Date of Conferral

2016

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Psychology

Advisor

Marites Pinon

Abstract

This study investigated the role of both arts-integrated instruction (art activities as part of math instruction) and teacher immediacy (teacher caring behaviors) levels on students' math achievement. Although students from low socio-economic culturally diverse school districts have shown improvement in academic test scores, their scores are still significantly lower than scores of students from other school districts. Research has shown that when there is an increase in teacher immediacy, students' academic success increases. Despite this known correlation, there is a lack of literature on the ways that arts integration, combined with teacher immediacy, can affect academic success. Constructivist theories, experiential learning building upon what the student knows and hands on activities, were the framework for this study. The sample population for this quantitative study was high school students from a low-socioeconomic, culturally diverse school district. Data from a student survey (n=119) were entered into a hierarchical multiple regression analysis to determine whether measures of teacher immediacy and arts integration predicted students' New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge standardized math scores. The results did not allow for rejection of the null hypotheses, contradicting past research for both the arts and teacher immediacy on academic success. Due to the limitations of this study, further research is needed to determine the relationship between arts-integrated lessons and teacher immediacy on students' success in culturally diverse low-socioeconomic school districts with low academic achievement.

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