Educational Methods Commons^™

Teaching Reading Comprehension Skills To Saudi Female Students At The University Levels: A Handbook For Teachers, Dina Sofi

Master's Projects and Capstones

By using innovative language teaching techniques and methodologies based on Communicative Language Teaching Approach and Multiple Intelligences Theory , the author of this project aimed to develop a handbook for EFL female teachers in Saudi Arabia. The handbook serves as a guide for teaching reading comprehension to Saudi female students at the university levels. The handbook illustrates different teaching methods that activate different learning modalities. It also include sample units with reading passages and activities that model teaching reading, integrate different language skills and enhance the students’ communicative skills.

Teaching English In Saudi Arabia Through The Use Of Multimedia, Linah A. Sofi

Master's Projects and Capstones

The purpose of this project is to design model lesson plans which will require the use of available modern technology and movies, songs and graphic novels, etc, to enhance students’ communicative competence and motivate critical thinking. In fact, The project will be constructed to implement the use of technology in the Saudi Arabian traditional classrooms. It will serve as a model for teachers to build their own lesson plans accordingly, using a communicative language teaching approach. Finally, it is hoped that with this handbook, Saudi Arabian English language learners will develop critical thinking skills and enhance higher communicative competence in …

Incorporating Community Cultural Wealth In A Community-Based Organization, Henriette S. Ako-Asare

Master's Projects and Capstones

This project examined how Hack the Hood, a Bay Area non-profit organization, successfully works with low-income youth of color in an outside of school context using technological skills to empower them. Critical Race Theory, community cultural wealth, and the many studies on academic success provided a model through which to examine the efficacy and cultural relevance of Hack the Hood programming using interviews and data already gathered on the organization. Based on the analysis of Hack the Hood and the promising findings related to how their work advance several of the tenets of the community cultural wealth model, this project …

Incorporating Online Materials And Digital Learning/Assessing Tools Into Advanced Chinese Newspaper Reading And News Watching, Ying Wang, Lisha Xu

Blended Learning in the Liberal Arts Conference

This is the report of a year-long blended learning project designed for advanced Chinese newspaper reading and news video watching. In advanced Chinese learning, newspaper reading and news video watching are considered quite challenging for Chinese language learners for their formal style, large and time-sensitive vocabulary, and limited exposure through traditional ways of learning/teaching. To meet these challenges, we incorporated three blended learning components into the traditional language teaching/learning, including: online video news subtitling, the digital exercises and assessment system, and computerized vocabulary-learning modules tailored to the course materials used for two advanced Chinese classes. The project is carried out …

Objects, Omeka, And The "Oops!" Factor: Two Case Studies Of Collection-Based Projects At Wheaton College, Claire Buck, Leah Niederstadt

Blended Learning in the Liberal Arts Conference

In Spring 2014, Omeka was first used as part of a course assignment at Wheaton College. Students in Professor Leah Niederstadt’s Introduction to Museum Studies were each asked to conduct provenance research on an object from Wheaton’s Permanent Collection. They shared their research using Omeka, an online content management platform. Throughout the semester, students learned new technology, conducted research using primary and secondary sources, and identified images to support the provenance narratives they discovered. Lastly, they presented their research using Omeka. Assessment was conducted at the start and end of the semester to determine the project’s effect on student learning. …

Fitw Module Demos, Jennifer Spohrer, Hannah Weinstein, Rhonda Hughes, Jia Li

Blended Learning in the Liberal Arts Conference

This session is for representatives from partner colleges on the U. S. Department of Education FIPSE's First in the World grant-funded project to develop a just-in-time, blended approach to mathematics fundamentals support in introductory STEM courses. Partner colleges are Allegheny, Bryn Mawr, Denison, Franklin & Marshall, Grinnell, Lafayette, Mills, Oberlin, Smith, St. Olaf, Vassar, and Wellesley. In this session members from the Bryn Mawr team will demonstrate the prototype modules we have developed using Khan Academy and WeBWorK materials. Our goal is to get feedback on these prototypes, partners envision implementing them to support our target courses (introductory calculus, chemistry …

Teaching Critical Thinking Through Online Writing And Debate, Douglas Harvey

Blended Learning in the Liberal Arts Conference

Establishing an asynchronous learning environment that fosters critical thinking can be difficult due to the constraints of the format. The value of back-and-forth exchange of ideas and points can be muted by the lag time between posts. Students also tend to view forum posting as an individual writing activity, not the debate or discussion that faculty designed such environments to foster. This presentation will examine an attempt during the spring 2015 semester to employ a scaffold approach that supports moving students from individual blogging to debate in an online course. The course content involves the study of the impact of …

Digital Learning, Blended Courses: Faculty Innovations And Goals For Student Learning At Keuka College, Nicholas Koberstein, Nancy Marksbury, Enid Bryant, Jennie Joiner, Laurel Hester

Blended Learning in the Liberal Arts Conference

No abstract provided.

Sounds And Symbols : The Relationship Between Auditory Processing And Reading, Jacqueline Kohos

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This project explores the relationship between auditory processing and reading. Inspired by the students and teachers during the author's first year of teaching, this work analyzes five areas of reading challenge through the lens of auditory processing: letter names and sounds, phonological awareness, sight words, decoding, and fluency.

