Education Commons^™

The Effect Of Remittances On Educational Outcome In Uganda, Kaity Chen

Economics Student Theses and Capstone Projects

This study investigates the impact of remittances received on the highest level of education completed by the household members in Uganda. The results of our multinomial logistic regression analysis that uses survey data from Uganda in 2010 indicate that, after controlling for other variables, our independent variable—the total amount of remittances received—is only a significant predictor of the three highest level of education categories (Completed secondary education vs Didn’t complete primary education category, Post-secondary diploma vs Didn’t complete primary education category, and Degree and Above Education vs Didn’t complete primary education). This could be due to the fact that households …

"Learning By Doing, By Wondering, By Figuring Things Out:" A New Look At Contemporary Homeschooling And Pedagogical Progressivism, Jacques Klapisch

History Honors Theses

Pedagogical progressive education, as defined through the work of John Dewey, Helen Parkhurst, and Carleton Washburne was the precursor to the contemporary homeschooling movement in ideology, practice, and rhetoric as defined by the writing and pedagogy of John Holt. Their shared beliefs in community, student freedom, and good experience as pertinent to education marked the relationship between these two pedagogical methods. Despite Holt's departure from the classroom through his unschooling method, the ideological consistencies between the movement are undeniable, suggesting we rethink the relationship between progressive education and homeschooling and our basic assumptions about the legacy of both movements.

Searching For Silver Linings In Foreign Grounds: Children Of Immigrants And Their Quest To Post-Secondary Education, Ashley Mejia

Sociology Senior Seminar Papers

In recent years there has been an increase of immigrants in the United States and upward mobility has become extremely challenging through secondary education. Higher education is deemed to be one of the most important factors associated with upward mobility and economic stability. While the achievement gap continues to widen, children of immigrants continue to struggle to assimilate and in gaining access to the white middle-class mainstream. Ultimately, the snowball effect of intergenerational low socioeconomic status rolls over on to the disadvantage immigrant children in the new generation. I propose that children of U.S. born parents have a greater educational …

Case Selection: A Case For A New Approach, Timothy L. Harper, Mary E. Taber, Barbara P. Norelli

Library

While conducting empirical research regarding the relationship between case characteristics and student performance, the authors were surprised to find a lack of conceptual and empirical research regarding instructor case selection. This conceptual paper explores the case selection process and introduces case selection as an under-investigated component of the case teaching method in management education. Case selection is important because it is a critical component of the case teaching method. There has been no empirical testing of the effectiveness of case selection technique. The authors identify and propose case selection criteria for instructors of management education.

Empathy, Social Intelligence And Critical Thinking: What Can Theatre Education Offer?, Jane Dewey

MALS Final Projects, 1995-2019

This study examines the relationship of theatre, education, and emotional and social intelligence. The applied research component explores what theatrical processes can offer the efforts to address the issues of bullying by developing skills (focusing on empathy) to help deal with that issue in a substantive way. In this study, I provide a selected review of literature with regards to: how theatre has historically addressed social issues, the current state of bullying with an emphasis on bullying in schools, and how theatre is currently addressing the issue of bullying in both school and theatrical settings. The role that emotional and …

Mining Our Heritage: Oral History And Place-Based Learning In The Adirondacks, Christine Campeau

MALS Final Projects, 1995-2019

Cultural history museums and historic sites recognize the power of storytelling to engage and educate their visitors. Public schools ingrained in a standards-based curriculum often overlook the value of family stories and local history. The emerging discipline of place-based education offers a pedagogical approach that uses the local community as the focal point, providing a unique curriculum that extends beyond the traditional school walls. Oral history is a fundamental methodology for connecting students to regional history and culture, and is an ideal introduction to the broader theoretical perspective of place-based education. This research explores the concept of using oral history …

Dispelling The Myth Of The One Tribe Nation The Work Of David W Ojnarowicz, Jimmy C. Powell

