Education Commons^™

A Teachable Unit On Soft Corals With Instructional Method Variances, Emily Breech

Honors Projects

The soft coral Sinularia flexibilis contains an aqueous alcohol extract that has shown antineoplastic activity against lymphocytic leukemia (Weinheimer and Matson, 1977). It also has other biological properties that work as antimicrobials, anti-inflammatory agents, and cytotoxicity activities (Kamel and Slattery, 2005). There is much research on the effects of flow rate on growth and morphology (Khalesi, Beeftink, & Wijffels, 2007) and the effects of light-dependency on growth rate (Khalesi, Beeftink, & Wijffels, 2009). The purpose of this student project was to further research on S. flexibilis, as well as incorporate that research into evaluating the effects of lecture-based teaching …

Benefits And Uses Of Diverse And Bilingual Children's Books: And The Creation Of A Classroom Resource, Elizabeth Tobin

Honors Projects

In response to the information found in existing literature, I created my own bilingual text dealing with adoption and abandonment written for young children, entitled A Family for Nadia. I have studied Spanish for four years and have worked with numerous Spanish/English speaking children in my work with a small orphanage in Guatemala. These experiences have inspired me to create this children’s book. I used the search for identity theme to tell the story of a young Guatemalan girl who has lost her parents. The story is told in both English and Spanish with bolded text to emphasize the …

Marching Band And The College Transition, Jessica Fix

Honors Projects

The relationship between college student engagement and personal growth has been studied for decades. However, involvement in specific types of organizations or activities has not been researched as in-depth. This study examined involvement in college marching band specifically and how it affects transition into college and overall growth and learning of college students. This study analyzes quantitative data of all marching band participants at Bowling Green State University in the most recent year (2016-2017), as well as qualitative data retrieved through focus group sessions with first year marchers and returning marchers. Results of this study suggest that involvement in marching …

Puzzled - A Children's Book, Ann Conroy

Honors Projects

Research for this project was conducted through online journals accessed via EBSCOhost. The findings contributed background information about Autism, which provided as the guide for writing the script of the children’s book Puzzled. The research also explains the importance of literature for young children.

Evaluation Of Learning Assistant Training Seminar Effectiveness, Katelyn Jakyma

Honors Projects

The Learning Assistant Program at Bowling Green State University is growing, and a training program for the LAs was established in the Fall Semester of 2016. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of this program in reaching its goal, a survey was administered to both trained and untrained LAs upon the conclusion of the program in December of 2016. The results were analyzed throughout the following spring to determine whether or not the goal of helping LAs integrate learning theory and effective practices for engaging students was achieved. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the program, transformative learning in …

Childhood Anxiety Within The Classroom: A Professional Development Experience For Educators, Madeline Garlough

Honors Projects

Education majors are required to complete a significant amount of coursework related to student behaviors and best practices regarding these behaviors. However, this coursework lies heavily on the side of disruptive and aggressive behaviors. Much less is taught about students who experience quiet conflict, despite childhood anxiety being one of the most prevalent disorders that children face. The purpose of this project is to provide teachers and future teachers with information about how to best assist these anxious students within the classroom.

Because of the nature of this project, it is also necessary to understand how teaching adults differs from …

Aided Communication For Adults With Developmental Disabilities, Lindsay Bolding

Honors Projects

This honors project is a series of templates that will serve as a guide for residential facilities for individuals with autism and other developmental disabilities. What is the most effective way to facilitate communication in residential facilities for adults with developmental disabilities? While working at this type of facility during my time at Bowling Green State University, I have witnessed a need for implementation of new communication routes in the homes. While skill building such as communication is stressed in the homes, plans for staff to fulfill these skills can be lacking. The templates I have created can be used …

Cross-Curricular Teaching And Children's Literature: Dixie And Burt Hear A "Quack!", Brittany Skiba

Honors Projects

Motivated by research in the field and subject of elementary education, children’s literature, and cross-curricular teaching with the use of children’s literature, this project involved creating a children’s book with interrelated lesson plans in order to encourage teachers to use lessons that are more meaningful, to enhance learning experiences, and also to provide a quick-and-ready resource tool for teachers to use when preparing lessons. I conducted my research on elements that comprise a good children’s book, creating effective lesson plans, and the benefits of cross-curricular learning. According to an article, “Integrated Learning: Greater Than the Sum of Its Parts,” by …

Student-Created Test Sheets, Samuel Laderach

Honors Projects

Assessment plays a necessary role in the high school mathematics classroom, and testing is a major part of assessment. Students often struggle with mathematics tests and examinations due to math and test anxiety, a lack of student learning, and insufficient and inefficient student preparation. Practice tests, teacher-created review sheets, and student-created test sheets are ways in which teachers can help increase student performance, while ridding these detrimental factors. Student-created test sheets appear to be the most efficient strategy, and this research study examines the effects of their use in a high school mathematics classroom.

Teacher Interventions Used To Reduce Test Anxiety: Does Free-Writing Before A Test Help Reduce Anxiety?, Kimberly E. Lentz

Honors Projects

The focus of this study is to look at how common testing anxiety is among students and how teachers can work with their students to reduce this anxiety. The study examines and discusses past research to see what causes test anxiety and what methods have been effective in the past in reducing this anxiety. Then, based on past research, a similar study is completed in my high school honors geometry classroom to determine whether the suggestions given by past researchers will decrease reported test anxiety in my students.

Group Encouragement: Action Research On Cooperative Learning, Sarah Miller

Honors Projects

Cooperative learning groups help students develop twenty-first century skills. Teachers may choose to constantly change the memberships of the cooperative learning groups so that students rarely work with the same people or teachers may choose to use a home group structure in that students always work with the same people. In this action research with two fifth grade math and science classes, it was found that most students enjoyed working with short-term groups and long-lasting home groups, but there was a large minority of students who did not enjoy working with their home groups following the three-month time period that …

Using Educative Assessment In A Science Classroom, Jordan Truitt

Honors Projects

The focus of this study is to consider educative assessment in the science classroom and its effectiveness in assessing student-centered learning. By using educative assessment to measure learning, student work can be evaluated by rubric in addition to a traditional summative assessment. In comparing the student learning measured using the rubric results and traditional results, there was no statistical difference between the two assessments. However, the educative assessment provided greater insight into higher levels of learning. Conversational data also showed evidence of skills-based learning in the field of science. Further research into the applications for ‘at-risk’ students is required.

Teacher Candidates: Vocal Health, Sarah Pilkington

Honors Projects

Classroom teachers are at high risk for developing voice problems and may experience positive benefits from vocal health education. Less is known about the experiences of student teachers. The objective of the study was to determine if vocal hygiene education affects the student teachers’ vocal knowledge, vocal habits, voice quality, and their self-perception of their voice. Eight female education students, who were student teaching the semester of the study, were randomized into either the Experimental Group (who received vocal health information before their student teaching semester) or the Control Group. Both groups were assessed using a battery of qualitative and …

Impact Of Kinesthetic Learning On Student Knowledge Retention And Attitudes Toward Mathematics, Alyssa Lustgarten

Honors Projects

This research study examines the impact of kinesthetic learning on student knowledge retention and attitudes toward mathematics. Specifically, this study focuses on teaching mathematics to secondary students through dance. Quantitative data was collected and analyzed regarding student mathematics knowledge retention and student attitudes towards mathematics. Although student mathematics knowledge retention increased for both the control and treatment groups, student attitudes toward mathematics decreased after the intervention for the treatment group.