Education Commons^™

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.

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 …

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 …

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 …

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.

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

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 …

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 …

Toward A Framework For The Natures Of Proportional Reasoning In Introductory Physics, Andrew Boudreaux, Stephen E. Kanim, Alexis Olsho, Suzanne W. Brahmia, Charlotte Zimmerman, Trevor I. Smith

Physics & Astronomy

We present a set of modes of reasoning about ratio and proportion as a means of operationalizing expert practice in physics. These modes, or natures of proportional reasoning, stem from consideration of how physicists reason in context and are informed by prior work in physics and mathematics education. We frame the natures as the core of an emerging framework for proportional reasoning in introductory physics, that will categorize the uses of proportional reasoning in introductory physics contexts, and provide guidance for the development of reliable assessments. We share results from preliminary assessment items indicating that university physics students have difficulty …

Culturally Responsive Teaching That Bridges Indoor And Outdoor Settings, Donald J. Burgess

Secondary Education

Culturally responsive teaching is a pedagogy that embraces full equitable access to education for students from all cultures. These strategies include learning within the context of culture and implementing student-centered teaching while communicating high expectations. The primary purpose of our two summer projects was to reshape our approach to curriculum design and development by incorporating culturally responsive teaching strategies. Two case studies, a marine ecology program and an alternative route teacher education program, provide evidence that culturally responsive teaching translates well between indoor and outdoor settings. In the first study, we initiated discussions with Suquamish and Port Gamble S’Klallam tribal …

Against The Grain: A Philosophical Case For Requiring Service-Learning, Not Volunteer Hours, Among College Students, Daniel Gallegos

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Policymakers and educators throughout the United States and abroad have long considered whether students should be required to participate in community service. Here, I provide a philosophical analysis of the issue, referring to the literature on the topic as well as the social crises which must be addressed, whether by students or otherwise. I conclude that while students should voluntarily participate in community service, they should not be required to engage merely by way of fulfilling a certain number of service hours. However, schools should require their students to participate in a service-learning curriculum with an accompanying community engagement project, …

One Nation Under God: Navigating Tensions Between American Culture, Christianity, And Education, Cassie Engvall

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

A multi-genre exploration of factors that shape contemporary Christian religious practice in the United States, particularly in the university setting. Specific topics include the Dittman v. Western Washington University case of 1978-1982, meditations on conflicting values, and personal experiences.

Persistence Of Common Myths And Misconceptions Regarding Dyslexia Among Preservice Teacher Populations, Grace Barr

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Preservice teachers rated 14 statements addressing common misconceptions of dyslexia on a 4 point Likert scale. Results showed a strong general understanding with some confusion regarding the visual versus phonological processing aspect of the disorder.

Use Of Legally Compliant Ieps For Inclusive Programming, Keith J. Hyatt, Aaron B. Perzigian

Woodring Scholarship on Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

The purpose of this article is to review major components of an Individualized Education Program (IEP) from the perspective that the IEP process serves to facilitate inclusive opportunities for students with disabilities. The IEP is a legally binding contractual agreement between a school district and a family, thus it is imperative for the process to be procedurally compliant and completed in a substantively meaningful manner consistent with the six key foundational principles of special education law (Turnbull, Stowe, & Huerta, 2007). An IEP is one of the foundational principles of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA) of 2004, …

Wels 2012 Survey Of Alumni Who Graduated Summer 2010 Through Spring 2011 Descriptive Statistics, John M. Krieg, Beth Hartsoch, Linda D. (Linda Darlene) Clark, Peter Felt

Office of Institutional Effectiveness

Executive Summary: Every other year the Office of Survey Research (OSR) contacts recently graduated Western students to inquire into their current activities and ask for their retrospective thoughts on their Western experience. In the spring of 2012 we surveyed alumni who completed their undergraduate degrees between summer, 2010 and spring, 2011. This report details the questions asked on that survey and summarizes responses for the university and by college and department. Initially, OSR solicited responses using e-mail contacts. These were initiated in July, 2012. Nonrespondents received two additional requests and then OSR contacted non-respondents by telephone to request their participation. …

Teaching Global Sustainability In The Primary Grades: A K-4 Curriculum Guide, Facing The Future, Western Washington University

Facing the Future Lessons

Global sustainability is an attempt to provide the best outcomes for the world’s human and natural environments - both now and into the indefinite future. The guiding principle of sustainability is that current generations are able to meet their needs without jeopardizing the ability of future generations to meet their needs. To achieve this goal, the health and needs of the environment, the economy, and society are considered.

Global sustainability education provides a practical and inspired framework for young people to understand contemporary issues not as insurmountable problems, but as opportunities to create a better world. It provides knowledge, skills, …

Western Alumni, Class Of 2005 - Spring 2006 Survey Findings, Gary (Gary Russell) Mckinney, Sara Jones, Richard Bulcroft, Linda D. (Linda Darlene) Clark

Office of Institutional Effectiveness

Western’s first Alumni Survey was conducted in 1988; it’s development and administration was in response to the Higher Education Coordinating Board (HEC Board) requirement to survey graduates every biennially. Western was done so diligently and reliably since. Twenty years on, as academic concerns have changed, so has the survey; however, the original “fourteen common items” proscribed by the HEC Board have remained. Similarly, the administration of the survey adapted: from a paper-and-pencil only mail-out form to the current on-line and telephone method. Yet regardless of the type of administration, satisfactory response rates have been attained. The current report includes data …

Academic Integrity Survey, Gary (Gary Russell) Mckinney, Joseph E. Trimble, Bradley Plemons, Jacqueline M. Andrieu-Parker

Office of Institutional Effectiveness

Executive Summary: During the 1962-63 academic year, Western participated in a nationwide survey on cheating. In 1993, that survey was recreated and readministered, nationally and at Western, through the auspices of The Center for Academic Integrity--located in the Graduate School of Management at Rutgers University. For the 1993 administration, 302 valid survey forms were obtained from Western students, compared to 54 responses from students in 1962. In both years survey respondents were mostly female (53.7% in 1962 and 63.8% in 1993), and mostly white, non-Hispanic (100% in 1962 and 92.1% in 1993). Most other demographic comparisons of the 1962 and …

Western Washington University Teacher Education Placement Survey, Western Washington University. Office Of Survey Research

Office of Institutional Effectiveness

Survey of students that have graduated from the teacher education curriculum at Western Washington University.

Western Washington University Student Survey Series: Western Washington University Students Volume One, Carl Simpson

Office of Institutional Effectiveness

Preface to the WWU Student Survey Reports, Volumes One to Five The Surveys During Summer, 1986, Western's Vice President for Academic Affairs requested that the Office of Survey Research, located in the Sociology Department conduct three inter-related surveys: A five year follow-up of 632 1982 Western graduates. A five year follow-up of 364 Individuals who attended Western but left In 1982 without graduating and remained out of Western for at least one year. A survey of 1280 seniors enrolled during Spring, 1987, who had completed at least 155 credits. A discussion of samples and research methods is included in Volume …