Gifted Education Commons^™

Disrupting The Way We Work: An Honors Summer Vacation, Lexi Rager, Mollie Hartup

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Authors describe how a summer respite introduces alternative ways and spaces in which to work, positing how collaborative discourse and dismantled hierarchies can affect positive change and productive outcomes for honors programs.

While some assume that the summer is our off-season, the team at the Sokolov Honors College at Youngstown State University knows that it is the time we have to be most “on,” tackling all that we don’t get to do in the semester and positioning us for a strong start to the upcoming fall. Summer 2021 seemed particularly daunting with a laundry list of items to catch up …

Honors In Practice, Volume 18: Frontmatter Materials, National Collegiate Honors Council

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Cover

Indexing

Editorial Board

Contents

Editorial Policy, Deadline, and Submission Guidelines

Dedication to P. Brent Register

Editor’s Introduction • Ada Long

Mapping The Hero’S Journey Into Thinking: Assigning A Geo-Literacies Multimodal Assignment In A First-Year Honors Seminar, Amy Lee M. Locklear

Honors in Practice Online Archive

By incorporating visual mapping into students’ thinking and writing processes, a narrative assignment in geo-literacy creates a reflective and agency-based learning experience for student writers in a first-year honors seminar.

At Auburn University at Montgomery (AUM), I ask my first-year honors students to reflectively examine and practice habits of thinking and knowledge-building in a series of interrelated writing projects and readings. Each reading and writing task is designed to give students the opportunity to build their synthesis-level critical and creative thinking habits. The course theme of “Hero’s Journey” challenges students to consider the idea of the heroic, especially as it …

Using Issues In Honors Education To Teach Argumentation, Annmarie Guzy

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Topics and resources from honors education are used to teach argumentation in writing composition. The author discusses efficacies for increasing student awareness of, and reflection on, issues in honors education while engaging first-year students in honors issues that directly affect their lives.

In my first-year honors composition course, I frequently use materials and topics from honors education, ranging from National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC) publications to local campus honors issues, to demonstrate rhetorical analysis and argumentative genres. Rather than using a composition reader, I pair textbook chapters with relevant websites and selected essays from Journal of the National Collegiate Honors …

Serving Through Transcribing: Preserving History While Building Community, Julie Centofanti, Mollie Hartup

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Community is a foundational element in honors education. During the global pandemic, students reimagined ways to connect in order to build community and serve one another. Authors describe a virtual collaboration in transcription, where honors students gathered to participate in digital transcribe-a-thons. These informal groupings evolved into a transcribing club that met three times a week (collectively logging more than 1,600 hours) and transcribed over 16,000 historical documents. A study of participating transcribers reveals enhanced historical knowledge, skill building, and opportunities for relationships with students of varying interests and backgrounds despite edicts for social distancing. While a common feature of …

Embracing New Opportunities In And Beyond First-Year Honors Composition, Teagan Decker, Scott Hicks

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Authors describe course-embedded research experiences at a diverse, rural, regional university. Emphasizing the capacity for conventional teaching and learning in first-year honors composition, these experiences provide relationshiprich education through faculty and peer mentorships. Positing that first-year honors composition is undervalued as a means for establishing programmatic foundations that resonate with students throughout their honors experience, the authors reinforce its importance as a place for disciplinary research and thus for opportunities in mentoring. By addressing an urgent need for mentoring underrepresented students, the authors consider how a research-based first-year honors composition course might help such students make meaningful disciplinary connections. A …

Building Community During Covid-19 And Beyond: How A Community Garden Strengthened An Honors Community, Steve Garrison

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Amid social distancing restrictions, community gardening becomes a focal point of one honors program. While providing fresh produce to the campus food pantry, this student-run initiative generates a new setting for experiential and service learning.

