Digital Commons Network^™

Knowledge Building Through Interdisciplinary Units, Jessica A. Deboer

Masters Projects

Research demonstrates that developing a strong knowledge base is vitally important for students to demonstrate comprehension in reading. Comprehension strategies are an important skill to learn, but can only be utilized if a student has background knowledge of the subject. Schema theory supports the idea that knowledge is most effectively acquired through networks of prior knowledge built into the brain’s long term memory. The more vocabulary and concept knowledge a person has in their network of schemata the easier it is for them to connect and hold onto new information. An interdisciplinary curriculum can grow students' knowledge and their comprehension …

Developing Conflict Resolution Skills In Residential Students At Higher Education Institutions, Lindsey A. Bos

Masters Projects

For many college students, living on campus is the first experience that students have living outside their familial home. Students may take this leap with people they have developed prior relationships with, or with people they have just met. Regardless, this collision of differing norms has the potential to lead to interpersonal conflict. To support residential students at higher education institutions, this project utilizes the theoretical lenses of Maslow’s (1943) hierarchy of needs, Sanford’s (1966) challenge and support theory, and Chickering’s (1969) seven vectors of development to create a workshop curriculum aimed at developing students’ conflict resolution skills. Highlighting the …

Racial Disproportionality In Exclusionary Discipline Rates In The United States, Cara Crisostomo

Masters Projects

Racial disparity in exclusionary discipline rates in K-12 schools in the United States is a problem that was first written about in the 1970s. Unfortunately, it remains a problem nearly fifty years later and one that has not been addressed by school districts and schools. Schools have implemented programs such as restorative justice to address this disparity, but research shows that these programs center Whiteness. Disparity either does not improve with these programs or even increases. School staff’s cross-cultural differences from their students and staff’s implicit bias and subjectivity in the discipline process contribute to the disparity. Therefore, it is …

Strategies To Improve The Achievement Of Multilingual Learners, Breanna Marie Mason

Masters Projects

With the increase of the number of multilingual (ML) students in schools today, more strategies and practices are being researched and published. However, the achievement of these students continues to fall significantly below the achievement of their non-ML peers. Although teachers are receiving some training about culturally-relevant teaching practices, they are rarely given time to adjust these strategies based on the needs of their students to support a productive implementation. Teachers need more support and time to do so. This project focuses on both the strategies teachers and school staff should be implementing, along with a guide for implementation. Without …

The Effect Of Augmentative And Alternative Communication Devices On Preschool-Aged Children With Disabilities, Jocelyn N. Fox

Masters Projects

Speech and language needs are not being met effectively in preschool-aged children. These skills are incredibly important, as speech and language skills affect all other areas of development (Greenwood et al., 2013). To help solve this problem, professionals who work with this population of students need to have effective practices in place to address the needs of these students. This project aims to provide preschool-aged children who have speech and language needs the access to communication they deserve. Through Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) devices, many speech and language needs can be addressed. This project will provide training on AAC …

Utilizing Morphology Instruction To Improve Students’ Reading Proficiency, Michelle Marie Sweigart

Masters Projects

Many adolescent learners face difficulties with reading comprehension as grades progress. Research suggests that this is due to a variety of contributing factors, including deficits in decoding, fluency, and vocabulary, in addition to content-area vocabulary becoming increasingly challenging. While research has shown the vast benefits of utilizing morphology instruction across grade levels to improve vocabulary, especially in secondary education, it is a largely underutilized area for intervention. This project explores the potential benefits of offering adolescents a morphological intervention to make grade-level vocabulary across content areas more accessible. Through the use of explicitly-taught strategies to systematically break down and employ …

Increasing Secondary Students’ Spanish Oral Language Proficiency, Courtney Kozak

Masters Projects

Research has demonstrated the importance of students becoming orally proficient after taking foreign language classes. This project explores what can be done to combat the issue of students failing to gain an oral proficiency. It addresses instructional design and teacher impact, as well as student contribution to the issue. Multiple studies were reviewed on the best research backed practices for proficiency growth. After reading through all the research, it was determined that a proficiency-based instructional style that followed ACTFL World Readiness standards is the ideal approach. Going hand in hand with a proficiency-based instructional style is a classroom design of …

Developing Early Literacy Screening Assessments And Corresponding Interventions, Sarah A. Coutts

