Curriculum and Instruction Commons^™

Honoring The First-Year Seminar: Exploring High-Impact Learning Experiences For The First Year In Honors, Anton Vander Zee, Trisha H. Folds-Bennett

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Strategies and Structures for the Honors First-Year Seminar, Anton Vander Zee

Westminster University: Program Profile, Richard Badenhausen

Keeping Company: Genuine Conversation as a First-Year Honors Seminar Pedagogy, Richard Badenhausen

Oregon Institute of Technology: Program Profile, Christopher J. Syrnyk Bringing the Idea of Ideas to Life, Christopher J. Syrnyk

College of Charleston: Program Profile, Trisha H. Folds-Bennett, Jesslyn Collins-Frohlich, and Robert Maynor

Disrupting Privilege: Community Engagement in the First Year, Trisha H. Folds-Bennett, Jesslyn Collins-Frohlich, and Robert Maynor

Virginia Commonwealth University: Program Profile, Christy Tyndall and Jacqueline Smith-Mason

Flourishing in the First Year and Beyond: Promoting Personal Wellbeing and …

Transforming Partnerships: Developing A Model For Experiential Learning In Honors, Grace Troupe, Tamy Burnett

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

Although the collaboration between the University Honors Program (UHP) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) and UNL's Center for Transformative Teaching involves several elements, this essay focuses on one element with significant impact: the development of curricular components and co-curricular programming facilitating students’ engagement with experiential learning. Experience-based education is learning that occurs through direct, hands-on experiences such as internships, research, education abroad, and teaching practicums. When UNL moved toward requiring experiential learning for all undergraduate students, the partnership between UHP and CTT was transformational in facilitating UHP’s building on its existing framework for experiential learning and thus serving as …

Exploding The Silos: How Honors And Cetl Collaboration Can Transform Faculty Development, Christine Larson, Evren Celik-Wiltse, Kevin Sackreiter, Rebecca C. Bott-Knutson

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

The Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CETL) at South Dakota State University (SDSU) developed the Faculty Fellows program in the fall of 2018 to provide faculty in each academic college with a peer mentor who would offer tailored professional development opportunities.

Professional Development Through Teaching In Honors: An Elon University Workshop, Mike Carignan, Lynn R. Huber, Deandra Little, Tom Mould

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

Describes the Teaching in Honors Workshop, an annual, multiday event held at Elon University.

Incorporating Faculty Development Workshops At James Madison University, Fawn-Amber Montoya, Felix Wang

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

Since there are no permanent faculty positions, the honors college at James Madison University has created an environment where faculty teaching honors courses can come together to share their vision of an honors education and the strategies and practices to manifest these ideals in their respective classrooms. Accordingly, the honors college began hosting annual faculty workshops in May 2021 to create a community of faculty members. During the past three years, these workshops have created opportunities for faculty to interact with each other to discuss what an honors education is, how to create safe spaces for students, and how to …

The Demand For Educational Functions Of Study Tour Products: From Students’ Perspectives, Yaqi Yu, Azizan Marzuki

Journal of Educational Technology Development and Exchange (JETDE)

Few academic studies have comprehensively examined the actual demands of students regarding the educational function of study tours. This paper develops a demand index system based on three dimensions: cognitive, affective, and behavioral demands. A questionnaire survey was administered to 397 students. Initially, student demands were categorized using the Kano model. Subsequently, the “dependence” and “expectancy” characteristics were analyzed through the dissatisfaction index (DI) and satisfaction index (SI). The impact of fulfilling each demand on dissatisfaction and satisfaction levels was then determined. The results indicated that among the three dimensions, there were 7 must-be demands, 6 one-dimensional demands, 8 attractive …

Sport Business And Cosma: Marketing Opportunities, Michael Ross, Reginald Overton, Bob Case, Heather Alderman

Human Movement Studies & Special Education Faculty Publications

The traditional path and location of sport management programs in Colleges of Education, and specifically physical education programs, is changing. In recent years, sport management programs have moved into Colleges of Business at a fast pace. Sport management courses are also being included in Business School curricula and course offerings. As the identity of sport management programs shifts and changes, what role does the accrediting body, the Commission on Sport Management Accreditation (COSMA), play in the marketing of the old and new sport management programs?

