Education Commons^™

Learning By Doing: The Archaeology Education Program For Middle School, Tara D. Noel

Student Publications

Approached through the disciplinary and theoretical frameworks of public archaeology, the Archaeology Education Program for Middle School was created to better understand how an archaeology education program might be integrated into an existing curriculum and become nationally applicable to middle school settings. Research was conducted at St. Teresa of Calcutta Catholic School, where seventh grade students, teachers, and administration were involved in the investigation of the program's feasibility and design. It was determined that the objectives of this archaeology education program are to inform students about archaeology through educational tools and exercises that are tailored to different classroom settings, in …

Examining The Impact Of Climate Change Film As An Educational Tool, Brittany Bondi, Salma Monani, Sarah M. Principato, Christopher P. Barlett

Student Publications

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of film in communicating issues related to climate change. While previous studies demonstrate an immediate effect of a film post-screening, this study also considered if a film can inspire long-term effects, and if supplemental educational information plays a role on participant understanding.

Design/methodology/approach: Using surveys, we assessed undergraduate students’ climate change responses pre-, immediately-post, and 9-weeks post watching the climate change documentary The Human Element (Prod. Earth Vision Institute, 2018). In the 9-week interim before the final survey, half of the participants received weekly information on climate change via …

A Culture Of Aggression: School Culture And The Normalization Of Aggression In Two Elementary Schools, Brent D. Harger

Sociology Faculty Publications

Since the late 1990s, increased public and academic attention has been focused on topics related to bullying and peer aggression in schools, yet these behaviors have proven difficult for schools to address. Using data from an ethnographic study of two rural elementary schools in the Midwestern United States, I make both methodological and theoretical contributions to the literature on this topic. Methodologically, I show that examining ‘minor’ aggressive behaviors in schools reveals the way that more serious issues are also normalized. Theoretically, I show that students and adults actively construct shared understandings in these schools regarding the normalization of aggression, …

On The Margins Of Friendship: Aggression In An Elementary School Peer Group, Brent D. Harger

Sociology Faculty Publications

This article uses qualitative data from a larger study of two elementary schools in a rural city of about 15,000 people in the Midwestern United States. Here, I focus on a single peer group and those who are on its margins to provide insight into the intersection of friendship, aggression, and masculinity. In doing so, I address the lack of research examining how aggression functions within peer groups and why those who are victimized choose to remain in these groups.

To Tell Or Not To Tell: Student Responses To Negative Behavior In Elementary School, Brent D. Harger

Sociology Faculty Publications

In this article I examine the factors that influence fifth grade student decisions regarding whether or not to report negative interactions to adults. Data from observations and interviews with students and adults show that there are many factors influencing the reluctance to tell on others. Among them is a school context in which verbal attacks are downplayed and telling is seen as ineffective and stigmatized. This context prevents bystanders from reporting what they have observed and places those with a lack of social support at a significant disadvantage when dealing with negative behavior.

Books Or Baskets: Compromising The Education And Future Of Black Student-Athletes, Jessica L. Laemle

Student Publications

In this paper, I discuss the challenges and inequalities that Black male athletes face while playing college sports, particularly basketball and football at PWIs. I explore how this focus on sports pushes these individuals to focus on athletics rather than academics, as they are there on scholarships and are focused primarily on representing their schools and becoming professional athletes. I discuss multiple factors that play into these student-athletes' idea that athletics are more important than academics. Using multiple studies, I give information and statistics on the outcomes of these athletes. I also provide limitations of the studies I use so …

Ai Education: Open-Access Educational Resources On Ai, Todd W. Neller

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Open-access AI educational resources are vital to the quality of the AI education we offer. Avoiding the reinvention of wheels is especially important to us because of the special challenges of AI Education. AI could be said to be “the really interesting miscellaneous pile of Computer Science”. While “artificial” is well-understood to encompass engineered artifacts, “intelligence” could be said to encompass any sufficiently difficult problem as would require an intelligent approach and yet does not fall neatly into established Computer Science subdisciplines. Thus AI consists of so many diverse topics that we would be hard-pressed to individually create quality learning …

