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Utilizing a Culturally Relevant Ecology Curriculum to Help Students see Intersections between their Scientific and Cultural Identities
Get PDFThe purpose of this capstone was to create a two-week long ecology unit for high school biology students rooted in culturally relevant practices. The project sought to answer the question “How can utilizing a culturally relevant ecology curriculum help students see intersections between their scientific and cultural identities?” Data shows that people of color and women are underrepresented within the sciences. Disengagement and lack of interest in the sciences begins in middle and high school, suggesting students feel the material is irrelevant or disconnected from their lives. To address this gap, this project utilized a culturally relevant lens to create an ecology curriculum. Research showed that culturally relevant pedagogy increased student engagement with and retention of science concepts. The created curriculum draws on students’ pools of knowledge and integrates historical and cultural data into the practice of science. Students engage in a variety of learning activities including laboratory experiments, inquiry based activities, and reflective journaling. This project acts as a model for educators looking to engage in culturally relevant practices within the sciences as a mechanism to increase student engagement
Creating an Elementary Reading Curriculum that Leads all Students to More Equitable Success
Get PDFEach year history repeats itself in the United States with high numbers of elementary students not being able to read proficiently, and an even higher number affecting BIPOC students. To address the opportunity gaps, teachers need an easy-to-follow road map of interventions led by the science of reading, culturally sustaining pedagogies, and student motivational strategies. This professional development capstone project will allow teachers to learn these three topics, one in each half day in the beginning of the school year. The first day will focus on the Science of Reading (SoR) with structured literacy influences from the Simple View of Reading, Scarborough’s Reading Rope, and neuroscience. The second day’s topic will be Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy (CSP) where it will be a strengths-based approach on lessons based on student identity, culturally relevant texts, and anti-racist teaching. Finally, the third day will discuss Student Motivation and how important it is to student success while diving deeper into student self-efficacy, growth mindset, and engagement. Elementary teachers will be both reflective and engaged while they complete this PD that relies on the transformative learning theory. Each day depends on a consistent schedule with reflection upon the homework, a whole group activity, a background on the topic, a teamwork project, a review, and time spent going through a resource toolbox with small groups to prepare for the current school year. The PD was designed for 3 rd – 5 th grade but could be used with K-6th. The goal of this project is to provide elementary teachers with simple, yet effective ways to create a reading curriculum that is explicit and systematic while based on the science of reading, builds students up, and creates an equitable space for all to learn and achieve success
Investigating the L2 Motivational Self System of Mauritanian EFL Learners: A Unique L2 Learning Experience
Get PDFThis study investigated Mauritanian EFL learner motivation through the lens of Dörnyei’s (2009) L2 Motivational Self System. The research question was: Within a private English center context, how is the motivation of Mauritanian EFL learners impacted by their L2 selves and the L2 Learning Experience? Specifically, two sub-questions were addressed: (1) Within learners’ L2 Motivational Self Systems, how does the impact of the L2 Self compare with the impact of the L2 Learning Experience? and (2) Which aspects of the L2 Learning Experience within the English center’s learning environment foster learner motivation?. A mixed-methods design was utilized, including a motivation questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. Participants included 20 university-age EFL learners who study at a private English center in Mauritania’s capital. Participants completed the questionnaire virtually via Qualtrics, and two of them completed interviews with the researcher via WhatsApp audio messaging. Results from the questionnaire suggest that the Ideal L2 Self component has the largest impact on motivation for this group of learners, but the L2 Learning Experience at the private English center also supports motivation in a significant way. The Ought-to L2 Self does not seem to contribute as much to learner motivation for this group of learners. Interview data confirms findings from the questionnaire and highlights that the welcoming and relational atmosphere of the English center serves to support and strengthen the motivation of learners
Translanguaging Writing Strategies for the High School Classroom and Low-Level Literacy EL Students
Get PDFTranslanguaging has been shown to be a successful strategy to support high school EL students in accessing content knowledge, prior knowledge, and preserving a student’s cultural identity. Many emergent bilingual students struggle to access content due to low-level literacy in their first language, and the high content demands of high school. This is especially true when it comes to writing in English. Using translanguaging writing strategies, such as pre-writing in the student’s L1, discussion in L1, and translated texts, allows students to showcase what they know and meet standards. This capstone project resulted in a Canvas Course for high school teachers that provides strategies for using translanguaging in writing to help English Learners demonstrate content knowledge
The Texts Matter: Essential Text Characteristics For Comprehension Intervention In The Intermediate Grades
Get PDFResults on state and national reading assessments indicate that students in the U.S. overall, and in Minnesota specifically, continue to struggle to comprehend expository texts; only one-third of fourth graders meeting grade level proficiency on state assessments designed to analyze reading achievement. Further, a significant gap persists for fourth grade students based on race, language, and socioeconomic status. Contemporaneously, technology continues to advance rapidly, demanding increased literacy skills and a better understanding of comprehension intervention. This research study aims to identify essential text characteristics of expository texts that will eventually be included in an online, automated reading strategy tutor providing instruction and practice designed to improve deep comprehension for a diverse population of struggling third and fourth grade students. Identification of essential text characteristics will further inform teacher practice as they continue to make decisions on what texts to place in front of their students. This design-based implementation and mixed-methods study explores reading comprehension and the role that texts in a digital format play in answering the research questions. Qualitative data was collected from teacher practitioners and analyzed to create texts that students in grades 3 and 4 read and paraphrased to understand their comprehension. Analysis showed that while most students struggled to read the texts, nearly half of the paraphrases generated were of acceptable quality and showed promise. The results of this study suggest that more use of expository texts is needed in explicit reading instruction beginning in the primary grades and that teachers would benefit from deeper learning of the positive effects of prior knowledge, motivation, and student efficacy
