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Full-Text Articles in Education
Addressing Issues Surrounding Food Insecurity And Promote Environmentalism In Urban Settings Using Community Gardens, Tucker Jensen
Addressing Issues Surrounding Food Insecurity And Promote Environmentalism In Urban Settings Using Community Gardens, Tucker Jensen
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
This capstone project reviews the effect community gardens have on the low-income, urban population. After reviewing the history of racism in America, disproportionalities of food insecurity, how poverty correlates to health, and various environmental impacts specific to urban communities, this project was an effort to expand on that research and provide a solution. Food deserts exist in many of today’s American cities, which lead to food insecurity and negative health outcomes. A community garden is a low-cost, effective way to obtain healthy food and simultaneously benefit the environment. This five-day unit of study takes place at an established community garden. …
Teaching And Learning About Linguistic Landscapes In Schools: A Student-Involved Research And Analysis Curriculum For English Language Learners In Middle School, Suzanne Regina Buresh Bullock
Teaching And Learning About Linguistic Landscapes In Schools: A Student-Involved Research And Analysis Curriculum For English Language Learners In Middle School, Suzanne Regina Buresh Bullock
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
We are surrounded by many forms of language every day. This capstone project addresses the research question: how can students learn to research and think critically about the linguistic landscape in and around their school and come up with ideas to create changes in the linguistic landscape of their school? The linguistic landscape (LL) of a neighborhood, of a village, or of an entire city is what we see when we interact with the world: this includes signage such as billboards, signs, advertisements, even the menu scrawled on a chalkboard at the local coffee shop. The languages that are present …
Women And Outdoor Adventure: Creating A Backpacking Course To Prepare And Empower, Anna Swarts
Women And Outdoor Adventure: Creating A Backpacking Course To Prepare And Empower, Anna Swarts
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Adventure recreation involves activities that are self-initiated, contain a degree of risk, and generally take place outdoors. Participation yields benefits in many areas of a person’s life. However, women are in the minority of participants as a result of a wide variety of constraints that range from the hidden curriculum in education, a lack of visibility, social conditioning, societal expectations, and more. The research question what are the key elements of a course that prepares and empowers women to plan and complete their own adventure trip? provided background for this curriculum project. This project consists of six workshops for adult …
Using The Process Approach To Create An Effective And Efficient Secondary Writing Curriculum For Students And Teachers, Adam Koehler
Using The Process Approach To Create An Effective And Efficient Secondary Writing Curriculum For Students And Teachers, Adam Koehler
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The process approach to writing instruction has become widely used; however, writing assessment practices that emphasize summative feedback may not utilize the strengths of the process approach to instruction. This capstone project answers the question: How can writing instruction and assessment practices be used to create an effective and efficient writing curriculum? The result of the research shows that the instruction methods of specific writing strategies, mentor text analysis, collaborative writing, and sentence combination can be effectively integrated. Research-informed curricula were developed with an emphasis on student-centered formative assessment practices such as writing conferences and peer/self-assessment. These practices effectively support …
The Role Of Environmental Education In Steam Education, Elise Malecha
The Role Of Environmental Education In Steam Education, Elise Malecha
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Research has shown that both STEAM education and environmental education have similar goals: equipping students with 21st-century skills such as communication, collaboration, and critical thinking. These skills are essential for students to know in order to be successful in their future careers. However, while both STEAM education and environmental education have similar goals, they are often not taught together. This project takes time to answer the question: How can incorporating more environmental education into STEAM help create students that are equipped with skills needed for future careers? The supplemental curriculum designed for this project is intended to be woven into …
Teaching Journalism Ethics In The High School Journalism Classroom Through The Use Of Text Sets, Megan Erickson
Teaching Journalism Ethics In The High School Journalism Classroom Through The Use Of Text Sets, Megan Erickson
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
