Education Commons^™

The Next Generation Science Standards: Saving K-12 Science Education, Kaitlin Caylor

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

The United States has been struggling to provide effective K-12 science education. In response, states began adopting the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) in 2013 with the hopes of improving science education in the United States. As the NGSS become more common throughout schools in the U.S. it is important to begin collecting data on how they are affecting science education. This study was designed to collect preliminary data on the effectiveness of the NGSS in preparing students for college-level biology. University students with varying levels of exposure to the NGSS were given a biology benchmark assessment that is aligned …

Friday Night Lights: A Photo Gallery Normalizing The Psychological Struggles Faced By Student Athletes, Sam J. Reardon

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

This photography-based project aimed to capture moments that encapsulated various psychological conditions student-athletes may be facing in universities. These bold photographs would serve to be eye catching and draw viewers if they were to be hung up in a gallery for students to see. Under the images there would be captions on which students could read statistics regarding the amount of student -athletes that experience these conditions and an avenue for them to find help if they were struggling with the condition. Studies show that collegiate athletes underreport their struggles with psychological conditions though they occur with greater frequency in …

Photovoice As Micro-Invitation: A Case Study Of High School Im/Migrant Youth Disrupting Everyday Forms Of Racism, Kevin C. Roxas, Verónica N. Vélez

Woodring College of Education Faculty Publications

Racial microaggressions describe how People of Color experience daily racial assaults in seemingly minor, but nonetheless insidious ways. The photovoice project highlighted here demonstrates the varied ways in which im/migrant high school students in one community challenged everyday microaggressions by making clear how they wanted fellow students, teachers, and other members of society to acknowledge, respond, and interrupt racist discourses. We introduce the concept of micro-invitations to describe strategic efforts to build collective forms of resistance. We argue that microinvitations, as a both a theoretical and pedagogical intervention, helps us better understand how marginalized youth, in this case im/migrant youth, …

Culturally Responsive Teaching That Bridges Indoor And Outdoor Settings, Donald J. Burgess

Secondary Education

Culturally responsive teaching is a pedagogy that embraces full equitable access to education for students from all cultures. These strategies include learning within the context of culture and implementing student-centered teaching while communicating high expectations. The primary purpose of our two summer projects was to reshape our approach to curriculum design and development by incorporating culturally responsive teaching strategies. Two case studies, a marine ecology program and an alternative route teacher education program, provide evidence that culturally responsive teaching translates well between indoor and outdoor settings. In the first study, we initiated discussions with Suquamish and Port Gamble S’Klallam tribal …

Regendering Iraq: State Feminism, Imperial Feminism, And Women’S Rights Under Sanctions, Samia Saliba

Western Libraries Undergraduate Research Award

From 1990-2003, the United Nations, largely at the direction of the United States., enforced a strict set of international sanctions against Iraq with the goal of eliminating chemical weapons in Iraq and weakening Saddam Hussein’s regime. While the impacts of these sanctions were widespread and devastating, this period also saw a specific loss of rights and worsening of social and economic conditions for most Iraqi women. In this paper, I examine these understudied gendered impacts of sanctions, particularly on women’s participation in the workforce, education, and political arena; as well as their impacts on family structures and marriage, gender-based violence …

American Political Culture And Sarah Palin: Motherhood, Femininity, And Masculinity In The 2008 Presidential Election, Maggie Newhouse

Western Libraries Undergraduate Research Award

Sarah Palin’s Vice-Presidential run can be characterized by displays of motherhood, femininity, and masculinity, themes that reflect changes in American political culture as well as stationary expectations. Palin was praised and criticized for her role as a mother, indicating a shift in political culture that allows women to hold both public and private roles but not without being acceptably successful in both areas. Palin’s performance of traditional femininity and masculinity signifies that women’s political success is contingent on the confirmation and operation of traditional gender expectations such as motherhood and deference to husbands. She both reaffirmed and challenged gender stereotypes, …

Chinese Roots, Foreign Branches: Forestry As Self-Strengthening In The Late Qing, Emily Bunker

