Education Commons^™

Impact Of A Less Restrictive Circulation Policy In An Elementary Library, Kristen Reinhardt Downes, Karla Steege Krueger, Joan Bessman Taylor

Curriculum & Instruction Faculty Publications

School communities and educational standards clearly recognize that reading is a foundational skill for all learners. In light of this, the American Association of School Librarians (AASL, 2010) notes the critical position of teacher librarians to partner with other educators to promote literacy and provide opportunities for library use. Specifically, school libraries are charged with providing “open, non-restricted access to a varied high quality collection of reading materials in multiple formats that refl ect academic needs and personal interests” (para. 6). AASL (2011) supports open access through fl exible scheduling in the library to give students access to materials throughout …

Reading Promotion Events Recommended For Elementary Students, Nicole N. Guldager, Karla Steege Krueger, Joan Bessman Taylor

Curriculum & Instruction Faculty Publications

One of the major professional goals of teacher librarians is to teach students a love of reading, so that they will independently choose to read throughout their lives.

Literacy And Arts-Integrated Science Lessons Engage Urban Elementary Students In Exploring Environmental Issues, Audrey C. Rule, Phyllis Gray, Caroline Elser, Julie Leigh Klein

Curriculum & Instruction Faculty Publications

This descriptive case study examined student attitudes, writing skills and content knowledge of urban fourth and fifth graders (6 males, 9 female) during a six-week literacy, thinking skill, and art-integrated environmental science unit. Pre- and post- test questions were used to address knowledge of environmental problems and student environmental actions. Students expressed knowledge and suggestions for positive action of youth through four essays throughout the unit, the final essay being accompanied by a pop-up construction. Writings showed steady growth in number of words, sentences, suggested environmental actions for youth, and instances of discussing consequences and sequels of actions. Students were …

Pedagogical Voyeurism: Dialogic Critique Of Documentation And Assessment Of Learning, Eugene Matusov, Ana Marjanovic-Shane, Sohyun Meacham

Curriculum & Instruction Faculty Publications

We challenge a common emphasis on documentation and assessment of learning for providing good education: from the mainstream of neoliberal accountability movement to the progressive Reggio Emilia schools. We develop these arguments through discussing: 1) immeasurableness of education and learning, 2) students’ ownership/authorship of education and learning. We ground our conceptualization of educational assessment in critical dialogue, in a case of a student who requested assessment of her research project, and guided her peers and the teacher in providing different aspects of this assessment. We argue that documentation of learning on teacher’s demand leads to surveillance, discipline, distraction, teacher-student distrust, …

Mathematical Game Creation And Play Assists Students In Practicing Newly-Learned Challenging Concepts, Kalyn Jon Cody, Audrey C. Rule, Benjamin R. Forsyth

Curriculum & Instruction Faculty Publications

Twenty-four high-performing fifth grade students (aged 10 - 11 years) participated in a year-long study in which conditions alternated for six instructional units between lecture-based mathematics instruction and practice through solving additional problems in small groups versus practice through designing and playing mathematics games related to the topic. Students scored similarly on all units at the time of the posttest. Creating games allowed students to examine concepts on their own, making sense of them at a deeper level, avoiding confusion. Game-making may also have made the mathematics more personal, relevant, and interesting. The authors suggest that mathematics teachers consider adding …

Marie Clay's Search For Effective Literacy Instruction: A Contribution To Reading Recovery And Small-Group Teaching, Salli Forbes, Linda J. Dorn

Curriculum & Instruction Faculty Publications

This year Reading Recovery^® celebrates 30 years in the U.S., where more than 50,000 Reading Recovery-trained teachers have served over 2.2 million children in Reading Recovery lessons during this time period. In addition, these Reading Recovery teachers have instructed approximately 8.8 million other children in small group or classroom settings during the same 3 decades. Reading Recovery has a solid research base that is recognized by the USDE What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) as the strongest of all beginning reading programs reviewed (WWC, 2008, 2013). The benefit and effectiveness of Reading Recovery are widely recognized—as demonstrated in reviews by the …

Hands-On Russian Culture Lessons, Ksenia S. Zhbanova, Audrey C. Rule, Michelle L. Tichy

