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WWU Honors College Senior Projects

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Supporting An Ecosystem Of Learning: Outdoor Ece Lesson Plans, Nicole K. Ryden Jan 2024

Supporting An Ecosystem Of Learning: Outdoor Ece Lesson Plans, Nicole K. Ryden

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

While participating in an internship at Lichen Early Learning, lesson plans were created to uplift understanding of different relationships to land, consent, gender identity, race, and activism. It is essential for educators to create lesson plans that equip preschoolers for navigating the world they are a part of and disrupt systemic harm. Creating and applying lesson plans can serve as a way to start this kind of work.


Fierce Female Friendships: An Artistic Representation And Exploration Of The Benefits Of Gender-Based Inclusivity And Community In Stem, Maya Bachmeier-Evans Oct 2023

Fierce Female Friendships: An Artistic Representation And Exploration Of The Benefits Of Gender-Based Inclusivity And Community In Stem, Maya Bachmeier-Evans

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Incorporating visual art, social research, women’s studies, and artificial intelligence, Fierce Female Friendships investigates the ramifications of gendered experience on the learning environment. By reflecting upon her work in a male-dominated discipline, the author transforms her sense of classroom isolation into two paintings that highlight the subtle yet significant differences that separate inclusivity from alienation. In addition to her personalized reflections, the author also creates a fourteen-question survey which invites her peers to consider gender in academia, to assess their experiences on a university campus, and to imagine how they might depict those experiences using visual art. Positing the idea …


Time As A Line: Helping Children Make Abstract Ideas Concrete, Rachel Mae Stenner Oct 2023

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.


Verb Strings And Other Weavings: An Exploration Of Grammatical Structures, Visual Arts, And Language Teaching, Mae Bash Oct 2023

Verb Strings And Other Weavings: An Exploration Of Grammatical Structures, Visual Arts, And Language Teaching, Mae Bash

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

In language education, visual arts are sometimes used as a tool to inspire communication and convey cultural concepts. However, limited research has looked into the application of visual arts in the classroom for the exploration of linguistic patterns. Both languages and weavings are complex systems governed by distinct sets of rules, yet they still permit infinite unique productions. This project explores this relationship by presenting five bandweavings, each of which is designed based on the rules and structures of different languages. These weavings show that it is possible to connect art and language through practical, structural methods, not only abstract …


Honoring The Gift: An Epistolary Exploration Of An Alternative Approach To Learning Grounded In Reciprocity And Gratitude, Tegan Keyes Apr 2023

Honoring The Gift: An Epistolary Exploration Of An Alternative Approach To Learning Grounded In Reciprocity And Gratitude, Tegan Keyes

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

In this project, I explore what it means to honor knowledge as a gift. This document includes a selection of letters I wrote to my teachers to express my gratitude to them, along with a written narrative in which I describe my vision of an alternative approach to undergraduate education that centers gratitude, reciprocity, and self-determination. This narrative weaves together lessons from emergence theory, Indigenous systems of education, and gift economies to tell a story of a life-sustaining education system that is grounded in the understanding that knowledge is a gift.


“Emotions And The Ocean”: Integrating Social-Emotional Learning Into A Fifth-Grade Science Curriculum, Madison Rossen Apr 2023

“Emotions And The Ocean”: Integrating Social-Emotional Learning Into A Fifth-Grade Science Curriculum, Madison Rossen

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

This paper provides a lesson plan for integrating Social Emotional Learning into a fifth-grade science lesson as well as an overview of the benefits of Social Emotional Learning. Social Emotional Learning, known as SEL, has recently been implemented in classrooms across the United States and research has shown that SEL improves behavior and academic performance. Integrating SEL into science curriculums is a new idea without much research done on it but from personal experience in science class and science labs, many of the SEL standards line up with skills necessary to work in the scientific fields. Embedded in the paper …


Racial Diversity And Retention Rates Of Psychology Faculty In Washington State Public Universities, Chiyo Aoki-Kramer Apr 2023

Racial Diversity And Retention Rates Of Psychology Faculty In Washington State Public Universities, Chiyo Aoki-Kramer

