Education Commons^™

Music And Medicine, Thomas Zink

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Music therapy is not a new concept, although its acceptance by the medical community as a clinical modality is just beginning to grow. This newfound acceptance is the result of recently emerging empirical evidence supporting the efficacy of music in a range of applications. Using music to aid learning, either in recovery from brain damage or to overcome neurological disorders is widely accepted. For instance, music has been used to help patients learn to speak after traumatic brain injury (Schlaug, 2009). Much of these music learning programs are based off the Tomatis method that uses specifically adapted music tracks to …

Western Washington University Libraries And Learning Commons Diversity Committee Charge, Western Libraries Diversity Committee, Rebecca M. Marrall

Libraries and Learning Commons Diversity Committee Documents

Created in 2011, and revised in November 2014 and again in August 2015 by the 2014 – 2016 Diversity Committee, this document houses the charge of the Western Washington University Libraries Diversity Committee.

Fiberglass Composite Repairs Presentation, Brad Fenbert, Ian Saksa

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Study of factors that affected crack propagation fracture toughness of fiberglass composite repairs, or the ability of a material to resist crack growth.

A Theory Of Luck Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Make My Own Career, Cole Paramore

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

An overview of a set of "contingency plans" and preparations for working in the music industry using a novel conception of luck.

The World Before Calculus: Historical Approaches To The Tangent Line Problem, Lindsay Skinner

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Pierre de Fermat and René Descartes were two brilliant 17th century mathematicians who have had lasting impacts on modern mathematics. Descartes laid the groundwork for the Cartesian coordinate system that is frequently employed in modern mathematics and Fermat’s last theorem vexed the mathematics community until Wiles’ proof was published in 1995. Amidst their many ground-breaking accomplishments these two men produced solutions for another mathematical problem - developing a general method to find the tangent line to a curve.

In spite of their apparent genius, neither man’s method had the lasting impact of their other works. Descartes’ and Fermat’s methods were …

Cochlear Implants: A Multi-Perspective Look At A Powerful Controversy, Ruth Tag

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Medical advancements have progressed to the point in which new organs can be printed from machines and placed in human beings giving them years more to live. Mechanical limbs are manufactured so that amputees can compete in the Olympic games. People who are born with a physical disability may be able to compensate through medical or surgical interventions, allowing for wider participation in society. These medical advancements challenge the way we define disability and more importantly how we define what is normal. For this paper, normal, or typical, will be defined as a person without a physical characteristic deviating from …

How Accurate Are Physics Students In Evaluating Changes In Their Understanding?, Therese Claire, Tija L. Tippett, Andrew Boudreaux

Physics & Astronomy

An assessment question involving Newton’s 2nd law was administered in a physics course for preservice elementary teachers before and again after instruction. The posttest included a prompt asking students to describe the specific ways their thinking changed. Student reasoning was coded for physics content accuracy; many students exhibited changes from primitive, experientially-based reasoning to more formal reasoning. Students' self-reported reflections were then compared to the differences in the pre- and posttest codes. We find that many students do not identify substantive changes in their reasoning, while other students reflect at only a surface level. We also find that some students …

(Re)Sequencing The Research/Writing Process In The Writing Classroom, Megan Spiegel, Lee Olsen, Suzanne Paola

Writing Research Fellows

What are the outcomes of sequencing writing assignments so that students are introduced to primary sources and allowed to browse these sources prior to selecting a research topic? (This as opposed to the standard sequence by which instructors ask students to choose a topic before completing any sort of preliminary research in source material.)

Telling Stories In A Professional And Technical Writing Course, Jeremy Cushman, Kaitlyn Teer

Writing Research Fellows

Because students, arguably, entered this 400-level Professional and Technical Writing (PTW) course with some already established ideas and expectations, it was our best chance at addressing our overriding concern that students continue to approach PTW as a mere conduit for communicating knowledge made elsewhere. So if, in fact, our own assumptions about these students were legitimate, the course allowed us to begin exploring the impact storytelling research may have in an advanced PTW course. Consequently, we worked from these two guiding questions:

• What changes, if any, occur in the ways students approach Professional and Technical Writing (PTW) in terms of …

Co-Authors: Faculty-Student Collaborative Writers, Tara Perry, Jackie Heller

Writing Research Fellows

Research Question(s):

RQ1: What communication processes are involved in collaborative co-authorship between faculty and students?