Masters Projects

The topic of this project entails baseline assessments and corresponding interventions for kindergarten and first-grade students attending Newaygo Elementary School. Concerns of students failing to meet grade-level reading expectations continue to rise as achievement gaps grow. “Struggling readers are likely to experience difficulties across content areas, are at a higher risk for grade retention, are more likely to drop out of school before high school completion, and are less likely to pursue post-secondary education” (Ford et al., 2018, p. 207). This project aims to develop systematic baseline assessments and interventions to support students’ academic needs. Markovitz et al. (2021) emphasize …

Improving Reading Comprehension Of English Language Learners, Maximilian J. Young

Masters Projects

Reading comprehension ability of English Language Learners (ELLs) has been a growing concern for teachers and administration. The number of ELLs entering the classroom is growing. While current curriculum has tried to address this issue, teachers must combat this problem with a newer perspective on assessing and instruction. This project explains the importance of assessing for instruction rather than simple diagnosis along with why instruction should include explicit reading strategies. To adequately support ELL reading comprehension abilities, schools must provide support services to better prepare teachers in their classroom. In response to this problem, I provide a professional development course …

Supporting 3rd Grade Reading Proficiency: Utilizing Paraprofessionals To Provide Literacy Intervention, Hayley Jacobs

Masters Projects

Being able to read on grade level by third grade is a standard across the United States for public school systems. With the current educational climate enduring a teacher shortage, the ability to provide consistent reading intervention is affected. Paraprofessionals are increasingly being hired to support these gaps, but are not provided with the necessary resources and professional development to employ quality reading intervention. This project will provide the framework of a professional development schedule with necessary resources for paraprofessionals to refer to and expectations for paraprofessionals and administrators when implementing it.

Indigenous Curricula And Teachers’ Preparedness, Caitlin M. Benson

Masters Projects

Indigenous curriculum in elementary school does not adequately describe the relationship between Indigenous people and the European colonizers. This inadequate representation leads to harm towards people of color and limits the understanding of U.S. history for all students. TribalCrit and other theories seek to offer ways to remediate this lack of Indigenous representation in U.S. culture and education. Using TribalCrit and Indigenous Studies Frameworks before teaching social studies curricula can help to prepare teachers to present the material to students in an equitable manner. The quick guides and resources located in the appendices of this project will give elementary educators …

Bridging Cultural Identities: Empowering El Students Through Acculturation, Sarah D.T. Corder

Masters Projects

English learners (ELs) are more likely to develop positive social and psychological outcomes when they acculturate to American society, which is to develop cultural competency while maintaining their home language, customs, and traditions (Berry et al., 2006). Yet, multiple factors in our current society cause ELs to lose connection to their heritage culture by assimilating to American society (Chen, 2018). This project first explores the factors that contribute to assimilation behaviors among elementary-age ELs and limit the positive social, emotional, and academic effects of acculturation. Using Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory as a framework, it then examines culturally responsive pedagogy as a …

Engaging Home Literacy Environments: Building A Partnership Between School And Home, Robert E. Samuels Iii

Masters Projects

The reading proficiency levels of fourth grade students in the United States has been stagnant or declining for nearly two decades, an issue only amplified by school closures during the pandemic. Struggling third graders, including those at Fennville Elementary School, are beginning fourth grade without a solid grasp of their foundational reading skills These skills are necessary for accessing complex text in fourth grade and later. A lack of parental involvement and absence of an engaging home literacy environment has added to these reading deficits. This project analyzes educational theories and research to determine the importance of parent and family …

Lost Causal: Debunking Myths About Causal Analysis In Philanthropy – With 2024 Prologue, Jewlya Lynn, Sarah Stachowiak, Julia Coffman

The Foundation Review

Editor’s Note: This article, first published in print and online in 2022, has been republished by The Foundation Review with minor updates.

What if philanthropic evaluations told us that changes in the world had occurred, as well as how and why they occurred, including whether what foundations funded and grantees did contributed to those changes? What if evaluations made change pathways more visible, tested hypotheses and assumptions, and generated new insights based on what happened in the “black box” of systems change strategies? This type of learning comes from causal analysis — inquiry that explores cause-and-effect relationships.