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Racial diversity is extremely important in higher education; not only for the students but for the faculty, as well. Diversity within education is important because it can show students of color examples of people who look like them succeeding in higher education as well as giving White students a broader education of being taught by people who have different backgrounds than themselves. Along with diversity, it is important to know that Universities are also supporting their faculty so that their Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) faculty retention rates are as high as the White faculty. This paper reviews …


The Three R'S Of Exercise: Review, Reframe, Recommend, Liam Arenas-Field Apr 2023

The Three R'S Of Exercise: Review, Reframe, Recommend, Liam Arenas-Field

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Physical inactivity presents itself as a public health crisis worldwide, with significant risks to all populations. Two causes we identified are environmental factors and a lack of education. By providing a brief overview of bioenergetics and exercise prescription to the inexperienced, we can help educate and enable people to improve their activity level. Publicly available exercise guidelines often present themselves as very broad and nonspecific. Through further exploration, it becomes apparent that the concepts within more detailed exercise guidelines can be hard to interpret by those inexperienced in kinesiology. A key theme of exercise enjoyment leading to exercise adherence promotes …


Single Sex Education In A Gender Fluid World, Stella Sisson Jan 2023

Single Sex Education In A Gender Fluid World, Stella Sisson

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Intersectionality always seems to be a never-ending crux that people are working on becoming more aware of. Even more difficult, gender fluidity at a single sex institution—how do we tackle that intersection? This is the point of my project. As someone who is about to enter the professional field as an outdoor educator, I spend a lot of time thinking about how I can make accessibility easier for my students. These days, gender fluidity in environments that were originally intended for one gender seems like it would have roadblock after roadblock. However, the working professionals at Seattle Girls’ School work …


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 Oct 2022

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 …


Trouble Sitting Still Disorder: Adhd Through The Social Model Of Disability, Rey Kistler Apr 2022

Trouble Sitting Still Disorder: Adhd Through The Social Model Of Disability, Rey Kistler

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by issues with attention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. The medical model of disability sees ADHD as something to be fixed within an individual. The social model, in contrast, looks at how the organization of society negatively impacts those with ADHD. The diagnostic criteria in the DSM-V does not fully reflect the lived experiences of those with ADHD which leads to adults not getting diagnosed. Undiagnosed ADHD can cause anxiety and depression which, in turn, can mask ADHD—making it harder to accurately diagnose. Additionally, symptoms are misunderstood by society which leads to …


Honors Peer Mentorship: A Guide To Sustaining Community In The Institution, Silvia Leija Rosas Apr 2022

Honors Peer Mentorship: A Guide To Sustaining Community In The Institution, Silvia Leija Rosas

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Honors Peer Mentors are trained to be welcoming and reliable sources of community for incoming students of color in the Honors College; offer constructive opportunities and solutions for perceived problems; and listen to, support, and encourages the mentee. There are also benefits in being a peer mentor. A primary goal of the Honors Peer Mentor Team is to increase support for incoming Honors students from underrepresented backgrounds and facilitate connections with cross-campus partners, including the Ethnic Student Center, Student Advocacy and Identity Resource Center, LGBTQ+, Disability Outreach Center, mental health resources, Academic Advising, Career Services, etc This paper is both …


Aramark And The Prison Industrial Complex, Katie Jayne Hengqin Scoles Apr 2022

Aramark And The Prison Industrial Complex, Katie Jayne Hengqin Scoles

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

This paper examines how Western Washington University is directly tied to the unethical practices of the Prison Industrial Complex through their dining services contract with Aramark. The Prison System exploits marginalized communities, specifically Black communities and lower class Americans, rendering them second class citizens in order to create profit for the companies involved.


Can Women Science?: A Climate Survey To Address Gender Inequity In Wwu’S Geology And Physics/Astronomy Departments, Raina Shaw Apr 2022

Can Women Science?: A Climate Survey To Address Gender Inequity In Wwu’S Geology And Physics/Astronomy Departments, Raina Shaw

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

This research study aims to assess and analyze gendered differences in student perceptions of the environment and climate in WWU’s Geology and Physics & Astronomy Departments. Underlying hypotheses involve the perceptions, comfort, and discrimination of women and gender minorities in male-dominated spaces. We also theorize that these gendered differences will increase with seniority and more so within physics than in geology. In addition to testing these hypotheses, we sought to collect relevant student feedback on factors that influence their perceptions of the climate & environment, to identify areas for future study and formal program assessment. From 56 respondents, this study …


Honors Pathways And Curriculum Structure, Sebastian Doll Apr 2022

Honors Pathways And Curriculum Structure, Sebastian Doll

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Exploring the different pathways and curricular requirements of Honors program and colleges, I found several important recommendations tailored at Western Washington University Honors (which could also be used in conversations about Honors at other institutions) aimed at making Honors accessible to transfer students and increasing both the number and success of transfer students. Based on the research conducted, I find that offering mentoring programs to transfers, establishing agreements with community colleges, and increasing flexibility for honors requirements would help increase the number of transfer students in Honors.


