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How Adult Efl Teachers Can Effectively Utilize Duolingo In Their Curriculum, Rebecca Nelson
How Adult Efl Teachers Can Effectively Utilize Duolingo In Their Curriculum, Rebecca Nelson
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The proliferation of cell phones and application technology has changed the way individuals access learning. It’s also opened up a space for profit-driven companies to be included in educational options. This project focuses on Mobile-Assisted Language Learning applications, in particular Duolingo, and how they can best be used by Language teachers, especially English teachers of adults in non-immersive environments, to use Duolingo as a supplement to their teaching. The literature shows that these applications can be helpful, but need traditional support to be most effective. The question the literature brings to mind is how teachers can best use these apps. …
Supporting Social-Emotional Learning With Diversely Representative Children’S Literature: Toolbox Supplementary Read Aloud Lesson Plans, Taylor Rose
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Read aloud texts play an essential role in shaping social-emotional learning skills, implementing routines, and bolstering early literacy skills in the early elementary classroom. Yet, despite the increasing racial and cultural diversity of the United States student population, children’s literature often lacks meaningful, intersectional representations of diversity. This capstone project pairs diverse children’s literature with the Toolbox social-emotional learning curriculum to explore the question, How can early elementary students' social-emotional skills develop through the intentional reading and conversation about children's literature featuring characters, authors, and themes of diverse and intersectional identities? The research concludes that the representational children’s literature can …
Empowering And Educating Lgbtq+ Middle Schoolers Through Intentional Instruction Of Queer Topics In Gsa Clubs, John Gallagher
Empowering And Educating Lgbtq+ Middle Schoolers Through Intentional Instruction Of Queer Topics In Gsa Clubs, John Gallagher
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
For decades, GSA clubs have provided LGBTQ+ students with a safe space within their schools to connect with other queer students, and seek guidance from the club adviser(s). GSA clubs offer a vital learning opportunity for students to learn more about queer topics, which often are not discussed with their families at home. However, there is a considerable lack of accessible and ready to use curriculum for GSA clubs, particularly at the middle school level. This capstone creates a cohesive and logically sequenced curriculum of ten lessons about LGBTQ+ topics to be used for middle school GSA clubs. The lessons …
Helping Female And Nonbinary Identifying Students Grow Confidence In The Science Classroom, Mari Mcdonald
Helping Female And Nonbinary Identifying Students Grow Confidence In The Science Classroom, Mari Mcdonald
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
This capstone is titled “Helping Female and Nonbinary Identifying Students Grow Confidence in the Science Classroom”. The focus is on finding and sharing resources that will help girls and nonbinary students feel encouraged, interested, and motivated to pursue studying STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields and careers. This topic is influenced by the author’s experience as a female student studying science in school, as someone with two science teacher parents, and as a female high school science teacher. First hand experience influenced this topic greatly. A literature review was conducted to research what has been done to improve this …
The Impact Of Systematic Phonemic Awareness And Phonics Instruction In A Spanish Immersion First-Grade Classroom, Elisabeth Boe
The Impact Of Systematic Phonemic Awareness And Phonics Instruction In A Spanish Immersion First-Grade Classroom, Elisabeth Boe
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Recent research suggests that structured literacy, the systematic teaching of phonological awareness, phonics, and word recognition skills, is highly indicative of students’ proficiency in reading. This is true not only in monolingual literacy programs but in bilingual programs as well. While many schools across the United States have implemented best practices, this is not the case for many Spanish immersion programs. This capstone seeks to address this problem with the question How does systematic literacy instruction of phonemic awareness and phonics in Spanish Immersion impact student mastery of early literacy skills in first grade? It analyzes the current research about …
An Educator's Guide To Expanding Accessibility To Nature Connections In Traditional Early Childhood Education, Olivia Romanello
An Educator's Guide To Expanding Accessibility To Nature Connections In Traditional Early Childhood Education, Olivia Romanello
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Over the last few decades, nature-based education has increased greatly in popularity across the United States. With its many developmental benefits, nature-based preschools have been an important hub to this movement. Children attending these schools are afforded many critical experiences that aid in their growth and development; gross-motor & social emotional skills, greater attentional capacity, and expanded creativity and critical thinking. This popular pedagogy has, however, not been equally accessible to all. With its many barriers, including but not limited to financial, this capstone uses an educator's guide to help answer the question: How can traditional Early Childhood Education programs …
