Education Commons^™

Klipsun Magazine, 2015, Volume 46, Issue 01 - Fall, Leesy Latronica

Klipsun Magazine

If you’ve stood ankle-deep in the ocean, you may know the magic. I remember peering down toward my ankles as waves broke and rolled onto the shore. When the water would retreat, the backwards drag created a distinct floating illusion, as if the ebbing tide was pulling me out to sea along with it.

Or perhaps you’ve seen your share of Bellingham Bay sun­ sets. When the sky shifts and the sun sinks with it, if the right elements align, the diffused light creates a giant scoop of rainbow sherbet melting over the horizon.

The simplest sets of motion can …

The Planet, 2015, Fall, Yvonne Worden, Huxley College Of The Environment, Western Washington University

The Planet

No abstract provided.

Window: The Magazine Of Western Washington University, 2015, Volume 08, Issue 01, Mary Lane Gallagher, Office Of University Communications And Marketing, Western Washington University

Window Magazine

No abstract provided.

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.

Social Privilege And International Volunteering, Stephanie Sisson

Scholars Week

I explore the awareness of social privilege revealed in the discourse among international volunteers. I conducted 10 semi-structured face-to-face interviews. The participants were university students who completed international service learning programs in Cambodia and Thailand. I analyzed the data using the grounded theory, specifically the constant comparison method. Findings revealed that international service learning alone proved ineffective in challenging institutionalized, self-mediated, and internalized social privilege. Implications of the study portray the need for universities to invest in follow-up programs that promote the sharing of volunteer experiences, guided critical reflection, and community out-reach based in solidarity. Taken together, this study suggests …

The Critique Of Uncertainty Reduction, Riley Beard

Scholars Week

I sought to critique the theoretical implications and practical applications of the uncertainty reduction theory (URT) as utilized in the computer-mediated communication (CMC) context. In general, the URT is heuristic. It has been tested in multiple contexts, and provides valuable insights and predictions about interpersonal relationships. After almost four decades, despite cultural shifts, the URT is still widely used in the communication field. However, my analysis of the testing of the theory reveals its weaknesses. Particularly, the URT was generated within a Eurocentric framework, and it reinforces the practices of the dominant culture. The applications of the theory were mostly …

Phytoplankton Ecology: Algal Assemblages In Correlation With Water Quality In High Elevation Lakes, North Cascades, Wa, Anna Nakae

Scholars Week

High- elevation lakes are unique ecosystems that are exposed to extreme environmental conditions and, as a result, are relatively simple systems in which changes can be detected. Phytoplankton communities within these systems are of interest because can be greatly influenced by the chemical components of the surrounding environment. This relationship allows phytoplankton assemblages to act as bioindicators that can give a greater insight into the water characteristics of lakes and vice versa. For this research, seven lakes were studied: Terminal, Upper Bagley, Lower Bagley, Heather Meadows Pond, Sunrise , Picture and Highwood. All seven are located in the headwaters watershed …

Klipsun Magazine, 2015, Volume 45, Issue 05 - Spring, Sigourney Gundy

Klipsun Magazine

I flip through the yellow pages of a navy blue hardcover book titled Klipsun; with each page turn, a musty smell fills my nose. My eyes land on a black and white photo of a tall, dark-haired man in a blazer and I read his name — Dingeman Bajema — my great grandfather. Here, I knew I had found something timeless.

From a yearbook that displayed the life of my great grandfather in 1924, to a features magazine that depicts the lives of people in 2015, Klipsun has maintained a storytelling tradition that captures life in the way it is …

The Planet, 2015, Spring, Beth Carlson, Huxley College Of The Environment, Western Washington University

The Planet

No abstract provided.

Window: The Magazine Of Western Washington University, 2015, Volume 07, Issue 02, Mary Lane Gallagher, Office Of University Communications And Marketing, Western Washington University

Window Magazine

No abstract provided.

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 …

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.

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 …

Crowding New Public Management Off The University’S Horizon Of Expectations, Michael Schapira

Journal of Educational Controversy

This article is a response to Asger Sørensen’s vivid example of how neo-liberal university reform has subjected Danish universities to New Public Management. Sørensen effectively shows the noxious effects of NPM by discussing the infamous Koldau case, where newly empowered rectors, who served as centralized arbiters of university affairs, superseded academic decision-making. He concludes that one reason these cases have not been met with resistance by faculty is that they are paralyzed by radically conflicting normative visions of the university. In this article I respond to Sørensen by suggesting that conflicting normative visions need not be a disempowering condition and …

Klipsun Magazine, 2015, Volume 45, Issue 04 - Winter, Carina Linder Jimenez

Klipsun Magazine

One of my favorite novelists, James Joyce, once wrote, “I am tomorrow, or some future day, what I establish today. I am today what I established yesterday or some previous day.” These two sentences speak to the ongoing reality that is a person’s life.

Everyday people are looking forward toward a change or looking back at what they once needed. We live in a world that is perpetually unsatisfied but also entrenched with hope. To reach a world people want to live in they may choose to stand silently in a demonstration, or rush head first and fists crashing into …

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?

The Planet, 2015, Winter, Beth Carlson, Huxley College Of The Environment, Western Washington University

The Planet

No abstract provided.

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.