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Analyzing Environmental Education In Northern Mississippi And Its Impact On Student Outcomes, Vishnu S. Gadepalli

Honors Theses

This thesis examines environmental education in public high schools in northern Mississippi, investigating how educators describe its presence, delivery, and institutional support in communities disproportionately burdened by environmental harm. Seven semi-structured interviews were conducted with high school teachers across four northern Mississippi schools, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed through iterative thematic coding under Institutional Review Board approval. Five themes emerged: opportunistic curricular integration, time and standards as overriding structural constraints, passive institutional support, student receptivity tempered by limited awareness, and significant variation across school contexts with one magnet school as a clear outlier. The study concludes that environmental education in these …

Unbroken Sovereignty: Land, Water, Education, And Nakoda And Oc̣Eti Ṡaḳowiŋ Tribes Of The Fort Peck Indian Reservation, 1850–1935, Richard Joseph Maska

History ETDs

This dissertation explores the intersection of sovereignty and development among the Nakoda (Assiniboine) and Oc̣eti Ṡaḳowiŋ (Sioux) Tribes of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Methodologically, it draws on a critical reading of archival sources in conjunction with community input. It traces the emergence of reservation policy, government sponsored education, the imposition of allotment policy and private landownership, and the impact of state-sponsored irrigation and other development projects. I argue that the Tribes forged webs of affiliation and kinship to both assert their nationhood and navigate their involvement in such projects. These expressions …

Learning For A Sustainable Future: Embedding Sustainability Literacy In Honors Curricula Within Higher Education, Zoe E. Belinda

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

This research investigates the sustainability literacy levels of first-year Davidson Honors College (DHC) students at the University of Montana (UM) to develop a baseline for average sustainability knowledge at the beginning of students’ post-secondary education. The goals of this research are to (1) determine if there are differences in sustainability literacy scores between students in sustainability-related fields of study and their counterparts, (2) identify weaknesses in students’ current sustainability literacy, and (3) develop curriculum suggestions to improve sustainability knowledge. To address these research questions, all first-year DHC students in 2024 and 2025 were surveyed using a modified version of the …

Master Of Social Work Portfolio, Kyla Wright

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

Identifying all learned ten competencies of social work incorporated into educational settings. Utilizing theoretical practices and an integrated, justified intervention for mental health success.

Leaning In: Diversity, Dialogue, And Whiteness At A Quaker Independent School, Mauricio Thomas Torres

Dissertations - ALL

Diversity has emerged as a hallmark of institutional excellence in several fields. At the same time, it has been vilified and maligned by conservative pundits and politicians as Donald Trump has worked to frame diversity as un-American and unmeritocratic. This tension makes diversity worthy of sociological analysis. Though there is an emerging critical sociology of diversity, much of that work has been primarily concerned with the discursive, ideological, and symbolic dimensions of diversity. In contrast, this dissertation examines how diversity moves through and is contested and supported within the organization and cultural context of Friends Prep (FP), a progressive Quaker …

Cultivating Resilience In The Anthropocene: Evaluating A Gssw Ecological Justice Curriculum, Windy Selig

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This Dissertation in Practice evaluated the University of Denver’s Graduate School of Social Work (GSSW) Ecological Justice Pathway to examine how resilience is conceptualized and cultivated within the curriculum. Grounded in a constructivist paradigm and guided by an ecological justice framework, this evaluation explored the pedagogical and curricular strategies designed to prepare social work students for the emotional, ethical, and professional demands of practicing in the Anthropocene—a time marked by ecological degradation, climate crisis, and compounding social inequities.

Through qualitative methods, including faculty interviews and curriculum document analysis, the evaluation identified both explicit and implicit components that foster student resilience. …

Educational Efficacy Of Private Well-Testing Workshops And The Surveillance Of Private Drinking Water Quality In Connecticut, Alec Janis, Michael Dietz, Meredith Metcalf

Journal of Human Sciences and Extension

More than 820,000 Connecticut residents rely on groundwater from private wells, yet minimal regulations address well water quality. Extension programs across the United States have begun to provide private drinking water education and testing assistance to address this public health gap. Few studies have analyzed the efficacy of these programs.