The purpose of this presentation is to examine the continually changing landscape of sport management …

Analyzing Micrometeoroid And Orbital Debris Shield Performance For Sample Return Spacecraft, William P. Schonberg, Michael Squire

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Sample-return missions typically seek to collect and return samples from extraterrestrial locations to Earth for analysis. The return of samples from certain locations in the solar system represents a potential hazard to Earth's biosphere from foreign microorganisms. One way this could occur would be a break-up of the returning capsule during entry (which would disperse the samples through the air) due to undetected damage to the capsule thermal protection system (TPS). As a result, missions that plan to return payloads from some destinations are likely to have certain design requirements for the TPS surrounding their returning capsules, which may include …

Extending The Applicability Of Thermal Protection System Ballistic Limit Equations Beyond The Testable Regime, William P. Schonberg, Michael D. Squire

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Spacecraft use thermal insulation in their design, which is usually placed on their exterior. As such, it is susceptible to high-speed impacts by meteoroids and orbital debris, which can damage it to a point where the protection it offers is below acceptable limits. It is important to be able to characterize expected levels of damage stemming from such high-speed impacts. In this paper, we extend the applicability of a previously developed ballistic limit equation (BLE) for one such thermal insulation material using the results of a series of Smooth Particle Hydrodynamics Code (SPHC) impact simulations at velocities in excess of …

How Latine College Students Experience, Maneuver, And Navigate Within The Colonizing Notion Of Smartness, Jasmine Jetton-Gonzales

Theses and Dissertations

This study explores how Latine college students, particularly those who are the first in their family to attend college, navigate and maneuver within the dominating colonizing notion of smartness in academia. Rooted in an Anglo-centric educational framework, the American education system often marginalizes Latine students by devaluing their cultural and linguistic knowledge while upholding Eurocentric standards of intelligence. Using a qualitative critical research approach, this study employs testimonios to examine the lived experiences of Latine college graduates in Illinois. Findings reveal that Latine students frequently encounter systemic barriers that challenge their academic identity, including racialized perceptions of intelligence, institutionalized deficit …

A Reset For Virginia: Systemizing Leadership And Resource Support For Alternatively Prepared Special Education Teachers, Nicholas E. Olson Dr., Rebecca W. Harmon Dr., Elizabeth H. Morris Dr., Michael-Jon Rodney Dr., Matthew Seidita Dr.

Doctor of Education Capstones

Virginia continues to face the impacts of the national teacher shortage, particularly in special education. The scarcity of licensed special education teachers has led to an increasing number of educators entering the profession through alternative routes with limited classroom experience. These alternatively prepared special education teachers (ARSETs) require sustained, targeted support to implement high-leverage practices (HLPs) that improve student outcomes. Although numerous professional learning opportunities exist, the current system of support is fragmented, and resources are inconsistently applied. Compounding this challenge, many schools lack enough experienced educators to provide in-field mentors for every new hire.

To assist the Virginia Department …

Teaching Under Political Influence: A Multiple Case-Study Examining The Impact Of Curricular Restriction Policy On Community-Connected Instruction (Cci) In Full-Service Community Schools (Fscs), Isaiah Moore

Theses and Dissertations

Scholars describe the political landscape as polarized, where partisanship —loyalty to a particular political party— dictates one’s beliefs. In education, this partisanship is best exhibited through conservative policy restricting curricula regarding race, racism's pervasiveness, gender identity, and how history is taught in public schools. Conversely, Community-Connected Instruction (CCI) affirms students’ culture and builds critical thinking skills in an authentic environment. While studies suggest its benefits to students, the current curricular restriction policy challenges its usage. This form of teaching is closely associated with Full-Service Community Schools (FSCS), which primarily serve underserved student populations. This study examines how FSCS educators in …

