Curriculum and Instruction Commons^™

Beyond Library Resources: How To Implement Integrated Learning Across The Curriculum With Information Literacy Components Using Hybrid Delivery, Bernadette Maria Lopez-Fitzsimmons

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

As an academic librarian at Manhattan College, Riverdale, New York, I collaborate with teaching faculty and academic support centers on campus to provide holistic support to students. In the last year a cross collegial group including teaching faculty, library faculty and Instructional Designers has been created to explore ways in which to provide a “flexible structure” in curriculum across disciplines (e.g., Arts, Science, Engineering, Education, Information Literacy, etc.). Two instructional designers and a faculty member from the English Department lead the monthly in person workshops. After each workshop, scholarly and professional articles are posted in Moodle for all participants to …

Four Decades Of Systems Science Teaching And Research At Psu, Wayne Wakeland

Systems Science Friday Noon Seminar Series

Systems science (SySc) is defined, and a brief background is provided regarding some of the systems science-related societies, conferences, journals, research institutes, and educational programs. The SySc program at Portland State University in Portland, OR, USA, is described in detail, including its history, curriculum, students, faculty, and degrees granted. Dissertation topics are summarized via word diagrams created from dissertation titles over the years. MS degrees, student placement, and undergraduate courses are also mentioned, and future plans for the program are described including its support for sustainability education.

Letter To Readers

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

No abstract provided.

Grades Five And Six Students’ Representation Of Meaning In Collaborative Wiki Writing, Shelley Stagg Peterson, Christine Portier

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

This paper examined grades 5 and 6 students’ participation in wikis while writing reports on social studies topics. An analysis of eight wikis showed that students represented meanings they had constructed about their topics by engaging in knowledge telling practices (e.g., introducing, stating, or repeating information or an idea and developing previous ideas with examples, statistics or other information) more frequently than they engaged in knowledge transforming processes, such as drawing conclusions, identifying cause-effect relationships, or making inferences or judgements. Our research shows that Bereiter and Scardamalia’s model (1987) is useful to inform the development of tools for assessing students’ …

Understanding Literacy Teacher Educators’ Use Of Scaffolding, Joyce E. Many, Eudes Aoulou

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

This inquiry examined four literacy teacher educators’ perspectives and practices as related to scaffolding by using document analysis (i.e. syllabus), observations, and interviews. Findings indicated these teacher educators used scaffolding to develop preservice teachers’ dispositions, strategies, and conceptual understandings. Faculty used scaffolding processes such as modeling, feedback, purposeful structured assignments, discussions, and reflective pieces. Participants’ use of scaffolding varied; with the participant with more years of teacher education experience exhibiting a richer and larger repertoire of scaffolding strategies. Findings also suggested some faculty might be unsure of how to monitor preservice teachers’ growth in order to provide subsequent scaffolding.

Stepping Into Science Fiction: Understanding The Genre, Diane Barone, Rebecca Barone

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

This manuscript focuses on fifth graders’ understanding of science fiction. It is argued that it is necessary for students to understand both reading strategies and the key elements of a genre for comprehension. Students read The Giver within literature circles and conversation and written responses about the book were used for analysis. It was found that students often focused on the same aspects of text and noticed several elements of science fiction.

Teaching Us Healthcare Organization And Delivery: Two Models Of Instruction, Juan Leon Phd, Laura T. Pizzi Pharmd, Mph, Deon Steele Mph

Population Health Matters (Formerly Health Policy Newsletter)

No abstract provided.

