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Empowering Teachers To Use Physical Activity Throughout The Day
Get PDFIt is recommended that children get 60 minutes of physical activity everyday. For most of the year, children are in school. Students are able to participate in physical activity through recess and physical education. Due to the increased demand on academic performance, more time is being spent on learning and direct instruction in the classroom. This can often come at the expense of recess and physical education. This does not mean that teachers can’t still provide their students with the opportunity to move and be physically active. There are several ways teachers can allow students to move without it disrupting the flow of the day. This project is designed to give teachers practical and effective ways to incorporate physical activity on a daily basis through a professional development session. During the session, teachers will observe and participate in various activities that provide movement breaks. These will be activities they can immediately implement and get their students moving
Long-Term Effects When Educating Elementary Students on Waste Reduction in Minnesota
Get PDFRecycling is a part of many people\u27s everyday lives but it is often an action that many did not receive formal education regarding. Recycling provides a simple way to reduce waste and reduce dependence on virgin resources. However, this lack of education leads to much confusion about the items that can be recycled. The literature review revealed the many benefits of recycling and education about reducing waste at an elementary age. The literature review informed the educational guide about waste and waste reduction for elementary students. The purpose of the guide is to answer the question, How can curriculum support students\u27 understanding of recycling and waste reduction
Effective Social Skills Curriculum For Students With Emotional And Behavioral Disorders That Focuses On Skill Generalization Across Settings
Get PDFFinding creative and engaging ways to effectively teach social skills to students with emotional and behavioral disorders is a common goal for many special education teachers. Additionally, finding ways to increase the generalization of these skills across setting and post-high school, is another important goal area that student teams work to address as they develop meaningful transition plans. This capstone project answers the question, what specific research based practices can be used in the development of a curriculum that focuses on both social skill acquisition and generalization across settings? This capstone project includes a six week unit that focuses on specific social skill acquisition, creative and engaging methods for practice and experiences that foster the generalization of these skills across settings. Guiding students to become self-determined and involved members of their individualized education plan (IEP) team through student-led IEP meetings culminates the unit
Informing Educators on Effective Strategies for LTELs
Get PDFResearch has demonstrated that students who speak languages other than English are a growing presence in U.S schools. The presentation designed for this project focuses on strategies to help and support ESL students known as long-term ELs. LTELs are typically found in grades 6–12. LTELs mainly go unnoticed in schools ,or worse yet, are misunderstood, perceived as failures. This is why this LTELs research is important to me. Many practices have been implemented in the ESL classroom settings, but research on how to scaffold and use effective instruction with these LTEL students is limited. The project involved creating a presentation slide that engages ESL teachers and provides effective instructional strategies for all educators in the ESL field. The presentation slide will primarily be used in a professional development for ESL educators, but is adaptable to all educators in the secondary schools. It includes strategies such as modeling, scaffolding, clarification ,and modification designed to effectively serve the ESL student population. The goal of the presentation project is to help LTEL students academically, and also to provide a resource for ESL teachers to go to, and find strategies to use in the classroom. We want our students to succeed and to have a better future after high school. This capstone project aims to answer the question, “what are effective instructional strategies for Long-Term Hispanic ELLs in Secondary Schools?”
Play-based Learning For Young Students
Get PDFKindergarten has become a grade level that includes intensive academic demands. The literature reviewed in this capstone states that pushing academic skills upon early learners when they are not developmentally ready can be detrimental to their success. The research shows that play has vast benefits for early learners and should be considered an essential classroom activity. While this is the case, the time allotted for play during the kindergarten school day is steadily decreasing. This capstone uses literature along with the creation of a professional development workshop and stakeholder presentations to answer the question: How might stakeholder support be garnered for the implementation of play-based, explorative, child-initiated learning activities in kindergarten? This project provides a research-driven professional development workshop and stakeholder presentations that advocate for the implementation of play-based learning in kindergarten classrooms
Call To Climate Action: Leveraging Living Collections To Inspire Pro-environmental Behavior In Virtual Informal Science Education Programs
Get PDFWith high visitation rates, Informal Science Learning Centers (ISLCs) have the opportunity to use their broad reach and trusted relationship with the community to initiate critical conversations around urgent global challenges, like climate change. This is especially true for engaging adolescent audiences, like high school students, that are acutely aware of the threat of climate change and the lifelong impact it could have on their physical and mental health (Sanson, Van Hoorn, & Burke, 2019). While the complex and inherently negative nature of the problem can make climate change communication difficult, research suggests the use of living collections, like live animals and plants, can improve learning, foster empathy, and encourage pro-environmental behavior (Fuhrman & Rubenstein, 2017). This paper investigates whether using living collections in a virtual Climate High School Science Series program will increase the likelihood of high school students taking pro-environmental action. The curriculum for this program was designed to incorporate the Head, Heart, Hands Model for Transformative Learning and aimed to move students from cognitive and affective engagement to behavioral engagement around the climate crisis. The learnings from this research and curriculum are meant to inform future climate change programs and exhibits to inspire pro-environmental behavior in participants and visitors