How Can Culturally-Responsive Instruction Help Middle And High School Teachers Address Muslim Students' Needs?, Mona Aly
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
This capstone project explores how middle and high school teachers can create positive relationships with Muslim students by using culturally responsive instruction. Educators must understand that Muslim students have unique cultural identities based on their religious beliefs. Regardless of nationality, language, skin color, or cultural background, all Muslims are bound by these Islamic cultural practices. These practices directly impact students’ academic progress, social life, and self-esteem. By familiarizing themselves with these cultural and religious practices, teachers can better relate to Muslim students and address their social and academic needs. I seek answers to this research question by discussing four main …
Using Citizen Science To Create Meaningful Learning Experiences And Enhance The Learning Of Science For Second Grade Students, Rebecca Barton
Using Citizen Science To Create Meaningful Learning Experiences And Enhance The Learning Of Science For Second Grade Students, Rebecca Barton
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Citizen science is a new and growing field of research that brings about new knowledge and understanding through the collaboration of citizens in scientific research. As citizen science continues to grow, it is essential to consider its potential to encourage education and learning opportunities. The capstone focuses on answering the question: How can citizen science create meaningful learning experiences and enhance the learning of science for second grade students? Participation in citizen science projects can assist in developing science literacy, enhance learning, increase interest in science, increase understanding of the scientific process, and connect students with the world around them. …
Teaching English In Earth And Space Science: Content-Based Curriculum Development For Secondary Multilingual Learners, Laura Gislason
Teaching English In Earth And Space Science: Content-Based Curriculum Development For Secondary Multilingual Learners, Laura Gislason
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The number of English language learners in public schools continues to increase in Minnesota. Multilingual high school students having a WIDA English language proficiency level below three tend to experience a greater number of academic challenges and experience lower graduation rates. In order to combat these challenges, many high schools provide sheltered content classes co-taught by licensed content and EL teachers. While these courses help students succeed in mastering content standards, English language development is often relegated to incidental acquisition as a bi-product of the learning process. This capstone uses the connections model of content based instruction to answer the …
Increasing High School Students’ Environmental And Scientific Literacies Through Outdoor Investigations, Mack Mowen
Increasing High School Students’ Environmental And Scientific Literacies Through Outdoor Investigations, Mack Mowen
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Getting out of the classroom can be some of the most memorable and rewarding experiences for students. As an AP Environmental Science teacher, I began thinking of ways students can perform outdoor investigations while increasing their environmental literacy. The research question I posed for this project is: how can high school science teachers improve students’ environmental and scientific literacy and help them understand their environmental impact through outdoor investigations? After researching different techniques and ideas, I decided on creating three different outdoor investigations that focus on three different systems of Earth. The first investigation focuses on water; students will be …
Supporting Upper Elementary Newcomer Students In The Areas Of Speaking And Writing, Amy Brown
Supporting Upper Elementary Newcomer Students In The Areas Of Speaking And Writing, Amy Brown
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Multilingual students, especially those who are new-to-the-country, need access to language rich curriculum that meets their unique needs. There is not a one-size-fits-all approach on the best way to meet these needs and a lack of age-appropriate material led to the research question: “How can teachers best provide writing and speaking opportunities for upper elementary newcomer multilingual students in a content classroom?” A push to have language learners in the content classroom as much as possible regardless of English proficiency and grade level were driving factors in the creation of this fourth grade language arts curriculum project. This curriculum is …
Cultural Relevance In Art Matters: An Accessible Curriculum, Mary Beth Magyar
Cultural Relevance In Art Matters: An Accessible Curriculum, Mary Beth Magyar
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Research shows that allowing students room for their artistic voice is empowering and can help them explore their racial identity. In addition to supporting cultural identities, art can enhance one’s mood. Multiple studies show how visual art can build positive mental health and reduce anxiety. There has been a troubling rise in statistics for teenagers with poor mental health and suicide attempts, particularly in the LGBTQIA+ populations. When these students feel welcome at school their mental health is markedly improved. As the No Child Left Behind Policies grew, access to the visual arts decreased. Art does not test well therefore …
