Curriculum and Instruction Commons^™

A Final Master's Portfolio, Martha Stai

Master of Arts in English Plan II Graduate Projects

The following portfolio is submitted to meet the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the field of English with a specialization in English Teaching through Bowling Green State University. The pieces selected for the portfolio range from analysis to pedagogy. Selections include two substantive research essays, a writing-based unit plan, and a critical essay, all of which reflect the rigor and analysis required in the courses at Bowling Green State University.

Teaching The Engineering Design Process To High School Students By Implementing A Non-Traditional Engineering Capstone Course, Joseph Woodard

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports

This plan B project is to showcase the implementation of an engineering design capstone course at a remote, rural public high school, in a non-traditional (after-school) format with a small group of students. The project documents successful strategies along with challenges that were learned from such an implementation of this course. Three high school students were supported in learning to solve an extended design challenge, in this case creating an augmented reality (AR) sandbox. The project shows how a capstone course can be utilized in teaching students to solve complex, ill-structured problems.

In this project, a manuscript was prepared for ...

Rethinking Gaming & Representation Within Digital Pedagogy: An Instructor’S Guide, Anthony Wheeler

All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This work fully analyzes the creation process and implementation of a deeply-structured social commentary in the form of a digital interactive-fiction, created in the open software known as Twine. My co-developer, Raven Gomez, and I created a game that explores the challenges of navigating spaces within higher education as someone who identifies as something considered to be “other” by the standards of the common Western curriculum. Once the infrastructure of the product itself is outlined, this work follows students in an English Composition I course throughout their experiences creating digital interactive-fiction games based on pivotal moments in their lives that ...

Teaching Children To Decode Words: Connected Versus Segmented Phonation, Selenid M. Gonzalez-Frey

All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Two methods of decoding instruction were compared. Kindergartners who could not decode nonwords participated in the study, N = 38, M = 5.6 years. Segmented phonation, frequently used in synthetic phonics programs, taught students to convert graphemes to phonemes by breaking the speech stream (“sss – aaa – nnn”) before blending. Connected phonation taught students to pronounce phonemes without breaking the speech stream (“sssaaannn”) before blending. Kindergartners were matched and randomly assigned to the two conditions. Both groups were taught to decode the same set of CVC nonwords consisting of continuant consonants and vowels that could be stretched and connected without altering their ...

The Primary Dilemma: Determining And Overcoming Barriers To A Focus On Prekindergarten Through Grade 3, Sarah Turner Lukas, Sarah Turner Lukas

Dissertations

In 2017, reporters of national data in regard to reading ability among American, fourth grade students indicated low proficiency and achievement gaps. These results were also consistent within the state and district under study. There is a need to increase the focus on prekindergarten and primary grade education taking place prior to the grades in which federally mandated, accountability assessments for student learning take place. The purpose of this study is to determine the potential barriers to a paradigm shift at the state and district levels from a focus on state-assessed grade levels to prekindergarten and primary grade levels. The ...

Overcoming Adversity In The Stem Classroom: Examining Learned Helplessness In First-Year Community College Students Using Salivary Cortisol, Surveys And Interviews, Diane M. Price Banks

All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation seeks to determine whether a relationship between STEM attrition and Learned Helplessness exist in a group of first year STEM majors studied at an urban community college. STEM attrition rates have shown that 69% of the 20% of incoming STEM freshmen in associate degree programs, drop out or switch their majors to non-STEM curriculum within their first year of college (NCES, 2013). Learned helplessness is a behavioral phenomenon where some may become helpless as the conditions surrounding their success become adverse. Classic signs expressed with learned helplessness include: lack of motivation, depression, poor social skills, absence of control ...

Impact Of Direct Fine Motor Intervention On Handwriting, Carlye Breuhl

LSU Master's Theses

Structured fine motor lessons consisting of regulated fine motor materials and feedback is documented in the literature as a strategy for strengthening fine motor skills (Hamilton & Liu, 2017). The purpose of the present study was to determine (1) the mean duration of child engagement with fine motor materials within the classroom during free play, and (2) if direct intervention with fine motor materials, which promote pinch and grip strength, would impact handwriting performance. Children were observed during free play, interacting with materials. The hypothesis suggested interacting with fine motor materials, specifically promoting pinch and grip strength, would result in better ...

