Education Commons^™

Developing A Book Buddies Curriculum For English Language Learners, Melissa M. Cieto

Honors Program Theses and Projects

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of Teaching 3rd Grade Students New Strategies To Raise Math Assessment Scores: An Emphasis On Addition And Subtraction, Tracy Strong

Education Undergraduate Research

No abstract provided.

A Comparison Of Traditional Versus Nontraditional Oral Spelling Strategies In 3rd Grade Classrooms, Jacquelyne R. Wade

Education Undergraduate Research

A research study that was conducted in a private East Tennessee school. The study compared the traditional ways of spelling instruction to oral nontraditional methods. The study lasted for two weeks and results showed that both methods are still useful and effective. However, depending on the children's personality and teacher's willingness to implement a new curriculum effects the outcome of such methods.

Jane Austen And The 21st-Century Classroom, Maureen Jecrois

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Across the United States, educators and administrators have been discussing whether classical literature still has a place within the high school classroom. Included in this discussion are the works of Jane Austen. And while Jane Austen’s texts have much to offer as far as discussion on gender and familial dynamics, economic and political tension, and, of course, societal norms (what our communities expect from us individually and as a whole), the texts present many challenges within the frameworks of today’s classroom. What we have come to know as “our” time is a rapidly changing environment filled with experiences and technologies …

Theater Education Through The Common Core, Brandon Nease

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

As school budgets have plummeted, one of the extra curriculums that has suffered by losing funding has been the theatre department (wheeler 2007). The common core of education focuses on the four subjects of math, science, English, and history. The subjects are traditionally separated from each other with separate specialized teachers. However, several instructors try to utilize various methods in order to teach individual subjects more effectively. Even though the arts as a separate subject have slowly been cut from school programs around the nation, they have become an integral part of many teacher's curriculum to aid students in understanding …

A Statistical Analysis Of The Role Of Critical-Thinking Games In College Students' Quantitative Reasoning, Melissa Radevicz

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Improving college students' quantitative reasoning is crucial to increase STEM-field retention rates. The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), results indicate that "college students don't always get exposure to activities that develop [quantitative reasoning]" (Berrett & Sander, 2013). This study aimed to engage college students in quantitative reasoning through critical-thinking games. Phase 1, conducted in summer 2014 with a university research grant, involved a correlation analysis of the work of 133 college students enrolled in Elementary Statistics I, Chemical Principles II, Elements of Calculus, Pre-Calculus with Trigonometry, Multivariable Calculus, and Differential Equations. Participants held a variety of 39 different majors, …

El Mate En La Cultura Rioplatense: Un Ritual., Christian Ambrosioni

Spanish Model Lesson Plans

Esta lección se enfoca sobre el ritual del mate en la cultura rioplatense, y cómo este ritual se traduce en un fenómeno de adhesión popular. A según de los ingredientes escogidos para adornar o hacer más sencillo el mate, se pueden comunicar distintos estados de ánimo.

“The Personal Has Become Political”: A Secondary Teacher’S Perceptions Of Her Body In The Classroom, Christine A. Mallozzi

Curriculum and Instruction Faculty Publications

The purpose of this paper is to examine how a secondary English teacher considered her body a personal and political matter within her professional settings. Discourse analysis of the participant’s narrative evidences that women teachers are pressured to present certain feminine and heterosexual bodies and present a similar personal life within their pedagogy. The risk in not following suit is being pushed out of the profession, a matter that can be problematic especially when a teacher undergoes personal changes counter to professional expectations. Teacher education responsibility in preparing teacher candidates for a variable professional trajectory is noted.

