Educational Methods Commons^™

A Best Practice Guide For Teaching Artists: The Planning And Implementation Of Arts-Integrated Partnerships With Classroom Teachers, Lauren Patricia Ehrhart

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This Integrative Master's Project is a guide for Teaching Artists to use when planning and implementing arts-integrated partnerships with classroom teachers. This paper discusses the process of creating five original resources based on best practices of experienced arts-integration professionals. The resources are the product of ten interviews with experienced teaching artists and administrators of cultural organizations, who employ teaching artists in interdisciplinary school partnerships. These resources are in the form of worksheets, spreadsheets and charts and aim to help guide-teaching artists in the creation of successful collaborations with classroom teachers.

Cultivating An Inclusive Mindset In Your Jewish Community: Turning Good Intentions Into Tangible Outcomes, Tali Cohen Carrus

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This curriculum provides training and resources to Jewish day schools, synagogues, summer camps, and other organizations seeking to better embrace all members of their community and foster full and meaningful integration and participation. Focused primarily on youth with developmental and learning disabilities, though with definite implications for other populations, this curriculum provides a first-step for a community seeking to become more inclusive. Beginning with developing a commitment to inclusion and a common mindset among the staff that will be charged with implementing the programming, the curriculum strives to ensure collaboration from every stakeholder and community member. The second section is …

Art Power!: Exploring The Black Arts Movement, Imani Parkinson

Graduate Student Independent Studies

Art Power! is a curriculum guide designed for educators of early adolescents who are interested in integrating art history, cultural institutions, and art making into their curricula. The guide seeks to highlight two New York City based institutions: The Schomburg Research Center in Black Culture and The Studio Museum in Harlem. In addition, the intended audience is for middle school students in New York City. It is believed this audience would benefit from learning about the history of African American culture related to New York City’s neighborhoods and the exposure to cultural institutions who value this narrative. Art Power! includes …

"See, Two Yellows Make A Rectangle!": Constructing Meaningful, Emergent Learning Moments In A Structured Special Education Program, Lucy Bayer

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This paper explores the relationship between emergent, child-driven learning and the structured curricula of a special education program. Relying on current research and theory as driving forces, the author designed and implemented a series of math lessons with a small group of kindergarten students in a self-contained, special-education setting. The paper begins in narrative form, detailing the author’s journey to her current line of inquiry. Empirical research and educational theory about both emergent, child-driven learning and math instruction are then summarized. The following two chapters chronicle the author’s work with her students. These chapters are presented as both narrative documentation …

The Examination, Analysis, And Implications Of Educational Research Studies Conducted On Orton-Gillingham, Katharine Potter

Graduate Student Independent Studies

Orton-Gillingham is an intensive reading program often utilized in schools across the United States for instructing children with reading difficulties or dyslexia. The current literature review aims to examine the question: What kind of educational research has been has been conducted on Orton-Gillingham's effectiveness and what is lacking amongst the research? Uhry & Clark (2007) write, "One difficulty with Orton-Gillingham programs is that there is relatively little research with focuses on the specific components of this complex and well integrated instruction" (p. 146). This paper investigates and analyzes the research studies that have been conducted on Orton-Gillingham and also examines …

Bringing Families In: An Examination Of Family Programs At The Museum Of Chinese In America And Other Cultural And Historical Museums In New York City, Dianne Choie

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This independent study includes family program survey research and planning processes completed during my Master of Science in Museum Education fieldwork at the Museum of Chinese in America in New York City in the spring of 2017. This information is compared to data gathered from surveys with ten other cultural and historical museums and with the Cool Culture community program. This study also includes a literature review of studies and theories concerning child development and family learning in museums. With information from all these resources assembled, analyses of strengths, challenges, and potential areas for growth are outlined for family programs …

A Study Of Story Stones In Informal Learning Environments, Nina Berch

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This paper aims to provide context for the use of an open-ended tool called Story Stones for engaging young students in creative discussion. Story Stones are a collection of palm-sized rocks with transposed images attached. Student ages within this discussion range between two and seven years old, accompanied by adult caregivers in the Sugar Hill Children’s Museum of Art and Storytelling in Harlem, New York and Not Just Art childhood enrichment center in Oyster Bay, New York. The method of observation and analysis consisted of presenting Story Stones in an open-ended, hands-on invitation to visitors of the museum and enrichment …

21st Century Teaching And Learning: Teachers' Perceptions And Practices In Four High Schools Of One District, Cynthia L. Rice