Scaffolding Full-Length Texts In A Middle School Classroom To Promote Reading Engagement, Elizabeth Vandergon
Scaffolding Full-Length Texts In A Middle School Classroom To Promote Reading Engagement, Elizabeth Vandergon
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The research question addressed in this capstone project is: How can teachers scaffold a full-length text in order to increase reading accountability and engagement from students in a middle school setting? The capstone paper documents multiple approaches to reading consistency, growth, accountability and engagement. Additionally, this document follows with the creation of a middle school reading unit meant to engage with the works of Reutzel and Juth (2014), Gallagher (2009), and Daniels (2002). The topics focused on are approaches to reading, influences on student reading motivation, and classroom scaffolds and strategies to promote reading engagement. Included within this capstone paper …
Citizen Science As Experiential Education In The Modern Classroom, Peter Swan
Citizen Science As Experiential Education In The Modern Classroom, Peter Swan
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Secondary education has grown increasingly dependent on delivering instruction and materials via mobile devices and computers in the 21st century. Research has long shown the effectiveness of “student-centered”, experiential and “place based” learning in the classroom. Citizen science initiatives have been demonstrated to be meaningful ways to teach the nature - and practice - of scientific inquiry. This paper explores the current trends in secondary science education in light of recent societal transformations and investigates the body of literature regarding environmental, outdoor and experiential education. The project then proposes a solution to integrate experiential, citizen science into a modern, digital …
The Impact Of Climate Change Education In An Outdoor Classroom On Middle School Students' Attitudes And Understandings Towards Climate Change, Kelly Peterson
The Impact Of Climate Change Education In An Outdoor Classroom On Middle School Students' Attitudes And Understandings Towards Climate Change, Kelly Peterson
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
This capstone paper and project seek to answer the question: how does learning about climate change in an outdoor classroom impact middle schoolers’ attitudes and understandings toward climate change? The most effective methods to teaching climate change include a place-based, multidisciplinary approach with high levels of inquiry and engagement. When students learn outdoors, they also engage in place-based learning that is highly inquiry based. Combining climate change education with outdoor education is an effective way to approach climate change education. Through use of the Learning Cycle and Understanding by Design, a unit on ecosystem dynamics, biodiversity, and ecosystem services was …
An Intervention To Support Comprehension During Independent Reading Time, Jacob Klis
An Intervention To Support Comprehension During Independent Reading Time, Jacob Klis
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The question that guided this project was: How can using an intervention based on a comprehension strategy increase student reading interest? This question guided research on digital and print texts, student reading interest, and a brief history of balanced literacy. Many schools use a mix of digital and print resources and students need to be prepared to understand each. Using independent reading time at school has shown to give students greater success in literacy and other areas of school. It has shown that dedicated independent reading time is important at school. The goal of this project was to make independent …
Increasing Student Engagement In Kindergarten Read Alouds, Sydney Cassidy
Increasing Student Engagement In Kindergarten Read Alouds, Sydney Cassidy
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Research has shown that when students are given the opportunity to showcase their learnings in various settings, there will be a greater chance of student engagement and motivation when completing various classroom activities. The curriculum designed for this project uses Howard Gardner’s (2006) Theory of Multiple Intelligences and Thomas Armstrong’s (2009) work with integrating these intelligences into a classroom environment to target the various ways that students learn in the classroom that is best suited to the way their brain processes and applies information. The project involved creating a curriculum that was suitable for kindergarten students to engage in various …
Studying The Self: Students Examining Culture And Identity For Improved Engagement And Achievement, Zara Pylvainen
Studying The Self: Students Examining Culture And Identity For Improved Engagement And Achievement, Zara Pylvainen
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Research has demonstrated that incorporating culturally relevant and culturally sustaining pedagogy (CSP) into teaching can lead to greater academic success. The curriculum designed for this project focuses on using concepts of identity and culture as topics of study in a seventh-grade English language arts (ELA) class with the aim of improving student engagement and academic achievement. CSP argues that young people are in a fluid process of developing their identities, and our pedagogy should foster that development. CSP also maintains that classrooms need to provide space for communities of color to maintain, nurture, and sustain cultural practices. This curriculum design …