Western Libraries Undergraduate Research Award

Previous examinations of Self-Strengthening in Late Qing China have focused on the movement's military and educational dimensions. Moreover, there exists a general conception of Late Qing China as being a period of decline. This paper, based on articles and official Chinese government memorials appearing in The Chinese Times, an English language newspaper that ran from 1886-1891, examines forestry efforts in the Late Qing as an example of Self-Strengthening. Looking at the movement from this angle, several newfound dimensions of Self-Strengthening emerge, including a link to Chinese cosmology and the ruler-subject relationship, examples of localized benefits, and a reexamination of the …

Framing Feminism: How U.S. And French Media Frame #Metoo And #Balancetonporc From A Feminist Perspective, Kira Erickson

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

The purpose of this website is to provide a cross-cultural analysis of the .. Me Too" movement in the U.S. and France. These feminist movements are absolutely critical to the ongoing fight against sexual harassment and assault. The creation of this research website explores cultural differences in framing of the subjects in news stories from The New York Times and Le Monde. The #MeToo movement is compared and contrasted with France's counterpart, #BalanceTonPorc.

Website Link:

https://ericks663.wixsite.com/framingfeminism

Negotiating The Boundaries Of Solarpunk Literature In Environmental Justice, Kenneth Farver

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Imagine a world where climate change issues are solved. Societies have begun a green reformation, and postponed other endeavors to focus solely on creating a sustainable planet. Different nations make use of green technology and alternative energies, while still allowing citizens to live a relatively similar lifestyle to people today. Global green quotas are met by major nations, and the climate catastrophe is pushed far ahead into the future. Now imagine a world where climate justice issues are also solved. Along with achieving sustainable restructuring of environmental ecosystems, societies have undertaken a serious upheaval in their social ecosystems as well. …

Diamonds And Toads: An Adaptation Of Charles Perrault’S Les Fées, Jessi Pitts

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

An American Southwest full length adaptation of Charles Perrault’s Les Fées for the stage. The lives of Fanny, Rose, and their mother are changed when Rose is given a blessing by a fairy: whenever she speaks, diamonds fall from her lips. But the softness of a throat stands no choice against the sharp edges of a diamond. Diamonds and Toads explores a dysfunctional family, what it means to be a good person, and the obsession a child has to gain the approval of their parents.

Museums In A Shifting Paradigm: Defining A New “Traditional”, Cejay Johnson

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Increased interaction with museums, correlated with tourism, prompts changes in practice and new approaches to community engagement, leading to a redefinition of the term “traditional” within a museum context. In exploration of museum structures, both physical and conceptual, I argue for continued redefinition rather than deconstruction of museum practices through the lens of reflexivity and audience engagement. To exemplify these themes, I also highlight the museum exhibition floor, where patrons encounter the work of curators and exhibition designers. Analysis of exhibit arrangement and content can facilitate awareness about how museums attempt to engage with their audiences. To demonstrate this, I …

Wildfire Education In Washington School Districts, Jessica Martin

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Wildfire education is an important and often overlooked unit of a comprehensive public school education. Ecology, earth science, and disaster preparedness for events like earthquakes and house fires are examples of subjects already taught to students in schools throughout Washington; however, given the effects of climate change, wildfire education warrants much greater integration into school district curricula. To assess the general extent of wildfire education in Washington state, Washington state public school districts were contacted and asked if they provided their students with wildfire education. A majority of the school districts contacted reported that they either do not formally include …

Public Meetings: Barriers And Solutions, Pauline Mogilevsky

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Public meetings and hearings are some of the most common avenues of interaction between government officials and the public. In many circumstances, they are a legally required element of the public involvement process. However, elected officials, government staff, and residents often find public meetings to be frustrating, unrepresentative, and ineffective (Hajnal and Trounstine, 2016; McComas et al, 2007; Walters et al, 2000). This has prompted many planners to employ other, more nontraditional methods of public participation in order to gain meaningful feedback and build relationships with residents. Though these newer methods, which include workshops, tours, and charrettes, are often more …

Against The Grain: A Philosophical Case For Requiring Service-Learning, Not Volunteer Hours, Among College Students, Daniel Gallegos

