Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Education Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 31 - 46 of 46

Full-Text Articles in Education

Invading Minnesota: A Middle School Invasive Species Curriculum, Ashley Schultz Apr 2018

Invading Minnesota: A Middle School Invasive Species Curriculum, Ashley Schultz

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

This capstone is a sampling of middle school science lessons that were designed to address the question: How might a curricular unit about invasive species be designed to enhance the environmental literacy of middle school students? It documents one teacher’s research and development of a unit about invasives species, while promoting environmental literacy. The curriculum is a series of three lessons that provide students the opportunity to learn about invasive species by developing a connection, or sense of place to their surroundings. Once students understand the impacts of invasives species they take part in a project-based service learning opportunity to …


How Can Fluency Instruction Using Readers' Theater And Paired Reading Impact Reading Comprehension In The Third Grade Classroom?, Angela Koski Apr 2018

How Can Fluency Instruction Using Readers' Theater And Paired Reading Impact Reading Comprehension In The Third Grade Classroom?, Angela Koski

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

The research question addressed in this capstone was, how can fluency instruction using readers’ theater and paired reading impact reading comprehension in the third grade classroom? It documents one teacher’s experience of implementing Readers’ Theater and Paired Reading in an attempt to increase fluency which can impact comprehension. The project integrates whole group, small group, and partner activities with a third grade class. The author details her review of best practices in reading instruction, implementation of Readers’ Theater and Paired Reading for fluency instruction, and the results seen from adding explicit fluency instruction. She describes the successes seen in teacher …


How Can Embedded Grammar Instruction Support Student Writing?, Lucia Marincel Apr 2018

How Can Embedded Grammar Instruction Support Student Writing?, Lucia Marincel

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

This paper seeks to answer the question, how can grammar instruction embedded into Writer’s Workshop help both ELs and non-ELs meet the Common Core State Standards for language conventions? Using a Functional Linguistic Model, the author designed Writing Workshop grammar lessons based on three Language Conventions from the Common Core State Standards, using adverbs, creating compound sentences, and forming contractions. The author then taught these conventions through the workshop model and analyzed the use of these structures before and after the teaching through the use a rubric score of the pretest and test. The study included a mixed method approach, …


The Effects Of Using Morphemic Analysis On Comprehension Of Unknown Academic Vocabulary, Jon Avery Apr 2018

The Effects Of Using Morphemic Analysis On Comprehension Of Unknown Academic Vocabulary, Jon Avery

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

Despite the vast amount of research on morphemes and literacy, examination of how morphemic analysis affects secondary language learners is limited. Morphemic analysis is the process of using common Latin and Greek prefixes, roots and suffixes to hypothesize the meaning of unknown vocabulary. The primary purpose of the research is to determine how morphemic analysis affects English learners ability to determine the meaning of unknown academic vocabulary in their high school advanced placement geography class. The secondary purpose of the study is to provide secondary teachers a tool to do something about the vocabulary gap they observe between native speakers …


How Do Educators Avoid Teacher Burnout?, Rebecca Hibbard Apr 2018

How Do Educators Avoid Teacher Burnout?, Rebecca Hibbard

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

Chronic stress can lead to burnout in teachers, causing teachers to leave the profession prematurely. In the face of the stress of teaching, some educators burnout while others thrive. By looking to teachers who effectively seem to avoid burnout, this study examined the question: How do educators avoid teacher burnout? A review of the literature related to teacher burnout revealed the roles that both environmental (external) and personal (internal) factors play in teacher burnout and included strategies for how teachers and teacher leaders can respond to symptoms of burnout. This study utilized an initial survey to identify participants for follow-up …


Effective Note-Taking Strategies In The High School Math Classroom, Michael Swenson Apr 2018

Effective Note-Taking Strategies In The High School Math Classroom, Michael Swenson

