Digital Commons Network^™

Project Based Learning For Chronically Absent Students, Amy Lynch

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Research has shown that students who are chronically absent from school in the elementary years are far more likely to underperform academically, struggle socially and drop out of high school. Project based learning (PBL) is a process in which students and teachers engage in creation, discussion, and reflection. Teachers guide while students inquire independently and with peers. Learning is acquired through questioning, choice and action (Helle et al., 2006). Project based learning provides the opportunity for teachers to integrate social studies, science, reading, writing, math, and social and emotional skills over several weeks, ultimately creating a project that represents the …

Courage Under Fire: Culturally Responsive Teaching In A Divisive Time, Colin Perucco

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

This capstone addresses the question: How can educators create culturally responsive and sustaining classrooms and curriculum that best reflect students while navigating the rapidly changing public perception of cultural relevance in the classroom? Based on one educator’s experience with a public reaction to culturally responsive practices in their classroom, the project seeks to examine the work being done in classrooms to help students examine and honor the culture they experience every day through education. Included in the project is a literature review addressing the history and progression of culturally responsive teaching, the impacts of culturally responsive pedagogies in the classroom, …

Developing Effective Resources To Maintain The Target Language Of A Dual Language Immersion Program, Sofia Henao

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Dual Language Immersion programs (DLIPs) have been around for more than 60 years in the United States. DLIPs focus on teaching students subject matter in a second language. This project connects the topics and goals of dual language immersion education to a website that can be used as a source of practice for students that are no longer directly in an immersion program by investigating the question, “What supports can teachers put in place that students can use when they are not directly in a dual language immersion program?” The research intends to illustrate the importance of continued practice and …

The Role Of The Native-Speaker Listener In English As A Lingua Franca Interactions, Leah Fruechte

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Research agrees that monolingualism, through a lack of linguistic and metalinguistic awareness and general linguistic reflexivity, is the source of a widely observed listening problem where monolingual native-speakers (NSs) of English fail to correctly perceive the meaning of spoken English that diverges from their own in phonological forms or contextual norms. On the other hand, research has also shown multilingual communities, such as those which use English as a Lingua Franca (ELF), to display the intuitive use of collaborative, pragmatic listening strategies that keep them from misunderstanding each other, despite their differences in forms and norms. As a result, this …

Nature-Play-Based Kindergarten: Meeting Minnesota’S State Standards Via Nature Play, Tanya Buckner

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Kindergarten is becoming more academic as a result of external pressures related to educational policies (Graue, 2011). Due to increased focus on content in schools, and other societal factors such as lack of unstructured time and risk aversion, children have less time for play (Sahlberg & Doyle, 2019) and interacting with nature (Louv, 2005). This context drove the creation of this capstone project, which aims to support Minnesota teachers in meeting state standards through developmentally appropriate nature-play-based curriculum. A review of the literature showed there was a need for this type of project. Besides external pressure on schools to improve …

Maximizing The Effectiveness Of Peer Interaction In The English-Language Classroom, Benjamin Kahn

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The research question addressed in this capstone project is the following: How can teachers maximize the effectiveness of peer-to-peer interactions in an English Language classroom at the secondary or post-secondary level? The paper documents this practitioner’s exploration of the research literature on peer interaction to discover what makes for high quality peer interactions and how various teacher-controlled practices can affect interaction quality. This document also follows the creation of a professional development presentation intended for English-language teachers to help familiarize them with the field’s current understanding of peer interaction and possible best practices in their classrooms. The topics of focus …

Students With Interrupted Formal Education: A Toolbox For Instruction, Mary Palmer

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The research question addressed in this capstone project is: What are best practices for schools to support students with interrupted schooling? This paper and three-session professional development series showcase ways that content teachers can help facilitate learning for a growing multilingual learner population, students with limited formal education (SIFE). Within the professional development series, there will be three strategies that are highlighted including: Culturally Relevant Teaching, using aspects and background knowledge from a student’s own lived experience to facilitate knowledge acquisition; Mutually Adaptive Learning Paradigm which bridges the skills that students with limited formal education come to classrooms with to …

Supporting Kindergarten Multilingual Learners During Morning Meeting, Tamara Tripp

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The guiding question of this capstone project is: “How can kindergarten classroom teachers support Multilingual Learners during Morning Meeting to improve their ability to engage and communicate with classmates?” Morning Meeting is a daily classroom time that supports the building of a shared classroom community. Students are seen and heard as they share about themselves and learn about their peers. Research has demonstrated the need for students to make connections with their classmates in order to feel safe taking academic risks. Multilingual learners in kindergarten classrooms can struggle to make social connections and actively engage in learning when they are …

