Education Commons^™

Comparing Public And Private Schools, Emily Scheper

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

School is an experience shared by most Americans, but each individual’s experience with school is very different. Many people assume that the biggest determinant of an individual’s success in life stems from choosing the right school. Many parents take this choice very seriously, trying to determine the best environment for their child. In most cases, the choice is between a public/city school and a private/religious school that charges tuition. The question is, though, why do parents decide to spend extra money to send their children to a private school when the same education is offered for free at any local …

Exploring Freshmen College Students' Self-Efficacy, Attitudes, And Intentions Toward Chemistry, Amanda F. Cook

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

This study examined the self-efficacy beliefs, attitudes towards general chemistry, and intentions to take future chemistry courses in a sample of (n = 1,126) first-time, first-year freshmen from a large comprehensive university in the Mid-South. The main purpose of the study was to determine the amount of variance in students’ intentions which could be predicted by self-efficacy, attitudes, and other known influences (past performance, past experience and choice of major). Findings from a standard multiple regression indicate that self-efficacy (β = 0.07, p < .05) and attitude (β = 0.50, p < .001) are both significant and predict 29.3% of the variance in intentions, with attitudes making a larger unique contribution. Using a hierarchical regression to control for other known factors, self-efficacy and attitudes were still able to predict 23.5% of the variance in intentions. Overall, the five independent variables were able to predict 31.7% of the variance in intentions. Implications for secondary and postsecondary science educators and STEM administrators are discussed.

The Seven Methods Of Co-Teaching, Courtney S. Cheatwood

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

How a person is taught in the classroom can shape who they’ll become in their future. While each teacher has a different style and approach to success, there’s always room for improvement. Co-teaching is a recently developed process that involves a primary and secondary pair of teachers who instruct a classroom simultaneously through seven different methods. “The Seven Methods of Co-Teaching” is a video project that fully outlines the co-teaching process with interview, descriptions and demonstrations of the methods and benefits of co-teaching. These videos will be used to ensure that P-12 classroom teachers have background knowledge on co-teaching, and …

Semipermeable Membranes, Diffusion, And Osmosis Inquiry: Effective Modeling In A High School Classroom, Amar Patel

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

A novel approach is taken in teaching the core chemical and biological concepts of mass transport properties, specifically diffusion and osmosis, in an investigation-rich unit of instruction spanning fifteen days. The unit is based on the highly successful 5-E, inquiry based approach known as project-based instruction which emphasizes the use of laboratories and interactive discussions. The entire unit will center on a grand challenge which the students will provide a media-based solution for by encompassing the concepts taught in the unit. When introducing these topics in the high school classroom, the instructor must be able to help students understand the …

A Virtual Tour Of Wku’S Main Campus, Zachary Ryle

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

In my WKU Honors College Capstone Experience entitled “A Virtual Tour of WKU’s Main Campus,” my task was to create a virtual tour students across the state, country and even around the world could use to view WKU’s campus without ever setting foot in Bowling Green. Throughout this experience, I filmed myself giving individual tour of over 60 different locations on WKU’s campus, with a total of 72 buildings and locations earning markers on the campus map. This virtual tour was created during the summer of 2011 and was completed by November of that same year. Once completed, Admissions Counselors …

(Re)Incorporating Poetry Into The Secondary English Curriculum, Bethany L. Riggs

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

This essay and unit plan examine and defend the teaching of poetry in high school English courses as a vital, practical, and major component of a curriculum. The instruction of poetry in public schools is strictly limited today, yet students gain skills through humanities classes that cannot be learned through other courses, such as critical thinking, self-expression, and analyzing abilities. These skills are translatable to additional subjects as well, including composing music, interpreting languages, evaluating arguments, solving problems, drawing conclusions, and understanding difficult concepts. How poetry is taught must also be examined, with regards to specific strategies, structural guidelines, and …

Children’S Stories From Across Borders: A Contrastive Analysis Of Children’S Folk Tales In Ecuador And Appalachia, Teresa Cox