Providing The Fuel (And Passing The Flame), Todd Pagano

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

At the risk of opening with a cliché statement- at the heart of the most effective mentor is a burning passion. The fuel for this passion is a desire to convince, not just try to, but actually convince your mentee that you care about their success (be it in the classroom, career, or personal life). I am guilty of believing in, and living by, this cliché. However, despite passion being my primary motivator, I am not unwilling to admit that rationale for mentoring can sometimes transcend this ethically normative line of thinking. I believe that there are also sometimes quantitative, …

Evaluation Of An Educational Breastfeeding Program For A Non-Profit Agency In South Texas, Marcela Urbina Zavala

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Breastfeeding has been recognized as the most cost effective practice to promote healthier babies among populations (Dennis, 2002). The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effect of an educational breastfeeding and a prenatal + breastfeeding program for individuals attending group classes and to compare the differences between Spanish only and English only versions of the curriculum. Two research questions were stated to know if there were significant differences between pre and post-tests scores and if there were any significant differences in the impact of the intervention between English only and Spanish only versions of the classes. The present …

Coaching Teachers Of English Language Learners, Alma D. Rodríguez, Michele H. Abrego, Renee Rubin

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

The following qualitative study examined how Reading First Literacy Coaches refined their literacy coaching to meet the cultural and linguistic needs of Hispanic English language learners (ELLs) in 30 elementary schools located along the US Mexico Border. Data were gathered from the coaches through written surveys and a focus group. Findings from the coaches’ practices identified three themes: 1) Coaches understood bilingual programs and the theory underlying such instruction; 2) Coaches supported teachers of ELLs by sharing their knowledge and experiences about ELLs; and 3) Coaches faced challenges in meeting the needs of teachers of Hispanic ELLs. This study is …

Editors' Letter To Readers

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

No abstract provided.

Second Graders’ Interpretation Of Character In Picturebook Illustrations, Angeli Willson, Lori Falcon, Miriam Martinez

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

This qualitative research study explored second graders’ use of visual information to understand characters in picturebooks. Students participated in whole class read-alouds of three picturebooks. Immediately following each read-aloud, students were individually interviewed and invited to talk about the visual text in pre-selected illustrations. Findings revealed that the children used pictorial information, including character actions, body posture, and facial expressions, to support their inferences about characters. They also attended to color and line in justifying their insights. However, the children did not tend to some critical pictorial information in interpreting character including pictorial symbols, the position and size of characters …

Helping Elementary Teachers To Think Aloud, Molly Ness

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

An essential element in teaching children to effectively comprehend text is the use of teacher-led think alouds. The article follows a semester-long project with 31 inservice teachers, who planned, implemented, transcribed, and reflected upon think aloud lessons to build student comprehension. Through multiple exposures to think alouds, teachers made significant growth in the quantity and quality of reading comprehension strategies they incorporated. Discussion focuses on the successes and struggles that teachers encountered when thinking aloud. Finally, suggestions for supporting teachers in effectively thinking aloud are provided.

Reading Horizons Vol. 53 No. 2

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

No abstract provided.

Text Complexity: The Importance Of Building The Right Staircase, Aimee L. Papola-Ellis

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

No abstract provided.

Mastery Motivational Climate: The Key To Vocational Students' Enjoyment Of Physical Activity, Laura C. Hohengasser

Master’s Theses and Projects

This study examined the effect of a mastery motivational climate on vocational students’ physical activity enjoyment levels. Participants were 84 ninth graders (boys=53 and girls=31) aged 14 to 16 years from eight different school districts, who attended a vocational-technical school in New England. Surveys were used pre- and post-mastery climate exposure to assess students’ prior physical education experiences, perceptions of motivational climates, and levels of physical activity enjoyment. Results indicated that the sample of vocational students perceived a higher level of mastery motivational climate at the New England vocational- technical school with a higher level of physical activity enjoyment than …

Middle School Student Perceptions Of Homework In Mathematics, Camille M. Thomas

Honors Scholar Theses

Homework has been a source of debate in schools for the past several decades and will continue to be an important topic in the future. It is a traditional part of education but some debate its importance in the classroom. This study explored student perception of homework and their reported performance in middle school mathematics. The research questions focused on student attitudes about homework, the relationship of students’ self-efficacy and support resources to their homework completion, and the relationship of students’ general level of achievement in mathematics to their attitudes about homework. The study involved a survey of 230 middle …

From The Co-Editors

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

No abstract provided.

From The Co-Editors

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

No abstract provided.

From The Co-Editors

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

No abstract provided.

