Education Commons^™

Farm Camp Fun, Rebecca Moore

Summit to Salish Sea: Inquiries and Essays

This piece is a personal narrative about the journey of a young woman in the constant process of becoming an educator. The wonder of children is what drives this individual, discussed here through the lenses of thought of adultism and with a focus on play. The fallacies of higher education and the systemic injustices the US is built on are touched upon, with specific reference to the industrialized standardized school system. The author promotes the notion that this nation needs educators who see the inherent wisdom in children, because kids are the ones who are the hope for bringing this …

Womxn: An Evolution Of Identity, Ash D. Kunz

Summit to Salish Sea: Inquiries and Essays

Environmental Education is situated firmly in the hegemony of White, settler-colonial, capitalistic, able-bodied and –minded, heteronormative, patriarchal society. Individuals whose identity does not conform to this dominant metanarrative are excluded from and marginalized by “othering”. Trauma and violence are commonplace in society against Indigenous peoples, Black and Latinx folx and People of Color, womxn, people with disabilities, people in the LGBTQIA+ community, and all minoritized identities. That history of trauma, coupled with social and physical isolation can lead to mental and emotional struggles that negatively impact personal wellbeing. A lack of wellbeing, in turn can lead to or further depression. …

It’S Not All About Climbing Rocks: Reorienting Outdoor Educators Toward Social Justice, Sarah J. Clement

Summit to Salish Sea: Inquiries and Essays

The field of outdoor adventure education was born in the Western world in the twentieth century because of several specific factors. These factors include, but are not limited to: changing Euro-American attitudes toward wilderness, Kurt Hahn’s character education schools and the pervasiveness of white supremacy. Today, outdoor adventure education is widely popular among the white middle class. According to current instructors in the field, outdoor education is for the purpose of individual development, learning in a wilderness setting and teaching students how to be environmental stewards for wild places. These purposes result from underlying, sometimes false, assumptions about the nature …

Stop, Collaborate, And Listen: The Importance Of Critical And Creative Thinking, Kalynne Gallagher

Summit to Salish Sea: Inquiries and Essays

Creative thinking and critical thinking are necessary skills for equipping individuals to be the social change makers, leaders and innovators we need to make the world a better place. However, with our current education system focused on standardized testing and conformity, how can we foster these skills and be empowered to challenge assumptions and take risks? Kay ties in her own experience as well as the work from scholars in the field of education like bell hooks, David Orr and Sir Ken Robinson, to support her beliefs. Throughout this piece Kay examines where she believes that her critical thinking and …

White Guy Hiking: How I Learned To Think Critically About My Ecological Identity, Nick Engelfried

Summit to Salish Sea: Inquiries and Essays

Our encounters with the “natural” world are made possible by a complex of historical, political, social, and economic forces that shape each person’s ecological identity, or the way in which we relate to nature. I grew up in a White, middle-class family with easy access to green spaces, and this contributed to my growing up to become an environmental activist and educator. I now realize the doors which opened to allow me to embark on this path did not do so by chance and that many other people are prevented from engaging with nature in the ways I did as …

Lessons & Landscapes: Lived Experience In The Outdoors, Rachael Grasso

Summit to Salish Sea: Inquiries and Essays

This personal narrative documents Rachael Grasso’s lived experience in the outdoors, focusing on mental health and female leadership. Originally written for a graduate capstone presentation, the narrative visits landscapes that Rachael associates with life lessons and pivotal moments in her career and personal life. She hopes to incorporate these experiences into her future work as an educator and outdoor instructor.

(W)Here Is Here?: Variations On Voice And Location In Environmental Education, Alexei Desmarais

Summit to Salish Sea: Inquiries and Essays

This paper revolves around the question “where is here?”, a question that has implications for the politics of self and politics of place. Implications for how we think about ourselves in place, in relationality to other perspectives and epistemic positions, and specifically in relationship to specific geographical, socio-political, and historical structures. Attending to place and emplacement can help us to uncover and celebrate the vitality of particular, incomplete knowledge(s). In working to unsettle universal and hegemonic conceptions of how and what we know, this paper employs a polyphonic and queer logic, which is to say that the many voices and …

Klipsun Magazine, 2019, Volume 50, Issue 01 - Fall, Questen Inghram

Klipsun Magazine

Dear reader, Klipsun Magazine has hit the stands for fifty volumes now—it transformed from student yearbook to a storytelling publication during a time of war, civil unrest, uncertainty and an ever-present sense of indignation. Our writers pursued ledes with that feeling at heart. In this issue you’ll read stories about the long fight to renew the college of ethnic studies, one student’s year-long struggle with homelessness, why one man put a dent in his savings to run for city council, how one person has persevered since her sexual assault and more. I would like to personally thank the Klipsun staff, …

The Planet, 2019, Fall, Emily Dietzel, Huxley College Of The Environment, Western Washington University

The Planet

No abstract provided.

