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A Vitalist Perspective On Nature Journals, David M. Grant

Faculty Work

This paper argues that journals do more than simply record individual observations. Using a vitalist conception of writing – one that explicitly acknowledges writing as an ecological act – journals are formed from what literacy theorists call the “scene” of writing. This paper forwards an expanded conception of journal writing, the pedagogical uses of journals, and ways we see all writing, not just journals, as participations with the natural world.

Inside College Of Humanities And Fine Arts, Winter 2011, University Of Northern Iowa. College Of Humanities And Fine Arts.

Inside: College of Humanities and Fine Arts

Inside this issue:

-- Message from the Dean
-- CHFA News in Short
-- Applause
-- Transitions
-- CHFA Responds with Global Initiatives
-- Student Excellence
-- Fourth Annual CHFA Graduate Research Symposium
-- Around the College
-- Alumni Features
-- Class Notes
-- Message from the Development Director

The Update, January/February 2011, University Of Northern Iowa. College Of Humanities, Arts And Sciences.

Update

Inside this issue:

-- Popular NPR Show, From the Top, to tape a broadcast at the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center
-- Department News
-- 2010-11 CHFA Major Grants Announced
-- Anderson Summer Geology Field Camp Fund
-- Marks of Process, a UNI Department of Art Alumni Exhibition
-- UNI Interpreters Theatre
-- University of Northern Iowa School of Music Concert Chorale
-- Center of Advanced Bio-Based Binders
-- Student Spotlight: Art: Alex Petersen
-- Student Spotlight: Biology: Benjamin Wohlers
-- WCF Symphony & School of Music Events
-- First Lego League
-- Sigma Gamma Epsilon
-- Forum: a Student Organization …

Teaching Poetry Writing In The Primary Grades, Staci Cramer-Wilkinson

Graduate Research Papers

This project examines the use of poetry to teach writing and the impact this instruction has on the primary classroom. The purpose of this project is to explore poetry instruction, examine how it has traditionally been taught, and provide professional development to classroom teachers that focuses on the effective use of poetry instruction in the classroom. The professional development sessions include Power Point presentations, small and large group discussions, and practical classroom application. Benefits and challenges of poetry instruction are also provided.

Differences In Depression Levels Among Tenors, Baritones, And Basses, Rhiannon Jane Talbot

Honors Program Theses

Music and speech are closely related to one another. Both have specific elements, such as average fundamental frequency, pitch variation, and speed, to accurately communicate emotion. Some emotions have characteristic speech patterns; in the case of sadness, a low mean fundamental frequency, slow speed of speech, and minimal pitch variation are common. Both music and speech also utilize physical metaphors (up/down, high/low, etc.) to express positivity and negativity. The study was intended to determine whether male vocal register correlated with levels of depressive symptoms. Specifically, tenors were expected to have lower levels of depression than baritones and basses. Participants (16 …

Raising Good Soviets: Media Depictions Of Soviet Life And Upbringing Under Khrushchev, Chelsea Miller

Honors Program Theses

Policies on education and upbringing affected almost every individual in the Soviet Union, from the youngest child to the oldest pensioner. These policies reflected the current ideological path of the party and the need to train the children to accomplish the country’s goals. On a more personal level, these policies helped the children evolve into successful adults able to easily enter the workforce. When the public saw that these policies were not being enforced or implemented, they expressed their dissatisfaction. These individuals were able to safely voice their criticisms by pointing out the educational system’s failures within the ideological framework …

Musical Eating And Culinary Listening: Composing With Sounds And Flavors, Isaac Brockshus

Honors Program Theses

My interests in music are wide-ranging. While the majority of my energies as a student are invested in the mastery of music that is more or less conventional, I also find myself obsessing over ideas intended to clear new avenues of expression while establishing new perspectives on the familiar. My experimental side thrives in a vast playground of extant musical constructs, free to be exploded, reassembled, and reexamined. Within these constructs come certain audience expectations for the music. The presence of these expectations and the practical issues resulting from a clash of expectations served as instigators of creative thought throughout …