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, honors programs across the U.S. struggled to maintain community as higher education moved largely to a virtual setting. Although this shift produced numerous innovations in creative programming, real social interaction greatly diminished. For young adults, social interaction is especially crucial to intellectual and social development, and with community as a key pillar of honors education, compensating for this …

Disorientations And Disruptions: Innovating First-Year Honors Education Through Collaborative Mapping Projects, Nathan W. Swanson

Honors in Practice Online Archive

A series of courses on the Evolution of Ideas introduces interdisciplinary study, develops collaborative discourse, and promotes a sense of community among first-year honors students. The curriculum encourages faculty to use a range of strategies to help students understand an idea and its history while also fostering awareness as to its social, political, economic, and broader contexts. Using the social history of maps as an example, the author demonstrates how disrupting students’ understanding of the map itself and, through creative group projects, disorienting emergent understanding of campus spaces, fosters a questioning atmosphere and makes room for growth. Through planned disorientation …

Creating Knowledge: The Literary Dictionary Assignment, Rebecca Cepek

Honors in Practice Online Archive

A literary dictionary assignment provides honors students with an understanding of the ways knowledge shifts and changes over time as well as an opportunity to create knowledge rather than just recall correct answers.

For honors students, reciting the correct definitions of key terms—regardless of discipline—is generally simple. Where they struggle is understanding the ways such definitions may shift over time, shedding or accruing meanings with changes in usage, context, and critical perspective. To allow students to engage with such changes and to continue a tradition of “teaching the conflicts,” I have students create a dictionary of literary terms over the …

Honors In Practice, Volume 18 (2022)

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Editorial Policy, Deadline, and Submission Guidelines

Dedication to P. Brent Register

Editor’s Introduction • Ada Long

2021 Conference Remarks

A Sense of Belonging (Presidential Address) • Suketu Bhavsar

The 2021 NCHC Founders Award: Samuel Schuman (Introductory Remarks) • Bernice Braid

Essays

Counterstories of Honors Students of Color • Michael Carlos Gutiérrez

Inclusive and Effective Holistic Admission Frameworks for Honors Programs: A Case Study Continued • Andrea Radasanu and Gregory Barker

Constitution Day: An Opportunity for Honors Colleges to Promote Civic Engagement • Richard J. Hardy, Paul A. Schlag, and Keith Boeckelman

Serving through Transcribing: Preserving History while …

Mental Health Advocacy For Kids: A Social Media Campaign, B Rangel

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Abstract

Mental health in children has important, life-long effects on the child (Ghandour et al., 2018; Underwood & Washington, 2016). Because it is not always easy for parents to access important mental health resources and information (CDC, 2022b), I wanted to investigate whether social media is a viable way for parents to learn more about their child’s mental health. I created and distributed ads aimed at parents on three common mental illnesses diagnosed in children: anxiety, depression, and ADHD. My ads had high levels of engagement, thus allowing the possibility that social media could be important avenue for reaching parents.

The 2021 Nchc Founders Award: Samuel Schuman, Bernice Braid

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Samuel Schuman (Beginning in Honors) is the 2021 recipient of the National Collegiate Honors Council’s Founders Award, recognized for his outstanding contributions to both the NCHC and to the professional and scholarly practices of honors education.

A Sense Of Belonging, Suketu P. Bhavsar

Honors in Practice Online Archive

National Collegiate Honors Council President delivers his address at the NCHC’s 2021 conference, describing that, despite the privileges he has chosen and enjoyed, expressions of otherness have led to feelings of estrangement. Considering the question of how to face this challenge in honors, the author emphasizes the imperative of creating a sense of belonging for every student.

About The Authors, Etc., National Collegiate Honors Council

Honors in Practice Online Archive

About the authors

About the NCHC Monograph Series

NCHC Monographs & Journals

NCHC Publications Order Form

In This Issue

Constitution Day: An Opportunity For Honors Colleges To Promote Civic Engagement, Richard J. Hardy, Paul A. Schlag, Keith Boeckelman

Honors in Practice Online Archive

The United States Constitution is the bedrock upon which government and society rest, yet its precepts remain generally unfamiliar to contemporary college students. Considering the extent of its impact and the misinformation regarding its purpose, content, efficacy, and limits, the authors provide suggestions for civic learning based on this seminal document. While all American educational institutions receiving federal funding must celebrate the U.S. Constitution each year on or near September 17th, research suggests that comprehensive and integrative instruction is scarce. Citing a lack of formal Constitution Day programming among honors colleges, the authors present a multi-modal framework for honors students …

Counterstories Of Honors Students Of Color, Michael Carlos Gutiérrez

Honors in Practice Online Archive

This study explores the experience of high-achieving students of color in an honors program at a large research university. Qualitative methods involve surveying students (n = 39) and interviewing a select group (n = 5) in attempts to measure both the frequency and severity of racial microaggression as well as subjective experience relating to diversity and representation in honors. Using critical race theory, a discourse analysis of four broad questions pertaining to pre-entry, entry, continuation, and exit of honors programs suggests that more is needed to foster an honors community that better understands and meets the needs of students’ racial, …