Training English Language Teachers To Help Adult General English Students With Complex Noun Phrases For Business Writing, Christina Cipriani

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

An overwhelming number of English Learners (ELs) are motivated to learn English because it can act as a tool to help them achieve career success. However, textbooks, which form the backbone of many General English (GE) courses, do not provide enough information in a number of areas related to success at work. Notably, few textbooks offer models for the language needed in job searching, including complex noun phrases. Since textbooks are not providing this material, teachers have to fill that gap themselves. In order to help teachers fulfill this task, my capstone project investigates the following research question: “How can …

Supporting Upper Elementary Newcomer Students In The Areas Of Speaking And Writing, Amy Brown

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Multilingual students, especially those who are new-to-the-country, need access to language rich curriculum that meets their unique needs. There is not a one-size-fits-all approach on the best way to meet these needs and a lack of age-appropriate material led to the research question: “How can teachers best provide writing and speaking opportunities for upper elementary newcomer multilingual students in a content classroom?” A push to have language learners in the content classroom as much as possible regardless of English proficiency and grade level were driving factors in the creation of this fourth grade language arts curriculum project. This curriculum is …

Comparison Study Of Laboratory Testing Programs Exploring The Influence Of Initial Static Shear Stress On Liquefaction Triggering, Micaela Saqui

Master's Theses

Current state of practice for calculating liquefaction triggering and deformations is outlined in multiple published articles (Seed 1971, Youd et al. 2001, Idriss and Boulanger 2008, National Academies of Sciences 2016, etc.). These methods use a factor of safety analysis with the cyclic stress ratio (the cyclic stress caused by the earthquake normalized by the effective vertical stress in the soil) and the cyclic resistance ratio (the resistance of the soil normalized by the effective vertical stress in the soil). These cyclic ratios are calculated first for free-field sites (no external forces on the soil), then correction factors are used …

Coded: Dialect Diversity In The Secondary American Classroom, Madeline Dunn

Honors Theses

This thesis explores the differences between dialects along racial, cultural, and ethnic lines with a specific focus on Black and Latine students inside the public secondary classrooms of America. The focus of the paper is on two linguistic tactics: “code-switching,” a linguistic practice which teaches students to separate their home language from the language they use in formal or professional settings, and “code-meshing,” a linguistic practice to teach students how to mesh together multiple dialects with which a student is familiar. Through the creation of a historical framework and an analysis of existing literature, theory, and pedagogical practices regarding the …

Consider Freedom Of Speech: Perspectives On How To Hold Difficult Conversations With Respect, Vivian E. Hamilton, Andrew D. Stelljes

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

Physico-Mechanical Characterization Of Prototype Earth Block Material For Constitutive Modeling, Erika Lorena Rengifo-López

Theses and Dissertations

The comprehensive understanding and experimental characterization of the overall compressive behavior of earth masonry block materials, such as compressed and stabilized earth blocks (CSEBs), are essential for developing analytical and numerical tools to predict the mechanical response and designing earth masonry structures. Furthermore, advancing the understanding of the extent of the influence of testing parameters on the material's response, such as specimen geometry, is a critical step towards standardization.

CSEBs are produced by compressing a mixture of soil, water, and a stabilizer (e.g., Portland cement). The heterogeneity of the material accrues from the variety of soil particle morphology and potential …

Table Of Contents - Cardozo Law Review, Volume 44, Issue 1

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Takings Property And Appropriative Water Rights, Luis Inaraja Vera

Cardozo Law Review

The Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that “private property [shall not] be taken for public use, without just compensation.”1 While courts and academics have put considerable amounts of effort into discussing the meaning of “taken” or “public use,” they have given far less attention to the phrase “private property.” Notable scholars have provided a set of definitions and frameworks to determine when a particular right qualifies as takings property. However, courts and commentators have yet to define the types of rights that are entitled to constitutional protection with sufficient precision to avoid an …

Mapping And Selection Of Downy Mildew Resistance In Spinach Cv. Whale By Low Coverage Whole Genome Sequencing, Gehendra Bhattarai, Dotun Olaoye, Beiquan Mou, James C. Correll, Ainong Shi

