This dissertation research combines archival data and historical methods and analyzes how schooling and education in Greece between 1834 and 1913 sought to shape a Greek national identity. The goal of this project is to present a historical analysis, that has thus far been absent from scholarship on the subject, and to convey how the adoption of a common national history in Greece, with roots to ancient Greece, assisted in the shaping of a Greek national identity. The timeframe this project examines is significant because it covers an important portion of Modern Greek history. The beginning of the modern state of Greece and the opening of the first Greek schools occurred in 1834, while 1913 represents the end of the Balkan Wars and the expansion of Greek schools and a Greek identity into newly claimed parts of Greece. The years between 1834 and 1913 were a time of major social, political, and cultural changes in the state of Greece that helped to facilitate the formation of a Modern Greek national identity. Greek government legislation, textbooks, teachers manuals, curriculum guidelines, opinions, and other writings from and about this time period, provide the historical, social and cultural contexts analyzed in this dissertation. By focusing on these archival materials, this project contributes to the history of education, cultural and educational policy studies, comparative and international education, national identity formation, Modern Greek history and more broadly, European history.

The purpose of this study was to explore the effectiveness of training in decision-making on U.S. history content knowledge and on decision-making competence. All sophomores (n ＝ 387) in one Pacific Northwest high school were randomly assigned for two trimesters to one of two groups: (a) U.S. history instruction integrated with decision training or (b) traditional U.S. history instruction. During the study, Experimental Group participants were trained to use a decision-making tool to sort, process, and analyze the facts, events, and concepts of history in the context of solving a historically relevant problem. By applying the decision-making tool to problems and decisions of the past, students utilized a schema for critical, analytical, and creative thinking about U.S. history content. Students also analyzed current problems and decisions they face. Dependent measures were (a) NAEP U.S. History questions, (b) Decision-Making Competence Index (DMC), (c) NAEP item analysis using knowledge forms and intellectual operations, and (d) Experimental Group follow-up interviews. Results indicated statistically significant differences between groups favoring the Experimental on both the NAEP U.S. History test and on the DMC. Experimental Group participants scored higher on NAEP items requiring concept or principle knowledge forms and on items requiring summarization or illustration. Follow-up interview scores positively correlated with DMC posttest scores. Results are discussed in terms of (a) the application of NAEP and DMC scores to curricular interventions and (b) item analysis and interviews in relation to the environmental and physical constraints of the current high school structure.

Student achievement on the Jump$tart or JumpStart) financial literacy assessment forms the basis for the Presidents Advisory Councils declaration that Americas high school graduates are not financially literate and as a result, Americas financial markets and standard of living are at risk. Their recommendations to address this problem include compulsory financial literacy education for all Americans. The espoused normative economic policy goal of compulsory financial literacy education is increased wealth for all Americans. The purpose of this study is to determine the extent to which the Jump$tart assessment measures knowledge that leads to increased national wealth. I researched the evolution of our economic paradigm over time to determine how wealth is created. From my study of the Socratic dialogue Oeconomicus, the work of philosophers from the Age of Enlightenment including Adam Smith and Jean Jacque Rousseau, Alfred Marshall, and contemporary philosopher Thomas S. Kuhn, I sought to discover how humankind is thought to increase wealth, health, societal welfare and social justice for all people. From that research it became evident that the only method of increasing national wealth is through improving a societys breadth and scope of knowledge of mans environment and of man himself. My analysis of the Jump$tart assessment reveals that the authors of the test did not draw on the collective knowledge of economists and philosophers in preparing the exam. Instead, they assess the extent to which students memorized a few economic rules-of-thumb and the names and attributes of products offered by the financial services firms who are the benefactors of the Jump$tart organization

In 2001 the state of South Dakota embarked on a progressive, statewide technological initiative in K-12 education, providing teachers with the tools and skills to teach students how to use Global Positioning Systems GPS) and Geographic Information Systems GIS). The initiative was well received and included many teachers across the state. Recently, however, the state stopped actively supporting teachers in continuing education and introductory training in GPS/GIS. In this thesis the author sought to: 1) review published research pertaining to the use of GIS/GPS in the classroom and its effects on student achievement； 2) investigate the history and current status of the South Dakota GPS/GIS initiative； 3) evaluate the South Dakota teachers who have implemented GPS/GIS in their classroom, identifying selected characteristics, needs for support, obstacles to using the technology and perceptions of GPS/GIS and its educational value； and 4) measure the attitudinal effect GPS/GIS technology has on one group of World Geography students in South Dakota. It is the hope of the author to shed light on the current situation with the use of GPS/GIS technology in secondary classrooms in South Dakota and provide appropriate recommendations to revitalize the states GPS/GIS initiative.