The Secret Life Of Diatoms: An Exploration Of The Fascinating World Of Diatoms Through The Art Of Printmaking, Zofia Danielson Apr 2022

The Secret Life Of Diatoms: An Exploration Of The Fascinating World Of Diatoms Through The Art Of Printmaking, Zofia Danielson

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Diatoms are a type of microscopic primary producer that fall within the group of phytoplankton. They are named for their two halves: two cell walls made of glass (silica). These glass walls have a variety of forms depending upon the species that allow diatoms to adapt to their marine environments. Diatoms also contribute to productive coastal ecosystems, global oxygen production, and nutrient cycles. This project explored the significance of diatoms to marine ecosystems and their beauty in form through relief linocut printmaking in a workshop setting. The final result of this project is a relief printmaking workshop curriculum about diatoms …


Making Upper-Level Math Accessible To A Younger Audience, Allyson Roller Jan 2022

Making Upper-Level Math Accessible To A Younger Audience, Allyson Roller

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Symmetry is all around us. It appears on fabrics and on the buildings that surround us. Believe it or not, there is actually quite a bit of math that goes into generating these patterns, which are known as the seven frieze patterns. In my work, I explain how each unique pattern is generated using different types of symmetries. I also created a PDF of a children’s book about frieze patterns to ensure that people of all ages have the opportunity to learn about seemingly complex patterns.


Connections: Youth Suicide Prevention And Awareness, Catherine Baxter Jan 2022

Connections: Youth Suicide Prevention And Awareness, Catherine Baxter

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

This project is a suicide prevention and mental health awareness program created for Girl Scouts and other youth groups. Growing up as a Girl Scout in my hometown of Marysville, Washington, I have noticed there is a major lack of any sort of program within the organization focusing on mental health and suicide awareness. Children also don’t receive much information on this topic at school, if at all, and not until they’re in their late teens. Creating a program for young people involving such heavy topics is a difficult task that requires professional training. Under the advisory of Western Washington …


Dear Future, Sarah Kerby Oct 2021

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 …


More Than Meets The Eye; Accessibility Of Scientific Information Through Art, Rachael Barrows Jul 2021

More Than Meets The Eye; Accessibility Of Scientific Information Through Art, Rachael Barrows

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Science is inaccessible to learn in a myriad of ways. Financially it can be difficult to get information. It can also be hard to look up information on your own without knowing what to look for. Teaching science also involves a lot of reading that can be difficult for some disabilities. Through art, however, science can become more accessible, both to share and to learn. Visual learning benefits understanding and retention of information as well as creates clearer holistic concepts. Through paintings, this project shares some scientific information, exploring a way to share and teach science that is more accessible.


Everybody Watched And Watched: Illustrations For A Preschool Journal, Sylvie Spencer Ackroyd Apr 2021

Everybody Watched And Watched: Illustrations For A Preschool Journal, Sylvie Spencer Ackroyd

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

This is the beginning of illustrating excerpts from a journal I dictated at age three into a children’s book. Stories told by a child seemed like interesting material for a children’s book, which was something I have wanted to try for a while. What parts of the experience should be emphasized? How do the entries become a story apart from my memories? How can the images enhance the text? A thumbnail mock-up with several paintings.


Raising Canes: Crafting Disability Narratives, Charlotta Abernathy Apr 2021

Raising Canes: Crafting Disability Narratives, Charlotta Abernathy

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Disability is a common part of life, but not a well understood part of our cultural conscience. Because of this, the oppression that disabled people face, ableism, is particularly pervasive and under addressed. In order to begin to chip away at the systemic ableism that is embedded in all parts of society, disabled people need better representation in the media. This means not just showing stories that involve disabled people or that are about disabled people, but actual stories by disabled people about disability. One area of particular interest to me is addressing ableist misconceptions about assistive technology. To take …


Wandering Whatcom Falls, Hailey Schmidt Apr 2021

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.