Horticulture Faculty Publications and Presentations

Spinach (Spinacia oleracea) is a popular leafy vegetable crop and commercial production is centered in California and Arizona in the US. The oomycete Peronospora effusa causes the most important disease in spinach, downy mildew. A total of nineteen races of P. effusa are known, with more than 15 documented in the last three decades, and the regular emergence of new races is continually overcoming the genetic resistance to the pathogen. This study aimed to finely map the downy mildew resistance locus RPF3 in spinach, identify single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers associated with the resistance, refine the candidate genes …

The Impact Of Nature Deficit On Creating Learning Spaces For Children, Kirsten Bergren

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Nature deficit disorder is a problem because it causes a disconnect between people and the environment. Adults have their own experiences with nature deficit disorder and that is impacting their ability to design nature rich environments for children. Recognizing their own experiences can help them to create and enrich the learning environment of their students. This project aims to decrease nature deficit disorder and stress and increase overall health and wellness.

How To Create A Successful Learning Environment For Students With Challenging Behaviors, Kristin Otto

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

As an experienced special education teacher working with a range of school districts, I have observed the need for further training on how to manage challenging behaviors within our schools. Though there are many researched based strategies available for helping educators manage challenging behaviors, there are very few trainings that guide educators to program for students with challenging behaviors. With teacher shortages at all-time high in the state of Minnesota, and schools working hard to provide inclusive classrooms, the need for further training for educators appears to be at the forefront. This project on: How to create successful learning environments …

Math In Nature: Expanding Fourth-Grade Students’ Mathematics Knowledge Through Nature-Based Learning, Jordyn Heide

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

This capstone project explores how nature-based learning can expand fourth-grade mathematics instruction. As a fourth-grade classroom teacher, I have seen firsthand the benefits of teaching academic content in a nature-based manner. However, it is often difficult for classroom teachers to find the time or resources needed to prepare standards-based mathematics instruction that integrates nature-based learning principles. Nature-based learning benefits students by exposing them to nature. Learning outdoors coincides with a decrease in cortisol levels, translating to less stress (Dettweiler et al., 2017). Exposure to dirt and sunlight boosts one’s mood by increasing serotonin production and leads to deeper, more restful …

A Podcast And Website For Informal Educators And How It Can Disseminate Best Teaching Practices, Graham Charles

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Informal educators face barriers in delivering high-quality educational experiences. As they are not formally connected with teacher training programs, they frequently receive more content-area knowledge than pedagogical instruction. Thus, informal educators are challenged to discover and master best practices in their field on their own. Economic and learning theorists indicate that professionals share best practices through various socially mediated structures, such as peer learning, culminating in a spontaneous intragroup support structure which Wegner termed a community of practice. Many informal educators, however, cannot participate in such communities because they are physically located in different sites from colleagues performing similar work. …

Cultural Relevance In Art Matters: An Accessible Curriculum, Mary Beth Magyar

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Research shows that allowing students room for their artistic voice is empowering and can help them explore their racial identity. In addition to supporting cultural identities, art can enhance one’s mood. Multiple studies show how visual art can build positive mental health and reduce anxiety. There has been a troubling rise in statistics for teenagers with poor mental health and suicide attempts, particularly in the LGBTQIA+ populations. When these students feel welcome at school their mental health is markedly improved. As the No Child Left Behind Policies grew, access to the visual arts decreased. Art does not test well therefore …

Emergence Of A Multidrug-Resistant And Virulent Streptococcus Pneumoniae Lineage Mediates Serotype Replacement After Pcv13: An International Whole-Genome Sequencing Study, Stephanie W. Lo, Kate Mellor, Robert Cohen, Alba Redin Alonso, Sophie Belman, Narender Kumar, Paulina A. Hawkins, Rebecca A. Gladstone, Sadia Shakoor, Muhammad Imran Nisar

Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Background: Serotype 24F is one of the emerging pneumococcal serotypes after the introduction of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV). We aimed to identify lineages driving the increase of serotype 24F in France and place these findings into a global context.
Methods: Whole-genome sequencing was performed on a collection of serotype 24F pneumococci from asymptomatic colonisation (n=229) and invasive disease (n=190) isolates among individuals younger than 18 years in France, from 2003 to 2018. To provide a global context, we included an additional collection of 24F isolates in the Global Pneumococcal Sequencing (GPS) project database for analysis. A Global Pneumococcal Sequence Cluster …

The Effect Of Combination Ovariectomy And D-Galactose Administration On Alzheimer's Animal Model, Faradila F., Yuliarni S., Rika S., Nur I. Liputo

