BEARdocs
Welcome to Baylor University's Digital Repository! If you are a Baylor researcher who wants to contribute content to BEARdocs, or if you are a member of a Baylor Department that is interested in setting up a community in BEARdocs, please contact: libraryquestions@baylor.edu.
| Quick Links: |
| Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection |
| Honors College Theses |
| Museum Studies Internships |
| Museum Studies Projects |
| Truett Seminary Projects |
Communities in DSpace
Select a community to browse its collections.
- Center for Astrophysics, Space Physics & Engineering Research
- The primary administrative body for graduate education at Baylor University.
- Honors College
Recent Submissions
Exploring ideologically diverse friend groups among college students.
(2021-08) Patterson, Sarah Elizabeth, 1997-; Alleman, Nathan F., 1975-
Von Berger and Bresslen (2017) define viewpoint or ideological diversity as “an
honest consideration of multiple views, often competing for claims that privileges a
vigorous or spirited debate of ideologically different ideas which are to be judged on their
logical soundness and intellectual merit” (p. 26). In recent years, ideological diversity has
become a growing research interest in the higher education field but little research has
been dedicated to ideological diversity within peer interactions and friend groups. This
exploratory qualitative research study seeks to answer the following question: How do
college students at faith-based universities develop and maintain ideologically diverse
friend groups, and what are the perceived outcomes of such friendships? With the intent
to better understand IDFGs in faith-based higher education, this study offers insight as to
why promoting ideological diversity and such friend groups is meaningful for student
development and the student experience as well as insight for how Christian higher
education professionals might go about supporting IDFG-related initiatives.
American exodus, American identity : biblical texts and national identities from the American Revolution to the Civil War.
(2023-08) Benham, Kristina, 1983-; Kidd, Thomas S.
The broad question that drives my interest in this topic is how people’s religious beliefs influenced their participation in public culture or their interpretation of that culture, particularly national identity. Forming Americans’ national identity as if they were the people of God has always been a complicated and controversial topic, not least because of the questionable exercise of trying to discern and declare the will of God for a whole nation. Americans have always been many peoples, and the era between the Revolution and the Civil War was no different. Though only white males had formal political roles, interpreting national life through biblical ideas was as important to slaves, women, freed people, and others. This was possible because those living by religious belief saw themselves as relating not just to the political body or broader society and its many parts but also to God and his perspective on their social and cultural context. Biblical narratives like the Exodus were useful for many different kinds of people, whether politically powerful or not, because from their perspective God acted in a history they believed to be continuous in some way with their own. He acted on behalf of the nation, but he also acted against the nation that oppresses. He delivered and he punished for sin. Tracking the many uses and changes of biblical texts central to American national identity highlights conflict over beliefs about the religious life of the nation and related political issues and draws in a cross-section of Americans not typically among the political or theologically elite. While this is not, alone, a new idea, this study offers a careful examination of how national identities and scriptural texts were connected across time and between a diversity of groups in America. In particular, the Exodus was a central biblical text with both a timeless quality and an ever-shifting usage in American public religion.
Mindfulness-based program effectiveness on high school student hope, engagement, and academic achievement in the western United States : a quantitative examination.
(2024-05) Aguirre, Arielle A., 1990-; Vaughn, Shelby D.
The mental health crisis is on the rise, and adolescents are reporting higher levels of anxiety and depression. High school students’ academic achievement, engagement, and hope for goal attainment are decreasing due to their mental health. The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of mindfulness-based programs (MBPs) on high school students’ academic achievement, classroom engagement, and hope. The theory used in this quantitative study is Snyder’s (1995) hope theory, which focuses on the importance of hope in achieving goals and overcoming obstacles through motivation and adaptability.
This quantitative quasi-experimental study investigates the effectiveness of MBPs on high school student academics, engagement, and hope. Through purposeful convenience sampling, two groups of high school students (n = 30) participated in the research. The participants’ ages ranged from 15–17, with 46.67% identifying as male (n = 14), 50% identifying as female (n = 15), and 6.67% identifying as nonbinary (n = 1). The experimental group participated in an MBP intervention facilitated by a trained teacher. The control group received no intervention for comparison. Academic grades, Mindful Attention Awareness Scale, and Children’s Hope Scale scores were collected for pre- and post-test comparisons.
This study revealed that students who participated in an MBP had a higher median grade average than those who did not. However, after MBP implementation, students showed a 4% increase in grade percentage. Although not statistically significant, there was a medium effect size (d = .36), which shows practical significance for the experimental group (n = 14). Additionally, this study shows that MBPs have no impact on classroom engagement or on student hope.
This study has implications for school districts, administration, and teachers to combat declining student mental well-being. With the rise of anxiety and depression among students, interventions within the education system are needed to provide students with the skills to regulate their emotions in a positive way. Mindfulness allows students to ground themselves in the present moment toward academic success and hope for a positive future.
Bloom into you : a director's approach to Joan Ackermann's "Ice Glen".
(2019-05) Sivara, Cooper Dean, 1989-; Castleberry, Marion.
Joan Ackermann’s play Ice Glen tells the story of the reclusive poet Sarah Harding. Sarah lives in seclusion in a Berkshire cottage called Stonegate, located in the hills of western Massachusetts. When the literary editor Peter Woodburn visits Stonegate intent on publishing Sarah’s poems, the two set off a series of events which forever change the lives of everyone living there. This thesis documents the analytical, design, and rehearsal processes as well as the overall directorial approach to Ice Glen performed at Baylor University in the fall of 2018.
Bonding and bridging social capital : social class relationships in residential colleges.
(2019-05) Edwards, Emily Elise, 1994-; Alleman, Nathan F., 1975-
The college and university campus provides a social space in which social class is both relevant to the individual and the structures by which the campus is sociologically constructed. Residential colleges provide a more focused social space in which students intentionally live together for the analysis of social class relationships with an additional cost barrier. This study attempts to analyze the potential liabilities of social reproduction by social class relationships of students in a residential college as illuminated by bonding and bridging social capital.