Curriculum & Instruction Faculty Publications

The global diverse society necessitates that teachers develop cultural competency and use authentic resources for teaching. This article presents classroom-tested materials for teaching elementary students about aspects of Russian culture, developed by a native Russian and two education professors. Multiage, multi-racial American Midwestern students from a homeschooling cooperative learned vocabulary and concepts with statistically significant increases from pretest to posttest and a large effect size. The lessons began with recognition of human commonalities between Russian people and Americans, in accordance with omniculturalism theory. Lessons then highlighted and celebrated cultural differences through an exploration of Russian literature and culture. Culminating creative …

Upper Elementary Students Creatively Learn Scientific Features Of Animal Skulls By Making Movable Books, Juile L. Klein, Phyllis Gray, Ksenia S. Zhbanova, Audrey C. Rule

Curriculum & Instruction Faculty Publications

Arts integration in science has benefits of increasing student engagement and understanding. Lessons focusing on form and function of animal skulls provide an effective example of how handicrafts integrated with science instruction motivate students and support learning. The study involved students ages 9-12 during a week-long summer day camp. Students applied animal skull concepts of eye positions of predators and prey, relative eye sizes of nocturnal animals compared to tunnel-dwellers, shapes and functions of different types of teeth, and terminology and functions of different bones, openings, and structures of animal skulls in making moveable book pages. These pages featured pop-up …

Free Online Resources Not To Miss For Teaching Middle School Mathematics, Clayton M. Edwards

Curriculum & Instruction Faculty Publications

Do you need an infusion of richer tasks into your middle level mathematics classroom? Ask yourself the following questions:

-- Have you been using the same text for your mathematics curriculum for multiple years?

-- Has the promise of your text being “Iowa Core compatible” failed to come to fruition? • Are you a new middle school mathematics instructor and feel stuck with the materials present when you first got your job?

-- Are your middle school students generally lacking excitement towards any curricular choices you make or materials you use?

-- Do you wish your students would show and …

Making Dioramas Of Women Scientists Help Elementary Students Recognize Their Contributions, Jolene K. Teske, Phyllis Gray, Julie L. Klein, Audrey C. Rule

Curriculum & Instruction Faculty Publications

The STEM movement encourages girls to consider careers in science; however, for success, common misconceptions and biases need to be dispelled, while females’ spatial thinking skills are developed. All students, both girls and boys, need exposure to the accomplishments of women scientists to appreciate their contributions and to envision females as successful scientists. This one-week study conducted during a summer day camp examined upper elementary student (n = 15; 7 females, 8 males) attitudes toward science, women in science, and the possibility of a science career before and after participation in learning about diverse accomplished women scientists and making a …

Fifth Graders' Enjoyment, Interest, And Comprehension Of Graphic Novels Compared To Heavily-Illustrated And Traditional Novels, Kimberly Ann Jennings, Audrey C. Rule, Sarah M. Vander Zanden

Curriculum & Instruction Faculty Publications

The comparative effectiveness of graphic novels, heavily illustrated novels, and traditional novels as reading teaching tools has been sparsely researched. During the 2011-2012 school year, 24 mixed-ability fifth grade students chose to read six novels: two traditional novels, two highly illustrated novels and two graphic novels. Students participated in discussion groups structured with thinking skills, and completed assignments during and after reading the books. Student comprehension and enjoyment were measured by rubric-graded assignments and rating scales. The numbers of student responses during discussions per type of novel were tabulated. The graphic novel received the highest scores in all categories. The …

Using Multimedia Conferencing To Connect Literacy Educators, Marilyn Drury, Rick Seeley, Salli Forbes, Rick Traw

Curriculum & Instruction Faculty Publications

The University of Northern Iowa's literacy center staff faced challenges including limited time, numerous locations to visit and people to connect with, and many postgraduate students to mentor. Using multimedia conferencing tools met the faculty and staff's needs and enabled additional mentoring of faculty working with pre-service teacher students as well as providing the opportunity for postgraduate students to observe and critique live classroom teaching and learning situations. To facilitate the project's technology needs, the IT staff used a Legos-style "building brick" solution that let the staff integrate or remove different technologies to suit JCCL needs, while also permitting flexibility …

