Teenchangers, Adolescent Accounts of Their Executive Functioning Skills in Participatory Action Research

Item

Title

Teenchangers, Adolescent Accounts of Their Executive Functioning Skills in Participatory Action Research

Abstract/Description

This research study was a phenomenological account of the lived experiences of 12 seventh-grade adolescents in a middle-level public school in the United States. The researcher in this 6-month study also observed the executive function (EF) skills used by participants. The EF subskills were based on the Dawson and Guare (2018) EF skills model. Positive psychology was used to frame the work, as participants were the experts. Youth participatory action research (YPAR) was a tool to create a low-stakes, ungraded environment with adolescents as the leaders. Participants’ EF skills were observed while they conducted the YPAR study. The data analysis overlaid the stories shared and the EF subskills observed. Three themes emerged from the stories: Adult-Student Relationships, Preconceived Notions, and Student Choice. In each theme, different EF subskills were unlocked. A new model was created connecting the three themes and the 11 EF subskills. Positive Adult-Student Relationships unlocked access to the EF subskills of planning, organization, flexibility, and working memory. Assumptions unlocked access to the EF subskills of emotional control, metacognition, response inhibition. The third lock, Student Choice, unlocked access to the EF subskills of task initiation, goal-directed persistence, time management and sustained attention. Negative relationships, assumptions, or no student choice locked EF access.

Author/creator

Ramsey, Rachael Morgan Brenlove

Date

2020

Institution

New England College

Committee

Nitschke-Shaw, Debra

Fitzgerald, Carlton

Dawson, Peg

Resource type

en Research/Scholarly Media

Resource status/form

en Thesis/Dissertation

Scholarship genre

en Empirical

Keywords

adolescents

executive function

phenomenology

positive psychology

youth participatory action research

IRE Approach/Concept

Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR)

Primary national context

United States

Language

English

Open access/full-text available

en Yes

Peer reviewed

en No

ISBN

9798672189222

URL

Official Dissertation Webpage (via ProQuest Dissertations)

Open Access Dissertation PDF (via ProQuest Dissertations)

Citation

Ramsey, R. M. B. (2020). Teenchangers, Adolescent Accounts of Their Executive Functioning Skills in Participatory Action Research [Ed.D., New England College]. https://www.proquest.com/dissertations/docview/2449504850/abstract/B8F006AC8B446CBPQ/46

Place

United States -- New Hampshire

Rights

Database copyright ProQuest LLC; ProQuest does not claim copyright in the individual underlying works.

Type

Ed.D.

Item sets

Open Access Resource (IRE)

IRE Theses and Dissertations

20220707 IRE Dissertations

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