Baghdad Science Journal

Background and purpose: Animal model helps researchers to evaluate new treatment plan for human and understand pathological mechanism involved in a development of disease. The use of rats as an animal model for Alzheimer's research has become a favorite among researchers. Rats are capable in mimicking Alzheimer disease due to their intelligence and quick adaptation to nature. At present there are several methods that can be used to induce Alzheimer's animals, but each method has advantages and disadvantages. We need to learn other methods that can provide many advantages and few disadvantages. The Amyloid-beta 42 (Aβ-42) and Reactive Oxygen Species …

Offline Signature Biometric Verification With Length Normalization Using Convolution Neural Network, Zahraa Mazin Alkattan, Ghada Mohammad Tahir Aldabagh

Baghdad Science Journal

Offline handwritten signature is a type of behavioral biometric-based on an image. Its problem is the accuracy of the verification because once an individual signs, he/she seldom signs the same signature. This is referred to as intra-user variability. This research aims to improve the recognition accuracy of the offline signature. The proposed method is presented by using both signature length normalization and histogram orientation gradient (HOG) for the reason of accuracy improving. In terms of verification, a deep-learning technique using a convolution neural network (CNN) is exploited for building the reference model for a future prediction. Experiments are conducted by …

Evaluation Of Atmospheric Cold Plasma Technique Activity On Phenylpropanoids Gene Expression And Essential Oil Contents And Different Traits Of Ocimum Basilicum L., Shaimaa Fakhri Jasim, Nemat J. Abdulbaqi, Labeeb Ahmed Al-Zubaidi, Abdulrazaqdawood Jasim

Baghdad Science Journal

The current study was conducted for studying the impact of cold plasma on the expression level of three genes that participate in the biosynthesis of the phenylpropanoid pathway in Ocimum basilicum. These studied genes were cinnamate 4-hydroxylase (c4h), 4-coumarate CoA ligase (4cl), and eugenol O-methyl transferase (eomt). Also, the cold plasma impact was studied on the essential oil components and their relation with the gene expression level. The results demonstrated that cold plasma seeds germination of the treated groups 2 (initially for 3 minutes and 3 minutes after 7 days) ,and group 3(initially for 5 minutes and 3 minutes after …

Designing And Synthesising Novel Benzophenone Biscyclic Imides Comprising Drug Moity With Investigating Their Antimicrobial Activity, Zaynab Hussein Fadel, Ahlam Marouf Al-Azzawi

Baghdad Science Journal

The present work involved designing and synthesizing of a series of new. compounds which their molecules are composed from two biologically active components namely sulfamethoxazole or β-lactam containing drugs and cyclic imides. The target new compounds were synthesized by two steps in the first one a series of six bis (N-drug phthalamic acid_4-yl) ketone (1-6) were prepared from the reaction of sulfamethoxazole or β-lactam containing drugs with benzophenone 3, 3′, 4, 4′ -tetracarboxylic dianhydride. In the second step, compounds (1-6) were introduced in dehydration reaction via fusion process producing the target compounds bis (N-drug phthalimidyl-4-yl) ketone (7-12). The antibacterial and …

A Crime Data Analysis Of Prediction Based On Classification Approaches, Fatima Shaker Hussain, Abbas Fadhil Aljuboori

Baghdad Science Journal

Crime is considered as an unlawful activity of all kinds and it is punished by law. Crimes have an impact on a society's quality of life and economic development. With a large rise in crime globally, there is a necessity to analyze crime data to bring down the rate of crime. This encourages the police and people to occupy the required measures and more effectively restricting the crimes. The purpose of this research is to develop predictive models that can aid in crime pattern analysis and thus support the Boston department's crime prevention efforts. The geographical location factor has been …

A Comparative Look At The Response To Organized Crime In The Ports Of New York-New Jersey And Vancouver, Julia Pjevach

Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review

The note examines the influence of organized crime in ports, focusing on the Port of New York/New Jersey and the Port of Vancouver. It highlights the effectiveness of the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor in reducing crime through centralized regulation and contrasts it with Vancouver's decentralized approach, which lacks a unified policing mechanism. The analysis underscores the need for stronger regulatory measures and adaptive strategies to combat evolving criminal activities in both ports.

Solitary Confinement: What The United States Can Learn From England And Norway, Markus Wieshofer

Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review

The note argues that the United States should reform its solitary confinement system by adopting key aspects from England and Norway, such as robust oversight mechanisms and a rehabilitative focus, to address the harsh conditions and negative effects of solitary confinement on inmates.