Education Commons^™

Promoting Citizenship Education With Structured Controversy In Indonesian Higher Education, Judith Puncochar

Other Presentations

Indonesian democracy is rich in traditions, religions, cultures, and ethnic languages. To keep the nation unified with diversity, Indonesia must prepare its citizens with skills of perspective taking, constructive debate, and evidence-based reasoning to engage in a robust democracy. Historically, a rigorous study of the Liberal Arts held promise for creating a strong democracy and a well-educated citizenry. Currently, politicization of the term “Liberal Arts” attracts unjustifiable criticism and diverts attention away from a serious comprehensive study of literature, science, the arts, history, and mathematics. Narrowness in education of students toward technical and professional degrees appears not to align with …

Some Observations On Scientific Epistemology With Applications To Conflict Resolution And Constructive Controversy, Judith Puncochar, Don Faust

Other Presentations

An overview, by Judy and Don (published in 2013 in the BULLETIN OF SYMBOLIC LOGIC):

Explorationism is a perspective wherein all of our knowledge is (so far) less than certain, and naturally would come equipped with a base logic entailing machinery for representing and processing evidential knowledge. One such base logic is Evidence Logic, which strives to deal with the phenomenon of the gradational presence of both confirmatory and refutatory evidence. From this perspective, we will address questions surrounding sociological problem areas that we see as deeply infused with substantial epistemological factors. By defining a framework as any theory, …

Enhancing Indonesian Citizenry Through The Liberal Arts In Higher Education, Judith Puncochar

Other Presentations

Indonesian democracy needs an informed, educated citizenry with skills of perspective taking, debate, and evidence-based reasoning. A rigorous study of the Liberal Arts holds promise for honing a strong Indonesian democracy and a well-educated citizenry. Students who study the Liberal Arts are more likely to develop skills of civic engagement, moral and ethical reasoning, critical thinking, problem solving, and lifelong learning. Educators who learn how to structure and encourage academic controversy as part of the expected university Liberal Arts classroom experience are more likely to deliver opportunities for students to practice perspective taking, deal with difficult ethical conflicts, and hone …

Creating A National Society For The Enhancement Of Indonesian Citizenry: Furthering The Liberal Arts In Higher Education, Judith Puncochar

Other Presentations

Three processes come to mind when we think about launching a national society for the enhancement of the Indonesian citizenry by furthering the study of Liberal Arts in higher education. The first is Excitement. People who work with the Liberal Arts experience a shared excitement. Students are genuinely excited to hone critical thinking, decision-making, leadership, and speaking skills engendered through classroom study of the Liberal Arts. Lecturers are genuinely interested in learning how to teach with a student-centered Liberal Arts focus. The second process is Cooperation. Humans in all occupations cooperate and learn interactively and collaboratively together. A …

Furthering Liberal Arts In Indonesian Higher Education, Judith Puncochar

Conference Presentations

The study of Liberal Arts is absent in Indonesian higher education. A strong participatory democracy may require skills engendered by a rigorous study of the liberal arts. When I arrived in Indonesia in August 2014, I found a vibrant Indonesian democracy and smart, eager-to-learn university students who were unsatisfied with MKDU (General Education) classes. A strong democracy requires skills engendered by a rigorous study of Liberal Arts. Restructuring the MKDU classes as Liberal Arts classes using active, student-centered instruction should lead to higher levels of critical thinking in college students, higher quality of teachers in local schools, and better citizenship …

Using Self-Study To Navigate The Changing Seas Of Standards-Based Education., Christi U. Edge, Abby Cameron-Standerford, Bethney M. Bergh

Conference Papers in Published Proceedings

No abstract provided.

