Graduate Theses

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    The Oral History of Critical Dietetics: What has been left unasked?
    (Mount Saint Vincent University, 2023-03) Rose, Nikita
    World Critical Dietetics (WCD; formerly Critical Dietetics), was founded just over 10 years ago with a mandate to foster critical and feminist approaches to dietetic scholarship, education, and practice. The founding members have published several pieces that describe the mandate, mission, and vision of WCD. However, there is no research that has documented the founding and evolution of WCD through the eyes and experiences of its founding members. To fill this gap, my research will invite founding members of WCD to revisit, reflect upon, and share their experiences of founding WCD using oral history.
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    Characters of Colour as Depicted in Canadian Children’s Picture Books
    (Mount Saint Vincent University, 2023) Chen, Yingyi
    Picture Books designed for children can be a way for children to learn about themselves and others. While a growing number of Canadian children’s picture books are labelled racially/ethnically diverse or multicultural and characters of colour (CoC) in these books might have increased over time, it remains unclear if or how they are advocating for the promotion of social justice and diversity portray Persons of Colour (PoC). To illuminate if/how racism and oppression operate in contemporary Canadian children’s picture books, this thesis research examines how CoC are depicted in both text and images of the six selected books included in the Social Justice and Diversity Book Bank of the Canadian Children’s Book Centre by applying Critical Race Theory and Critical Content Analysis. The six books (Pre-K to Grade 2) published since 2016 containing one or more CoC with central themes of racial/ethnic diversity and/or multiculturalism. While the representations are mostly without overt racism towards CoC, each of the books can be identified as problematic in various ways, including lack of explicit statements of the race/ethnicity of CoC in text, lack of culturally authentic details in text and images, persistence of racial/ethnic stereotypes or cultural deficit discourses in text and images, and absence of overtly addressing racism in text and counter-storytelling of CoC. Examining the depictions of CoC in these books has enabled us to develop a clearer understanding how contemporary Canadian children’s picture books reflect authentic/stereotypical representations of PoC, or reproduce dominant ideologies that reinforce their marginalization.
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    The Effects of a Vocabulary-Intensive Reading Intervention on the Reading Skills of Grade Two Children
    (Mount Saint Vincent University, 2023-04) Rideout, Chez Crossman
    Decades of reading research have produced strong evidence for the importance of explicit reading instruction in all reading components; phonological awareness, decoding, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension to develop proficient reading skills (Kim et al., 2020). The critical role of phonological awareness in developing solid reading skills has been well documented (Baker et al., 2018; Kjeldsen et al., 2014), which explains why phonological awareness training is the first and most widely used intervention to improve children’s reading skills. Oral language skills and vocabulary knowledge are also vital factors in reading development (Biemiller, 2012). Research suggests that explicit vocabulary instruction effectively improves language and reading skills (Catts et al., 1999; Stanley et al., 2018). This study examined how a vocabulary-intensive reading intervention affected the reading skills of grade two children. The reading skills examined were phonological processing and awareness, word and nonword reading, reading fluency, and receptive vocabulary. Participants were tested pre- and post-intervention to determine which skills were affected and to what extent. A trained researcher conducted the vocabulary-intensive intervention of between 10 and 30 sessions online. Results indicated no significant differences in mean scores on 13 standardized reading measures from pre-to post- intervention. The changes in reading skills from pre- to post-intervention might have clinical significance within an educational context, as five reading measures' effect sizes were above 0.2. This research aimed to increase knowledge about the effectiveness of vocabulary-based interventions to improve reading skills. This knowledge could inform curriculum decisions regarding preventive vocabulary instruction and remedial intervention.
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    Agency in the Early Years: A Discussion with Nova Scotia Early Childhood Educators
    (Mount Saint Vincent University, 2023-04-04) Brown, Sarah
    Children’s agency is the ability to move through and influence physical spaces, routines, and social spaces while being mindful of others sharing the space with them. It is important for children in early childcare settings to establish their agency, as it is one of the few places outside of the child’s home where they can interact with other people. Critically, developmentally appropriate practice (DAP) has been considered the standard practice of early childcare, where children’s bodies are managed in order to comply with adult standards. An over reliance on DAP standards can limit the possibilities for children to express themselves and curtails their ability to be agentic. The aim of this research is to learn from early childhood educators (ECEs) in Halifax, Nova Scotia, if and how they are able to prioritize children’s voices within their practice in order to support children’s agency. Using a qualitative case-study with a focus group methodology, this researcher found participants who prioritized freedoms within their classroom settings to allow children to express themselves. Four themes emerged from these discussions surrounding agency; practitioner’s philosophies inform children’s agency, institutional structures can impact children’s agency, settings and routine informs children’s agency, and supporting young children’s voices. Two recommendations arose from this study found that professional development needs to explicitly discuss children’s agency and child rights in order to bring these understandings to the foreground of ECEs’ practice. The second recommendation is that professional development for ECEs should shift towards a more decolonialized approach, where the emphasis is on facilitating discussions regarding critical issues to challenge the assumptions held by ECEs.
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    Making Competence Visible: The Relationship Between Educators’ Image of the Infant and Their Empowerment of Young Children as Active Decision Makers
    (Mount Saint Vincent University, 2022) Ahearn, Krista
    I have been working as an Early Childhood Educator for the past fourteen years, the last twelve of which I have practiced emergent curriculum and Reggio-inspired philosophy. For most of this time I have worked with infants and young toddlers, from 4 months to 2 years of age, and have come to understand just how capable and competent these young explorers are. It seems to me that because babies are generally pre-verbal or have limited verbal language abilities, they are often viewed by adults as less aware, less intelligent, and less capable of independent thought and inquiry than older children. However, my observations of and interactions with infants, and the in-depth relationships I have built with so many of them over time, have given me a much different image of the diverse ways babies learn and develop. Infants have many ways of expressing their thoughts, emotions, ideas, interests, needs, wants, and so much more. I believe that they are born ready to communicate and connect with others through vocalizations, gestures, facial expressions, eye contact, sign language, and many other methods. In turn, babies require adults to “listen” with so much more than just their ears. By reflecting on my own experience and observing other educators, I have come to recognize the power adults can have in either supporting or stifling infants’ self-perceptions and their ability to actively learn from their environments and the people within them. At its core, my professional philosophy centres on the belief that infants, like all children, deserve adults’ respect, trust, and support in realizing their full potential as competent, active learners. They have the right to be seen, heard, and included in their classrooms, schools, and communities. For young children to be active participants in their lives, they need to be allowed to make decisions for themselves related to their own well-being, fulfillment, and the ways they want and deserve to be treated by others. It is up to the adults in their lives to support their desire to make choices, experiment with options, evaluate outcomes, and reflect on future possibilities. Educators can act as guides and partners in exploration with infants by getting to know them and their ways of communicating, and providing as many developmentally appropriate opportunities for autonomy and decision making as possible. By doing so, teachers not only become an advocate for the children in their care, but also help infants to find and project their own voices, and share these with others.