Rational Decision-Making In The Face Of Uncertainty: An Experiment In Jeopardy!, Trevor Boeckmann

Honors Program Theses

This paper examines the quiz show "Jeopardy!." In the game, players accumulate points then wager them in a final round on a single question. My study finds an empirically-best wagering system for these players, then calculates the benefit of using this system through additional games that would be won with the correct bet. My regression model then finds the determinants of empirically-best (EB) betters. The results show players tend to act too aggressively. Half of non-first place players wager incorrectly and nearly 90% of those non- EB wagers are too large. The regression shows players are most likely to make …

"With A Woman's Bitterness": Early Propaganda Against Female Rulers In Medieval Chronicles In The Twelfth And Fifteenth Centuries, Elizabeth Anne Wiedenheft

Honors Program Theses

In reading the descriptions of the Empress Matilda and Queen Margaret of Anjou by their contemporaries, it is clear that their male counterparts were threatened by their attempts to participate in the politics and governance of England. It is also clear that male rulers believed that these two women's use of power was a usurpation of the traditional gender hierarchy. Therefore, male chroniclers, living contemporaneously with either the Empress Matilda of Queen Margaret, created descriptions of them that reflected the propaganda promulgated against them during their lifetimes. This propaganda imposed a strict dichotomization of gender roles in order to prevent …

The Thanatos Drive Of Insects, Lenni Anne Clemons

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The Thanatos Drive of Insects is a collection of stories dealing with people who are in bad situations but want something better for themselves.

From A Weak Tribual To A Branch Of Government: The Supreme Court Of The United States From 1789 To Marshall, Dale Edward Paul Yurs

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Each branch of the federal government has changed substantially since its creation in 1789. Today, the people directly elect both houses of Congress and citizens hold the President more accountable for his actions. The federal judiciary has grown as well. The third branch of government may have started as a fairly weak tribunal, but during the early national period it grew to an equal branch of government. The Justices redefined the judiciary by their own actions. They worked to amend the circuit riding requirements, adopted a new style of opinions, and asserted the authority of judicial review. Through primary evidence, …

Multilingual Theatre: Community Value And Future Education Necessity, Diana Milree Garles

Honors Program Theses

This project is the culmination of my two passions: theatre and language. For me, these two things are priceless pieces of human identity, whether used consciously or not. I imagine there are very few people who have never played a role, or portrayed a certain character to embody a facet of their personality. I believe this research presents a natural, practical option for community and educational development through the use of theatre techniques. Language is a supporting element in theatre, and theatre can use language as an educational tool for exposure and for further understanding of many different cultures and …

A Content Analysis Of American Civil War Historical Fiction For Upper Elementary Grades, Gwen L. Van Dee

Graduate Research Papers

The purpose of this study was to analyze the treatment of complex issues of the American Civil War in a fifth grade social studies textbook and historical fiction novels, written for upper elementary readers. The study focused on slavery and racial issues, the stresses of war on families, and the aftermath of war.

A content analysis was conducted, using the fifth grade textbook information as a baseline for concepts to be learned. A sample of American Civil War historical fiction books was gathered using the following method: the H W Wilson's Middle School & Junior High Core Collection database was …

Hope And Despair In Young Adult Science Fiction, Erin Stohlmeyer

Graduate Research Papers

As young adult science fiction evolves, it can be difficult to understand the themes and tones found within the genre. The purpose of this research was to discover the hopeful messages or the lack of hope in current young adult science fiction. The themes found during the research process included survival, the search for identity/humanity, post-apocalypse/governmental control, medical advancement (technology), and adventure. Thirteen novels written between 2005 and 20 IO were analyzed for themes and messages. Many novels were found to have vastly different societies, governments, and even landscapes. Some of the differences were due to war, climate change, and …

The Presence Of Gender Stereotypes In Children's Picture Book Illustrations, Jenahlee Chamberlain