Movement Breaks: The Effectiveness Of Physical Movement On Kindergarten Students’ Recall Of Addition Facts, Erika L. Morrison

All NMU Master's Theses

A three-day action research study in a kindergarten classroom investigated the question: “Does physical movement prior to a cognitive skills task improve academic achievement with addition facts?” Fifteen kindergarten students, who are ethnically similar, yet diverse in socioeconomic status and academic ability, experienced addition fluency assessments using the iPad app, MathBoard (PalaSoftware Inc., 2014). A pre-test was administered before students participated in an optional movement break activity consisting of dance videos. Each movement break lasted approximately 8-10 minutes. After the break, students completed a similar addition post-test. In this quantitative study based in a constructivist framework, three types of data …

The Effects Of Individualized, Student-Selected Spelling Lists On Elementary Student Learning And Motivation, Andrea N. Kleinpaste

All NMU Master's Theses

Educators and researchers disagree about the best way to teach spelling to children. Frustrations from the lack of a spelling program provided by the school led the author to research a new spelling routine focused on choice and differentiation of spelling lists. First-grade students participated in a three-and-a-half-week study focused on the effects of individualized, student-selected spelling lists on student learning and motivation. Students took pre-and post-surveys about their viewpoints of various activities involved in first-grade spelling, which included spelling lists, word-work, spelling tests, and personal feelings about spelling achievement. The researcher held one-on-one discussions with students about spelling and …

Perceptions Of Open-Ended Art By Fourth-Grade Students And Their Teacher, Amanda M. Swanson

All NMU Master's Theses

This qualitative classroom action research began with a problem that developed over the course of a school year at a rural kindergarten through fourth-grade Title One elementary school in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Before beginning this research project, many of the students were highly engaged in their learning; however, some students were identified as not engaged and seemed to be coasting. The teacher researcher decided to try something new to engage all fourth-grade students. She decided to present her students with a constructivist approach to solving the problem of stacks of unwanted phonebooks from the district office. She challenged fourth-grade students …

Do The Math! Grading Scales And Grade Inflation, Amy S. Orf

Conference Presentations

We’ve all heard the phrase “an A for effort,” but what exactly does that mean? What effect do effort-based grades such as participation and pass/fail homework have on students’ final grades? I argue that many instructors inadvertently inflate students’ final grades through the grading scale set forth in the course syllabus. The higher the ratio of effort-based grades with respect to performance-based grades, the more inflated students’ final grades become. Furthermore, effort-based grades have the biggest impact on students with the lowest performance-based grades.

At-Risky Business: Empowering And Engaging At-Risk Youth Using A Wiki For Academic Service Learning, Kathryn Johnson

Conference Presentations

This paper examines the lessons learned from implementing an academic service learning project using a wiki to foster mentoring opportunities for at-risk students from two educational institutions. Students on freshmen probation at a university mentored down to at-risk students at a high school about making the transition to university life and academics. In a reciprocal relationship, the at-risk high school students in a career preparation class “mentored up” to the university students about employability skills. The two groups interacted using a wiki. Students were empowered by mentoring and learned valuable digital writing and collaboration skills throughout this innovative project. This …

Reading And Composing The Classroom As Text: Illuminating Two Second-Year English Teachers’ Meaning Making From Classroom Events Through Narrative Inquiry, Christi U. Edge

Conference Presentations

This presentation draws from a recent dissertation to illuminate: 1) how one teacher’s meaning-making guided her decisions while teaching poetry and 2) how another teacher’s meaning-making guided her planning, teaching, and reflection on her lesson, her students’ learning, and her perception of herself as a teacher.

Impact Of A Diversity Conference On University Curriculum, Recruitment, And Accreditation Efforts, Christine M. Wilson, Autumn M. Palmer, Judith Puncochar

Conference Presentations

Diversity of students, faculty, administrative staff, community, and curriculum is an asset thought to strengthen and enrich students’ academic experiences. Responding to a charge from a Northern Michigan University president to place diversity at the center of a University Strategic Plan, members of a diversity advisory council proposed a plan to prepare the university and its students for a future in an increasingly diverse and globalized society. Integral to this plan was a diversity conference, UNITED (Uniting Neighbors in the Experience of Diversity), which went from an annual September event to an integral part of the university's academic fabric. Our …

Successive Study Of Diversity Conference Evaluations Of Presenters By Race, Gender, Sexual Orientation, And Disability, Autumn M. Palmer, Christine M. Wilson, Judith Puncochar

Conference Presentations

A Midwestern university’s annual diversity conference hosts about 1,500 attendees from a campus of 9,000 students. Using a successive independent samples design, a series of cross-sectional surveys were conducted to answer the research question, how does a presenter’s race, gender, and ability/disability affect participant responses on conference evaluations. A review of the literature has determined that our research represents the largest and longest empirical study of a higher education diversity conference in the United States. The research is a comparative study of evaluation trends of conference attendees toward diversity conference presenters based on race, gender, and disability over eight years …

