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Teaching New Generations the Language of Mathematics
Full text linkIn the beginning of the school year, many 9th grade students dread having to walk into a mathematics classroom and try to understand all those incomprehensible symbols. This action research is an attempt to delve into how we can make mathematical language more relevant, meaningful, and valuable in our students’ lives. The research shows that reasoning and understanding is equally important as procedural skills. In fact, giving students time to explore and make sense of mathematical language and its’ purposes is necessary to engage in math fluency skills in meaningful, informed, and flexible ways. The research also demonstrates that to give students the resources they need to explore and interact productively with mathematical language, teachers need to frequently provide contextual examples that students can understand and relate to. Additionally, teachers need to carefully design materials and activities that will help reduce students’ cognitive load and help students organize everything they are learning in meaningful ways
STEM Scouts: An Afterschool Program to Promote Stewardship in STEM
Full text linkSTEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) integration is a hot topic in education today, and new studies are showing how STEM integration into Elementary and Early Childhood learning environments can have lasting impact on students confidence in STEM related fields. Which poses the question, how do young learners respond to/develop stewardship towards global STEM issues? This qualitative study observes how elementary students develop critical thinking skills and stewardship towards global STEM issues. STEM in Elementary/Early Childhood Learning is coming to the forefront, and teachers in these contexts need more professional development. A great way to engage students of these ages is in Informal STEM Learning Programs, such as afterschool clubs, summer camps, or even community partners. In a 12 week after school club, students were tasked with planning/implementing a school wide Compost Challenge to reduce food waste. Students learned about Environmental STEM, STEM careers, and Waste Management Hierarchy. Each club session, students learned about a specific piece of the global climate issue and related it to things in their everyday lives and collected compost for a compost bin.Students developed a sense of stewardship and ownership over the Compost Challenge in their school, participating in school collecting compost and sorting through compostable materials twice a week. Students planned a reward system for the class in their school that got the most correct compostable food items. Also, the club got a donation of Red Wigglers, a compost igniting worm, to help make the decomposition process happen faster. This informal STEM learning environment impacted the lives of not only the students involved, but the school and community as well. They realized that STEM related careers are so much more than just engineering, and their confidence in STEM learning was solidified
“Everybody’s Someone Else’s N****r”: Marilyn Manson as a Social Provocateur
Full text linkWhen asked what he would say to the survivors of the Columbine shooting, Marilyn Manson, shock rocker of the ‘90s, responded with, “I wouldn\u27t say a single word to them. I would listen to what they have to say, and that\u27s what no one did” (Moore, 2002). He did this in addition to continuing to create art in spite of being treated as a scapegoat by mainstream media for such an incredibly traumatic event. One of the most universal experiences a human can have is the unspeakable: events in one’s life that they are unable to put into words due to these being “certain violations of [the] social compact [that] are too terrible to utter aloud” (Herman, 2015). When one is unable to put words to unspeakable, traumatic events, they are faced with the one aspect of life they have control over which is choice. This choice is the path of creation or destruction. In a triptych of illuminated poetry, I will be exploring the dichotomous relationship between life, death, creation, and destruction inspired by the triptych Manson was able to complete following the events of Columbine. This project heavily plays into the common fears and assumptions that are conditioned into American society as a commentary on where people fall short as a result of unspeakable events. While Manson chose discussion over demolition, 4 this project, too (during an ongoing cycle of destruction), is intended to stimulate discussion through intense provocation in order to promote growth and life
Advocacy Work for Low-Income Older Adults: Analysis of services for low-income older adults in Oregon
Full text linkOlder adults with low socioeconomic status who age in their communities can be invisible. These people have unique needs and while there are systems in place to provide services, there is always room for improvement. Programs are available to older Oregonians who are financially vulnerable to address their basic needs. This work investigates the current challenges to addressing these basic needs and areas where advocacy work could be applied for this population. Financially vulnerable older adults, especially those at or below the federal poverty line, face issues of food insecurity, problems finding adequate but affordable housing, the costs and accessibility of caregivers and medical care, and more. These realities have repercussions on health and quality of life for lower income older adults. These factors, additionally correlate in different ways with higher likelihood of negative health outcomes and greater likelihood of disability and death. Interviews with five professionals working to provide governmental assistance to this population reveal both what is being done and areas of improvement for these services
Individual Perceptions of Disabilities In the General Education Classroom
