Education Commons^™

Empowering All Students To Participate: Utilizing Aac To Respond During Lessons, Robbie Cromwell

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Previous research indicates that frequent and active participation of all students (including diverse student groups) improves student outcomes, as does using a variety of methods to respond during classroom instruction. Current research is limited in examining two key areas: 1) Increasing active participation of AAC users by encouraging engagement through frequent response opportunities during instruction and 2) Utilizing a variety of response methods to enable participation during instruction. Given the gaps that exist in the research, the purpose of this study is to examine whether incorporating a variety of opportunities to respond has an impact on AAC user’s engagement and …

Integrating Content, Culture, And Language For Portuguese Dual Language Immersion Learners, Aline Reis

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This portfolio is the result of the approaches to teaching I have learned through coursework, readings, class observations, and reflections during the Master of Second Language Teaching (MSLT) program. It contains my teaching philosophy, developed from my experiences in the elementary Dual Language Immersion (DLI) program and the Utah State University (USU) MSLT program, as well as examples of work produced in the MSLT program, both theoretical and practical. First, the professional environment piece provides context and background for reflections on my teaching experience and pedagogy. Second, the teaching philosophy statement (TPS) describes the main theoretical frameworks and approaches that …

Teaching Reflection On Collaborative Writing In The Spanish Second And Third-Grade Dli Classroom, Lucía Martín García

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This portfolio was written and compiled by the author while completing the Utah State University Masters in Second Language Teaching (MSLT) program. The documents included are: a discussion of the author’s teaching environment and experience, a teaching philosophy statement of the approaches that inform the author’s teaching practice, a required professional development peer observation of another instructor, a main paper that investigates benefits of and strategies for collaborative writing in the L2 classroom, and a statement of personal goals for the future. In the main paper, the author offers a concise literature review and a reflection on collaborative writing strategies …

An Investigation Of Active Learning On Students' Understanding Of Infinite Series Convergence, Zachary Coverstone

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Many students encounter infinite series for the first time as part of their single-variable calculus coursework. As part of this initial engagement with infinite series convergence, students grapple with infinity in ways that they haven't had to before. For instance, the fact that summing infinitely many terms sometimes yields a finite value, but at other times diverges, poses significant conceptual challenges.

I recently designed and implemented a curriculum for second-semester calculus centered in doing problems to help students develop ideas surrounding infinite series convergence, rather than using direct instruction. The unit design was patterned after a workshop at the Park …

Recognizing And Reducing Ambiguity In Mathematics Curriculum And Relations Of Θ-Functions In Genus One And Two: A Geometric Perspective, Shantel Spatig

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Anxiety and mathematics come hand in hand for many individuals. This is due, in
part, to the fact that the only experience they have with mathematics is what some
mathematics educators refer to as "schoolmath," which uses a somewhat different
language than real mathematics. The language of schoolmath can cause individu-
als to have confusion and develop misconceptions related to several mathematical
concepts. One such concept is a fraction. In chapter one of this report, one possible
reason for this is discussed and a possible solution is purposed.
In chapter three of this report, genus-two curves admitting an elliptic involution …

Student Centered Language Teaching: A Focus On Student Identity, Rachel Mano

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This portfolio is a compilation of essays that describe what the writer has come to see as essential topics in second language acquisition. It begins with a professional environment piece, and then a teaching philosophy statement focused on student identity and interaction in the classroom. This is followed by an essay on observations of teaching. The next two sections focus on pragmatic resistance among advanced learners and the importance of preparing learners for peer interaction. The portfolio concludes with an annotated bibliography outlining the main concepts associated with Communicative Language Teaching, a method that is commonly employed in second language …

Authorial Agency: Investigating Composition Pedagogies Under A New Lens, Tyler Hurst

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This essay considers the work of three prominent composition scholars through the lens of authorial agency, which I define as a form of agency that focuses on the individual voice and self-determination of students in the writing space. Though the concept of agency has been previously considered by composition scholars, this contribution might aid in understanding various pedagogical approaches by analyzing how authorial agency is already being engaged within composition pedagogies and investigating how authorial agency aids teachers in understanding their pedagogy so that students learn to take back control of their own authoritative voice and self-determination. By re-investigating …

Teaching In The Digital Age: Creating A Student-Centered Classroom, Becca Huber-Jackson

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This portfolio compiles the work of the author during her time as a student in the Master of Second Language Teaching (MSLT) program at Utah State University (USU). It highlights her personal pedagogy as well as provides supporting research. The different components of this portfolio are separated into two sections: teaching perspectives and research perspectives.

In the teaching perspectives section, she introduces her desired professional environment, outlines her teaching philosophy statement, and provides an analysis based on teaching observations. Research perspectives consist of two research papers and an annotated bibliography written throughout the course of the program that support the …

Variety In Second Language Instruction: Student Engagement In Sla, Emily Borgstrom Woodruff

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This portfolio is a collection of works completed by the author during her time as a student in the Master of Second Language Teaching program at Utah State University. It highlights important aspects and experiences of foreign language education that represent the author’s personal journey of learning and teaching.

