Elementary Education Commons^™

Small Mammal Jointed Models To Make, Description Cards, And A Menu Of Follow-On Activities In Different Intelligence Areas, Audrey C. Rule, Sarah M. Vander Zanden

Open Educational Resources

Instilling an appreciation of nature in our youth is an important precursor to environmental protection and support for sustainability. Research has shown that involving students in environmental projects improves their motivation, skills, and achievement on standardized tests, This document contains images of the body parts of small mammals with directions for reproducing, cutting, gluing, and assembling them (with paper fasteners) into life-size jointed models of the animals. There are two distinct versions (different color phases and poses) of each of 11 small mammals that generally live in grasslands, along creeks/ponds, or woodland edges of Midwestern habitats: Eastern Chipmunk, Franklin’s Ground …

Reading Reform And The Role Of Policy, Practice And Instructional Leadership On Reading Achievement: A Case Study Of Grissom Elementary School, Faith Andrea Morrison

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

The purpose of this study was to explore whether William Deming's 8 Step Model would increase reading achievement in 3rd grade students. The study investigated how well the process based plan-do-check-act model when used as a treatment with fidelity, coupled with the principal as instructional leader would result in success in the age of federal accountability.

A qualitative case study methodology was adopted for the study. A school in northwest Indiana was selected and data were collected from interviews, field observations, focus group interviews, a principal questionnaire, and data analysis of student test scores. The focus of the school was …

Student Teaching Field Experience Guide 2012-2013, Judith Schierling, David Whitenack

Faculty Publications

San José State University (SJSU) has been in the forefront of innovation in education for over 100 years and has a long history of meeting challenges that require changes in society and in schools. Preparing teachers for California's schools since 1857, SJSU was established as the first public normal school west of the Mississippi River. The oldest public institution of higher education in the state of California, San José State University is located in an area of rapidly increasing cultural diversity and technological complexity. One of the largest universities of the 20-campus California State University system, San José State University …

The Quality Of Education In Tanzania: An Exploration Into Its Determinants, Sam Maghimbi

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

Recent rapid expansion in school enrolment at all levels represents a profound challenge to parents and the government in Tanzania. There has been a very high increase in the number of school-going-age children from year to year due to high fertility. Government resources are thinly spread in very many schools, and there is fear that quality of education may be compromised. The paper presents the argument that there is in evidence a government-will-pay (gwp) attitude in the parents’ values. The parents’ contribution to secure improvement in quality of education is not forthcoming because of this belief, which is traced to …

Cartoons For Teaching Elementary Students About Bullying, Audrey C. Rule, S. R. Logan, Frank W. Kohler

Open Educational Resources

Bullying is a pressing concern in schools as many teachers are not being sufficiently prepared with curriculum and instructional strategies to prevent, mitigate, or halt it. This document presents classroom-tested cartoons created by graduate students that address the causes, effects, and ways of preventing or stopping bullying in an interesting and often humorous cartoon format. The cartoons are arranged into three sets for the following elementary grade ranges: grades kindergarten through second grade; grades three and four; and grades five and six. Instructions and materials for guiding students’ practice of the bullying concepts through completing partly-finished cartoons and original cartoons …

The Implementation And Modification Of Three 4th Grade Social Studies Content Lessons For English Language Learners And Students With Disabilities, Benelly Peralta

Graduate Student Independent Studies

The focus of this investigation was to take three general social studies content lessons created for a general education classroom and modify them for the particular needs of students with disabilities and English language learners.

Understanding Our Families : A Curriculum For Six-Year-Olds, Sarah Boltz

Graduate Student Independent Studies

Presents a social studies curriculum on families designed for six-year-olds in a New York City charter school. The author designed this curriculum using the "Modified Understanding by Design" format. This format requires the curriculum designer to structure the entire curriculum around a few carefully chosen learning standards. The two standards serving as the basis of this curriculum were selected from the New York State social studies standards for first grade.

How Ipads Can Be Used In The Math Classroom To Improve Student Learning, Katie Ann Garrity Smieja

Mathematics Graduate Theses

This study explores how iPads can be used to enhance student learning in the math classroom. The author reviews current literature to determine how iPads are being used to facilitate communication, formative assessment, and promising practices in math education such as discovery learning and use of spreadsheets, graphing calculators, and manipulatives. Additionally, challenges and drawbacks to using iPads in the classroom are examined. Research supports the use of iPads to provide students access to digital content including online discussion boards and practice activities with instant feedback. iPads can also be used as student response systems to engage students in instruction …

Mathematics Classrooms At The Middle School Level: Does Grouping Make A Difference In Achievement, Adam Smieja

Mathematics Graduate Theses

This paper reviewed related research on student achievement based on how students were grouped, homogeneously or heterogeneously. Questions examined were whether students performed better in heterogeneous or homogenous groupings and to what extent did high-, average-, and low-ability students perform better in a particular group. Results showed that high-ability students in homogeneous groupings had higher gains in achievement when compared to their counterparts in heterogeneous groupings. However, gains for these high-ability students were not statistically significant. On the contrary, average-, and low-ability students did show statistically significant gains in achievement in the heterogeneous groupings. Yet, despite their effectiveness, implementation of …

Effective Methods Of Parent-Teacher Communication For Teachers Of English Language Learners, Luzeana Alfonzo-Reyes

