists' work lives are not as stressful as their personal lives. The answers to the research questions and the themes underscore the necessity that the shortage of Registered Nurses and anesthetists needs to be addressed in order to more effectively tackle the participants perceived stressors. In addition, employers can adopt concrete measures in assisting CRNAs with handling occupational stress, such as offering mandatory in-servicing and adequate time to attend in-servicing. Ph. D.

The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of a computer simulation activity versus a hands-on activity on students' product creativity, originality, and usefulness. Fifty-eight middle school technology education students from Northern Virginia participated in the study. Subjects were randomly assigned to either a computer simulation or hands-on treatment group. The computer simulation group used a Lego-type brick simulator to construct creative products on the computer; whereas, the hands-on treatment group used real LEGO® bricks to construct their creative products. The hands-on groups' products were collected by the researcher and copied into the computer simulation program. Both groups' products were printed using a color printer. The printed products were evaluated by expert judges using a creative product semantic differential scale. This study showed that there was no significant difference in product creativity scores among the computer simulation and the hands-on treatment group. The null hypothesis was accepted. Findings suggested that it was possible to use a computer simulation activity in place of a hands-on activity and still maintain product creativity, originality, and usefulness. Ph. D.