Improving Pre-Service Teachers' Preparation To Integrate Music And Movement In Early Childhood Classrooms, Elaine Myrianthopoulos

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This study examines student teachers' fieldwork experiences, in order to better support their efforts to integrate music and movement in early childhood classrooms.

Mindfulness And Children, Edna Moy-Rome

Graduate Student Independent Studies

The purpose of this study of mindfulness with third grade children is to describe the process using mindfulness as a tool and strategy to help children become self-aware of the present moment, and bring more calm, and focus and attention to learning within a classroom.

Towards A Constructivist Grammar Curriculum For The United States, Tyler Crafts Jennings

Graduate Student Independent Studies

The author argues that educators must forge an alternative method to teaching grammar: the explicit, constructivist teaching of grammar within the meaningful context of a writing curriculum.

Blank Page: A Teacher Begins, John D. Wolfe

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Comprised of seven essays, this collection of literary nonfiction explores one man's journey into the teaching profession. The author recounts his experiences from just before he heard the call, to his first year teaching as an intern at Punahou School in Honolulu, through his first three years teaching full-time, and the challenges, mostly internal conflicts, he worked through as he taught freshmen and then two junior/senior electives before eventually going on sabbatical to Tanzania for his ninth year.

A Historical Perspective On The Revolution Of Science Education For Students Who Are Blind Or Visually Impaired In The United States, Cary A. Supalo Dr.

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

The following was an invited presentation given by Dr. Cary A. Supalo to the National Federation of the Blind of Illinois annual state convention that was held in Chicago, Illinois on Saturday, October 28, 2011. These remarks were slightly modified for the Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities.

Cary A. Supalo

What does the term Revolution mean? To some it can simply mean change. To others, it can mean drastic change, and still to others, revolution is no more than a descriptor for something else. In this context, I believe revolution refers to a time of significant change.1 …

Using Socratic Questioning As An Instructional Tool To Help High School Students At Grade Twelve Improve Their Perceptions Of The Writing Process, Rana Houshmand

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to determine whether Socratic questioning, an approach that builds critical thinking skills and fosters learning by constructing new knowledge, was an effective tool for improving student perceptions of the writing process. The main research question that was examined in this study was: How can Socratic questioning improve students' perceptions of writing and the writing process? Qualitative research methods were used as a framework for the design of this study as well as purposeful student sampling, triangulation of three data sources, and an extensive coding process. Findings from the study support that Socratic questioning can …

Effects Of Digitally Enhanced Learning Tasks On Cognitive Functioning, Reyn Yoshiura

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Are brain-training applications effective? In recent years the popularity of brain training programs, such as Lumosity, Brain Age, Big Brain Academy and Elevate has increased significantly. These programs assert that the consistent use of their program can potentially result in increases in cognitive function. The current body of cognitive research shows that these programs train working memory; due to its integral part in general cognition. This research compared the effectiveness of digitally enhanced working memory tasks, versus active control groups for improvements on measures of cognitive functioning. It was hypothesized that the digitally enhanced working memory tasks would have greater …

The Effects Of New Materials And Teaching Methodologies On Low-Level Biology Courses, Rebecca L. Garrison

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

A new generation has entered higher education that learns differently from generations before. To meet the changing needs of this generation, Western Kentucky University’s Biology Department introduced e-textbooks and e-materials from McGraw Hill™ publishing in the fall of 2013 to most low-level classes. A foreseen product of this shift was a change in the way that some faculty taught and assessed their classes. This study assesses the changes in pedagogical techniques among professors of 100- and 200-level biology classes due to the new e-text and e-materials. Syllabi were collected from these classes pre- and post-implementation and common characteristics were inductively …

Teaching Self-Management Skills Through Social Studies Content Lessons, Christy Folsom, Marietta Saravia-Shore, Karvelee Adu, Hector Cabrera

Publications and Research

Candidates learn to teach students self­‐management skills of criteria setting and self-­evaluation using the TIEL (Teaching for Intellectual and Emotional Learning) lesson plan to formulate questions that elicit thinking and social emotional learning, plan guided practice that teaches students criteria-­setting and self-­evaluation skills. Learning to explicitly teach students evaluation skills within lessons prepares candidates to expand the teaching of self­‐management skills to include planning and decision making within a project-based unit culminating project.

The Nurtured Heart Approach: An Odyssey Of Discovery And Implementation, Mary Sanford, Alexandria Pacheco

Publications and Research

The Nurtured Heart Approach (Glasser) is a methodology for behavior management, which emphasizes Positive Behavior Support. The candidate, Alexandria Pacheco, of her own initiative, began using this approach in her self-contained class of students with severe behavior disorders a year ago. Impressed with its effectiveness, her school principal asked her to conduct a Professional Development workshop for the school staff and faculty on the Nurtured Heart Approach.

Improving Motivation, Engagement And Differentiation In Lesson Development Using An Interactive White Board: 10-Hour Workshop Cycle Toward Professional Development Certificate, Leslie Lieman, Jenelle Fiori, Naliza Sadik

Publications and Research

The School of Education prepares aspiring teachers for teaching in 21st century classrooms by offering intensive interactive white board training cycles. In designing interactive lessons, the workshop cycle focuses on the pedagogical decision making that can improve classroom teaching and student engagement and understanding.