Theses and Dissertations from 2017

Education needs have shifted from a focus on static skills to the ability to continuously learn in a dynamic environment as information technology rapidly transforms the workplace and classrooms. High schools are searching for instructional practices that will close the achievement gap as well as meet the challenge of ensuring that students are college and career ready upon graduation. Over 50% of jobs by 2020 will be computer oriented yet a small percent of students seek education to qualify for those jobs. Twenty first century skills are essential to prepare students for those jobs (Carnevale & Smith, 2012). The purpose …

Contextualized Education In Global Schools: Conceptualizing School Systems In A Global World, Loren Guerin

Sustainability and Social Justice

Education has been prioritized by global agencies as a universal right and current trends in the United Nations global benchmarks and development agencies call for education for all and a set of global values to guide educational policy and practice. This paper aims to problematize the current understanding of schooling and educational systems in a globalized world while demonstrating the need to move away from a global curriculum based on homogenized values and towards a contextualized education system. By looking at the evolution of Western Education, the use of education by colonial powers, and an in depth case study of …

An Analysis Of Vermont Academy's Internationalization Effort, Xiang Wang Mr.

Capstone Collection

While the concept of delivering global education has become a popular trend among American universities and colleges, American secondary schools, particularly independent schools, are also making global educational opportunities available to their students. Vermont Academy, a 141-year-old independent, coeducational, college preparatory and boarding high school in Saxtons River, Vermont, does not have a formal, comprehensive and well-articulated internationalization plan even though various international components have been existing on campus for years. The International Student Program, trimester abroad programs and several global partnerships are some examples of the current internationalization initiatives at Vermont Academy.

The American Council on Education’s CIGE Center …

What It Means To Be A Global Campus: A Case Study Of Internationalization On The University Of Washington Campus, Catherine Rock

Capstone Collection

The following paper presents an analysis of internationalization on the University of Washington (UW) campus. The UW attracts students from all over the world each year while also sending students abroad for a quarter or two. The goals and purpose of gaining an international education, however, are not clear. As a result, key stakeholders are often left out of conversations surrounding international education because of a lack of communication and no centralized purpose. These ideas led to a series of research questions including: Should the UW have an official statement on internationalization and international education? What is the current state …

A Well-Rounded Experience: Connecting The Home Campus To The Study Abroad Experience And The Study Abroad Experience To The Home Campus, Mary Aurora Grandinetti

Capstone Collection

Many small liberal arts colleges across the United States partner with third-party providers or foreign institutions to provide their students with an opportunity to study abroad. Denison University, a small liberal arts school in Ohio, traditionally sends 50% of its student body to study abroad before they graduate. Since students have the option to spend a semester or two participating in study abroad, it is important for the students to be well prepared, for the experience to be integrated into their overall Denison education and for the students to transition back to campus successfully. To determine how students were preparing …

May 2017, Marci Grant

The CETL Correspondent

No abstract provided.

Literacy Revolution: How The New Tools Of Communication Change The Stories We Tell, Molly Gamble

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

The transmission of culture depends upon every generation reconsidering what it means to be literate. The way we consider ourselves to be a literate species is changing, which puts us at a unique turning point in human history. Verbal literacy, or the ability to read and write, is slowly being replaced by visual literacy as a primary tool for human communication. As a culture, we tend to underestimate the creative ferment of our increasingly visual world. The linear, structured pathways of traditional literacy are shifting towards a creative and participatory pursuit of unstructured information that emphasize dimensional thinking. The acceleration …

Using World Of Warcraft To Teach Research Methods In Online Doctoral Education: A Student-Instructor Duoethnography, Chareen Snelson, Christopher I. Wertz, Kimberly Onstott, Jason Bader

Educational Technology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The educational potential of games has captured the ongoing interest of scholars and educators who have sought to understand when, how, and under what conditions games support the teaching and learning process. General knowledge of how games support literacy, scientific thinking, or social learning has been theorized and researched, but some applications of game-based learning remain unexplored. One area where much remains to be learned is within online doctoral education and particularly in the poorly understood area of research methods education. In this study, three doctoral students and an instructor collaboratively fieldtested a set of instructional activities within World of …

Teacher Perceptions Of Professional Learning Communities On The Instructional Climate At Flintville Elementary School In Lincoln County, Tn, David Golden

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A qualitative investigation was conducted to explore teacher perceptions of Professional Learning Communities on the instructional climate at Flintville Elementary School in Lincoln County, Tennessee. Participants in the study included five teachers, the evaluation supervisor, and one parent from Flintville Elementary School. Through the analysis of interviews and a review of documents collected from Professional Learning Communities (PLC) meetings in grades Pre-K through 8, the investigator was able to extract meaning and code the data into categories that led to an understanding of the perceptions being researched.

