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Systemic Shock: The Effect of the Pandemic on Teachers’ Beliefs on the Nature and Purpose of Grading in High School
Get PDFLandreau, C.V. (2023). Systemic Shock: The Effect of the Pandemic on Teachers’ Beliefs on the Nature and Purpose of Grading in High School. Grades are consequential. The long accepted currency of high school as evidence of hard work, demonstration of learning, and predictor of future outcomes, they affect student motivation, college admissions, and high school graduation rates. However, the purposes of education and schooling are embedded in the complex sets of beliefs which high school teachers rely upon in their conceptualizations of how to instruct, give feedback, and assess their students. The practice of grading reflects a teacher’s perception of the value of all these components in the educational economy of what is valued in high school. This research focused on the conditions of forced changes to teaching and learning conditions and grading policies during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the possible effects of changed perceptions and beliefs on the part of teachers as a result. Data collection methods involved a survey and two semi structured qualitative interviews with high school teachers. Participants were from a midwestern metropolitan area public school district, and were selected to represent a range of content areas taught and by volunteering at the end of the survey. There were fifty two survey participants and seven interview participants. Findings suggested that teachers have shifted their practices to meet the changed conditions, and that they recognize a significant shift in perceptions on the purpose of schooling overall by students and families. This study did not reveal a fundamental shift in the purpose of grading by the teachers, but findings do support the idea that grading reform in the post pandemic years can build upon the new awareness of how the COVID-19 pandemic has altered the educational environment of high schools
Permaculture Curriculum for Public School Children in the United States
Get PDFHumans have created an environmental crisis on this planet that our children will have to deal with as its future caretakers. Unfortunately, we are not preparing them for this role. Research shows that children are spending too much time indoors, resulting in a disconnection from nature known as nature deficit disorder. In addition, we are not providing children with the sustainable design skills they will need to survive in uncertain times. Permaculture is a sustainable design science that can be used to teach children about sustainability and help connect them to nature. The public school system can reach the most children. This capstone created a permaculture education curriculum for children in public schools, grades K-8. This curriculum is an adaptable project-based unit where students learn about permaculture through the process of creating permaculture designs for a real client
Just Another Education Abroad Gatekeeper: Education Abroad Administrators’ Perspectives on Institutional Pricing Models and How Those Models Impact Inclusion Efforts
Get PDFMeyer, K. M. (2023). Just Another Education Abroad Gatekeeper: Education abroad administrators’ perspectives on institutional pricing models and how those models impact inclusion efforts. Nearly every institution in the United States offers some form of education abroad opportunity for their students (Hoffa & DePaul, 2010/2016) and surveys often show interest of undergraduate students is high (Manning, 2023). However, interest does not equate to participation. Some of the top factors found in past research include price and financial implications. Little is said about the institutional-level policies and decisions in setting the pricing models that impact the institution, the education abroad office, and the students. To address the literature gap, this grounded theory study explores how administrators see the pricing models and the implications for inclusion in study abroad at private liberal arts institutions in the United States. While the study mainly focuses on one type of institution with the lens of equity for students of low and limited socioeconomic backgrounds, there is intersectionality and takeaways for other institutional types and underserved populations in study abroad. Using a combination of case studies and a larger survey, analysis shows that pricing models are often seen as complex and poorly understood as a structure of the office. In addition, other barriers arose in the form of “shadow budgets” that seek to stem funds from leaving the institution and a lack of regular reviews of models in use. While themes of transparency and the desire to be equitable for Financially-Aware students remain high, the field is not following through on this. Areas for more significant inclusion efforts through standardizing the language around pricing models and Financially-Aware students are discussed, and recommendations for education abroad administrators follow, intending to better understand the impacts of pricing models on the institution, the office, and the students
Implement Translanguaging: Tools For Monolingual Teachers
Get PDFThe purpose of this capstone is to provide monolingual teachers with information about the theory of translanguaging and strategies to make it an effective pedagogical tool for multilingual students. Translanguaging is the fluid language practice of multilingual people as they draw on their full linguistic repertoire to make meaning and communicate. How can monolingual English language development teachers and content teachers use translanguaging (TL) strategies competently and effectively in the classroom to help their students capitalize on their full linguistic repertoire? This paper describes both the benefits of translanguaging and the characteristics of classrooms where it is used. The resulting project is a series of three professional development modules designed for classroom and English language development teachers to learn, explore, and apply translanguaging pedagogy in their teaching. The goals of the professional development modules are to help teachers gain an understanding of the rationale behind translanguaging and develop ways to apply it in their own context. Project Type: Professional Developmen
English Language Arts Curricular Interventions and Achievement in Advanced First Grade Learners from Underserved Backgrounds
Get PDFThis capstone curriculum project seeks to answer the question: How do English Language Arts (ELA), culturally responsive curricular resources impact academic achievement in our advanced first-grade learners from historically underserved populations? The connection between implementing an advanced English language arts (ELA) Jacob’s Ladder poetry unit utilizing the Integrated Curriculum Model (ICM) and learning outcomes of students from historically underserved backgrounds, including twice-exceptional (2e), and racially, culturally, linguistically, and economically diverse (RCLED) learners are measured through growth from the preassessment to summative assessment. High-rigor curricula, culturally responsive teaching methods that tap into neuroscience, and differentiated instruction with entry points for all students are implemented. Attention is given to providing appropriate scaffolding and challenge based on learners’ readiness. A review of current literature, which includes exploring The Young Scholars Model, Hammond’s culturally responsive teaching and the brain, and resources vetted through the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) and Jacob Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Act provided evidence-based resources from which to develop effective differentiated interventions for students from historically underserved populations. Based on student achievement data, this unit could be implemented at scale to support learners at the district, state, and national level
Multicultural Picture Books and the Hard Conversations They Invite: Do Minnesota’s Early Childhood Educators Feel Prepared to Talk About Race During Shared Reading Experiences?
