Curriculum and Instruction Commons^™

The Mealworm Puzzle

Module 1: How People Reason

Some experimenters wanted to test the response of mealworms to light and moisture. To do this they set up four boxes as shown in the diagram below. They used lamps for light sources and constantly watered pieces of paper in the boxes for moisture. In the center of each box they placed 20 mealworms. One day later they returned to count the number of mealworms that had crawled to the different ends of the boxes.

The Islands Puzzle

Module 1: How People Reason

The puzzle is about Islands A, B, C and D in the ocean. People have been traveling among these islands by boat for many years, but recently an airline started in business. Carefully read the clues about possible plane trips at present. The trips maybe direct or include stops and plane changes on an island. When a trip is possible, it can be made in either direction between the islands. You may make notes or marks on the map to help use the clues.

The Mr. Short / Mr. Tall Puzzle

Module 1: How People Reason

The figure below is called Mr. Short. We used large round buttons laid side-by-side to measure Mr. Short's height, starting from the floor between his feet and going to the top of his head. His height was four buttons. Then we took a similar figure called Mr. Tall and measured it in the same way with the same buttons. Mr. Tall was six buttons high.

The Treasure Hunt Puzzle

Module 1: How People Reason

At the beginning of his novel The Hamlet, William Falconer mentions a legend of a treasure buried on an old plantation. Readers expect, naturally, that before the novel ends there will be a search for the treasure, and and Faulkner does not disappoint them.

Four major characters are soon introduced: Will, who is chief landowner thereabouts; Jody, Will's son and heir-apparent; Flem, a shrewd fellow working for Will; and Ratliff, an itinerant sewing machine salesman.

Faulkner had to decide who among these four characters would be "in on" the hunt for the buried treasure. Someday you may read the novel …

Module 3 - Formal Reasoning Patterns: Introduction

Module 3: Formal Reasoning Patterns

In Piaget's theory, concrete operational reasoning is characterized by patterns of serial ordering, simple classification, conservation reasoning, and other operations applied to objects that a person is able to observe or manipulate directly. Formal reasoning patterns include these operations but go beyond them to utilize other processes in situations where one does not deal with tangible objects. Formal patterns often involve proportional reasoning, separation of variables, and combinatorial reasoning.

The film "Formal Reasoning Patterns" Davidson Films, 1976) will enable you to watch two interviews (Dr. Karplus and Dr. Peterson) working with several secondary school students who exhibit concrete or formal …

Module 0: Orientation - Overview

Module 0: Orientation

Welcome to the Workshop on College Teaching and the Development of Reasoning. This Orientation Module describes the overall program for the sessions.

Module 1 - How People Reason - Overview

Module 1: How People Reason

You have probably been puzzled at various times in your teaching career by the thinking strategies that students appear to use to solve problems. It is difficult for most of us to understand that many students do not use reasoning patterns that seem obvious to us. Many students substitute numbers into a formula they remember even though the formulas may not be applicable to the problem at hand. This situation quite naturally leads us to wonder about the reasoning that students utilize when we would employ mental operations such as separating variables, excluding an irrelevant factor, or applying a mathematical …

Undergraduate Catalog, 2007-2008, Anderson University - South Carolina

Catalogs

The 2007-2008 undergraduate academic catalog and introduction to the university.

Evaluation Of An Adult Education Technology Program, Iwasan D. Kejawa

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Theses and Other Student Research

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the adult education technology program at a chartered alternative adult education center in Florida. The adult education center had a low rate of students passing the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT). This study examined the impact of the use of computer technology in an effort to improve student learning in mathematics, reading, and science. Computers at the institution were used by all students for tutorials to prepare them for the FCAT and to obtain a high school diploma. The research questions for this study were as follows: 1. Is the education technology …

A Case Study Of Three Rural Schools: Factors, Characteristics, And Conditions That Influence School Performance Scores, Jacqueline L. Mason

Doctoral Dissertations

The purposes of this study were to explore three rural Louisiana PK-12 schools with high percentages of minority and high poverty populations and to examine how activities, conditions, events, policies, and procedures in these schools might be associated with their consistent growth in School Performance Scores across the period 2001-2005. Qualitative data were collected from individual interviews, researcher observations, focus groups, and analyses of school documents. Constant comparison theory was used to triangulate data across the three schools and to identify emerging themes and patterns common to all schools. The study was one of mixed methods; most of the data …

