Curriculum and Social Inquiry Commons^™

The Impact Of A Grade Nine Transition Program On Student Success In The Piedmont Region Area Of North Carolina, Phillip Jermaine Johnson

Education Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of the Grade 9 transition program at an urban high school in the piedmont area of North Carolina. Grade 9 is a pivotal year that determines which students prevail and which students fail to finish high school (Hertzog, 2003). It is essential that schools put in place components that ease the transition into high school and provide ongoing support.

Investigation measuring instruments that were used by the researcher included a student survey and a teacher survey which involved Grade 9 students and those teachers who taught Grade 9 students. The data that …

Theory Guided Professional Development In Early Childhood Science Education, Soo-Young Hong, Julia C. Torquati, Victoria J. Molfese

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

The importance of early and developmentally appropriate science education is increasingly recognized. Consequently, creation of common guidelines and standards in early childhood science education has begun (National Research Council (NRC), 2012), and researchers, practitioners, and policy makers have shown great interest in aligning professional development with the new guidelines and standard. There are some important issues that need to be addressed in order to successfully implement guidelines and make progress toward accomplishing standards. Early childhood teachers have expressed a lack of confidence in teaching science and nature (Torquati, Cutler, Gilkerson, & Sarver, in press) and have limited science and pedagogical …

Fostering Climate Change Education In The Central Great Plains: A Public Engagement Approach, Lisa M. Pytlikzillig, Timonthy Steffensmeier, Amber Campbell Hibbs, Ben Champion, Eric Hunt, John Harrington Jr, Jacqueline D. Spears, Natalie Umphlett, Tarik Abdel-Monem, Roger Bruning, Daniel W. Kahl

University of Nebraska Public Policy Center: Publications

Despite its increasing importance for sustainability, building widespread competency in the basic principles of climate literacy among the United States general public is a great challenge. This article describes the methods and results of a public engagement approach to planning climate change education in the Central Great Plains of the United States. Our approach incorporated contextual and lay expertise approaches to public engagement with a focus on supporting the self-determination of the specific stakeholder groups–rural producers, educators, and community members. An integration of results from the focus groups reveal that our approach was received positively and elicited a number of …

English Proficiency / Fluent English Proficient Students, Susan R. Adams

Scholarship and Professional Work – Education

K-12 students whose first language is not English are identified upon enrollment in U.S. schools through a home language survey and are immediately assessed to determine whether English as a second language (ESL) services are required. Students who do not pass this initial screening assessment are classified as English Language Learners (ELLs), or as limited English proficiency (LEP) students, and are identified to receive school-provided English language development (ELD) and accommodations. Students who pass the initial screener or who demonstrate English proficiency two years in a row on state-mandated annual assessments are deemed fluent or fully English proficient (FEP) students …

Are Your S'S In Effect? Ensuring Culturally Responsive Physical Education Environments, Brian Culp

Faculty Articles

Schools have rapidly becoming a kaleidoscope of ethnicities and cultures represented by demographic changes that have affected America’s schools. As educators in this era of change, a unique opportunity exists to ensure quality physical education for all students. Culturally responsive practices in the classroom can assist in minimizing students' alienation as they attempt to adjust to the different "worlds" often represented in school.

Forced To Learn: Community-Based Correctional Education, Ron Mottern, C. Amelia Davis, Mary F. Ziegler

Curriculum, Foundations & Reading: Faculty Publications

Community-based correctional education has received scant attention in adult literacy research yet mandatory education is a growing part of the legal system and is fueled by research that suggests a link between correctional education and lower rates of recidivism. Growth in alternative to prison programs affects local ABE and GED programs. Adults who attend community-based correctional programs as a condition of their probation or parole face many challenges. The purpose of this existential-phenomenological study was to understand the experience of those adults. Findings describe students’ experiences of being forced to attend a GED program. Opening a space for these stories …

Examining The Role Of Facilitated Conflict On Student Learning Outcomes In A Diversity Education Course, Sabrina N. Ross

Curriculum, Foundations & Reading: Faculty Publications

Building on the Piagetian concept of disequilibrium (i.e., cognitive conflict) and empirical research documenting relationships between cognitive conflict and transformative learning, this article explores the influence of facilitated conflict (i.e., intentional efforts by the instructor to help students reflect on and work through the intergroup conflict they experienced in the course) on the learning outcomes of female students enrolled in an exploratory diversity education course. Various forms of student writing including free-writing exercises and reflective papers were used in addition to two survey response questions to identify sources of cognitive conflict and assess student learning outcomes. Findings revealed that strategies …

Using Careless Speech For Careful, Well-Crafted Writing— Whatever Its Style, Peter Elbow

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Bringing the resources of speech to writing enables writers to understand and attain written eloquence.

