Graduation Date
5-2018
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science
Department or Program
Education
Department or Program Chair
Elizabeth Truesdell PhD
First Reader
Jennifer Lucko, PhD
Second Reader
Shadi Roshandel, PhD
Abstract
This project examined the ways in which dialogical processing of the fact of one’s own impending death impacts meaning-making in day-to-day life. Taking a qualitative approach, the thesis builds from five in-depth interviews and follow-up surveys with students in higher education. In reviewing the role of death education in public school settings, the study concludes that an enhanced emphasis on love of learning, creative thinking and community engagement in public education is the most effective way for educators to support students in building appropriate skillsets to create meaning in their lives, as well as in the face of their eventual mortality.