Education Commons^™

Reevaluating Student Engagement: Exploring And Applying Alternative Assignments In Higher Education Undergraduate Applied Saxophone, Anthony S. Cincotta Ii

Dissertations, 2020-current

Undergraduate applied saxophone study revolves around the conservatory model. This inflexible model, often referred to as a master-apprentice relationship, can create an instructor-centric power dynamic which does not address the needs of the modern student. A classroom where the power lies so heavily with the instructor can stifle student engagement and can create a sense of disenfranchisement. In this setting, students have limited input on their assignment selections. While curricula have evolved with regards to being more culturally diverse, relevant, and inclusive, the approach that educators use to deliver the material has remained largely unchanged. There is limited research on …

The Connections Of Music, Culture, And Language: A Qualitative Case Study Of The Musical Experience Of A Newcomer Program, Jessica Strawderman

Masters Theses, 2020-current

In this qualitative case study, I investigated the philosophy and process of an elementary newcomer program and explored the perceived benefits for newcomer students of the musical experience, aiding in transition from full-time English as a second language (ESL) services in self-contained class to a general education setting. The studied school division serves a high population of students who are English Language Learners (ELLs), representing a multitude of languages and cultures. The division places students of immigrant families who have no social or educational experience speaking English in the newcomer program. In order to gain a deep understanding of the …

Reflections Of Female Band Directors: The Perceived Effect Of Sex, Gender, And Race On Career Experiences And Professional Practices, Robyn M. Lawrence, Robyn Olichwier Lawrence

Masters Theses, 2020-current

The purpose of this study was to examine the introspections of female band directors, and their perceived beliefs about the effect of sex, gender, and race on their own personal career experiences and professional practices. Participants (N=82) were all current members of Women Band Directors International. After contact through the organization’s website, participants were invited to complete an online survey that consisted of 39 multiple choice, Likert-scale based questions. An optional short answer question was included in the survey (totaling 40 questions), to offer participants the opportunity to share information about personal experiences if they felt comfortable. …

“A Lot Of Stories In My Mind”: Perspectives Of Children And Elders Living With Dementia On Intergenerational Collaboration In A Participatory Music Project, Cameron Dusman

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Trends of music engagement include a shift towards presentational music culture, as well as inequitable access to participatory music-making for some populations. Meanwhile, trends of societal engagement include ageism and age-segregation. Especially for people living with dementia, stigma often prevents equitable access to creative participatory arts. This convergent, mixed-methods case study design explored participation in an intergenerational, participatory creative arts project. Participants included children from an elementary school and senior adults with dementia in a memory care neighborhood. The purpose was to explore the meaning of participation and interaction in the project from participants’ perspectives. Participants collaborated in eight sessions …

Savoring The Moon: Japanese Prints Of The Floating World, Madison B. Dalton

Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current

Guided by the Director of the Madison Art Collection and Lisanby Museum, Virginia Soenksen,I served as the Curatorial Assistant for the Lisanby Museum’s forthcoming exhibition Savoring the Moon: Japanese Prints of the Floating World. The exhibition will highlight the Madison ArtCollection’s impressive Japanese woodblock prints in the ukiyo-e style. Ukiyo-e translates to“pictures of the floating world.” This style proliferated in Japan during the Edo period (1603 - 1868) and Meiji period (1868 - 1912), with visual themes that ranged from flora and fauna, Japanese ceremonies, kabuki actors, mythology, courtesans, and cultural pastimes. The estate of Charles Alvin Lisanby gifted over …

"The Fact Of The Black Poet": Four Phenomenological Interviews With Prominent American Writers On The Impact Of The Furious Flower Poetry Center, Karen E. Risch Mott

Masters Theses, 2020-current

The purpose of this study was to discern the impact, if any, of the Furious Flower Poetry Center, the United States’ first academic center devoted to Black poetry. A qualitative approach centered on semi-structured phenomenological interviews was applied, and four nationally acclaimed poets were recruited for a purposive sample: Jericho Brown, PhD; Toi Derricotte, MA; Tyehimba Jess, MFA; and Evie Shockley, JD, PhD. Emergent themes were identified based on content analysis by hand-coding transcripts; these findings lead to a conclusion that Furious Flower’s impact on the poets has been significant and consistent in three ways: 1) creating a platform for …