MALS Final Projects, 1995-2019

The work of artist David Wojnarowicz continues to illicit controversy 20 years after his death. Recently censored at the Smithsonian, his work is an example of the power of art as a tool for resistance and elucidation of not only political oppression, but cultural as well. Wojnarowicz explored the hegemonic relationship between agency and structure, making private moments public to dispel the notion of a ' one tribe nation'. Starting with a theoretical framework based on Pierre Bourdieu's concept of field production and ending with Giorgio Agamben's theory on the state of exception, this iconoclastic artist is examined to explore …

A Comparison Of The Washington Square Players And Mortimer J. Alder's Paideia Group, Liza Mcmahon

MALS Final Projects, 1995-2019

The Washington Square Players evolved as a reaction to the formulaic art of the theater industry. Mortimer Adler led educational reform by creating the Paideia Group. Both the Players and Adler arise from New York during the Progressive Era. Similar to the Washington Square Players' declaration to produce "art for art's sake", the Paideia Group looked at education for education's sake. This paper is a comparison of the Washington Square Players and Mortimer J. Adler, the Chairman of the Paideia Group, as nonconformists grounded in democracy, who initiated reform amidst controversy.

Viewing Shakespeare Through A Kaleidoscope: Creating Meaningful Connections For 21st Century Students, Leigh Ann Bellville

MALS Final Projects, 1995-2019

"Viewing Shakespeare through a Kaleidoscope: Creating Meaningful Connections for 21st Century Students" emphasizes the importance of teaching literature using an interdisciplinary approach. By viewing literary works through a "kaleidoscope" of disciplinary lenses, students will increase their understanding of the content and demonstrate relevant connections to their own lives. An exploration of King Lear will demonstrate how utilizing an interdisciplinary approach while teaching the play will provide students with tools to access Shakespeare. The project will focus on two themes: family dynamics and betrayal versus loyalty, two defining forces in contemporary youth culture.

Supporting Artists In The Gallery: The Role Of The Museum Educator At An Art College, India N. Clark

MALS Final Projects, 1995-2019

Campus museums are uniquely positioned to enhance student learning and support faculty in achieving course objectives. By tapping the potential of objects, exhibition themes, and the gallery environment, museum professionals can empower faculty and students to make meaningful and relevant connections to curriculum content. Inspired by the successes in such endeavors of revered teaching museums at elite liberal arts colleges, but frustrated by the challenges of transferring model practices to the context of an art college, I set out to investigate what was possible at my own place of employment, the nation's only publicly funded art college, Massachusetts College of …

Transitions To A New Museum: An Examination Of The Factors That Lead Museums Toward Education As An Institution Priority, Tanya Tobias-Tomis

MALS Final Projects, 1995-2019

This essay discusses how changes to state and federal funding, increasing competition from non-museum arts organizations and a desire to strengthen, build and diversify audiences encouraged museums to position education as an institutional priority. These factors combined with an intensifying frustration about a lack of professional standards and growing criticism of the field, encouraged museum educators to develop and adopt new, more effective ways of engaging audiences. This essay also explores how and why museums universally adopted Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) to better position themselves to compete for participation and funding. This essay concludes with several suggestions, or a plan, …

Consensus Is The Answer Key: Liberating Science And Math Education, Sarah A. Bertucci

MALS Final Projects, 1995-2019

There is a pervasive hidden curriculum about science and math intelligence. It teaches students that being smart in these subjects means independently and effortlessly getting quick, correct answers. This hidden curriculum is inaccurate, disempowering, and unjust. A classroom dynamic called "Consensus is the Answer Key" is an effective way to rewrite this hidden curriculum. By solving complex problems and using group discussion that calls for logic and communication skills, students effectively learn science and math content, as well as gaining the skills and confidence to be successful in these subjects.

