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Integrating Music And The Language Arts In The Elementary School, Jennifer L. Carstens

Graduate Research Papers

The whole language concept emphasizes student involvement in the language processes to create meaning. This involvement can be supported by music activity. The rhythm, cadences, rhyming lyrics, and patterns found in songs make music a natural vehicle for introducing children to print and for nurturing language abilities. Musical experiences offer many opportunities for students to engage in the language processes of reading, writing, speaking/singing, and listening. This multi-sensory approach can heighten children's interest in language activity, thus nurturing their thinking-language abilities.

Literature-Based Science Program, Gail A. Jentz

Graduate Research Papers

The purpose of this paper is to engage in the process of extending the literature base of a science unit through the use of different genres of literature. The-specific unit chosen is the season of winter which is part of the writer's second grade program. Through a review of professional literature, a literature-based science instructional program will be proposed, followed by examples of centers to use in a unit on winter.

Appreciation Of American Indian Traditions, Janet M. Lamont

Graduate Research Papers

Multicultural education has been mandated in many areas throughout the United States, for the need to understand other cultures, especially the neglected ones, is recognized as an important goal of education. Educators no longer have the option to ignore the study of minority groups. Simbol (1983) states that there has been a rebirth of the cultural pluralism concept. America is not a melting pot where cultures are dissolved into one new superior American culture.

The Development Of A Transformational Curriculum Model For Kindergarten, Kathleen Schmitt

Graduate Research Papers

Curriculum is ever-changing in all content areas and grade levels. These changes are necessary and sometimes painful. The needed curriculum changes in early childhood have been well-documented (Bredekamp, 1987), and adventurous teachers are beginning to transform their structured, 1 teacher-centered classrooms to active, student-centered classrooms.

Sexist Portrayals Of Women In Daytime Television, Angela Sommars

Graduate Research Papers

Television is one of the main socializing forces in our culture today. It can mold opinions and attitudes and it can also help to change them. The portrayal of women on television in programs and commercials is still very negative in 1992. Although many people believe women have a more positive image on television today, many of these appearances are deceiving. Television's resistance of the influence of the Women's Liberation Movement is very evident in its continued stereotypes of women in subservient positions to men. Stereotypes of women are shown by the overwhelming majority of female roles in programs, commercials, …

Historical Fiction In The Study Of The American Indian Culture, Kay Lynne Bisinger

Graduate Research Papers

In planning school instructional programs, educators need to consider the cultural diversity in the United States. Children need to become attuned to diversity and at the same time discover the universals that all people share. One means of doing this is through literature experiences that nurture children's awareness and appreciation of different cultures. In selecting multicultural literature for the classroom, teachers need to make informed choices. Portrayals of any culture require sensitivity, accuracy, and positive imagery (Bishop, 1987).

Comparison Of Effectiveness: Course-Integrated Information Skills Instruction Or Instruction Of Information Skills In Isolation, Veronica J. F. Mitrisin

Graduate Research Papers

What effect does the course-integrated method of information skills instruction have on student scores on the Reference Section of the "Work Study Skills" subtest of the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills compared to the traditional method of teaching information skills in isolation by the library media specialist alone?

The Role Of Business In Sustainable Development: Proactive Environmental Initiatives And Reciprocal Relationships, Jennifer Halupnik

Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006)

A paradoxical dilemma currently faces the entire globe: industry is both the problem and the answer to the future of the earth's environmental health. Business is often blamed above all other forces as the primary cause of the planet's current environmental woes. At the same time, however, business is the only institution with the capital, technology and innovation necessary to develop solutions to the world's environmental problems. This senior thesis investigates the corporation's role in the environmental equation. Sustainable development is the buzzword of the decade. The concept means development or progress that "meets the needs of the present without …

The Developmentally Appropriate Use Of Computers With Young Children, Bonnie Potter