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

The Appalachian region of the United States encompasses fourteen states, ranging from southern New York to northern Mississippi. Despite the thousands of miles separating the mountain region of Appalachia within the United States and the small, diverse country of Ecuador, the two areas are decisively similar in their values. These values are clearly demonstrated in the traditional children’s folk stories, passed down orally between generations, in both Ecuador and Appalachia. Having surveyed anonymous subjects in both areas, four stories from Ecuador and seven stories from Appalachia have been collected at random in order to draw on comparison and contrast of …

Management Training: An Assessment Of Undergraduate Education Programs In Preparing Teachers For Classroom Management, Matthew Jenkins

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

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The current study was designed to determine the most effective and/or preferable methods in which middle level pre-service teachers learn classroom management skills. Literature review points to no method being anymore effective and/or preferable. This is due to the many different methods of teaching classroom management skills. In this study 42 middle level pre-service teachers were surveyed. These pre-service teachers …

A Speech-Language Pathologiest Perspective On The Referral And Assessment Of Bilingual Children Whose Primary Language Is Not English, Kathleen M. Schulte

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

This study presents the results from a survey issued to speech-language pathologists in the state of Kentucky regarding their perspectives on referral and assessment of bilingual speakers whose primary language is not English. The study was conducted to determine methods for decreasing the over-identification of bilingual students served for speech and language disorders. Literature review indicates an over-identification of non-English speakers in special education and related services programs nationwide. There are many possible reasons for this over-identification some of which include: lack of English instruction prior to testing in English, Speech-Language Pathologists’ preparation level, and shortage of appropriately normed assessment …

Quality Instruction Creates Higher Student Learning, Kelly Jan Austin

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Many agree that science education is in need of reform, due to the fact that America is falling behind other industrialized nations in measures of science performance. In order to revolutionize the direction of this discipline is it up to the educators to implement changes in their classroom. It seems that our educational settings know what needs to be done in order to reach higher standards of achievement, however it is concerning that schools aren’t taking the steps necessary to reach these levels. In trying to enhance student learning, there are several methods in science education that are targeted at …

Curing Nature-Deficit Disorder: How Environmental Education Helps Kids Learn, Jamie Leigh Langley

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Walk into any public school and talk with the children about their experiences in nature and you will begin to see a pattern. Children have made few connections with the world around them. They do not spend much time outdoors and the time they do spend outdoors is not spent interacting directly with nature. Why does this matter? Look at these same kids and you will see another pattern emerging: Attention-Deficit Disorder, depression, obesity, emotional problems, etc. While not all of these problems are directly caused by a lack of interaction with the natural world, current research shows that there …

Multiple Intelligences In The Classroom, Andrea Lauren Heming

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

This project addresses the current hot topic in the field of education, of Multiple Intelligences. Howard Garner, psychologist and Harvard professor, believes there are multiple ways children learn. Through that belief he created the Multiple Intelligences Theory (MI) which states there are eight ways people learn or complete tasks. This project looked at the Theory of Multiple Intelligences and analyzed how it is applied in the classroom. Through research, direct observation, and interviews with teachers, it was found how this theory is practically applied in classrooms today. The following three questions were answered in this project. How are current teachers …

Reversing Underachievement: A Practical Guide For Parents, Alex J. Hargrove

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

This book is both a narrative and a guide. As a narrative, the book illustrates whit is like to be an underachiever. As a guide, the book informs parents with underachieving children about tho w to best help their child succeed. The former is based on my own personal experience with underachievement and what I've learned from it. The latter is based on extensive research and this research is then contrasted with my own experience to give the reader ta clearer picture of what the various concepts (concepts from the research) look like in practice. The book itself is structure …

Science And Social Studies: The Forgotten Content, Samantha Slaughter

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Abstract The daily curriculum of many elementary schools lacks instructional time in the content areas of science and social studies. Many teachers insist that they do not have the time or training to cover these content areas on a daily basis. This project will illustrate that through proper planning, integration, and professional development, teachers can feel empowered to teach these content areas. The project includes a succinct explanation of how science and social studies can be included on a daily basis in the regular classroom setting, a detailed curriculum map, daily schedule, and four basic integrated units. The curriculum map …