Theater Study And The Power Of Possibility, Jill Rafferty-Weinisch

MALS Final Projects, 1995-2019

My experience as an Arts Educator, working with a particular group of at-risk students has led me to question the manner in which the Arts are primarily utilized in K-12 education. Specifically, their use as a delivery system for academic curriculum, while highly effective, may be at the expense of, and ultimately may limit, other far more significant benefits. In my experience as both a student and a teacher of theater, I have observed a correlation between certain habits of mind developed through theater work and modes of thinking, which are widely believed to support healthy adolescent development. This paper …

A Teacher Reflects On Seven Years In A Kansas City Alternative High School, Deborah Evaline Franks

MALS Final Projects, 1995-2019

With an informed eye to the psychological, sociological, and institutional aspects of immediate events, the writer explores her seven years teaching in a school for disadvantaged urban youth living in a mid-sized Midwestern U.S. city. This work melds intensely personal memoir with perspectives to be had from current research, thus situating the personal in a wider social context. With this articulation came deep dissatisfaction with premises and practices on which the high school was based, and ultimately the writer decided to leave for an entirely different environment. At the conclusion is an annotated bibliography, offering the reader tools to evaluate …

An Art Classroom Curriculum Integrating Art History And Ela, Lisa M. Catalano

MALS Final Projects, 1995-2019

Nora, having finished drinking her milk, tosses her sippy-cup to the side. At first she doesn't see the casual stream of milk that has been strewn across the black wool carpet, but as you can imagine it does not escape her for long. Imagine the look on her face as she discovers that she can control the amount and pattern of the milk on the floor. She begins to tap the tip of the cup on the carpet watching the white spots this creates. As pools of white are formed she takes her fingers and drags them across the rug …

Differentiating Art Curriculum For Students With Learning And Emotional Disabilities, Susan Ackerman

MALS Final Projects, 1995-2019

Participation in the visual arts should be a pleasurable, vital learning experience for students with special needs. Art teachers without formal training are challenged by differentiating curricula for these special education students due to current teacher certification requirements. Art teachers of special education students strive to provide the most creative atmosphere possible while struggling to balance the demands of behavior management these children require. To understand this dilemma, this paper begins with an exploration of disability's integration into our education system and the impact of federal legislation on society's desire to teach everyone equally. It presents theories of creativity that …

The Effects Of The Arts Curriculum On The At-Risk Student Population: An Examination Of Music And Drama With Regard To Specific Risk Factors, Christy D' Ambrosio

MALS Final Projects, 1995-2019

Development of musical and dramatic arts skills strengthens psychological wellness within the at-risk population. The ability of the arts curriculum to promote psychological wellness is documented repeatedly in the premier research surveyed by two overarching compendia, Champions of Change and Critical Links. It is postulated that music and drama, specifically, promote positive behavioral change by enhancing or altering neurological pathways. Twelve developmental issues are examined in two broad categories: concepts of self and socialization. Each developmental issue is analyzed according to the aforementioned premier research. Musical and dramatic therapeutic responses, reflecting the conclusions reached by numerous researchers, are suggested for …

Environmental Education And A Proposal For Its Implementation In Public Schools, Casey Putnam

MALS Final Projects, 1995-2019

Human impact on nature has led to global environmental destruction and degradation. Young people are not environmentally knowledgeable, and they are not receiving the type of instruction they need in order to be environmentally literate citizens. In order to repair some of the damage that has been done and to diminish future impact, environmental education must be thoroughly and thoughtfully incorporated into people's lives.

Environmental education has existed, in various forms, for nearly a century as, at best, a supplement to "real education." Rather than being a fringe subject, environmental education warrants attention in American education that is equal to …

Technology Education And Integrated Learning For Adult Learners, Karen K. Lawson

MALS Final Projects, 1995-2019

Adult learning and achievement in technology education can be enhanced through the process of integrated learning, rather than through learning skills in isolation. An integrated learning program helps provide the opportunity for instructors to help their students make connections and form relationships across the boundaries of classroom, discipline, skill, and background. Situated cognition refers to the idea that cognitive processes (including thinking and learning) are located in physical and social contexts. By providing technology education using information contexts (histories, stories, explanations, backgrounds), adult learners can draw on both what they have learned in life and are learning in the classroom.