Social Studies Content Reading About The American Revolution Enhanced With Graphic Novels, Kari Bosma, Audrey C. Rule, Karla Steege Krueger

Curriculum & Instruction Faculty Publications

Graphic novels can contribute to effective content area reading on social studies topics such as the American Revolution. This action research study’s purpose was to examine student recall of facts, enjoyment of reading, and interest in the topic when using graphic novels as compared to illustrated nonfiction prose in social studies content area reading. Twenty-two fifth grade students (13 females, 9 males) in a public school in a Midwestern state participated in the study. Half of the students read about the Boston Massacre and Patrick Henry through graphic novels and read about Paul Revere and the Boston Tea Party with …

Teaching Primary Grade Students Perfectionism Through Cartoons Compared To Bibliotherapy, Miranda L. Zousel, Audrey C. Rule, Stephanie R. Logan

Curriculum & Instruction Faculty Publications

This experimental study compared concept acquisition and enjoyment of learning about perfectionism under two conditions: bibliotherapy (control) and analysis and construction of cartoons (experimental) in first, second and third grade students (N=46). Posttest results showed students learned significantly more content in the experimental condition with a medium effect size. Students were more engaged in the cartoon condition, appreciating the humor and opportunity to be creative. Most students reported liking the bibliotherapy but some complained of boredom. The authors recommend that both bibliotherapy and cartoon analysis be used in lessons about perfectionism to maintain student interest and comprehension of concepts.

Analyzing The Creative Problem-Solving Process: Inventing A Product From A Given Recyclable Item, Caralee K. Doak, Stacey M. Jambura, Jason A. Knittel, Audrey C. Rule

Curriculum & Instruction Faculty Publications

Detailed documentations of creative invention are scarce in the professional literature, but could be useful to those engaging in or studying the problem solving process. This investigation describes the creative process of graduate students (7 female, 4 male) in a problem-solving theory and practice course grappling with the task of creating products from four identical recyclable items that were circular, star-impressed bottoms of plastic juice bottles. Several popular models of the problem-solving process are compared to the participants’ steps in this invention problem. Participants first provided emotional reactions to the given ill-defined problem of making a product from the specified …

Motivational Changes In Reading Recovery Children: A Pre And Post Analysis, Salli Forbes, Susan King Fullerton

Curriculum & Instruction Faculty Publications

This investigation set out to determine whether Reading Recovery students demonstrate positive responses in regard to motivational constructs of self-concept, competence beliefs, and/or valuing of reading within Reading Recovery.

Professional Staffing Levels And Fourth-Grade Student Research In Rural Schools With High-Poverty Levels, Karla Steege Krueger, Jean Donham

Curriculum & Instruction Faculty Publications

Rural schools in high-poverty areas are often understaffed. This descriptive phenomenological study examined fourth-grade state research projects in high- poverty rural Iowa schools to reveal the influence of school librarians’ staffing levels on student learning of research skills. To determine evidence of students’ critical literacy, ethical use of information, content learning, and understanding of the inquiry process, researchers analyzed twenty-four student work samples from eight schools, along with students’ responses to questionnaires and school librarians’ responses to surveys. Six (66 percent) student work samples in higher-staffed schools showed higher critical-literacy scores than those in the five lower-staffed schools. Six (of …

Creativity And Thinking Skills Integrated Into A Science Enrichment Unit On Flooding, Audrey C. Rule, Jean Suchsland Schneider, Denise A. Tallakson, Diane Highnam

Curriculum & Instruction Faculty Publications

Floods that used to happen every hundred years are now occurring more frequently. Human influences on the damage inflicted by flooding need to be well-understood by future voters and property-owners. Therefore, the timely topic of flooding was used as the focus of a special multi-grade enrichment short course taught by two university education professors for 26 preK-8th grade high-achieving and creative students. During the course, students listened to guest speakers (city council member, meteorologist, and environmentalist), watched two flood-related videos, read books on floods, viewed electronic presentations related to dams and recent floods, discussed causes, effects, and mitigations of flooding, …

