544 research outputs found
Sort by
Bricolage on the Upper East Side: The Intertwining of Multimedia in Emma, Clueless, and Gossip Girl
Get PDFIn this paper I will analyze the classic novel Emma, and the 1995 film Clueless, as an adaptive pair, but I will also be analyzing the TV series, Gossip Girl, as a derivative text. I bring this series into the discussion because of the ways in which it echos, parallels, and alludes to both Emma and Clueless individually, and the two as a source pair. I do not argue that the series is an actual adaptation, but rather, a sort of collage, recombining motifs from both source texts to create something new, exciting, and completely absurd
Student Centered Approaches in High School Algebra
Get PDFThis quasi-experimental study evaluated the impact of four, student centered approaches on learning outcomes for high school math students, to determine if algebraic understanding improved in an active learning environment. Specifically, this study investigated high school algebra students’ use of learning stations, hands on manipulatives, small group collaboration and mathematical games, to deepen their conceptual understanding of linear equations. Surveys revealed students prefered to work independently while being led by the teacher, yet this approach yielded the least amount of improvement. Pre- and post-tests showed students from the experimental groups out-performed peers in the control group on achievement of standards during each cycle of the experiment, with small group collaboration being the student centered approach yielding the highest mean. In conclusion, research findings reveal students need to become active participants in their learning in order to enrich their learning experience and enhance conceptual understanding in mathematics
Reimagining Writing Assessment : From Scales to Stories
No full textThis book is for teachers who want to honor their students\u27 experiences as writers and readers-and their own. -Maja Wilson
In Reimagining Writing Assessment, Maja Wilson shows us that by replacing the scales embedded in rubrics with new tools--an array of interpretive lenses designed to observe and describe growth-we can create healthier readers and writers who are more proficient in the long run and more motivated to read and write. She reminds us that assess in its Latin derivation means sit beside. In this book she models new ways of sitting beside, listening to student stories of the writing, respecting the writer\u27s intentions, and telling stories of our reading.
Taking the form of conversations, Maja\u27s new definition of writing assessment is not an outcome or final evaluation: it is an ongoing process in which writers and readers make meaning from texts and attempts, from intentions and effects. In this process, teachers come to understand how to teach and talk with each student about writing differently. And students learn to understand and take control of their own development as decision-makers.https://scholarworks.umf.maine.edu/publications/1073/thumbnail.jp
Ecology and Recovery of Eastern Old-Growth Forests
No full textThe landscapes of North America, including eastern forests, have been shaped by humans for millennia, through fire, agriculture, hunting, and other means. But the arrival of Europeans on America’s eastern shores several centuries ago ushered in the rapid conversion of forests and woodlands to other land uses. By the twentieth century, it appeared that old-growth forests in the eastern United States were gone, replaced by cities, farms, transportation networks, and second-growth forests. Since that time, however, numerous remnants of eastern old growth have been discovered, meticulously mapped, and studied. Many of these ancient stands retain surprisingly robust complexity and vigor, and forest ecologists are eager to develop strategies for their restoration and for nurturing additional stands of old growth that will foster biological diversity, reduce impacts of climate change, and serve as benchmarks for how natural systems operate. Forest ecologists William Keeton and Andrew Barton bring together a volume that breaks new ground in our understanding of ecological systems and their importance for forest resilience in an age of rapid environmental change. This edited volume covers a broad geographic canvas, from eastern Canada and the Upper Great Lakes states to the deep South. It looks at a wide diversity of ecosystems, including spruce-fir, northern deciduous, southern Appalachian deciduous, southern swamp hardwoods, and longleaf pine. Chapters authored by leading old-growth experts examine topics of contemporary forest ecology including forest structure and dynamics, below-ground soil processes, biological diversity, differences between historical and modern forests, carbon and climate change mitigation, management of old growth, and more. This thoughtful treatise broadly communicates important new discoveries to scientists, land managers, and students and breathes fresh life into the hope for sensible, effective management of old-growth stands in eastern forests.https://scholarworks.umf.maine.edu/publications/1003/thumbnail.jp
China’s community Fengshui forests: Spiritual ecology and nature conservation
No full textThis research examines the geographic distribution, cultural history, cosmology, and conservation status of China\u27s village fengshui forests (fengshuilin)--woodlands protected to bring good fortune to lineage members across generations. Fengshuilin survive in ten to fourteen provinces, comprising ecologically significant remnants of tropical and subtropical broadleaf evergreen forests of central and southern China. Despite their broad distribution and social-ecological importance, fengshuilin are little known among urban populations and lack official recognition across most of their range. Some have been incorporated into nature reserves and community-based protected areas. State-local agreements catalyse new conceptions of fengshui and human-environment relations, improving prospects for large-scale biodiversity conservation networks based on local community interests
