Educational Methods Commons^™

The Influence Of Exposure To Inclusive School Environments On The Mathematical Achievement Of General Education Elementary School Students, Andrew P. Davis

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

This study examined the influence of student exposure levels as measured by time (years and total minutes per day) on the academic achievement of general education students taught in inclusive classrooms. An ancillary examination was conducted to ascertain the impact of co-teaching classroom instruction on general education students’ math achievement. A non-experimental, correlational, cross-sectional, explanatory design with quantitative measures was executed. The North West Education Association’s Measure of Academic Progress mathematics scores were used to compare the achievement of students in Grade 6 as compared to Grade 3 baselines. Five simultaneous regression analyses were conducted leading to the identification of …

Arts-Integration In A Middle Grades Social Studies Classroom, Stephanie J. Dorminey

Honors College Theses

Many middle grades students are not engaged in their Social Studies classrooms, and history teachers are faced with the task of finding an effective way to engage students and help them remember the required content. The purpose of this study was to investigate how integrating the arts in a middle grades history classroom influences student learning and student satisfaction in social studies. The study is mixed-methods; therefore, data collected are both quantitative and qualitative. Participants are two classes of middle grades students at a rural school in the Southeastern United States. This study will benefit educators who are interested in …

Comparing Contemporary Dystopian Novels With Canonical Classics In The Classroom, Elizabeth Moser

Honors Projects

This is a set of twenty lesson plans combining canonical classic dystopian novels and contemporary dystopian novels in the classroom. The first ten lesson plans involve teaching Divergent by Veronica Roth and 1984 by George Orwell together. The second ten days involve teaching The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and 1984 by George Orwell together. These sets of lessons are not necessarily meant to be taught together but each of the ten day sets were created to show the different possibilities for teaching these types of novels together.

Editor's Introduction, Michael M. Grant

Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning

No abstract provided.

Cognitive Styles Impact On Student Self-Efficacy, Ashten Graham

Honors Projects

This study will examine the impact the use differentiated instruction, based on cognitive styles, has on students’ self-efficacy. In order to accomplish this, students will be asked to explore what cognitive styles they ascribe to. Then after varied lessons attributing to different learning styles, students will complete a survey to gauge their level of self-efficacy. The goal of this sequence is to determine whether there is a relationship between cognitive styles and self-efficacy. It will also provide insight on how to create the best learning environment to promote academic success through the use of cognitive styles and attention to self-efficacy …

Action Research: Reflective Journaling Within Middle Grades Mathematics Classroom, Larissa Van Der Molen

Honors Projects

Reflective journaling within a middle grades mathematics classroom offers great potential as a practice for both educators and students. This paper examines the previous work that has been completed while also exploring the effectiveness of the practice in a fifth grade math classroom. The research shows that while implementing reflective journaling in a math classroom is time consuming, the benefits of opening lines of communication between pupil and teacher and improving the student learning experience outweigh the negatives. This study focuses on a fifth grade math class composed of 26 students who wrote daily in their journals. The data discussed …

How Visualization Can Improve The Understanding Of Mathematics, Mariah Martin

Undergraduate Research Conference

High school students have a difficult time taking the new End-Of-Course exams in math. Why are students having this difficulty? This could be because students lack the understanding of visualization in mathematics. Visualization can be helpful to certain students who think this way, while also confusing to those same students, and others as well. However, to what extent do high stakes tests, such as the End-Of-Course exams in Algebra I and II, incorporate mathematical visualization? How can visualization help improve the understanding of mathematics? This review will explain the advantages and disadvantages of incorporating visualization in these exams, how students …

Meta-Collaboration: Thinking With Another, Lori Desautels

Scholarship and Professional Work – Education

What if we could dramatically improve our thought processes and learning strategies by tapping into the social genius of another? What if a classmate, colleague, or friend could help us recognize and claim our strengths, new habits of thought, and strategies from a perspective that we never imagined by ourselves? As human beings, our survival depends on others. Our ability to cooperate and collaborate has trumped the stress response state of competition within our species and throughout evolution. With a group affiliation to nurture these relationships, we can strengthen and reappraise our own thought processes.

