Education Commons^™

Memo To Du Provost And Chancellor, Dean Saitta

John Evans Study: Supporting Materials

Memorandum sent to the University of Denver's Provost and Chancellor about interest in a study on John Evans and the Sand Creek Massacre.

Faculty Email Exchanges, Dean Saitta, Richard Clemmer-Smith, Billy J. Stratton, Gary A. Fine, Paul Colomy

John Evans Study: Supporting Materials

Email exchanges between University of Denver and Northwestern University on studies of John Evans and the Sand Creek Massacre.

Everything In Di Dark Muss Come To Light: A Postcolonial Investigation Of The Practice Of Extra Lessons At The Secondary Level In Jamaica's Education System, Saran Stewart

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Despite the vast research examining the evolution of Caribbean education systems, little is chronologically tied to the postcolonial theoretical perspectives of specific island-state systems, such as the Jamaican education system and its relationship with the underground shadow education system. This dissertation study sought to address the gaps in the literature by critically positioning postcolonial theories in education to examine the macro- and micro-level impacts of extra lessons on secondary education in Jamaica. The following postcolonial theoretical (PCT) tenets in education were contextualized from a review of the literature: (a) PCT in education uses colonial discourse analysis to critically deconstruct and …

Gender Depiction In Preschool Books: A Comparison Between Early Care And Education Classrooms In The United States And Norway, Cathrine Aasen Floyd

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Preschool children's perceptions around gender identity and development can be influenced by their experiences. With many children spending a portion of their day in child care, the environmental factors of these programs are important. One aspect of the environment can impact preschool children is the books that are available to them. For over 40 years, children's literature in the United States has been studied and found to be biased in their portrayal of males and females. Males were more often found as main characters and depicted as capable leaders and thinkers. Female characters were shown as weaker, often appearing in …

Through The Eyes Of Visitors: Understanding The Contexts Of The Visitor Photo Study At The Denver Museum Of Nature & Science, Kathryn Irene Schroeder

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This case study describes the analysis of the Visitor Photo Study, a study in which visitors to the Denver Museum of Nature & Science documented their visit through pictures. The origins, implementation, and findings of the Visitor Photo Study are considered within the contexts of the fields of Community-Based Research (Strand, Marullo, Cutforth, Stoecker, & Donohue, 2003b), Visual Studies (Marshall & Rossman, 2011; Pink, 2007), and Visitor Studies (Visitor Studies Association, 2012). This study considers the extent to which the principles and elements of each of these fields were present in the Visitor Photo Study, which elements were not fully …

Disrupting The Deficit Discourse On Historically Black Colleges And Universities: An Organizational Identity Case Study Of Philander Smith College, Shametrice Ledora Davis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The federal Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, defines a historically Black institution of higher education as "any historically Black college or university that was established prior to 1964, whose principle mission was, and is, the education of Black Americans." Today, there are approximately 105 HBCUs, more than half private, the rest public, and a few two-year institutions (Allen, Jewell, Griffin, & Wolf, 2007). While currently only 14 percent of Black college students attend HBCUs, 70 percent of all Black doctors and dentists, 50 percent of all Black engineers and public school teachers, and 35 percent of all Black …

The Use Of Information And Communication Technologies To Educate Laity: A Case Study, B. Mark Francis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Technology-based education is learning primarily based in constructivist styled pedagogies. It is neither good nor bad; its value is inherent to the user and environment where it is placed. While some churches place a high value on the benefits gleaned from its use, others abhor it in religious education.

Why churches incorporate or reject technology-based education is a phenomenon that baffles most educators because the logic invoked is neither sound nor empirical. Either way, technology continues to evolve in education circles beyond the walls of the local church. In order to preserve the historical traditions and the distinctive cultures of …

Investigating The Possibility Of A Standard Of Care For Professionals Who Teach Reading, John Michael Mccord

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) has consistently shown that approximately 40% of American students cannot read at grade level. In fact, most of these 40% of students read considerably below grade level. Unfortunately, these results have remained consistent in spite of reports such as the Nation at Risk in 1983 that first alerted everyone to the severity of the problem and provided remedies on how it could be remedied. The Nation at Risk Report was the impetus for a plethora of educational reform enactments at the federal level such as George H. Walker Bush’s education summit in 1989, …

Success Stories Of Students Of Mexican Descent, Wesley Montoya

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study tells the personal stories of three academically successful students of Mexican descent. The goal of this study was to give a counter to the stereotypical deficit view of Hispanic students in the eyes of teachers, parents, and other students.

