Education Commons^™

How To Become A Teacher, Linsey Riggins

Scholars Week

A list on how to become a teacher in an easy eight step program using inspiration from education students and current teachers.

James Baldwin's Classroom And What He Can Teach Us About Queer Representation, Matthew Callahan

Scholars Week

James Baldwin writes about the importance of the representation of race in school classrooms in his essay A Talk to Teachers. Baldwin's discourse surrounding the representation of race in schools can be extended to the queer community and the importance of representation in the classroom of these marginalized communities. Combining Baldwin's essays and fiction with educational research, I plan on highlighting the importance of representation of marginalized communities in the classroom and the role that educators play in ensuring that all students feel seen in the classroom.

Effects Of Clinical Competency In Nursing Students Following The Implementation Of Student-Led Learning, Cori E. Hack, Jacob N. Hicks

Scholars Week

Research and supporting evidence represent a gap identified in didactic learning between students and faculty. This gap shows emotional factors of the nursing curriculum that may suggest negative impacts on nursing students, but also improvements that can be made to increase students’ clinical competency levels. By adhering to strict definitions of student-led learning theory and clinical competency, we were able to create concrete evidence with measurable data that can contribute to the elimination of this gap in learning. Upon inspection of past text, we identified a need for further research on this topic to bring awareness and encourage this method …

Incorporate Art Standards In Kindergarten Curriculum, Christina Mattocks

Scholars Week

No abstract provided.

Entertainment Media Perceptions Of Minorities In Young Adult Adaptations, Kynnadie Bennett

Scholars Week

This is an exploration of stereotypical and racist portrayals of minorities, specifically African-American, Latinx, and Native American communities, in film and television in the past and how that has affected representation in film adaptations of young adult literature. Young adult literature is one of the highest-selling genres in literature, purchased by both young adults and actual adults. In recent years, young adult literature has been adapted into film and television series and while representation has improved since the early years of entertainment history, there are still problems in the industry: many of the stereotypes remain, some minorities lack representation, and …

Education Reporters And Trauma-Informed Interviewing, Mallory Hlava

Scholars Week

No abstract provided.

Preparing Future Teachers In The Age Of Ngss: An Investigation Of A Preservice Teacher Curriculum, Pearl Hughes, Ellis Lower

Scholars Week

The Next Generation Science Standards call for science learning be composed of scientific practices, crosscutting concepts, and disciplinary core ideas, i.e. “three-dimensional." The class SCED 201 at Western uses the Next Generation Physical Science and Everyday Thinking curriculum, whose publishers claim it to be three-dimensional. A revised version of the Three-Dimensional Learning Assessment Protocol (3DLAP), was used to analyze one unit of the curriculum. Knowing how to revise learning opportunities to engage with each of the three dimensions, will help provide students with learning in line with the NGSS. This poster presents the results of the 3DLAP analysis, and an …

Student Perceptions Of Academic Effort In Applied Science Courses, Ragan Harris

Scholars Week

Student Perceptions of Academic Effort in Applied Science Courses: A Pilot Study

Ragan Harris

Dr. Priscilla Maghrabi

Dr. Brenda Reeves

Applied Health Sciences

Many applied science programs such as exercise science include prerequisite courses in the basic sciences to provide students with knowledge of foundational principles as well as provide transfer pathways from biology. However, when students begin exercise science coursework, their perceptions are that these courses should be easier, expecting lower effort and higher academic grades. These mismatched perceptions often lead to academic frustration. To determine the validity of the perceptions of high vs. low academic effort and academic …

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.

Head Start And Internalizing/Externalizing Behaviors, Camila Ferreira

Scholars Week

Children who attend Head Start program are impacted in externalizing/internalizing behaviors, and many other areas. The abstract explains how the study analyzes these impacts, and how temperament and parental involvement also play a role in behaviors.