RQ2: What happens when faculty and students engage in collaborative writing through co-authorship?

Exploring A Threshold Concept In Kinesiology 306 Course, Harsh Buddhadev

Backward by Design Mini-Studies

In Fall 2015, the new 5-credit KIN 306 course was created by combining old KIN 306 and 301 classes (3-credits each). This is the first course completed by all students pursuing a major in Kinesiology. Prior to Fall 2015, all Kinesiology majors completed two separate introductory 3-credit courses KIN 301 and KIN 306. The old KIN 306 course introduced students to theories of measurement and evaluation and various health and sport related aspect of fitness. The KIN 301 course, introduced the process of conducting a systematic search of research literature on health and sport related aspect of fitness and it …

Backwards By Design Retreat And Teaching Mini-Assessment, Hilary Schwandt

Backward by Design Mini-Studies

At the Backwards by Design (BbD) retreat last fall for every topic and assignment, I focused on a class I was about to teach the coming fall that is a core class at Fairhaven college. Every student entering Fairhaven, whether a student in their first year of college or a transfer student from main campus or another college or university, must take this class in the first quarter as a Fairhaven student. The class is 201: Critical and Reflective Inquiry. At Fairhaven, professors are encouraged to select a content area of their choosing – as the focus in the class …

When Developing A Course Goal Becomes Developing Shared Norms, Brian J. Bowe

Backward by Design Mini-Studies

Having just arrived in Washington from my longtime Michigan home a few days before, the Backwards by Design retreat was the first formal activity of a new adventure on the faculty at Western Washington University. It was a great opportunity to get to know other faculty across departments. But, even more importantly, it was an open environment dedicated to fostering the creation student-centered learning environments. I learned many things — including a much more enthusiastic approach to using sticky notes to storyboard activities. I hope I was able to contribute as well.

Circling Back To Guiding Questions, Marc N. Muniz

Backward by Design Mini-Studies

My participation in the Backwards by Design workshop last Summer inspired me to think deeply about the nature of writing experiences afforded to our students in the physical sciences. One of the courses I teach is SCED 201: Matter and Energy in Physical Systems. This is a 4 credit-hour, inquiry-based, physics course for prospective primary (elementary) school educators. It utilizes a well-researched curriculum known as “Physics in Everyday Thinking,” which allows students to investigate various physical phenomena through activities.¹These activities begin by eliciting students’ initial ideas, which are often shared during whole-class whiteboarding sessions. The students then proceed …

Actionable Learning For A Living Earth: Backwards By Design 2015-16 Project Report, James Loucky

Backward by Design Mini-Studies

During the summer 2015 “Backwards by Design” working retreat, I explored the intricate pairing of knowledge and action as central to efforts to bridge anthropology and environment. The retreat initiated a focus on “actionable learning” as a threshold concept that would come to underlie my seminar on “Ecocultural Ethics” in Winter 2016.

It’S All About That Base: Persuading Learners Of Spanish As A Second Language That Verb Acquisition Is The Essence Of Communication, Sean Dwyer

Backward by Design Mini-Studies

The intended result of a series of Spanish courses is the ability to speak fluidly, if not extensively, in Spanish. The quickest way to speak quickly is to learn some set phrases. As a result of strategies that involve this learning tool, perhaps 75% of Americans can parrot “¿Dónde está el baño?” and “Dos cervezas, por favor.” However, a disappointingly high percentage of people who can say those things cannot say anything that would be useful outside a restaurant.

Working backwards from my curricular goal of creating verbal facility in my students, I start by expressing the threshold concept that …

The Value Of Refining A Threshold Concept, Michael Fraas

Backward by Design Mini-Studies

In the summer of 2012, I had the privilege of attending the Backwards By Design workshop, where I was introduced to the “threshold concept” (Cousin, 2006). I learned how the use of this approach could shift the ontological and conceptual dimensions of students’ perspectives. That fall, I implemented the threshold concept into my undergraduate CSD 401 Writing Lab. My intention was for students to gain perspective into the lives of survivors of acquired brain injuries. I hoped the assignment would help them develop empathy for the types of clients they would work with one day as burgeoning speech-language pathologists.