Yet currently in …

Visions Of A Captured Mind: Using Expressive Film Techniques To Convey The Experience Of Liberty Deprivation As A Neurodiverse Individual, Sam H. Grant, Ken Fero

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

In this article, I make the case for the use of expressive film techniques to convey the emotional, or affective, experience of neurodiverse people who have been subjected to liberty restricting practices and policy. I do this by discussing my own experience with film practice as a man living with autism, presenting a broader philosophical case for how artistic modes of communication can close affective and social divisions between neurodiverse and neurotypical people, explaining why it is the cinematic techniques I advocate for are uniquely suited to neurodiverse people, and then I showcase some of my own work as a …

Best Practices And Resources In Reading Comprehension For Multilingual Learners, Pamella Moura

Michigan Reading Journal

This article investigates different interventions that can support multilingual learners with their reading comprehension needs. It aims to provide kindergarten through 5^th grade teachers with evidence-based practices that may support reading comprehension outcomes for multilingual learners. These practices employ different practical strategies teachers can implement in their daily reading and writing routines to support multilingual and monolingual students with reading difficulties which may support their reading comprehension skills. This article emphasizes the needs of strategy development in reading comprehension so multilingual learners can employ these practices independently, over time. Strategies include explicit instruction of predictions, summaries and questioning, developing …

Full Issue: Volume 56, No. 3

Michigan Reading Journal

No abstract provided.

Finding Liminality In Literature: The Decentered Voice And Its Power To Rewrite Cultural Narratives, Melissa M. Damico

Masters Theses

This thesis will dissect the flaws within the current Western culture narrative and how specific works of literature have the ability to challenge and subvert this outdated narrative, teaching society to embrace and empathize with both marginalized and oppressed human and non-human communities. It will address how the decentered voices within the literature I have selected create liminal experiences for readers, blurring subjectivity and eradicating the cultural boundaries and binary oppositions that have kept us trapped and blinded for decades. My first chapter will explore the psychological functions of the current cultural narrative, specifically Baudrillard’s concept of the hyperreal as …

Understanding Teacher-Autonomy In Grand Valley State University Charter Public Schools, Year 2 Report, Kiel Mcqueen, Jason Entingh, Grand Valley State University

Charter School Research Reports

This report uses teacher survey data to examine the extent Grand Valley State University charter public schools demonstrate characteristics of Teacher-Powered Schools.

Key findings include:

• Between 3 to 22 percent of teachers report having dismissal, administrative, hiring, or educational program autonomy.
• The percentage of teachers reporting hiring autonomy increased by 2 percentage points in the past year, while the share of teachers reporting learning program autonomy declined by eight percentage points.
• Significant shifts in teachers’ responses over the past year reveal changing patterns in their opportunities to hire teachers and classified staff, shape the learning program, and determine school-level policies. …

Helping Early Readers With Dyslexia, Jessica Kathleen Klooster

Masters Projects

Dyslexia is a common learning disability that is difficult for educators to understand. Misconceptions and misinformation have led to teachers and schools lacking in identification, resources, and support that can be provided to children with dyslexia – specifically young children. This project examines the research of the adverse effects of dyslexia, lack of teacher knowledge regarding dyslexia, the identification of young children who may have dyslexia, and the best intervention practices for these children. In general, many teachers hold misconceptions about dyslexia, which prevents children who have the disability from receiving early intervention. The purpose of this project was to …

Predominantly White Teacher Education Programs Are Stifling Black Preservice Students’ Teaching Experience: Now What?, Jasmine N. Wilson

Masters Projects

scholarship theorizes and discusses Black preservice teachers’ experiences in predominantly White teacher education programs as stifling. While many studies have explored ways to improve Black students' experiences in teacher education, few studies have sought to adapt Historically Black Colleges and Universities’ (HBCU) successful strategies to produce and retain Black teachers. In this project I have two goals. My first goal is to highlight the neglect and inequity that Black preservice teachers face in predominantly White teacher education programs. My second goal is to ensure that faculty members in teacher education programs effectively support and prepare Black preservice teachers for long …

Overcoming Bias In Standardized Testing, Paul Riebe

Masters Projects

The current state of education is one where student and teacher’s futures are dictated by the outcomes of standardized tests, which are inherently biased against students of color. The purpose of this project is to examine the bias in these tests to determine what exactly these biases are, and train teachers to better prepare their students to overcome these biases. For this project, I chose literature that examined the biases found in standardized testing through a number of different topics such as the effect on teacher attrition, the bias found in standardized testing, educational inequity and the meaning of intelligence. …

