Educational Methods Commons^™

Use Your Words: Positive Interims & Engagement, Tracy Townsend

Professional Learning Day

This year in particular, Faculty have been encouraged to establish connections with their students, which lead to my experiment with using regular interim comments for every student as a tool for improving my connection to them and their families. Along the way, I learned something about how to reach my most isolated students and how to pay attention to my classroom in new ways.

The Core Of Computing, Dan Campbell

Professional Learning Day

Computer science can be divided into three foundational paradigms: theory, design, and abstraction. I will share an effort to bring these paradigms to IMSA through two new courses, Elements of Computing Systems 1 and 2, and an independent study, Theory of Computation. The goal is to build a rigorous, engaging foundation for deeper study in computer science. In this talk, I’ll reflect on what’s working, what’s challenging, and early classroom experiences.

Ai At Work: A Panel, Rich Busby, Lindsey Herlehy, Ashley Ott, Andrew Reif

Professional Learning Day

Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming how we work, teach, and collaborate. In this panel discussion, four IMSA staff members from different departments will share how they’re using AI in their daily roles—from streamlining workflows and enhancing communication to supporting teaching, learning, and operations. Join us to explore practical examples, lessons learned, and emerging ideas for how AI can help us work smarter and more creatively across the academy.

The American Dream As Told By Marginalized Voices, Erin Micklo

Professional Learning Day

History is often told by the victors, but in moments of trauma or marginalization, history can be taught through literature. This session will look at how poetry emerged from the Angel Island detainment camps, Japanese internment camps, and Native American short fiction. We will discuss how and why these lessons are rarely taught in schools, and how learning about history through literature can help students understand current events and the world around them.

Powerschool For Staff, Dr.Paul Gaszack

Professional Learning Day

PowerSchool, our student information system, has lots of information that can be helpful for staff across the academy, such as student and family contact info, faculty schedules, room lists, and more. In this session, we will explore some basic functions of PowerSchool that may be helpful in your role and/or departmen

Spam, Spam, Spam! To Click Or Not To Click., Steve Dutcher, Its Department

Professional Learning Day

October is Cyber Security Awareness Month—join ITS for a fun and eye-opening session on spotting and stopping cyber threats. From suspicious emails and hacked accounts to unattended devices, we’ll uncover the tricks attackers use and share practical tips to protect yourself and IMSA. This 30 minute session blends real examples, humor, and hands-on awareness so you’ll leave ready to say: Not today, spam!

Ai And Neuroscience: Hope, Humbug, Or Hype, Dr.Ashwin Mohan

Professional Learning Day

This session explores the rapidly evolving intersection of artificial intelligence and neuroscience. Through case studies, interactive discussion, and hands-on exploration, participants will gain an understanding of AI as a Co-Scientist, as well as how insights from neuroscience have and continue to inspire design of AI approaches. Attendees will explore practical applications where AI and neuroscience already meet (such as brain–computer interfaces, mental health technologies, and cognitive modeling); consider ethical, societal, and educational implications of merging these two powerful domains and aim to distinguish between genuine advances, exaggerated claims, and common misconceptions.

The Chemistry In Art, Joyce Symoniak

Professional Learning Day

Chemistry plays an important role in the arts, especially when working with solids and liquids that form the basis of art. Solid pigments help to give paints their vibrant colors. The interaction between these states of matter determines the texture, durability, and finish of the artwork. Understanding the chemistry behind art allows artists to push the boundaries of artistic expression. We will explore the difference between solid and liquids while creating a piece of art.

How Ai Really Works, Dr. Peter Dong

Professional Learning Day

This session will discuss, in as simple a way as possible, how generative artificial intelligence works, using simple demonstrations to show the basic principles of large language models. The hope is that this will help dispel the tendency to view AI as some sort of black magic and allow people to consider carefully how it can be useful as a tool—and when it can’t.

Imsa’S Residential Life Experience, Stephanie Broy, Cameron Doxey, Taylor Jones, Emily Cheng, Vivian Thurmond

Professional Learning Day

This presentation will offer faculty and staff an inside look at the Residential Life experience, highlighting how our programs support student development, well-being, and community building. Through real examples and student stories, we’ll showcase the impact of intentional programming, peer leadership, and collaboration across campus. The goal is strengthening partnerships and exploring ways faculty and staff can further engage with and support the residential student experience.

