This research will evaluate how participatory relationships lead to authenticity. Because these particular relationships allow for individual participation, this research first addresses the problems of oppression as the obstruction of authentic participation. Next, participatory relations are compared to non-participatory relationships. Then this research thoroughly defines the parameters, identifies the purposes, and considers the principles of participatory relationships. Moreover, this research uses a mathematical formula and theory to define community in relationship to participation, as well as justify the purposes and strengths of participatory relationships. Furthermore, because of the size of this research topic and the time that it would take to cover this research in its entirety the main focus of this presentation will explain the mathematical methodology used to support this research.

Child development often looks at how different factors influence the socio-emotional development of children. These factors include socio-economic status, parents, multicultural education, bilingual education and many more. Although several factors are carefully dissected, pets have been forgotten. Millions of households have animals for different reasons, some for companionship and others for protection. The ways in which children process their relationships with these pets depends on their exposure, culture, and parental relationships with the animals. The purpose of this study was to understand how African American children constructed the meaning of their relationship with their pets and to explore how culture, if at all, plays a role in the child’s relationship with their animal. This study also  examined the socio-cultural and psychological complexity in children’s relationship and bond, both positive (e.g., emotional support, development of empathy & compassion) and negative (e.g., teasing, bullying and abuse) with their pets and explore their developmental significance. A qualitative research design was used, consisting of draw and tell interviews with the children and follow up interviews with the parents if clarification was needed. A sample of two families was used and the interviews were conducted in the homes of the families. The children were asked a series of questions regarding their relationship with their pets, and asked to draw a picture to illustrate their response. The children were then asked follow up questions based on their responses. Based on literature, the anticipated results will show that child-pet bonding positively affects empathy levels in children. It will also show that culture is an extremely important factor when measuring relationships between children and pets. Understanding children’s relationships with their pets is important to understanding behavior.

Adolescents who opt for placement within an alternative high school program often cite their motivation for doing so as a lack of integration within traditional academic settings, or a perceived disjuncture (academic or social) between themselves and "typical" adolescent peer groups. However, in an environment where placement is voluntary based on differentiation, additional spheres of marginalization can function as both curse and blessing. The purpose of this research is to explore whether alternative students who are “multiply marginalized”—on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic status—develop identity and form community with one another in a manner that differs from their integration patterns during prior experiences with traditional education. It explores whether alternative placement functions as an additional sphere of social support for marginalized students, or if it represents new challenges that these students may never have confronted within more traditional academic communities.  This research represents a case study of two distinct alternative high school programs serving students around metropolitan Seattle--Nova Alternative High School (located in Seattle's Central District), and the Robinson Center for Young Scholars (located on the University of Washington campus). These programs differ dramatically in terms of academic focus and social milieu—while Nova operates within a recuperative ethos, intending to "heal" students who have been rejected from normative spheres while progressing at a self-mitigated academic pace, Robinson Center students pursue a more regimented course based upon an accelerated curriculum and gradual assimilation into their new social community. Students from both programs were observed over a period of three months, before completing a questionnaire and participating in an interview session designed to gauge perceptions of their new academic environment. Results will be analyzed to determine impacts--positive or negative--that the transition may have precipitated over students’ academic progress and social development.

Underage drinking in college has become a rather substantial problem that many universities and law enforcement agencies are attempting to curtail. One factor that seems to play heavily into this phenomenon is the Greek system at large universities, where underage alcohol consumption rates of students appear to be higher than non-Greek affiliated students. This project will attempt to explain what mechanisms exist within Greek organizations on the campuses of large universities that helps mold the perception of underage members to view underage drinking as an acceptable action. To address this question, data collected by Harvard in the College Alcohol Study (CAS) will be used to evaluate responses by Greek affiliated students to attempt to locate certain commonalities that could be an explanation for the increase in underage drinking and the change in perception of underage drinking from a deviant act to a non-deviant act, such as, trends of increased drinking before college, the influence of upperclassmen and attempting to fit into Greek culture, and ease of availability of alcohol to underage Greek students. This project will hopefully provide insight to university officials as to the inner workings of Greek houses and the effect these houses have on students and underage drinking, and can help university staff and law enforcement agencies develop new methods to curtail underage drinking.

Understanding the concerns of teachers working within the current education system is essential for planning, implementing, and maintaining a better education for our students. Under inclusion, students with special needs are placed in regular education classrooms and seen as full participants and members of the class. The purpose of this research project was to provide a snapshot of our progress in implementing inclusion within Seattle Public elementary schools and to identify the benefits, support, and struggles that our current educators are experiencing. Data was gathered through personal interviews, literary reviews, and individual observation. Findings reveal the advantages of inclusion for students and their communities (i.e. social-emotional development) as well as the supports (i.e. collaboration between curriculum/instruction and special education leaders) and obstacles (i.e. transition-planning processes, utilizing follow-up data, inconsistencies in practice and lack of cohesiveness amongst Seattle Public elementary schools, etc.) of implementing inclusion as identified by primary classroom teachers (grades K-5.) Suggestions for future research on identifying and addressing teacher concerns are also discussed.

This study focuses on ELL (English Language Learners) endorsement, which is the subject student-teachers specialize in to teach once they are in the field. Having this as an endorsement in a teaching certificate implies that new teachers are qualified to teach multilingual students. However, teaching multiethnic children is more than a question of linguistics because culture also has to be taken into consideration. I conducted an ELL literature review that focuses on what essential elements are needed for a relevant and useful ELL endorsement. This project is a literature-based study and the data includes articles from education journal databases (e.g. ERIC, JSTOR) specific to ELL endorsement and multilingual students. It is important to look at this concept in education because as this country further diversifies, our teachers must be better prepared to teach all of their students.

This project explores the use of text in the University of Washington’s Master of Education in Intercollegiate Athletic Leadership (IAL) degree program. The IAL program prepares it graduates to go forth and succeed in positions involving coaching logistics, team operations, fundraising and event management in a college setting. Since there is no current foundational textbook for this program, a team of current professors have been asked to create one. As part of the team we are taking on the task of creating relevant, current and applicable textbook full of case studies. Four chapters of the proposed textbook I will be focusing on will be Finance, Health & Wellness, Alumni Boosters and Media Relations. With these sections in mind I will be using archival methods, evaluating current texts, and drafting example case book chapters for the future text. The case studies are both real court cases and fictional cases that will provide a wealth of detail and give credibility to situations and issues, most importantly provide real life outcomes and solutions. Text’s like these are needed for the ever changing world of athletic management, without it students will be in the dark about what real life scenarios they will encounter and tackle after graduation. Upon the textbooks debut in 2011 we plan on distributing not only here at UW, but also to other programs like this around the country.