Utilizing A Culturally Relevant Ecology Curriculum To Help Students See Intersections Between Their Scientific And Cultural Identities, Emma Singer
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The purpose of this capstone was to create a two-week long ecology unit for high school biology students rooted in culturally relevant practices. The project sought to answer the question “How can utilizing a culturally relevant ecology curriculum help students see intersections between their scientific and cultural identities?” Data shows that people of color and women are underrepresented within the sciences. Disengagement and lack of interest in the sciences begins in middle and high school, suggesting students feel the material is irrelevant or disconnected from their lives. To address this gap, this project utilized a culturally relevant lens to create …
Using An Interactive Word Wall To Increase Spanish Language Acquisition For Urban Middle School Learners, Jordan Schuneman
Using An Interactive Word Wall To Increase Spanish Language Acquisition For Urban Middle School Learners, Jordan Schuneman
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
My primary research question for my capstone project is: What are the ways in which interaction, collaboration, and dialogue impact students’ Spanish language acquisition? More specifically, my research and project aim to answer: How can an interactive word wall affect Spanish language acquisition in an urban classroom? I have created an interactive word wall curriculum. This was specifically designed to fit my context as a middle school Spanish teacher, grades 6-8. However, this interactive word wall curriculum can be utilized effectively in any content area. Through considering culturally and linguistically responsive teaching (Hollie, 2018) as well as how to best …
Supporting Multilingual Learners In The Content Classroom Through Culturally And Linguistically Responsive Teaching Practices, Karen Martinez Tinajero
Supporting Multilingual Learners In The Content Classroom Through Culturally And Linguistically Responsive Teaching Practices, Karen Martinez Tinajero
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Culturally and linguistically responsive teaching practices have been demonstrated to yield positive learning outcomes for multilingual learners. The curriculum designed for this project focuses on making direct use of the culturally and linguistically responsive guidelines, frameworks, and strategies as proposed by Zaretta Hammond, Sharroky Hollie, Sydney Snyder, and Diane Staehr Fenner in a secondary level history classroom for the purpose of maximizing learning opportunities for multilingual learners. This project involved creating a dynamic curriculum complete with teacher considerations to transform content learning through cultural and linguistic responsiveness. The curriculum will primarily be used in secondary social studies classrooms for multilingual …
How Can A Non-Personal Interpretive Guide Increase Place Attachment For Visitors, Encourage The Appropriate Development Of Sustainable Community-Based Ecotourism, And Increase Knowledge Of The Desert And Coastal Ecosystems And Migratory Whales Of Baja Mexico?, Mahin Hamilton
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Small ecotour companies run whale-watching tours in remote, protected lagoons of Baja California Sur every winter, as gray whales migrate there to mate and give birth to their young. Often, tourists must drive for hours each way to reach the lagoons for their tour. When tourists get to the small villages that are the base camp for whale watching, their only guides are the boat captains, who do not normally speak English (the main language of tourists in the area). A non-personal interpretive guide would bridge the gap of information, so that tourists learn about the ecology, history, and culture …
Place-Based Education And Nature Journaling Curriculum Development, Emaline Kelley
Place-Based Education And Nature Journaling Curriculum Development, Emaline Kelley
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
nature. Educators must find ways to bring nature to the classroom. Nature journaling uses unique geographies of places as a basis for teaching natural science and other subjects. The nature journaling curriculum development project here, dedicated to natural science and environmental education asks, in what ways could nature study and place-based education be taught to students who live in the urban environment? Goals, learning benefits, and results of nature study and place-based education will be discussed in the literature review. Nature journaling as a tool of learning, along with its benefits, will be discoursed to better understand why the project …
This Could Have Been An Email: Adapting English Language Arts Curriculum To Better Suit Modern Communication Needs, Emily Millin
This Could Have Been An Email: Adapting English Language Arts Curriculum To Better Suit Modern Communication Needs, Emily Millin
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
As technology and society evolve, so do the modes and practices of communication. The teacher resources and classroom activities presented within this capstone project focus on the combination of Minnesota’s English Language Arts (ELA) and College and Career Readiness (CCR) standards to develop future-ready classroom curricula and activities. Through the creation of an asynchronous professional resource for educators, this project works to highlight key tenets of modern communication, skills students will need in their futures, and showcase how these skills can look in the classroom. With research focusing on academic standards, employability skills, and classroom curriculum and instruction, the goal …