Graduate Research Papers

Numerous studies have been conducted throughout the past several decades on the topic of gender stereotypes present in children's picture books. The purpose of this quantitative content analysis is to examine the portrayal of males and females and the representation of gender roles in children's picture book illustrations. This analysis of 43 children's picture books awarded the Caldecott Award or Caldecott Honor between 2001 and 2011 sought to determine whether or not 21st century award winning children's picture book illustrations portrayed gender stereotypes. Each title was analyzed using a content analysis form to test the three hypotheses for this study. …

Graduate Recital In Voice, Isaac D. Droscha

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

On Tuesday, March 22, 2011, Isaac Droscha, baritone, presented a recital in partial fulfillment of the Master of Music degree. The recital totaled approximately fifty-five minutes in length. The first half featured Gustav Mahler's Kindertotenlieder (1904), containing five songs to poetry of Friedrich Rückert. Following a brief intermission, the recital continued with two song sets; the first set contained five songs by Sergei Rachmaninoff from Ops. 4, 14, and 26; the second set was George Butterworth's Bredon Hill and Other Songs, containing five songs (1912). All the works were chosen to show a variety of perspectives on the theme of …

Piano Graduate Recital, Marcos Grano De Oro

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Domenico Scarlatti was born in Naples on October 26, 1685. He was born to Alessandro Scarlatti and Antonia Anzaloni and is regarded as one of the most creative artists in the history of music. He was an outstanding composer and harpsichordist. Scarlatti received his early training from his father, who was a music teacher. There are no formal records that Scarlatti obtained his musical training from any conservatory, or music school, even though there were other institutions. The conservatory of Naples gained great popularity and fame during Scarlatti 's time. Therefore, Scarlatti could have received musical training from the conservatory. …

The Development Of Musical Improvisation In Second Grade Children, Akiko Yoshizawa

Graduate Research Papers

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to investigate if second-grade children could develop a solo improvisation on an Orff xylophone. Participants were five African-American children who attended a model school that followed an inquiry-based approach curriculum. These children also had a chance to learn music from a faculty and the researcher, who had been exploring constructivist methods of teaching music, with a special emphasis on invented songs, instruments, and notations. The three-day study focused on how children were able to create a solo improvisation. The study was guided by the following questions: (1) Can second grade children develop …

Graduate Recital In Voice, Channing Connell

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Channing Connell, soprano, presented a graduate voice recital on Monday, March 21, 2011 at 8:00 PM in Davis Hall of the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center at the University of Northern Iowa. The recital was performed in collaboration with pianists Korey Barrett and Polina Khatsko and presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Music in Vocal Performance. The recital featured Cinq poemes de Baudelaire by Claude Debussy (1862-1918), select works from the Jtalienisches Liederbuch by Hugo Wolf (1860-1903) and selections by Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873- 1943), each of which is briefly summarized in the body of this abstract.

Shockingly Absurd!: How Ec Comics And Mad Magazine Contributed To The Counterculture, 1952-1960, Matthew D. Cossolotto

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

In 1944 Max Gaines, a pioneering figure in the development of comic books, decided to start his own publishing company, Educational Comics (EC), that focused on wholesome story lines and historical events in Biblical and American History. After his death in 1947, his son William took over the business, changed the company's name to Entertaining Comics (EC), and focused on crime and horror stories. William began publishing comics books such as Shock SuspenStories, and Weird Fantasy that alarmed parents, and political leaders due to depictions of violence and criticisms of America's lack of social justice. By the early 1950s, public …

A History Of The Pigtail Bridges In South Dakota, Krystol R. Frerking

Graduate Research Papers

The history of the Pigtail Bridges in the Black Hills of South Dakota is an interesting historical story that in children's non-fiction books has not told. Three questions that guided this research were what the best layout/design is for a children's book on the Pigtail Bridges, how does an author select the content for a children's book on a local history topic like the Pigtail Bridges, and what is the most appropriate text structure for this content? The purpose of this research project was to create a non-fiction children's book about the history of the Pigtail Bridges in the Black …

Is She Real Or Is She Wonder Woman? Finding The Authentic Woman In Graphic Novels And Comic Strips, Michael Welch