Smokey Bear and the pyropolitics of United States forest governance
No full textWildfire prevention advertisements featuring Smokey Bear represent the longest-standing and most successful government advertising and branding campaign in U.S. history. As the public face of U.S. fire control policy, Smokey Bear uses mass media to influence the attitudes and behavior of U.S. citizenry in order to accomplish particular outcomes related to wildfire prevention and suppression, forest protection, and resource management. Smokey Bear can therefore be viewed as a governmental instrument that simultaneously targets the behavior of the U.S. public and the biophysical materiality of combustible forests. Examining the evolution of Smokey Bear and related wildfire prevention media, we explore connections between state management of people, territory, and flammable landscapes. Borrowing from Nigel Clark (2011), we use the term pyropolitics to describe the resulting more-than-human assemblage of citizenship, fire suppression and forest ecology. Importantly, this pyropolitical assemblage has substantive and recursive impacts on state practice. Through aggressive wildfire prevention and suppression that include and extend beyond Smokey Bear, the U.S. state has transformed fuel loads, species com- positions, and ecosystem dynamics across North America. One result is a heightened propensity toward catastrophic wildfire, requiring additional and sustained state intervention to maintain an imposed and unstable equilibrium. Thus even as the economic, social and cultural realities of U.S. civic life have changed over the course of the 20th and early 21st centuries e and even as knowledge of the ecological benefits of fire to ecosystem health has developed over time e the message of Smokey Bear has remained remarkably consistent, communicating an official imperative to prevent anthropogenic ignition
In Nietzsche\u27s Footsteps
No full textIn Nietzsche\u27s Footsteps is a thrilling, vicarious journey through Nietzsche\u27s favorite haunts: Nice, France; Turin, Italy; and Sils Maria, Switzerland. Within the author\u27s personal reflection lies a pragmatic rumination on the many aspects of Nietzsche\u27s philosophy that arise throughout the voyage. What does it mean to remain an individual whilst nurturing the bonds that make life worth living, chiefly those we have with family? Along the way, we explore this quandary as well as the foundational elements of Nietzsche\u27s philosophy, considering the ways in which our own culture may or may not have followed in his ever-reverberating footsteps.
In a book that will appeal to academics and enthusiasts alike, Nietzsche\u27s complex philosophical ideas are accessibly framed as they arise in the day-to-day, so that we may tackle the question of what it is to lead a meaningful life, both as individuals and alongside those we love.
A thrilling, vicarious journey through Friedrich Nietzsche\u27s favorite haunts, In Nietzsche\u27s Footsteps walks us through an earnest discussion and pragmatic reflection on elements of Nietzsche\u27s biography and philosophical discoveries throughout the philosopher\u27s journeys.https://scholarworks.umf.maine.edu/publications/1014/thumbnail.jp
Presidential Swing States
No full textThe 2020 United States presidential race is arguably already over except for about 12 states and 20 counties. If recent presidential election trends are any indication of what will happen in 2020, Democrats in Texas and Republicans in New York might as well stay home on election day because their votes will matter little in the presidential race. The same might be said for voters in most states and counties in the United States. Conversely, for those in Ohio, Florida, Colorado, Iowa, and a handful of other states, every vote matters. These states will be battered with a barrage of presidential candidate visits, commercials, political spending, and countless stories in the media. This book analyzes why the presidential race has been effectively reduced to about a dozen states and 20 counties. Contributors to this volume make substantial updates and additions in light of the 2016 and in anticipation of the 2020 presidential elections, including 6 new chapters exploring why some states are swingers in presidential elections, capable of being won by either of the major candidates. The volume also adds a chapter examining important swing counties throughout the country. Presidential Swing States describes what makes these few states and counties unique and why the presidency is decided by who wins them. With cases studies written by prominent political scientists who are experts on these swing states, Presidential Swing States also explains why some states have been swingers but no longer are, why some are swinging, and which states may become the ones that decide the presidency.https://scholarworks.umf.maine.edu/publications/1099/thumbnail.jp
Improving Student Efficacy, Motivation, and Engagement Through the Use of Authentic Writing Tasks and Prewriting Conferences
No full textStudents’ perceived authenticity is a critical motivational variable for engaging students in writing, especially adolescents. The dual purposes of this study included investigating the extent of improvement in student motivation, engagement, and self-efficacy when provided authentic writing options and to examine the extent that teacher/student prewriting conferences improve middle school students’ perceptions of authenticity. This study explored possible benefits of using authentic writing assignments and prewriting conferences to encourage educators to incorporate these changes into their practices to increase student motivation, engagement, and self-efficacy