We Get To Carry Each Other: Using The Musical Activism Of U2 As Framework For An Engaged Spirituality And Community Engagement Course, Marshall Welch

Engaging Pedagogies in Catholic Higher Education (EPiCHE)

This article describes a January term community engagement service-learning course that used the musical and spiritually-based activism of the rock group U2 as an example of engaged spirituality using activism and advocacy. In addition to learning about the history, music, and activism of the band, students were taught a specific set of skills for activism, advocacy, and community organizing that included creating goal statements, developing and implementing action plans, and coordinating logistics for advocacy-based events on campus. Students were assigned to apply these skills as the service-learning component of the course. These activities were conceptualized as indirect service that reflected …

Interfacing Catholic Social Meanings, Sociology, Self, And Pedagogical Practices, Daniel J. Myers, Andrew J. Weigert

Engaging Pedagogies in Catholic Higher Education (EPiCHE)

What connects Catholic Social Tradition with Sociology? How do each inform the other and how do they, together, flow through and animate the sociologist? Within a student-driven learning community pedagogy, this course builds on the humanistic aspects of Sociology as a scientific perspective a la Peter Berger’s Invitation to Sociology. This foundation is then filtered through a social psychological understanding of self with a sense of vocation through which persons’ deepest passions meets humans’ greatest needs. Biographical vignettes of sociologists’ careers of study that address issues of racial and gender inequalities and psycho-social shifts in values over the life course …

Journey Into Shame: Implications For Justice Pedagogies, Roger C. Bergman

Engaging Pedagogies in Catholic Higher Education (EPiCHE)

Being formed for justice can be a painful experience. Sometimes that pain takes the form of shame and contributes to the formation and exercise of conscience. But shame in other forms can be opposed to human flourishing and social justice. Psychologist James Fowler provides a spectrum of two forms of healthy shame and four forms of unhealthy shame, to which the author adds four other varieties, strategic shame and spiritual shame, at one end of the spectrum, and murderous shame and genocidal shame, at the other. Various experiences of shame are dramatically illustrated in Black Like Me, John Howard …

Prophetic Imagination: Confronting The New Jim Crow & Income Inequality In America, Cornel West

Engaging Pedagogies in Catholic Higher Education (EPiCHE)

On October 11, 2014, Cornel West delivered the keynote address to nearly 600 students at the regional Leadership & Social Justice Conference, hosted at Saint Mary’s College of California. The conference occurred two days before West was arrested in Ferguson, Missouri, during a demonstration to protest the killing of young Black men by White police officers, as in the case of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson. Speaking of the students, West said, "I would like to see these precious young people commit themselves to lives of integrity, honesty and decency, where they are vigilant against all forms of evil—White supremacists, …

A Qualitative Study On How Health Professional Students And Their Pbl Facilitators Perceive The Use Of Mobile Devices During Pbl, Lap Ki Chan, Susan M. Bridges, Iain Doherty, Manwa L. Ng, Jun Jin, Neel Sharma, Nam Kiu Chan, Henrietta Yan Yu Lai

Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning

Mobile devices are increasingly being used by undergraduate students to access online information in the problem-based learning (PBL) process, initially in the self-directed phase, and more recently within face-to-face tutorials. This qualitative study across three undergraduate health professional programs used semi-structured interviews to investigate facilitators’ and students’ perceptions of mobile device usage in PBL tutorials. Transcribed interviews were analyzed thematically, drawing on the principles of grounded theory. Implications for future practice were identified. Students perceived that mobile devices are useful and convenient for instant access to various sources of information, for note taking, and for visually sharing their research and …

Journal Of The National Collegiate Honors Council, Volume 16, Number 1, Spring/Summer 2015 (Complete Issue)

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Forum on “Honors and the future of the humanities”

Larry Andrews

Frances McCue

Angela Marie Salas

Andrew Martino

Amaris Ketcham

Annmarie Guzy

Barbra Nightingale

Joe Kraus

Research essay

Naomi Yavneh Klos, Kendall Eskine, and Michael Pashkevich

Portz-prize-winning essay, 2014

Sam Shearer

Traveling Trunks: Enrich Curriculum With A Global Perspective, Nancy Shepherd

Faculty Publications

Traveling trunks as a delivery method for curricula have been associated with experiential learning and shown to increase learning (George, 2010; Shepherd, 2007; Lett, 1993). Students learn through real-life experiences, such as global social issues (Kister, 1992), and principal to the nature of learning is the relationship between experience and learning, a shaping force in the development of thoughtful, curious students (Loughran, 2006).