Full text linkThe purpose of the present study was to examine individuals’ immediate responses and perceptions when faced with presuming children with disabilities performance levels in a general education classroom. The participants consisted of 96 college students attending Western Oregon University and who were enrolled in at least one college course during the school year. Seventy-six students identified themselves as female, 16 identified as male, and 3 identified as nonbinary, with the average age of participants being 18-22 years, and the standard deviation being σ = 0.66. Forty-eight percent of participants identified themselves as having a White ethnic background, whereas 32.67% identified with having a Hispanic background. The participants were sampled from a website called SONA Systems. Using the Qualtrics survey creation tool, all participants were provided with two short vignettes about children in a general education classroom that they were asked to read. Following each vignette, participants were asked to answer six survey questions, twelve questions in total, regarding the vignette they just read. The results revealed that individuals believe children with disabilities will perform poorly in a general education classroom without the presence and assistance from special education teacher aides, but will perform better with such aides in the general classroom. This research will aid in revealing individuals\u27 6 perceptions of students with disabilities engaging socially and learning in a general education classroom
Tracking the Impact of COVID-19 on Community-Based Intervention Programs for Justice-Involved Youth: A Longitudinal Qualitative Study
Full text linkThe aim of this study is to explore the challenges facing community-based intervention programs designed for justice-involved young adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. We conducted four focus groups with practitioners working in community-based intervention programs at the onset and decline of the pandemic in the fall of 2020 and spring of 2021, respectively. The results suggest that there was ample preparation for programs earlier during the pandemic but that unforeseen challenges still arose. Moreover, the results obtained from the second round of focus groups, which coincided with the rollout of the vaccines, suggest that practitioners had to be creative to accomplish organizational goals during the pandemic. They also suggest that, for the sake of future practice, much can be learned from the experience of working to rehabilitate justice-involved minority youth during the pandemic. Feedback from practitioners can help identify recommendations for community-based interventions in the future
The COVID-19 Pandemic: Its Economic Impact on New Jersey and New York Freelance Interpreters
Full text linkSince early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the U.S. economy, affecting all professions, including freelance interpreters. From losing job opportunities to transitioning to remote interpreting among other changes, freelance interpreters have been impacted by the pandemic. New Jersey and New York were two of the worst affected states at the outset of the pandemic; therefore, the impact of COVID-19 on the economic condition of New Jersey and New York freelance interpreters was the focus of this investigation. Since the topic is still recent, there is limited research on the impact of the pandemic on interpreters. Research conducted by CSA Research (formerly known as Common Sense Advisory) on the impact of COVID-19 on freelance linguists worldwide provides a global overview of its economic effect; however, U.S. national and regional studies are lacking. An electronic questionnaire was prepared and sent out to New Jersey and New York freelance interpreters to explore some key questions: How has COVID-19 affected freelance interpreters’ work? Has COVID-19 affected freelance interpreters indiscriminately? Were they full-time freelancers? If not, were they able to rely on other jobs during the pandemic? What adjustments (if any) did interpreters have to make to continue working during the pandemic? What are the lessons learned from their experiences (if any)? The results of the questionnaire provide some insight on what New Jersey and New York freelance interpreters had to do to survive economically during the pandemic and highlight some lessons learned on how interpreters can become resilient in the face of crisis
The Benefits of SEL and Why it Should Be Added to the Everyday Curriculum
Full text linkThis project provides an opportunity to talk about the importance of social-emotional Learning (SEL) and why it belongs in the classroom. During the 2020-2021 school year, SEL was seemingly neglected during comprehensive distance learning (CDL) in some schools and school districts. This project focuses on the Salem-Keizer School District, the second largest school district in the state of Oregon, and how important it is to have SEL in the classroom on a daily basis. As this paper continues, you will not only learn why SEL is important in the classroom, but the many benefits it has to many different students, as well as adults
Brazil and Racism: Examining the Unified Black Movement, 1970-2000
Full text linkIn 1978, two events changed the current understanding of race in Brazil. The killing of a Black worker who died while in police custody, and the dismissal of four black volleyball players because the manager didn’t want to inspire more Black players to join the team and lose white customers who were against the inclusion of Afro-Brazilians. These two events inspired the creation of the Unified Black Movement (MNU) a month after the events occurred, leading to the challenging of social apartheid which had been implemented by Brazilian society this day leading to an increase in Black Consciousness through the change of when Black history day was and an overall push towards racial equality through legislation changes made to the Brazilian constitution, that’s continued to this day. The Unified Black Movement ended up becoming the most influential black mobilization group since Brazilian abolition occurred in 1888