Impact Of Environmentally Focused Chemistry On High School Student Engagement And Scientific Understanding, Libby Barrie
Impact Of Environmentally Focused Chemistry On High School Student Engagement And Scientific Understanding, Libby Barrie
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Research has shown that traditional chemistry teaching methods tend to utilize individualized topic lectures and highly structured labs, with little opportunity for students to draw real world connections between topics. Unfortunately, student motivation to learn science also decreases throughout high school due to a perceived lack of relevance in their everyday lives. The goal of this project was to design an environmentally focused chemistry curriculum that improves the high school student learning experience and answers the guiding question: How can high school science educators improve student engagement and scientific understanding through environmentally focused chemistry curriculum? This project was also developed …
How Using Multidisciplinary Approaches To Mainstream Education Can Increase Diversity In Environmental Education And Improve Students’ Environmental Literacy, Nathaniel Nordberg
How Using Multidisciplinary Approaches To Mainstream Education Can Increase Diversity In Environmental Education And Improve Students’ Environmental Literacy, Nathaniel Nordberg
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
For there to be solutions to environmental issues people of diverse perspectives need to be able to critically think and collaborate together to work through possible solutions. Historically, environmental education has been missing many voices from the BIPOC communities in finding creative solutions to environmental issues. This Capstone Project had the driving question of, Can increasing diversity in environmental education improve students' environmental literacy? The literature reviewed showed that environmental education cannot be a stand alone curriculum. Instead, it needs to be a multidisciplinary approach to the curriculum that allows students to critically think about real world issues that society …
A High School Economics Course Curriculum That Effectively Integrates Language And Content Instruction For English Learners, Jennifer Weddell
A High School Economics Course Curriculum That Effectively Integrates Language And Content Instruction For English Learners, Jennifer Weddell
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
While secondary English learners face barriers to learning across all content areas, social studies courses are especially linguistically complex, and have a high level of expected prior knowledge. In the author's experience as a high school EL teacher, economics is often a particularly challenging course for EL students. This prompted the research question: How can a high school economics curriculum be designed to help English learners gain a deep understanding of the course topics while improving their academic English proficiency? A review of the literature found that features of a sheltered instruction model will validate, engage, and benefit a diverse …
History As A Catalyst For Effective Activism: A Project Based Curriculum, Seth Bobrow
History As A Catalyst For Effective Activism: A Project Based Curriculum, Seth Bobrow
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
Many history classes lack ways to link content to actions or skills that students can use. At the same time research suggests that activist practices are skills that are underutilized in classrooms because teachers don’t have the resources or time to teach them. Therefore this project demonstrates how history can be used to teach effective activist practices. It identifies four elements of activism that improve efficacy. They include: selecting the government as a target, strategic use of framing, utilizing physical space in addition to digital space and participating in organizations characterized by strong structures. By combining the Case Study, Texts …
A Menu About Me: A Next Generation Science Standards Aligned 9-12 Life Science Curriculum Adapted For Students With Limited Or Interrupted Formal Education, Madeline Carras
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
In order to face the challenges of a rapidly changing world, it is imperative that thinkers with diverse backgrounds and perspectives are supported in the development of their scientific skills and voice. However, very few, if any, high school life science curricular resources are available that are specifically adapted with the assets and needs of students with limited or interrupted formal education (SLIFE) in mind. The widely adopted Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) are uniquely designed to center the learner’s authentic thought process and pre-existing funds of knowledge–a framework which also happens to be aligned with the strengths of SLIFE …
Students Writing Restorative Justice, Rebekah Rentzel
Students Writing Restorative Justice, Rebekah Rentzel
School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects
The need for systemic change has never been stronger. Schools are at a breaking point. In the wake of the uncertainties of COVID and the injustice seen in the racial uprisings after the police murder of George Floyd of 2020, students are dealing with trauma that needs to be addressed in schools. The practices of restorative justice, when applied with a cultural shift within the schools, are powerful ways to support students in their healing (Morgan, 2021). Studies find that when students are at the center of creating a restorative system, it is more effective because it directly reflects the …