Finding A Balance Between Exploratory And Preparatory Services, Megan Gullett

Scholars Week

The Tennessee Promise is a last-dollar scholarship program offering tuition subsidies to eligible state high school graduates that pursue an associate's degrees at one of the participating institutions. The program has inadvertently resulted in fewer traditional-aged students beginning their collegiate journey at four-year colleges and universities. Functional units like career counseling have seen the impact of Promise shift service demands from exploratory- to employment preparatory-centered, as the needs of junior-level transfer students differ from those of traditional-aged freshmen. The presenters conducted a multi-site case study to explore how Career Counseling administrators at three private liberal arts and four public-assisted, regional …

Capturing The Moment: A Rhetorical Analysis Of World War Ii Celebration, Kylie Wagar

Scholars Week

The iconic image V-J Day in Times Square is nationally remembered for the celebration of the end of World War II. Focusing on the archival collection Victory and Peace from the National Archives, this research demonstrates a disconnect in American perceptions and the reality of culture through iconic images. Specifically I investigate the extent to which images from the 1940s are romanticized, celebrated and replicated in reflection of remembrance of the World War II era. These replications do not properly reflect the true events in 1945, but rather the idea that many would like to take away from this era. …

Teaching Historic Trauma: Centering The Generational Trauma Of Khmer Youth, Chantheari Leng

Scholars Week

The purpose of this independent study is to create a curriculum draft focused on teaching historic trauma to Khmer youth who may be experiencing secondhand trauma. The genocide of the Cambodian people occurred between 1975-1979. This genocide killed off about one third of the population. Intellectuals, culture, and traditional practices were what the communist, extreme nationalist leader wanted to destroy in order to create a “Year One” and have lives of civilians be focuses primarily on agriculture. People died from murder, starvation, malnutrition, bombings, and etc. The population that this curriculum will center is that of the generation that came …

Engaging Rural Students In A Community Project, Jennie B. Cottrell

Scholars Week

eaching art that is relevant to the students and the area one finds themselves working in can sometimes prove to be a challenge. Students and their interests in subject matter can vary depending upon their surroundings. I will share ways teachers can cater instruction towards rural students. Sometimes students in rural areas are in need of a better understanding of art and the importance it holds within the world today. Art is a cultural experience. It is an eye opener to social situations and has functions in fashion, dance and even food. I will conclude with sharing a unit plan, …

Photovoice Of Obesity On Murray State University's Campus, Karley Wray, Melissa Godby

Scholars Week

The issue we decided to discuss on campus using Photovoice was obesity. Obesity is becoming a very big topic that we all need to start focusing on. Obesity is defined as having a BMI at or above 30. This is becoming more common with our cultural change. We are becoming more fast food eaters and are not exercising as much as we should. It is even getting worse on college campuses. We all knew of what was called the freshmen 15, but now it is becoming a four year 15. It is becoming more common for college students to become …

The Importance Of Hand Washing On Regional Campus, Katelynn R. Dowdy

Scholars Week

Hand washing is when you wet your hands under warm water, add soap and rub hands together for 20 seconds or longer, rinse, dry with paper towel, and finally turn off running water with that paper towel you just dried your hands off with. Hand washing is something that helps prevent the spread of germs that lead to illness. This is a health problem that could anywhere and everywhere in the community, but I specifically looked into the Paducah-Murray regional campus.

Photovoice is a process where members of a community take pictures that give some insight on what they believe …

The Role Of The Western Front During The Bsu's Fight For Black Power And Liberation In 1968-1975, Weyni Haddis

Scholars Week

The recent racially and sexually charged threats that were made in Fall 2015 toward a specific Black woman leader on Western’s campus, and Black students at large, were not isolated events for our University. The current campus climate of whiteness and exclusivity at Western has been maintained through the history of marginalization of Black individuals on this campus. Through conducting archival research on the history of student activism that occurred through Western’s Black Student Union, my research revealed that our student publication failed to accurately represent the BSU and was counterproductive in trying to promote racial justice on Western’s campus …

The Language Of Non-Normative Sexuality And Genders, Emily Bolam, Samantha Jarvis

Scholars Week

This project is about how asexual, intersex and transgender identities challenge normative ideas about what it means to be human. Our research primarily focused on how language used in the medical community influences societal perceptions of non-normative identities. Western culture is pervasively heteronormative, meaning that there is a narrow idea of what constitutes a “normal” human being, which is typically heterosexual and limited to a binary gender system. While society is making strides with accepting non-hetero sexual identities, there persists the notion that humans are inherently sexual beings. Asexuality, an orientation characterized by a lack of sexual attraction, challenges this …

