Education Commons^™

Rationale And Provisional Lesson Plans For Learning High School Science Through Discovering Dialectically And Creatively, Jean Rene

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

A host of studies on students' understanding of science has revealed that persistent topic-specific misconceptions loom over wide groups of learners. However, in the literature, scant consideration is given to high school students' over-arching misconceptions. Those are erroneous conceptions about the nature of science that tend to be resistant even after traditional instruction. Those large-scale misconceptions lay at the frontier of philosophical standpoints and are likely to inhibit students' ability to construct conceptions aligned with accepted scientific views. This synthesis contends that educators can better address high school students' large scale misconceptions at the conjunction of interconnected scientific notions and …

Critical Inquiry: Library Media Specialists As Change Agents, Kafi D. Kumasi

School of Information Sciences Faculty Research Publications

This article describes some of the key concepts and strategies associated with the term critical inquiry that are relevant to the work of school libraries in secondary settings. Practical examples are given for conducting critical inquiry in the library based on the authors work with African American youth in an after school literacy program.

Have Your Π And Eat It Too! Using A Course Website To Facilitate Student-Centered Learning And Improve The Effectiveness Of The High School Mathematics Experience, Jeffrey Bretsch

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics recommends that teachers provide their students with opportunities for student-centered learning. This often occurs in the form of discovery learning, hands-on learning, and interdisciplinary learning. These types of learning experiences fall under the umbrella of the educational theory of constructivism. Constructivism, in short, asserts that meaningful learning occurs when students actively construct their own understanding, making connections and drawing their own conclusions in response to genuine experiences. Many educators would agree that this type of learning is the ideal, but is not generally feasible due to the broad nature of the mathematics curriculum …

Whatever Happened To Lisa Simpson? An Exploration Of Female Adolescent Development Through Problem Based Learning, Amy Perrault

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

As a teacher for the past six years in a girls’ school, I have met and had the chance to interact with hundreds of adolescent girls. Over time I have come to realize how much adolescence seems to have changed since I was in their shoes. The media inundates them with messages about what is cool, hip, and acceptable—music videos, fashion, and the internet provide the frame of reference against which today’s young woman compares her own self worth. While girls have always looked to society’s standards to help them develop as individuals, at no time in history have the …

Teaching Economics In United States History: One Teacher Shares Some Lessons, Kathleen S. Bullock

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

This paper addresses the value and benefits of teaching economics in U.S. History at the high school level. Some of the challenges it presents such as curriculum style, teacher qualifications, assessment and accountability, pacing, and developing thinking skills for a theory-based course are discussed. I also offer activities with accompanying worksheets and graphic organizers that may assist teachers in meeting these challenges. The activities include tariffs, a run on the bank, monopolies, and recessions as an introduction to basic economic principles that are important in teaching U.S. History. A set of graphic organizers on The Civil War demonstrates how economics …

Making The Right Call: Criteria For Choosing Short Fiction, Charlie Sweet, Hal Blythe

Charlie Sweet

Notes that teachers who teach short fiction must consider several things when choosing which works to teach. Describes criteria the authors use when selecting works for their literature classes (World Literature Survey, American Literature, and Principles of Literary Study). Concludes by affirming the importance of choosing short fiction.

Geometry In Action: A Curriculum Unit Utilizing Dynamic Geometry Software To Enhance Students’ Comprehension, Cynthia A. Mignini

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

The paper identifies two critical obstacles to student success in a traditional geometry classroom and examines the role dynamic geometry software can play in overcoming these obstacles.

A Model, Secondary-Level, Curriculum For A Teaching Academy Program For High School Juniors And Seniors, Michelle M. Bryant

All Graduate Projects

The purpose of this project was to develop and design a model, secondary-level curriculum for a Teaching Academy program. To accomplish this purpose, a review of current literature related to Teaching Academies was conducted. Related information from selected schools, school districts, and private organizations was obtained and analyzed. Additionally the investigator, Michelle M. Bryant, attended training sessions and conferences hosted by the Teachers Recruiting Future Teachers.

