Digital Commons Network^™

A Museum-Based Curriculum For Middle School Students In New York City, Nayantara Mhatre

Graduate Student Independent Studies

India Inquiry is a museum-based curriculum designed for middle school students in New York City. The curriculum is organized by the following themes: Geography, Wildlife, Culture and Crafts, and Religion. Within each theme there is one out-of-classroom trip, including three visits to the American Museum of Natural History, and one to the Ganesh Temple in Flushing, Queens. In addition there are seven lessons that compliment and support the organized field trips.

The curriculum was developed to appeal to the social, emotional, and intellectual needs of students emerging from the latency period of late childhood and approaching early adolescence.

India Inquiry …

Assessing “Discover Mojave”, Year Two: Final Report, Lori Olafson, Gregory Schraw, Michelle L. Weibel

Reports (DM)

Discover Mojave Outdoor World is a hands-on outdoor recreation program for urban, economically disadvantaged youth. In Year One of the program, knowledge, attitude, and performance assessments were developed to document the effectiveness of program events over the duration of the program. Year One findings revealed that knowledge, attitudes, and performance increased substantially as a result of participating in the outdoor recreation events. The assessment plan was modified in Year Two by creating assessments for teachers and parents, as well as a developing a structured interview protocol. Changes were made to existing assessments and two new assessment tools were implemented. Findings …

A Reflective Look At The Writing Process For Both Children And Adults: A Memoir Study, Jessica Block

Graduate Student Independent Studies

In order to teach the writing process, one must be a writer. This independent study explores the writing process from the inside out. It investigates the writing process from an adult perspective while also examines the writing process that developed for individual student writers within a second grade classroom. Over the course of three months, the students in my second grade classroom and I developed personal memoirs about a "small moment" from our lives. This study includes a comprehensive breakdown of lessons which scaffolded the memoir writing process.

It also includes a strong reflective component which reveals how we all …

Aesthetic Scanning: Refining Critical Thinking Through Oral Language Activities, Elaine Diana Golledge

Theses Digitization Project

This study examines the use of aesthetics in the art education curriculum as a strategy for building oral language skills and critical thinking skills. In this study reproduced artworks were used to stimulate discussion; students learned to scan paintings using a technique called aesthetic scanning during which they learn how to look at a painting orally through guided questioning by the classroom teacher. It was concluded that providing oral language opportunities through the implementation of the aesthetic scanning program was an effective way to promote oral language skills and critical thinking skills in the kindergarten classroom. Arts, as a core …

Theories Of Learning And Curriculum Design - Key Positionalities And Their Relationships, Tony Cunningham, Julie Gannon, Mary B. Kavanagh, John Greene, Louise Reddy, Laurence Whitson

Articles

One of the challenges academics face when designing pedagogies and curricula is how best to articulate their own positionalities regarding the different ways theories or models of learning inform both the process of design as well as the product. It is difficult to find a text book or design resource that illustrates the relationships between the main theories of learning and how they might inform a coherent approach to programme design in higher education. For that reason we decided to produce this summative guide to learning theories and a chart illustrating their relevance for pedagogies and for curriculum design. The …

A Comprehensive Approach To Using Primary Sources In Elementary Curriculum Development, Michelle Raelynn Nelson

Theses Digitization Project

A teacher resource packet was created that teachers can use at the third through sixth grade levels to effectively implement the use of primary sources into their existing curriculum to promote greater historical understanding, imagination, emapthy and critical thinking. This project is intended to change teacher behaviors of teaching using an archival view of history to one that applies critical thinking and promotes in-depth student understanding of historical events.

An Integrative And Holistic Approach To Implementing Curriculum For A School Garden, Elizabeth Janette Newmeyer

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of the project was to develop a curriculum guide that would allow teachers to effectively and efficiently utilize a school garden to teach the required standards while promoting peace among the students. To develop this a thorough review of literature in the following areas was used: school gardening, peace curriculum, and curriculum design.

An Innovative Approach To Grammar Instruction In The High School Language Arts Classroom, Robert John Miller

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this study was to compare the effects on student writing of two separate approaches to teaching grammar - one traditional, and one non-traditional. Over the course of four weeks, the writing abilities of two high school English classes, similar in composition and academic skill, were compared.