Are You Following Me?: Using Social Media To Engage Students, Dr. Emily Gauld

Professional Learning Day

In this session, we will explore how social media can be used to complement curriculum, encourage student learning, and build a stronger community of learners both inside and outside the classroom. We will look at social media examples of subject-area (and even class-specific) accounts from IMSA and beyond to discuss how we can create content designed for students and—by intentional use of algorithmic AI—shape what content is being pushed to their feeds on a regular basis.

Ctrl-Alt-Delete: Shifting Mindsets & Building Momentum, Courtney Caruthers, Steve Zant

Professional Learning Day

Using the Ctrl-Alt-Delete framework, this interactive session will draw on coaching, mentorship, and progressive conversations to inspire growth. Together, we’ll explore what to control, what alternatives to try, and what barriers to release. Participants will leave with practical tools, renewed clarity, and a sense of momentum; because sometimes we all need a reset.

Weaving Steam Into Tradition: The Science And Art Behind The Mexican Zarape, David Hernandez

Professional Learning Day

This presentation explores the deep interconnection between traditional Mexican textile practices and modern STEAM education through the lens of the zarape. The zarape is more than a cultural artifact—it embodies centuries of scientific, technological, artistic, and mathematical knowledge. From the physics of hand-spun cotton and wool to the chemistry of natural dyes and the mathematical patterns in weaving, the process of creating a zarape offers powerful ancestral knowledge of STEAM in action.

Quantum Science And Engineering: An Emerging Field Where Imsa Can Have An Impact, Dr.Evan Glazer,, Anastasia Perry, Kishor Kapale,

Professional Learning Day

Illinois’ $500 million investment in the future development of Quantum Computing and Microelectronics Park is a great opportunity for IMSA to get connected in this emerging field. This workshop will explore what is quantum, classroom examples, why it is important to IMSA, how we are engaged right now, and how we might create future opportunities for IMSA students and IMSA outreach.

Towards An Ecofeminist Pedagogy: The Environmental Ethics Of Ai, Jessica K. Crowell

Feminist Pedagogy

Previous scholarship has outlined some of the ethical considerations regarding the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the classroom and beyond, such as the potentials for plagiarism, information bias, disinformation, or even violations of user privacy. Though research suggests that machine learning is a major and ever-increasing contributor to carbon emissions, there has been little discussion of how we teach about the ethics of AI from an environmental perspective. Therefore, this critical commentary first outlines how an ecofeminist pedagogy can help students consider the environmental and ecological effects of new technologies, including AI. At its core, an ecofeminist pedagogy argues …

Rethinking Civic Education. A Review Of Education For Liberal Democracy: Using Classroom Discussion To Build Knowledge And Voice, Jordan Garner, Colton Morton, Palak Shah

Democracy & Education

In his book Education for Liberal Democracy: Using Classroom Discussion to Build Knowledge and Voice, Walter Parker (2023) takes a centrist approach to redesigning civic education. Throughout the book, Parker provides valuable strategies teachers can implement into the K–12 social studies classroom to teach for democracy. While we believe Parker's instructional strategies lay the groundwork for reshaping civic education, we contend that the book does not adequately address issues of inequality and inequity. We would also challenge Parker to think about how teachers can educate for democracy outside of the social studies curriculum in the United States and globally. …

Democratic Education In The Literature Classroom: Integrating Political Literacy And Political Emotions Into Agonistic Literary Discussions. A Response To “Agonism In A Classroom Discussion On Strindberg’S Miss Julie”, Baptiste Roucau

Democracy & Education

In an era of rising polarization and populism, how can we transform the literature classroom into a site of democratic education? Drawing on agonistic scholarship, Tysklind et al. (2024) offer the agonistic literary discussion, a novel pedagogical approach aiming to prepare students for the complexities of democracy by forming collective identities and navigating conflictual consensus. To build on the authors’ work, this response article proposes two additions—political literacy and political emotions—and cautions against the risk of antagonism. Agonistic literary discussions can integrate political literacy through teaching relevant knowledge and careful questioning, enabling students to situate characters’ experiences in political contexts …

Surprises From The Shadows: Confronting Intrusions From Bots & Generative Ai In Survey Research, Vincent Cho, Sofia I. Duenas

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

Unbeknownst to many researchers, online surveys can be vulnerable to attacks from bots and generative artificial intelligence (AI), which can generate hundreds of fraudulent responses instantly. Confronting this challenge to data integrity, we employed an adaptive approach to test the effectiveness of various anti-fraud tactics (e.g., CAPTCHA; honeypot questions; question pairs; open-ended questions) and to distinguish between good-faith human respondents versus bots or fraudsters. Findings revealed that bots with generative AI capabilities bypassed some conventional defenses, including CAPTCHA, and effectively supplied human-like responses to open-ended questions. Other tactics, like removing response incentives and verifying IP addresses, showed promise but came …