Window: The Magazine Of Western Washington University, 2019, Volume 12, Issue 01, Mary Lane Gallagher, Office Of University Communications And Marketing, Western Washington University

Window Magazine

No abstract provided.

The Next Generation Science Standards: Saving K-12 Science Education, Kaitlin Caylor

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

The United States has been struggling to provide effective K-12 science education. In response, states began adopting the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) in 2013 with the hopes of improving science education in the United States. As the NGSS become more common throughout schools in the U.S. it is important to begin collecting data on how they are affecting science education. This study was designed to collect preliminary data on the effectiveness of the NGSS in preparing students for college-level biology. University students with varying levels of exposure to the NGSS were given a biology benchmark assessment that is aligned …

Friday Night Lights: A Photo Gallery Normalizing The Psychological Struggles Faced By Student Athletes, Sam J. Reardon

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

This photography-based project aimed to capture moments that encapsulated various psychological conditions student-athletes may be facing in universities. These bold photographs would serve to be eye catching and draw viewers if they were to be hung up in a gallery for students to see. Under the images there would be captions on which students could read statistics regarding the amount of student -athletes that experience these conditions and an avenue for them to find help if they were struggling with the condition. Studies show that collegiate athletes underreport their struggles with psychological conditions though they occur with greater frequency in …

Klipsun Magazine, 2019, Volume 49, Issue 04 - Summer, Angela Wissmar

Klipsun Magazine

Dear Reader, I invite you to savor these pages and indulge on the flavors of life within these stories. I invite you to have a large appetite, to bite off more than you can chew, but to finish anyway. I invite you to always leave room for vulnerability, resilience and change, but with joy as the main course. Maybe you’re like me, finally graduating after a victory lap, stumbling on the pressure cooker of, “what’s next”. “Next” is taking risks. Welcoming failure. Knowing when to ask for help. Never settling. Having the courage to try new things. And not ever …

Photovoice As Micro-Invitation: A Case Study Of High School Im/Migrant Youth Disrupting Everyday Forms Of Racism, Kevin C. Roxas, Verónica N. Vélez

Woodring College of Education Faculty Publications

Racial microaggressions describe how People of Color experience daily racial assaults in seemingly minor, but nonetheless insidious ways. The photovoice project highlighted here demonstrates the varied ways in which im/migrant high school students in one community challenged everyday microaggressions by making clear how they wanted fellow students, teachers, and other members of society to acknowledge, respond, and interrupt racist discourses. We introduce the concept of micro-invitations to describe strategic efforts to build collective forms of resistance. We argue that microinvitations, as a both a theoretical and pedagogical intervention, helps us better understand how marginalized youth, in this case im/migrant youth, …

Window: The Magazine Of Western Washington University, 2019, Volume 11, Issue 03, Mary Lane Gallagher, Office Of University Communications And Marketing, Western Washington University

Window Magazine

No abstract provided.

Family & Community Engaged Teaching (Facet): A Pathways Collaborative, Kyra Oziel

Scholars Week

Exploration of the history, education theory, practical application, and ongoing results from the Woodring College of Education FACET program. The Learning in Communities and Schools (LinCS) office has collaborated with FACET, Shuksan Middle School, and Alderwood Elementary School to pilot an immersive interdisciplinary pre-service education program that strives to develop critically conscious family and community engaged educators who, in partnership, foster the potential and well-being of all children and youth in the context of their lives. The LinCS office has helped to implement and assess this program in its initial years.

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 …

Klipsun Magazine, 2019, Volume 49, Issue 03 - Spring, Kristina Rivera

Klipsun Magazine

Being ourselves takes courage. Courage to be honest and courage to be vulnerable. I chose authenticity as the theme for this issue of Klipsun because I wanted genuine and honest stories. What I received were stories about fighting for identity, what we can learn about ourselves through the lens of cross-cultural psychology, confronting the past to better understand who we are now and more. When we muster up the courage to tell honest, authentic stories like these, it can remind us we’re not alone. Sometimes that’s all we can ask for. When we’re honest with who we are with each …

Regendering Iraq: State Feminism, Imperial Feminism, And Women’S Rights Under Sanctions, Samia Saliba

Western Libraries Undergraduate Research Award

From 1990-2003, the United Nations, largely at the direction of the United States., enforced a strict set of international sanctions against Iraq with the goal of eliminating chemical weapons in Iraq and weakening Saddam Hussein’s regime. While the impacts of these sanctions were widespread and devastating, this period also saw a specific loss of rights and worsening of social and economic conditions for most Iraqi women. In this paper, I examine these understudied gendered impacts of sanctions, particularly on women’s participation in the workforce, education, and political arena; as well as their impacts on family structures and marriage, gender-based violence …

American Political Culture And Sarah Palin: Motherhood, Femininity, And Masculinity In The 2008 Presidential Election, Maggie Newhouse

Western Libraries Undergraduate Research Award

Sarah Palin’s Vice-Presidential run can be characterized by displays of motherhood, femininity, and masculinity, themes that reflect changes in American political culture as well as stationary expectations. Palin was praised and criticized for her role as a mother, indicating a shift in political culture that allows women to hold both public and private roles but not without being acceptably successful in both areas. Palin’s performance of traditional femininity and masculinity signifies that women’s political success is contingent on the confirmation and operation of traditional gender expectations such as motherhood and deference to husbands. She both reaffirmed and challenged gender stereotypes, …

The Planet, 2019, Spring, Emily Dietzel, Huxley College Of The Environment, Western Washington University

The Planet

No abstract provided.