Block Schedules In Virginia Schools: Purposes, Outcomes, And Policy Considerations, David Naff, Meleah Ellison, Jamelle Simmons, Xun Liu, Martin Darby, Crystal R. Bell, Shelby Garofalo, Obed Boateng, Wendy Rodgers, Audrina Farrar, Karli Johansen, Mysia Perry, Maggie Szydlowski, Fatemah A. Khawaji, Katherine Urban

MERC Publications

When schools and divisions choose a daily schedule structure to follow, it is important to consider its purpose and potential impacts on students, educators, and families. The purpose of this MERC research and policy brief is to inform the work of school division leaders and school board members making decisions about whether to adopt or continue the use of block scheduling in middle and high schools. It explores the following questions:

1. What are block schedules and where are they used?

2. How are school schedules related to student outcomes and educator quality?

3. What policies at the federal, state, …

Supporting Students In Transition To And From Elementary School, Meleah Ellison, Jamelle Simmons, David B. Naff, Taryn G. Traylor, Meredith Dean, Sooyeon Moon, Jia Jia Liu, Latonja Y. Wright, Cameron Parkins, Jennifer Locasale-Crouch, Dana V. Yarbrough, Audrina Farrar, Obed Amoakoh Boateng

MERC Publications

This report is part of a two-part series focused on supporting students in transition across PK-12 education. Specifically, it explores transitions into and out of elementary school. The report includes a synthesis of recent peer-reviewed literature, analysis of publicly available data (with a specific focus on Virginia and the metropolitan Richmond region), and summary of relevant federal, state, and school division-level policies. It answers the following questions:

1. What are key considerations for supporting students in transition to and from elementary school in the MERC region?

2. How do federal, state, and division policies guide support for student transitions to …

Supporting Students In Transition To And From High School, David Naff, Jamelle Simmons, Meleah Ellison, Shelby Garofalo, Laura Thoene, Kim Dupre, Sooyeon Moon, Karli Johanson, Paul Harris, Martin Darby, William L. Parker, Tracy Booker, Janel Miley, Mysia Perry, Xun Liu, Maggie Szydlowski, Ahmed Abbas

MERC Publications

This report is part of a two-part series focused on supporting students in transition across PK-12 education. Specifically, it explores transitions into and out of high school school. The report includes a synthesis of recent peer-reviewed literature, analysis of publicly available data (with a specific focus on Virginia and the metropolitan Richmond region), and summary of relevant federal, state, and school division-level policies. It answers the following questions:

1. What are key considerations for supporting students in transition to and from high school in the MERC region?

2. How do federal, state, and division policies guide support for student transitions …

Restorative Leadership: A Generative Exploration With Women School Leaders, Camille Rénée Pauline Tyson Jacobs

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

As schools increasingly adopt restorative practices, a parallel shift in leadership is occurring, challenging traditional leadership models like servant and transformational leadership. While research has largely focused on student outcomes, there is a critical gap in understanding how restorative practices influence school principals’ leadership. Given their central role in sustaining and expanding restorative initiatives, this study aimed to address that gap by developing a definitional framework for restorative leadership, grounded in the experiences of women school leaders in grades 5 to 12. Using sensemaking theory, the research examined how leaders conceptualize and apply restorative values in practice. Key questions included …

Pick Up A Frog, Or Pet A Dog; Animals Are Our First Teachers, Allison Ratner

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This dissertation’s goal was an attempt to answer the question: What are the emotional, cognitive, and/or spiritual effects of children’s relationships/interactions with animals that potentially impact their development? By utilizing autoethnography, I analyzed instances from my own life where interacting with animals changed me permanently; my thinking, my knowing, my feeling, my judgement, my empathy, my attitude, and my ethics. With a standpoint rooted in the research of experts from the fields of psychology and education, I combined my personal knowledge gained over a lifetime, to grant merit to the profundity of children’s relationships with animals. With the analyzed data, …

Ground Testing Of A Magnetic-Electrostatic Separation System For Lunar Regolith Beneficiation, Peter Bachle, Charles Wood, Jeffrey Smith, Fateme Rezaei, David Bayless, William Schonberg, Daoru Han