This thesis incorporates a study that shows a relationship between verbal and nonverbal behaviors and the outcome of a communicative event. This study was conducted by observing the communicative behaviors that potential customers exhibited after they were offered a free sample. The societal norm of reciprocity states that people who receive gifts such as free samples) are likely to express obligatory feelings to the gift-giver Spradly 2000). However, it was demonstrated by El-Alayli and Messe 2003) that people who receive a gift may feel that their social freedom is challenged and choose not to respond. The study shows that although the majority of people accept a free sample, they are not likely to reciprocate； and responses that are traditionally assumed to show acceptance can actually refer to denial or rejection when one observes nonverbal responses. For example, ten percent of the time when the responses of “sure”, “yeah” or “okay” were spoken by a customer after a free sample was offered, he/she did not accept the sample. Four percent of the time when the customer said “thanks” or “thank you”, he/she also did not take the sample. The outcomes of this study coincide with Hard Science Linguistics that values human communication as being comprised of all observable behaviors in real world situations. Nonverbal behaviors are important to analyze because they do not depend on the properties of the researcher to be observed. Furthermore, articulations that are traditionally viewed as positive acceptance such as “thanks”, “thank you”, “sure”, “yeah” or “okay”) can actually be part of a denial or rejection of an offer when analyzed in combination with nonverbal responses. Evaluations of the cultural and pragmatic circumstances surrounding an event directly reflect the behaviors of potential customers when they were offered a free sample. When teaching communication, one must take into account verbal and nonverbal behaviors of the native setting in relation to the overall context or purpose of the communicative event.

This study tracks changes in the textbook Keynesian model in the best-selling principles-of-economics textbook in the United States, McConnell & Brue, and compares it with the profession’s textbook of record, Samuelson & Nordhaus. One major and two minor themes present themselves from the analysis: (a) Despite the forces of inertia and other factors that affect textbook composition, the principles textbook is a surprisingly accurate reflection of current events and the evolution of ideas in the economics profession, with a lag of 5 to 10 years. Ideas that appeared rapidly were usually the result of widespread public concern and current events. Concepts that took longer to appear tended to be those that did not meet the research and other needs of the mainstream； delays in acceptance also appear due to conflict with the Keynesian paradigm under which the author(s) and reviewers were trained. (b) The widespread adoption of aggregate demand-aggregate supply (AD–AS) analysis has loosened Samuelson’s influence on the principles text because it permits direct classroom exposition of the fundamental question in economics: the length of time it takes the economy to self-adjust. (c) The best-selling principles textbook taught our students a 1960s Keynesian approach to deficits and debt. An analysis in the appendix found that the Nobel Prize is a lagging indicator and the Bates Clark award is a leading indicator of the productivity of prominent economists.

Women in the United States are disproportionately underrepresented at the upper levels of law, medicine, and business. Some have suggested that combining high-powered careers with family demands is exceedingly difficult, causing women to quit work altogether or remain at the lower levels of professional work. Many companies adopt work/life balance policies such as maternity leave and emergency child care in an attempt to retain capable female employees. This dissertation performs the first examination of whether these policies have their intended effects by answering the question: Do work/life balance policies increase female employee retention rates? Since increased employee retention rates should result in cost savings for firms, yet the policies themselves can be quite costly, the study also examines the effect of such policies on firm profitability. I answer these questions using a unique data set of law firms. The National Association for Law Placement annually publishes a book, The National Directory of Legal Employers NDLE), with firm-level data detailing which work/life benefits are offered by each firm along with information on the demographic composition of employees, type of law practiced, and much more. I use data for the past 10 years and firm fixed-effects models—this allows isolation of the effects of the policies on female employee retention and profitability in the presence of unobserved firm heterogeneity. Models employing firm and year fixed effects distinguish the effects of the policies from general trends in employee retention and profitability taking place over the sample period. I find that dependent care policies, such as child care referral services and flexible spending accounts, and wellness programs, such as employee assistance programs, are associated with increases in the retention of female employees. There is evidence that such programs are not a significant drain on company profitability. Since firms similar to those in this study can expect to realize gains in retention of employees and continued profit growth, it would behoove them to adopt certain types of work/life balance policies.

