Tag: Panel A: “Enhancing Learning”

Environmental Leadership Program – Environmental Education Adams Elementary

Presenter: Derek Leung (Environmental Studies)

Co-Presenters: Madison DeLong and Kailyn Haskovec

Mentor: Kathryn Lynch

Oral Presentation

Panel A: “Enhancing Learning” Maple Room

Concurrent Session 1: 9:00-10:15am

Facilitator: Nedzer Erilus

The Environmental Leadership Program is a two term program for University of Oregon students who work together in groups on different environmental projects ranging from case studies to film production to education outreach. The X Stream team is a group of ten students who spent winter term creating an environmental education curriculum to teach at Adams Elementary in the spring. Adams students in grades 1st through 5th will learn basic scientific principles of water through exploration of the McKenzie River. The overall theme we’re trying to convey is interconnectivity between the watershed and it’s inhabitants. We hope to cultivate action through spreading awareness and knowledge. We are following Sobel’s framework of connecting with animals in grades 1 and 2, exploring nearby environments in grades 3 and 4 and examining human impacts on the environment in grade 5. Using principles of engaged pedagogy, we hope to utilize activities that engage the students’ mind, body and soul.

For a Citizenry or For a Workforce? The Role of Industry in American Science Education

Presenter: Ellen Ingamells (Environmental Science)

Mentor: Kathryn Lynch

Oral Presentation

Panel A: “Enhancing Learning” Maple Room

Concurrent Session 1: 9:00-10:15am

Facilitator: Nedzer Erilus

It’s no wonder that industry (manufacturing, engineering, product design and research) has been tied to American science education since the birth of this country. Industry accounts for nearly 20% of the American economy, includes the fastest growing occupational fields, and is, by most accounts, what keeps the United States competitive. This project approaches the question “what should the role of industry be in science education?” from four different angles: precedent, policy, practice and opinion. Additionally, there is a larger theoretical question embedded in this project: what is the goal of our education system? In the last 230 years education has changed more because of answers to this question, than from any other factor. Today our education system is trying to create all of the workers that our current industry needs. History shows us that these policies and practices are short sighted. Teaching students to be a part of today’s industry leaves them incapable of adapting to future industry. It is time to break out of this pattern. Regardless of what your goals are for the American education system, they can best be met by creating well rounded, critically thinking innovators. By attempting to inspire passion and ingenuity, our school system can produce a citizenry that is engaged, thoughtful and patriotic, as well as a workforce that is adaptive and innovative in every field.

Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program: Alumni Facilitation Training for Building Communities

Presenter: Jordan Wilkie (Political Science)

Mentor: Steven Shankman

Oral Presentation

Panel A: “Enhancing Learning” Maple Room

Concurrent Session 1: 9:00-10:15am

Facilitator: Nedzer Erilus

The Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program is an organization that introduces university courses to carceral institutions across the U.S. and Canada. To date, over 12,000 students have taken part in an Inside-Out class, where Outside (university) students and Inside (incarcerated) students learn as peers. Both inside and outside the walls, alumni have sought to continue their Inside-Out experience and have done so through a number of programmatic avenues. The purpose of this thesis is to establish a set of foundational documents for an organization that will encourage and direct the growth of alumni activities. It is a first, practical step in the formation of a mutually strengthening and informative organization of inside and outside students into an international Inside-Out Alumni Association. The Inside-Out Program offers college-level courses inside carceral institutions. In the metaphorical comparison where Inside-Out represents university classes, Alumni strive to represent student groups by creating programmatic, “extra-curricular” opportunities that enhance the educational process through skill-building and professional workshops. This thesis consists of three sections: a manifesto detailing the mission and vision of outside alumni, essential policy, training, and resource documents, and a critical research essay. These documents will combine to describe the importance of alumni work, a practical work- product detailing policy and resources for alumni, and a critique of Inside-Out and the subsequent Alumni Association.

United Way of Lane County’s Promise Neighborhoods and the Benefits of Reading Readiness

Presenter: Jacob McGrew (Economics, Music)

Mentor: Joe Stone

Oral Presentation

Panel A: “Enhancing Learning” Maple Room

Concurrent Session 1: 9:00-10:15am

Facilitator: Nedzer Erilus

In this paper, we measure statistical relationships between defining characteristics of incoming kindergartners and their initial literacy scores. Our analysis focuses on four elementary schools in Oregon’s Springfield School District: two Promise Neighborhood schools and two comparable non-Promise Neighborhood schools. Using scores from the literacy benchmark tests each incoming student takes upon entering kindergarten—controlling for variables such as family income, English language learners, gender, special education, and ethnicity—we find the defining characteristics with the most significant relationships that influence literacy scores. In the absence of a fully randomized experimental design, we give policy suggestions to United Way of Lane County to more effectively increase early literacy in the Lane County, as well as offer advice on the kinds of additional information that would permit a more definitive future study of the Promise Neighborhoods.

The Effect of Learning to Sew on Self-Esteem, Self-Efficacy, and Optimism in Adolescent Girls

Presenter: Chiara Arpaia (Psychology)

Mentor: Marjorie Taylor

Oral Presentation

Panel A: “Enhancing Learning” Maple Room

Concurrent Session 1: 9:00-10:15am

Facilitator: Nedzer Erilus

This study explores the extent that teaching adolescent girls to sew their own clothes works as an intervention to improve self-esteem, optimism and self-efficacy. Twenty-six adolescent girls between the ages of 11 and 16 participated in a sewing class, held once per week for three hours over five weeks. Participants completed questionnaires on self-esteem, optimism, and self-efficacy. Self-esteem and optimism did not show a significant change. However, self-efficacy significantly increased over the five weeks of the sewing course (the Intervention Period) compared with the five weeks before the course (the Control Period). The intervention was run in the same manner as a community sewing class and the sample consisted of a variety of ethnicities, family situations and economic levels. Overall, the significant increase in self-efficacy, the high external validity of the study, the diversity of the sample, and the positive feedback on the course indicate that teaching adolescent girls how to sew in an intervention could potentially increase self-efficacy and, thereby, improve positive development.