Embedding Social And Emotional Learning Into Educator Preparation Programs: An Alternative Certification Perspective, Valerie Flanagan, Lisa Fulks, Wanetta Morrow

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

This study discusses the impact of integrating social and emotional learning (SEL) curriculum into alternative certification educator preparation programs (EPPs), in response to prior research indicating the lack of SEL strategies in schools. It offers a review of educator preparation students’ thoughts concerning SEL implementation, as well as their selection of and reflection upon embedding SEL skills into lessons. Participants serving as teachers of record during their coursework reported positive outcomes in the classroom resulting from lessons including SEL content. Given the increasing importance of SEL in addressing students’ diverse developmental, behavioral, and academic needs, preparation for educators must go …

The Furious Flower Poetry Center: Teaching The Worlds Of Black Poetry To High School Students, Mary Beth Cancienne Phd, Hermione Dewitt, Zoe Mcdowell, Kaleigh D. Phelps, Liz Shanks James Madison University

Virginia English Journal

This article titled The Furious Flower Poetry Center: Teaching the Worlds of Black Poetry to High School Students features lesson plans that high school English graduate candidates wrote in a high school English methods course after participating in the decennial Furious Flower Poetry Conference in September of 2024 at James Madison University. High School poetry lessons featured are based on the poetry of Gwendolyn Brooks, Jericho Brown, Nikki Giovanni, Sophia Elhillo, DaMaris B. Hill, Darrel Alejandro Holnes, and Yalie Kamara. Poetic themes and craft taught and discussed in the lesson plans include identity, language, culture, hope, symbolism, tone, diction, and …

The 2x10 Intervention In Teacher Preparation: The Use Of A Simple Relationship-Building Strategy By Teacher Candidates, Kara Conniff, Leah Wasburn-Moses

Mid-Western Educational Researcher

Classroom management is a significant and longstanding need for teachers and the field of teacher preparation. Teacher candidates often feel unprepared to deal with classroom and behavior management (Flower, McKenna & Harin, 2017). One of the most important management skills is relationship building (Yassine, Tipton-Fisler, & Kati, 2020). The 2x10 Intervention is a relationship building technique that improves classroom behavior and is both simple and efficient for teachers to implement (Smith & Lambert, 2005). This study examines the use of the 2x10 Intervention by 18 student teachers at one Midwestern university, during their clinical placement. Data were collected on student …

Developing Civic Competence With Educative Curriculum Materials Featuring A Historical Photograph Of Antarctica, Cory Callahan

The Councilor: A National Journal of the Social Studies

Here the author advocates for an innovative teaching approach synthesizing three research-based, instructional strategies: promoting civic competence within international and global contexts, planning with educative curriculum materials, and exploring historical photographs for higher-order thinking. He traces the crafting of an exemplary lesson through this approach and discusses its underpinning rationale. The lesson helps students and teachers think deeply about land claims and resource disputes in Antarctica while addressing a persistent value conflict throughout history: balancing national sovereignty and international law. A teacher-friendly narrative constitutes the lesson plan; however, it is not teacher-proof, as teachers are encouraged to make instructional decisions …

What Can Bird Poop Teach Us About The History Of U.S. Imperialism?: Guano Islands And Manifest Destiny Beyond Continental Borders, Eliot Fackler

The Councilor: A National Journal of the Social Studies

In high school and college history courses, Manifest Destiny is often taught as a period when the United States expanded across the North American continent in the decades before the Civil War. This article outlines an inquiry-driven lesson examining the Antebellum guano rush and its devastating consequences to show that Manifest Destiny was also characterized by extracontinental imperial ambitions. It highlights the lasting impacts of the 1856 Guano Islands Act and links the guano rush to subsequent empire-building efforts, U.S. militarism, and ecological destruction. The article provides relevant background history, descriptions of possible class activities and assessments, and options for …

Whose Histories Will A Genai Tool Generate? Prompting Chatgpt-4 For Diverse History Lesson Plans For The Cold War Space Race, Robert W. Maloy, Sai Gattupalli, Torrey Trust

The Councilor: A National Journal of the Social Studies

This paper explores strategies for teachers to use in prompting ChatGPT-4 to develop diverse history lesson plans for the Cold War Space Race. Prior research showed that when given a single, broadly phrased “design a lesson plan” prompt, chatbots are less likely to generate material about experiences of African Americans, women, and other historically marginalized groups. We tried two alternative prompting strategies: a) Change the wording of the prompt to incorporate James Banks’ Levels of Multicultural Content Model, and b) Change the source of the content for the prompt by using teacher-curated materials from an open online wikispace, resourcesforhistoryteachers that …

