Secondary Education Commons^™

Helping Young Adults With Depression, Yuvinny Delmar Serrano

Nebraska College Preparatory Academy: Senior Capstone Projects

Depression is situational sadness that lasts throughout the day, every day, for at least two weeks. The symptoms are distressing, and usually depression is caused by a negative impact on one's life. According to the Depression Hotline, many people with depression have one or more other mental disorders present. Depression can affect one’s ability to function at school, at work, or even at home. This discourages young adults from socializing, which is a major problem. One in four adolescents suffer from depression, which is why everyone should try to help young adults who suffer from this disorder.

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Authority Background Check, Zitlalic Parra Valencia

Nebraska College Preparatory Academy: Senior Capstone Projects

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini deals with an unstable individual rising to power and causing brutal violence. The individual, Assef, had a terrible attitude as a child but was still able to gain a position of authority. The idea of malicious individuals rising to power carries is also present in today’s society. Police brutality in the United States is becoming an even bigger issue as the years go by, especially the deaths caused by fear or pure hatred. Becoming a police officer requires taking a written exam, fitness test, and in-person interview; all of these could easily be lied …

Balance Of Limits And Experimentation, Viangri Sontay L.

Nebraska College Preparatory Academy: Senior Capstone Projects

In science, there is an equilibrium between advancements in knowledge, ethics, and reason. Equilibrium is when two contrary sides are in balance and, typically, once one side becomes disproportionate, there will be a disturbance. In the novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley portrays how going beyond the limits of science can cause a disturbance to human nature. One of the main characters, Victor Frankenstein, fabricated a living creature out of unliving parts. Victor is displeased with the result, leaving the Creature neglected and destined to feel loathing toward his creator. The consequences of seeking glory brought about torture. Aside from providing entertainment, …

Isolation And Revenge: Where Victor Frankenstein Went Wrong, Gabby Escalante Manzano

Nebraska College Preparatory Academy: Senior Capstone Projects

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley describes the dangers of revenge and isolation caused by abandonment, following the mistakes made by Victor Frankenstein with the creation of a monster. All the events of the novel support one main theme: revenge caused by isolation. Throughout the novel, the reader witnesses the life of isolation that the creature is forced to live. As the story progresses, the question of why revenge becomes an outcome of isolation is asked. Living a life where you are ostracized by everyone, including your own creator, would drive anyone mad, especially a creature that was brought back to life …

"Hear Us, See Us": Constructing Citizenship In The Margins, Tricia M. Hagen Gray

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Theses and Other Student Research

The meatpacking industry has drawn an increasing number of immigrants to the Midwestern community of Washington River from Mexico and Central America, making it a New Latino Diaspora (NLD) receiving community. Demographic change amidst the sociopolitical landscape of neoliberalism, declining civic engagement, and polarized partisan politics has forced interaction between longstanding residents and newcomers who are socially, culturally, and linguistically different. Historically marginalized groups have sought to claim rights—especially since Donald Trump’s election in 2016—resulting in a deeper fissure of the social landscape.

Washington River High School provided a context in which to explore questions about how students construct citizen …

Bonding Ideas About Inquiry: Exploring Knowledge And Practices Of Metacognition In Beginning Secondary Science Teachers, Ana Margarita Rivero Arias

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Theses and Other Student Research

Metacognition, identified generally as “thinking about thinking,” plays a fundamental role in science education. It enhances the understanding of science as a way to generate new knowledge using scientific concepts and practices. Moreover, metacognition supports the development of students’ life-long problem solving, collaboration, and critical thinking skills. When teachers use metacognition with intention, it can promote students’ agency and responsibility for their own learning. However, despite all of its benefits, metacognition is rarely seen in secondary science classrooms. Thus, it is important to understand what beginning teachers know and how they use metacognition during their first years in order to …

Beyond The City Lights: A Multiple-Case Study Of Successful, Experienced Secondary Science Teachers In Rural Schools, Beverly R. Devore-Wedding

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Theses and Other Student Research

Recruitment and retention concerns for teachers, particularly in rural school districts and in science, fill the daily news and research literature. The shortage of STEM workers is also another concern as well. Then why do nationally recognized secondary science teachers remain in rural schools with lower salaries, increased responsibilities beyond teaching content, and multi-preparations, stay in those schools? How do they overcome challenges in their schools?