The Power Of The Poetic Lens: Why Teachers Need To Read Poems Together, Amy L. Eva, Carrie A. Bemis, Marie F. Quist, Bill Hollands

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Poetry reading circles can become the means for new (and experienced) teachers to reflect on their professional growth.

Front Matter

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Editor's message.

Sheep In Wolves’ Clothing: How Composition’S Social Construction Reinstates Expressivist Solipsism (And Even Current-Traditional Conservatism), Keith Rhodes, Monica M. Robinson

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Reframing the theory of social construction from Romantic/ Classic perspectives yields surprising insights about writing studies.

A Teacher’S Terminal Illness In The Secondary Classroom: The Effects Of Disclosure, Sarah Hochstetler

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

How does it affect learning when cancer becomes the prevailing metaphor through which students see their teacher?

Learning And Teaching In Other Ways, Ilene Dawn Alexander

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

A teaching and learning consultant suggests that “oscillating narratives” are the means for helping unconventional students become critically aware.

Back Matter

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

No abstract provided.

Get Rich U Or Get Transformed U: Reflections On Catholic Liberal Arts Education In The 21st Century, Thomas G. Plante

Psychology

Catholic liberal arts educators can proclaim boldly that we are in the business of formation and transformation of students at multiple levels and in multiple ways. We want our students to be competent, ethical, and compassionate global citizens who are thoughtful, savvy, deep thinkers who love learning and who love helping others. Research and best practices support the claim that the virtues cultivated by the liberal arts contribute to the flourishing of individuals and society as a whole. Catholic colleges and universities have a long history of promoting the liberal arts, and data from various sources suggest that we are …

Liberal Education And Moral Education, Daniel R. Denicola

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Mark Van Doren, the noted literary scholar, once remarked, "The college is meaningless without a curriculum, but it is more so when it has one that is meaningless." Many current critics of undergraduate curricula in America assent to the crucial need for programmatic renewal in our colleges and universities. They bemoan the cookie-cutter sameness in far too many of them. The oddity is that U.S. colleges have long touted their "diversity" while largely holding fast to rather traditional pathways. This illuminating volume goes beyond formulaic nuts-and-bolts recipes for constructing curriculum: it seeks to interpret and analyze the contemporary landscape of …

Thoughts On Teaching As A Practice Of Love, Sharon Marshall

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Approaching classroom diversity from a Nichiren Buddhist perspective guides students toward a “value-creating education.”

Stillness In The Composition Classroom: Insight, Incubation, Improvisation, Flow, And Meditation, Ryan Crawford, Andreas Willhoff

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Studies of brain images provide scientific justification for encouraging meditation among young writers.

The Journey Metaphor’S Entailments For Framing Learning, Bradley Smith

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Analysis of differing frames for learning to write shows that the journey metaphor best serves our efforts to convey how writing and learning are linked.

Jaepl, Vol. 19, Winter 2013-2014, Joona Smitherman Trapp, Brad Peters

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Essays

Peter Elbow - Using Careless Speech for Careful, Well-Crafted Writing - Whatever Its Style

Keith Rhodes & Monica M. Robinson - Sheep in Wolves' Clothing: How Composition's Social Construction Reinstates Expressivist Solipsism (And Even Current-Traditional Conservatism)

Bradley Smith - The Journey Metaphor's Entailments for Framing Learning

Sarah Hochstetler - A Teacher's Terminal Illness in the Secondary Classroom: The Effects of Disclosure

Anna O. Soter - It's (Not) Just a Figure of Speech: Rescuing a Metaphor

Amy L. Eva, Carrie A. Bemis, Marie F. Quist, & Bill Hollands - The Power of the Poetic Lens: Why Teachers Need to Read …

It’S (Not) Just A Figure Of Speech: Rescuing Metaphor, Anna O. Soter

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Look for ways that students can study metaphor in everyday language, rather than confine its study to poetry.