Get PDFInfluenced by the researcher’s own experiences being confronted with young children’s curiosities about race during storytimes, this work investigates educator attitudes, approaches, and abilities as they pertain to broaching race topics in early childhood classrooms. Specifically this work seeks to understand To what degree do early childhood educators in Minnesota feel prepared to engage in discussions of race during shared reading experiences with their students? It reviews existing literature on bias and attitudes towards race topics within early childhood education, multicultural picture books and critical literacy, and anti-bias and anti-racist education. Employing constructivist and transformative paradigms and grounded in the principles of Critical Race Theory, an explanatory mixed methods approach was used to collect data from early childhood educators across Minnesota via an online survey followed by virtual individual interviews. Survey results indicated that the educators reached in this study represent a specific subset of early childhood educators who have a higher educational attainment and greater work experience than is typical in this workforce. Survey participants reported being generally confident in their ability to discuss race during shared reading experiences. The interviews then offered a closer look at the factors that may have contributed to participants’ relatively high level of preparedness to discuss race in their early childhood classrooms. Analysis identified gaps in Minnesota’s early childhood education professional development training opportunities and the value of deep reflection on experiences of forced confrontation with one’s race identity. This work recommends the development of high quality courses dedicated to addressing race topics during shared reading experiences in early childhood classrooms followed by the requirement of such courses to improve all educators’ understanding of this topic and ability to apply the skills in their practic
Social and Emotional Learning Resource to Reinforce Skills for 1st Grade Families and Caregivers
Get PDFSocial and Emotional Learning continues to grow and take part at all times in schools. This capstone project extends social and emotional learning (SEL) to time outside of school. The project discusses the relationship between schools and families/caregivers with the common goal of extending learning outside of school. This project creates a website as a resource to aid families/caregivers in reinforcing social and emotional skills outside of school. The following question is proposed: How can we make Social and Emotional Learning more accessible for 1st grade families and caregivers in order to reinforce social and emotional skills outside of school? The research explores social and emotional skills, relationships between schools and families/caregivers, equity, and mental health. The website created consists of information on SEL and activities for families/caregivers to work on with their students throughout the school year. The goal of this project is to reinforce social and emotional skills in students through collaboration between educators and families/caregivers
A Web-Based Collaborative NGSS-Centered Chemistry Unit on the Topic of Atomic Structure
Get PDFThis capstone project focuses on a high school chemistry classroom with a focus on the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). NGSS provides students with a more investigative approach to learning science. These new standards that are being set can lead to improvement in learning, engagement and application of scientific concepts to the real world in high school science classrooms. This changes the way science is being taught at the highschool level. Generally, in the past I have seen a focus on learning from the textbook, memorizing definitions and not really learning how to do science. The NGSS provides a new way of learning how to do science in a high school classroom. This project analyzes the research involved with online learning, in-person learning and the Next Generation Science Standards. All of this will be used to answer the question: What can a web-based, collaborative, NGSS-centered chemistry unit, on the topic of Atomic Structure look like? This project provides a website with NGSS-centered lessons on the unit of Atomic Structure. There will be collaboration with teachers from all over the world, providing feedback and insights on these lessons. The conclusion of this project will include a website that provides these NGSS-centered lesson plans that will continue to be improved from feedback from other teachers
Informal Education Builds Deeper Knowledge And Connections With Elasmobranchs To Develop An Understanding For Environmental Conservation
Get PDFZoos and aquariums provide essential tools and opportunities to help get school aged children out of the classroom for informal education and learning. Using facilities that offer programs where the focus is on both entertainment and education, learning can be maximized to obtain literacy of a subject. That level of understanding can be then used to promote conservation and pro-environmental thinking for animals that could most benefit from a more focused setting, such as a non-charismatic megafauna: elasmobranchs (sharks and rays). Using Backward Design, where the goals of the program were determined first, a two-day Shark Researcher Camp was created to be offered at the Indianapolis Zoo as a Zoo Explorer Camp for middle school aged students. Students will learn the biology and management of elasmobranchs all over the world, as well as how the Indianapolis Zoo brings the ocean to the Midwest with a behind the scenes tour and learn how we take care of the Smooth Dogfish Sharks that live there as well. During the camp, students will become scientists as they learn the scientific method through their own experiments and research. An informal assessment is also given as students will use OCEARCH, a non-profit organization leading in shark research, to track their own shark they find on the website and give a brief presentation regarding all the data collected on that shark. Students will leave the camp environmentally literate and ocean enthusiasts wanting to help with ocean conservation. Utilizing facilities like the education department at the Indianapolis Zoo will help students become better learners, teachers become better educators, and will promote environmental conservation all over the world
How Can UDL Be Used To Increase Equity And Access At An Abe Site?
Get PDFUniversal Design for Learning (UDL) has been shown to reduce barriers through all levels of education. Similarly, there is research showing the effectiveness of UDL to increase equity and inclusion. Given the diverse population of Adult Basic Education (ABE) and the overrepresentation of students with a learning disability, UDL makes sense as a curriculum shift. The professional development project was designed to give ABE teachers tools for implementing UDL that can be used in various classroom settings, regardless of course level or area of study, so that there can be consistency across all classes at an ABE site rather than only by an individual teacher or individual class. Drawing inspiration from books and websites related to UDL, the professional development training focuses on concepts that are already being used within ABE, engaging teachers to recognize UDL, and solidifying it into one curriculum concept regardless of subject area. The professional development can be replicated utilizing the materials provided along with suggestions on how to personalize it for individual sites