Generating Acoustic Projections Using 3d Models, Jake A. Brazelton

Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current

Raytracing is used in commercial graphics engines most commonly for lighting effects, but it also has many uses when it comes to acoustic simulation. Adopted directly from these computer graphics programs, the formulas presented herein enable the visualization of acoustic intensity levels throughout a 3D space using Python 3 and the OpenGL library. In addition to visualization, they also provide the ability to calculate the reverberation time and critical distance of an enclosed space in relation to its size and material makeup. The described application bundles all of these components together in a Qt5 application that allows users to view …

Theatre As An Intervention For Empathy Development Among Undergraduate Students, Jonathan Stewart

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Empathy is the ability feel into, or put oneself in the place of another. It is the ability to walk in someone else’s shoes. Studies have shown that this ability is decreasing among today’s college students and on the rise as a desired trait for today’s leaders. This dilemma provides an interesting opportunity to explore how institutions of higher education can help develop the leaders of tomorrow by increasing empathy among students. Specifically, this research explores theatre as an intervention for empathy development among college students.

Theatre, as a program of study, is unique within the college experience in that …

Learning In The Light Of Freedom: The Mississippi Freedom Schools Of 1964, Emma E. Appleton

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

This paper investigates the “freedom schools” of the Mississippi Freedom Summer Project of 1964. It argues through a combination of a powerfully designed curriculum, the implementation of student-centered pedagogy, and a focus on relationship building and personal efficacy, freedom school students were given the skills and confidence needed to become young leaders in their communities and bring change to Mississippi. Through this paper, I hope to encourage current educators apply freedom school principles and practices in their own classrooms to inspire our students in the same way.

Enmesh: The Art Of Trauma And Recovery, Joanna Pottle

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Liminal Space is an artistic installation within the ongoing, interdisciplinary creative/research project "Enmesh: The Art of Trauma and Recovery.” Utilizing a combination of research methods, creative processes, and cultural inspirations, this project asks the following questions: how can the artistic process (this project serving as a preliminary case study) parallel various modes of recovery and healing? How can this objective be visually communicated through a mixed media approach of drawing, painting, and printmaking and how can this approach be an effective tool of communication? What can we conclude from both modes of work (solitarily or collectively)? How do they accomplish …

See And Be Seen: Young Adult Refugee Literature In The High School Curriculum, Patrice Splan

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, there are more than 25 million refugees in the world today, over half of whom are under the age of 18. As these young people adapt to new schools and communities, it is essential that all students have opportunities to see themselves represented in literature and to develop understandings of the experiences of others. This project provides an analysis of young adult refugee literature with a unit plan for application of texts in a ninth-grade Virginia English classroom, stressing the importance of education as a tool for awareness, reflection, and empathy.

Documenting Fifth-Grade Band Students’ Experiences In A Kodály-Centered Beginning Band Curriculum, Elisabeth Henderson Dhillon

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

ABSTRACT

Based on the work of Hungarian composer and educator Zoltán Kodály, the Kodály method, a sound-to-symbol approach to music-making and literacy stemming from an aural and auditory entry point, forms an integral aspect of many elementary level general music curricula in the United States. In this process-oriented, experiential approach, students hear and explore music kinesthetically, aurally and through folk and art song before visual concepts in the form of notes in formal notation are introduced.

In contrast, traditional beginning band methodologies tend not to incorporate a sound-to-symbol approach, teaching the intricacies of a complex new instrument in conjunction with …

The Art Curriculum As A Model Approach For Cultivating Higher Order Thinking Skills, Nicole Ross

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

As a life-long learner, I am fascinated by the abyss of knowledge that characterizes and composes a life of consciousness. As a teacher and mentor, I am committed to igniting this quest for knowledge in others and developing effective practices in doing so. The curriculum functions as an invitation to knowledge—or what can be seen as the crux of an education. The question I am most interested in answering is: “how can we most effectively approach curriculum in a way that inspires higher order thinking?” Throughout this study, I examined the factors that go into the formation of curriculum, the …

The Presbyterian Enlightenment: The Confluence Of Evangelical And Enlightenment Thought In British America, Brandon S. Durbin

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Eighteenth-Century British American Presbyterian ministers incorporated covenantal theology, ideas from the Scottish Enlightenment, and resistance theory in their sermons. The sermons of Presbyterian ministers strongly indicate the intermixing of enlightenment and evangelical ideas. Congregants heard and read these sermons, spreading these ideas to the average colonist. This combination helps explain why American Presbyterians were so apt to resist British rule during the American Revolution. Protestant covenantal theology, derived from Protestant reformers like John Calvin and John Knox, emphasized virtue and duty. This covenant affected both the people and their rulers. When rulers failed to uphold their covenant with God, the …

Girls Are Us: A Collection Of Oral Histories From The Jmu Community, Anne M. Sherman

