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Using Dr. Howard Gardner's Theory Of Multiple Intelligences To Connect 4th-8th Grade Students To Nature, Brent Anderson
Using Dr. Howard Gardner's Theory Of Multiple Intelligences To Connect 4th-8th Grade Students To Nature, Brent Anderson
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Research has demonstrated that early and frequent exposure to nature and the outdoors has a range of physical, mental, emotional, social, and educational benefits. The curriculum designed for this project focuses on using Dr. Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences to connect 4th -8 th grade students to nature, in order to harness the benefits of nature exposure and increase student’s environmental-literacy. Multiple intelligences have been implemented in a number of formal classroom settings for decades, but research on how they have been used in the environmental and outdoor education fields is limited. The project involved creating a diverse curriculum …
Integrating The Nature Of Science Into The International Baccalaureate Chemistry Curriculum: Lesson Plans And Resources For Educators, Greta Wanless Stacy
Integrating The Nature Of Science Into The International Baccalaureate Chemistry Curriculum: Lesson Plans And Resources For Educators, Greta Wanless Stacy
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
This paper outlines the need for, and the creation of, ten lesson plans designed to teach the nature of science in an integrated fashion in the IB chemistry curriculum. The nature of science is necessary not just to prepare students to answer experimental questions on the IB exam, but also to answer new questions about chemistry and science throughout their lives. Simply using an inquiry approach is insufficient to teach the nature of science; it must be explicitly taught with varying degrees of contextualization to maximize student learning. Like all content areas, the nature of science should be taught in …
Can Creating An Activity Guide On Soil Health Improve Environmental Awareness And Foster Agricultural Sustainability, Lee Vannyhuis
Can Creating An Activity Guide On Soil Health Improve Environmental Awareness And Foster Agricultural Sustainability, Lee Vannyhuis
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The research question in this project was, can creating an activity guide on soil health improve environmental awareness and foster agricultural sustainability? This capstone discusses how healthy soils are important for sustaining agricultural productivity with shrinking farmland and a rising human population. It discusses how soils play a vital role in maintaining a healthy environment. This capstone also shows evidence that experiential learning using activity guides is an effective way of teaching environmental issues. The project developed with the capstone is called Soil Health Activity Guide: Black is the new Green. It was was modeled after the widely used environmental …
How Can Water Quality Awareness Be Increased In A Small But Rapidly Increasing City Of New Braunfels, Texas?, Zackary Eugene Martine
How Can Water Quality Awareness Be Increased In A Small But Rapidly Increasing City Of New Braunfels, Texas?, Zackary Eugene Martine
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The purpose of this curriculum development Capstone was to create a series of lessons to focus on how to further educate children that live in a pristine water quality environment. The curriculum focused exercises and examples provide increased awareness and education focusing on improving water quality examples on how to keep water quality from degrading during the explosive population growth of the surrounding region. The overall goal is to show how increased growth can lead to potential water quality decreases over time. There are several hands-on lessons that show examples of the ecology of the region and how all things …
Teaching The Language Of A Lab Report: A Guide For Science Teachers, Lori A. Ward
Teaching The Language Of A Lab Report: A Guide For Science Teachers, Lori A. Ward
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Academic language in the register of science is often challenging for students to compose, and their science teachers may struggle to support their language development. This project explores the question, what are the language structures science teachers must teach for secondary students to be able to write successful science lab reports? In this paper I report the strong link between language and knowledge in science. Students must develop strong language skills in science not only to communicate scientific ideas but also to gain understanding of scientific concepts. Supporting the development of language in the register of science is a challenging …
How Can Education Improve The Recycling Behaviors And Attitudes Of Middle School Students, Sara Flanagan
