Education Commons^™

A Socially Innovative Curriculum For An Afterschool Program, Shelinda T. Knight Davenport

Culminating Experience Projects

ABSTRACT

Since the colonial days in what is now known as America, there has been the social problem of racism. Racism has always been and remains a cancer in America’s culture. From racism, a deep hatred has spawned for other races. To the extremes, it has led to violence and murder, and most Americans believe it is more prevalently outspoken today than it has been in the last 20 years (Schaefer & Edwards, 2022). This thesis project consists of a Disrupting Racism curriculum for approximately 3rd grade, which is situated in the literature on racism and education. Grounded in culturally …

The Development Of The Soft Skills Within Social Studies Curriculum, Bradley G. Boven

Culminating Experience Projects

The project being done has the objective to bring attention to teachers of the lack of soft skills being taught within the social studies curriculum. This project's end goal is to use research that covers the importance of soft skills for students to develop as well as project based learning to implement it. The key findings are that project based learning when being used within the classroom can develop soft skills for students to critically think, collaborate with others, and problem solve while developing intrinsic motivators for their own work. The project that had been instituted was for a professional …

Diversity In Educational Resources, Samantha Mae Howe

Culminating Experience Projects

Educational resources need to be more diverse to better reflect the populations of classroom communities. Students identifying as Lesbian Gay Bisexual and/or Transgender (LGBT), girls and women, and students from ethnically and/or racially marginalized communities are affected by the classroom content they consume and are taught. This project focuses on the impacts of diversity in educational resources and how intersectional Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT) can alleviate the harmful impacts of a one-sided narrative in curriculum. The unit plan included at the end of the project details how teachers can embed diversity into content curriculum and include diverse perspectives while effectively …

The Effects Of Bullying And Solutions To Bullying Of Lgbtq+ Students In Schools, Mandy K. Wallstead

Culminating Experience Projects

Research has revealed the effects that peer bullying has on LGBTQ+ students in public schools. This project focuses on the prevention of LGBTQ+ student bullying. This is done by teaching school policy makers and educators in understanding LGBTQ+ issues for the development of a positive school climate where everyone should thrive. The incorporation of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and Minority Stress theory created a method for understanding and interpreting the research compiled. The research has shown that professional developments for educators, adding curriculum into classrooms, and utilizing LGBTQ+ anti-bullying policies can diminish the effects of bullying against LGBTQ+ students. To …

One Size Does Not Fit All: Addressing Adolescents’ Needs For Historically And Culturally Responsive English Language Arts Curriculum, Angela Mckellar

Culminating Experience Projects

In recent years, education initiatives have aimed to link school and teacher effectiveness to secondary students’ performance on standardized testing. Consequently, many schools have adapted curriculum to prepare students for the test. As a result, many publishers have filled a need by providing packaged or scripted curriculum seeking to streamline the education process. This project explores the ways in which English Language Arts (ELA) standardized curriculum influences secondary students’ motivation and teachers’ autonomy. An effective ELA curriculum must meet the diverse needs of all students and allow for teacher autonomy to modify curriculum when and where needed. To meet adolescent …

Redesigning The Frederick Meijer Honors College Curriculum, Kathryn Malia Brooks, Bradley Williams, Andrew Dzierwa, Kelsey Rutkowski, Bethany Chambers

Undergraduate Research

Welcome reader,

We appreciate your interest in our design challenge of reimaging the Frederik Meijer Honors College curriculum. Over the course of several months, we have worked diligently through the design thinking process to arrive at a solution that meets the needs of FMHC stakeholders. We have conducted interviews with these stakeholders in order to gain empathy and conducted secondary research which allowed us to broaden the scope of our insights and search for potential solutions. Many hours were spent ideating our own solutions and prototyping them through a collaborator debrief process. This portfolio contains the details of our process …

Creating A Fresh Start For The Gv Honors Experience, Logan Wiber, Adam Anderson, Riese Bierlein, Jinah Bak, Tessa Martin, Katarina Zomer

Undergraduate Research

Dear Reader,

Thank you for your interest in our team, The ASAP, and our work with the Grand Valley State University Frederik Meijer Honors College. At the time of undertaking the task of reimagining the current Honors College curriculum, we explored the current sentiments of stakeholders, unfulfilled needs, and how other colleges have provided solutions to these needs. Our hope is that you, whoever you may be, become inspired and that ideas from our final prototype become a reality in the Honors College curriculum.

The team working on this project consisted of 6 members, all introduced on the page prior. …

Trailblazers: Innovation Portfolio, Keegan Barth, Samantha Frankhouse, Taylor Keppel, Andrew Marckini, Melaura Rice

Undergraduate Research

We are so grateful for your interest in our proposal of redesigning the Frederick Meijer Honors College Curriculum. This journey spanned four months and included countless hours of researching, interviewing, collaborating, ideating, and prototyping. Our portfolio will navigate through the process to provide an in-depth overview of our insights and show how we used Design Thinking to create our final prototype concept. We would like to express our sincere gratitude toward our professor Linda Chamberlain, fellow classmates, collaborators, and stakeholders who were involved in the process. All of these individuals guided us through the Design Thinking process and allowed us …

Team Psi: Making The Frederik Meijer Honors College Experience More Distinctive, Selena Brown, Kendra Smith, Sara Harman, Michael Guscar, Josh Schneider, Cassondra Anderson

Undergraduate Research

We are grateful for your interest in our proposed solution to increase the distinction of the Frederik Meijer Honors College. This journey spanned four months, and included countless hours of research, interviews, ideating, and prototyping. Our portfolio will walk you through this process, to help you understand our insights, and how we used Design Thinking to create our final innovation.

We would also like to express our gratitude for the teaching and guidance of professor Linda Chamberlain of the Frederik Meijer Honors College, and all the ways in which she helped us navigate the Design Thinking process. Without her, this …

Hnr 499 Senior Thesis Report: Final, Jenny Lechy

Honors Projects

For most of its history the American education system has focused on Western culture and history. However, current Michigan school students are witnessing a profound change in this traditional focus, because of new graduation requirements implemented recently. My intention with this Senior Thesis Project is to conduct research into how this shift in curriculum is being seen in current American education, with a particular focus on the teaching of the Michigan World History and Geography Content Expectations (WHGCEs). Since October 2008, the Michigan Board of Education has changed the state social science requirements for high school graduation to include detailed …