Absenteeism And Beyond: Instructional Time Loss And Consequences, Helen Abadzi

Curriculum and Instruction Faculty Publications - Archive

Studies have shown that learning outcomes are related to the amount of time students engage in learning tasks. However, visits to schools have revealed that students are often taught for only a fraction of the intended time, particularly in lower-income countries. Losses are due to informal school closures, teacher absenteeism, delays, early departures, and sub-optimal use of time in the classroom. A study was undertaken to develop an efficient methodology for measuring instructional time loss. Thus, instructional time use was measured in sampled schools in Tunisia, Morocco, Ghana, and the Brazilian state of Pernambuco. The percentage of time that students …

2007-2009 Otterbein College Undergraduate Course Catalog, Otterbein University

Course Catalogs

No abstract provided.

2007-2009 Otterbein College Graduate Course Catalog, Otterbein University

Course Catalogs

No abstract provided.

Thumbs Up To Undergraduate Research At Umw, Jack Bales

Administrative / Professional Faculty Articles

With newly minted college graduates flooding the job market or graduate schools, each one is naturally searching for an edge to stand out among the competition. According to Mary Washington students, UMW's Undergraduate Research Program is earning high marks for helping provide that edge.

Models Of Interdisciplinary Research And Service Learning At Hope College, Aaron A. Best, Matthew Dejongh, Amanda J. Barton, Jeff R. Brown, Christopher C. Barney

Publications

"Children love to explore the world around them. In doing so they are not aware of disciplinary boundaries or even of disciplines. They move freely from watching ants (biology) to building structures (engineering) to counting rocks (mathematics and geology) to seeing what things dissolve in water (chemistry). Only as they go to school do they learn that humans divide up the way we learn about the universe and start to think within disciplinary boundaries. In doing so, those children, who are now us, lose the ability to think broadly and use the insights of various ways of thinking to solve …

Two Educator Perspectives On Legal Research Methods, Ellen Boegel, Marissa Moran

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of U.S. National And State Level Policy On The Nature And Scope Of K-12 Virtual Schooling, Anna Lukemeyer, Kent J. Crippen, Leanna Archambeault

Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Research

During the past five years, virtual schools in the United States have gained popularity and acceptance as viable alternatives to the traditional school system through provisions for charter schools under Title V, Part B, Subpart 1 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. This paper describes the existing federal policies that are driving the online virtual school movement, and how one state, Nevada, has set forth and interpreted specific policies regarding online distance education. In addition, this paper identifies the beliefs acting as the driving forces …

Unlv Magazine, Cate Weeks, Erin O'Donnell, Shane Bevell, Barbara Cloud, Joy Drohan, Adam Baer, Holly Ivy De Vore, Gian Galassi, Eric Leake

UNLV Magazine

No abstract provided.

An Analysis Of Rx For Discovery Reading For Elementary Students Below Average In Reading, Susan Kay Stanley

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Rx for Discovery Reading® is an intervention developed by the National Institute for Learning Development to impact the reading abilities of students below grade level in reading. The program was designed to address every area of reading acquisition, but, for this study, the areas of phonological processing, decoding, and fluency were investigated using pre- and post-test scores from the KTEA-II, GORT, and DIBELS. The problem studied was whether Rx for Discovery Reading® would raise the mean standard scores in the three areas at the conclusion of the field test. Using a small-group format, twenty-nine students who were not on grade …

Presenting Science And Engineering Careers In A Unique And Appealing Way., Nihad E. Daidzic, Vojin R. Nikolic

Aviation Department Publications

An original summer camp activity in the areas of aerospace/aeronautical engineering and aviation has been developed. A pilot version of the program was completed successfully in June 2007 at Minnesota State University, Mankato. The main objective of the program was to increase the awareness and interest among high school students for science and engineering careers. Through a series of short lectures and extensive hands-on demonstrations the attending students have been familiarized with the fundamental concepts and relationships of science and engineering in general, and of aerospace engineering and aviation, in particular. Two major team projects have been completed and tested. …

2007 Fall Faculty Conference: The Role Of Scholarship And Creative Work At Otterbein College, Academic Affairs

Fall Faculty Conference

The 2007 Fall Faculty Conference features remarks by Dr. Scott Colley, the former president of Berry College, and breakout discussion groups.

Action Items, Wku Graduate Council

Graduate School

Overview of action items handled by the Graduate Council.