Don’T Keep A Good Man Down: Intervention Strategies For Common Causes Of Anger And Aggression, Samantha N. Wright

Scholars Week

Seclusion and Restraint have been often used as intervention strategies in public schools for many years, and were not limited by law in Kentucky until 2012. 704 KAR 7:160 was the first legislation to respond to dangerous interventions being used in Kentucky’s public schools. This presentation summarizes common causes of anger and aggression in our students, and provides research-based strategies for intervention in all three phases of a behavior: antecedent (prior to the behavior, the escalation of a situation), behavior (during the aggressive behavior itself), and consequences (subsequent actions that occur as a response.) The concept is to provide strategies …

Implementation Of Flipped Classrooms In A Non-Major Biology Course, Leah Good

Scholars Week

With major calls for reform in STEM education from professional organizations (e.g. AAAS, NIH, NSF), studies have found that faculty in higher education can improve student learning by changing their teaching from teacher-centered to student-centered. Change in teaching practice can be difficult, however, especially without significant training. One method of introducing student-centered teaching practices into the classroom is through the use of a flipped classroom model, where students engage in learner-centered activities within the classroom and receive passively-transmitted information outside the classroom. The focus of my study was two-fold, (a) to determine if the flipped classroom method affects student learning …

Insta-Argument: Argumentative Writing Through A New Literacies Approach, Devan A. Wiser

Scholars Week

Through the use of new literacies, participants will engage in the beginning process of teaching argumentative writing through an Instagram graphic organizer.

Social Privilege And International Volunteering, Stephanie Sisson

Scholars Week

I explore the awareness of social privilege revealed in the discourse among international volunteers. I conducted 10 semi-structured face-to-face interviews. The participants were university students who completed international service learning programs in Cambodia and Thailand. I analyzed the data using the grounded theory, specifically the constant comparison method. Findings revealed that international service learning alone proved ineffective in challenging institutionalized, self-mediated, and internalized social privilege. Implications of the study portray the need for universities to invest in follow-up programs that promote the sharing of volunteer experiences, guided critical reflection, and community out-reach based in solidarity. Taken together, this study suggests …

The Critique Of Uncertainty Reduction, Riley Beard

Scholars Week

I sought to critique the theoretical implications and practical applications of the uncertainty reduction theory (URT) as utilized in the computer-mediated communication (CMC) context. In general, the URT is heuristic. It has been tested in multiple contexts, and provides valuable insights and predictions about interpersonal relationships. After almost four decades, despite cultural shifts, the URT is still widely used in the communication field. However, my analysis of the testing of the theory reveals its weaknesses. Particularly, the URT was generated within a Eurocentric framework, and it reinforces the practices of the dominant culture. The applications of the theory were mostly …

Phytoplankton Ecology: Algal Assemblages In Correlation With Water Quality In High Elevation Lakes, North Cascades, Wa, Anna Nakae

Scholars Week

High- elevation lakes are unique ecosystems that are exposed to extreme environmental conditions and, as a result, are relatively simple systems in which changes can be detected. Phytoplankton communities within these systems are of interest because can be greatly influenced by the chemical components of the surrounding environment. This relationship allows phytoplankton assemblages to act as bioindicators that can give a greater insight into the water characteristics of lakes and vice versa. For this research, seven lakes were studied: Terminal, Upper Bagley, Lower Bagley, Heather Meadows Pond, Sunrise , Picture and Highwood. All seven are located in the headwaters watershed …

A Survey Analysis Of The Relationship Between Interdisciplinary Experiences And Well-Rounded Individuals, Diane Pérez

Scholars Week

As a university with an emphasis on the liberal arts, Western Washington University creates an interdisciplinary environment in which students, faculty, and staff can develop a diverse set of skills. Within this context, this project analyzes the relationship between well-rounded individuals and interdisciplinary experiences, as well as the measurable personal or professional benefits that come from this relationship. For the purposes of this analysis, a well-rounded individual is described as someone who can encounter many challenges not specifically related to their field of specialization and solve them efficiently using a diverse set of skills. Interdisciplinary experience is defined as the …