Education Commons^™

On-Ramps For Refugees: A Workplace Safety Iet Curriculum For Low-Proficiency English Learners, Annamarie Hansen

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

This capstone project aims to address the question: “How can current career pathway programs be expanded to create more “on-ramps” for Refugee ELL students at lower English proficiency levels? What role can community-based organizations take in creating “on-ramps”? This paper was inspired by the teacher’s professional experiences working with refugees with lower-level English proficiency seeking to re-enter their chosen career fields. The paper provides an overview of the literature with a specific focus on Vocational English as a Second Language (VESL), the Career Pathway model, Integrated Education and Training (IET) programs, and the need for “on-ramps” to create additional points …

Planting The Foundational Roots In Co-Teaching Between Secondary Ell Teachers And Mainstream Content Teachers, Amanda Cummings

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The research question in this capstone project that was explored was, “in what ways can building early collaboration between secondary mainstream teachers and ELL teachers positively impact student learning?” This research question explores collaborative co-teaching and its process based on past personal experiences and research to assist and boost ELL students’ achievement through collaboration. Based on research, secondary teachers are often on their own islands and do not have much of an opportunity to collaborate. Secondary teachers are also often voluntold to co-teach instead of volunteer. Even if a co-teaching pair is open to the idea, many have no idea …

Building Resilience Through Nature Connection And Storytelling To Face The Climate Crisis And The Ecological Crisis, Adam Hettler

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Climate Change is creating more and more severe impacts on our planet. Impacts include more destructive storms, increased temperatures, more wildfires and therefore smoke. Additionally, destruction of habitat is threatening species around the world, who are also struggling to survive the changing climate. Many young people around the world are very worried about the future, and many teachers feel unprepared to teach students about climate change. This project seeks to provide a resource for teachers and students to process the science of climate change by connecting to nature. It asks:

How can educators use digital storytelling tools to develop students’ …

How Does Classroom Management Affect Student Behavior?, Lucy Hoelscher

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The research question discussed is, how does classroom management affect student behavior? This capstone project is a research-based professional development training for educators. The training is made up of two sessions. The first session focuses on the components and principles of classroom management and the impact of classroom management on student behavior, engagement, and academic performance. The second session consists of successful classroom management approaches and the challenges and barriers educators may face.

Anxiety Disorders In Elementary Students: Interventions For Classroom Use, Jillian Maloney

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Many elementary students suffer from anxiety disorders. There are various types of anxiety disorders, risk factors, and effects on elementary students. The disorders described include generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, specific phobia, social phobia, separation anxiety disorder, and selective mutism. These can be influenced by interpersonal and environmental factors, leading to academic, social, emotional, and physiological effects.Research shows that educators can provide accommodations and classroom strategies to support students. The capstone project developed as a result of this research is a website that serves as a resource for educators. It explains the different types of anxiety disorders, their …

An Effective Small Group Reading Intervention Scope And Sequence For Students In Grades Three To Five, Caitlin Phan

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The guiding question of this project is: What is the most effective scope and sequence for a reading academic support curriculum designed for small groups of students in grades three to five? The purpose of the project is to address the critical need for a well-defined scope and sequence for reading academic support teachers. Research that influenced the written scope and sequence includes reading intervention history, elementary students, struggling readers, types of approaches to teaching reading, and three schools of thought regarding teaching reading (Fountas and Pinnell, Orton-Gillingham, and Science of Reading). Integrating this research, the scope and sequence project …

Effective Teaching Practices For Phonemic Awareness And Phonics In Small Group Reading Instruction, Caitlin Sullivan

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Sullivan, C. (2023) Effective teaching practices for phonemic awareness and phonics in small group reading instruction. This paper is the documentation of an educational coach’s journey to find the most effective small group instructional practices for teaching phonemic awareness and phonics to kindergarten and first grade students. The need to share this research led to the development of four professional development sessions for effective instruction of phonemic awareness and phonics instruction specifically created for teachers of kindergarten and first grade students. The Capstone project began by answering the question, How do kindergarten-first grade teachers use best practices in phonemic awareness …

Creating Equitable Mainstream K-6 Education For Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Christina Talberg

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Talberg, C. (2023). Creating Equitable Mainstream K-6 Education for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder. The research question posed for this capstone project is: How does a general elementary classroom teacher create an equitable and accessible learning environment for students with ASD? This question was explored through extensive research which is reflected in this paper’s literature review. Research has shown that many mainstream educators do not feel adequately prepared or trained to properly support and include students with ASD in their classroom (Jaffal, 2023). The capstone project that accompanies this research is a three-part professional development workshop. This workshop series was …