The participants were three high school students of Mexican descent attending an urban high school in Colorado. The research question of this study allowed the participants to tell their story of what it was like to be a student. The research question was: What are the personal and academic stories of academically successful Mexican urban high school students?

Through …

Walking On The Red Brick Path: A Portrait Of African-American Women's Experiences With The Built Environment Of A Predominantly White Institution, Stephanie L. Krusemark

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

“Space, like language, is socially constructed; and like the syntax of language, the spatial arrangements of our buildings and communities reflect and reinforce the nature of gender, race, and class relations in society” (Weisman, 1992, p. 2). While institutions of higher education have granted physical access to African-American women over the last 150 years, their presence on American campuses has not been readily reflected in the physical design of the walls within which they learn. In examining the historical foundations of institutions of higher education, we cannot deny institutions consciously embed their values and basic assumptions within their physical manifestation …

Distinguishing A Western Women's College: A History Of The Curriculum At Colorado Women's College, 1909–1967, Jennifer Ann Thompson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Colorado Women's College (CWC), a private, Baptist college for women in Denver, Colorado, first welcomed students to its campus in 1909, making it one of only a handful of women's colleges in the American West, where coeducation predominated. This dissertation describes and interprets the curriculum offered at CWC in the period from 1909 to 1967. The analysis of the curriculum is divided into six eras, marked by moments of curricular change, including the College's transitions from four-year college to junior college, and back. This project distinguishes CWC as an understudied institution by placing it within the literature on the history …

The Road Less Taken: A Qualitative Inquiry Of Christian Homeschooling In Taiwan, Wei-Chen Tung

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The primary purpose of this study is to examine how Christian homeschooling works in Taiwan by investigating the intentions, implementation, challenges and implications of homeschooling practice. With regard to homeschooling as an increasingly popular educational option in Taiwan, particularly among Christian families, the following research questions are used to guide this study: (1) What are the reasons and goals of Christian parents in Taiwan to choose homeschooling for their children? (2)What does their homeschooling look like in practice? (3) What do the Christian homeschoolers perceive to be the advantages and challenges of homeschooling in Taiwan? (4) What are the implications …

Parents As Change Agents In Their Schools And Communities: The Founding Of Families For Early Autism Treatment (Feat), Bethany Kristin Mickahail

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A qualitative research highlights how parent driven "communities of support" create lasting change in schools and communities, through the unique blend of the two methodologies, oral history and educational criticism and connoisseurship.

In recent years, schools and communities are unusually impacted by an escalating wave in the diagnosis and treatment of persons with Autism. In 2010, the Center for Disease Control's Report stated 1 in 110 U.S. children are diagnosed with Autism. Yet long before this official report, parents and professionals affected by Autism and other disabilities were busy during the last half of the 20th century, seeking out ways …

Gifted Voices: A Study Of High School Students' Proficiency In Persuasive Writing And Their Perceptions Of Personal Agency, Susan Carol Anderson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Development of the talents and abilities of gifted children is not ordinarily provided by regular public school programs. Their need for accelerated, complex, and challenging curriculum and processes is often overlooked by educators focused on helping underperforming students to reach grade-level standards. Gifted high school students who are proficient in persuasive writing are able to clearly state a claim, support that claim with evidence and backing, recognize and rebut counterclaims, and draw a conclusion leading to action. If gifted students are proficient at writing persuasively, perhaps they are also able to advocate for learning experiences that are challenging, complex, and …

An Exploratory Comparative Study Of Students' Thinking In Arts Classrooms, Delane Ingalls Vanada

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

To be successfully intelligent in the 21st century, students must be able to think well in at least three ways: creatively, critically, and practically, with complexity and wisdom. The purpose of this research was to explore the differences in middle school students' quality of thinking in arts classrooms that are designed to be learner centered to a greater or lesser degree. Classroom environments which foster balanced intelligence in analytical, creative, and practical ways toward depth of understanding were the focus of this study. A better understanding of the impact of learner-centered environments on students' perceptions of their learning and understanding …