This dissertation attempts to do two things. First, it seeks to address how European history became an important component of the social studies curriculum at the end of the 19th century. By cataloguing changes in America’s cultural, intellectual and political history over the course of the 19th century, this dissertation shows how European civilization acquired increased importance in the college and high school curriculum and in the scholarly work of historians. This importance in turn spurred the inclusion of European history into the then expanding social studies curricular scope and sequence. Second, by analyzing state standards and textbooks, this dissertation seeks to assess the status of European history in the curriculum today. The broad theme that unites these two objectives is that of curriculum reform. The integration of European history into the social studies curriculum in many ways represents the product of a successful curriculum reform effort. This fact is in itself significant, as educational history repeatedly warns that attempts to reform the curriculum typically result in failure and frustration. Later, a new reform movement—labeled in this dissertation as the “world history movement”—challenged European history’s place in the curriculum. This fact raises questions about the relative success of this second reform effort. Has the world history movement been able as yet to displace European history’s position within the curriculum? To answer this question, social studies standards from all fifty states were analyzed, along with the most popular high school and advanced placement world history textbooks. The research in this dissertation yielded the following conclusions. First, the movement to integrate European history into the social studies curriculum was successful； most schools adopted an approach that placed greater emphasis on European history. Second, this curricular orientation has proven difficult to supplant. Even in the face of a determined reform effort to introduce a broader perspective, European history still constitutes the bulk of the content in classes termed “world history” taught at the high school level. While textbooks and standards do show the influence of world history scholars, the content and its chronological orientation remains highly European in focus. The world history movement has, as yet, met only limited success as a reform movement in supplanting European history from the secondary curriculum.

This historical research will provide school leaders with a broad conception of the conditions, forces and processes behind the development of Economics Education. It serves as a case study of past and current practices and approaches to advocacy in economics education. Since it began in 1885, economics education has experienced many obstacles and successes as a part of its development in to a nationally recognized and tested content area. Economics appears on the National Assessment of Educational Progress for the first time in 2007. Throughout its history the political, social economic and educational forces in the United States have influenced the development of economics education in both positive and negative ways. In response, economics education has had to develop a well-defined advocacy framework in order to justify the importance of economics education in secondary education. This research will use historical documentary analysis to illustrate the successes and failures of the advocacy framework used in economics education. The researcher will identify the specific examples of advocacy strategies used by lawmakers, professional organizations, educators, theorists, government agencies, universities and colleges in the development of economics education as a national movement. Successful advocacy strategies in economics education include (1) a clearly defined purpose, (2) advocacy by related professional organizations, (3) legislative support and funding, (4) partnerships with colleges and universities, and (5) clearly defined standards, assessment and research. The advocacy framework illustrated in this case study can be used by any of the humanities or liberal arts looking to establish the importance of their inclusion into a secondary education curriculum.

Increased global interdependence demands a new approach to geography education. This dissertation is particularly attentive to the construction and development of the concept of place in geography education. To evaluate this, the dissertation consists of three independent, yet interrelated studies that explore the everyday experiences students and prospective teachers have with geography. The studies are designed to address a gap across three disciplines: geography education, critical geography, and civic education. To better prepare student to be actively engaged in the world around them, this gap must be minded. The three studies that comprise this dissertation each explore a different set of questions and produce overlapping, yet unique findings. The first study, conducted with U.S. students, examined their everyday experiences with geography education. These students produced a model of the tactics students use when they encounter places. The model explains how students made meaning of places and how they acted in accordance with their understanding. The second study, conducted with Malawian students, explored how they made meaning of their localities and how this was related to their civic identities. They show us the complexities related to a sense of place demonstrating that places do have a recognizable sense of place held by a broad group of students, that this sense of place is actively maintained through behavior and affiliation in order to produce a certain belief about how the country should be organized, that this sense of place is sometimes challenged by individuals and groups who feel excluded by the dominant sense of place, and that articulation of the sense of place serves explicit political, personal, and cultural agendas. These students also offered a model of civic engagement that located civic participation purposely and strongly in the place to which it was assigned. The final study, conducted with prospective teachers, explored the conceptions of place they bring brought to the classroom and how they implemented this. While these interns offer optimism, they also showed the difficulties surrounding the implementation of ideas that challenge the dominant paradigm of a discipline. One intern offered a model of implementation drawing on local place and familiar systems. None of the studies in this dissertation are about geography education, yet each speaks to geography education. The final chapters of the dissertation address the ways in which these everyday experiences which parallel the theories from critical geography challenge the current frameworks of geography education and offer new possibilities for rethinking the place of place in geography education. In particular, this dissertation examines five factors—the prevalence of counternarratives within a sense of place, the role of perception in understanding place, the limitation of the normalizing process when making comparisons, the role of discourse communities to which students belong in affecting how they make sense of places, and what constitutes a map skill—that propose to reshape the activities and purposes of geography education. Finally, the work addresses the implications for civic education. While often neglected by geography educators, civic education is a component of all of the social studies. Rethinking how we define and use place, particularly in a manner that draws attention to the social interactions that actively construct place, requires attention to the way in which civic participation shapes and is shaped by place.