Education Commons^™

Practice Writing: Responding To The Needs Of The Bench And Bar In First-Year Writing Programs, Amy Vorenberg, Margaret Sova Mccabe

Law Faculty Scholarship

Do first year legal writing programs really prepare law students for the rigors of practice writing? This article begins to answer this question based on attorney and judge survey results, as well as interviews with judges who had also read student work in preparation for their interview. We found that while legal writing programs do provide a good foundation for legal writing skills, improvement can be made. Important changes that we have made at Pierce Law include shorter, more frequent assignments, variation/flexibility in choice of organizational paradigm, understanding the difference between settled and unsettled areas of law, and increased emphasis …

Technological Literacy – Not Just You And Your Computer, Joseph Scarcella, Susan Daniels

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

One might argue that the word technology is one of the most misunderstood and misused terms in common usage today. Many believe technology to be synonymous with computers, the internet and other high-tech media. This is limited and short sighted view indeed! Technology encompasses both simple and complex artifacts used daily. Pencils, toothbrushes, zippers and toothpicks – not to mention Velcro (!) – for instance, are all examples of what might be considered relatively modern examples of technology. Often, the wonder of “everyday” invention is lost in our current notions of technology. Yet, it is an investigative inquiry into the …

Anti-Ethnography?, Ian Barnard

English Faculty Articles and Research

"Many of the ongoing difficulties teachers face revolve around the 'translation' of disciplinary knowledge—especially critical theory—into pedagogical praxis. It often seems that our teaching lags behind our theoretical knowledge by about two decades, and sometimes we wonder if it will ever catch up. This sense of disjunction has been compounded by the difficulty of teaching postmodern understandings of subjectivity, truth, and epistemology in an increasingly commodified teaching context, where consumers expect to purchase a clear, identifiable, and literally usable product, and where 'knowledge' often means easily digestible and repeatable content rather than analytic skills, critical understandings, or complex world views. …

Fractions, Decimals, And Percents : A Fifth Grade Curriculum Unit, Jeffrey Li

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This independent study outlines a fifth grade curriculum unit for fractions, decimals, and percents. The unit utilizes a problem-solving approach to lead to deep understanding of fractions and their relations to decimals and percents. The study is influenced by writings by Hiebert, Dewey, Piaget, \/ygotsky, and Fosnot, and uses a lesson planning format created by Hal Melnick. Four explorations drive the unit:

Exploration 1: What is a fraction?

Exploration 2: Going Deeper with Fractions

Exploration 3: Connecting Fractions to Decimals and Percents

Exploration 4: Comparing Fractional Amounts

A Balanced Reading Program For The Primary Grades, Hope Kranz Mcdonald

All Graduate Projects

The focus of this project was to create specific.activities that teach children various tools that assist in learning how to read. The project implements a balanced reading curriculum with an emphasis in kindergarten and first grade. Throughout this project the students will be exploring a variety of ways to acquire the knowledge of reading. The project concentrates on two philosophies of how to teach reading; phonemic awareness and whole language. The final product encompasses both philosophies and creates a curriculum that links the two into a balanced approach to reading.

Challenging The Norms: Democracy, Empowering Education, And Negotiating The Curriculum, Joshua Sean Thomases

All Faculty and Staff Papers and Presentations

Discusses the principles of a democratic classroom, and how implementing these principles can create a powerful environment where extensive and in-depth learning truly happens.

Teachers' Life Histories As Curriculum Context, Rebekah D. Kelleher

Legacy ETDs

This qualitative study focuses on the teacher as curriculum enactor. Using life history methodology, the study explores how ordinary teachers' life experiences impact their present classroom decisions. The purpose of the study is three-fold: to give voice to the classroom teacher as curriculum expert; to encourage reflective practice; and to contribute to curriculum knowledge by focusing on the enacted curriculum. Three female middle school teachers participated in structured and unstructured interviews in which they shared their life stories and reflected on the origin of their teacher knowledge and behavior. The researcher reviewed transcripts of interviews and notes from observations of …

"From Snails To Alpha Males", A. Michael Marzolla

Master's Capstone Projects

No abstract provided.

The Long-Term Effects On High School Seniors Of Learning To Read In Kindergarten, Ralph A. Hanson, Donna M. Farrell

Donna M Farrell

This follow-up study assessed the educational history and current reading proficiencies of 3,959 high school seniors from 24 school districts in 10 U.S. states in 1986. The purpose was to examine the effects, if any, of receiving formal reading instruction in kindergarten. Over one-third of these students attended elementary schools that implemented a carefully developed beginning reading program in their kindergarten classes in 1973. Although the study included kindergarten students from all backgrounds, those from at-risk backgrounds were overrepresented. Three types of information were combined for each student to create a data base for this study: (a) the amount of …

Science In The Secondary Schools Of Tanzania, Oliver P.J. Mhaiki

Master's Capstone Projects

No abstract provided.

A Study Of Student Learning Objectives In Selected School Districts, Jeffrey P. Beaudry

All Graduate Projects

With the impending implementation of the Student Learning Objectives (SLO) Law, it seemed useful to examine and compare the objectives and programs actually developed by three school districts--University Place School District No. 83, Tacoma School District No. 10, and Sumner School District No. 320.

Current Trends In The Junior High School, Darrell Lee De Gross

Graduate Student Research Papers

The purpose of this study is to trace the major curriculum developments in the junior high school since its inception in 1910 to the present.

An Elementary Science Course Of Study Developed For Use In The Stockton Unified School District, David H. Smith

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Elementary science has made rapid strides in the last four or five years. In our elementary schools we have the laymen and scientists of tomorrow. The masses should have a speaking acquaintance with science and know the value to society through its modern inventions and discoveries. Knowledge of facts discovered by scientists give rise to conceptions that vitalize thinking in many fields and cause the redirection of human activities. Scientific conceptions such as time, space, change, variety, adaptation, and interrelationships have exerted profound influence upon thinking in wide areas of human affairs. These concepts can never be mastered, but they …

Maneuvers In World History, Harold E. Barto

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of Education and Professional Studies

In February 1935 the Washington Education Joumal carried a brief article under the title of "World History, 'What's It All About?'" Since then several letters have come from world history teachers from within the state. Frankly, they have caused some embarrassment. In almost one accord they have chided the writer with pointing out some of the problems relative to presenting world history without giving a hint as to possible remedial measures. The following suggestions no doubt represent methods which are being employed by all history teachers either directly or indirectly. They are neither new nor unique. However, they may help …

Institutional Management And Home Economist, George H. Black

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of Education and Professional Studies

We are on the threshold of a new technique in education for adults as well as for little children. The chief feature of the new technique, as opposed to the old and now conventional type, is that it is based upon participation while the old depends chiefly upon rationalization.

Making History Human, Herbert C. Fish

History Faculty Scholarship

This article describes several basic tenets of teaching history in an interesting and engaging manner.