How Can Education Improve The Recycling Behaviors And Attitudes Of Middle School Students, Sara Flanagan
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations
This research project adapted and implemented curriculum into a middle school science classroom to gauge the effect of the curriculum on the students’ behaviors and attitudes. The focus of the curriculum was on waste management and recycling. Students participated in surveys both before and after the curriculum. Their responses were compared to others in the school who did not go through the curriculum. There are not many updated curriculums available however, through this study it was concluded that education can impact the recycling behaviors and attitudes through curriculum in a positive way that makes students connect their actions to the …
Developing A Teacher Guidebook To Increase Outdoor Education In Schools, Patrick Schuette
Developing A Teacher Guidebook To Increase Outdoor Education In Schools, Patrick Schuette
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
An outdoor education guidebook was developed to help teachers start outdoor education courses, increase student engagement, and develop intrapersonal and interpersonal skills in students. Outdoor education is about much more than learning content information in a classroom; it is the class and teaching mindset which rekindles students’ passion for learning and discovery. Outdoor education best practice consists of place-based learning where students learn physical and mental skills with the outcome of success being directly related to those skills. Outdoor education will look different depending on location because it is influenced by local environmental, students, resources, and culture. The outdoor education …
Curriculum Development And Analysis To Encourage Positive Environmental Attitudes In High School Students, Matthew Johnston
Curriculum Development And Analysis To Encourage Positive Environmental Attitudes In High School Students, Matthew Johnston
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations
This capstone project used a qualitative research design to explore the research question, how do students who are participating in a course on ecology and resource conservation, describe their understanding of ecology and conservation? The capstone researcher designed a student centered curriculum that used project based learning and outdoor experiences in an elective science course. A major goal of the course was to engage high school students in environmental education and shift students’ attitude to be more positive toward the environment. To measure students’ attitudes, the New Environmental Paradigm (NEP) (Anderson, 2012) survey was completed at the start and end …
How Can We Use The Lake Superior Watershed To Connect To Anishinaabe Youth And Inspire Them To Continue As Stewards Of The Land?, Heidi Lynn Ojibway
How Can We Use The Lake Superior Watershed To Connect To Anishinaabe Youth And Inspire Them To Continue As Stewards Of The Land?, Heidi Lynn Ojibway
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Anishinaabe youth have historically experienced difficulty adjusting to mainstream education. Their graduation rates are the lowest in the country (Camera, 2015). By developing curriculum that is culturally relevant and rebuilds connections to the land educators can work towards closing the education gap. The curriculum in this capstone project uses the Lake Superior Watershed, environmental education practices, and American Indian Learner Outcomes to meet state standards. By using culturally relevant materials to connect to Anishinaabe youth it is expected that they will feel invested in the curriculum. They will build stronger community ties which in turn results in stewardship. The curriculum …
What Is The Impact Of Effective Questioning And Critical, Relevant Conversations On Sixth Grade Science Students’ Agentic Engagement?, Corrie L. Christensen
What Is The Impact Of Effective Questioning And Critical, Relevant Conversations On Sixth Grade Science Students’ Agentic Engagement?, Corrie L. Christensen
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations
The research question in this project was, “What is the impact of effective questioning and critical, relevant conversations on sixth grade science students’ agentic engagement?” It documents a teacher’s investigation into the impact of two isolated components, effective questioning and relevant conversations, on the agentic engagement of a group of sixth grade students. The author describes the outcomes of data collection using randomized student agentic engagement surveys. She outlines the successes and struggles that were realized during the process as well as the realization that an isolated component or two does not make a significant change in agentic engagement.
