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Browsing Education by Subject "Access"
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Item Open Access Growing Prior Knowings of Zero: Growth of Mathematical Understanding of Learners with Difficulties in Mathematics(2018-11-21) Ruttenberg-Rozen, Robyn Gayla; Martin, LyndonCurrently, there is a large proportion of learners experiencing difficulties in mathematics. Much of the intervention research for children with great difficulty learning mathematics has focused on accommodations to the peripheral supports of mathematics, like creating step by step plans, and not on strategies to help children conceptualize mathematics or enable them to mathematize. We know very little about the conceptual development and how to effect change in conceptual understanding of mathematics for children who have great difficulty learning mathematics. At the same time, in mathematics education research, zero is a known area of difficulty for many students and misconceptions regarding zero can persist into university and adulthood. This dissertation explores growth in understanding with three learners experiencing difficulties in mathematics and their growing conceptions of zero. Utilizing the Pirie Kieren Theory for the Dynamical Growth of Mathematical Understanding and its model for tracking growth on a small scale, I ask the questions, (i) What is the process of change, the growth of understanding, that each child passes through? and (ii) What are the images and prior knowings that children experiencing difficulties in mathematics have about zero, and how do they thicken? The analysis presented here is mainly of the task-based clinical interviews in which each learner participated. Data from parental surveys, task-based interventions and classroom observations are used to support this analysis. Results of my research indicate how learners may be thickening and revisiting their prior knowings. Thickening occurs either as a foundation to anchor growth, or as a comparative for new growth. Results of my research also indicate that on the small-scale of tracking growth there is a juncture between expectation and result where growth has the potential to occur or not occur. This research provides descriptive evidence of intervention specifically for growth in understanding that takes into account the juncture between expectation and result. Finally, because zero is a paradox, understandings in Primitive Knowing around zero require multiple revisitings.Item Open Access Institutional Strategies and Factors that Contribute to the Engagement of Recent Immigrant Adult Students in Ontario Post-Secondary Education(2014-07-09) Grabke, Sheldon Vaughn Richard; Axelrod, Paul D.; Theory of participationThe purpose of this study is to provide a unique investigation that yields vital data on barriers experienced by recent immigrant adult students (RIAS), the policies, practices and supports in PSE and their impact on RIAS engagement, and factors that contribute to the engagement of RIAS in Ontario PSE. This examination contributes to and furthers the student engagement in PSE literature by providing an original view into RIAS engagement in PSE. This dissertation involves qualitative and quantitative research methods including 18 key informant interviews, six focus groups, one interview and 434 survey responses as well as historical data, policies, procedures and artifacts at colleges and universities in Ontario. These different methodological attributes bring triangulation of sources and methods into the study. All of the data is analyzed using the student engagement conceptual framework. This study finds that PSE in Ontario seems to know little of the number, type, experiences and engagement of RIAS on campus. This research argues how and why the traditional model of engagement does not apply well to RIAS. Key findings include that RIAS are performing well academically in PSE despite the numerous barriers that they face and their lack of engagement. RIAS strong motivation to complete PSE and their inherent optimism is such that many persist to completion. One fundamental factor contributing to the lack of engagement for RIAS is their minimal social involvement in PSE. Using the findings, this dissertation provides numerous recommendations for changes to institutional policies and procedures to further RIAS engagement. Both academic and social engagement of RIAS in PSE significantly predict the hallmarks of a liberal education. This is a noteworthy reason for PSE to make an investment in the engagement of RIAS in Ontario PSE. This study therefore has implications for theory and practice in PSE in Ontario. Through developing creative ways to remove barriers and augment supports for RIAS in PSE, RIAS may begin to be more engaged in PSE. This noble endeavour can help RIAS more fully develop into engaged citizens and truly assist them in their settlement experience in Ontario.Item Open Access To Play or Not to Play: Non/Participation in Eve Online(2016-09-20) Bergstrom, Kelly Marie; Jenson, JenniferThis dissertation addresses a gap in the academic study of digital games whereby investigations remain focused on current players and the experiences of former or non-players are rarely accounted for. Using EVE Online (EVE), a massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) known for its difficult learning curve and homogenous community as a case study, I conducted an investigation of who does/does not play this particular game and their stated reasons for playing or not. I argue that while EVE is positioned in the MMOG market as a sandbox style game where in-game activities are only limited by a players imagination, in reality only a very particular type of play (and player) is publically acknowledged by EVEs developer (CCP Games), the gaming enthusiast press, and academics investigations of this game, emphasizing just how little is known about who plays EVE beyond the stereotypical imagined player. Drawing on literature from leisure studies to articulate a framework for exploring barriers/constraints to gameplay and theoretically informed by feminist theories of technology, I conducted an Internet-based survey to capture the thoughts and experiences of current, former, and non-EVE players. A total of 981 participants completed the survey. In my analysis of open-ended responses, I found that current players described the game in a way that emphasized its exceptionality, relied heavily on jargon, and assumed their reader was already familiar with EVE, its player community, and its surrounding norms and conventions. Non-players who were familiar with the game described their perceptions of EVE being an unwelcoming community meant they had opted out of playing without ever downloading the trial. Former players fell into three groupings: ex-players who had permanently quit EVE, a group who want to play but felt forced to take a temporary break due to external constraints (e.g. exams at school or financial limitations), and a third group would consider returning if changes to their personal circumstances and/or the game happened in future. Ultimately this research complicates what it means to play or not play MMOG, opening up avenues for future research about how access and barriers to digital game play inevitably shift over time.