A Study Of The Difficulties And Instructional Support Related To Spoken Interaction In An Emi Course For Higher Education Students, Mei-Ying Chien, Martin Valcke

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

The use of English as a medium of instruction (EMI) in higher education is considered a vehicle in non-English speaking countries for the purpose of internationalization, enhancing students’ employability, and international competition. Many higher education institutions in Europe adapted their curriculum and started teaching in English, while enrolling international students from Erasmus programs and non-European countries. This study builds on an EMI course set within a Belgian university. Six L2 (English as a second Language) students were interviewed to identify and explore their motivation, difficulties, and instructional support as it relates to their spoken interaction during the class. The findings ...

Teaching Strategies For Incorporating The Multicultural And Social Justice Counseling Competencies, Lauren Melamed, Javier F. Casado Pérez, Brandon Hunt

The Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision

The development of the new Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competencies (MSJCC) (Ratts et al., 2016), also outlined a specific need for counselor educators to revisit teaching strategies that help both counseling programs meet these new competencies. Incorporating teaching strategies that align with these new competencies ensures that counselors-in-training are reaching highest potential for cultural competence. The authors offer teaching strategies and activities that are rooted in both counseling and interdisciplinary literature, as well as considerations for implementation. Each strategy was reviewed and selected based on both empirical evidence and professional experience, then mapped to each specific foundation of the ...

In-Service Biology Teachers’ Perceptions And Pedagogical Rating Of Two Mobile Learning Applications Recommended For Learning Biology In Nigerian Secondary Schools, Uchenna Udeani Prof, Jeremiah Nosakhare Akhigbe Mr

The African Journal of Information Systems

The study investigated in-service biology teachers’ perceptions of the instructional use of smartphones equipped with Biology Mobile Learning Applications (BMLAs) in the learning of biology concepts in Nigerian senior secondary schools and the pedagogical rating of two commercially available mobile learning applications recommended for learning biology. The study utilized a descriptive survey design. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings gathered revealed that the in-service biology teachers had good perceptions of the instructional use of BMLAs and that these perceptions influence their pedagogical rating and selection of mobile applications. The study also revealed that demographic variables such ...

“Because Like – And So I Don’T – So I Think It’S Maybe, I Don’T Know”: Performing Traumatic Effects While Reading Lynda Barry’S The Freddie Stories, David Lewkowich, Michelle Miller Stafford

SANE journal: Sequential Art Narrative in Education

As a picture of childhood composed from the point of view of a young boy named Freddie, who suffers the effects of repeated and ongoing trauma, the experience of reading The Freddie Stories presents a number of interpretive challenges: its main character is often split and in various states of disassociation, the difference between dreaming and waking life is not always obvious, multiple monsters appear in different and changeable forms, and as Freddie experiences repeated difficulties with language and cognitive function, his traumatic past enfolds upon the time in which the story is set. In this paper, we analyze how ...

Review Of The Vulnerable Heart Of Literacy: Centering Trauma As Powerful Pedagogy., Zipporah Galimore

The Language and Literacy Spectrum

In The Vulnerable Heart of Literacy: Centering Trauma as Powerful Pedagogy (2019), Elizabeth Dutro provides educators with heart-felt, inquiry-based strategies for using trauma as pedagogy in literacy classrooms. This book describes how to situate both educators and children to provide testimony and be critical witnesses in an effort to allow life knowledge, empathy, and wisdom be brought to classroom learning experiences. Dutro uses classroom vignettes and student work samples to illustrate how the concept of trauma as pedagogy can be applied across genres. Experiences and examples of literacy instruction in children's work from several elementary classrooms, from second grade ...

Book Review: Thinking Tools For Young Readers And Writers, Jennifer Steil

The Language and Literacy Spectrum

Abstract:

This article offers a book review of Thinking Tools for Young Readers & Writers (2018), by Carol Booth Olson, Angie Balius, Emily McCourtney, and Mary Widtmann. The book presents the cognitive strategies tool kit, which includes strategies such as: planning, goal setting, tapping prior knowledge, asking questions, making predictions, making connections, summarizing, inferencing, forming interpretations, adopting an alignment, monitoring, and clarifying. The teachers share lessons for how they teach these strategies to students in their various grade levels. For each lesson, the authors include research, connections to Common Core State Standards, and examples of classroom lessons putting these strategies to ...

Review Of Pre-K Stories: Playing With Authorship And Integrating Curriculum In Early Childhood, Harmony Petty

The Language and Literacy Spectrum

This book review discusses salient themes within Bentley and Souto-Manning’s (2019) Pre-K stories: Playing with authorship and integrating curriculum in early childhood. Bentley and Souto-Manning present a case study of one pre-K classroom in which a teacher-researcher endeavored to honor young children’s strengths and authentic stories as they co-constructed an emergent curriculum together. This text considers researchers and practitioners as it includes theoretical discussions in addition to teacher reflections and classroom vignettes. The first three chapters explore the researchers’ theoretical foundation of emergent curriculum and a sociocultural view of play-based authorship. The following four chapters trace the development ...