Teaching Inquiry: A Guiding Template Fosters Critical Thinking, Barbara D. O'Donnell, Abigail C. Schwent

The Councilor: A National Journal of the Social Studies

This article provides a supportive way to address the marginalization of social studies by teaching inquiry through the use of a template. Inquiry based learning encourages students to make real-world connections by engaging in problem solving and exploration through research. It fosters higher level skills like critical thinking, evaluation, and synthesis of knowledge through experiential learning (Bell, Urhahne, Schanze and Ploetzner 2009). Using inquiry to investigate social studies topics encourages the use of sources from diverse perspectives to understand the complete picture of the event being researched. Teaching social studies through inquiry is a daunting task due to multiple obstacles …

9th Gsep Research Symposium - 2025

GSEP Research Symposium

The Ninth Annual GSEP Research Symposium, themed "Building Bridges to Elevate Humanity: Innovations and Insights in Education and Psychology", was hosted by the Pepperdine University Graduate School of Education and Psychology (GSEP) on June 19–20, 2025, at the historic Château d’Hauteville in Switzerland and virtually via Zoom.

This hybrid symposium convened a vibrant global community of students, alumni, faculty, and scholars to share research that addresses real-world challenges, advances scholarly inquiry, and builds pathways for inclusive collaboration and leadership. Spanning a wide array of topics—from artificial intelligence and mental health to trauma-informed practices, educational equity, social justice, and cross-cultural leadership—the …

Red: A Crayon’S Story Bibliotherapy, David Wolff

OER Materials

The goal of this assignment was for preservice teachers to practice writing a chain of questions that focused on the social and/or emotional needs of young learners. Bibliotherapy is therapeutic in nature to help individuals understand themselves and the world around them through guided reading experiences (American Library Association, 2025; Delisle & Galbraith, 2002). Further, bibliotherapy allow individuals to identify a personal problem mirrored by a character in a book. As the reader connects with the character, the reader experiences the emotions expressed by the character. Finally, the reader applies the character’s experience to their own personal problem (American Library …

Growth Mindset In The Mathematics Classroom: Studying The Effects Of A Growth Mindset Intervention On High School Students In A Geometry Classroom, Katelyn Strauss

Mathematics Graduate Theses

Having a growth mindset is crucial to being successful in a mathematics classroom. However, many students believe themselves to be either “mathematics people” or “not mathematics people”. When students believe they are not a mathematics person, they are far less likely to engage in material where they face struggles, and thus they miss out on valuable learning. A review of the literature has show that students have been able to shift their mindset from fixed to growth through a series of interventions. I used a unit in Geometry to see how a growth mindset intervention would affect the mindset of …

A Mixed-Methods Examination Of Interprofessional Preschool Virtual Simulations For Speech-Language Pathology And Occupational Therapy Graduate Students, Danika Pfeiffer, Ashley Lankford, Alexandra Durfee, Casey Branson

Teaching and Learning in Communication Sciences & Disorders

Interprofessional education (IPE) is a required prerequisite of interprofessional practice (IPP), the most collaborative service delivery model for speech-language pathologists working in both health care and educational settings. This exploratory, mixed methods study was conducted to examine the impact of an experiential IPE training program on graduate speech-language pathology (SLP) and occupational therapy (OT) students working together in a preschool classroom for children with developmental disabilities. Eight SLP and five OT students participated in a 2-hour in-person workshop and two 1.5-hour virtual simulations using ViewPoint technology. The training program provided instruction related to: three of the Interprofessional Education Collaborative’s (IPEC) …

The Role Of Interprofessional Education In Preparing The Next Generation Of Pre-Service Professionals: A Pilot Study, Shannon Wade Salley, Jennifer Cuchna, Tammy M. Hines, Karla Collins, Jennifer Hutchinson

Teaching and Learning in Communication Sciences & Disorders

Interprofessional practice is a growing expectation in health and human services professions, as is collaboration between education professionals, to bring the best care and services to clients and students. Future professionals need to learn about other professions and be taught how to work with others as members of an interprofessional team. This mixed-methods pilot study examined the impact of an interprofessional education experience on future education, health, and human services professionals, including speech language pathologists, teachers, and counselors. Event participants showed an increased understanding of the roles of other professionals and recognition of the benefits of working in an interprofessional …