Teaching Strategies For Low Literacy Adult Learners, Kelly Rynda

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Research has demonstrated that low-literacy adult learners have different needs than children or more proficient adult readers, but teaching strategies are not often aimed at these students. The professional development presentation developed for this project focuses on the characteristics of these learners, how low-literacy skills affect their lives, and which interventions educators can use in the classroom. Key interventions include Robinson’s suggestions around word recognition, Tighe and Binder’s recommendations about morphology and fluency, Mellard and Fall’s ideas around language comprehension, Park’s suggestions for critical literacy, and Rodrigo et al.’s recommendations around reading for pleasure. The project shares information about the …

Diversity Among Educators In Minnesota, Gabrielle Wiest

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Diversity Among Educators in Minnesota Wiest, G. (2023) Diversity Among Educators in Minnesota The research question addressed in this capstone project is: ‘How can Minnesota cultivate a more racially diverse teaching workforce that represents our BIPOC students?’In this capstone, research is discovered about the lack of diversity among educators in America’s teaching staff. The foundational research for this project explores current efforts that have been implemented to create more diverse teaching staffs as well as the impact diverse teachers have on students. The topics of focus are: representation in schools, student perception, and past and present. The website designed for …

English Language Arts Curricular Interventions And Achievement In Advanced First Grade Learners From Underserved Backgrounds, Nicole Mckenzie

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

This capstone curriculum project seeks to answer the question: How do English Language Arts (ELA), culturally responsive curricular resources impact academic achievement in our advanced first-grade learners from historically underserved populations? The connection between implementing an advanced English language arts (ELA) Jacob’s Ladder poetry unit utilizing the Integrated Curriculum Model (ICM) and learning outcomes of students from historically underserved backgrounds, including twice-exceptional (2e), and racially, culturally, linguistically, and economically diverse (RCLED) learners are measured through growth from the preassessment to summative assessment. High-rigor curricula, culturally responsive teaching methods that tap into neuroscience, and differentiated instruction with entry points for all …

A Need For Culturally Relevant Texts To Motivate K-2 Students In Reading, Thi Hoai Anh Nguyen

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The research question addressed in this capstone project was: How can K-2 teachers boost student motivation in reading through interactive read-alouds using culturally relevant texts? After delving into the research on reading motivation, Culturally Relevant Texts, creating a Culturally Relevant Text set, developing student identity, promoting students’ appreciation of cultural diversity, and Interactive Read Alouds, the author created a "We Are All Different and That’s Beautiful” Text Set Unit which promotes students’ appreciation of cultural diversity by incorporating culturally relevant texts and interactive read-alouds. The text set unit with eight chosen culturally relevant texts and matching interactive read-aloud lesson plans …

Creating First Grade Math Learning Materials In The Chinese Immersion Learning Environment, Huishu Jia

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Math is everywhere in people’s daily lives. It is also a universal subject taught everywhere. Research has demonstrated that math education includes many different components, the most essential mathematical skill for younger learners is to establish their number sense. Students’ math fluency will increase and will develop their math automaticity once they have strong number sense. According to studies, the Mandarin Chinese language helps students effectively master basic mathematical skills due to the uniqueness of the language, such as the pronunciation of each Chinese character, the “base ten” number system, etc. The project involved creating a pacing chart that aligns …

Implementing Nature-Based Play In Academically Focused Early Childhood Settings, Abbie Krohn

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Research shows that both play and time spent in nature is critical to childhood development. Over the last fifty years, children’s access to extended play in outdoor spaces has decreased substantially. What are early childhood educators in formal academic settings to do with this information? The professional development series created for this project aims to provide early childhood educators with tools and resources to incorporate nature-based play practices into their classrooms. In the series, participants will examine the history of outdoor education in America, the effects of nature on the human body, standardized testing and current educational practices in early …

A Plurilingual Approach For Secondary Efl Students In Panama, Charlie Kersey

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

This capstone project was guided by the following research question: How can we develop a pedagogy for emerging bilingual EFL students that leverages their full linguistic potential? The research question was identified in response to the shortcomings of an English immersion program that was not promoting the full linguistic potential of its bilingual students. This paper pursues solutions to this problem through a multidisciplinary literature review designed to explore the benefits of bilingualism, how to increase language awareness among students, as well as the explicit use of students’ L1 to learn a L2. Topics explored in the literature review include …

