Education Commons^™

A Curriculum Designed To Teach Elementary-Age Children In Diverse Settings The Kingdom Concept Of Loving One's Neighbor, Abigail J. Flood

Honors Program Projects

United States Census data from 2020 show that the country is becoming increasingly diverse and urbanized. Other research shows children are aware of race from an early age and can pick up biases and stereotypes by watching the adults around them. However, there are no children’s ministry curricula that specifically address how children should navigate differences from a biblical perspective. To fill this gap, a children’s ministry curriculum was written to model how children can love their neighbors like Jesus did, especially those who look different from themselves. The curriculum is comprised of an introduction for the ministry leader, five …

Essential Or Optional? Effects Of Creative Writing On Expository Skills And Attitude In Middle School Students, Nicole Samuelson

Honors Program Projects

Creative writing's effectiveness has not been clearly established through research, especially in regards to expository writing skills. However, other benefits of creative writing have been shown such as emotional benefits and general writing improvement. This study was conducted with two groups of middle school students. One group received ten creative writing interventions over a month and the other group continued with normal instruction. The goal was to discover if these interventions would improve students' expository writing skills as well as their attitude towards and confidence in writing. Surprisingly, while the experimental group did not improve significantly in either area, the …

His Highest Glory, My Deepest Joy: Discovering Satisfaction At Its Source, Bethany Addington

Honors Program Projects

This independent study project is a narrative devotional book written for a 16 to 25 year-old target audience. The book is primarily composed of autobiographical narratives, exegetical essays, and a small variety of poetic compositions. The literature examines several topics related to the satisfaction, purpose, and joy found in ever-increasing knowledge of Christ. To that end, this literary work ultimately seeks to communicate the unmatched fulfillment of relationship with Christ in a manner that is easily understood and applied, particularly to the lives of young Christians. The project is structured largely around an examination of the narrative of the Samaritan …

Generations: A Family Ministry Curriculum, Bethany Abbott

Honors Program Projects

This Honors Capstone Project created the opportunity to create a children’s church curriculum influenced by the ideas of family ministry. The paper includes an introduction to the writer’s vision and goals, a review of literature focused on what family ministry is and why it is important, a description of the curriculum project, and the creator’s reflection on the project. The first appendix of the paper includes the curriculum elements (philosophy, theology, a two-year curriculum scope and sequence, two examples of Sunday morning curriculum and take-home materials, as well as a curriculum website design and parent event outline). An additional appendix …

The Integration Of School Garden Programs Into Educational Curriculum, Annie Lowry

Honors Program Projects

School gardens have many benefits for students which include helping students make nutritious choices, encouraging students to be environmentally conscious, and providing experiential learning. School gardens have great potential to be an effective learning tool if incorporated into the classroom. The purpose of this project is to evaluate how gardening is being integrated into classroom curriculum in several schools in the state of Illinois and what factors have led to this integration. Educational professionals from seven different sites were interviewed to collect qualitative data about current integration of gardening into school curriculum. The results from the interviews confirm previous research …

Teaching Christian Readings Of Secular Young Adult Literature, Angela R. Lee

Honors Program Projects

The purpose of this project is to empower Christian young adults to engage with secular literature adolescent literature in a manner that encourages them to grow in their faith. The project has three main components: a case study article on Christian reading practices based on their reviews of The Shack, a literature review of Christian reading theory, and a five day instructional unit plan designed to teach high school freshmen Christians to engage appropriate with secular literature.

In the case study, over 400 Amazon.com reader reviews and comments on the Christian fiction novel The Shack were examined in order to …