Problems For Teacher Education For Primary Schools In Nigeria: Beyond Curriculum Design And Implementation, Olusegun Akinbote

Essays in Education

Primary education is the core of development and progress sin modern societies. However the quality of teachers who are to ensure the realization of the aspirations we hold for our children has fallen below expectations. This study therefore investigated the entry qualifications, the mode of entry into and the reasons why students enroll in Colleges of Education. The findings showed that majority of the student teachers are not ‘good materials’ for teacher education and that only a few of them really have the genuine desire to become teachers. Recommendations are made on how to improve on the quality of entrants …

Teacher Candidates’ Emerging Perceptions Of Reader Response Theory, Khaled Alazzi

Essays in Education

What are the possibilities when teacher candidates participate in focused instruction in reader response theory and connected opportunities to experience response to literature, then design and implement response experiences with their elementary students? Consideration of this question led to this study that describes teacher candidates’ knowledge about reader response theory and their perceptions of the value and usefulness of reader response theory throughout a semester of focused experiences in university and elementary classrooms. Through qualitative analysis, four distinct, but related themes emerged. These themes describe teacher candidates who: 1) are at differing stages of understanding, 2) find that responding to …

Visually Impaired Education: Yesterday, Today, And Tomorrow, Adebiyi A. B.

Essays in Education

The actual formal education of the visually impaired persons started in Nigeria in the 40s by the Sudan Interior Mission, that was a century after their sighted counterparts had embraced Western Education. The main aim of the Missionaries was to train persons with Visual impairment to read the Bible and learn skills which would make them to be self reliant. The establishment of the first school for the blind in Gindiri was an eye opener to the emergence of other special education institutions in Nigeria. In Nigeria, Visually impaired education has passed through different stages of educational development. despite, progresses …

Onset Of Hearing Loss, Gender And Self Concept As Determinants Of Academic Achievements In English Language Of Students With Hearing Disability In Oyo State, Nigeria, J. Abiola Ademokoya, B. A. Shittu

Essays in Education

Since every class of students with hearing disability is always a heterogeneous one, the need for establishing relationship between some intrinsic factors in these students and their academic achievements becomes very imperative. This study therefore examined the influence of onset of hearing loss, gender and self concept on their academic performance in English language. 100 Senior Secondary School class III students with hearing disability were purposively selected to participate in the study. The study also raised 3 hypotheses to ascertain relationships between onset of hearing loss, gender, and self concept and English language achievement. Instruments such as the self concept …

Learning For Success In The 21st Century, Patricia A. Iannuzzi

Library Faculty Presentations

Content Knowledge — what do we want them to know?

Skills and Abilities — what are the essential skills and abilities we want them to apply to their learning?

Behaviors and Attitudes — what behaviors, attitudes, values do we want them to live?

Education In The Environment: A Strategy For Continued Interagency Outdoor Programming: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Ending August 31, 2007, Environmental Education Strategy For Nevada

Reports (PLI Education)

During the past three months, the focus of the university’s efforts has included the following highlights:

• Three projects have been identified to meet SNAP strategic messaging needs: an anti-litter exhibit; a volunteer restoration program with educational components; and activity stations to tell the story of Lee Meadows restoration efforts.
• Interpretive planning is underway for Mountain’s Edge Explorer’s Interpretive Trail.
• A Hispanic survey and monitoring program has been identified.
• A six-week Spanish class tailored to meet the communication needs of environmental educators and interpreters will be offered beginning September 20.
• Forever Earth was scheduled for 11 days and benefited 297 individuals. …

Letter, Chair Of Continuing Contract Committee From Dr. Edna Saffy, August 20, 2007, Edna Louise Saffy

Saffy Collection - All Textual Materials

Professional letter of recommendation. Printed on Florida Community College at Jacksonville letterhead.

An Emic View Of Student Writing And The Writing Process, Michael Hass, Jan Osborn

English Faculty Articles and Research

This study uses student reflections of previous success in academic writing to guide instructors as they design writing assignments. Seventy-one students in five classes responded to a questionnaire designed to help them identify particularly successful writing experiences and reflect on the circumstances, strategies, and methods they believed impacted their success. Student responses to these questions were analyzed to identify broad categories or themes. This process produced an "emic" or insider's view of what constitutes successful writing assignments and writing process. The findings suggest that students self report their writing as successful when the writing assignment engenders engagement, commitment, collaboration, a …