Graduate Research Papers

The purpose of this study is to discover whether or not women are portrayed in an authentic manner in comic books and graphic novels. This study provides a brief history of comic books and graphic novels from the late 19th Century to early 21st Century. The study then reviews qualitative studies on the gender roles of women in graphic novels, women in prime time television, collection development and graphic novels, children's animated television, young adult's perceptions of televised women heroes, gender and racial stereotypes in newspaper comics, and "wonder women" or women in heroic roles in comic books and television. …

Immigration As Portrayed In Literature For Youth, April A. Crowder

Graduate Research Papers

This study addressed the problem that immigrant children face difficulties that may not be portrayed realistically in children's literature. Research questions included 1. Are the immigrant children's situations portrayed authentically, and in what ways? 2. How is the undocumented immigrant child depicted? 3. What are the emerging themes of the authentic literature, and how might they bring greater understanding to the authentic experiences for immigrant children?

The Hearing Room: Combining Video Art And Electroacoustic Music, Aaron Michael Hynds

Honors Program Theses

The Hearing Room is a multimedia project intended to give its audience a unique audiovisual experience. The project takes the form of five videos, all of which include an electroacoustic soundtrack. These videos will incorporate elements of other multimedia artists’ works, utilizing the aspects that make those works so effective. With The Hearing Room, the ultimate artistic goal is to give viewers a unique audiovisual experience, while also creating a series of works that are aesthetically pleasing and personally relevant.

Lighting Design And Development Process For The Strayer-Wood Theatre's Production Of On The Verge, Michael Franklin Brown

Honors Program Theses

I chose to do this project because it was the logical final step in my theatre education at the University of Northern Iowa (UNI). I began my education at UNI with the goal of working as a mainstage lighting designer at the Strayer-Wood Theatre, and I worked my way through the ranks to reach this position. I have aspirations to design lights for professional theatre, and I believe this fully realized project will be a great example of my work to show potential employers.

This portfolio will showcase the steps I took to complete the project and written and visual …

Bad Reputations: A Discussion Of Gender Norms And Personas Created And Performed In Courtly (And Not So Courtly) Lyrics, Rebecca Ann Bohnet

Honors Program Theses

From 1000 CE to 1250 CE in Occitan, a literary tradition developed in the culture of the nobility and the courts. The courtly lyric tradition grew out of a unique cultural setting that allowed for the growth of a group of poets known as troubadours to write their courtly love lyrics in praise of the idealized lover. These were performed at the courts for the nobility as a source of entertainment and dealt with themes of angst, jealousy, and of course, love, among others. These troubadours produced a large number of works, in a wide range of genres, such as …

Leading Unconducted Chamber Vocal Ensembles: A Case Study Of The University Of Northern Iowa Varsity Men's Glee Club Camerata, David Hoobler

Honors Program Theses

Recently, unconducted chamber vocal ensembles have emerged as one of, if not the most popular forms of vocal performing groups. TV shows such as "The Sing Off' and "Glee" showcase the musical abilities of this type of ensemble. Barbershop quartets enjoy high levels of popularity. Professional groups such as Voces8 and other groups on many college campuses are constantly in demand for performances. In addition, educators find it necessary to learn how to lead these groups especially in the state of Iowa where quartets are used for All-State auditions, and the popularity of Show Choir necessitates an unconducted vocal ensemble …

Using Novels In The Science Classroom, Hannah Llewellyn Haarhues

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Reading is a key factor in the success of students through their school years as well as their lives. With Americans reading less and falling behind in subjects as they progress through the school system, reading is the subject area that benefits all aspects of their schooling. Studies done from the 1990s on have shown successful reading programs improve standardized test scores of school age students. Trade books in place of textbooks had been explored, but only in middle school or younger. This study uses a survey to explore high school biology students' opinions on reading and science before and …

Dmitri Vorobiev, Piano, An All-Beethoven Recital - The Second In A Series, December 2, 2010 [Program], University Of Northern Iowa. School Of Music.

Music Recital Programs

Program of a music recital given by faculty, students, or guest artists from the School of Music at the University of Northern Iowa.