The first section is comprised of the author’s teaching perspectives which are represented through the author’s desired professional environment, her teaching philosophy statement, and the author’s professional development through teaching observations. The second section presents the author’s pedagogical research pertaining to foreign language pragmatics and music integration in the classroom. The …

Exploring The Impact Of Musical Mnemonic Strategies On Student Achievement And Engagement In Inclusive Science Classes, Zinna Eaton

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Students with disabilities often struggle with comprehending material and performing at grade level, and teachers often find new ways to help their students comprehend the curriculum. A common challenge for special education teachers is incorporating different learning styles and various instructional strategies to better assist their students. One teaching strategy and resource that many teachers incorporate is the use of music in their instruction. This research project examines how incorporating music teaching strategies into daily instruction impacts the level of engagement and the academic achievement level of sixth-grade students with and without mild/moderate disabilities within inclusive science classrooms. The study …

Teaching The Engineering Design Process To High School Students By Implementing A Non-Traditional Engineering Capstone Course, Joseph Woodard

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This plan B project is to showcase the implementation of an engineering design capstone course at a remote, rural public high school, in a non-traditional (after-school) format with a small group of students. The project documents successful strategies along with challenges that were learned from such an implementation of this course. Three high school students were supported in learning to solve an extended design challenge, in this case creating an augmented reality (AR) sandbox. The project shows how a capstone course can be utilized in teaching students to solve complex, ill-structured problems.

In this project, a manuscript was prepared for …

Every Step A Novel: Historical Circumstances And Somali American Identity, Haden Griggs

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This project is designed to help high school students learn about the experiences, history and identity of Somali men who came to Utah as refugees. It is organized around the oral histories of eight Somali men who live in the Salt Lake City area. They were collected by Haden Griggs in the latter half of 2019. Transcripts and audio recordings for all the interviews are available here.

A paper, analyzing the historical circumstances and variations on Somali identity, is included here for scholarly or instructor use. This project also includes a digital exhibit tracing recent Somali history and contextualizing the …

From Theory To Practice: Establishing The Classroom As The Setting For Race Talk Through The Intentional Analysis And Discussion Of Poems By Authors Of Color, Cree Taylor

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Modern-day racism exists in mostly subtle ways and is often felt most keenly in the classroom. When schools began the legal integration process in 1954, Black teachers were fired, all-Black schools were closed, and Black students were bused to the formerly all-White schools. In this new environment, Black students and all Students of color were forced to accept and adapt to an educational system that favored Whites over all other racial groups. Today, White Supremacy in education affects the establishment of state and national standards, school and district boundaries, and the un-fair disciplinary action taken against Students of Color. In …

The Effects Of Student Learning When Subtitles Are Added To Videos, George T. Taylor

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This project investigated whether adding subtitles to educational videos increases learning among middle school students. A convenience sample (N=387) of Technology and Engineering middle school students were separated into two groups during the third term of both the 2018 and 2019 school years, where one group of students viewed videos with subtitles and the other group viewed the identical videos without subtitles. After viewing the videos, students immediately took a multiple-choice test. The test scores were used to analyze the variance between the two different groups. The results reveal that students who viewed videos with subtitles had slightly …

Breaking Traditions: Teaching Efl In The Dominican Republic, Farlin Paulino

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This portfolio is a compilation of the author’s beliefs in regard to effectively teaching English as a Foreign Language and Spanish as a Second language. This work was completed for the Master of Second Language Teaching (MSLT) program at Utah State University. All the work compiled in this portfolio centers on the teaching philosophy statement, which contains what the author believes to be the most important aspects of teaching a second language. In the first section of the portfolio, the author presents the experiences that made him pursue the profession of teaching languages, his personal philosophy of teaching shaped by …

Report Detailing The Development Of University Articulation Agreements And Course Syllabi Revisions For The Engineering Drafting & Design Technology Program At Salt Lake Community College, Michael Stenquist

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This project is an attempt to close the gap between local industry, higher education, and the Engineering Drafting and Design Technology (EDDT) department at Salt Lake Community College (SLCC). As a longtime drafting instructor in the EDDT department at SLCC, a need for change in industry from board drafting, to 2-D CAD, and now to 3-D CAD has occurred. Because of these changes, the program has continually been updated to meet the needs of the students and local industries. The purpose of this project detailed in this report was first, to explore the drafting needs of professionals working in the …

Bridging Music And The Early Childhood Curriculum In Listening And Spoken Language Programs For Children Who Are Deaf Or Hard Of Hearing, Whitney Wright

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Music is an integral aspect of human life. Its impact weaves through arts, culture, communication, recreation, and education. In addition to benefits of enjoyment and entertainment, music is a vital component of early childhood educational settings. Educators routinely utilize music as an embedded component of instruction to meet both group and individual needs of young children in early childhood classrooms. In fact, specialized musical instruction can be particularly beneficial for children with disabilities, including those who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) (Gfeller, Driscoll, Kenworthy, & Van Voorst, 2011). Children who are DHH are at significant risk for speech, …

Integration Of Precision Teaching Instructional Materials For Levels K-6 State Of Utah Core Curriculum Standards And Objectives In Math: A Directory For Computer Managed Instruction/Decision Making, Nancy Joanne Christner Williams

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The State of Utah's Department of Education has developed an objective/outcome based education model, K-12 grade levels, based upon effective teaching research. The model components are 1) a core curriculum consisting of the basic elements essential for every student's educational program; 2) curriculum instruction based upon the mastery of educational outcomes at an appropriate level in accuracy and fluency, with a variety of options for learning; and 3) management systems which eliminate redundancy in the educational process. Two technological systems which have been piloted with some implementation through collaborations are the MID--Project developed at Utah State University and the CORVUS--Project …

Curriculum Materials Center: Perceptions Of The Faculty Of The College Of Education At Utah State University, Janie L. Rudrud

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Curriculum Materials Centers, traced as far back as the 1920's, have existed under a variety of names and with a variety of functions. The concept of a curriculum laboratory (one of the many commonly used terms) varies from that of a place or room with equipment and materials to that of a service in which leadership in the use of these materials is also provided. Church feels that they have survived because of this very ability to vary their functions to serve their particular parent institution; remaining adaptable to disseminate the curriculum and instructional materials needed in the form desired …