(Not) Speaking Spanish: Explicit Pronunciation Instruction In The Online High School Classroom, Brahm Vanwoerden Apr 2021

(Not) Speaking Spanish: Explicit Pronunciation Instruction In The Online High School Classroom, Brahm Vanwoerden

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Students in the language classroom often face a variety of challenges inherent to the process of learning a second language as an adult. These range from lack of sufficient motivation to structurally uninspired curriculum and are often amplified in the case of a drastic shift in environment. Such a shift took place rapidly over the course of 2020, transforming thousands of classrooms into virtual versions of themselves in a matter of weeks. Students began to receive vastly different quantities and types of language input and interacted with the language in substantially affected ways. Factors that previously played a large role …


Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Empathy-Based Education In The Modern Zoo, Annika Brinkley Apr 2021

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Empathy-Based Education In The Modern Zoo, Annika Brinkley

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Approximately 10,000 zoos exist in the world, attracting an estimated 600 million visitors annually. At the most basic level, these zoos are tourist destinations dedicated to assembling animals in confinement from around the world. The arguably most modern and conservation-minded zoos today form the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. In January of 2019, twenty AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums created the Advancing Conservation through Empathy Network (ACE). AZA facilities that are part of the ACE Network engage visitors through a process known as Empathy-Based Education (EBE). EBE encourages compassion and emotional connection to animals by having the visitor take the place …


Challenging Deficit Discourses: Human Services And Trauma-Informed Practice, Brielle Lamphere Apr 2021

Challenging Deficit Discourses: Human Services And Trauma-Informed Practice, Brielle Lamphere

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) study by Kaiser-Permanente has significantly influenced trauma practice in many contexts. As a medicalized model, ACEs was intended to collect population information about traumatic experiences. However, many of its current applications are harmful in practice and in need of critique. More specifically, school systems must reconsider how ACEs is used in curriculum since providing screenings or “trauma-informed” models off of this study often portrays trauma as a deficit. By carefully examining my own education on ACEs and trauma theories at Western Washington University, alongside the experiences of other students and several professors, this deficit discourse …


Student Leadership In Western Washington University’S Honors Program, Emma Wiechert Apr 2021

Student Leadership In Western Washington University’S Honors Program, Emma Wiechert

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

After serving as the Student Honors Board President for the WWU Honors Program and in various other volunteer roles, I completed my senior capstone on student leadership in not only our honors program but programs across the country. The goal of this project was to highlight what WWU is doing well in terms of student leadership and what could be improved.


Depression Symptoms Of College Students During Covid-10 And The Universities’ Response, Anamika Paulay Jan 2021

Depression Symptoms Of College Students During Covid-10 And The Universities’ Response, Anamika Paulay

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

In early spring 2020, universities worldwide shut down their campuses in response to a global pandemic. The present study examines the potential effect of the shutdown and other pandemic-related stresses on student well-being at Western Washington University. It assesses students’ depression symptoms using the IDAS-II General Depression Scale. The study also considers two campus resources (the Counseling Center, and Prevention and Wellness Services) that students can turn to for help with mental health issues, and gauges students’ awareness and utilization of these resources. The study subjects were Western undergraduates (N = 252), who answered a survey that included the IDAS-II …


Montessori Approach In Public Schools, Sara Ronen Jan 2021

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 Accounting Student Resources: How To Improve Student Engagement In Campus Recruiting And Offer The Resources They Need To Be Successful, Ina Lagrandeur Apr 2020

Developing Accounting Student Resources: How To Improve Student Engagement In Campus Recruiting And Offer The Resources They Need To Be Successful, Ina Lagrandeur

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

For this project a new Canvas instructional page was created. The intention of this page is to create an informational database that students can use to find out any information that they might need for career or academic services. With this Canvas page the current information gap that students are experiencing will be decreased. Decreasing this information gap helps create a more equal playing field for students that are applying for jobs in the accounting field. Additionally, with easier access to needed recruiting information then students will feel more equipped to apply for jobs and get involved in opportunities outside …