Short Duration Campaign Simulation Increases High School Students' Civic Engagement Skills And Knowledge, Taylor E. Tillotson, Judith Puncochar

Conference Presentations

Research on campaign simulations usually involves long-term collegiate activities. Our research adapted materials from the American Association of University Women and Running Start’s “Elect Her–Campus Women Win” college workshops to create a short-term campaign simulation for use in high school social studies classrooms. Sixty-six students in three high school Advanced Placement US Government classes engaged in a two-day communications-focused elections simulation workshop. Differences in civic engagement knowledge between pre- and post-surveys reached statistical significance. Students’ qualitative responses revealed gains in understanding of the role of student government in allocating money, low-cost advertising, and use of “surrogates” to disseminate campaign positions. …

Mastery Learning In Calculus I Affects Student Learning, Grade Improvement, And Professor Exhaustion, Judith Puncochar, Don H. Faust

Conference Presentations

Three Calculus I courses were taught under conditions of either traditional teaching, 2/3 mastery, or full mastery to test four hypotheses. Under conditions of mastery learning on exams, students should attain appropriate higher-level mathematical concepts, achieve more learning of higher-level mathematical concepts, learn higher-level mathematical concepts more quickly, and evaluate mastery learning favorably. Support for all hypotheses occurred only in the 2/3 mastery condition. A shift toward higher grades was attributed to grade improvement, not grade inflation, as determined by six mathematicians with blind review of final exam items. Final exams in mastery learning courses were significantly more …

How To Create An Embedded Library Instruction Services (Elis) Assignment., Sarajane Tompkins, Michael F. Strahan, Judith Puncochar

Book Sections/Chapters

No abstract provided.

Foreword To Case Studies: Qualitative Research, Judith Puncochar

Book Sections/Chapters

You are lucky to have found your way to this book. First, you must be an educated person and curious to learn more. Second, your mentor and guide in qualitative research is the wise and honorable scholar, Professor A. Chaedar Alwasilah. For 30 years, Prof. Alwasilah has met with students in his Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia office, on his front porch, and in coffee shops and guided students patiently and accurately through the prospectus phase of a qualitative thesis or dissertation and on to a successful, celebratory defense. Every page of Pokoknya Studi Kasus: Pendekatan Kualitatf offers an opportunity to …

Foreword To The International Edition, Don Faust, Judith Puncochar

Book Sections/Chapters

This book is an important collection of essays on the rich mosaic of contemporary challenges faced by Indonesia. A. Chaedar Alwasilah, Ph.D., is a professor of education at Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia (Indonesian University of Education) and a social philosopher in the tradition of such as Josef Popper-Lynkeus (1838-1921) of Austria. Both the Indonesian and non-Indonesian reader will find amply witnessed in these essays the importance of his work and will relish and benefit from a resulting essential interaction of close observation, local wisdom, and help for Indonesia. Professor Alwasilah’s embeddedness, as an Indonesian himself, shines through in each essay …

2014 Nmu Distinguished Faculty Award, Judith Puncochar

Awards

In her 10 years at NMU, Professor Judith Puncochar has taught both undergraduate and graduate education students. She grounds her andragogy in a philosophy that all students can succeed and master rigorous standards. Puncochar has been a leader at NMU in merging academic learning with community service. In 2012, she was honored with the prestigious Michigan Campus Compact Faculty/Staff Community Service Learning Award. Puncochar led efforts to begin a conference on campus titled “Uniting Neighbors in the Experience of Diversity.” The UNITED Conference is now a highlight of the academic year, attracting more than 2,000 participants each year since its …

Full-Year Sabbatical Award 2014-2015: Furthering Liberal Arts In Indonesian Higher Education, Judith Puncochar

Awards

A rigorous study of the liberal arts with student-centered andragogy is absent in Indonesian higher education. A strong participatory democracy, such as the Indonesian democracy, may require skills engendered by the study of liberal arts and associated opportunities for students to practice skills for dialogue, constructive debate, and potential problem analysis. My sabbatical application postulates that the study of liberal arts in Indonesia will lead to higher levels of critical thinking in college students, higher quality of teachers in local schools, and better citizenship in Indonesia and the world. The Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia (UPI) invited me to work as a …