Browsing by Subject "Project based learning"
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Item The effect of implementing an interactive reading project on reading comprehension in the third-semester Russian language class(2011-05) Zachoval, Filip; Garza, Thomas J.; Arens, Katherine; Liu, Min; Kolsti, John; Pichova, HanaIn recent years, a number of empirical and conceptual studies about Project-Based Learning (PBL) have presented consistent arguments rationalizing this approach to language learning and teaching. The most common benefits attributed to project work in the second- and foreign-language settings have been located and described in recent research. However, only a few empirical studies have been conducted to evaluate the effect of project work on language learning, and even fewer on specific language skills. This dissertation presents the results of a quasi-experimental research study that investigates the effect of incorporating a semester-long reading project into a third-semester Russian classroom and reports the measured effects of this experimental treatment on students’ reading comprehension, their reading habits and beliefs, perceived reading skills, and overall language proficiency. The dissertation provides data on a semester-long project allowing students to research a topic of their interest through a set of readings (which substituted for the textbook texts) with an ultimate goal of reporting their findings in the form of a newsletter article. The project entailed interconnected sets of sequenced tasks during which students are actively engaged in information gathering, processing, and reporting, with the ultimate goal of increased content knowledge and language mastery. The context for this project was primarily text-based (extensive readings served as a base for all activities and assignments), task-driven (creating an end-product in written form), collaborative, technology-enhanced (extensive use of the Internet), and individualized (students researched topics they were interested in). The results of the study demonstrate that students’ reading comprehension increased by using an integrated methodology where reading was taught through maximizing students’ previous knowledge of a subject matter of their interest and following the procedural model for interactive reading. Additionally, the results suggest that the project implementation had a positive effect on some reading habits and beliefs regarding foreign language (FL) learning, while no significant shifts were found in students’ perceived reading skills, or their overall language proficiency.Item Engineering design cycle of curriculum and apparatus for encapsulating medicine design project(2012-08) Garcia, Heather Rachelle; Allen, David T.; High, KarenThe goal of this work is to modify an existing course module on engineering better medicines to produce a more engaging physiologically realistic and pedagogically sound curriculum. The original module explored drug delivery using a one-compartment model, which examined only the dissolution of medicine; the module relied on a traditional teacher lead pedagogy. The curriculum modifications include engineering a two-compartment model students use to test the medicines they design, incorporating both dissolution and transfer to the blood and project based learning strategies have been added to produce a student centered project. The purpose of these modifications is to produce a curriculum successful in providing a diverse group of students, both male and female, of all socioeconomic backgrounds as well as ethnic and cultural groups with a positive engineering experience.Item Investigations in surface tension in thin films and self-diffusion in nanocomposites : lab experiences can help secondary educators better their instructional practices(2012-08) Brophy, Melissa; Ellison, Christopher G., 1960-; Allen, David T.This report documents the experiences and applications to practice of a secondary science teacher, instructional coach, and educational consultant performing academic research on surface tension in thin films and self-diffusion in nanocomposites in a chemical engineering lab setting. Throughout this experience, the author developed knowledge for and of engineering teaching through authentic learning experiences. These learning experiences will be used as a model to assist mentee teachers in developing authentic learning experiences for students that create an awareness of engineering while fostering engineering habits of mind and an understanding of the engineering design process.Item Teaching 21st century skills to high school students utilizing a project management framework(2011-12) Williamson, Charles David; Crawford, Richard H.; McCann, BruceEducators, researchers, and government officials have concluded that today’s students, at all levels of the educational system, are lacking in the skills needed to ensure their success in the workplace. This awareness is driving a movement to change educational curricula to include skills training in the areas of communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity. Collectively, these areas make up what are called “21st Century Skills.” The question becomes how to develop a program that effectively teaches these skills to students and how to get that program implemented into a usable curriculum. This thesis asserts that the direct study and application of the framework and specifically identified processes of project management (i.e. the key fundamental elements) is an effective methodology for building a foundation upon which to teach students “21st Century Skills”. Using the term “direct study” means that students are explicitly taught key terms, concepts, and processes of project management and then instructed to implement them in a project. The distinction being made here is the belief that, whereas some types of skills are better learned by simply doing, introduction to 21st century skills should be prefaced with some amount of theory and discussion and then reinforced with practical application. Several of the student project management programs discussed in Chapter 3 offer data that backs up this assertion. Additionally, a course outline for a proposed high school curriculum to teach students the key fundamental elements of project management is included in Appendix A.