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The separation of lunar regolith by mineral composition and size category is useful forin-situ resource utilization (ISRU). The research presented herein discusses the designing and development of equipment that has the potential to separate lunar regolith into aluminum, iron-titanium, and magnesium-iron ores. Along with the metal ore separation, this equipment shows the potential to separate regolith by size categories. The combined effect of these separation methods generates output that is valuable to subsequent use in metal and oxygen extraction, additive manufacturing, and regolith sintering processes. The designed equipment uses a dual-strength magnet system with N42 and N52 neodymium magnets for …

Editor's Introduction, Emily Allen

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Editor's introduction to Honors in Practice, volume 21 (2025).

"As we head into an uncertain future, let us care for each other and remember that together we are strong."

Read Yourself In: Enhancing First-Year Student Belonging Through Place As Text Pedagogy, John R. Andrews

Honors in Practice Online Archive

This study considers how Place as Text (PAT) pedagogy can foster a sense of belonging, efficacy, and persistence among first-year honors students. Author engages students in mapping, observing, listening, and reflecting exercises to observe how PAT helps them connect critically with their campus environment. Analyses of student reflections (qualitative) and historical enrollment data (quantitative) suggest that Place as Text deepens students’ engagement with the university, strengthens a sense of belonging, and enhances academic and social integration. Pointing to the strong correlation between belonging and persistence, author argues that PAT pedagogy should be expanded throughout honors colleges and curricula to support …

Why The Museum Matters To Honors, Mimi Killinger

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Using classroom displacement and pandemic pivoting during COVID as a touchstone, author presents ways in which museums complement and reinforce pedagogical goals in honors. Community and campus museums offer immediate and innovative teaching opportunities that require minimal technology, present diverse viewpoints and cultural perspectives, and foster visual and cultural literacies. Demonstrating how teaching within a museum aligns with the educational mission of her home institution, author suggests that these spaces can be creative, collaborative, and engaging learning locations for honors colleges and programs throughout the country. Detailed descriptions of curated collections are provided.

Toward A Welcoming Classroom: Assessment Of Student Perceptions Of Writing Education In Introductory Honors College Courses, Hilary K. Snow

Honors in Practice Online Archive

This study examines student perceptions of an introductory-level writing program in honors at a large, public R1 university. Author considers the efficacy of pedagogical interventions aimed at identifying gaps in the experience of writing for students from BIPOC and first-generation backgrounds and at developing more inclusive teaching practices. Collective revisions to the program’s writing philosophy, objectives, and rubrics helped instructors gain clarity and consistency across sections. A two-part survey was conducted at the beginning and end of the semester, and metrics were calculated for all respondents (N = 176) and targeted subgroups (n = 37; n = 30). …

Honoring The Wellness Journey: An Evidence-Based Retreat To Build Stress Resilience In Honors Students, Sydney Tutuska, Alexandra Caldwell, Jennifer Willford

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Honors students are goal-oriented, motivated, and engaged achievers. As such, they often experience heavy course loads, manage multiple responsibilities, have limited free time, and sacrifice their health (relationships, sleep, nutrition) in pursuit of their goals. This essay presents an evidence-based wellness retreat designed for honors students at a medium-sized university. The authors describe the retreat’s inception, development, curricular advantages, and administration, with specific examples of targeted evidence-based programming. Eight workshops, designed to build resilience and coping skills, address mental agility and mindset, emotion regulation, social connection, and wellness habits. The authors observe student efficacy in the development of skills and …

Honoring Careers: Developing Professional Aspirations In Honors Programs, L. Benjamin Boyar

Honors in Practice Online Archive

This essay builds on previous arguments in honors for greater representation of preprofessional disciplines. Drawing from a focused honors accounting initiative, author explores how video interviews with alumni—created through an iterative process of outreach and collaboration—can effectively bridge intellectual inquiry and career preparation. Alumni narratives help students critically examine professional trajectories, connect current coursework with broader academic and societal contexts, and produce tangible outcomes, such as conference presentations and journal publications. By showcasing these diverse career trajectories, this approach reassures students in both preprofessional and traditional disciplines, demonstrating the relevance of their academic pursuits while ensuring honors education remains intellectually …

