Educational Methods Commons^™

Financial Literacy And Financial Inclusion Of Women In Rural Rajasthan, Emily Levi-D'Ancona

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Financial inclusion is an important step in development, as access to finances can help the poor build money and lift themselves out of poverty. In many parts of the developing world, and especially in India, microfinance is seen as a new approach to fighting poverty by bringing financial services, including low-interest loans, to the poor so that they can afford to start a business or invest and eventually gain self-sufficiency – in other words, a method of financial inclusion for the poor. However, microfinance in India cannot sufficiently reach the poor populations, especially those in rural India, and many of …

We Are Not The Future, We Are The Present: Cantera, Young People, And Community Development, Emily Rapport

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

CANTERA, a community organization in Ciudad Sandino with a popular education methodology, has a mission that emphasizes both personal development of its participants and social change in its community as outcomes of its work. The author of this paper looks at the connection between personal and community development in the youth programs at CANTERA, which include a variety of sociocultural and advocacy groups. The author spent three and a half weeks conducting participant observation of CANTERA's youth programs and interviewing its young people and staff members. The author presents her findings in three distinct sections. First, two case studies of …

Education In Ladakh: An Overview Of The Interactions Between An Indigenous Community And Their Government., Emma Stahl

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The way an individual is educated has an incredibly large impact on the rest of their lives. The support, information, and opportunities they receive from a young age affects who they will eventually become as adults. In the most Northern Region of India, located on the old Silk Road, lies Ladakh-­‐ a place with unique peoples and a unique culture. After having been impacted by multiple different cultures, it is a region that has developed its own style of thinking and being. However, after the creation of the Independent Indian National State, in 1947, Ladakh has been incorporated into a …

Educated Identities: An Examination Of The Effects Schooling Has On The Individual, Conor Floyd

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Before the occupation of Tibet by China, there was very little in the way of an education system for lay people nor much thought of Tibetan culture and how it will be preserved. Yet, the loss of their homeland and exile has forced both of these issues to the forefront of the Tibetan agenda. The exile governing body, the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), placed creating a universal education system for Tibetans in exile as one of their primary objectives early and through that education system the preservation of Tibetan culture and identity has taken place. This study looks at the …

Educar Para Liberar Una Investigación Del Sistema De Educación En Ex. Penitenciario Y Colina 2 Y Sus Efectos / Educating For Liberty An Investigation Of The Education System In Ex. Prison And Hill 2 And Its Effects, Patrick Miller

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

El objetivo de esta investigación es determinar cómo funciona el sistema de educación en las cárceles de Chile y aprender los efectos de educación en los hombres encarcelados. La investigación trata de responder las siguientes preguntas: 1) ¿Qué es la motivación del estado para educar personas encarceladas? 2) ¿Qué efectos tiene educación en las cárceles? 3) ¿Cuáles son los efectos en las personas una vez que salen en libertad? Son preguntas profundas y ésta investigación solo ofrece una breve respuesta a cada uno. Esta investigación realizó entrevistas formales con un director y sub director de un liceo dentro de un …

Integrating Community Service Into Scholarship: Youth Engagement By Active Participation Case Study Of Ruwwad, Eunjee Anna Koh

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This research project applies Asset-Based Community Development theory to Ruwwad, a community-based organization in Al-Natheef. As a marginalized community, the approach to community development must be investigated to ensure that it does not worsen the community dependency. Through the Myoub Khorma Youth Education and Empowerment Fund, Ruwwad provides scholarships for youth from the neighborhood and surrounding areas. The impact of the scholarship on youth was investigated through conducting student interviews and collected material culture published by the organization. Ruwwad exemplifies an example of asset-based community development in the Middle East and youth have shown that they feel empowered through an …

Language Diversity In Trainings: Analyzing The Use Of English In A Writeshop Process, Elis Cardoso Motta

Capstone Collection

This capstone paper discusses a learning process called “writeshop,” and the role played by language use in a writeshop I co-facilitated in November 2013 in South Africa. A writeshop is a workshop to collectively create a written product for publication. This paper starts with a description of my experience in co-designing and co-facilitating a writeshop as part of my practicum, followed by a reflection on the process and the different roles I played, from a trainer lens. The third part of this capstone paper presents an analysis, based on a survey and individual interviews conducted with the writeshop participants, of …