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Policymakers and educators throughout the United States and abroad have long considered whether students should be required to participate in community service. Here, I provide a philosophical analysis of the issue, referring to the literature on the topic as well as the social crises which must be addressed, whether by students or otherwise. I conclude that while students should voluntarily participate in community service, they should not be required to engage merely by way of fulfilling a certain number of service hours. However, schools should require their students to participate in a service-learning curriculum with an accompanying community engagement project, …

Quick Guide To Plant Families Of Western Washington, Maggie Hayward, John D. Tuxill, James M. Helfield

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

This guide is an expanded version of a booklet designed to help students identify native plants in western Washington. It has been expanded to include invasive and ruderal taxa commonly found in riparian areas. The purpose of this guide is to provide practical help for identifying plant families, and to facilitate a basic understanding of plant morphology. By observing morphological characteristics such as leaf arrangement and structure, the user can narrow an unidentified species down to the family level. Because this book does not go to the species level, it is meant to be used as a companion to other …

Sustaining Our Communities Through Care And Action: An Exploration Of Indigenous, Feminist Environmental Care Ethics, Kate Rayner Fried

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Dominant Environmental ethics have particular relationships with place that are predicated on ongoing settler colonialism and relationships to land that are exploitative and disconnected from the self. Understanding Indigenous, Feminist, and Indigenous Feminist care ethics between people and the environment as actors with agency and responsibility to each other disrupts this framework and provides an alternative path that gets at the root of systems of exploitation and oppression. Understanding these ethics as multifaceted and pre-colonial, as well as emerging from the current time period differentiates an ethic of care and the centering of indigenous epistemologies from the appropriation of indigenous …

Do Men Matter? In Statistics, Probably, Michael Kelly

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

In statistical genetics, there are several parameters of a dataset which a researcher might, but which are difficult to estimate in practice. In this paper, we will be focusing on allele frequencies, null alleles, inbreeding coefficients and, to a certain extent, beta values. A common technique for obtaining these values, developed by Amy Anderson and her co-workers, is to jointly estimate all of them using an EM-algorithm and the method of maximum likelihood. Despite this technique being effective in general, it is currently unable to deal with males at X-linked markers. The purpose of this project is to modify the …

The Reason: A Young Adult Novel Exploring Efficiency And Artificial Intelligence, Kira Stussy

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

The project presented was a novel written over the course of a year. It is a young adult science fiction book that takes place in a future ruled by an AI that separates everything (even people) into efficient and inefficient. The actual novel discussed in this presentation is in the process of being queried to agents for publication. Therefore, the actual content of the novel is not included. Instead, provided is the process and next steps for the book to give a general idea of the thought and work that went into this project and what hopefully awaits it in …

One Nation Under God: Navigating Tensions Between American Culture, Christianity, And Education, Cassie Engvall

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

A multi-genre exploration of factors that shape contemporary Christian religious practice in the United States, particularly in the university setting. Specific topics include the Dittman v. Western Washington University case of 1978-1982, meditations on conflicting values, and personal experiences.

A More Sustainable Future: Energy Efficiency Policies In Buildings, Campbell Miller

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Energy efficiency is often times the most cost effective solution towards reducing energy demand. Energy usage in buildings accounts for upwards of 40% of the total energy consumption in the United States, as well as the vast majority of the growth in energy demand. Despite this buildings are often not built to be energy efficient, causing the residential and commercial sector to paying for hundreds of millions dollars on unnecessary energy use. The reason for this is the many market failures including: risk, lack of information, and access to capital. Looking at policies by the United States and China attempting …

Seeking Asylum: Immigration Law In The Context Of Human Rights, Hannah Blank

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

The purpose of this paper is to understand the dynamic between Latin American countries and the United States in relation to asylum, mass migration and the process of legally entering the country. This explores the implications of the United States’ current legislature in place and how this caters to the U.S.’s interests. Furthermore, the theoretical implementation of asylum and its political origins are evaluated in the context of organized crime and social issues that impact migration trends. While the movement of goods is acceptable the movement of people is heavily scrutinized and politically charged. My proposed argument is that the …