Ella And Henry: A Standards Based Unit And Accompanying Novel, Virginia Harris Prather

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

My CE/T consists of a young adult novel appropriate for elementary students and an accompanying Standards Based Unit of Study (SBUS). An SBUS is an instructional plan for teaching and learning that addresses content areas in a meaningful way. As part of the SBUS, I am including lesson plans, essential questions, a calendar for teaching this four-week unit, all worksheets, writing prompts, and other activities to be used, and an annotated bibliography of related works. The nature of this project is creative, as I have designed a unit for use in the elementary classroom. It will cover material from various …

An Investigation Of Factors That Influence How Students Decide On A Major At Western Kentucky University, Cinnamon C. White

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

During telephone interviews, students at Western Kentucky University were asked to explain how and why they chose a particular academic major. The students' race and majors were used in an attempt to determine if there were any noticeable differences in race/major categories. the study also examined some factors in students' backgrounds to determine if past experiences affected their decisions regarding majors.

Helping At-Risk Students Add Up: Motivational Lessons For Students In High School Mathematics, Karen Beckner

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

No abstract provided.

Implications Of Extended College Algebra On Western Kentucky University Students, Julie Anne Baker

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

College algebra has the highest enrollment of any mathematics course at Western Kentucky University. In an effort to increase the success rate in this course, Western Kentucky University added an extended version of college algebra to the curriculum in the fall of 1997. The extended version incorporates two days of supervised study per week in addition to traditional lectures. This study investigates the success of the extended college algebra course on achievement rates of Western Kentucky University students.

Teachers Attitudes Toward Students Learning At Higher Levels: A Challenge To Kera?, Kimberly Rager

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

"Teachers' Attitudes Toward Students Learning at High Levels: A Challenge to KERA?" discusses the underlying premise of the Kentucky Education Reform Act that states that all children can learn at high levels. Literature research was conducted from other states as well as from the state of Kentucky. The author distributed surveys in fourteen different schools in four different counties in the state of Kentucky. To clear up some confusion in the minds of educators as well as other citizens, the simple statement should be reworded to state that all children can learn at their highest possible level.

Ada Law: Program And Service Requirements As Applied To Wku, Jaron Blandford

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 has had a measurable effect upon education. The area examined in this paper involves programs and services offered at universities and colleges, for students with disabilities have the right to equal opportunities in educational programs. Instructors and administrators at all universities are now legally required to make certain accommodations to meet individual differences and abilities. At Western Kentucky University, professors and students alike are pleased with the ADA law, but there are some differing opinions on how well WKU is complying with it. Financing necessary changes is a major concern. WKU has had …

The Prenatal Use Of Crack Cocaine: How It Affects Children And How Schools Can Respond, Michelle Kirkham

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Crack made its debut in the United States during the late 1980's. No one thought about the enormous impact that one illegal drug could have, but crack has dramatically increased the number of drug addictions in this country. Even more traumatic is that there are many children suffering today from the effects of the crack that their mothers used while pregnant. The oldest crack-exposed children are now approaching school-age. A concern for the educators of our country is that disagreements exist concerning what abilities these children do or do not possess and what can or can not be done for …

Home Schooling And Kera: Comparison Of Themes And Development, Dana Patterson

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Dissatisfaction with the public schools has prompted a growing number of p.arents to teach their children at home. DespIte the fact that public education and homeschooling have a common purpose--to educate our nation's children in the best way possible--the groups are isolated in their efforts. And yet, ironically, by working separately the two have developed many of the same ideas, goals, and methods, although no comparative study of the two has been made until now.

Home Schools And Kera:Comparison Of Themes And Development, Dana Patterson

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

No abstract provided.

Achieving Equal Opportunity In American Public Schools Through Equitable Funding And Multicultural Education, Cindy Lee Underwood

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

abstract not available