Second Graders’ Recycled/Craft Item Products Demonstrate Life Cycle Content Knowledge And Creativity Skills, Angela Naomi Webb, Audrey C. Rule

Curriculum & Instruction Faculty Publications

Creativity is a necessary skill for students to become problem solvers in the rapidly changing 21^st century. This study’s main activity allowed students to demonstrate their content knowledge in an engaging way while also exhibiting creative strengths. Twenty-two second grade students (15 female, 7 male) of mixed ability levels at a Title 1 school produced projects using identical sets of recycled and craft items. They incorporated vocabulary words and images associated with the life cycles of four organisms: horse, dragonfly, sea turtle, and bean plant. Projects were analyzed for creative strengths as well as science concept integration. Student-made products …

Keyboarding Camp!: Identifying The Effects Of 4th-Grader Characteristics On Keyboarding Proficiency, Amy Lockhart, Leigh E. Zeitz

Curriculum & Instruction Faculty Publications

This study evaluated the effectiveness of using the Almena Method keyboarding program to teach keyboarding to 4th grade students. Student characteristics were evaluated to measure their effect upon keyboarding success. Seventeen Midwestern fourth grade students of a mixed sex, ethnic, and racial orientation were involved. Students participated in daily 30-minute keyboarding lessons for four weeks. Students tended to increase their keyboarding speed by 33%. Age affected success inversely. Younger students improved more than older students. Music Experience had a positive effect. Larger-handed students improved the most. Gender and athletic background didn’t have any effect upon keyboarding improvement. The specific student …

The Status Of Statewide Subscription Databases, Karla Steege Krueger

Curriculum & Instruction Faculty Publications

This qualitative content analysis presents subscription databases available to school libraries through statewide purchases. The results may help school librarians evaluate grade and subject-area coverage, make comparisons to recommended databases, and note potential suggestions for their states to include in future contracts or for local purchase. All states had similar periodicals‘ indexing vendors; therefore, this study‘s focus was online subject reference databases. Results portrayed seventy-nine unique databases across thirty-three states analyzed. Most states studied (81 percent) had a wide variety of online reference subject content; twenty states (61 percent) included one or more general reference databases; seven states with no …

Editorial: Implementing The Teacher Education Initiative, Glen Bull, Marshall George, Melanie Shoffner, Cheryl Bolick, John Lee, Janice Anderson, David Slykhuis, Joe Garofalo, Robin Angotti, Michael Mckenna, Elizabeth West, Sara Dexter, Mary Herring, Mark Hofer, Abbie Brown

Curriculum & Instruction Faculty Publications

Representatives from ten specialty professional associations affiliated with the National Technology Leadership Coalition (NTLC) are collaborating with Microsoft Corporation to develop an innovative professional development opportunity for teacher educators—the Teacher Education Initiative (TEI). The goal of the initiative is to enhance preparation of future teachers to use technology in effective ways to teach students across grades and academic disciplines. This effort builds upon initiatives such as Preparing Tomorrow’s Teachers to Use Technology (PT3) and Microsoft’s Partners in Learning (PIL) program.

The goals of TEI are described in more detail in a previously published overview, “Preparing Teachers for Tomorrow’s Technologies” (Dilworth …

Editorial: Technology Leadership For The Teacher Education Initiative, Sara Dexter, Mary Herring, Tommye Thomas

Curriculum & Instruction Faculty Publications

Teacher education leaders must attend to leadership practices that set direction, develop people, and redesign their programs of teacher education in order to develop technology, pedagogy, and technology knowledge and skills in preservice teachers. A planning framework to be used at the 2012 National Technology Leadership Summit is presented here. It highlights focus group results from deans and other college of education leaders as to the context-specific products and processes they would need to create at the local level.