Evaluating The Cultural Responsiveness Of Language, Strategies And Visuals In Social Emotional Curriculum
Get PDFThis content analysis examines two kindergarten-sixth grade Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Curriculums; Second Step and Caring School Community through a Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT) framework. SEL and CRT are often thought of as two distinct domains in education, however this analysis explores their interdependence on one another. Grounded in research on social emotional intelligence, curricular design and culturally sustaining pedagogy, this study developed an evaluation framework that the researcher used to systematically review the curricular activities, strategies, language and visuals. Findings include multiple culturally responsive trends within each curriculum, as well as shortcomings which include a lack of representation of people with disabilities and lack of connections to socio-political and environmental issues. Implications of this study point to the importance for SEL curriculums to address these missing elements. Additionally, this analysis sheds light on the importance of educators critically examining curriculum whether it is selected or assigned
Finding Fit In The Science Classroom: Applying Self-determination Theory To Twice-exceptional Students
Get PDFIn line with self-determination theory (Deci and Ryan, 2000; Ryan and Deci, 2017), this thesis explored how practices employed in a classroom between November 2020 through January 2021 affected satisfaction of students’ basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Thirteen twice-exceptional students (gifted and learning disabled) between grades 4-10 participated in this mixed-methods study at an independent school in the upper midwest. Additionally, four of the thirteen students were selected as case studies to be interviewed and observed throughout the study period. This study explored how the implementation of needs-supportive practices, along with COVID-19 mitigation strategies (including distance-learning), affected students’ capacities to get their basic psychological needs met. The results demonstrated that satisfaction of the need for competence had the largest overall impact on student engagement; the need for relatedness had the largest impact initially; the need for autonomy had a larger impact on the post-assessment. Implications of these findings to my practice are explored
Environmental Education During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Get PDFThe COVID-19 pandemic that hit the United States in March 2020 quickly caused the entire nation to rethink how we work and how we approach education. Informal environmental education in particular faced unique challenges during this time yet found ways to adapt their educational programming. This thesis will explore the questions: How did organizations alter and adapt their programming to meet public health guidelines during the pandemic? and What successes and challenges did organizations face in offering these programs? To answer these questions, a survey was distributed to organizations that offer environmental education programs. Results echo and expand on the existing literature on pandemic education. Organizations offered many virtual programs both synchronously and asyncrounously and also found new ways to offer in person events. Programs that involved some interaction with other people and those that took place in person or outdoors were most successful, while asyncrounous virtual materials were considered less so. Organizations faced many challenges in offering programming including financial barriers, technology troubles, and difficulty staying current on public health recommendations. Despite the difficulties and learning losses, respondents felt there may have been some benefits to the changes in their programming and many will continue to offer their adapted programs in the future
How A Theater Curriculum Helps Students Process Racial Injustice
Get PDFThe capstone question addressed in this project was, how can a theater curriculum help students process racial injustice? It chronicles a teacher’s experience teaching a theater class during a pandemic to students in an online distance learning model. The curriculum project utilized different forms of assessments and leaned on the research of Wiggins and McTighe (2008) for creating content based on Understanding by Design as well as the historical documentation of Hollander (1963) and Recchio (2011) to accurately inform students about racism in America as well as specifically within theater. The author details the difficulties of teaching online in addition to the successes of the project and concludes that while teaching about racism is challenging, it is also paramount to the growth of students and the community
Fostering Critical Thinking Skills, and Engagement to Produce Better Retention of 4th Grade Math
Get PDFMy research question for this capstone project is: Which instructional approach best fosters critical thinking skills, engagement, and long-term retention in mathematics to best prepare 4th-grade students for the 21st century? My research suggests that a mathematics curriculum that best fosters these areas of learning would likely be the most successful at preparing our students for 21st-century learning. The various instructional approaches discussed in this literature review all have their strengths and weaknesses. Because of this, a combination approach of inquiry and direct instruction while focusing on the development of critical thinking skills, engagement, and long-term retention should be the basis of any successful mathematics curriculum. I created 12 lessons to be used during a division unit that embeds the best practices I found during my literature review. Since a balanced approach to instruction is best, my lessons cater to both direct instruction and inquiry within each lesson. I teach 4th grade, and wanted to focus on division because it tends to be one of the more challenging topics covered. The first part of our division unit is basic division, so I chose to focus on the latter part of the unit, building fluency with different division strategies. The lessons are designed using the workshop model format, have openers, mini lessons, independent practice, and closers