Graduate Research Papers

With millions of computers now in place in our society, we can safely assume that in one form or another they are here to stay. In fact, it is difficult to think of any sector of our society that is not adapting to this technology (Caissy, 1987). It is also safe to say that the idea of computers being used in education is not to be short lived. Research on the use of computers in elementary schools supports this assumption. According to reports from the 1985 National Survey: Institutional Uses of School Computers. (Becker, 1986) the proportion of U.S. elementary …

International Volunteer Exchange: An Attitudinal Study Among Iowa And Tijuana, Mexico Environmental Organizations, Rosa M. Bustamante

Graduate Research Papers

Exchanging ideas stimulates people's imagination, facilitating creativity and productivity. Three world issues have the opportunity to be linked through this stimulus: international cooperation, environmentalism, and volunteerism.

The link could be manifested in the form of an international volunteer exchange program (IVE), where interested volunteers from Iowa (a state in a developed country), would go to Tijuana (a city in a developing country) to work in an environmental organization, and volunteers from Tijuana would come to Iowa to work in environmental organizations. Through the use of volunteers, nations would be able to work together and learn about environmental protection from one …

A Parent Involvement Program For The Parents Of Elementary Students In The Algona Community School District, Holly Filson-Heath

Graduate Research Papers

Throughout history, education has been closely linked to the family and the economy. The family was the primary educator of children prior to the establishment of format schools. Because the economy was a subsistence economy, parents taught their children the necessary skills to survive and children were viewed as important contributors to the business of making a living. Each family's livelihood was closely tied to the home and members of the family were building blocks of the society's economic organization. All the activities and training necessary for adulthood took place within the household or in easy distance from it (Coleman, …

Enhancing Children's Literacy Through Story Retelling, Rita M. Heims

Graduate Research Papers

Implementing the whole language concept into an instructional program involves creating a supportive learning environment. This environment needs to be rich in content and filled with a whole array of possibilities for engaging in the thinking-language processes, but at the same time needs to be predictable and secure. Within such a classroom structure, children can engage in the functions of language to create their own meaning, thus developing thinking-language abilities and discovering the nature of the language. Retelling stories listened to or read is one of the activities that can nurture thinking-language abilities (Goodman, 1986).

Enhancing Awareness Of Story Structure Through Folk Tales In A Chapter I Reading Program, Candace A. Higgens

Graduate Research Papers

One means of implementing the whole language concept into a Chapter I reading program is providing quality literature experiences that are relevant to the students. Traditional basal texts and remedial materials often present reading as fragments of whole units of language and focus on arbitrary skill development (Goodman, 1987). Such texts give only a partial view of what reading is about and do not promote enjoyment of reading. Children, especially those who tend to be global learners, have difficulty relating to this material (Carbo, 1987).

Collaborative Learning Across The Curriculum, Jane M. Huber

Graduate Research Papers

The purpose of this paper is to review the professional literature to support collaborative learning as one means of fostering children's literacy through a language arts program extended across the curriculum. Examples of collaborative learning as a part of instructional development will be generated through a science unit on the desert as a nurturing force for plants and animals.

Faculty Development In The Use Of Multimedia, Marcia Ng

Graduate Research Papers

Falk and Carlson (1992) observed that educators have, in the last 15 years, witnessed a phenomenal growth in the variety and capability of tools available to them. In 1977, teachers were using traditional teaching aids such as chalkboards, slides, overhead projectors, audio cassettes, and films. In 1992, new and powerful tools such as videotapes, personal computers, interactive video, multimedia, networks, distance learning, and a whole spectrum of possibilities in the form of CAI, CD-ROM, DVI and CD-I become available to them. Hence, teachers today are faced with the challenge to move beyond teaching the way they themselves have been taught, …

A Literature-Based Science Program, Susanne Deshaw Reiter

Graduate Research Papers

The purpose of this paper is to present the value of extending the science program through experiences with the different genres of literature. A review of professional literature will be presented. Then the outcome of working through the process of extending the literature base of a specific unit will be reported.