It is common for an introductory journalism class to prioritize learning how to locate sources, conduct interviews, and synthesize gathered information into a news story, but none of these tasks can be mastered without students gaining a fundamental understanding of press ethics. Ethical issues, like impartiality and the use of anonymous sources, arise every day for journalists of all types of media and years of experience, yet ethics instruction at the high school level is all too frequently relegated to advising students on a case-by-case basis as issues arise. This capstone project seeks to answer the research question, How can …
Growing Reading Skills Through Oral Language Activities: Reading Intervention/English Learner Curriculum, Sarah Lundgren
Growing Reading Skills Through Oral Language Activities: Reading Intervention/English Learner Curriculum, Sarah Lundgren
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Promoting student growth in reading comprehension and language skills is a primary goal of every language teacher. Research increasingly shows that engaging English learner (EL) students in oral language activities is connected to growth in both language skills and in reading comprehension. Research also shows that oral language activities improve engagement and comprehension not only in EL students but in native English-speaking students. This project combines oral language activities in reading prosody, Routine, Integrated, Structured, Academic (RISA) Oral Interactions (Watson, 2015), and reading comprehension for groups of both mainstream and EL students covering both Minnesota standards and WIDA standards for …
Sel In The High School Social Studies Classroom, John Gonzalez
Sel In The High School Social Studies Classroom, John Gonzalez
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Educational research suggests that the development of social-emotional skills for elementary aged students positively impacts academic progress. The social-emotional skills include self-awareness, self-management, social-awareness, ability to build and maintain healthy relationships, and responsible decision-making. Yet, less research exists around the positive impacts of social-emotional learning (SEL) in the high school setting. The goal of this project was to identify ways to increase high schoolers’ social and emotional skills in order to help students manage the barriers that negatively impact engagement and achievement. This project reviewed the following research-based methods for improving students’ social-emotional skills: Zones of Regulation, Second Step, Responsive …
Inquiry-Based Science And Higher-Order Thinking Skills In Upper Elementary Science Education, Emily Culhane
Inquiry-Based Science And Higher-Order Thinking Skills In Upper Elementary Science Education, Emily Culhane
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The research question addressed in this project is: How can curriculum design in upper elementary science education enlist students in practice and demonstration of higher-order thinking skills? The purpose for this project was to explore how inquiry-based science can further develop students’ higher-order thinking skills of synthesis and evaluation. Synthesis and evaluation were chosen because they are transferable to other content areas as well as everyday life. In the literature review, many different research studies were examined in order to learn more about inquiry-based science, higher-order thinking skills, Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), and curriculum design. The project is a …
Three-Dimensional Learning And The Phenomena Based Learning Approach With A Stem Curriculum, Shana Hoglund
Three-Dimensional Learning And The Phenomena Based Learning Approach With A Stem Curriculum, Shana Hoglund
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The research question addressed in this capstone project is: How do three-dimensional learning and phenomenon-based learning approaches increase the authentic learning experience for students in elementary STEM classes? The focus of this project was to research the new learning approaches being proposed by the Next Generation Science Standards. Three-dimensional and phenomenon-based learning are utilized in the goal to better understand how these new approaches will be best used in an elementary STEM classroom. The research focuses on the importance and need of STEM education in an elementary setting. The project is a nine-lesson STEM unit on energy conservation for first …
Using Digital Communication Technologies To Record A Student’S Thinking During The Solving Of Physics Problems, John Gaalaas
Using Digital Communication Technologies To Record A Student’S Thinking During The Solving Of Physics Problems, John Gaalaas
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The question addressed in this project aims to develop strategies to record student thinking while solving physics problems. Literature pointed to the benefits of conversation as a form of assessment and strategies for developing good physics problems. The project demonstrates two different ways to implement the recording strategy and develops ways to assess these recordings. A slide presentation is developed for use in workshops with other physics teachers demonstrating how to put the strategies into place. Future research might involve quantitative measurement of the effects of these strategies in physics classrooms.