Behind The Screens: A Social And Emotional Learning Approach To Social Media
Get PDFThe research question for my capstone project is: How can social and emotional learning (SEL) be used as a tool in the classroom to address and combat the toxicity stemming from adolescent social media usage? I have designed a student curriculum grounded in SEL methods titled “Digital Life Studies” to be implemented in middle level settings during advisory periods. Researchers and educators alike have observed that an increasing amount of students in middle level settings are gaining access to technology that connects them to the internet. A survey conducted by Common Sense Media revealed that 81% of teenagers (defined as ages 13-17) use social media apps. This striking data exemplifies the high frequency of social media usage and access to technology. Additionally, the research revealed that social media platforms heavily influence students’ perception about themselves. Regarding their social media use, 20% reported feeling more confident, 21% reported feeling more popular, and 25% reported feeling less lonely (Rideout & Robb, 2018). These findings confirmed that social media is powerful. Not only is it growing in popularity, but it is also playing a prominent role in driving students’ self-perceptions and emotions. The introduction of social media platforms has created a new digital dimension, where participation demands the posting of heavily edited content and the portrayal of a perfect life. For middle level students today, social media and reality have become closely intertwined, blurred together with no clear line as to where one ends and the next begins. It is essential that our tech-savvy tweens are equipped with the necessary tools to be mindful and responsible social media users. The Digital Life Studies curriculum provides an opportunity for students to learn about positive online behaviors for social media use, as well as to develop an awareness of potential risk factors associated with these sites. These lessons will address eight common themes of social media usage: online identity, maintaining balance between online and offline activity, cyberbullying, the highlight reel, the fear of missing out (FOMO), self-esteem and the perfect image, digital footprint, and digital dangers
Growing Mindset and Goals: A Blog Designed to Lead Intrinsic Motivation in Students
Get PDFResearch conducted by Dr. Carol Dweck clearly demonstrates the importance of building a foundation of growth mindset in order to build resiliency in students. Not only does this resiliency help students overcome challenges but also supports students in building lifelong skills, such as: forming and carrying out goals, receiving and utilizing feedback, and increasing intrinsic motivation in a variety of settings. The educational blog designed for this project focuses on sharing research relating to mindset theory, gifted students, goal setting, feedback, intrinsic motivation in adolescents, and curriculum materials. It also provides educators with free resources to begin implementing a combination of these practices within their own classrooms. The blog will mainly be used by upper elementary school teachers but is flexible and accessible to professionals who work within a range of ages and educational settings. The overall goal of the blog is to provide educators with easy to understand information to begin fostering growth mindset, goal setting, and feedback with upper elementary school students, while also supplying educators with materials to support these same practices
What Social-emotional Learning Looks Like In The High School Special Education Setting, And How It Benefits Students With Emotional Or Behavioral Disorders
Get PDFThe research question that this capstone project addressed was, What does social-emotional learning look like in the high school special education setting, and how does it benefit students with Emotional or Behavioral Disorders? The research conducted encompassed social-emotional learning theory, special education - the category of emotional or behavioral disorders, and adolescent development. After a number of recent studies done on adolescent students who received social-emotional skill building were read and documented, it was determined that social-emotional learning instruction is beneficial for high school students receiving special education services under the category of emotional or behavioral disorders. Following the research, a social-emotional learning curriculum unit was developed that can be used in direct service classrooms for students receiving services in the category of emotional or behavioral disorders
Culturally Responsive Identity Project for a High School English Language Arts Classroom
Get PDFThe research question addressed in this project is, what is necessary to empower and engage students in high school ELA classrooms to allow them to express themselves? It documents one teacher’s creation of an eight-week english language arts curriculum unit that will offer a method to engage students in self-discovery, self-expression, and cultural acceptance. The curriculum focuses on the concept of identity and integrates project-based learning, culturally responsive pedagogy, and Understanding by Design, based on Wiggins and McTighe’s (2011) framework. The author documents the details of the unit and uses related research literature to construct meaning and validate the creation of the project. The paper discusses the importance of being an empowering educator to encourage student voice, agency, and visibility. The project’s materials include all eight weeks of lesson plans, accompanying presentation slides, and other essential documents