Education Commons^™

Designing Research-Based Instructional Materials That Leverage Dual-Process Theories Of Reasoning: Insights From Testing One Specific, Theory-Driven Intervention, Mila Kryjevskaia, Mackenzie R. Stetzer, Beth A. Lindsey, Alistair Mcinerny, Paula R. L. Heron, Andrew Boudreaux

Physics & Astronomy

[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Curriculum Development: Theory into Design.] Research in physics education has contributed substantively to improvements in the learning and teaching of university physics by informing the development of research-based instructional materials for physics courses. Reports on the design of these materials have tended to focus on overall improvements in student performance, while the role of theory in informing the development, refinement, and assessment of the materials is often not clearly articulated. In this article, we illustrate how dual-process theories of reasoning and decision making have guided the ongoing development, testing, and analysis …

Toward A Framework For The Natures Of Proportional Reasoning In Introductory Physics, Andrew Boudreaux, Stephen E. Kanim, Alexis Olsho, Suzanne W. Brahmia, Charlotte Zimmerman, Trevor I. Smith

Physics & Astronomy

We present a set of modes of reasoning about ratio and proportion as a means of operationalizing expert practice in physics. These modes, or natures of proportional reasoning, stem from consideration of how physicists reason in context and are informed by prior work in physics and mathematics education. We frame the natures as the core of an emerging framework for proportional reasoning in introductory physics, that will categorize the uses of proportional reasoning in introductory physics contexts, and provide guidance for the development of reliable assessments. We share results from preliminary assessment items indicating that university physics students have difficulty …

Adventure In The Age Of Covid-19: Embracing Microadventures And Locavism In A Post-Pandemic World, Jasmine Goodnow, Susan Houge Mackenzie

Health and Human Development

Unprecedented mobility restrictions due to COVID-19 have frozen the adventure travel and tourism industry. These restrictions have forced many to embrace ‘hyperlocal’ approaches to adventure and provided an opportunity to reimagine our adventure travel philosophies and practices. Despite claims that traditional adventure travel could address some of the “world’s most pressing challenges”, it has largely failed to realize its potential to provide a range of social, economic, and environmental benefits. Conversely, microadventure, which espouses adventures in nearby nature that are low-carbon and human-scaled, is an enticing alternative for both current and post-pandemic conditions. This essay first critiques pre-pandemic adventure travel …

Framework For The Natures Of Negativity In Introductory Physics, Suzanne W. Brahmia, Alexis Olsho, Trevor I. Smith, Andrew Boudreaux

Physics & Astronomy

Mathematical reasoning skills are a desired outcome of many introductory physics courses, particularly calculus-based physics courses. Novices can struggle to understand the many roles signed numbers play in physics contexts, and recent evidence shows that unresolved struggle can carry over to subsequent physics courses. Positive and negative quantities are ubiquitous in physics, and the sign carries important and varied meanings. The mathematics education research literature documents the cognitive challenge of conceptualizing negative numbers as mathematical objects—both for experts, historically, and for novices as they learn. We contribute to the small but growing body of research in physics contexts that examines …

Developing Accounting Student Resources: How To Improve Student Engagement In Campus Recruiting And Offer The Resources They Need To Be Successful, Ina Lagrandeur

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

For this project a new Canvas instructional page was created. The intention of this page is to create an informational database that students can use to find out any information that they might need for career or academic services. With this Canvas page the current information gap that students are experiencing will be decreased. Decreasing this information gap helps create a more equal playing field for students that are applying for jobs in the accounting field. Additionally, with easier access to needed recruiting information then students will feel more equipped to apply for jobs and get involved in opportunities outside …

Give Me A Mic And A Stage: A Case For Slam Poetry, Identity, And Socio-Emotional Learning In The High School Classroom, Cristina V. Ramirez

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Many research companies in the past decade have been interested in Social and Emotional Learning (SEL). In particular, these companies often look at how a lack of SEL education in schooling affects the ability for students to learn and later develop essential skills such as identifying emotions, positive goal setting, decision-making, and many other crucial socio-emotional skills that are often taken for granted. This paper seeks to find and discuss how SEL intersects with teaching a slam poetry unit in a high school sophomore English classroom. Through looking at the connections between slam poetry and SEL, this paper argues that …

Nimbleknow User Documentation, Camille Estee Ottaway

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

NimbleKnow User Documentation is an Honors Project by Camille Ottaway

NimbleKnow is a simple web application that teachers can use to pose questions which students can then answer using their basic smartphones or tablets. In order to accommodate ESL learners our application includes translation features. Having a user-friendly classroom technology can promote more engagement and collaboration between students and faculty alike in a classroom environment.