Microcredentials For Honors Healthcare Students: Translating Academic Achievement To The Resume, Tina C. Melamed, Belinda Deal, Steve Myers

Honors in Practice Online Archive

In healthcare disciplines, honors students need opportunities to develop research skills in line with current trends and advanced degree requirements. The authors present a pilot program offering a series of online, self-paced microcredentials to enhance scholarly and clinical research competencies. Instructional modules in three areas (introduction, research tools, applied scholarly communication) include activities and assessments for demonstrating competency. Each student works with a faculty member to develop a specific topic and apply elements of scholarly communication and documentation such as research methodology, APA style, data analysis, implications for clinical practice, and directions for future research. Successful completion of microcredentialing culminates …

Launching Cures In Non-Traditional Settings: How One Honors Program Propels Primary Research For The Institution, Kathryn M. Macdonald

Honors in Practice Online Archive

This essay considers how course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) can drive original research. Honors students in career-oriented majors (accounting, hospitality management, health services administration, criminal justice) develop primary research studies that are proposed for institutional review and then conducted within a specific population across the university. The author describes the CURE model within an honors curriculum, observing that it actively engages students in the full research cycle from conceptualization to dissemination and fosters critical thinking, methodological rigor, and ethical awareness. The author recommends its use in either group or individual settings to honors programs seeking to position students as active …

Assessment As An Act Of Service: Connecting Data And Experiential Learning, Hannah Sairam, Amber Fallucca

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Utilizing the experience of teaching and learning in a graduate-level assessment course, authors present a service learning course for undergraduate honors students. Using campus and community as touchstones, students are tasked with developing, implementing, and analyzing an assessment measure based on specific needs to engage in the entire life cycle of assessment. The authors identify non-profits as a unifying client population because they emphasize the community element of service learning and accommodate a variety of student backgrounds and interests. Classroom work is oriented around discussion and collaboration. Identification of outcomes, data collection and analysis, and dissemination of results are presented …

Thinking Beyond Ourselves: Using Interdisciplinary Exploration And Speculative Scenarios To Understand The Human Experience, Shannon Kundey

Honors in Practice Online Archive

This essay presents an interdisciplinary seminar in honors that challenges students to move beyond the limitations of human experience and examine cognition and behavior across species, environments, and hypothetical extraterrestrial minds. A Choose Your Own Adventure structure encourages reflection on cognitive biases, thereby fostering a nuanced understanding of intelligence, perspective, and sociality. Author observes that students benefit from frameworks that disrupt human-centered biases and suggests that engaging students in speculative scenarios prompts confronting and questioning assumptions about intelligence, ethics, and social dynamics.

Sharing The Stage With The Future: Humans And Robots Together At Last, Donna L. Clevinger

Honors in Practice Online Archive

This essay presents a co-curricular collaboration bringing ancient comedy to a modern audience. Students and faculty at a large, public R1 university combine art and engineering to create a STEAM-based approach to theatrical production. The author describes how integrating classical text, creative expression, and transformational technologies demonstrates that collaboration between disciplines can produce gains for each, fostering advancements and human understanding that would be unattainable independently. Script writing, casting, stage production, and outcomes are presented.

Cultivating Counter-Stories To Deficit Narrative Of Students: A Literacy Problem Of Practice, Amanda Brown

Theses and Dissertations

In urban schools across the United States, literacy outcomes remain inequitable, especially for BIPOC students and those living in poverty. In District 17, the mandate to rigidly implement a purchased curriculum resource reinforces deficit-oriented views of student ability and limits teachers’ professional agency to adjust instruction based on formative data. As a result, instruction becomes disconnected from student needs and identities, further exacerbating literacy inequities.

Guided by Mintrop’s cycle of inquiry, this qualitative study examined how participation in a 90-day inquiry cycle influenced the narratives teachers constructed about their students’ literacy abilities. Kindergarten through third grade teachers collaboratively planned and …