This multiple case study focuses on Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST) awardees who have taught secondary science in rural school districts 10 years or more. Eight rural PAEMST high …

Modeling Inquiry-Oriented Instruction Of Beginning Secondary Science Teachers, Lyrica Lucas, Elizabeth B. Lewis

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

New national science education standards, the Next Generation Science Standards, in the United States (US) promote inquiry-based instruction through an integrated emphasis on scientific practices and disciplinary content. Thus, it is important for beginning science teachers to reach proficient implementation of reformed teaching practices by the end of their induction phase in order to become effective science teachers. Yet, extant science education research studies on development of beginning teachers’ classroom practices is rare. In this study, we collected data from a longitudinal study of science teachers from two teacher preparation programs - a bachelor’s program with teacher candidates who had …

The Design And Enactment Of Modeling Tasks: A Study On The Development Of Modeling Abilities In A Secondary Mathematics Course, Danielle Buhrman

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study uses components of action and self-study research to examine the design and enactment of modeling tasks with the goal of developing student modeling abilities. The author, a secondary mathematics teacher, first closely examined the curriculum design and instructional decisions she made as she prepared for a unit on mathematical modeling in her precalculus course. Detailed descriptions of the timeline of events as this unit was enacted is then presented, providing insight into student and teacher interactions that occurred during an intense five weeks of modeling instruction. An analysis of these events identified ways in which students relearned how …

Behind The Digital World: High School Education Evolved, Candy Diaz

Nebraska College Preparatory Academy: Senior Capstone Projects

This paper discusses the discrete advantages that technology gives to high school education across the nation. It is crucial to implement digital supplements into school districts for the sake of the future of younger generations. Over the years it has been proven to be cheaper for all levels of education to take the leap into the future, especially high schools. Not only this, but the main signal of change should be due to the familiarity of teenagers with technology. Since they have practically grown up with it then it is only reasonable to upgrade to a new education system.

With …

What Does Motivated Mean? Re-Presenting Learning, Technology, And Motivation In Middle Schools Via New Ethnographic Writing, Justin Olmanson

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

This article offers a critique of the way middle schoolers are often positioned as generalizable objects that can be acted upon to produce measurable increases in motivation and learning. The critique invites a reconsideration and cultural analysis of some of the dominant discourses and perceptions of technology, young adolescence, and the study of motivation. The use of New Ethnographic Writing—a method that performs a cultural critique via extended scenes—connects to the roles and status of motivation, technology, and educational research methods deployed within public schools. Coupled with weak theory, this approach offers a way to understand young adolescents as navigating …

Teac 451p: Learning And Teaching Principles And Practices (Secondary Mathematics)—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Lorraine Males

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

The goal of my peer review portfolio was to better understand how to improve students' learning of how to teach secondary mathematics in reform-oriented ways. Most students that pursue admission into the Secondary Mathematics Teacher Education Program have little to no experience learning mathematics in reform-oriented ways. These preservice teachers (PSTs) were “successful” in mathematics courses in middle and high school, most of them taking honors or accelerated courses. However, many of these PSTs did not have opportunities to engage as active participants in their own learning and develop complex cognitive skills and processes, the focus of reform-oriented instruction. This …

The Road To Pomp And Circumstance For Ell Students: The Perceived Ambivalent Schooling Experience Of Ell Students With Mexican Ancestry In An Urban Midwestern High School, Kristine M. Sudbeck

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

Perceptions of high school faculty and staff members about the graduation outcomes of English language learners of Mexican ancestry were explored. Throughout the course of one semester, observations were made and field notes taken in classrooms and other school locations. Interviews were conducted with 25 faculty/ staff members and 7 students, all of whom were former or current English language learners of Mexican ancestry. The author used a mixed methods strategy; interviews were coded for themes to assess qualitative data, and SPSS was used to analyze quantitative data. Faculty/staff perceived the top three indicators of whether or not an ELL …

Art Practice As Research In The Classroom: A New Paradigm In Art Education, Julia Marshall, Kimberley D'Adamo