The Critically Reflective Practicum, Aaron Stoller

Honors in Practice Online Archive

A defining feature of honors education is meaningful engagement within and across disciplines, yet significant challenges for creating and sustaining meaningful transdisciplinary research remain. One such challenge involves a nuanced understanding of a discipline, or what educational researchers call “disciplinary literacy.” This article introduces critically reflective practicum (CRP) as a pedagogy for developing disciplinary literacy among honors students. CRP acknowledges forms of inquiry as design situations and seeks to simulate instructional scaffolding so that students both experience and reflect on their questioning. Through the practicum, students begin to understand, engage with, and critique the methods and sociocultural standards of one …

Inclusive And Effective Holistic Admission Frameworks For Honors Programs: A Case Study Continued, Andrea Radasanu, Gregory Barker

Honors in Practice Online Archive

This study continues an earlier (2021) examination of a program’s move from an admissions framework that used standardized test score thresholds to a test-blind holistic review. While the initial study evinced holistic review as a more equitable gateway to honors education for students from underserved backgrounds (as compared to admission frameworks that rely heavily on SAT/ACT thresholds), the current study further substantiates this finding as the program fully transitions to its subsequent admission cycle. In addition to affirming holistic admissions practice as effective for diversifying honors populations, the study considers two additional results. First, the holistic review rubric is assessed …

Overlooked And Under-Referred, Gretchen Spencer

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

According to the National Association for Gifted Children (2019) up to 10% of the population can benefit from receiving gifted services. Due to wide variability in definition, identification and services offered, the NAGC recognized that gifted students have been and continue to be overlooked (NAGC, 2019). Not only are gifted students under identified overall, the ratio of identified students who are Black, Latine, special education, and female was lower than the ratio in the population and occurred at a significantly lower rate than their white counterparts (Ecker-Lyster & Niileksela, 2017). The issue of underrepresentation within the gifted population has …

Supplemental Peer Instruction In Physiologic Core Concept Education, Austin Choat

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

The objective of my thesis project was to create and research the importance of supplemental learning videos within core physiological concepts identified by the Advancement of Physiological Principles for the purpose of assisting Dr. Kim Hansen in better educating students with less extensive foundational knowledge of chemical and biological sciences. Through researching the benefits of peer instruction, identifying core physiological concepts crucial to wholistic physiology education, and describing a student population hypothesized to benefit substantially from the work, I created educational videos to aid Dr. Hansen in her work as an educator and in the educational research she is striving …

Presidential Rhetoric In Times Of Health Crises: From President Eisenhower To President Trump, Abbi Murphy, Justin Kirk

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Three major health crises in American history include the polio epidemic in the 1950s, the Ebola crisis in 2014, and the coronavirus in 2020. Each of these viruses evolved under a different President, from President Eisenhower to President Obama to President Trump. Each of these presidents spoke to the people on their respective crisis, and here I examine speeches, addresses, and social media posts in order to examine the rhetorical strategies that each President utilized. Each of them had a similar goal in mind, to eradicate the disease and quell the public’s fears. However, they all had advantages and disadvantages …

Wasted Intuitions: New York City’S Solid Waste Management System And The Ambiguous Effects Of Traditional Collective Good Provision Analysis, Andrew Asplin

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Refuse Collection services' status as a public good has been highly contested. As it is both rivalrous and excludable, basic theory predicts that private provision of solid waste management services will be more efficient. Private trash carters are able to specialize in a way that municipality-run services simply cannot. New York City is unique in that its solid waste management system is rigidly split: residential trash is managed by the city; commercial trash is managed by private businesses. This thesis explores how New York City's public and private solid waste management systems complicate these initial intuitions through a welfare analysis. …

Turning Back Time: Implications Of Originalist Legal Theory For Women's Rights, Emma Mays

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Since America’s foundation, women’s rights have expanded to lengths that would have been unimaginable to the Founding Fathers including the right to vote, the ability to work outside the home, and some aspects of bodily autonomy. These legal adaptations, along with a larger cultural shift towards liberation, have left many modern-day women with a false sense of security in the face of growing judicial sentiments that threaten the rights of women. The legal theory of originalism that has been growing in force significantly since the 1980s argues that in interpreting constitutional matters, judges should uncover and promote the meaning of …

