Publications

An Innovative Partnering Approach: Industry Led Construction Labs AbstractThe University of Oklahoma’s (OU) Construction Science (CNS) program was challenged withimplementing a hands-on materials and methods lab to support related coursework. With the helpof the Board of Visitors (BOV) and industry partners the division created the ConstructionFundamentals Lab (CNS 2812). The industry partners procured a facility to hold the labs andprovided trade instructors to teach the hands-on skills. The course objective was for studentwork crews to construct a mockup of a typical exterior wall section on a formed reinforcedconcrete foundation. The wall section included finished sheetrock, metal studs, insulation, in-wall blocking, CMU and a brick veneer. Limited plumbing, electrical, HVAC and acousticalceiling installations were added as part of an interior space created by connecting two of theindividual wall mock-ups. Each stage of the wall section construction was taught by a tradeprofessional from that particular trade and most materials were donated by suppliers. Forexample, during the concrete foundation lab session, the concrete was donated by a local ready-mix supplier and the concrete installation was taught by a concrete contractor’s superintendent.The wall section was adapted from a set of project plans that are also used in plan reading,estimating, scheduling and project controls courses. As part of the nine lab series, students wererequired before each lab to prepare pre-construction submittals (including dimensioned andlabeled work sketches for what was to be built), material specifications, installation tolerances,building code conditions in force, quality assessment guidelines or conditions (includingworkmanship), safety requirements and equipment for each installation. After completing theinstallation, students submitted a post-construction submittal assessing their work and includingas-built measurements, a write-up of how the work conformed to preconstruction submittalrequirements, an assessment of workmanship, photos supporting the results, and a summary ofwork or management issues faced in meeting the standards.The authors offer this replicable model for reinforcing the concepts of material and methodstolerances, code and specification compliance, quality management, and safety concerns as thebasis for other engineering and construction programs to explore in the development of similarlab experiences. As part of this paper the authors share their observations related to the initialcourse offering. The authors feel that many learning objectives can be met by the inclusion ofpreconstruction and post-construction activities with the physical construction of the simple wall.Partnering with industry benefits the program by providing facilities, materials, and instructionwhich in turn benefits industry by providing a path for university involvement and recruitment.

This paper was presented at the Annual Meeting of the AARE - APERA Joint Conference, held in Sydney, Australia from 2 – 6 Dec 2012

The proposition, derived from self-determination theory (SDT), that autonomy-support has a positive effect on self-motivation and well-being, is examined in two distinct cultural settings. Participants were 264 high school students from Russia and the United States who completed measures of perceived parental- and teacher-autonomy-support, academic motivation, and well-being. Means and covariance structure analyses were used to examine the cultural comparability of measured constructs. Results supported the hypotheses that Russian adolescents would perceive parents and teachers as more controlling than U.S. students; and in both samples, perceived autonomy-support would predict greater academic self-motivation and well-being. Results are discussed in terms of SDT’s postulate of a basic human need for autonomy in the context of cultural variations.

No abstract is provided for this article.

No abstract is provided for this article.

Mindful individuals orient to ongoing events and experiences in a receptive, attentive manner. This experiential mode of processing suggests implications for the perception of and response to stress situations. Using laboratory-based, longitudinal, and daily diary designs, four studies examined the role of mindfulness on appraisals of and coping with stress experiences in college students, and the consequences of such stress processing for well-being. Across the four studies (n’s=65−141), results demonstrated that mindful individuals made more benign stress appraisals, reported less frequent use of avoidant coping strategies, and in two studies, reported higher use of approach coping. In turn, more adaptive stress responses and coping partially or fully mediated the relation between mindfulness and well-being. Implications for the role of mindfulness in stress and well-being are discussed.

No abstract is provided for this article.

Kevin, who has always loved to act, got his first job in a 3-month run of a new play. He was further pleased to find out that the theater paid well above the going rate. However, 4 days before the scheduled closing the manager discovered that she’d be unable to...

Mindfulness and motivation are both highly researched topics of great consequence for individual and social wellness. Using the lens of self-determination theory, we review evidence indicating that mindfulness is differentially related to different types of motivations, playing a facilitating role for highly autonomous forms of motivation, but not for externally controlled or introjected (self-controlling) forms of motivation. A key contribution of this review is our contention that mindfulness confers a range of intra- and interindividual benefits (e.g., well-being and prosociality) in part through its relation to autonomous motivations, a claim for which we outline preliminary evidence. Finally, we discuss how future research connecting mindfulness and motivation is important for both fields of study, for applied practices in areas such as psychotherapy and business, and for enhancing understanding of the processes underlying human wellness.

No abstract is provided for this article.

No abstract is provided for this article.

Self-determination theory (SDT) assumes that humans have inherent propensities to be intrinsically motivated, to assimilate their social and physical worlds, to integrate external regulations into self-regulations, and in so doing integrate themselves into a larger social whole. This chapter concerns the relation of imposed rewards to these evolved propensities toward autonomy and homonomy. It examines evidence concerning the potential of contingent rewards to undermine self-regulatory propensities, desensitize individuals to their basic needs, and disrupt awareness and choice, all to the detriment of healthy development. Subsequently, it turns to an examination of the effects of rewards on organismic processes, interpreting the results in terms of the interface between rewards and basic psychological needs. Under this, it takes into consideration, the effects of rewards on intrinsic motivation. The chapter also focuses on the reward effects on other organismic processes, such as prosocial behavior, and to a discussion of real-world implications. Finally, it explores the general issue of reward effects from the personality perspective of individual differences in motivational orientations and life goals.

No abstract is provided for this article.