Using A Thinking Skills System To Guide Discussions During A Working Conference On Students With Disabilities Pursuing Stem Fields, Audrey C. Rule, Greg P. Stefanich

Curriculum & Instruction Faculty Publications

Students with sensory or motor disabilities are often dissuaded from pursuing science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) careers. They are frequently underprepared to succeed in post-secondary STEM coursework because of inadequate high school preparation and limited post-secondary accommodations. A two-day working conference stimulated dialogue to improve attitudes toward, to better support, and to plan accommodations for students with physical disabilities in STEM areas. Discussion questions during the five small group dialogue sessions that followed panels of speaker presentations were based on Edward de Bono’s (2000) CoRT ten Breadth thinking skills. These thinking skills broaden perception so that thinkers might see …

A Case Study Of A Rural Iowa School Preparing To Meet New State Guidelines For School Libraries, Karla Steege Krueger

Curriculum & Instruction Faculty Publications

A qualitative case study highlighting one rural Iowa elementary school provided insight into the issue of small schools without library programs as they are preparing to meet the Iowa reinstatement of the requirement for school library programs. The site was purposefully chosen because it has been operating without a school library program or professional teacher-librarian district-wide. All eight teachers and the nonendorsed library associate from one elementary school participated in either a focus group or semistructured interviews. The four district administrators were interviewed individually. Related documents were consulted. This study examined the status of the school library program, analyzed the …

Study Of The Sustained Effects Of Reading Recovery In Iowa, Salli Forbes, Mike Szymczuk

Curriculum & Instruction Faculty Publications

Each year 20% or more of students entering first-grade will have severe difficulty learning to read (Clay, 1993; Shaywitz, 2003). Longitudinal research suggests that children who are the lowest achievers in first grade will continue to be the lowest achievers throughout the elementary grades (Juel, 1988). Early intervention with high-quality one-to-one instruction is critical to change the course of learning failure for the lowest-performing children (Clay, 1993; Vellutino et al., 1996). In the United States, a larger percentage of the lowest-achieving children in first grade accelerate their learning and reach grade-level performance in reading and writing with Reading Recovery intervention.

Reading Recovery: A Major Component Of Many Rti Models, Salli Forbes, Beth Swenson, Tonya Person

Curriculum & Instruction Faculty Publications

The response to intervention (RTI) initiative is contained in the 2004 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The purpose of RTI is to provide struggling readers with expert intervening instruction so that these students will not need special education placement and services. The 2004 IDEA reauthorization allows local school districts to allocate up to 15% of their funding targeted for students with disabilities to be used for general education interventions. The goal of this initiative is to significantly reduce the numbers of struggling readers who are identified as students with disabilities.

Fostering Teacher Learning Through Dialogue In Training Sessions, Salli Forbes, Connie Briggs

Curriculum & Instruction Faculty Publications

In Reading Recovery, teachers learn through their experiences observing and teaching students and through dialogue with other teachers in their training class in a community of practice (Schwartz, 1998). Teachers, teacher leaders, and trainers have all engaged in this training model and often praise the importance of the training (Jones, 1991; Lyons, Pinnell, & DeFord, 1993). External observers have also acknowledged the excellent professional development that Reading Recovery provides.

How Reading Recovery Teaches The Five Essential Elements Of Reading Instruction And More: Second Of A Two-Part Series, Salli Forbes, Mary Anne Doyle

Curriculum & Instruction Faculty Publications

This article is the second in a two-part series that provides information about how Reading Recovery instruction fits the recommendations of the National Reading Panel (NRP; NICHD, 2000a, 2000b). In the first article, published in the fall 2003 issue of the Journal of Reading Recovery, we explained how and why the NRP was created and described its recommendations. The NRP investigated research in three areas of reading competence that were identified as essential for reading instruction: alphabetics, fluency, and comprehension. In relation to these three areas, the NRP detailed the five essential elements listed below:

A. Alphabetics

1. Phonemic …

How Reading Recovery Teaches The Five Essential Elements Of Reading Instruction And More, Mary Anne Doyle, Salli Forbes

Curriculum & Instruction Faculty Publications

In 1997 Congress called for the director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), in consultation with the Secretary of Education, to convene a national panel to assess the status of research-based knowledge, including the effectiveness of various approaches to teaching children to read (NICHD, 2000a, p. 1). The resulting 14- member National Reading Panel (NRP or Panel) included reading researchers, representatives of colleges of education, educational administrators, a classroom teacher, a parent, and a medical doctor (Yatvin, 2002). The work completed by the NRP involved identification and meta-analyses of the experimental and quasi-experimental research literature …