Preliminary Impacts Of Constructed Log Jams On Streambed Topography And Bed Temperature On The South Fork Nooksack River, Sam Kaiser

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Salmon are an essential part of the culture, ecology and economy of the Pacific Northwest region of North America, but populations of some ecotypes are declining. One specific population, the Puget Sound chinook (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), is listed as threatened under terms of the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA). The decline of this ecotype has implications not only for humans but also for all links of the ecosystem such as the populations of southern resident killer whales (Orcinus orca) which prey predominately on chinook salmon. Major threats to these fish include overharvest and habitat degradation due to …

The Best Medicine: An Exploration Of Laughter And Dark Comedy, Helen Anderson

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

A brief and personal exploration of laughter and dark comedy: what laughter is, what it means, and why it matters, with specific emphasis on the contributions of laughter, humor, and dark comedy to modern society. Personal anecdotes and some short fiction writing alternate roughly with sections of more research-based writing to lend an “easy read” style to the piece.

Regional Textile Production: Mapping The Pacific Northwest Fiber Network, Caroline Vogl

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Inspired by the slow food movement, more people have started to question the source of their clothing and textiles due to the environmental and human rights abuses in the current global fashion industry. The Pacific Northwest in particular is a place where questions about textile production and sourcing have been raised and where many textile farmers, retailers and makers already exist. Currently there are many gaps in production and a lack of connection between the various players in this regional economy. The first step in creating a stronger regionally-based fiber economy is to connect the participants in this economy. To …

Robodoc: Ethics Of Ai In Medicine, Halley Egnew

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

What do we do when the doctor of the future may not be human? In order to assess the full effect of trying to replace human caregivers with AI machines, we must investigate the types of ethics that these machines would work under—implicit, explicit, and full. The type of AI that movies present us with are fully ethical AI; they have a sense of self. The possible implementation of AI in medicine forces us to confront not just new technology, but also the definition of consciousness and free will, so I advise that for now we just stick to implicit …

Women's Agency In Movements Of Collective Violence, Juliet Knowles

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Though not common in literature, women have frequently taken it upon themselves to form collective movements to address their grievances with society and their discontent within it. To demand change, and when the motivation of the group are strong enough, the methods through which women will achieve political representation will not stop short of violence.

Equity In Stem: Utilizing Student Experience To Better Inform Policy And Practice, Natasha Hessami

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

As women and people of color continue to pursue higher education and other advanced degrees, the STEM field consistently lags behind in diverse representation and leadership. There is a critical need to address the structural barriers marginalized groups face to accessing and succeeding in STEM and invest both time and money into innovative student-centered solutions. This project outlines the development of the CSE Student Ambassador program and implementation recommendations, the development and presentation of seminars focused on equity in the Biology and Chemistry departments, and general recommendations for faculty to make classroom and lab spaces more inclusive.

The Subject(S) Of Feminism: Gender Identity, Emotion, And Deconstruction In Contemporary Feminist Politics, Gwen Frost

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

The way we think, understand, and speak about gender is changing . In 2019, more people than ever are identifying as nonbinary or gender fluid. Feminism as theory and as political practice has long assumed the subject of ‘women’ as its primary and essential subject, but the issues and subjects that feminism speaks for are not necessarily self-identified or even perceived as ‘women.’ Through analyzing influential feminist works and thinkers, I aim to elucidate the identitarian commitment of canonical feminism, and to offer an alternative to the politics of feminism as always grounded in the subject of ‘women.’ My thesis …

Finance In The Fifth Dimension: Lessons In Logic For The Social Sciences, Dawson J. Sanders

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

The purpose of this paper is to highlight lessons from various areas of academia that I feel would benefit all social science. I will discuss physics, biology, sociology, and more, doing my best to explicitly state their relationships to economics throughout the paper. I hope that the lessons learned here will together serve as a means for prescribing and evaluating solutions to social problems and assist in the development of models through a new level of methodological dimensionality where applicable. The fifth dimension will serve to metaphorically illustrate this new way of thinking, through which we will construct a theoretical …

Women In The First Crusade And The Kingdom Of Jerusalem, Maria Carriere

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

An overview of the actions of women in the first crusade.