Education Commons^™

A Case Study In Museum Change: Power, Authority And Community Connected Exhibitions, Marilyn Cathy Solvay, Ph.D.

Educational Studies Dissertations

ABSTRACT

This dissertation is a study of museum change and examines the power of objects along with the authority of traditional exhibitions and the development of community-connected exhibitions. Community-connected exhibitions are explored to provide insight into reshaping the museum organization into a multicultural institution.

Method: A case study of a community-connected exhibition, "Becoming Americans: The Shapiro Story: 1898-1928," was conducted at Strawberry Banke, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, an outdoor history museum. Interviews were held with 25+ project participants: museum staff project team members, Shapiro family members, community members at large, and representatives from other community cultural institutions. This qualitative research project …

Information Literacy: An Issue Of Equity For New Majority Students, Lana Webb Jackman

Educational Studies Dissertations

Educating over 49% of those who attend higher education, public colleges and universities must assume a more dynamic leadership role during this societal transformation if New Majority students are to develop the intellectual skills required to compete effectively in today's marketplace. By adopting an information literacy culture, public higher education can foster the intellectual empowerment needed by New Majority students to evolve into competent life-long learners and contributors to American life and the world at large.

Narrating Gender: Children's Responses To Gender Roles Depicted In Orally Told Folk Tales And Other Traditional Stories, Robin Ann Mello

Educational Studies Dissertations

This qualitative investigation was based on grounded and feminist methodology and examined the reactions of ten fourth grade students to the gender roles depicted in orally told folk tales. Data consisted of surveys, writing samples, and interviews, collected in both mixed and single gender groups. Data were transcribed and coded using open and axial procedures. This study finds that heroes were valued for their aggression, strength, and warrior status while heroines were appreciated for their intelligence, caring, and endurance. Boys highly valued warrior like behavior. Girls, on the other hand, had a difficult time equating the value of 'gender bending' …

Including Elders' Voices: A Model For Gerontology Curriculum Design In Higher Education, Marilyn Rose Gelish-Gugliucci

Educational Studies Dissertations

This study has proposed a new model for gerontology curriculum design. The model involves elders at two levels: designing gerontology courses/programs and participating in the students' learning experiences… The proposed curriculum model is framed within progressive and confluent curriculum ideologies: thereby, supporting experiential learning, personal growth, integration of attitudes, feelings, emotions, and relevance.

The Professional Beliefs And The Conditions That Support Integrated Curriculum In A New England Middle School, Cheryl Lynn Davis

Educational Studies Dissertations

Research on the best practices at the middle school level suggests that early adolescent students need an educational environment that is unlike elementary or high school. Young people between the ages of 10 and 14 are experiencing rapid changes in their cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development. In order to meet these needs, middle school curriculum must provide opportunities for students to broaden their knowledge base, explore areas of interest, and acquire a sense of self as they seek to understand their place within the larger society. An effective way to reach such goals, at the middle level, is through …

Effects Of An Interactive, Literacy-Rich Environment On The Social, Language, Cognitive, And Literacy Development Of Young Children With And Without Special Needs, Jeanne M. Canelli

Educational Studies Dissertations

The purpose of this study is twofold: to identify play and literacy practices that are useful in an inclusive early childhood classroom and to demonstrate how these practices contribute to the development of children with and without disabilities. Play and literacy teaching practices are documented in this study of four preschool children. Two of the children have typical development patterns and two have mild to moderate special needs.