Professional Learning Communities at Flintville Elementary School have changed the instructional climate concerning …

Inclusive Teaching Strategies: An Evaluation Of Course Structure And Summative Assessment In Introductory Biology, Oluwaseun O. Agboola

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Several active learning strategies have been used when increasing the structure of a course as increasing course structure has been known to improve student learning in introductory STEM courses. Much has been studied on the value of frequent formative assessment; however, few studies have evaluated the effective modes of delivering summative assessment. This study examines the use of summative assessment as an inclusive teaching practice to improve first generation college student success in introductory biology and also uses faculty surveys to find out how instructors structure their introductory biology course and why they are structured that way. Final exams were …

"Y'All And All These Assessments Is A Little Bit Too Much" : The Effects Of High-Stakes Testing On Critical Literacy Pedagogy., Diana Lalata

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

As the United States of America becomes increasingly diverse, there is a need for teachers to embrace multiculturalism within the classroom. Shifting away from the traditional “banking model” of teaching, educational researchers call for a more critical approach—one in which teachers and students challenge dominant beliefs and practices of education. Foregrounded in those aims of cultural competence and critical consciousness, “critical literacy pedagogy” addresses the politicization of literacy education and employs conscious curriculum and teaching strategies to empower marginalized voices. Although a number of case studies on critical literacy pedagogy show considerable promise in disrupting dominant discourse and developing cultural …

Academic Achievement Of 6th Grade Students In A Social Studies Classroom Implementing Traditional Vs Project-Based Learning, Keith Bryan Overholt

Doctor of Education (Ed.D)

This study compared students taught with traditional teaching methods and those with project-based learning methods in a sixth-grade social studies classroom. Student assessments were examined to determine how students scored on lower-level thinking questions and higher-level thinking questions as defined by Bloom’s taxonomy of learning. Results indicated that students who were taught through traditional methods scored significantly higher on lower-level thinking questions than those taught through project-based learning. Conversely, students taught through project-based learning scored significantly higher on higher-level thinking questions than those taught through traditional methods.

Reading Workshop Conferences: Effect On First Grade Student Reading Ability, Samantha Everbeck

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

Reading workshop is a way to structure a literacy block during the school day that allows for differentiation and a high level of student engagement in the process of learning to read. During reading workshop, students read independently and with partners at their independent reading levels while the teacher confers with students and leads small groups. During conferences, the teacher differentiates instruction and tailors lessons to individual student needs.

The purpose of this study is to examine the result of individualized lessons on word attack strategies on first grade students’ reading ability. Word attack strategies, as in strategies for decoding …

Claim, Evidence, And Reasoning: Evaluation Of The Use Of Scientific Inquiry To Support Argumentative Writing In The Middle School Science Classroom, Gabriela Mastro

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

In light of the essential science and engineering practices identified by the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), this study focuses on the specific science and engineering practice, "engage in argument from evidence," and how classroom practices can serve to strengthen this skill (National Research Council, 2012, p. 71). The NGSS focus on inquiry necessitates students’ use of argument, particularly in writing, to communicate their knowledge and scientific findings and to develop an understanding of scientific practice. The purpose of this teacher action research study is to evaluate the influence of inquiry-based argumentative writing exercises, based on the Argument Driven Inquiry …

A Predictive Study Of Pre-Service Teachers And Success In Final Student Internship, Karen M. Ingle

Doctor of Education (Ed.D)

Student teaching provides the final pre-service clinical teaching experience of an initial teacher preparation program. Research that specifically studies the pre-service student teacher and predictive factors of student teaching is limited. Identifying predictive factors that contribute to the success of student interns’ student teaching experience is a valuable tool for initial teacher preparation programs. The research represents a predictive study of 21 pre-service teachers who participated in student teaching. The study assessed grade point average (GPA) and emotional intelligence as predictive factors of student teaching success. The researcher analyzed data of GPAs and Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) scores of …

On Craft, William Lentjes

KSU Journey Honors College Capstones and Theses

Craft is a relationship - a dialogue - between craftsman, tool, and material. Craft begins with the intent of all of these loci, and all of these loci are rooted in Being.