Kimberley D'Adamo: Art, Curriculum, Publications, and Other Scholarly Works

Student experiences at Berkeley High School reveal the generative potential of the art practice-as-research approach—how deep, broad, and creative the learning can be, and how powerful this model is in changing student attitudes toward art and themselves as artists and learners. This model of self-directed, inquiry-based learning works well because student art practice is cast as research and is structured as research. As a result, students make discoveries and connections that go beyond their expectations. They also acquire skills and understandings that transfer into their academic studies. In partic-ular, they find that learning can be engaging and that a trail …

Systemic High School Reform In Two States: The Serendipity Of State-Level Action, Edmund T. Hamann

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Maine and Vermont have been national leaders in state-level coordination of high school reform. Both recently developed almost interchangeable, new, voluntary, statewide frameworks that describe multiple ways high schools should change. Both frameworks—Promising Futures (Maine Commission on Secondary Education 1998) and High Schools on the Move (Vermont High School Task Force 2001)—were published in book form and include extensive bibliographies grounding their claims that they are research based. Both frameworks recommend principles and practices for improving high schools for all students. Both frameworks were drafted primarily by leading local educators with only modest support from experts based beyond the …

Agricultural Mechanics Instruction In Nebraska Secondary Vocational Agriculture Programs For The 1990s, Neal Joseph Schlautman

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The study was conducted to determine agricultural mechanics units of instruction that should be included and the extent to which they should be included in the Nebraska high school vocational agriculture curriculum in the 1990's as perceived by three respondent groups. The respondent groups included 36 vocational agriculture instructors, 36 farm operators and 36 managers of mechanics related agribusinesses in Nebraska. A mailed survey was used to collect data for the study. The survey return rate for the vocational agriculture instructors was 100 percent, the return rate for the farm operators was 89 percent and the return rate for the …

Home Economics Teachers’ Perceptions Of What Is Being Taught Compared With Parents’ And Agency Representatives’ Perceptions Of What Should Be Taught, Kendra L. Vance

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this study was to determine what home economics teachers perceive they are teaching and compare their perceptions with what parents and social service agency representatives in economically depressed counties perceived students should be taught. In 1986, Johnson determined parents' and social service agency representatives' perceptions of the importance of home economics concepts for high school students. In March 1987, a questionnaire, adapted from Johnson's Nebraska Home Economics Needs Assessment questionnaire, was mailed to 50 high school home economics teachers from 41 economically depressed counties throughout Nebraska. Half of the teachers (project teachers) had assisted in data collection …

A Descriptive Analysis Of The Curriculum In Vocational Agriculture In Selected Public High Schools In Nebraska (For The School Year 1972–73), Dona M. Siekmon

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of the study was to determine content and emphasis placed on identified units of instruction provided by the Vocational Agriculture Departments in Nebraska. The overall hypothesis of the study was to determine the relationship, if any, between teachers as community factors and the amounts of instruction in subject matter units offered in Vocational Agriculture. Data was collected at a summer conference in which 112 out of 147 instructors in Nebraska filled out the questionnaire. The five categories of the curriculum surveyed were: (1) Animal Science. (2) Agricultural Management and

Economics, (3) Agronomic Science, (4) Agricultural Mechanics, and (5) …

The English Classification Tests Administered By The University Of Nebraska: An Analysis, Glenn Orville Kelley

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

First paragraph of the General Summary

This study has been based upon the analysis of the Nebraska Classification Test in English (Form V) administered to 5,183 pupils graduated from 346 Nebraska high schools in 1934. Usable supplementary data have been supplied by 153 of these high schools, but in some portions of the study data for the remaining high schools have been available from other sources. The tests were examined as to content and reliability, and were compared with published tests used for purposes of placement by other collegiate institutions. Two thousand test papers were carefully analyzed to determine types …

Zoology In The High School Curriculum, Henry B. Ward

Studies from the University of Nebraska Zoological Laboratory

A long time has elapsed since Bacon gave to the world the sound advice that “ we should accustom ourselves to things themselves.” Little by little this idea has gained ground, until now it is recognized as a general principle in every grade of educational work and in widely separated departments of study that contact with concrete objects is far more inspiring and thought-producing than the mere scanning of black marks on a white page. So far as natural science is concerned, the varied training which it affords has been abundantly discussed before this association and elsewhere. To be sure, …