HIM 1990-2015

Families from all over the world come to the United States for a new beginning. More often than not, these families speak little or no English. A challenge that teachers face every day is trying to communicate with children and their families who speak little or no English. Following a review of the various forms of communication and types of parental involvement, a survey was created. This survey was completed by elementary teachers in a local lower socioeconomic area elementary school with a high mobility rates and high levels of English Language Learner (ELL) students. The results of this study …

Increasing Oral Language Fluency And Syntactic Structure Through A Balanced Reading Approach A Case Study Of A Five-Year Old Beginning Reader Of The Edge Of The Autism Spectrum, Kelly Palmer

HIM 1990-2015

In recent years, a significant surge has occurred in the amount of children who are being diagnosed with a disorder on the autism spectrum. Current statistics from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2011) show that 1 in 110 children in the United States have an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and that the diagnosis of such is estimated to grow prodigiously due to a variety of different aspects, such as an ever-increasing broadening definition of autism, an inclusion of autism as a disability category under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1990, improved diagnostic methods, and some other …

One Teacher's Journey Through Creating Culturally-Sensitive Instructional Material For Village And Orphaned Students In Sierra Leone, Jesica Shearhod

HIM 1990-2015

My first experience teaching, in Sierra Leone in July of 2010, is where I realized that most elementary students were illiterate and lacked the foundational skills in order to learn how to read. I decided to return the following year in May of 2011 to undertake a project to provide culturally-sensitive literacy materials for village and orphaned children in the form of storybooks. The school site for this thesis is Children of the Nations (COTN) which is a school of 98 orphaned and 1,488 village students that range from 4years-20 years of age. The titles of the two books produced …

A Contact Analysis Of Caldecott Medal And Honor Books From 2001-2011 Examining Gender Issues And Equity In 21st Century Children's Picture Books, Nicole Yello

HIM 1990-2015

An abundance of research has been conducted about the importance of including books and literature as part of a young child's developmental process. Much of this research suggests that picture books are vital to a young child's healthy development and "are important influences that shape us by reflecting the politics and values of our society" (Fox, 1993, p. 656). This study was completed to analyze character roles and gender representation of male and female characters exclusively in children's picture books. The entire population of Caldecott Award and Honor Medal books published between 2001 and 2011 was utilized for a frequency …

Content Analysis Of Mathematical Concepts In Children’S Literature, Jessica John

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Lleap Dialogue Series : Cases Companion Document, Michelle Anderson, Emma Curtin

Leading Learning in Education and Philanthropy (LLEAP)

Collaboration is not the destination. It is one strategy to advance a project of mutual interest and maximise its impact. It is one reflection of engagement, signalling the importance of mutual commitment in the relationship. It is one forum where learning, informal and formal, can take place. It is the one issue that came up again and again in the author’s fieldwork and reviews of effective philanthropic endeavour in education. The issue people wanted to know more about was how could we better connect with one another around an area of mutual interest? This companion document in the LLEAP Dialogue …

Lleap Dialogue Series : A Guide To Grow Your Ideas In Education For Maximum Impact, Michelle Anderson, Emma Curtin

Leading Learning in Education and Philanthropy (LLEAP)

This Guide and the companion case studies, report the largest assessment ever conducted in Australia of needs, interests, priorities, opportunities, achievements and challenges in the field of philanthropy in education. A notable feature is that, while the rank order may differ in small ways, the needs of schools and the priorities of the philanthropic sector lie in efforts to ensure that all students in all sectors succeed. This they seek to accomplish at a time when concerns are raised about the large gap in achievement of low and high performing students and when the challenge in transforming schooling in the …

Philanthropic Funding Eligibility Requirements, Catherine Brown

Tender Bridge

This two page document was developed to assist schools determine whether they are eligible to apply for a grant. The eligibility requirements often relate to the legal tax status of the applicant organisation. Outlined and explained are the key requirements and their impact on funding sources.

The Effect Of Distinguished Educators On Academic Gain Of Louisiana Academically Unacceptable Schools, Ruby C. Scroggins

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the degree of academic growth of Academically Unacceptable schools in Louisiana which have been assigned a Distinguished Educator. Distinguished Educators are external change agents who are placed in Academically Unacceptable schools in Louisiana. The data were generated from the Louisiana Department of Education. The study investigated if English Language Arts (ELA) and mathematics scores significantly increased in schools which were assigned a Distinguished Educator. School Performance Scores for third, fourth, and fifth grades were examined to determine growth, as well. The ex post factodesign study consisted of different school configurations which …

How To Reach All Types Of Learners Through The Use Of Manupulatives In Grades Three, Four, And Five, Cadie Fairchild

Mathematics Graduate Theses

This paper is an examination of research concerning the use of manipulatives with third, fourth, and fifth grade mathematics instruction. The research discusses the power of child discovery, stages of representation, using manipulatives to support learning, eliminating manipulatives prematurely, and eliminating negative stereotypes linked to manipulative use. A major concern of teaching with manipulatives is the knowledge of the teacher. An educator’s role is to provide the best learning opportunities for students. Research reviewed for this paper indicates frequent hands on activities using manipulatives. They need to be aware of the many learning stages and how to address each individual …

Fairy Tales Redux: Jon Scieszka’S Revitalization Of A Genre For The 21st Century Kid, Laura Nicosia, James Nicosia

Department of English Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

No abstract provided.