Being is known through the consciousness, awareness, and perception of a subject. Being is the inherent existence and totality of "what is."

Being crafts us; Craft imbues Being.

This thesis re-examines the pedagogical approach of an architectural education. The focus is placed on craft through presuppositionless phenomenology.

In an age of endless mechanized production and spiritless materialism, the practice of craft can teach us to return to the …

Factors In Public School Settings That Result In Teacher Agency, Jessica Hadid

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

A quality system for educating a nation’s youth depends upon a teaching force that continually learns, and applies its learning outcomes to active problem solving and development. Many current school and district models minimize teacher ability to engage in meaningful change, ultimately undermining the teachers’ sense of personal and professional agency. Literature suggests that internal forms of motivation are likely to result in the development of agency via self-determination of actions and behaviors. This mixed methods study examined five public schools in a small K-12 district through the lens of self-determination theory. An initial set of quantitative data were collected …

English Language Learners In The Mathematics Classroom, Julia Mccormick

Senior Honors Projects

Mathematics is often considered a universal language. Most of us have heard this statement from a math teacher at some point throughout our academic careers. However, for students moving to the United States from another country with minimal fluency in English, this is clearly not the case. They may walk into math class, a subject area in which they may have excelled in their native country, and see the words “polynomial”, “coefficient”, and “differentiate” on the board. Regardless of their experiences in their native language, there are disconnects and cultural differences between languages and skills emphasized that prevents mathematics from …

Bearing Witness To My Creativity: Exploring My Artist Identity Through A Practice Of A/R/Tography, Tamara K. Doleman

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

This master’s project follows the personal journey of a creative studies master’s student as she engages in an a/r/tographical process paired with a weekly practice of mindfulness, meditation and Lectio-Divina to explore and restore her artistic practice. The author shares creativity routines, her sketchbook, mini artworks, ideas, culminating collaborative artwork and key insights that enabled her to consolidate her seemingly disparate roles of artist-researcher-teacher. Insights made over the course of the investigation have resulted in the realization that creative expression is a dynamic construct that expands, contracts and evolves in relationship and in response to its host’s experiences.

The International Baccalaureate Learner Profile: A Social Justice Framework In The English Language Arts Classroom, Kristin Sovis, Sarah Pancost

Language Arts Journal of Michigan

“The International Baccalaureate Learner Profile: A Social Justice Framework in the English Language Arts Classroom," highlights the story of an expert secondary ELA teacher as she navigates the political climate in the wake of the 2016 presidential election. Through narrative, classroom anecdote, and pedagogical reflection, this story offers readers an authentic portrait of the complex decisions that face teachers as we navigate tenuous political terrain in our classrooms. Central to this story is the International Baccalaureate (IB) Learner Profile (LP), which is the framework from which this teacher operates: the IB LP serves as both the anchor and guide for …

Of Lizards And Language, Bernadette Gongora

Language Arts Journal of Michigan

No abstract provided.

A Wood Comes Toward Dunsinane: The Synthesis Of Traditional And Constructivist Methodologies, Randall L. Kaplan

Language Arts Journal of Michigan

Education professionals now favor Constructivist and project-based strategies for learning over Traditional methods, which include such frowned upon practices as rote memorization and recitation. The Constructivist approach is being taken to its natural apex by educators like Larry Rosenstock who have created Constructivist utopias such as High Tech High in San Diego, the school put under the microscope in the 2015 documentary film Most Likely to Succeed. Project-based, experiential units of study are effective, exciting, and edifying for both students and teachers. They promise to prepare students for the type of world they will inhabit, a world whose economy …

Developing A Navajo Educational Media Guide: A Community Perspective, Shawna Lynn Begay

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Developing a Navajo Educational Media Guide was investigated through the lens of Postcolonial Theory and Critical Indigenous Pedagogy utilizing the methodology of Participatory Action Research (PAR). Ten Navajo Consultants involved in teaching the Navajo language and culture were interviewed identifying learning objectives that should be included in a Navajo Educational Media Show for the audience of Navajo pre-school aged children to learn the Navajo language and culture. The Diné Cultural Content Standards for Students (DCCSS) was decoded. The codes were then utilized to encode the interview transcripts. Using Indigenous methodologies and the Navajo Way of Knowing concepts of: Nitsáhákees, Nahat’á, …