We delivered four workshops across Connecticut, from November 2022 to November 2023, where participants were given an educational presentation on private drinking water and an opportunity to test their well-water quality at a subsidized cost. After participating in the workshops, participants believed they were more confident to begin annual testing, …

Investigating The Use Of Socio-Scientific Issues As Phenomena Through A Storyline Framework In A High School Biology Course, Dana Marie Delpha

Theses and Dissertations

This action research dissertation investigates the efficacy of a socio-scientific phenomena-driven biology curriculum in a Title 1 Massachusetts High School. Grounded in social constructivism, culturally relevant pedagogy, and self-determination theories, the study explores the impact of socio-scientific phenomena on students’ perceived importance of science education, motivation, engagement, and achievement. A mixed-methods approach was used, and data was collected through student engagement reflection, Science Motivation Questionnaire, and pre- and post-assessments to holistically evaluate the efficacy of the curriculum. The findings include increased student engagement, motivation, and achievement after participating in the intervention, which supports the motivation-engagement-achievement feedback loop. Student agency was …

Sustainability Recognition Program: A Gamified Approach To Student Engagement On Campus, Sydney K. Gandolfi

Masters Projects

This project explores how gamification can be used to increase student engagement in sustainable practices on college campuses by creating a Sustainability Recognition Program. College students, though aware of environmental issues, may struggle to connect individual actions with meaningful change. By introducing a point-based system with digital badges, milestone rewards, and leaderboards, this recognition program is designed to make sustainability more accessible, visible, and motivating for students living in residence halls. Guided by Self-Determination Theory (SDT), the program is designed to support students’ intrinsic motivation (autonomy), competence, and relatedness. By aligning sustainability goals with positive reinforcement and SDT, the overall …

Expanding Incoming First-Year Students’ Knowledge With Campus Sustainability Education And Efforts At Higher Education Institutions, Katie Gorman

Masters Projects

The purpose of this project is to address the lack of guidance, support, and opportunities incoming first year students have in learning about campus sustainability and environmental efforts and education despite increasing student interest regarding these topics. Providing more accessible, inclusive, and welcoming opportunities that are available to all students before their arrival on campus can support an easier transition for incoming first year students to their respective institutions. This project creates a plan for institutions to implement a set of interventions and initiatives that allow students the ability and opportunity to further their learning in these topics.

Personal Narrative As Pedagogy: A Model For Socially Responsive Narrative-Based Education In Occupational Therapy, Johnna Belkiewitz, Sally Wasmuth

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

The practice of occupational therapy relies on the collection and analysis of life narratives to provide responsive client-centered care. As developing holistic practitioners, occupational therapy students are taught to consider these shared stories within a larger context of historical and societal systems by acknowledging such factors as social determinants of health. Case studies are a frequently used tool to teach these skills; however, evidence supports that the identities of these educational stories’ authors can influence which perspectives are shared and, ultimately, impact developing occupational therapists’ perpetuation of or opposition to existing systems of oppression. Critical Race Theory and qualitative methodology …

Perceptions Of School Garden Programming And Their Communities: A Mixed-Methods Research Study, Briana Lafratte

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

School gardening has been connected to improving student nutritional knowledge (Landry et al., 2021; Leuven et al., 2018), academics (Eugenio-Gozalbo et al., 2020), and pro-environmental attitudes (Zelenika et al., 2018; Chang, 2015). Caring for plants in the garden fosters a positive and caring relationship with plants, allowing students to see themselves as a part of the natural world and promoting environmentally active stances in adulthood (Kalvaitis & Monhardt, 2012; Chawla, 2007). This exploratory sequential mixed methods study explored the scope of how school gardening programs are being utilized across a county in Pennsylvania to promote student community involvement, how food …

Creative Connections: Building Empathy To Foster Ecoliteracy Through Art Education, Jocelyn Salim

Masters Theses

This thesis investigates the potential positive impact of fostering empathy and understanding for the natural world through art education. Through action research, this study examines various teaching approaches, such as incorporating scientific knowledge, employing literature to discuss ecological themes, and engaging in participatory storytelling activities to cultivate empathy among elementary school children. The objective of this thesis is to explore empathy as a potential pathway to encourage children to foster connections with the natural world and develop compassionate traits, attitudes, and behaviors towards nature as they grow. The findings of this study reveal that children exhibit high levels of enthusiasm …

Bikeability Disparities In Orange County, California: Intersection Of Place And Demographics, Jeanette Gritton, Maria Cristina Martinez, Georgiana Bostean, Megan Thiele Strong

Sociology Faculty Articles and Research

Active transportation modes such as walking and biking are gaining popularity for their extensive health and environmental benefits, yet scholars know little about how place-based accessibility varies by area sociodemographic composition. This study is among the first to examine sociodemographic disparities (by both race and socioeconomic status) in bikeability while allowing for heterogeneity in disparities. Consideration of bikeability disparities is particularly critical within the framework of urban planning concepts that promote equitable accessibility and reduced dependency on automobiles, such as the 15-minute city. Geographically Weighted Regressions examined associations between census tract-level bikeability (using an index that combines five components), socioeconomic …

Creating A New Border Culture In The Midst Of The Climate Crisis: Activism And Pedagogy Strategies For Teacher Preparation, Puneet S. Gill