Teaching Thinking Skills In The Content Area: A Workshop For Secondary School Teachers, Evelyn Ryan

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

This thesis presents a curriculum for a workshop on teaching thinking skills in the content area designed for secondary school teachers. In-service time for the workshop is twenty hours. The first fifteen hours are scheduled for one week in the summer. Two follow-up sessions, each two and a half hours in length, are scheduled during the school year. The purpose of this curriculum is to establish a foundation for skillful thinking-purposeful thought that is aware not only of its objective but of its own processes. In order to accomplish this purpose the workshop has two goals. The first goal is …

Student Held Misconceptions Regarding Area And Perimeter Of Rectangles, Susan M. Carle

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

Students enter the classroom with individual schemas, based on their experiences and ideas, which influence the reception, interpretation, and recollection of new information. Effective teachers must understand the implications of these existing schemas. As an experienced classroom teacher, the author finds students often manipulate and apply new information well in class, only to forget or alter the material a few weeks later;. When misconceptions are woven into schemas, they interfere with reception of information. This thesis examines specific student-held misconceptions about the area and perimeter of rectangles and the process of their identification and eradication. Identification of the misconception is …

Teacher As Researcher: A Two-Tiered Model, Barbara B. Nelson

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

This thesis focuses on an investigation I undertook to enhance my effectiveness to teach mathematics, a subject to which I was assigned, but for which I had not been formally trained. It describes my attempt to construct knowledge through the clinical interview method as to how middle school students construct knowledge about integers and think about the knowledge they are constructing. On one level, I was attempting to learn how students come to understand the concept of integers; on a level, I was creating an understanding of how a teacher can construct knowledge about the construction of knowledge. This two-tiered …

Using Stress Management To Promote Critical Thinking, Robert L. Schoenberg

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

This paper examines the effects of distress upon critical thinking and offers a variety of stress management techniques to enhance critical thinking skills. A major theme throughout this paper is that one cannot think clearly when one is distressed. The harmful effects of distress upon critical thinking are discussed in the content of the works of several authors in the field of stress management and cognitive psychology. Several different types of stress reduction techniques are presented and discussed. The critical thinking skills of metacognition, frame of reference and methodological believing are reviewed with a focus on how stress management can …

Merging Instruction In Thinking And Writing, Victoria L. Morse

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

Two largely independent bodies of literature exist on both teaching to promote students' critical and creative thinking abilities and teaching to promote the shift between novice and more expert writing. The author looks closely at both bodies of literature and merges common principles to create an extended curriculum unit designed to teach simultaneously toward expert thinking and expert writing. The unit contains such diverse activities as: 1) an acrostic puzzle; 2) reading articles on themes related to Hamlet; 3) the use of dialectical notebooks; 3) an explicit investigation into the nature of problem solving; 4) using emphatic role-playing to bring …

Supplementary Reading Materials For Efl Secondary School Students In Cote D'Ivoire, Dagbassoue Cecile

Master's Capstone Projects

No abstract provided.

Alternative Concepts Of Geology And Time In Secondary Science Education, Ralph K. Calitri

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

This study examines students’ concepts of time and geologic processes and probes for alternative conceptions in these areas which would be of relevance for science education.

An Experimental Laboratory Approach To The Teaching Of Botany In The Secondary Schools, Robert F. Miller

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

It was the purpose of this study: (1) to evaluate new techniques that utilize an experimental laboratory approach in the teaching of botany, and (2) to develop a laboratory manual based on the results of the experimentation emphasizing basic plant physiological concepts that can be easily used by high school sophomores.

An Analysis Of Basic Elements In The Role Of The Teacher-Sponsor Of Extracurricular Dramatics In New Mexico Secondary Schools, Peter Prouse

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

Four basic elements of successful sponsorship of student activities are (1) conscious attention to educational objectives and the use of procedures and practices designed to reach them, (2) promotion of cooperation with principles and administrators, (3) sound training and experience in the area of sponsorship, and (4) encouragement of maximum student initiative, responsibility, and control.

The Status Of Foreign Languages In West Virginia High Schools, Florence Smith

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

The purpose of this study is to ascertain the status of foreign languages in West Virginia secondary schools for the past eighteen years, as to (1) pupil enrollment by classes, sex, subjects, and years offered and (2) teacher preparation, experience, tenure, salary, and teaching load.

Enrollment Trends In Foreign Languages In The Public And The Private Secondary Schools Of The United States, Dorothea Meyer

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

The trends in enrollment in foreign language in public and private secondary schools of the United States have been determined by answers to the following questions:

1. What changes have occurred in enrollment in foreign language in the various states?

2. Are these changes constant from one geographical division to the other?