The Benefits Of Supplementing The Eighth Grade American History Curriculum With Historical And Realistic Fiction Novels, Susan Shadle

MALS Final Projects, 1995-2019

As the textbook remains the driving force of instructional methodology in the secondary history curriculum, student enthusiasm and achievement in the discipline continue to decline. Textbooks, which fail to tell the complete story of the American experience, are not just shortchanging history, they are ill-suited to the developmental requirements of the adolescent learner. Through personal classroom experience, literature review, and a one-year site-based study, the evidence compiled in this study endorses the integration of social studies trade books, in particular historical and realistic fiction novels, as a prescription for diminishing, if not turning around, the discouraging trend in middle school …

Career Development In Young Adult Women: Educational Influences On Self-Esteem, John E. Montreal

MALS Final Projects, 1995-2019

The study of the college experience and student self-esteem contributes to the understanding of human development. There are biological, environmental, and cognitive factors that influence student behavior. For women, the process is often preordained by gender roles shaped by men. The effects play a strong part in career development. This paper explores social, psychological, and biological research that informs human behavior. Studies about college influences on women's self-concept and self-esteem reveal the factors involved in their career persistence, and decision-making. The evidence exposes the process that embodies student development, more than it suggests conclusions about ' career development. Helen Astin's …

Updating Undergraduate Graphic Design Programs: Recommendations For Including Communications And A History Of Technology In Graphic Design Education In Order To Better Prepare Graphic Design Students For Their Profession, Jacquie Drews

MALS Final Projects, 1995-2019

The knowledge required for today's graphic design students to become well-rounded communication professionals is changing due to new technologies and new communication media. Revising educational curricula to satisfy these new needs must be addressed in the undergraduate graphic design programs that are currently being offered by art schools, colleges, and universities.

A review of the literature, along with surveys of selected design firms in the Washington, DC area and professors at institutions offering undergraduate graphic design degrees, shows that communications studies and a background in the history of technology are two additional curriculum areas that would help to better prepare …

Self-Esteem, Self-Determination And Behavior Outcomes: Applications For The Secondary School Context, Diane White Fish

MALS Final Projects, 1995-2019

Self-esteem and self-concept theories are associated with psychological and social well-being as well as specific behavioral outcomes such as academic performance. The theories represent two ideas that are part of a multitude of empirical work stemming from "self-theories" in general. Furthermore, self-esteem and self-concept elements relate in myriad ways to the literature of motivation theory, particularly self-determination theory and perceived control. This paper will begin by examining the literature of self-esteem and self-concept in order to define the constructs and examine their relationships to age and sex differences. Then, a summary of self-determination theory will be necessary in order to …

The Whole Child: The Importance Of Considering All Aspects Of A Young Child, Kristin L. Houle

MALS Final Projects, 1995-2019

This paper synthesizes information from several researchers and well-known educators, philosophers, and theorists in the field of early childhood education. I intend to show that all sides of a child's life, including social, emotional familial, cultural, and cognitive capabilities be taken into consideration before making any decisions regarding the education or welfare of that child. Educational and intervention strategies are discussed, and examples of developmentally appropriate practice are given. The paper ends with a guide for teachers of children ages 3-5 to use when planning a program designed to benefit the whole child.

Analysis Of Pilot-Testing Of A Unit Of Curriculum, Katherine Hargis

MALS Final Projects, 1995-2019

The Adirondack Park is a unique and extraordinary region of New York State that offers its citizens a chance to be part of a naturally diverse, though historically difficult, ecological phenomena (i.e. man and nature living together). There are twelve counties and 45 school districts within the Adirondack Park "Blue Line" boundary. This is less than 7% of the total amount of school districts in the state of New York. School districts within the Park range from as few students as 12 in Raquette Lake K-6 Elementary School to as many as 3,000 in Queensbury School District located on the …

Light Movement & Sound: An Approach To Energetic Education, Barbara Bornmann

MALS Final Projects, 1995-2019

Communication exists on several levels. A widely accepted definition of these levels of communication is the exchange of ideas through a symbolic, gestural or linguistic system. For the purposes of this paper, a broader definition of communication which includes the use of human energy is reached by categorizing these levels as: 1) The conscious levels of intelligence which are language, academic disciplines, artistic expressions; and, 2) The subconscious levels of non-verbal communication, gestures and body language; and, 3) The energy fields around the human body and how they may interact with other fields. The purpose of this paper is to …