Increasing The Accessibility Of Science For All Students, Samantha Langley - Turnbaugh, Glenn Wilson, Lynn Lovewell

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

This paper evaluates the accessibility of selected field and laboratory high school science activities, and provides suggestions for increasing accessibility for students with disabilities. We focused on GLOBE (Global Learning Observations to Benefit the Environment) protocols, specifically the new Seasons and Biomes investigation currently being developed as part of the GLOBE program. Five university students with disabilities majoring in science or technology were recruited to test the GLOBE protocols, and 10 protocols were evaluated for accessibility. Based on our results, we make several suggestions with regards to instructions, equipment, safety, outcomes and activity significance that will increase the accessibility of …

From The Co-Editors

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

No abstract provided.

Faith, Resistance, And The Future: Daniel Berrigan’S Challenge To Catholic Social Thought, Kurt Nelson

Journal of Catholic Education

Review of Faith, Resistance, and the Future: Daniel Berrigan’s Challenge to Catholic Social Thought.

Education In A Catholic Perspective, Jill Bickett

Journal of Catholic Education

Review of Education in a Catholic Perspective.

Moving Beyond The College-Preparatory High School Model To A College-Going Culture In Urban Catholic High Schools, Ursula S. Aldana

Journal of Catholic Education

A college-going culture has been found to improve academic outcomes for underrepresented high school students (Allen, Kimura-Walsh, & Griffin, 2009; Stanton-Salazar, 2010). The research on Catholic high schools shows their college-preparatory environment ability to produce successful outcomes for African-American and Latino students (Bryk, Lee, & Holland, 1993). This study examines two urban Catholic high schools and how they construct opportunities for low-income Latino and African-American male students. The year-long study draws from 1) ethnographic field notes; 2) interviews with students and staff; 3) survey and 4) student data. Data suggests that although both schools focused on preparing students for college, …

Culturally Responsive Caring And Expectations For Academic Achievement In A Catholic School, Christian Dallavis

Journal of Catholic Education

This article draws from a larger dissertation study that applied ethnographic and historical research methods to explore the intersection of culturally responsive pedagogy and Catholic schooling in immigrant communities. In particular, this article presents qualitative data analysis to describe student achievement expectations at a contemporary urban Catholic elementary school. By examining teacher, student, and parent perspectives on academic achievement, the article explores the degree to which the caring demonstrated at the school is/is not consistent with a notion of “culturally responsive caring” in the scholarly literature surrounding theories of culturally responsive pedagogy.

Transforming Catholic Education Through Research: The American Educational Research Association Catholic Education Special Interest Group, Shane Martin

Journal of Catholic Education

Catholic schools in the United States and abroad face numerous financial, cultural, and structural challenges due to contemporary education policies and economic trends. Within this climate, research about Catholic education is often conducted and leveraged in efforts to serve schools’ most immediate needs. To be certain, research aimed at finding solutions to pressing problems is important—indeed, essential—to Catholic schools’ survival. However, it is also important that research on Catholic education connect to larger questions, issues, and discourses in education—both private and public—in order to contribute important insights and bring otherwise marginalized voices to bear in contemporary educational debates.

Editors' Comments, Mary Mccullough, Karen Huchting, Martin Scanlan

Journal of Catholic Education

We are pleased to announce the new name for the Journal: The Journal of Catholic Education.

How Three Schools View The Success Of Literacy Coaching: Teachers’, Principals’ And Literacy Coaches’ Perceived Indicators Of Success, Kristen Ferguson

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

This paper investigates how the participants in literacy coaching (teachers, literacy coaches, and principals) perceive the success of their literacy coaching programs. This qualitative study uses data from interviews and observations of literacy coaching from three schools in Ontario, Canada. Four perceived indicators of success were found: growth in student achievement, improved teaching, an increase in professional dialogue in a safe environment, and a commitment to the literacy coach. While the study did not collect student data, the beliefs of teachers, literacy coaches, and principals are significant as perceptions of self and group efficacy can predict outcomes. This research suggests …

Editors' Note, Lauren Freedman, Susan V. Piazza, Maria Selena Protacio

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Short introduction to issue.