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

On a campus where women make up a majority of the student population, it is especially important that female voices are heard and given a platform on which they can control their own narrative. I wanted to give those female-identifying voices that platform. I conducted a series of interviews to examine how college-aged female-identifying students feel about their identity and how they construct that identity within the climate of the JMU community. I was particularly interested in the intersections of gender, race, ethnicity, class, sexual preference, and ability. I asked each person to share their stories of times when they …

School, Melissa F. Carter

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

This project asked the question: What is the role of the undergraduate liberal arts institution in American society, now? I initially searched for answers through secondary research. This did not provide me with a single, concrete answer, but contextualized the topic and showed me that there is a multitude of roles that the university plays in society. I then formed and trained an ensemble and together we explored these roles through group discussion and exhaustive improvisation. Out of the many answers that presented themselves, we focused on the concept that the primary purpose of the university is to create the …

Bonding Theatre And Chemistry: An Educational Exploration, Matthew Gurniak

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

This paper analyzes the educational aspects of theatre and music and the impact that they have on an audience. The goal was to begin a new conversation about science and theatre and how the two can learn and gain unique insight from each other. To examine how these two antithetical fields can interact, I composed a new, innovative musical that tells the love story between two professors through the use of concepts from general chemistry. The results and responses from the performance of the play were overwhelmingly positive from members of both disciplines. They have inspired continued interest in this …

The Significance Of Quality Creative Writing In Children’S Literature: A Practical Application Of Children’S Literature In An Educational Context, Nicole M. Wittkopp

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

With it clear that children’s literature is a useful and necessary part of a modern elementary school student’s education, it follows that modern elementary educators need to have a deep understanding of children’s literature. Only by comprehensively studying quality children’s literature can an elementary school teacher effectively use such literature in teaching her students. The following contextual essay thus aims to first define quality children’s literature. Then, it attempts to uncover merits found in recognized children’s literature. Finally, it works to describe the specific tasks of a creative writer of children’s literature. Once these dimensions have been thoroughly studied, I …

Theatre Education For Homeschooled Children, Jonathan A. Martin

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

In recent years, the push for theatre education from arts education advocates has been increasingly prevalent, especially in the face of substantial budget cuts from many public schools’ arts programs. While there is still a long way to go before theatre education will be integral to school curricula, there are clear steps being taken to promote theatre education in the United States.

Similar to the recent push for theatre education is a rise in homeschooling in America. Homeschooling has been on the rise domestically for several years now, continuing to grow between 2% and 8% annually. It is now estimated …

Overwhelmed, Overworked, And Under-Appreciated: A Mixed Methods Study Of Undergraduate Music Education Students, John P. Riley

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

The primary purpose of this study was to compare burnout levels of college music education students by National Association for Music Education division, year in school, primary instrument, and certification track (i.e., instrumental, vocal, general). The secondary purpose of the study was to examine relationships among perceived burnout, academic, and personal variables. Moreover, in this study I explored participants’ experiences with burnout, why participants think burnout occurs, and how participants try to combat burnout. Respondents were 320 undergraduate students studying music education across the United States. Results revealed percussion students exhibited the highest levels of emotional exhaustion. Juniors reported the …

Fairy Tales And Adaptations: A Unit Of Study For High School Seniors, Angelica P. Babauta

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

This project is a unit of study designed for high school seniors in an advanced English class. The topic is fairy tales and adaptations, and through these twelve complete lesson plans, students will be led to examine the way fairy tales and society influence one another based on how a classic fairy tale is adapted over time. Students will study Jeanne Leprince de Beaumont's "Beauty and the Beast," the Brothers Grimm's "Brier Rose," and Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid" as the original fairy tales. The adaptations paired with these texts are Alex Flinn's Beastly, James Finn Gardner's "Sleeping …

The Leadership Hub, Michelle E. Healey

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

The Leadership Hub Senior Honors Creative Thesis comprises a website and creative design book. It organizes and designs leadership within the JMU community within four key areas.

Norris Dam: To Build Or Not To Build? A Museum Outreach Program, Jeanette Patrick

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Norris Dam: To Build or Not to Build? A Museum Outreach Program was designed to provide high school teachers with primary sources that can used to teach students about Norris Dam, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and the New Deal. Through analysis of these documents and classroom discussion students are encouraged to come to their own conclusions about Norris Dam. The project is housed online at http://jeanettepatrick1.wix.com/norrisdam and teachers can either direct students to the site or print off the materials as needed. A brief history of Norris Dam and the Tennessee Valley Authority can also be found at this site.