Education Commons^™

Time As A Line: Helping Children Make Abstract Ideas Concrete, Rachel Mae Stenner

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

This is a math education project that included research, a lesson plan, and actual in the classroom work with students. Under the advisement of Dr. Rebecca Borowski, I looked into how time, an abstract idea, is taught to young children who are just starting to learn what measurement is, and examined how teachers can better teach time as a more concrete topic. This focused on the idea of turning the abstract time concepts that are thrown at children into the more abstract ideas of both circular and then linear number lines, using physical materials to help guide the process.

Lesson Planning In 5th Grade Visual Arts: Teaching Art Lessons Aligned With Washington State Visual Arts Standards To Fifth Grade Students In An Art Specialist Classroom, Hanna Johnson

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

With the growing push for increased time spent on STEM in classrooms, visual arts often fall to the wayside. Even rarer is the opportunity to practice teaching visual art lessons in a dedicated elementary art classroom. This project describes the process of developing art curriculum for fifth grade students, based on course work in ART 380 Educating the Child and using Washington State Visual Arts standards and corresponding assessment. Over the course of six weeks, with one 45-minute lesson per week, students produced a series of images illustrating an important event, person, or place in their life. By producing these …

Digital Citizenship For Elementary Students, Sherry L. Drader

Educational Leadership Student

This study aimed to identify the need for digital citizenship teaching in the elementary school setting. It aimed to address the question, how can teachers effectively teach and implement digital citizenship in a Kindergarten to grade 4 elementary school? A small purposive focus group determined an obvious need for educators to have clear direction and guidance in the area of digital citizenship at the elementary school. This group of educators emphasized that digital citizenship is extremely important as the world increasingly offers online options for many services, including education. Furthermore, it is imperative for schools to partner with families in …

Dear Future, Sarah Kerby

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Dear Future is a children’s book that gives the main character Lucy, and our younger readers, insight into life during the COVID-19 pandemic through the form of letters. In the story, Lucy decides to question her mother about the pandemic after vaguely hearing about it throughout her childhood. Lucy’s mother was also not alive during the pandemic, but shares letters written to Lucy’s namesake and grandmother Lucille. The letters throughout the story are real letters written by 17 anonymous individuals about their current Covid experiences. Through this book I hope to teach others in the future about the hardships we …

Wandering Whatcom Falls, Hailey Schmidt

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Wandering Whatcom Falls is an interactive walking loop focused on connection and ecosystems. It takes place at Whatcom Falls and runs as a scavenger hunt with 7 different activities throughout the loop.

Montessori Approach In Public Schools, Sara Ronen

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

In June 2020, amidst the COVID-19 crisis, Just Schools Fund, a non-profit organization supporting educational justice, held a seminar with all of the leading organizations in the field of education equity (Global education justice... 2020). The guest speakers agreed that traditional forms of education do not work for all students and that it was beneficial to focus on schools trying innovative approaches. The world needs schools that are progressive, inclusive, and fully supported by the community. These ideas echo an education revolutionary from a much earlier time, Dr. Maria Montessori. Dr. Montessori led an educational movement that pushed for children’s …

Developing Culturally Responsive Teaching Through Learner-Centered Teaching During Content And Field Immersions, Donald J. Burgess, Scheree Dowdy, Carly Boyd

Secondary Education

If we are to preserve a habitable planet our children need teachers who understand science and ecological principles in relation to critical issues of sustainability and social justice. (Orr, 2004). Yet, in an increasingly urban landscape children often lack the opportunity to explore and learn about the natural environment right outside their classrooms (Louv, 2005; Pyle, 2002). Children growing up in migrant families are no exception. They may live close to the land and have families that work the land intimately but still may not have the opportunity to share and refine their knowledge through exploration of their own schoolyards. …

Academics And Outdoor Skills: Integrating Outdoor Skills And Academic Content In Classroom And Small Group Settings, Melissa Boyer

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

There are many concepts that tie outdoor skills with education (see Appendix A). To model the idea, I picked one main concept (heat) and three outdoor skills topics attached to that concept. The three skill areas are wood fires, cooking with charcoal, and clothing and hypothermia. There is a focus on safety in the outdoors in all three areas.

The three areas follow the same format. At the beginning of the section are several charts outlining key ideas, prerequisites, and possible extensions. This is followed by information providing a background in both outdoor skills and academics for the instructor. Finally …

Media Blitz: Children And The Effects Of Television Advertising, Erica (Erica Naomi) Friedman

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Watching television is nearly a universal phenomenon for the youth of modem America and other first-world countries. With the viewing of television comes the blitz of commercial advertising. Each year, children are exposed to approximately 20,000 commercial messages, or three hours a week of television advertising (Adler, Lesser, Meringoff, Robertson, Rossiter, and Ward, 1980).

Society has two broad types of responsibility toward its youth. First are the precautions set in place to shield children from predatory exploitation by adults. For instance, child labor laws were enacted to prevent abuses of children in the work place. Second, society has recognized its …

Peer Theater: Social Issues In Action, Shannon Simer

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Peer education is an effective way to make lasting impressions on both the performers and the audience. When dealing with social issues this is especially true. The performers must have explored their feelings and experiences to a degree of depth that allows them to have enough perspective to portray it to others who may not have thought about the subject in such detail and depth. The audience often relates more easily to their peers than to a grown up telling them how to behave. Many teachers will attest to how much influence children have on each other. This program combats …