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

The research question addressed in this action was, how can I implement effective note-taking strategies to improve my students’ performance on assessments? It details how one teacher implements Cornell notes and Foldables over the course of one trimester in two different Algebra 2 classes. A mixed methods approach was used to better understand effects of each strategy on three unit exams, three vocabulary quizzes, student surveys, and six student interviews. He describes the effects of each strategy on student achievement and concludes that: 1) Cornell notes and Foldables did improve student achievement on unit exams with Cornell notes showing higher …


Breaking The Silence For Long-Term English Learners With Risa Oral Interactions, Emily Noel Apr 2018

Breaking The Silence For Long-Term English Learners With Risa Oral Interactions, Emily Noel

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

The research question addressed in this study was: how do RISA Oral Interactions increase LTEL’s participation, engagement, and academic language? Long Term English Learners (LTELs) are an underserved and growing population of students in the United States. These are students who are typically second generation immigrants, two to three grade levels behind and have made very little growth in acquiring academic English proficiency. In order to add to the very little research available on this population of students, the researcher wished to evaluate how a social constructivist strategy would impact learning. RISA Oral Interactions is a cooperative discussion framework developed …


The Most Effective Methods Of Small Group Reading Instruction In Upper Elementary Grades, Nicole Snoberger Apr 2018

The Most Effective Methods Of Small Group Reading Instruction In Upper Elementary Grades, Nicole Snoberger

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

The research question addressed in this thesis was, what is the most effective way to group students for reading instruction in the upper elementary classroom? This work documents one teacher's experience of grouping students in two main ways, trying to determine if one way is more effective than another. Students were grouped based on reading level using a common text during part of the research. Students were also grouped based on their reading strategy need, using self-selected books during the remaining research time. The goal was to determine if one grouping method was more effective. While the research and data …


Do You Have A Learning Disability?: Exploring The Experiences Of Hmong Students With Special Needs In A Public Hmong Charter School, Vang Xiong Apr 2018

Do You Have A Learning Disability?: Exploring The Experiences Of Hmong Students With Special Needs In A Public Hmong Charter School, Vang Xiong

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

Special education has been criticized for the practice of over-representing culturally and linguistically diverse students in special education programs. Asian American students appeared to be immune to this problem. However, when the demographics of the Asian racial group are disaggregated into individual Asian ethnic groups, there is evident of disproportionality. The purpose of the study was to explore how a charter school, serving predominantly Hmong students, addresses the issue of disproportionality pertaining to the Hmong population. Through an ethnographic research approach, the researcher engaged in participant-observation, interviewing three tenth-grade, Hmong male students, and five school staff members. The researcher found …


The Impact Of Risa Oral Interactions On The Acquisition Of Scientific Classification Language For Slife, James Bordewick Apr 2018

The Impact Of Risa Oral Interactions On The Acquisition Of Scientific Classification Language For Slife, James Bordewick

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

This research explored the effects of using structured oral interactions as a scaffolding technique on the use and development of scientific classification language and the ability to engage in cognitively more complex academic tasks for students with limited or interrupted formal education. The study took place during a vertebrates unit in an EL newcomers science classroom. Students engaged in an intervention of two cycles of routinized, content-integrated, structured academic (RISA) oral interactions. Students were tasked to classify animals and to record video samples from the prompt, “What kind of animal is this? How do you know?” before and after the …


Designing A Place-Based Education Water Cycle Curriculum In Order To Impact Middle School Science Students’ Depth Of Understanding And Attitude Toward Science, Sara Dusbabek Apr 2018

Designing A Place-Based Education Water Cycle Curriculum In Order To Impact Middle School Science Students’ Depth Of Understanding And Attitude Toward Science, Sara Dusbabek

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

This capstone thesis used curriculum design to impact students’ understanding and attitude towards science. The capstone researcher designed a student-centered curriculum that used place-based education to teach the water cycle. The main goals of the curriculum were to increase depth of understanding and improve students attitude toward science. Using the designed place-based curriculum students would build a connection to the pond on school grounds through multiple visits to the area, using their knowledge of the pond to apply it to the water cycle and by connecting with water resource agencies in their community. The principles used to design the curriculum …