Implementing Equitable And Effective Practices For Dual-Identified Learners, Annelise Walsh

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Walsh, A. (2023). Implementing Equitable and Effective Practices for Dual-Identified Learners English learners in special education make up approximately 1% of students in the United States. As the overall population of English learners rapidly increases, so does this population of dual-identified learners. Educators often do not receive adequate preparation to support dual-identified learners, and misconceptions that these students do not require services in both areas still persist in American public schools. Additionally, disproportionality of English learners in special education remains an ongoing issue. As a result, dual-identified learners are a misunderstood and underserved population. This capstone seeks to answer the …

The Disappearing Of The Hmong Language, Choua Yang

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Within my personal and professional experience, I have observed that the Hmong oral language has declined since the Hmong people arrived in the United States. Over the past 50 years in the United States, there have been growing concerns regarding the decline in usage of the Hmong language within Hmong children. In my personal experience, my children who are second generation Hmong, only the five older children are bilingual while my three younger children only speak English. As for my seven grandchildren, who are third generation Hmong, they only speak English. They do not understand nor speak the Hmong language. …

A Ninth Grade English Language Arts Supplemental Curriculum That Integrates Language And Content Instruction For English Language Learners Using A Co-Taught Model, Hanna Brown

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The research question addressed in this capstone project is: How can ninth grade English Language Arts curriculum be designed to integrate language and content instruction to support academic English proficiency for English Learners using a co-teaching model? The paper provides an in-depth literature review on both academic language development and co-teaching. Topics of this paper are: long-term English language learners (LTELs) in the mainstream, academic and language standards, content instructional models for secondary English language learners which includes co-teaching practices and building academic language. Following this paper, a supplemental curriculum for ninth grade English language arts was created in order …

How Does Nutrition, Exercise, Sleep, And Phone Addiction Affect Elementary Student Learning?, Madeline (Marston) Ballis

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Ballis, M. (2023). How does Nutrition, Exercise, Sleep, and Phone Addiction affect Elementary Student Learning? The research question addressed in this capstone is “How can elementary schools foster learning through the awareness of healthy lifestyle behaviors, such as nutrition, exercise, sleep, and healthy phone use in low-income students and families?” This paper follows the research of me, Madeline Ballis, a fourth grade teacher, as I discover the importance of healthy lifestyle behaviors for elementary students, specifically those from low socioeconomic status (SES) families. The research was inspired by my past experience in studying psychology and personal experience with each of …

Incorporating World Languages In Elementary Schools, Amber Bruce

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Bruce, A. (2023). Incorporating World Languages in Elementary Schools. This capstone project aims to answer the question: How does Learning a World Language Affect Elementary Students Academically, Socially, and Culturally? This topic is inspired by personal and professional experiences as a former student and now current educator. This project first explores my background information and influences along with an overview of the project. Then it dives into a thorough literature review that focuses on the academic, social, and cultural aspects of learning a world language. The research and findings from WIDA and the ACTFL organizations, along with other resources, helped …

Implement Translanguaging: Tools For Monolingual Teachers, Shana Hodel

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The purpose of this capstone is to provide monolingual teachers with information about the theory of translanguaging and strategies to make it an effective pedagogical tool for multilingual students. Translanguaging is the fluid language practice of multilingual people as they draw on their full linguistic repertoire to make meaning and communicate. How can monolingual English language development teachers and content teachers use translanguaging (TL) strategies competently and effectively in the classroom to help their students capitalize on their full linguistic repertoire? This paper describes both the benefits of translanguaging and the characteristics of classrooms where it is used. The resulting …

Managing Plagiarism And Artificial Intelligence In A High School Classroom, Grayci Kangas-Olson

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

This research answers the question: “How can teachers effectively manage plagiarism and AI in high school classrooms?” In many classrooms, plagiarism is an issue, but for many students it is something they don't know how to avoid. With Artificial Intelligence (AI) software being the new shiny tool that can be used for crafting written assignments, it is important to know how educators can use it within the classroom in productive ways. Lufstrom (2011) explains that educators need to be "proactive rather than reactive" when it comes to plagiarism and AI within the classroom. AI can be a tool instead of …

Role Playing Gamification In The Science Classroom, Timothy Normandt

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Invented in 1972, Dungeons & Dragons was a brand new way to play games—utilizing the strongest computer humans have ever conceived: the human brain. This project strives to categorize some of the techniques used in the classroom as role playing in their own right. The purpose of all gamification, role playing and SEL, and the satanic panic that came out against Dungeons & Dragons are looked at. This paper additionally looks at some examples of role playing in the classroom that have succeeded at a small charter school in Minneapolis. These findings underscore the equity achieved by allowing for student …