A Few Drops Of Oil Will Not Be Enough, Stephen James

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn provide a rich description of the various kinds of violence, deprivation, depredation and exploitation that women experience on a vast scale in the developing world. They write of sex trafficking, acid attacks, “bride burning,” enslavement, spousal beatings, unequal healthcare (something the USA still struggles with), insufficient food, gendered abortions and infant and maternal mortality. They are right to identify the education of women and girls as part of the solution to the widespread “gendercide.” However, their approach focuses too much on the capacity, indeed the virtue or heroism, of individual women. It does not take …

"The Female Entrepreneur"?, Cath Collins

Human Rights & Human Welfare

I read the “Women’s Crusade” article that forms the centrepiece of this month’s roundtable with initial interest, gradually turning to a vague sense of disquiet spiced with occasional disbelief. After a few more readings, I tried highlighting the passages that bothered me and stringing them together. Countries “riven by fundamentalism”— that’s presumably the Islamic variety, rather than the Christian variant which holds such sway in the US. The suggestion that “everyone from the World Bank to the US [...] Chiefs of Staff to [...] CARE” now thinks that women are the answer to global extremism hides too many questionable assumptions …

Teacher Artistry And The Not-So-Still Life Of Arts-Centered School Reform, Cassandra Andres Trousas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Despite a current climate that often undervalues the arts in education, arts-centered schools and school reform continue to proliferate. This study describes, interprets and evaluates arts-centered school reform which is defined within this study as the comprehensive and intentional restructuring and re-culturing of schools using the theories and practices of the arts and arts-learning as the primary basis for educational change decisions to uncover its aims, practices and significance.

Four research questions guided this study: 1) What are the aims of arts-centered school reformers in the two schools studied? 2) What does arts-centered school reform look like in practice? 3) …

Perceptions Of Race And Academic Success In An Affluent Suburban Middle School, Robyn Ashley Duran

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Public school districts across the nation are organizing to eradicate the racial predictability of academic achievement between African American and Hispanic children and their White and Asian peers, (Ferguson, 2001). This phenomenological study was designed to better illuminate the phenomenon of the racial achievement gap in an affluent educational setting. The story of race and academic achievement was told through perceptions held among minority and non-minority parents in an affluent educational setting.

Parents are a large piece of the bedrock which determines the academic success of all students. The role of the parent is particularly important in shaping the academic …

Poetry From The Glass Closet: The Experiences Of Lesbian, Gay, And Bisexual Pk-12 Educators As They Manage Their Sexual Orientation Identity Within A Teaching Role, Megan Suzanne Kennedy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to portray the experiences of lesbian, gay, and bisexual educators in PK-12 schools in the State of Colorado. This aim emerged from my own personal experiences, previous research, and the current status of state and federal laws. This research focused on the experiences of 15 lesbian, gay, bisexual and allied identified teachers, including myself.

This study focused on a primary research question: What are the experiences of lesbian, gay, and bisexual PK-12 educators as they manage their sexual orientation identities within a teaching role?

Heuristics was the qualitative methodology best suited to address this …

Practicing Universality: The Inter-Disciplinary Imperatives Of Human Rights, Andrew Fagan

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Human Rights: Universality in Practice by Peter R. Baehr. Hampshire, UK: Palgrave, 2001. 178pp.

Sand Creek: Tragedy And Symbol, Gary Leland Roberts

John Evans Study: Supporting Materials

Gary L. Roberts' 1984 Sand Creek Massacre dissertation.

Testimony Of Colonel J. M. Chivington April 26, 1865, United States Government

John Evans Study: Supporting Materials

Testimony of Colonel J. M. Chivington April 26, 1865

Congressional Testimony Of Mr. John S. Smith Washington, March 14, 1865, United States Government

John Evans Study: Supporting Materials

Congressional Testimony of Mr. John S. Smith Washington, March 14, 1865

John Evans To General Connor, October 24, 1864, John Evans

John Evans Study: Supporting Materials

Letter from John Evans to General Connor, 10/24/1864