Tag: Oral Session 4 C

Environmental Education: Restoring A Sense of Place

Presenter(s): Eleanor Williams

Co Presenter(s): Brittany Calabria, Chloe Johnson, Hannah Schmidt, Cameron Wallenfels, Savannah Winchell

Faculty Mentor(s): Katie Lynch

Oral Session 4 C

Interactive environmental education has proven to enhance emotional health, academic success, and physical development. By cultivating a sense of place early on, kids can apply critical thinking through unique teaching techniques to discover the importance of conservation efforts. The Restoring Connections team is a part of the Environmental Leadership Program at the University of Oregon that collaborates with Mt. Pisgah Arboretum and Adams Elementary School to develop an outdoor field trip curriculum for elementary students. Our mission is to engage students with nature through a place-based environmental education approach incorporating pre-trip lessons and outdoor field trip experiences three times a year. Our curriculum focuses on woodland, wetland, and riparian habitats with three different local focal species for each grade. Goals that are central to our curriculum include discussion of the effects and impact of seasonal changes, habitat restoration through stewardship projects and developing a general respect and appreciation for the environment. Through completion of this program we intend to create a classroom culture that incorporates DEI (Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion) and engaged pedagogy principles; enabling students to connect to the environment at Mt. Pisgah and empower the students to use their learned knowledge to create a long-lasting, meaningful connection to the world around them. We will be exposing 15 K-4th grade classrooms, a total of 450 students, to the wonders of Mt. Pisgah’s natural ecosystems. At the end of this program students will be well versed in environmental problems and apply knowledge to investigate, plan, and create a sustainable future.

Student or Teacher? A look at how students facilitate public sensemaking during collaborative group work

Presenter(s): Michelle Lo

Faculty Mentor(s): Jennifer Ruef

Oral Session 4 C

As institutions strive to develop equitable classrooms, educators must consider what features equitable classrooms include. One such feature is the equitable distribution of authority and agency among students. Authority is the level of provided opportunities for making decisions during a mathematical task, the type of method to use in solving a problem, or the pace of learning, whereas agency is the power to carry out self-made decisions on a mathematical task. Equitable distribution of authority and agency can be enhanced in mathematics classrooms where students participate in discourse as an active member of the classroom. Students in these mathematics classes are asked to publicly make sense of mathematics. In other words, they are asked to participate in public sensemaking, where students understand and acknowledge one another’s ideas as well as mistakes, present and revise arguments, and take risks by sharing ideas.

This study strives to answer the following questions: “How are students positioned during mathematical group work in public sensemaking classrooms?” and “How does this positioning impact the distribution of agency and authority?” Students are commonly positioned as an expert, novice, or facilitator in the group. Data comes from existing video footage of sixth-grade students in a mathematics class, as well as interviews from these students. Qualitative data from videos and interviews were transcribed and coded. Results in one group show that one student is positioned as a clear expert-facilitator, but there is no obvious novice. However, the student, similar to the teacher of the classroom, distributes authority and agency to other members of the group. This research intends to inform teachers of the positioning patterns that may occur during group work, and the effectiveness of public sensemaking classrooms on distributing authority and agency equitably during group work.

A Look at Post-Secondary Education Support for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)

Presenter(s): Isabelle Cullen

Faculty Mentor(s): Laura Lee McIntyre

Oral Session 4 C

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), is the fastest growing neurodevelopmental disorder in childhood affecting an estimated 1 in 59 Americans (Center for Disease and Prevention, 2018). ASD affects social, communication, and behavioral functioning across the lifespan. ASD is a spectrum disorder with some individuals significantly impaired and others more mildly affected. Approximately half have intellectual functioning in the average or above range, yet only 15% of those on the spectrum attend a 4 year university. Empirical literature was reviewed and institutional services at UO were investigated to better understand the barriers and supports for students with ASD. In this oral presentation, we will discuss the four primary federal laws that create and define how institutions provide post-secondary education support to those with disabilities, the restrictions that these current laws pose, and what programs and services institutions can provide to better support these students and increase their presence in 4 year universities.

Starting a Taphonomic Research Facility in the Willamette Valley of Oregon: a joint project between Lane Community College (LCC) and the University of Oregon (UO)

Presenter(s): Cheyenne Collins

Faculty Mentor(s): Jeanne McLaughlin

Oral Session 4 C

Poster 153

Session: Social Sciences & Humanities

Taphonomy is the study of events and processes that affect remains of an organism after death. It is an essential component of medico-legal death investigations and can aid in reconstructing events leading up to the death as well as time since death. The creation of the Anthropological Research Facility, aka “the body farm” in Tennessee changed how taphonomy was perceived and boosted taphonomic study into the field of forensic science through its focus on human decomposition. Recent research has called for more regional studies in order to test widely accepted methodologies in differing environments. The creation of this facility in the Willamette Valley has involved a multi-year effort gaining various institutional approvals, securing grant funding, and planning a pilot project that is the first of its kind in the region. This facility is one of less than ten facilities in the United States and the only one west of the Rocky Mountains. The conclusion of the facilities’ first project has secured a plethora of data on decomposition from this region, as well as yielded new data on animal scavenging, insect activity, and microorganisms. Multiple undergraduate research projects including both LCC and UO students have also stemmed from the pilot study. The incoming data has already demonstrated that additional regional studies are needed in the Willamette Valley, which is a taphonomically unique environment. This presentation will discuss the opening of this unique local outdoor research site, share a variety of the initial outcomes of the pilot project(s), and discuss future plans.

Canopy Connections: Artist Activists

Presenter(s): Thea Bergen

Co Presenter(s): Makayla Dempsey, Hannah Gruen, Carly Henry, Kelsey Hunter, Cassidy Kroon, Mackenzie Myers, EJ Del Rosario, Melissa Teter

Faculty Mentor(s): Katheryn Lynch & Kylie Mosbacher

Oral Session 4 C

The Canopy Connections team seeks to provide an interdisciplinary and place-based approach to environmental education for local youth in Oregon. Through an emphasis on arts and humanities we hope to instill a heightened personal connection between students and their local Pacific Northwest forests. This connection can help cultivate deep passions that inspire the next generation of leaders, science researchers, and engaged Oregon community members. Our overarching theme, “Artist Activists”, represents the projects emphasis on creating a sense of action, movement, and personal connection between our students and their surrounding world. Arts and humanities as a unifying theme will help us to tap into the childlike wonder all students have for the mystery of the universe, provide a platform for creative expression, and cater to individuals of varying interests and learning styles. This approach ties directly into HJ Andrews and its holistic, system-oriented, and interdisciplinary research model. The Andrews Forest incorporates arts and humanities as a unifying thread to connecting all scientific research endeavors together, representing an ideal that science must have meaning and passion inspiring it in order to be effective. To complement the pursuits of the Andrews and maintain a connection to state science standards, art will infuse itself with discussion and activity around the scientific complexity, forest structure, and forest processes of Pacific Northwest old-growth forests.