Teaching The Moral Imagination: How Global Education Aids In Peacebuilding, Charlee Bianchini

Capstone Collection

In this paper I present distinctive information from written resources and in-depth interviews with 17 constituents who are in some way involved in the incorporation of Global Education curriculum in the US. I specifically looked at Brookwood School in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts, a private school looking to develop programming around this subject. I also looked at World Learning Youth Programs in order to gain insight from an institution solely focused on GE. The aim of the research was to learn why and how Global Education programs are being incorporated into curriculums, what skills schools are aiming to have their students learn …

Global Education In New York City High Schools: What We Can Learn, Emily Gifford

Capstone Collection

In an increasingly globalized world, where international issues affect local communities, it is important for students to learn about global topics. International education in colleges is becoming more ubiquitous, but many students do not go to college and need to be introduced earlier. Is global education being taught in high schools? How have educators incorporated international issues into their classrooms? In this study, I spoke to educators in New York City to examine what public high schools are doing to integrate global issues into their curricula.

The study examines what obstacles teachers and schools face, what helps teachers to be …

Exploring Service Learning In Study Abroad: An Evaluation Of The Umbra Institute’S Urban Spaces Course, Lisa M. George

Capstone Collection

Over the proceeding decades, service learning programs combining academic study with community service have been growing in popularity at U.S. institutions of higher education. This growth has been equated to service learning’s ability to assist students with achieving personal and academic goals, as well as broader goals of civic engagement for communities. With these programs occurring in an increasingly interconnected world, that is also seeing growth in study abroad participation, it is only natural that students would seek out similar service learning opportunities in their international destinations.

Today more than 80% of students enrolled at The Umbra Institute in Perugia, …

Preparing Teen Girls To Enter The Workforce Through A Job-Readiness Training Program In The Dominican Republic, Genevieve F. Corrin

Capstone Collection

A recent shift has concentrated international community development efforts on women, many specifically aiming to work with adolescent women. This capstone explores the design, facilitation and potential developmental impact of work-readiness training for teen girls in Cabarete, Dominican Republic. Such training comes with many challenges and possibilities for positive outcome. Methodologies and frameworks introduced through SIT courses aid in the examination of these challenges, the solutions used to transform them and possible preventative approaches. Tools gleaned from the spring SIT TDEL course, to which this capstone is linked, inspire the creation of the training. These tools are also used to …

Active Development Of Tacit Knowledge: Adtk In A World Without Farmers, Roger E. Garrett Jr.

Capstone Collection

Experiential Learning Theory (ELT) and extensions such as Transformative Learning Theory offer significant potential for skill development later in life – reskilling. Despite wide acceptance and deployment, practitioners are still obliged to design their own methods and activities in order to implement these theories. This paper introduces a novel curricular model, Active Development of Tacit Knowledge (ADTK). Educators can use ADTK to effectively implement and scale ELT. Agricultural Education, specifically the training of new farmers, is used as a sample context to demonstrate ADTK. In new-farmer education, it is necessary to compress the educational cycles of dozens of years of …

A Student Assessment In Value Of Cooperative Education Curriculum Integrated Through Character Development: The Greenwood School, Rebecca Clarke

Capstone Collection

Cooperative education programming as a model of teaching to varied learning styles, is based on a small scale school working to teach children to their specific learning styles centered around their brain function strengths and limitations. The Greenwood School is a boarding school located in Putney, VT specializing in teaching boys with academic, social, and behavioral differences. The school caters to about fifty boys from ages ten to eighteen. Within all of the programs operating on this campus, one of the newest is the internship program, which offers off-campus, community based work learning opportunities with adult mentors and small business …

Class(Ed)Room: Individualized Student Disciplinary Policies As Ignoring The Current Economic Order, Nicole H. Awwad

Capstone Collection

Students are socialized into the institution of education at an early age. Obedience to authority is the objective of much of the learning done in school. Teacher expectations and perceptions of students affect student behavioral and academic performance within the context of school. Student economic and material conditions affect their availability for learning in the school setting. This research questions the application of discipline policies across a student body with diverse academic, economic and social histories. In this case study of one rural Vermont school - tracking, teacher expectations and student economic, academic and behavioral history are assessed for correlation. …