Window: The Magazine Of Western Washington University, 2019, Volume 11, Issue 02, Mary Lane Gallagher, Office Of University Communications And Marketing, Western Washington University

Window Magazine

Publication at Western Washington University

Fever Dreams: Wwu Art Studio Bfa Exhibition Catalog, Emeline Agnew, Jesse Lee Alkire, Lindsey Hammerle, Ruby Rae Jones, Ramneet Kaur, Abigail March, Carly Mccartney, Keiko Scott, Casper Truong, Ellery Von Dassow

B.F.A. Catalogs

Fever Dreams is the 2019 Western Washington University Art Studio BFA Exhibition Catalog. It features the work of 10 artists, their artist statements, and responses by art historians. There is also a curatorial statement by Hafthor Yngvason, curator.

Framing Feminism: How U.S. And French Media Frame #Metoo And #Balancetonporc From A Feminist Perspective, Kira Erickson

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

The purpose of this website is to provide a cross-cultural analysis of the .. Me Too" movement in the U.S. and France. These feminist movements are absolutely critical to the ongoing fight against sexual harassment and assault. The creation of this research website explores cultural differences in framing of the subjects in news stories from The New York Times and Le Monde. The #MeToo movement is compared and contrasted with France's counterpart, #BalanceTonPorc.

Website Link:

https://ericks663.wixsite.com/framingfeminism

Seeking Asylum: Immigration Law In The Context Of Human Rights, Hannah Blank

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

The purpose of this paper is to understand the dynamic between Latin American countries and the United States in relation to asylum, mass migration and the process of legally entering the country. This explores the implications of the United States’ current legislature in place and how this caters to the U.S.’s interests. Furthermore, the theoretical implementation of asylum and its political origins are evaluated in the context of organized crime and social issues that impact migration trends. While the movement of goods is acceptable the movement of people is heavily scrutinized and politically charged. My proposed argument is that the …

Robodoc: Ethics Of Ai In Medicine, Halley Egnew

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

What do we do when the doctor of the future may not be human? In order to assess the full effect of trying to replace human caregivers with AI machines, we must investigate the types of ethics that these machines would work under—implicit, explicit, and full. The type of AI that movies present us with are fully ethical AI; they have a sense of self. The possible implementation of AI in medicine forces us to confront not just new technology, but also the definition of consciousness and free will, so I advise that for now we just stick to implicit …

Equity In Stem: Utilizing Student Experience To Better Inform Policy And Practice, Natasha Hessami

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

As women and people of color continue to pursue higher education and other advanced degrees, the STEM field consistently lags behind in diverse representation and leadership. There is a critical need to address the structural barriers marginalized groups face to accessing and succeeding in STEM and invest both time and money into innovative student-centered solutions. This project outlines the development of the CSE Student Ambassador program and implementation recommendations, the development and presentation of seminars focused on equity in the Biology and Chemistry departments, and general recommendations for faculty to make classroom and lab spaces more inclusive.

Quick Guide To Plant Families Of Western Washington, Maggie Hayward, John D. Tuxill, James M. Helfield

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

This guide is an expanded version of a booklet designed to help students identify native plants in western Washington. It has been expanded to include invasive and ruderal taxa commonly found in riparian areas. The purpose of this guide is to provide practical help for identifying plant families, and to facilitate a basic understanding of plant morphology. By observing morphological characteristics such as leaf arrangement and structure, the user can narrow an unidentified species down to the family level. Because this book does not go to the species level, it is meant to be used as a companion to other …

A More Sustainable Future: Energy Efficiency Policies In Buildings, Campbell Miller

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Energy efficiency is often times the most cost effective solution towards reducing energy demand. Energy usage in buildings accounts for upwards of 40% of the total energy consumption in the United States, as well as the vast majority of the growth in energy demand. Despite this buildings are often not built to be energy efficient, causing the residential and commercial sector to paying for hundreds of millions dollars on unnecessary energy use. The reason for this is the many market failures including: risk, lack of information, and access to capital. Looking at policies by the United States and China attempting …

Wildfire Education In Washington School Districts, Jessica Martin

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Wildfire education is an important and often overlooked unit of a comprehensive public school education. Ecology, earth science, and disaster preparedness for events like earthquakes and house fires are examples of subjects already taught to students in schools throughout Washington; however, given the effects of climate change, wildfire education warrants much greater integration into school district curricula. To assess the general extent of wildfire education in Washington state, Washington state public school districts were contacted and asked if they provided their students with wildfire education. A majority of the school districts contacted reported that they either do not formally include …