“He Venido A Servir A Mi Gente” El Liceo Guacolda Y La Educación Intercultural En Chile / "I Have Come To Serve My People " The Liceo Guacolda And Intercultural Education In Chile, Jake Highleyman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The concept of intercultural education is present in many countries worldwide: it’s the idea of learning through the lenses of more than one culture, not just the Western or dominant one. In Chile, intercultural education is most commonly associated with the mapuche, the largest indigenous group in Chile. Since 1993, Chile has had a federal Bilingual Intercultural Education program (EIB). However, almost all of the implementation is left up to individual schools. The schools that do apply the program at a high school level only do so in an elective-based manner. That is, only students who elect to take a …

The Rd Parent Empowerment Program Creates Measurable Change In The Behaviors Of Low-Income Families And Children: An Intervention Description And Evaluation, Rosa K. Hand, Amanda Birnbaum, Betty Jean Carter, Lisa Medrow, Emily Stern, Katie Brown

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Dietary and physical activity habits are developed early in life and are influenced by family environments. We describe and evaluate an intervention for low-income families to encourage healthy habits. The RD Parent Empowerment Program (http://www.eatright.org/programs/kidseatright/activities/content.aspx?id=6442477891) consists of four workshops centered on the 8 Habits of Healthy Children and Families (Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Foundation). Registered dietitian nutritionists conduct the workshops in school and community settings using a structured leader guide and tailor the communication and interactive activities to the audience. Participants are parents of young children. Our goals were to use a phenomenologic approach to elicit participant …

Maine Learning Technology Initiative Program Evaluation Report 2013-14 Professional Development Programs, Caroline A. Pinkham, Bernadette Doykos

Education Technology

The purpose of this report is to explore the expansion of the MLTI program that occurred in the 2013‐2014 academic year. In June 2014, over 400 individuals from Maine public schools were solicited to participate in a survey examining their experiences with MLTI technology in their schools. In 2013‐2014, for the first time since the inception of MLTI in 2002, the program shifted to a multiple‐device solution, which offered schools the opportunity to select from a range of device choices, including a MacBook Air, iPad, or HP Probook. Both the MacBook Air and the HP Probook were traditionally formatted laptops, …

Alumnos Transnacionales En México Y Estados Unidos. Docentes Y Los Desafíos De La Globalización, Juan Sánchez García, Edmund T. Hamann

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

La migración internacional es un fenómeno que se encuentra presente en el desarrollo histórico de todos los países. Un hecho reciente es la migración escolar de niños y adolescentes en el contexto de la globalización. Este estudio se enfoca en la migración de retorno o llegada por vez primera de alumnos transnacionales que tuvieron la experiencia de haber vivido y estudiado en Estados Unidos y que se encuentran en escuelas mexicanas. El propósito de este artículo es explicar los resultados de una investigación de largo plazo sobre los alumnos transnacionales. Con la aplicación de métodos mixtos a través de un …

Making Dioramas Of Women Scientists Help Elementary Students Recognize Their Contributions, Jolene K. Teske, Phyllis Gray, Julie L. Klein, Audrey C. Rule

Curriculum & Instruction Faculty Publications

The STEM movement encourages girls to consider careers in science; however, for success, common misconceptions and biases need to be dispelled, while females’ spatial thinking skills are developed. All students, both girls and boys, need exposure to the accomplishments of women scientists to appreciate their contributions and to envision females as successful scientists. This one-week study conducted during a summer day camp examined upper elementary student (n = 15; 7 females, 8 males) attitudes toward science, women in science, and the possibility of a science career before and after participation in learning about diverse accomplished women scientists and making a …

Implementando La Educación Sexual Integral En El Conurbano: Interpretaciones, Practicas, Y Dificultades De Los Docentes De La Esi En La Escuela Secundaria / Implementing Integral Sexual Education In Grand Buenos Aires: Interpretations, Practices, And Difficulties Of High School Sexual Education Teachers, Alexcia Chambers

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The enactment of Law 26, 150—Argentina’s national Integral Sexual Education (ESI) program—in 2006 gave all Argentine teachers the opportunity, and the responsibility, to teach sexual education in the classroom. Although it has been eight years since the passing of this national law, it has not been universally implemented, and high school teachers in Greater Buenos Aires have yet to receive training on the new curriculum. Analyzing the opinions and experiences of seven high school teachers in the Greater Buenos Aires area, this study seeks to show the reality of sexual education in the Argentine classroom today through the teacher’s eyes. …