Examining Student Motivation In Saudi Arabia, Sarah Marie Springsteen

MA TESOL Collection

Every year, thousands of people from all over the world travel to Saudi Arabia to teach English. As well, yearly, thousands of Saudi students receive a large portion of their English education from these expatriate teachers. Despite the millions of dollars spent on this educational process, the linguistic impact suffers greatly from a lack of understanding between teacher and student, often caused by undiscussed misconceptions. This paper is written in an effort to open a dialogue about the problems of motivation in the Saudi college and university prep-year programs. It analyzes student motivation using three different research techniques, and posits …

Communicating Climate Change: A National Security Framework, Stacy Casey

Capstone Collection

There is a severe lack of public concern and engagement surrounding climate change due to various challenges, barriers, and failures in Climate Change communications. Framing is a communication concept and tool proven to help break communication barriers by presenting information through a new perspective. This study asks if reframing Climate Change under a National Security frame will interest and inform the public about the many complexities of climate change, resulting in public engagement and policy. Strategic frame analysis is used to identify issues in communicating Climate Change and reframe Climate Change under a National Security frame. Specific framing guidelines and …

The “Good” South African: Concepts Of Nation-Building And Social Cohesion In The Public School Setting, Kristi Carey

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The purpose of this research project is to examine the ways in which the classroom, teacher, and student dynamics of a South African urban primary school create a site for nation-building, citizenship, and the promotion of social cohesion. Understanding that the school serves as an institution for the production of ideology, socialization, and spreading of knowledge, this research will investigate how curriculum, authority, and policy influence what it means to be a “good” South African citizen, and thus, a contributor to forming both personal and national identity. Through observing the “Life Orientation” courses, the research attempts to grasp the kind …

Bas D’Immeubles, Emma Benjamin

France: Language, Community and Social Change

Bas D’immeubles est une association loi 1901 à but non lucratif, qui fait des activités et de l’intégration pour les familles de Reynerie. Aux banlieues de Toulouse, France, l’association est située en bas d’un HLM, un Habitation à Louer Modéré. Ces grands bâtiments qui aujourd’hui constituent les banlieues comme Reynerie et Bellefontaine, comprennent pour la plupart des immigrés de l’Afrique du Nord. Les associations comme Bas D’immeubles étaient mise en place pour intégrer les gens du quartier ; les adultes de la première génération, et leurs enfants de la deuxième ou troisième génération qui sont nés en France. Pendant mon …

Reflective Teaching Practices: Looking Beneath The Surface And Emergent Cyclical Experiential Learning Processes And Outcomes, Mazie E. Black

MA TESOL Collection

In this professional paper, I examined the kinds of processes I experienced for English language acquisition (ELA) in practice. This journey is about my transition from a generalist to a TESOL specialist. One of my most successful lessons was not in English, but a science lesson to students who were majority users of English as a second or third language. It was about the use of reflective and refractive telescopes. My approaches were very student centered and project based. They worked in groups, chose which type of telescope to make, kept journals with notes, drawings and key vocabulary, made inferences, …

Black English And Culture Meet The Mainstream Classroom, Giselle Robitaille

MA TESOL Collection

Learning English can often be a critical factor in people’s lives, and the choice to disengage from learning out of sheer frustration can have devastating psychological and social effects for people who need to acquire English in order to be able to fulfill academic, personal and professional goals. While I was not able to find statistics on a global level, it is easy to believe that English language learners do disengage frequently. This is most obvious in the United States where the Standard English (SE) model of teaching black children has resulted in a high level of disengagement with learning …

Guided Discovery Grammar Instruction: A Review Of The Literature With Original Teaching Materials, Marcella Caprario

MA TESOL Collection

Although grammar instruction is a hotly debated facet of language teaching, a review of Second Language Acquisition, Foreign Language Instruction, and Educational Psychology literature reveals that inductive explicit grammar instruction is a viable method, which can generate positive learning outcomes. Studies have shown that learners tend to learn grammar more accurately and faster through explicit instruction. By utilizing inductive techniques, teachers can create a student-centered classroom that encourages critical thinking and problem solving, in addition to language study. With these principles in mind, I have created a series of guided discovery grammar worksheets, accompanied by the procedure and teaching notes …