Components Necessary To Create A Flipped Model Of Instruction For Accelerating 4th-8th Grade Gifted/Talented Students, Samantha Boyd
Components Necessary To Create A Flipped Model Of Instruction For Accelerating 4th-8th Grade Gifted/Talented Students, Samantha Boyd
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The research demonstrates that gifted students need to have the option for content acceleration for their intellectual needs, this is especially true for mathematics. The curriculum designed for this project uses the Understanding by Design curriculum planning model, in order to help gifted/talented students accelerate through the pre-algebra (7th grade MN math standards) using a compacting and flipped model of instruction. Gifted and talented students can be identified through many facets, and be identified with a variety of different areas for giftedness. These students who are gifted may need acceleration in order to best meet their academic needs as a …
Implementing Project-Based Learning Within A Standards-Based Grading System, Hannah Yokom
Implementing Project-Based Learning Within A Standards-Based Grading System, Hannah Yokom
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The research question addressed in this project was, how can teachers implement interdisciplinary, project-based learning to teach and assess multiple standards in a standards-based grading system? Teachers need to shift their role from being the keeper of information for students to being a guide that helps as they ask questions, lead their own learning, and carry the cognitive load. Standards-based grading is a research-based best practice, but it requires that each standard be taught and assessed individually. This project integrates research in the areas of developing and implementing project-based learning in the classroom, and standards-based grading. It presents a fully-developed, …
Knowledge And Skill: Integrating Social Studies And Writing Content For Third-Grade Students, Heather Eikenbary
Knowledge And Skill: Integrating Social Studies And Writing Content For Third-Grade Students, Heather Eikenbary
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The Achievement Gap has plagued school districts across the country. Why are students from lower-income families underperforming academically when compared to their more affluent peers? This capstone addresses the Achievement Gap, the Opportunity Gap, and the Knowledge Gap with the intention of answering the question: How does integrating social studies content into third-grade writing improve historical knowledge, student writing, and vocabulary for the purpose of closing the Knowledge Gap? This capstone analyzes and discusses research on the Knowledge Gap and the need for elementary instruction in social studies, vocabulary, and writing. Additionally, research on the best practices for elementary instruction …
Co-Teaching Strategies For Culturally And Linguistically Diverse Learners In Middle School English Language Arts, Adena Berg
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The research question addressed in this project is: What are the most effective co-teaching strategies for teaching literacy skills in a middle school English Language Arts class that is culturally and linguistically diverse? It documents one teacher’s creation of an ELA-based curriculum that includes strategies for ELD co-teaching, learning activities to increase middle school literacy skills and supports for culturally and linguistically diverse learners. Designing the curriculum using the Understanding by Design framework, it is for use when teaching Free? Stories Celebrating Human Rights ( Morpurgo et al., 2015) in a co-taught sixth grade classroom. The overall goal of the …
Best Methods For Meeting The Goals Of Environmental And Place-Based Education In Short-Term And Immersive Undergraduate Settings, Henry Whitehead
Best Methods For Meeting The Goals Of Environmental And Place-Based Education In Short-Term And Immersive Undergraduate Settings, Henry Whitehead
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
This capstone sought to answer the following question: what are the best instructional methods for meeting the goals of place-based and environmental education in a short-term, immersive undergraduate setting? While place-based education and environmental education have been exhaustively studied for younger learners, a dearth of research exists in their application for college students. Through a review of the literature and the execution of the project, a January interim course for college students studying the Driftless Region, it was determined that several factors influence successful and meaningful learning for college students. Most notably, discussion, experiential learning, and engagement with community members …
How Culturally Responsive Teaching Can Support Small Group Math Instruction, Ryan Moran
How Culturally Responsive Teaching Can Support Small Group Math Instruction, Ryan Moran
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
For this project, the author studied culturally responsive teaching methods and mathematics instruction strategies applicable to teaching fractions to third grade English Learners (ELs) in a small group. Throughout his career as an educator, the author consistently observed the need for additional EL math support . Therefore, the guiding question addressed by the author’s capstone project is How can culturally responsive mathematics strategies be implemented in a small-group EL setting? The research conducted in this project was used to create a 10-day, small-group fraction curriculum designed for third grade ELs.