Learning To Walk In Two Worlds: An Examination Of Soul In My Pedagogy, Colette M. Polite

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Who exactly is a teacher without soul? The answer is complex. First, this study will explore the concept of soul in education. There are varying cultural, religious and spiritual ways to examine soul. This inquiry does not seek to prove the existence of soul. Its existence is considered to be complex, and even abstract, but exists nonetheless. Soul is explored from a cross-cultural approach, which includes an emphasis on a Native American philosophical worldview and discourse. My approach involves teacher autobiography and auto-narrative to provide insights to teacher identity and the presence of soul in education. This project utilizes métissage …

The Impact The Amount Of High School Physical Education Has On The Physical Activity Habits Of Traditional College Freshmen, Aaron Thompson

Faculty Scholarship – Exercise and Sports Science

Many states have reduced or eliminated high school physical education classes due to budget cuts and the passage of No Child Left Behind. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the relationship between the number of years of physical education students received in high school and the traditional college freshmen’s current level of physical activities. The short form of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire and additional demographic questions were used electronically to collect cross-sectional PA data from traditional college freshmen at a private Christian liberal arts university in the Midwest. After cleaning and processing the collected data, the …

Factors Used In Maine Learning Technology Initiative (Mlti) Device Choice, Caroline A. Pinkham

Education Technology

This Brief describes how schools/districts determined their technology device choice. The purpose of the Brief is to gain a better understanding of the decision making processes regarding the technology device(s) that was chosen by districts in the summer of 2013 and how satisfied they were with those devices for the 2013 -2014 school year. Surveys were administered to Superintendents in the Summer of June 2014 regarding this purpose.

Is Outdoor Instruction Used For The Enhancement Of Academic Instruction: A Survey Of Teachers Who Implement Outdoor Instruction In Their Curriculum, Heidi Gomez

Education Undergraduate Research

This paper looks at a survey to current teachers to see if outdoor instruction, or outdoor education, is being used in today's society of common core standards. Teachers were asked a series of questions to see how they implement their curriculum with outdoor instruction. Not all educators have access to an outdoor source so outdoor instruction is almost obsolete, if not only used for physical education.

Bibliotherapy: An Approach To Treating Mental Illness In The Classroom, Erin M. Curry

Senior Honors Theses

The prevalence of adolescent mental illness has increased at an alarming rate over the past two decades. Due to a lack of accessible mental health care and the stigmatization of mental illness, parents of children with these disorders are often reluctant to seek help. These children often resort to negative self-coping methods among which include substance abuse, violence, and suicide. These negative self-coping methods have a harmful, lasting impact on the individual as well as the surrounding community.

Bibliotherapy, which harnesses the meditative power of books, can teach helpful coping skills to students with mental illness. When effectively utilized in …

An Examination Of Research To Practice Gaps In Education: Whole Language, Learning Modalities, And Brain Gym, Elizabeth Strohman

Senior Honors Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the documented research to practice gap in education by discussing three recent trends in education that gained momentum with little to no empirical support: (a) whole language reading instruction; (b) modality-based instruction; and (c) Brain Gym. This thesis examines the trend in education toward embracing unsubstantiated strategies by spotlighting these three educational trends and offers recommendations for addressing the research to practice gap in the field of education.

The Value Of Problem Posing In Developing Creatively Gifted Mathematicians, Eric L. Mann

Faculty Presentations

The task of problem posing is often overlooked as a means to develop creatively gifted mathematicians. Silver (1997) suggested that problem posing was an instructional tactic used worldwide to develop creativity in mathematicians. More specifically, Silver advocated that deliberate instructional tactics had to be employed to precipitate creative solutions. Problem posing is often correlated with the aesthetic nature of mathematics.