Northwest Journal of Teacher Education

This paper documents the efforts of an activist group that came to teach about activist efforts, climate change/climate justice/climate crisis issues, and to create leaders in one border community. The leaders of this three-day workshop are a part of an activist organization named SOMOS Sunrise, the Latine constituency of the Sunrise movement. In this paper, I will analyze the climate change workshop training days and components of the workshops. Secondly, this paper will document a climate cohort education group conducted with undergraduate students and pre-service teachers the following summer. This climate cohort helped articulate art activism and public speaking opportunities …

Amdip Annual Meeting Of Law School Diversity Professionals: Hosted By Roger Williams University School Of Law: April 23-25, 2024, Roger Williams University School Of Law

School of Law Conferences, Lectures & Events

No abstract provided.

2024 Spring Newsletter, Plaster Creek Stewards

Newsletters

Highlights:

Project GreenER Takes Off

PCS Co-Founders Publish Book About Plaster Creek

Spring Event Brings Hope for Floodplains

Welcoming Jacob Bol and intern Hanna de la Vega

Bikeability Disparities In Orange County, California: Intersection Of Place And Demographics, Jeanette Gritton, Maria Cristina Martinez, Georgiana Bostean, Megan Thiele Strong

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Active transportation modes such as walking and biking are gaining popularity for their extensive health and environmental benefits, yet scholars know little about how place-based accessibility varies by area sociodemographic composition. This study is among the first to examine sociodemographic disparities (by both race and socioeconomic status) in bikeability while allowing for heterogeneity in disparities. Consideration of bikeability disparities is particularly critical within the framework of urban planning concepts that promote equitable accessibility and reduced dependency on automobiles, such as the 15-minute city. Geographically Weighted Regressions examined associations between census tract-level bikeability (using an index that combines five components), socioeconomic …

Using Green Chemistry To Build Community: How Transformational Learning Impacts The Building Of A Community Of Practice, Michelle Ernst Modera

Community Engagement Student Work

Green Chemistry education is a widening field, seeking to include educators at all levels collaboratively in the process of transforming outdated chemistry practices. Qualitative research methods were used to interview three key collaborator groups at Beyond Benign, a green chemistry education organization, who are considered part of the Green Chemistry Community of Practice (GCCoP). This was done to develop a strategic plan to 1) explore how the Beyond Benign team and K-12 teachers see themselves as part of one GCCoP; 2) to ascertain how to bring the K-12 program into alignment with the organization’s evolving mission; and 3) to discover …

Land Education And Young People Working Toward Salamander: Collective Well-Being In Response To Bioindicators Of Socioenvironmental Justice, Rachael Arens, Ricardo Martinez

Democracy & Education

Our planet is facing many environmental challenges, including climate change, loss of biodiversity and habitat, and pollution, while many of our populations are also experiencing marginalization due to poverty, race, gender, language, ability, and environmental injustices. Environmental hazards and policies often impact those in society who are most at-risk, creating a need for an environmental education (EE) movement that encourages students to challenge and regain control of a system that impacts them. Teachers can implement a reflection tool known as the SALAMANDER Collective Well-Being in Response to Bioindicators of Socioenvironmental Justice Framework to prompt students and other educators to place …

News From The Graduate School- Education Fall 2023, Otterbein Office Of Graduate Programs

Graduate School

Newsletter that provides updates and highlights from the Graduate School and the Education Program.

South Central Regional Cog 2023 Equity Profile, Camille Seaberry, Kelly Davila, Mark Abraham, Datahaven Connecticut Data Hub

Reports

Throughout most of the measures in this report, there are important differences by race/ethnicity and neighborhood that reflect differences in access to resources and other social needs. Wherever possible, data are presented with racial/ethnic breakdowns, as defined by existing federal data collection standards. However, for smaller groups or more detailed breakdowns, some values may not be available or have less reliable data. In these cases, values are marked as “N/A,” not available. Federal and statewide approaches to data collection, including small sample sizes, tend to hide disparities within certain population groups. This does not mean that a given population is …

Best Practices Are Never Best: Evaluating Primate Conservation Education Programs (Pceps) With A Decolonial Perspective, Michelle Bezanson, Montserrat Franquesa-Soler, Martin Kowalewski, Allison Mcnamara, Rahayu Oktaviani, Michelle A. Rodrigues

Social and Cultural Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Who do we aim to educate with primate conservation education programs (PCEPs)? In a commentary published in a recent AJP, Annette Lanjouw suggested that many efforts to “educate” habitat-country communities can be neocolonial in their approaches. Forest destruction and habitat loss are a result of global consumption and expansion. We therefore need to approach conservation education from many angles including local stakeholders, policy makers, government officials, and the humans living in industrialized nations who are major consumers of the items that shrink primate habitats. In this review, we investigate PCEPs to determine if the conservation education goals, education methods, and …