Emerging Trends In Presentation Technology, Pamela R. Reisinger

Graduate Research Papers

Presenters who are responsible for delivering this message are concerned with how best to communicate it in an effective way. They make choices concerning the needs of today's learners who have grown up in a technologically advanced society where constant change necessitates a greater need for training and development and where a multitude of professional organizations are providing their constituents with the most updated information in their field. According to Koenig {1982), "the continuing changes in our world require continuing re-education, re-tooling of human resources, and the effective use of communication and technology in education and training" (p. 1). 2 …

Play And Literacy Development: The Role Of The Teacher And Classroom Design, Lisa Kay Schmidt

Graduate Research Papers

During the past decade, research has flourished on play and its relationship to children's learning and development (Bergen, 1987). When focusing on preschool age children, play has been seen as a leading influence on their development (Vygotsky, 1991). Recently researchers have begun to link play with literacy development (Hall, 1991). To understand play and literacy better, both terms will need to be carefully defined and their development examined.

Fostering Children's Literacy Through The Graphic Arts, Mary A. Vandermillen

Graduate Research Papers

This paper will discuss how picture books can offer children experiences with the graphic arts and how these experiences can nurture their emerging literacy. Then ways to implement the graphic arts, as part of the whole language concept, into an instructional program will be explored. Picture Books as a Base for Visual-Verbal Literacy Illustrations in picture books not only complement texts but, in many cases, extend their meaning. This verbal-visual collaboration can nurture children's emerging literacy.

The Effects Of Book Location On The Selection Of First Readers By Elementary Students, Tracy Merfeld

Graduate Research Papers

167 kindergarten, first and second graders at Garfield Elementary School in Boone, Iowa, and 470 first reader books were used to investigate whether justification can be given to shelving first reader books in a separate section. An increase in the number of charges of first reader books might demonstrate a need of students to have this type of material readily accessible.

The study was conducted over two 45 day cycles. During the first cycle, first reader books were identified, marked with a red dot and interfiled with picture books. A first reader section was created for the second cycle. All …

For The Ghost Of Daniel Webster, James Farrell

Iowa Journal of Communication

Daniel Webster, if given the opportunity, would respond to Lincoln's Gettysburg address with an oration of his own. If he were among us today, Webster would deliver an oration to commemorate the historical occasion of Gettysburg, and of Lincoln's eloquent performance. In typical Webster fashion, his oration on that occasion could not be confined to 272 words, but would be a grand patriotic composition, on the model of his orations at Plymouth and Bunker Hill.

For Samuel Clemens, Thomas Werge

Iowa Journal of Communication

In meditating on Twain's white-suited body lying in its coffin, William Dean Howells called him "sole, incomparable, the Lincoln of our literature." The phrase is appropriate indeed. Lincoln brought the West, grave yet common diction, an interwoven comic and tragic sense, faith in democracy and skepticism about human nature, into the great political and mystical task of defining, nurturing, and finally saving the Union. Twain understood Lincoln's language and vision. What Lincoln brought to politics, Twain brought to the nurturing of an American voice in literature. He celebrated our independence from Europe, admonished our expansionism in the last years of …

For C. S. Peirce, John Lyne

Iowa Journal of Communication

C. S. Peirce (1835-1914), logician, scientist, humanist, philosopher, coiner of the term "pragmatism," and founder of semiotics, is often said to be America's most important philosopher. In 1863, this scion of Cambridge, Mass. intellectual culture took his second degree from Harvard, in chemistry, and worked for the U.S. Coastal Survey. He would later pursue intellectual conversation with the "Metaphysical Club" at Harvard, engaging other young intellectuals of the day. The various doctrines for which he would become known were for the most part only nascent in 1863; and yet there is a remarkable recurrence of central themes throughout his career, …

Gender-Related Differences In Adolescents In The Study Of Heat Transfer, Linda L. Norris

Graduate Research Papers

As we approach the year 2000, males and females in the United States differ markedly in their representation in science -related careers. Although women comprise nearly 48% of the pool of professional workers, they represent only 25% of all scientists (Martinez, 1992). The influences and direct causes of gender differences in scientific aspiration and achievement are many, they are varied, and they are interactive. But students' attitudes toward and interest in science should not be overlooked. There is evidence that attitudes and interests might be shaped or influenced in some measure by experiences in the classroom.

