Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Education Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 9 of 9

Full-Text Articles in Education

Adult Immigrant English Learners’ Perceptions Of Their Multilingual And Multicultural Identities, Greta Mcelvain Oct 2022

Adult Immigrant English Learners’ Perceptions Of Their Multilingual And Multicultural Identities, Greta Mcelvain

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

Adult immigrant English learners (ELs) must navigate living in a new country while also learning a new language. These immigrants are becoming both multicultural and multilingual. It has been established in prior literature that as immigrants adjust to living in a new culture with a different language, they experience both a language (Wardhaugh & Fuller, 2015) and cultural (Gibson, 2001, as cited in Schwartz, 2006, p. 2) shift. These shifts can sometimes result in immigrants losing connection to their first languages (Zhang, 2010) or their home cultures Gu and Lai (2019). Self-reflection activities have been shown to allow individuals to …


The Impact Of Nature Deficit On Creating Learning Spaces For Children, Kirsten Bergren Oct 2022

The Impact Of Nature Deficit On Creating Learning Spaces For Children, Kirsten Bergren

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Nature deficit disorder is a problem because it causes a disconnect between people and the environment. Adults have their own experiences with nature deficit disorder and that is impacting their ability to design nature rich environments for children. Recognizing their own experiences can help them to create and enrich the learning environment of their students. This project aims to decrease nature deficit disorder and stress and increase overall health and wellness.


Joy In Choice: Cultivating A Choice-Centric Literacy Classroom In Upper Elementary, Alexandra Pickell Oct 2022

Joy In Choice: Cultivating A Choice-Centric Literacy Classroom In Upper Elementary, Alexandra Pickell

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The research question addressed in this project is: How do teachers initiate and nurture joyful, personally meaningful opportunities for reading in the classroom? This project is an introductory website detailing how and why teachers can shift their reading block to make it a time in the day when students are making choices for themselves. In so doing, student motivation and joy for reading is at the forefront of the classroom (Gambrell, 2015). The intended audience is any upper elementary teacher looking to decenter the teacher’s voice during independent reading, but is of particular importance for teachers who already have an …


Facilitating The Success Of Students Transitioning Between Different Methods Of Instruction, Amanda Froberg Jul 2022

Facilitating The Success Of Students Transitioning Between Different Methods Of Instruction, Amanda Froberg

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The research question being addressed in this project is, how do teachers successfully facilitate the movement back and forth between different methods of instruction for students? This question is answered in the paper and then the project. The project consists of a professional development workshop that is five 120 minute sessions. The first chapter introduces the topic with discussing teaching experiences before the pandemic, COVID-19 and distance learning, and teaching experiences after the pandemic. The second chapter is the literature review that looks at defining student success (academic, social, and mental/emotional), distance learning and COVID-19, and transitions in method of …


Employing Culturally Responsive Teaching Practices In English Language Arts Classrooms, Austin Niederkorn Jul 2022

Employing Culturally Responsive Teaching Practices In English Language Arts Classrooms, Austin Niederkorn

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Culturally responsive teaching (CRT) is a well renowned approach to teaching that connects students’ cultures, languages, and personal experiences to the curriculum they learn in school. CRT helps students access higher level learning while also promoting increased student achievement, a positive classroom environment, meaningful teacher-student relationships, and impactful connections with communities and families. All teachers can benefit from using CRT in their classrooms, yet English Language Arts (ELA) teachers have unique opportunities to use students’ cultural and linguistic backgrounds to shape their reading and writing instruction. Despite being widely praised, culturally responsive teaching is not often the focus of professional …


Restorative Justice Practices And Their Impacts In Elementary Classrooms, Mary Miles Apr 2022

Restorative Justice Practices And Their Impacts In Elementary Classrooms, Mary Miles

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

This capstone sought to answer the question: What are the most effective ways to implement restorative justice practices into elementary classrooms in order to create a positive learning community? This capstone analyzed the historical need for restorative justice practices in classrooms by describing the detrimental effects of zero tolerance policies and the school to prison pipeline. It analyzed the roots of restorative justice practices in indigenous cultures and examined how culture can influence the way conflict is addressed. This capstone examined the need for interactive staff development on how to implement restorative practices in the classroom. It discussed several restorative …


How Do Schools Assess And Deliver Effective Professional Development To Mainstream Teachers With A Focus On Supporting Multilingual Learners?, Michelle Tornga Apr 2022

How Do Schools Assess And Deliver Effective Professional Development To Mainstream Teachers With A Focus On Supporting Multilingual Learners?, Michelle Tornga

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

A significant educational concern in the state of Minnesota is that there is a substantial achievement gap between native English speakers and Multilingual Learners (MLLs). Despite implementation of federal (ESSA) and state legislation (LEAPS Act) designed to address this issue, an achievement gap still persists and Minnesota educators continue to struggle to support MLLs academically. This capstone project uses a synthesis from a literature review and the creation of a website, survey and pre-selected curated professional development resources in order to answer the question: How Do Schools Assess and Deliver Effective Professional Development to Mainstream Teachers With a Focus on …


Utilizing Experiential Education In Nature-Based Settings To Impact Pro-Environmental Behaviors, Delaney Babich Apr 2022

Utilizing Experiential Education In Nature-Based Settings To Impact Pro-Environmental Behaviors, Delaney Babich

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Spending time in nature can have many effects on a person. I wanted to find out if one of these effects was a change in behavior regarding sustainable actions and mindsets. The research question posed for this project is: How does experiential education in a nature based setting impact pro-environmental behaviors? After researching many different forms of outdoor education and frameworks widely used in education, I decided my project would consist of an interactive activity booklet meant to be taken to a park or natural space along the Mississippi River in the Twin Cities, or the surrounding areas. I wanted …


Social And Emotional Learning In An Open Space, Emily Stein Apr 2022

Social And Emotional Learning In An Open Space, Emily Stein

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Utilizes an adaptation of the open space technology (OST) method to support 9‐12‐year‐old attendees of residential summer camps in proposing, developing, and facilitating own camp activities. Provides intentional support for development of social and emotional learning (SEL) competencies laid out by Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (2020). Specifies examples of skills from each competency and where practiced in the curriculum. Offers considerations for supporting diverse individuals and groups in practice.