The embedded mixed method study showed learning gains occurred when experiential curriculum was facilitated by experienced teachers, and delivered in a traveling trunk. The study (N=58) showed that active learning about social issues engages students. Paired t-tests …

An Outdoor Classroom To Improve The Student Experience And Connect The Community, Chelsea Malacara

Thinking Matters Symposium Archive

An opportunity to learn outdoors unites students to their surroundings and closes the gap between human and nature. Outdoor spaces contribute to ecological literacy and are critical to a well-rounded education. The University of Southern Maine community places emphasis on environmental stewardship through classroom instruction and campus projects. The Gorham campus has 9 acres of wooded area plus unused greenspace. I am proposing the construction of an outdoor classroom. The proposal will include interviews from various stakeholders, a site assessment, and a digital and 3D model of the outdoor classroom that will be created per the Site Planning and Design …

You're And Your, Stella Rich

Grammar Fair Posters

This poster was created by a UNE teacher education candidate for use in a mini-lesson on the words Your and You’re, which students often confuse. During the lesson, students were given the rule for when to use each of the words correctly and the tip that when using “you’re” they can substitute you are in place of the word and when using “your” they can substitute the word my in its place to see what makes sense. After students went over the words they were each given either “your” or “you’re” on a star and asked to Velcro the …

Then Or Than?, Jamie Buyak

Grammar Fair Posters

This poster was created by a UNE teacher education candidate for use in a mini-lesson on the words Then and Than, which students often confuse. During the lesson, students learned the rule for when to use each word correctly and this trick to help: use THEN when referring to time (both “then” and “time” contain the letter e) and THAN when comparing things (both “than” and “compare” contain the letter a). Once students learned the rule they were each given the words then and than and a sentence was presented. Students were asked to come up and Velcro the …

Prefixes, Christine Beecher

Grammar Fair Posters

This poster was created by a UNE teacher education candidate for use in a mini-lesson on Prefixes. During the lesson, students first were taught what prefixes are and how they are combined with a root word to alter the meaning of the root word. Students then were each given index cards—some with prefixes and some with root words. They had to match up their prefix with someone else’s root word to make a new word and then share this with the group. Certain common prefixes such as un, dis, pre, non, re, ex, mis, bi and con were emphasized. …

Synonyms, Saige Sturvist

Grammar Fair Posters

This poster was created by a UNE teacher education candidate for use in a mini-lesson on Synonyms. During the lesson, the teacher first explained what synonyms were and gave some examples. Students then were given some predetermined words and were asked to match their word (written on an orange straw) with its synonym written on the outside of a cup. They were asked to put the word in the cup with the related synonym. To conclude the lesson, students generated their own words that matched a word on a synonym cup and the teacher challenged the students to come …

Sit’S Low-Residency Master Of Arts In Tesol Program: Principles And Practices In Online Teaching And Learning, Jaime Durham

MA TESOL Collection

Coursework in the revisioned Low-Residency Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages program at SIT Graduate Institute takes place primarily online. In this paper, the author examines the first two years of the program (which launched in 2013) from her experience as the program coordinator to illustrate how the MAT program’s foundational educational principles influence the program in the e-learning environment. The author uses the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework to give an overview analysis of the design and implementation of the online courses, to measure levels of social and cognitive presence among students, and to …

Effectively Using Discussion Boards To Engage Students In Introductory Leadership Courses, Deborah N. Smith

Faculty Articles

This article discusses the use of online asynchronous discussion boards as a valuable tool for connecting students to leadership concepts, theories, and models in introductory leadership survey courses. Recommendations are given for designing effective discussion boards that engage students and enhance their learning. Student outcomes include construction on knowledge, relevant connections between course material and personal lives, and critical reflection.

Assessment Of A Professional Development Program On Adult Learning Theory, Melinda Malik

Higher Education Student Work

Librarians at colleges and universities invested in graduate education must understand and incorporate adult learning theories in their reference and instruction interactions with graduate students to more effectively support the students’ learning. After participating in a professional development program about adult learning theory, librarians in this study reported that, in many ways, they already employed teaching and learning strategies grounded in one or more adult learning theories. They also indicated gaining a greater awareness of student development, enabling them to more successfully tailor their interactions.