Science Interactive Notebooks: A Case Study On Learning In High School Students, Autumn A. Mollet
Science Interactive Notebooks: A Case Study On Learning In High School Students, Autumn A. Mollet
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations
I conducted a qualitative case study using classroom observations, written documentation, and experience to answer the research question, what is the effect of science interactive notebooks on high school biology students learning? One class of tenth grade biology students was observed and asked writing prompts in order to determine how interactive notebooks influenced learning. Several key themes emerged within the data collected including; organization, note taking, creativity, variation, reference, student engagement, and student affinity towards the interactive notebooks. Findings suggest that students are more engaged in class and are able to identify key ways in which the science interactive notebooks …
Developing A Garden-Based Curriculum For Middle School Content Enrichment, Dane Warming
Developing A Garden-Based Curriculum For Middle School Content Enrichment, Dane Warming
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Garden-based education has been around for more than a century. It is one of the many outdoor learning strategies used by modern teachers. Gardens provide an engaging, safe, and interesting place to learn. However, teachers face a number of challenges when teaching in an outdoor setting. In order to decide if those efforts are justified a study of the research relating to outdoor education was conducted. The literature review revealed that outdoor learning offers benefits to student learning, physical and mental health, and overall development. This literature review informed the creation of a cross-content curriculum project. The lessons that make …
Creating An Inquiry-Based Force Unit For A Ninth-Grade Science Class, Hans P. Harlane
Creating An Inquiry-Based Force Unit For A Ninth-Grade Science Class, Hans P. Harlane
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
As students study science, they need to learn how to investigate a question, as a scientist would, not just memorize facts and figures. Teaching through inquiry lends itself well to students working collaboratively to build their own understanding as opposed to only being told. The literature shows that there are several ways to teach through inquiry, all of which include the students being engaged in, exploring, explaining, and extending their learning. Using the four necessary parts of inquiry, along with the Understanding by Design framework, a unit curriculum on forces was developed to help guide the students to build their …
The Impact Of Informal Education On Formal Education In Science A Symbiotic Relationship, Colin Johnson
The Impact Of Informal Education On Formal Education In Science A Symbiotic Relationship, Colin Johnson
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations
Classroom science teachers face many obstacles, from standardized exams to including real world concepts in their science units. Informal science educators are looking for ways to expand their mission into school curricula in the form of activities and project-based learning. Incorporating real-world experiences from informal science institutions can supplement and enrich the formal science educator’s classroom learning units. The research in question in this Capstone was to address how formal and informal science educators can work together to increase students’ participation in science and the environment. I interviewed science professionals about why they pursued a career in science and I …
Discovering Conceptual Metaphors In High School Biology To Instruct English Language Learners, Nancy R. Mccurdy
Discovering Conceptual Metaphors In High School Biology To Instruct English Language Learners, Nancy R. Mccurdy
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations
An investigation was completed to identify and define abstraction that occurs within abstract nouns in biology terminology in the Mississippi high school biology subject area practice test in order to determine conceptual language patterns in biology terms to teach to high school English Learners. The conceptual metaphors that dominate biology concepts in major scientific theories of the text exemplar examined are ORGANISMS ARE MACHINES, ECOSYSTEMS ARE COMMUNITIES, DNA IS A TEMPLATE, and DESIRED TRAITS ARE VALUABLE. The most prevalent common conceptual metaphors found within abstract nouns in biology of the text examined are MATTER IS A STRUCTURE, PROCESS IS A …
How Do You Empower At Risk Students To Become Active Citizens About The Environment, Through The Design And Implementation Of An Urban Environmental Science Curriculum Within An Alternative Education Setting?, Stephen N. Szczodroski
How Do You Empower At Risk Students To Become Active Citizens About The Environment, Through The Design And Implementation Of An Urban Environmental Science Curriculum Within An Alternative Education Setting?, Stephen N. Szczodroski
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations
At-risk students come with a history of failure in school. The mainstream classroom setting has not worked for them in the past; therefore, educators must think outside the box and get students doing as many hands-on, experiential lessons as possible. Generally, these students do not have the opportunity to experience many experiential activities. This new curriculum helped students get outside learning new skills, and lured them away from chalkboard lessons. A major component with the curriculum was coordinating with the local parks and recreational system, to create a program where students are involved in using and maintaining local natural areas …
Interactive Videos As A Vocabulary Pre-Teaching Tool In Middle School Science, Kimberly Severson
Interactive Videos As A Vocabulary Pre-Teaching Tool In Middle School Science, Kimberly Severson
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations
The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of interactive video instruction to teacher-led direct instruction for pre-teaching science vocabulary to newcomer middle school ELs. The second phase of the experiment utilized interactive videos to pre-teach science vocabulary in a flipped learning environment. This study was influenced by vocabulary experts Beck, McKeown, and Kucan, as well as R. E. Mayer, multimedia learning expert. Data collection included pre-tests and post-tests of expressive and receptive vocabulary knowledge, as well as a student survey to determine ease of use, students’ perceived learning and satisfaction with the type of instruction. Results from …