Tag: Panel A: “Culture and Education”

Freedom from Guantanamo: How the Court Curtailed Prerogative Powers and increased Civil Liberties for Detainees

Presenter: Lindsay Thane (Political Science)

Mentor: Dan Tichenor

Oral Presentation

Panel A: “Culture and Education” Maple Room

Concurrent Session 2: 10:30-11:45am

Facilitator: Nedzer Erilus

During the post 9/11 era the President made claims to expansive Commander-in-Chief Powers, yet the United States’ functioning as a constitutional democracy necessitates a sharing of power among all three branches. Executive claims to prerogative powers were scrutinized by the Court for disregarding civil liberties, most noticeably those of the detainees at Guantánamo Bay. The Court’s unprecedented step to place checks on Executive power led to this inquiry of whether the Court’s post 9/11 decisions curtailed unilateral Executive policy making and safeguarded the civil liberties afforded to detainees at Guantánamo Bay? This study looked at the Court’s decisions in the terror cases and analyzed their effect on Executive policies, as well as Congress’ activeness in shaping detainee policy and placing checks on the Bush Administration’s prerogative powers. Traditionally, the Supreme Court has deferred to the President in times of war; however, following 9/11 the Court took an active role in placing limits on the President’s unilateral powers. The Court’s decisions in these cases were effective in restraining Executive power, but they only somewhat protected and restored the detainees’ civil liberties. The protection of certain individual rights has been followed by the curtailment of others. Currently, the Obama Administration is facing criticism for the indefinite detention of detainees, and this study provides a framework which outlines how civil liberties can again begin to be restored.

The Road to a Smoke and Tobacco Free Campus: A Case Study of the University of Oregon

Presenter: Inga Suneson (Planning, Public Policy and Management)

Mentor: Richard Margerum

Oral Presentation

Panel A: “Culture and Education” Maple Room

Concurrent Session 2: 10:30-11:45am

Facilitator: Nedzer Erilus

Many college campus environments have changed dramatically in the past ten years. Prior to 2003, the smoke free campus did not exist. Before 1999, such an idea had never been seriously considered. As of November 2012, there were over 700 colleges and universities with some sort of smoke free policy, and 209 that are entirely smoke and tobacco free. Such a rapid and dramatic policy shift needs exploration. As it stands, there are very few studies of these university policy changes. At this point, it could be very beneficial for future institutions to have an understanding of general best practices, as well as the many possible issues and stakeholders involved in making a decision to become smoke free and then implementing that decision. For this reason, I have chosen to ask the questions: What are the processes, approaches, and barriers to successful policy creation and implementation that ultimately contribute to a smoke free environment?

Feeding Democracy: Protection, Defense, and Scientific Nutrition in the National School Lunch Program

Presenter: Phoebe Petersen (History)

Mentor: Ellen Herman

Oral Presentation

Panel A: “Culture and Education” Maple Room

Concurrent Session 2: 10:30-11:45am

Facilitator: Nedzer Erilus

The text of the 1946 National School Lunch Act (NSLA) asserts three central reasons for enacting National School Lunch Program (NSLP): it was “a measure of national security, to safeguard the health and well-being of the Nation’s children and to encourage the domestic consumption of nutritious agricultural commodities and other food”. Rooted in twentieth century ideas about the rights of childhood and the government’s interest in protecting children for national security, the implementation of scientific nutrition standards, which also developed around the turn of the twentieth century, was the means through which the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) set out to use the NSLP to protect children. An analysis of the evolving nutrition standards set out in twentieth century USDA food guides for all Americans in conjunction with the primarily static NSLP food standards provides evidence of the rigor with which the USDA pursued its goal of using scientific nutrition to protect children. By tracing the evolution and implementation of scientific nutrition in the NSLP through USDA documents and other public accounts, it becomes clear that despite placing agriculture, the protection of children, and national security as equals, the NSLP has shown overwhelming loyalty to agriculture at the expense of children’s health.

The Effects of Screen-Based Media on Young Children’s Social Understanding Skills

Presenter: Piper Arnold (Psychology)

Mentor: Marjorie Taylor

Oral Presentation

Panel A: “Culture and Education” Maple Room

Concurrent Session 2: 10:30-11:45am

Facilitator: Nedzer Erilus

Screen media is now a pervasive part of children’s lives, but little is know about its effects on young children’s developing social understanding skills. The goal of this study was to examine the association between frequency of screen media use and social understanding skills in children ages 4- to 6-years-old. Using a computerized questionnaire, parents (n = 50) reported on their children’s general media use, media use on a typical day, media culture in the household, and their social understanding skills. No relationship was found between the frequency of general media use and social understanding skills or between total screen time on a typical day and social understanding skills. However, there was a significant negative association between television culture in the household and children’s social understanding skills. This finding is consistent with previous research indicating that household media practices have the potential to influence early developmental processes.

Cultural Differences in Student Perceptions: Student Evaluations of Online Discussion Forums

Presenter: Xiaoying Chen (Sociology)

Mentor: Ryan Light

Oral Presentation

Panel A: “Culture and Education” Maple Room

Concurrent Session 2: 10:30-11:45am

Facilitator: Nedzer Erilus

Cultural diversity and technical development have changed students’ learning experiences in American higher education. This research explores the relationship between cultural influences on students’ perceptions of higher education and students’ evaluations of their experiences with the use of online discussion forums in college. By employing both survey and interview, this case study on Asian international students and American students at University of Oregon examines three aspects of student evaluations: their expectation of the instructor’s role, self- evaluation of their own participation, and overall evaluation of their online discussion forum experiences. The results indicate that compared with American students, Asian international students tend to expect less in terms of the instructor’s role and provide lower self-evaluations of their own participation in online discussion forums. Meanwhile, both American students and Asian international students have positive evaluations of their online discussion forum experiences. The findings suggest that college administrators and instructors should take cultural orientation into account to promote a diverse and understanding learning environment in future course design.

Beyond Elementary: Examining Conceptual Demands of Division of Fractions in Current US Curricula

Presenter: Leanna Carollo (Education, Sociology)

Mentor: Juliet Baxter

Oral Presentation

Panel A: “Culture and Education” Maple Room

Concurrent Session 2: 10:30-11:45am

Facilitator: Nedzer Erilus

The Common Core State Standards of Mathematics (CCSSM), a set of US educational standards which were initially adopted in 2010 by 45 states, creates a more rigorous and coherent set of standards for American students, making elementary math anything but elementary. The adoption of these new standards formulates the research questions for this study: How well do current curricula match the CCSSM and how well do current curricula support teacher knowledge to implement the standards? Three evaluation tools helped to analyze division of fractions in three diverse curricula used in the United States: Prentice Hall, Singapore Math, and CK-12. These tools measure (a) the cognitive demands of the mathematical tasks in each curricula, (b) the mathematical coherency of an instructional unit, and (c) the resources in each curricula that support teachers’ understanding of mathematics. I find that Singapore Math’s problems reach higher-level cognitive demands more often than Prentice Hall and CK- 12. Prentice Hall and CK-12’s reliance on using the standard division algorithm inhibits conceptual thinking for both students and teachers. From a Curriculum Review Tool, which focuses on teacher knowledge, I find that Singapore Math is the closest to reach the division of fraction CCSSM compared to Prentice Hall and CK-12. Resource tools for teachers can be developed that better support students’ learning by combining characteristics from each curriculum such as word problems, manipulatives/pictures, and samples of students’ work.