In this cutting-edge session, participants’ objective is to learn about the value of problem posing through a brief presentation and have an opportunity to generate their own mathematical problem solving tasks given a mathematical concept. The intent is to encourage …

Demographics, Persistence, And Academic Performance: A Logistic Regression Analysis Of Who Chooses To Enter The Mathematics And Science Teaching Pipeline, Esther Joseph

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As of 1999, high school teachers without majors in their subject areas number 37% of biology teachers, 59% of physical science teachers, and 60% of mathematics teachers. These discouraging statistics grow more extreme in middle schools and high poverty public high schools, especially regarding mathematics and physical sciences instruction. The statistics are especially worrisome given the strong correlation between thorough teacher subject matter preparation and higher student performance. Unfortunately, the literature is limited in terms of a direct comparison between mathematics and science majors and individuals who become mathematics and science teachers. This study was undertaken to add to the …

Interactive Usage Of Demonstration Videos: An Experimental Evaluation, Ryan Anderson, Shiyuan Wang, Lisa M. Pytlikzillig, Kevin M. Lee

DBER Speaker Series

Crouch et al (2004) posit that students will be more engaged by and learn more from classroom demonstrations when asked to predict the outcome of the demonstration and discuss it with peers. We tested this hypothesis in an experiment involving 116 students enrolled in an undergraduate astronomy class using an online survey and five video demonstrations. Students were randomly assigned to one of four conditions, including watching a set of videos (about convection, sun spots, and buoyancy) under one of Crouch’s three modes of presentation (observe, predict, and discuss) and a control condition which involved viewing different videos (about differentiation …

An Argument For The Great Divorce In The Public School Ninth Grade English Classroom, Taylor Isom

Senior Honors Theses

C. S. Lewis’s The Great Divorce (1946) can provide a useful supplement for ninth grade English instruction because of its quality as a literary work, the ideas it represents, its commentary on enduring human questions, and its connections to its historical context. At its core, the book reflects on recurring philosophical and religious ideas in a way that simultaneously links to and transcends its time. It also exhibits hallmarks of literary excellence, such as formal consistency and a comprehensive view of its themes. The Great Divorce’s skillful use of literary elements suits it for instruction, adapting form to purpose. …

Critical Transitions In Faculty Learning: Helping Faculty Become Learning-Centered Teachers, Judith Longfield

Centers for Teaching Excellence Staff Presentations

No abstract provided.

Redesigning Instruction To Create Systematic Change: A Designer’S Perspective, Debra D. Runshe

Teaching and Learning Technologies Presentations

Instruction Matters Purdue Academic Course Transformation (IMPACT) is not only a successful course redesign program but it also fosters institutional change through collaboration between faculty and support units campus-wide. Faculty participate in a structured faculty development program and are further supported in their redesign process by a team of staff members from multiple units across campus, including the Libraries, the Center for Instructional Excellence (CIE), Information Technology at Purdue (ITaP), and Purdue Distance Education (PEC).

Voyager En France, Valerie J. Spaeth

French Model Lesson Plans

In this lesson, students view a video that describes the most often used modes of transportation in France. Students then discuss the similarities and differences between travel in the US and travel in France.

Put Your Feet On The Ground Of History, Julie Mujic

History Faculty Publications

History majors at Sacred Heart University personified the quest for active and engaged learning with their eagerness to “put their feet on the ground of history.”

Language Of Harry's Wizards: Authentic Vocabulary Instruction, Divonna M. Stebick, Constance N. Nichols

Education Faculty Publications

This study was the result of a year long action research project within a middle school language arts classroom. The students showed improvement in their vocabulary skills due to this instruction using Harry Potter as a context.

A Transcendental Phenomenological Study Of Developmental Math Students' Experiences And Perceptions, Megan Cordes

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Current literature suggests the rise of enrollment among United States (U.S.) postsecondary institutions but the decline in graduation rates. While there is extensive quantitative data examining course redesigns and increasing student achievement in developmental math courses, there is limited research examining students' experiences and perceptions within these courses. The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to examine the experiences and perceptions of developmental math students. This study utilized the theoretical framework of Bandura's (1997) social cognitive theory and Tinto's (2012a) retention theory. Research questions focused on the lived experience of struggling within a developmental math course, past math experiences …