Retellings In The Elementary Classroom, Agnes A. Putz

Graduate Research Papers

Children's retellings of stories and personal incidents have been used for many different reasons in research. Piaget (1926) used retellings to examine children's conception of time. Bartlett (1932) used oral retellings to study memory. O'Donnell, Griffin and Norris (1967) collected retellings of a silent movie to study differences between oral and written language. Lately, retellings have been used in the study of comprehension, particularly reading comprehension (Kalmbach, 1981).

Drama Education: A Teaching Strategy For Young Children Affected By Attention Deficit-Hyperactive Disorder, Janice C. Miller

Graduate Research Papers

According to many experts, Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) represents the most common developmental problem in school children (Coleman & Levine, 1988; Goodyear & Hynd 1992; Henker & Whalen, 1989). Children diagnosed with ADHD share a group of symptoms including: impulsiveness, inappropriate attention span, distractibility, and in some cases, hyperactivity (American Psychiatriatric Association [APA], 1987). Problems associated with ADHD result in chronic academic and social failure (Parker, 1990). This study is a concerted effort to help parents and teachers understand the difficulties children affected by ADHD experience and to present a strategy that will help the ADHD affected child achieve success.

Extending The Literature Based Theme Of Change In A First Grade Classroom, Kristina J. Eells

Graduate Research Papers

In the school at which Regie Routman taught, a literature based reading program was begun as a way to prevent reading failure of at-risk students. (Routman 1988). In this program children read and interacted with trade books. The students' interest in these stories was so high and their motivation so strong, they quickly learned to read the books. This approach is being used in regular education classrooms all around the world. A major influence to literature based reading programs has been Don Holdaway of New Zealand. He developed ideas to facilitate literacy using literature as the basis of instruction (Holdaway …

Determining The Effects Of Environmental Issues Instruction On Iowa Teachers, Paul P. Torbert

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of the Environmental Issues Instruction (eii) program. The study utilized the pre-experimental one-group pre-test post-test survey design with a retrospective pre-test. Statistical analysis of four issue topics revealed 198 participants attained two-tailed probability levels less than the .01 level of significance. Analysis of teacher grade levels revealed kindergarten through eighth grade teachers attained two-tailed probability levels less than the .01 level of significance. Ninth through twelfth grade teachers also attained two-tailed probability levels less than the .01 level of significance with one exception. The researcher concludes that the Environmental Issues …

Ritual As Constructor Of Reality In Mexican Families, Mario Andujo-Licón

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The purposes of the present research are: {a) to discover the patterns of communication involved with rituals in the Mexican family, {b) to describe the function of ritual in the construction of reality, (c) to research the functions of ritual in the Mexican family, and (d) to determine the concept of family in the Mexican middle class. The data for this research were obtained using field research methods (interviews and observations), with 10 middle-class Mexican families from Chihuahua, Chihuahua. In this research, it was possible to observe two kinds of rituals: rituals by function and rituals by time. The first …

A Study Of Science Teacher Perceptions And The Implementation Of Science-Technology-Society Education In Iowa Senior High Schools, David L. Johnson

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which Science-Technology Society (STS) education has been implemented into the science curriculum and if teachers perceptions and personal assessment of STS education in Iowa senior high schools vary with the teacher's STS background or educational degree. Consisting of 190 senior high school science teachers (grades 9-12) in forty-nine schools distributed throughout the state of Iowa, the sample was obtained by a systematic, stratified sampling of school districts by enrollment size and Area Education Agency districts. Teachers were asked to complete questionnaires designed to collect data concerning: STS background, level …