Connecting, Helen Walker, Bob Randolph, Leigh Ann Chow, Andrea Saylor, Jill Moyer Sunday, Kattie Hogan, Matt Ittig, John Patrick Cleary

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Connecting

Helen Walker - Gratitude

Bob Randolph - Poetry Teacher's Prayer

Leigh Ann Chow - What Teachers Carry

Andrea Saylor - A Brief History of Holy Writing

Jill Moyer Sunday - For My Students

Kattie Hogan & Matt Ittig - Lines on the Body: Confronting Personal Experiences through Poetry

John Patrick Cleary - New Teacher

Fear Not The Trunchbull: How Teaching From A Humorous Outlook Supports Transformative Learning, Kathleen J. Cassity

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Empirical and historical evidence suggest that humor is a key tool for discovering ways in which learning can become transformative.

Book Reviews, Judy Halden-Sullivan, Karen Walker, Timothy Shea, Julie Nichols, Edward Sullivan

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Book Reviews

Judy Halden-Sullivan - Making the Familiar Unfamiliar

Karen Walker - Ritchhart, Ron, Mark Church, and Karin Morrison. Making Thinking Visible. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2011.

Timothy Shea - Jobrack, Beverlee. Tyranny of the Textbook. New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2012.

Julie Nichols - FitzGerald, William. Spiritual Modalities: Prayer as Rhetoric and Performance. University Park, PA: Penn State Press, 2012.

Edward Sullivan - Quesada, Donna. The Buddha in the Classroom: Zen Wisdom to Inspire Teachers. NY: Skyhorse Publishing, 2011.

Education As Class Warfare. An Interview With Scholar/Author Peter Mclaren, Peter Mclaren

Education Faculty Articles and Research

An interview with Peter McLaren about educational reform and how his work is influenced by Marxist theory.

Core Competencies In Civic Engagement, Leila Brammer, Rebecca Dumlao, Audrey Falk, Elizabeth Hollander, Ellen Knutson, Jeremy Poehnert, Andrea Politano, Valerie Werner

Center for Engaged Democracy Publications

A review and synthesis of key competencies contained in national-level reports on Civic Engagement, academic programs engaged in community-based models of teaching, learning and research, including a review of the literature and almost 30 academic civic engagement programs around the country.

Movement In Learning: Revitalizing The Classroom, Marcus Van

MA TESOL Collection

Movement is a vital part of our every day lives, and it is also important for a healthy brain. The following paper examines the shift from movement based learning to a more restrictive rote format, which often has adverse effects on learning. This work discusses the ways in which teachers are under pressure to “teach to the test” instead of creating student-centered classrooms. Some of the side effects of a test-centered approach are low self-esteem (from not meeting strict academic requirements) and behavioral problems in students.

Adding more movement to lessons can provide variation and relief from the rote-only system. …

Narrative Inquiry In The Language Classroom: An Incubator Of Identity And Growth Exploration, Olga Culver

MA TESOL Collection

The paper examines narrative inquiry within the precepts of socio-cultural and ecological theories. The work touches upon constructivist learning ideologies and examines social approaches to learning with an emphasis on biographical narratives. The author makes a case for self-discovery, holistic learning, and creating collaborative learning environments. The study also presents a methodology with practical applications for implementing a narrative praxis in a second language learning environment.

Tripping With Stephen Gaskin: An Exploration Of A Hippy Adult Educator, Gabriel Patrick Morley

Dissertations

For the last 40 years, Stephen Gaskin has been an adult educator on the fringe, working with tens of thousands of adults in the counterculture movement in pursuit of social change regarding marijuana legalization, women’s rights, environmental justice issues and beyond. Gaskin has written 11 books about his experiences teaching and learning with adults outside the mainstream, yet, he is virtually unknown in the field of adult education. He lists his religion as hippy; he is a member of the Counterculture Hall of Fame (inducted 2004), a convicted felon, a United States Marine, a Korean War combat veteran, and a …

Enhancing The Team Experience In Service Learning Courses, Audrey Falk

Education Faculty Publications

Service learning is pervasive in higher education today, with 31 percent of students at Campus Compact member schools engaging in service activities (Campus Compact, 2009) and universities’ missions and strategic planning documents increasingly aimed at developing engaged citizens. Service learning has many potential benefits for college students; among those benefits is the opportunity to develop and practice teamwork skills. The present paper describes the strategies used in a team-based service learning course to support positive team experiences for students.