I Hope, Mai Trinh

SURGE

As I have gotten older, I have learned that no matter how hard I try, I am never going to be able to repay my mother for everything that she did for me. The blood, sweat, and tears she put into nurturing the sick and troublesome, five-year-old me, the rebellious and lazy fifteen-year-old me, and the clumsy, and sometimes lost me now, are insurmountable. I know she had more trouble raising me than she was supposed to. I know her first five years of being a mother did not include taking me to the park, sitting down on a park …

Fearless Friday: Yasmine Perry, Yasmine Perry

SURGE

This Friday, we are celebrating the work of Yasmine Perry ’17. Yasmine, who is originally from Orange, New Jersey, is a senior at Gettysburg College and is majoring in English and minoring in Math. Currently, she is involved with the Black Student Union (BSU) and the Social Entrepreneurship Initiative (SEI), which is a year-long program at Gettysburg College that aims to enable students to impact positive change in their communities, countries, and around the world through social entrepreneurship. Yasmine is also a program coordinator with the Center for Public Service (CPS), working specifically with the LIU Migrant Education program. This …

Education: A More Powerful Weapon Than War?, Maja K. Thomas

Student Publications

In this paper, I analyze the impact of education on civil war onset, utilizing variables measuring length of compulsory education and number of internal armed conflicts in a given country per year. Using data from the Quality of Government Institute’s Quality of Government Standard Time Series data set, I test this hypothesis and find that an increase in compulsory education length decreases the expected number of internal armed conflicts. The results suggest further importance of education as a great equalizer among individuals as well as nations.

The Price I Didn't Know I'D Pay, Anonymous

SURGE

$255 textbook. $52 clicker. $150 fleece at Rosemont 310. $1000+ dues to a sorority. These are as much
a part of Gettysburg life as Servo Thanksgiving, chicken finger Friday, and Springfest.

Fitting into this lifestyle has been a daily struggle for the last four years. [excerpt]

Border X-Ing, Alicia A. Castro

SURGE

The sun out-stretched its bright arms in an embrace with the mesquite trees that beckoned upwards. The wind greeted the clothes drying upon delicate wire while my mother meticulously placed white towels in the light and the jeans under the shade of the Arizona Ash. The washboard sits upright in the bucket full of suds and other assorted laundry. Inside the shed there is both a working dryer and washer only a few years old, but she has chosen to do this chore outside. Here she can close her eyes and be back in Mexico with the dry heat and …

Wheels On The Bus: School Transportation As A Reflection Of Sprawl, Autumn C.E. Arthur, Natasha M. Eulberg, Kevin C. O'Malley

Student Publications

The second half of the twentieth century constituted a change in land use ideology and development practice brought about by the rise of the automobile, increasing economic upward mobility, and privatization of the family home. During this time, the districting and building of public schools similarly changed, turning schools from local community centers to regional and de-contextualized places of education. The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which these development practices have caused children to rely on car and bus transportation to get to and from school. Using the variable of distance within a GIS analysis …

The Patriarchy’S Role In Gender Inequality In The Caribbean, Erin C. O'Connor

Student Publications

While gender equality in the Caribbean is improving, with women’s growing social, economic, and political participation, literacy rates comparable to those in Europe, and greater female participation in higher education, deeply rooted inequalities are still present and are demonstrated in the types of jobs women are in and the limited number of women in decision-making positions. Sexism, racism, and classism are systemic inequalities being perpetuated in schools, through the types of education offered for individuals and the content in textbooks. Ironically, the patriarchy is coexisting within a system of matrifocal and matrilocal families, with a long tradition of female economic …

Fearless Friday: Kirsten Crear, Kirsten Crear

SURGE

Even in her last semester here at Gettysburg, Kirsten Crear ’14 is fearlessly working to make changes for the future of the campus community. This semester, Kirsten introduced a STEMinists club on campus that will give female students who are STEM (an acronym for Science-Technology-Engineering-Mathematics) majors the opportunity to come together and create a community, share and discuss the difficulties they face as women in their fields of study, and support and mentor each other as they prepare to enter their fields.