From Orality To Literacy: Funds Of Knowledge Of Somali Newcomers, Charity Kroeker Calubayan Apr 2018

From Orality To Literacy: Funds Of Knowledge Of Somali Newcomers, Charity Kroeker Calubayan

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

This study addresses the following questions: What funds of knowledge do newcomer students from oral cultures, specifically Somali students, possess? How does this knowledge relate to orality and literacy? Through open-ended interviews with three Somali newcomer families and a Somali outreach worker, four areas of funds of knowledge emerge: the ability to process detailed information mentally; poetry as an oral art; caring for the household through familial roles; and caring for others through fostering relationships. Each of these areas is linked to the oral, concrete, and communal way of life inherent to oral cultures and contrasted with the print-based, abstract, …


The Type Of Homework Assignment And Its Potential To Influence Student Motivation And Language Learning In A High School Spanish Language Classroom, Sarah Spilde Apr 2018

The Type Of Homework Assignment And Its Potential To Influence Student Motivation And Language Learning In A High School Spanish Language Classroom, Sarah Spilde

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

The research question addressed in this study was, how does the type of homework assignment influence student motivation and Spanish language learning in the classroom? It documents one teacher’s implementation of two lessons in a unit of study to evaluate student in- class Spanish language use, homework scores, test scores and student perceptions on motivation and homework. The teacher records student data and identifies research literature to provide meaning and context to the study in the area of Spanish language learning. She defines the areas of success and areas of limitations in conducting an action research study and concludes that …


The Relationship Between Frequent Field Trips To A Local Community Nature Center And Elementary Aged Youth's Positive Sense Of Place, Ashley Hansen Apr 2018

The Relationship Between Frequent Field Trips To A Local Community Nature Center And Elementary Aged Youth's Positive Sense Of Place, Ashley Hansen

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

Sense of place is a concept that explains an individuals connection to a specific location. The goal of this capstone is to answer the research question, “Is there a relationship between a student’s repeated visits to a particular community nature center and a positive sense of place?” This is an important question to answer as literature supports the idea that individuals with a sense of place have pro-environmental behaviors as they have positive attitudes towards the environment and want to protect the place they have a deep bond with. Having a sense of place also meets the goals of environmental …


The Relationship Between The Development Of Math Operation Proficiency And Student Confidence, Douglas Elfstrom Apr 2018

The Relationship Between The Development Of Math Operation Proficiency And Student Confidence, Douglas Elfstrom

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

The research question of this study was, What is the relationship between math operation fluency and a student’s confidence and perception of math in general? A multi-faceted intervention was developed to address both students’ multiplication fact proficiency and student confidence, with middle school students in Special Education. Pre and post assessment data was analyzed to determine the effect of this intervention on student fact proficiency and confidence. Findings suggest that students that progressed throughout the intervention period by mastering multiplication fact families also generally had an increase in math confidence. Implications for future work include determining how to improve this …


Exploring Multi-Sensory Curriculum Development: Grades 3-5 Science In A Virtual Environment, Terilynn Stackhouse Apr 2018

Exploring Multi-Sensory Curriculum Development: Grades 3-5 Science In A Virtual Environment, Terilynn Stackhouse

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

The capstone thesis uses a qualitative research approach to explore the question: What are virtual tools and multi-sensory strategies that can be integrated into curriculum development to support the engagement of learners in science in grades 3-5 in virtual learning environments? The author chose this topic to find and to apply multi-sensory strategies, including technology-rich approaches, in virtual education, and developed a new curriculum unit using current sensory-rich technologies. The goal is to enhance and enrich curriculum, and thereby to increase student engagement in the sciences. Applying these tools in virtual education and using multi-sensory approaches can lead to new …