An Evaluation Of The Effectiveness Of The Khan Academy Videos For Teaching Mathematics At Menzi High School, Naman Barman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The goal of this practicum is to evaluate the effectiveness of the Khan Academy videos as a tool for teaching Maths in a low-resourced school. The Khan Academy is a nonprofit organization based in California whose mission is to produce engaging videos for students to learn Maths, science, and other subjects. The Khan Academy videos have garnered more than 350 million views on YouTube and have thus proven to be a valuable learning tool for many students. This project analyzes the effectiveness of these videos for teaching Maths to Grade 9 students at Menzi High School, a low-resourced school in …

“Teach To The Middle”: A Double Case Study Of Two Multilevel Efl Classes In The Middle East, Teresa Hernandez

MA TESOL Collection

The purpose of this paper is to develop a comprehensive understanding of multilevel classes. It examines the pedagogical challenges that teachers often face in this teaching context, but it also considers the implications for what multilevel classes indicate about access to education in the EFL teaching field. The author has opted to examine two distinct cases of multilevel classes in the Middle East that she taught from 2010-2011 and in 2012. The first was a remedial 7^th grade English class called 7F in an international school in Erbil, the capital city of the Kurdistan region of Iraq. The second …

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.

Academic Content Instruction And The High School English Language Learner: A Series Of Lessons That Model An Approach To Content Instruction In Science In A Multi- Level English As A Second Language High School Classroom, Juliet M. Parry

MA TESOL Collection

This paper presents a series of lessons on biology that model an approach to content instruction Biology in a multi-level English as a second language high school classroom. It includes background information on the course, lesson plans, explanation of and rationale behind them, historical perspective on the shift from content instruction in the native language to content instruction in the new or target language.

The Cartoon Cookbook – A Collection Of Stories For Teaching Esl, Carolyn Marie Manzi

MA TESOL Collection

This project is a collection of seven cartoon stories and follow-up exercises for teaching English As A Second Language. It is designed for intermediate and upper intermediate adult learners. Each cartoon has a specific grammatical or socio-linguistic focus. Communicative and written exercises follow each cartoon. The communicative activities are designed to engage students in conversation and creative group expression. The written exercises are of two types-: creative writing activities and traditional fill-in-the-blanks exercises. By engaging in these activities, ESL students may increase their competence in all the four skills areas. This collection of cartoon stories is not meant to be …

Transactions: Chapter 1 Of A Proposed 10 Chapter Business English Video Text, Clifford Trevor Meyers

MA TESOL Collection

This is a prototype first chapter of a ten chapter Business English Video Text. It includes a student text, workbook, teacher guide and video. The materials are geared for Asians interested in trade and business. The title of this chapter is 'Greetings and Introductions'.

Storytelling In A Second-Language And Cross-Cultural Education: A Positive Approach To The Learner’S Unconscious Potential, Cynthia A. Jaffe

MA TESOL Collection

The paper describes the technique, and rationale of storytelling in second-language and cross-cultural education. The storytelling technique is designed to approach learners through subconscious pathways, in order to reinforce their linguistic skills, to engender a positive attitude toward their learning of the second language and their involvement in the second culture, and to stimulate the development of their creative potentials. The paper includes an extensive rationale for the application of the technique, a description and step­-by-step manual for the application of the techniques and skills involved in the telling of tales, ideas on how to select stories appropriate to the …

A Beginner’S Guide To Teaching Esl Abroad, Peter Goldstone

MA TESOL Collection

This paper is a guidedbook for novice teachers of English as a Foreign Language abroad. Each chapter and subsection is introduced by a letter from a different inexperienced teacher who has stumbled upon some perplexing aspect of the job. The guide is divided into four chapters which follow a chronological sequence of experiences likely to be encountered by the beginning teacher abroad. The first chapter deals with finding a job, and putting it into perspective with regard to approaches and teaching­ learning assumptions. The second chapter is concerned with gaining both theoretical and personal perspectives on learning, teaching, language, and …