Kirsten is passionate, driven, and determined, taking the initiative to bring this group of women together on campus …

Bootstrap Blues, Hannah M. Frantz

SURGE

Meet David*. In mid-January, he came to the small town Iowa elementary school where I work. David has attended more schools in the two years since he started school than I have in my lifetime. In fact, the school he just moved from only has four days of attendance listed on his record. David moves so often because he’s homeless. His situation is not what we may stereotypically think of as “homeless”—you wouldn’t see him on the streets or even in soup kitchens. Instead, David stays with his mother, and they couch surf from one home to another from week …

Fearless: Raksmeymony Yin, Raksmeymony Yin

SURGE

This summer, Raksmeymony Yin ’14, otherwise known as Rex, fearlessly taught from his own lesson plans, graded students’ papers, and organized brand new curriculums as one of twelve interns at the Breakthrough Collaborative in Philadelphia. During the nine-week program, Rex worked long hours in and outside of the classroom, effecting change by investing in the education of dozens of middle school students.

I Don't Want To Save Your Children, Katherine M. Patterson

SURGE

A few weeks ago, the moment that I’ve been dreaming of for almost half of a year finally arrived. I started the Heston Summer Experience as an intern in Gettysburg. An embarrassing amount of my winter break was devoted to writing and rewriting my applications. After receiving an invitation for an interview, I convened my roommates to help me choose an outfit and ask me practice questions, which is not something I do…ever. Getting my acceptance letter in the mail was the ultimate highlight of a long and difficult year. When I was home for the first few weeks of …

High School In Bali, Samantha R. Eck

Bali Soundscapes Essays

In the Indonesian education system, high school is comprised of 10^th, 11^th, and 12^th grades. In their first year of high school, a Balinese student’s curriculum might look very similar to an American student’s. At this point in their education, the Balinese are still following the national general curriculum, studying mathematics, science, language, and history. During the eleventh and twelfth years of school the Balinese school structure diverges from the American system. Indonesian students must choose one of three areas of study on which to focus for the last two years of high school, a …

Balinese Elementary Schools, Jane A. Best

Bali Soundscapes Essays

Kerambitan’s elementary school houses approximately 100 students. These students, from first to sixth grade, attend class six days a week from 8 AM until noon (the afternoon heat is too strong). Like in many American elementary schools, the teachers on this level teach all core subjects; in Indonesia these subjects are math, reading, culture, and social studies. Subjects are highly standardized on a national level; students in Bali are learning the same things as students in Java or any of the other islands. The exception to this rule is the culture class; here students learn about Balinese culture, arts, and …

Brown Eyes, Brown Mind: What We Learn From What We See, Mauricio E. Novoa

SURGE

My summer days aren’t spent in a house on the beach or travelling to different states or countries with my family or friends, forgetting about the worries of the rest of the year and wondering what could be better than life under the sun. They are spent in a school building, the first place my younger self would have been eager to escape during off time. This is the second summer I am working at the LIU Migrant Education Summer School of Excellence. Unlike normal summer school, which usually consists of remedial classes for students who can’t seem to …

An Open Letter To The Class Of 2013, Center For Public Service

SURGE

Upon graduation I will have received no honors. After four years of college, thirty-seven courses, ten labs, two sets of major requirements and several almost complete minors, I have won the ultimate consolation prize: a diploma. I know that not everyone has the privilege of going to college and I also know that those who start college do not always make it to the end, some not even through the first week. However, in the world of academia, students are pushed to strive for the best grades. Even at Gettysburg College where global awareness, critical thinking and an integration of …

Using 'The Autobiography Of Malcolm X' To Teach Introductory Sociology, Brent D. Harger, Tim Hallett

Sociology Faculty Publications

In this chapter, we make the case for using The Autobiography of Malcolm X to teach introductory sociology classes. While The Autobiography of Malcolm X is an autobiography and not a novel, we summarize the literature on using novels in sociology and compare this literature to our own experiences using autobiographies in the classroom. We then describe how autobiographies are particularly helpful for introducing students to the concept of the ‘‘sociological imagination’’ before highlighting this with an in-class exercise. Finally, we discuss student feedback and some of the drawbacks to using autobiographies and the extent to which these drawbacks can …