Multicultural Education In Secondary Science Classrooms, Kasey Hebert

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Due to the complexities of multicultural education, no one definition exists of what it is, but there is almost universal consensus regarding some of the major goals of multicultural education. This literature review addresses the stances organized by the National Association of Multicultural Education and explains why the incorporation of all three approaches (cultural context, equity, and social justice) is necessary to properly integrate multicultural education within secondary science classrooms. The integration of cultural context, equity, and social justice is necessary to create a science classroom environment that values the assets that every student brings to the table, provides access …

Deconstructing Hegemonic Epistemologies: An Urgent Call For Anti-Racist Scholarship For Health Promotion And Black Lives, J. Hope Corbin, Oliver Mweemba, Fungisai Gwanzura Ottemöller, Ann Pederson, Stephanie Leitch, Nikita Boston-Fisher, Tulani Francis L. Matenga, Peter Delobelle, Christa Ayele, Josette Wicker

Woodring Scholarship on Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

No abstract provided.

Artists As Catalysts: The Ethical And Political Possibilities Of Teaching Artists In Literacy Classrooms, Anne Crampton, Cynthia Lewis

Woodring Scholarship on Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

Purpose This study aims to discuss the ethical and political possibilities offered by the presence of teaching artists (TAs) and visual artwork in racially and culturally diverse high school literacy (English Language Arts) classrooms. Design/methodology/approach This study explores episodes from two separate ethnographic studies that were conducted in one teacher’s critical literacy classroom across a span of several years. This study uses a transliteracies approach (Stornaiulo et al., 2017) to think about “meaning-making at the intersection of human subjects and materials” (Kontovourki et al., 2019); the study also draws on critical scholarship on art and making (Ngo et al., 2017; …

Managing The Disconnect: A Critical Case Study Of Neoliberalism In Youth Development Practice, Brett Russell Coleman

Woodring Scholarship on Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

Aims This critical ethnography interrogates the influence of neoliberalism on youth development practice as instituted by the evidence-based practice and positive youth development movements. Methods I employed participant observation and grounded theory analyses in my role as facilitator of a youth participatory action research program in the context of violence prevention work at a large urban youth development agency. Results The disconnect between professionalized youth development and the lived experience of youth manifested in organizational policies and practices and meant that the agency had to balance competing interests and worldviews, reconcile the need for funding with social justice aims, and …

Interrogating Whiteness In Community Research And Action, Brett Russell Coleman, Charles R. Collins, Courtnay M. Bonam

Woodring Scholarship on Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

Community psychology is expressly concerned with social justice. Such concern necessitates attention to race. Yet, nearly absent from the field’s literature is explicit and critical attention to whiteness. Thus, community psychology’s contribution to promoting social justice remains incomplete. In this article, we examine how a critical construction of whiteness can be useful for community research and action. After a brief history of the construction of whiteness in the United States, and a summary of key insights from critical whiteness studies, we present a scoping review of the nascent body of community psychology literature that addresses whiteness. That work implicates whiteness …

Research Brief: Land Education Teacher Professional Development, Dolores Calderón, Anna Lees, Cynthia Wilson, Renée Swan Waite

Woodring Scholarship on Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

In Washington State, Senate Bill 5028 (2018) mandates the teaching of tribal sovereignty curriculum k-12 (STI) and integration of “Native American curriculum developed by the office of the superintendent of public instruction into existing Pacific Northwest history and government requirements” of existing teacher preparation programs. To do this work well, teacher educators in universities and communities must partner to prepare teacher candidates and in-service teachers to implement the curriculum within the context and goals of tribal nations. However, research finds that this work requires white teachers to confront their own biases that prevent them from being in true partnership with …

Conformal Geometry Of Polygons, Michael Albert

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Conformal maps are functions from subsets of the complex plane to the complex plane that locally preserve angles. Our goal is to understand conformal maps that pass to and from polygonal domains. In order to do so, we derive some of the basic theory of harmonic functions on simply connected domains. In particular, our goal with the first few sections is to prove the Schwarz Reflection principle. Using this, as well as other tools from complex analysis, we give an in-depth explanation of Tao’s proof of the Schwarz-Christoffel formula. This is a differential equation that allows one to compute a …

Taste Of Place And Provenance, Alison Stevens

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Bioregionalism is a framework that could serve to bridge the gap between humans and the land that they inhabit. A bioregional food system exemplifies the reduction of large scale agriculture and economy to one that falls within climatologically and geographically determined regions, superseding anthropogenic and political borders. Not only would a bioregional food system encourage mindfulness of the ecosystem that surrounds a community, but create a secure, community-based economy scaled to match the bioregion. The valuation of products and crops of local farmers and artisans would reflect the reliance on bioregionally specific wares, as well as ground members in their …

Chalk Drawings: A Series, Sophia Marble

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Initially, over a year ago, I was talking to one of the Vital Climbing managers and expressing my curiosity about their artist space. Have there ever been writers who display here? At the time, I was a member of the climbing gym. Every month-or-so I stopped above the steps to view and appreciate the variety of visual artists and photographers who showcase at this location. The artist space is small, a section of brick wall at the entry of their gym. Lights above the posted art highlights the works as climbers walk up and down the stairs. It’s so fun …