In What Ways Are Schools, Districts And States Proactively Supporting The Mental Health Of Their Teachers To Reduce Teacher Turnover And Burnout?, Lauren Meyer

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Teacher mental health is of high concern when looking at the number of teachers leaving the profession. Schools are facing high levels of turnover due to teacher burnout. This issue did not arise as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the number of teachers leaving has increased since 2020. Teachers are feeling burnt out due to underlying issues of the education system. This research involves the reasons why teachers are feeling burnt out, what educators can do to help build self-resilience, and what leadership teams can implement to support teachers within their schools. The research goes broader and identifies …

Place-Based Environmental Education Towards Collective Environmental Literacy, Nicole Stubbs

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

As environmental issues and environmental injustices persist, it is even more important for environmental educators to foster in individuals and groups the skills, knowledge, and natural appreciation needed to timely address these issues. Place-focused environmental education that seeks to address an individual’s sense of place can deepen an individual's connection with their local environment and community. A developed sense of place within a group can also pave the way for collective environmental literacy, the literacy held by a community and defined by the characteristics of collective action, collaboration, shared knowledge, and diverse perspectives. This capstone seeks to answer the question: …

Equity In The Math Classroom How Math Teachers Can Achieve Equity Despite District’S Budget, Tony Edward Kohanek

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

American pedagogical theorist and teacher educator, Gloria Ladson-Billings, has done the research and shown how impactful the achievement gap is as it is “one of the most pressing education-policy challenges that the states are facing” (Ladson-Billings, 2006). What makes this issue such a problem is that students don’t even need to be in school for it to appear as noted by Andy Porter of Penn State’s GSE (Graduate School of Education). He states that by the time children reach the age of three or four, there’s already a one standard deviation achievement gap between white children and POC, people of …

Utilizing Storytelling In A High School Ecology And Cell Energy Unit, Katherine Shealy

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The research question addressed in this Capstone project was: How is student learning impacted when storytelling and knowledge from Native American tribes are used to create a high school biology unit on ecology and cell energy? The following topics that were focused on during this project were changes to science teaching, culturally responsive teaching, storytelling in science, the effects of using standards and standardized testing, the New Generation Science Standards, and equity and diversity in science learning. The curriculum created for this project included the story of and focused on Minneopa State Park in Mankato, Minnesota, a historically important site …

Chinese Immersion Cultural Teaching And The Use Of Authentic Materials, Li Cheng

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

As Chinese language and culture education gains prominence in global contexts, the fusion of language acquisition with cultural competence becomes a central pursuit. Through a comprehensive exploration of theoretical underpinnings and practical applications, this study elucidates the significance of authentic materials as catalysts for cultural engagement within Chinese immersion programs. This paper delves into the dynamic landscape of Chinese Immersion Cultural Teaching by examining the pivotal role of authentic materials in enhancing students' cultural understanding. The resource developed consists of a ten-day lesson plan designed according to the Chinese New Year: Students will first learn the text and new words, …

Elevating Student Voices Through Rigorous Academic Discussion: A Unit Of Study For The Middle School English Language Arts Classroom, Emily O’Brien

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Although speaking and listening skills are included in the Common Core State Standards, they are often underemphasized in English Language Arts (ELA) classrooms and across disciplines. Research shows the benefits of cooperative and discussion-based learning for students, yet students are often not provided with the instruction and practice necessary for success in these areas. Especially in middle school, students thrive when given opportunities to connect with others. This project, a unit of study designed for a middle school ELA classroom, was designed to provide students with the academic discussion tools necessary to deepen literacy skills. Written through a culturally responsive …

Utilizing Behavior Change Principles To Encourage Community Engagement In Water Protection And Conservation, Chyann Erickson

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Integrating behavior change into water conservation efforts is a growing discipline that explores how factors of decision-making can be used to encourage pro-environmental behavior. As water issues of quality and quantity are exacerbated, it is essential to consider the potential of behavioral science as a means to revolutionize traditional approaches to water conservation education and engagement. This capstone project investigates the question: how can behavior change principles be used to engage people in efforts to protect and conserve water? By looking at cognitive foundations, internal and external factors that influence behavior, and particular interventions to encourage water conservation, research shows …