Leadership For Sustainability: Theoretical Foundations And Pedagogical Practices That Foster Change, Heather Burns, Heather Diamond-Vaught, Corin Bauman

Educational Leadership and Policy Faculty Publications and Presentations

Sustainability education has a significant role to play in changing the leadership paradigm and fostering leaders who are capable of working collaboratively to address complex sustainability challenges. Leadership for sustainability denotes a new and expanded understanding of leadership that signifies taking action based on sustainability values, leading from a living processes paradigm, and creating an inclusive, collaborative and reflective leadership process. This paper examines and weaves together literature on leadership, leadership development, and sustainability education to suggest best practices in leadership development. A variety of suggested pedagogical practices that foster the development of leaders include: observation and self-awareness, reflection, the …

“Analyze, Acquire, Apply, And Write” As A New Learning Model In Science, Jeong Choe

Faculty Publications & Research

I have developed a new teaching and learning model called AAAW, which stand for Analyze, Acquire, Apply and Write. This model grows from action research and unique experience in teaching a biochemistry course to high school students who are talented in math and science. In this model, students first "Analyze" lab data to generate questions that lead them to "Acquire" background knowledge. Students then go back to the data and "Apply" their new knowledge to better understand the data. Finally, students "Write" about the connections they make from their reading, data analysis, and application of the data. The rationale behind …

Transforming Precalculus Instruction: Evidence-Based Course Design, Wendy M. Smith

Discipline-Based Education Research Group Speaker Series

The UNL Mathematics Department has been focused on transforming precalculus instruction since 2012, with a goal of greater levels of student success. A short-term measure of student success is the passing rate (C or better), which has jumped from an average of 62% (2007-2011) to 80% for the past two falls. A longer-term measure of student success is recruiting and retaining undergraduates to STEM disciplines and careers. In this talk I will share specifics of the reform efforts (the who-what-when-where-why-and-how), and also share preliminary results from the research we have simultaneously been conducting into the reform efforts.

The Effects Of An Early Intervention Mastery Activity In The Mathematics Department, Nathan Wakefield, Joe Champion, Doug Dailey, Jessalyn Bolkema

Discipline-Based Education Research Group Speaker Series

At the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, nearly 1000 students sign up for one of College Algebra, or College Algebra and Trigonometry every fall. Of these students, more than 75% are first time freshman. Finding ways to motivate and encourage these students together with early identification strategy for struggling students is critical to success not just in the math course, but also in a student’s university career. This presentation will discuss the design and outcomes an early intervention mastery activity with the broad goals of helping students recall previously learned mathematics, and identifying students who are at risk for failure, all within …

Developing An Early-Alert System To Promote Student Visits To Tutor Center, Qijie (Vicky) Cai, Carrie Lewis Miller, Jude Higdon

iSALT Outcomes: Publications, Presentations, and Other Scholarly Works

An early-alert system (MavCLASS) was developed and piloted in a large gateway math class with 611 freshman students to identify academically at-risk students and provide alert messages. It was found that there was significant association between the alert messages students received and their visits to the university’s tutor center. Further, the achievement of students who visited the tutor center was improving over the semester. Evidence from the study suggests that an early-alert system focused on personalized feedback from instructional staff correlates with the help-seeking behaviors of at-risk students in large gateway classes.

Evaluating A Project-Based Learning Approach To The Bgsu Business Curriculum, Kara Harmeyer

Honors Projects

Inspiration for my honors project came from an assignment that I completed in a previous marketing course. This assignment is the only experience that I have had with project-based learning, but it certainly made an impact on me. My honors project presented the perfect opportunity for learning more about project-based learning and the way it is used in educational settings. In addition to the benefits and challenges associated with project-based learning, I also researched the characteristics and learning styles of millennial students to understand whether project based-learning is compatible. In conclusion, I evaluated how project-based learning could be utilized in …

Welcome Introduction, Judith Longfield

Teaching Academy

The purpose of the Teaching Academy is to help you understand how learning works so you can develop the competencies needed to create active, learning-centered courses. By the end of the Academy you will have (a) created a list of common misconception in your content area, (b) constructed and used a CAT (classroom assessment technique) to measure student learning, (c) created a lesson plan that addresses a disciplinary or course related misconception, and (d) written test or quiz questions.