Doctor of Philosophy, University of Toledo, 2021, Foundations of Education: Educational Psychology

Saudi Arabia launched a strategic plan to further develop its overall education plan. The strategic plan contains goals to develop classroom environments that concentrate on inculcating learning skills (e.g., critical thinking and problem solving), fostering students' self-development, improving students' confidence, promoting students' spirit of creativity, and increasing students' desire to be challenged in the learning context (“Education and Vision 2030,” 2017). The goals are aligned with the principles of Achievement Goal Theory (AGT), a key motivational theory in Educational Psychology. Indeed, motivational theories often guide educational philosophies which seek to increase students' interaction and engagement in learning. AGT is considered to be an essential factor that influences students' intrinsic motivation and desire not only to learn but also to continue learning. Teachers are the heart and soul of the education system, and they are the most immediately influential component in students' learning and development. There is a lack of research evidence regarding Saudi teachers' Goal Orientation. Thus, the present study's focus was to explore teachers' Goal Orientation in Saudi Arabia using a descriptive survey design. The sample of the study consisted of 292 teachers. The data iii was analyzed using the Rasch model for dichotomous data. The demographic information of the teachers revealed that 83.83% of teachers had not been exposed to Achievement Goal Theory. The results show that teachers preferred Mastery Orientation (MO) strategies with some students but not all. It seems that teachers did not have a comprehensive grasp of the importance of practicing MO strategies with all students most of the time. The results suggest that teachers' selection of MO strategies could be influenced considerably by certain characteristics of both the situation and the student. Also, the results identified the areas where teachers fail to practice the most important M (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Victoria Dagostino-Kalniz PhD (Committee Chair); Gregory Stone PhD (Committee Member); Dale Snauwaert PhD (Committee Member); Leigh Chiarelott PhD (Committee Member); Jason Rose PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Educational Psychology

Master of Science (MS), Bowling Green State University, 2017, Biological Sciences

Water is vital for terrestrial life, but water sources are often scarce, and environmental conditions are often desiccating. For example, the urban heat island effect causes areas with high impervious surfaces to have much hotter and drier conditions than rural locations. In chapter one, I examined the frequency of water demand behavior across variable landscapes in mesic NW OH, along with the effects of environmental factors and taxonomic identity. Overall, water demand occurred 11% of the time, but some areas experienced it 53.8% of the time. Ants accounted for much of the response (38% overall, but 62.8% and 57.4% in both high-impervious surface sites). Water demand behavior increased when soil moisture declined, especially below 30%. These results suggest that invertebrates experience water demand in a cool mesic region, even those living outside of urban areas. Further, invertebrates inhabiting cooler sites were most susceptible to periodic droughts or sudden weather changes, which could be due to arthropods at those locations having fewer xeric-adapted traits. When water is scarce, arthropods can obtain water by metabolizing dry food. Because lipids provide twice as much metabolic water as other macromolecules, eating high-lipid foods can reduce the need to forage for moist food. In chapter two, I examined the effects that arthropod water demand and impervious surface have on macronutrient consumption within 32 sites across Toledo, OH. Two artificial diets high in lipid or protein were offered at six trees at each site, three of which had wet water pillows and three had dry pillows. Lipid demand (L:P) was positively associated with impervious surface (X2 = 8.36, df = 1, p < 0.01), and water pillows reduced the magnitude of this effect; this suggests that water balance likely played a role in driving lipid demand, matching predictions. Ants accounted for much of the response in high impervious surface areas. Because ants play key roles in food webs and ecos (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Kevin McCluney (Advisor); Karen Root (Committee Member); Shannon Pelini (Committee Member) Subjects: Animals; Biology; Ecology; Physiology