Using Ubuntu As A Research Paradigm To Unpack How Ghanaian Novice Teachers And Their Collaborators Engaged Virtually In Collaborative International Qualitative Research, Adeline M. Borti, Rakesh K. Maurya, Ivy S. Jones-Mensah, Thilina I. Wickramaarachchi

Open Access Publishing Support Funded Articles

The article details how Ubuntu was incorporated into each step of the research project, shares the authors’ experiences and key learnings, and provides recommendations for researchers utilizing Ubuntu as a research paradigm. Ubuntu is an ancient African philosophy emphasizing a way of life grounded in interdependence, collaboration, harmony, and community. In recent years, researchers have incorporated Ubuntu as a research paradigm to decolonize research in a sub-Saharan African context. The present article used international collaborative qualitative research conducted virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic to demonstrate the application of Ubuntu as a research paradigm for conducting research in the African context. …

Mechanosensing And Anesthesia Of Single Internodal Cells Of Chara, Manya J. Rodgers, Mark P. Staves

Open Access Publishing Support Funded Articles

The giant (2–3 × 10⁻² m long) internodal cells of the aquatic plant, Chara, exhibit a rapid (>100 × 10⁻⁶ m s⁻¹) cyclic cytoplasmic streaming which stops in response to mechanical stimuli. Since the streaming – and the stopping of streaming upon stimulation – is easily visible with a stereomicroscope, these single cells are ideal tools to investigate mechanosensing in plant cells, as well as the potential for these cells to be anesthetized. We found that dropping a steel ball (0.88 × 10⁻³ kg, 6 × 10⁻³ m in diameter) through a …

Lanthorn, Vol. 58, No. 12, February 12, 2024, Grand Valley State University

Volume 58, August 7, 2023 - April 15, 2024

Lanthorn is Grand Valley State's student newspaper, published from 1968 to the present. Issue 12 is misnumbered as "Issue 11."

Cognitive And Behavioral Variations Within The Collectivistic Cultural Sphere: Comparing Japanese And Koreans’ Self/Other Views And The Influence On Emotion Processing, Mariko Kikutani, Machiko Ikemoto, Eun-Joo Park, Keith Rogers

Online Readings in Psychology and Culture

Cross-cultural psychology research often incorporates a division of East and West, contrasting people in East-Asian collectivistic and Western individualistic cultures. However, the extent of such trait should differ within the individualistic or collectivistic group, and looking into behavioral variations occurring within the individual or collectivistic cultural sphere is also very important for the cross-cultural research. To contribute to this purpose, this article compares people from Japan and South Korea based on literature review to reveal how culture influence people’s views on themselves and others, as well as communication styles. Further, the article discusses how those views and communication styles form …

Literacy Across The Disciplines: A Way To Re-Engage Secondary Students, Jenelle Williams

Michigan Reading Journal

In this article, the author describes the opportunities present with leveraging disciplinary literacy approaches, in terms of re-engaging teens with learning. The author also provides several cautions for literacy leaders to keep in mind.

Back To The Future: Looking At Nostalgic Practices To Conceptualize A More Inclusive Literacy Future (Part 1), Rebecca Witte, Darreth Rice

Michigan Reading Journal

In the first of two articles, the authors, two girls that “Just Want to Have Fun,” reminisce about educational literacy practices of the past, specifically one nostalgic writing practice, dialogue journaling. Using the analogy of a familiar toy from the 1980s, the View Master, they aim to revitalize an antiquated practice using modern theoretical frameworks (reels) that make current classroom practices more inclusive for today’s students. Looking to “reels” of academic (using current state standards), culturally relevant pedagogy (Ladson-Billings, 1995), social emotional learning (Mussey, 2019), and humanizing instruction (Freire, 1968), we support current teachers in analyzing their practices to foster …

Full Issue: Volume 56, No. 2

Michigan Reading Journal

No abstract provided.

Strategies And Resources For Integrating Technology Into The Secondary Education World Language Classroom, Angelina M. Bauer

Masters Projects

This document is a research-based project that includes a reference manual of strategies for technology integration in the World Language curriculum, as well as an example lesson plan that implements many of the strategies. Many of the strategies and examples can be adapted to fit multiple subject areas. The theoretical framework upon which the project is constructed is a combination of TPACK and several of Stephen Krashen's Theories of Second Language Acquisition.