The Green Wave: Effects Of Legal Marijuana On The Labor Market., Sara Varon

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

In this paper I examine the relationship between the introduction of recreational marijuana laws and the labor market. First, using Google Trends data I find evidence that states that undergo the treatment of recreational marijuana legalization will likely experience a large and significant increase in search volume terms related to marijuana demand following the implementation of marijuana regulations. Using this same data set, I find support for the theory that as marijuana legalization becomes more entrenched within each individual state, public interest for marijuana also increases which allows for the use of Google Trends data as a proxy for legalization …

From The End Of Politics To Legitimate Opposition: Political Perceptions Of The 37th Congress Of The United States In The North 1860-1862, Lauren Dubas

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

This paper intends to explore the political landscape of the Union during the first two years of the Civil War, specifically how the people in the North perceived what remained of the Congress from 1860-1862. I will be using a combination of primary and secondary sources to cover the 37^th Congress of the United States, whose members were elected in 1860 and legislated until the next Congressional election in 1862. My research shows several significant stages in the political landscape during this period and uses these stages of partisan politics as the foundation for understanding how the federal government, …

Genomic Analysis Of Acetoanaerobium Sp. Vlb-1, An Anaerobic Bacterium Isolated From Nebraska's Eastern Saline Wetlands, Claire Martin

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Through the analysis of genetic code, the genomic and physiological characteristics of an environmental anaerobic bacterial isolate, Acetoanaerobium sp. strain VLB-1, can be determined and significant pathways can be identified in its significance to the environment. This particular organism was isolated from the Eastern Saline Wetlands in Lincoln, NE. With this isolate, an investigation into elemental and amino acid cycling via the Stickland reaction and the Wood-Ljungdahl pathway was conducted to determine possible metabolic products. The Stickland reaction is a relatively newly discovered pathway, observed in the genus Clostridium. A. sticklandii is the main model for this method of …

A Strategic Audit Of A24, Jackson Bartak

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

A24 is an independent film production and distribution company founded in 2012. The company performs both duties for independent films as well as television programs, and a small portion of company revenue comes from merchandise it sells in an online kiosk. As of 2021, A24 had around 300 employees while maintaining a large catalog of movies and shows. Using a focus strategy, the company targets a more cultured audience for its unique (and sometimes outright bizarre) subject matter. To achieve this, A24 attempts to cast top B-list personnel both in acting and technical roles in order to corner its market. …

The Relation Between Childhood Maltreatment And Marriage Quality In Adulthood, Melanie Wagner

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Childhood maltreatment poses the potential for lasting effects on survivors as they enter adulthood. Research lacks investigations into these potential effects, such as the impact on interpersonal relations. This study investigates the correlation between different types of childhood maltreatment and overall quality of marriage, as well as aims to identify which type of childhood maltreatment may be the strongest relative predictor of marital quality. Analyses on a newlywed dataset from Lancaster County, NE yielded results of a strong negative association between measures of childhood maltreatment and marital quality through the application of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire and the Quality of …

The Intersection Of Leadership Identity Development And Meaning-Making Experiences In College Students, Tori Pedersen

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

The current study explored the intersection of meaning-making with leadership identity development through a narrative lens. Phenomenological interviews were conducted with six senior college students who participate in a leadership mentoring program. Results showed there are six themes of meaning-making experiences that influence leadership identity development: : (a) Confidence, (b) Growth From Challenges, (c) Identity, (d) Influence by Others, (e) Influencing Others, and (f) Involvements. These findings encourage the practice of developing leadership development curricula based upon these themes to further develop leadership identity in students.

Targeting Transgenic Proteins To The Mitochondria In Plants, Susan Qudus, Jeffrey P. Mower

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) in plants can convert an individual into female through sterilization of the male reproductive parts, creating an inability to produce functional pollen. In nature, this is advantageous for genetic diversity and producing progeny with unique genes that may be beneficial in evolution. For agriculture, this method is preferential for selection of desirable traits in crops when cross breeding. CMS is typically caused by genes in the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), such as novel open reading frames (ORFs) that form after imperfect repair of double-stranded breaks in the mtDNA. Specific CMS genes vary among various plant species. It …