The Pennsylvania Environmental Resource Consortium: A State-Wide Collaborative Network For Sustainable, Outreach, Education, And Action, Peter Buck, Shaunna Barnhart, Richard D. Bowden, Ben Culbertson, Josh Hooper, Michael Mumper, Dominic Scicchitano, Ken Shultes, Tom Simpson

Faculty Contributions to Books

This paper explores the organizational theory, programs, and concomitant challenges faced by a state-level higher education consortium for sustainability in the United States, the Pennsylvania Environmental Resource Consortium (PERC). We provide insights for other institutions of higher education that may want to form consortia or consider changes to existing consortia. PERC members collaborate to advance sustainability on member campuses, in local communities, and across the Commonwealth. PERC envisions thriving, just communities on a healthy planet, and seeks to inspire higher education communities throughout the Commonwealth to lead transformational sustainability efforts through example, expertise, and collaboration. This chapter provides a brief …

Climate Change Education: How Can We Teach Climate Change To Create Agency Rather Than Anxiety With Outdoor Education?, Kennedy-Anne Hokulani Marx

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Climate change is leading to an increase in mental health impacts of anxiety, grief, and depression on young people, with many feeling it affects their daily life and functioning. Because of the direct and existential threat that climate change poses to youth, it is essential that educators provide opportunities for students to be informed and empowered through tools to cope with mental health impacts as well as tools for action. Outdoor education can provide the space for educators to engage with climate change discussion and an empowering structure for students to engage with nature, develop problem-solving skills, and strengthen their …

Making America A Better Place For All: Sustainable Development Recommendations For The Biden Administration, Goal 4: Quality Education, Mark Dorosin

Journal Publications

In 2015, the United Nations Member States, including the United States, unanimously approved 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be achieved by 2030. The SDGs are nonbinding; each nation is to implement them based on its own priorities and circumstances. This Article argues that the SDGs are a critical normative framework the United States should use to improve human quality of life, freedom, and opportunity by integrating economic and social development with environmental protection. It collects the recommendations of 22 experts on steps that the Biden-Harris Administration should take now to advance each of the SDGs. It is part of …

Climate Change As A Social Determinant Of Health: An Interactive Case-Based Learning Activity, Arindam Sarkar, Nital P Appelbaum, Rathi Asaithambi, Connie Tran, Doris Lin, Anjali Aggarwal, Stephanie Nguyen

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

INTRODUCTION: Despite consensus on climate change's impact on humans, medical schools have not widely adopted inclusion of environmental topics into their mandatory curriculum. This educational activity explicitly addresses climate change as one of the environmental determinants of health (EDH).

METHODS: We developed a required, 1-hour module for all first-year medical students. This interactive, case-based, small-group activity was incorporated into a curriculum within an advising program but could be run independently. Before and after the session, participants completed evaluations assessing knowledge gains and attitude shifts.

RESULTS: Of 183 first-year students, 155 completed both pre- and postmodule surveys. Participants' rating increased on …

Climate Change Curricula In Alberta, Canada: An Intersectional Framing Analysis, Greg Lowan-Trudeau

Northwest Journal of Teacher Education

This article is comprised of a climate change-focused framing analysis of proposed revisions to Alberta, Canada’s K-6 curriculum as an ideologically motivated manifestation of curricular epistemicide. Eisner’s three curricula—the explicit, implicit, and null—and scholarship related to intersectional climate and environmental justice, education, and communication provide the theoretical framework. This inquiry concludes with a critical discussion of and possible alternatives to the revised curriculum with further consideration of the implications for those involved with similar endeavours in other jurisdictions across Canada and around the world.

Underrepresentation Of Minoritized Groups In Stem Education: A Metasynthesis Review, Kate Neally

Journal of STEM Teacher Education

This metasynthesis review analyzes the possible influences impacting the underrepresentation of People of Color (POC) in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. Underrepresented minoritized (URM) groups are defined in this article as Black and Latinx populations due to their low representation in STEM education professions (National Science Foundation, 2019). This review explores the possible influences at the high school and undergraduate levels in STEM and education. Previous research has explored the racism impacting the underrepresentation of POC in both STEM and education, but little research has examined the intersectionality of STEM education. The purpose of this metasynthesis review is …

2022 Spring/Summer Newsletter, Plaster Creek Stewards

Newsletters

Highlights:

Staff Transitions

Spring Event

Summer Students

Green Team

Reporting Suspicious Pollutants

Spring & Summer School Partners

Watershed Support Grant #2 Awarded

Macroinvertebrate Study Volunteers Needed