Developing Strategic Learners: Supporting Self-Efficacy Through Goal Setting And Reflection, Zoi A. Traga Philippakos

The Language and Literacy Spectrum

When students face academic challenges, when they receive poor grades on a subject, and when they see unchanged performance -even though they put effort on a task- they often develop the belief that they are not capable of overcoming challenges. Continuous underperformance affects students’ self-efficacy and belief that success is an achievable goal. The purpose of this paper is to explain the process of goal setting with continuous reflection to support students’ writing growth and persistence. The paper further comments on teachers’ goal setting for instructional and professional goals in order to support their instructional delivery and their growth as ...

Factors Impacting Swimming Participation And Competence: A Qualitative Report, Todd E. Layne, Carol C. Irwin, Jennifer Renee Pharr, Richard L. Irwin

International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education

Drowning continues to be a major cause of death for children, especially among minority groups. USA Swimming commissioned studies in 2008 and 2010 to look at swimming ability or inability, an associated drowning variable. The 2010 study showed alarming high percentages regarding insufficient swimming skill for many demographic groups. The current study’s purpose was to provide further analysis of variables which emerged from 2010 study and how these variables are affecting all US populations. Focus group interviews accomplished in three regionally diverse US cities asked participants (3=fathers; 12=mothers) about their personal history with swimming, perceptions concerning swimming ...

Teaching Portfolio: Nick Whalen, Nick Whalen

History Graduate Certificate Portfolios

Nick Whalen's Teaching Portfolio captured on May 20, 2020. This capture includes screenshots of the various portfolio pages found on Nick's webpage (https://nickwhalenhistory.weebly.com/). Where possible, copies of the documents found on the pages have been included as Additional Files.

This portfolio contains the following layout:

• Home/About Me
  
  
• History Graduate Certificate
  
  
• Primary Source Analysis (contains HIST 530 Minnesota: 1862 – Artifact 1, HIST 530 Minnesota: 1862 – Artifact 2, and HIST 530 British, Caribbean/Colonial America – Artifact 3)
  
  
• Secondary Source Analysis (contains: HIST 532 Pirates of the Atlantic World – Artifact 1, HIST 555 Revolutionary/Early National America ...

Midline Movement: The Positive Effects On Student Behavior In A Kindergarten Classroom, Ashley Ludlow

Master of Science in Education | Master's Theses

Educators are realizing the unrealistic expectations on students to be quiet and sit still for extended periods of their day (Donnelly & Lambourne, 2011). Some educational advocates have been reintroducing movement into the school day in response to research that indicates the importance of extracurricular activities on developing the whole child (Hannaford, 1995). Movement, connection, touch, play, and creative endeavors have been shown to be critical components to teaching students to be well-rounded individuals (Hannaford, 1995). This study explores how movements and activities that cross the midline affect a student's focus and ability to learn in the classroom. Cultivating an ...

The Foot And The Flag: Patriotism, Place, And The Teaching Of War In A Military Town, Brian Gibbs

Democracy and Education

This manuscript describes the patriotism taught and not taught by nine teachers to the children of soldiers near a military base in the American South. The nine teachers, all participants in a qualitative study, detail the pressures endured and the pedagogical and curricular decisions made as result. The teachers experienced social and political pressure from the broader community to avoid controversial or complex issues, fear that complicated teaching troubling more simple notions of patriotism would stress or possibly traumatize their students (the children of soldiers), and pressure to teach within the district-assigned curriculum map. The teachers responded in different ways ...

Dialectic Of Empathy. A Book Review Of Educating For Empathy: Literacy Learning And Civic Engagement, Dan Deweese

Democracy and Education

In Educating for Empathy: Literacy Learning and Civic Engagement, Mirra describes the value of teaching “critical civic empathy” in K–12 literacy classrooms. Distinguished from standard curricular uses of empathy that stress politeness at the level of the individual, critical civic empathy challenges students to take active steps toward questioning how imbalances of power and privilege arise and what assumptions should be questioned in order to address those imbalances. Mirra examines various teachers who center social issues in their literacy classrooms through the use of literature, the techniques of high school debate, research methodologies that see students as knowledge producers ...