Education Commons^™

Thumbs Up To Undergraduate Research At Umw, Jack Bales

Administrative and Professional Faculty Research

With newly minted college graduates flooding the job market or graduate schools, each one is naturally searching for an edge to stand out among the competition. According to Mary Washington students, UMW's Undergraduate Research Program is earning high marks for helping provide that edge.

Handwriting: Should Formal Instruction In Handwriting Be Taught To Elementary Students?, Cathleen Rutter

Education 589 Projects

Having taught students Language Arts from 2nd grade through sophomore year of high school, I have encountered numerous samples of handwriting, with great variance in their legibility. It has caused me frustration as a beginning teacher trying to decipher what has actually been written and just what the student was trying to convey to myself, as their teacher. In some cases I have graded a spelling test, marked words incorrect because I could not read the letters in the word. But then, because I felt that the student has mastered the spelling of a given word, I had the student …

Using Professional Learning Communities And Collaboration To Increase Student Achievement, Scott W. Belako

Student Research Submissions

A Professional Learning Community (PLC) is a way of organizing a school environment that builds collaboration with an ultimate goal of improving student achievement. A PLC is a way of involving all stakeholders in life-long learning and focusing on a common goal of gathering and analyzing data to improve student learning. Research has proven that "traditional" methods of school leadership and teaching are stagnant. Many of education's prominent figures are speaking out as proponents for PLCs citing their own personal successes as validation for the change.

A school community that desires to create a PLC must take the necessary steps …

Does The Use Of A Flow Map Help Students' Sequencing Abilities?, Scott Elchenko

Student Research Submissions

No abstract provided.

Community Service-Learning In Statistics: Course Design And Assessment, Debra L. Hydorn

Mathematics

Service-learning projects are a useful method for students to learn both the practice and value of statistical methods. Effective service learning, however, depends on several factors and can be implemented according to a variety of models. In this article, different models for incorporating service-learning in statistics courses are presented along with example statistics courses. Principles for good service-learning practice will also be presented as a means for assessing the quality of a service-learning course component.