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Publication Building Confidence for Elementary Students in an After-School Engineering and Design Club(2019-01-01) Best, MarissaThe Engineering and Design After-School Club was created in Fall 2017 with the hope of making science, technology, engineering, and math concepts accessible to all elementary school students in an afterschool setting and especially girls. This paper presents ideas from the second year (Fall 2018 and Spring 2019) of the Engineering School (Figure 1). The foundational principles of this weekly school is student directed learning, Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences, and the methods of interaction and conversations from the book How to Talk so Kids will Listen. All of these ideas and theories together inform this accessible and innovative after school experience. Other afterschool programs were examined in order to determine what practices had been beneficial and foundational for them and in order to determine what made ours unique. From this research effort you will learn what has worked for other programs and how we, with minimal cost, piloted our own model to encourage and maintain student engagement with STEM topics. Engineering was fun as opposed to frightening and students were able to feel successful each week as they completed projects of their choosing, constructed from their own design in their own time. Ultimately the students ended up creating more than weekly projects as they internalized a sense of pride and accomplishment with each student directed and tutor guided design success.Publication Wildwood After-School: Workshop Lesson Plans(2016-01-01) Hareli, MayaAs part of a Capstone project for my Certificate in Civic Engagement and Public Service, I created a science-oriented workshop at an after-school program. My interest in creating a workshop sparked from my desire to teach in a manner different from what students experience as the norm in daily classroom instruction; I wanted to see firsthand how effective unconventional ways of learning were in practice. The workshop incorporated math and writing activities as well as no-word picture books as lesson openers. After each workshop, I evaluated what held students’ attention and what did not, and how I could better help them think creatively about the connections between the book opener and the science that they were experiencing in the activity. The breakthrough moment occurred when students were engineering and solving a problem during a lesson with their own creative thinking without my needing to lead or supply everything they might want. I learned that what was engaging was not my setting up the conditions for them and letting them play with whatever activity I had set up but rather, it was my providing some materials and their adjusting and devising their own questions and solutions. I entered this experience with the notion that the most elaborate plan would work, but learned in the end that what worked best, what led to the most successful collaboration and problem solving, was having no plan because I had no expectations or directions. Overall, I learned that 1) kids will come up with their own solutions and look to each other for ideas and inspiration when given materials to work with without much direction, 2) you don’t need an elaborate lesson plan to grasp children’s attention – lesson plans can actually constrain rather than promote problem solving, and 3) it is more effective to go into the unknown with no expectations because you are more open to what happens along the way.Publication Incorporating LGBTQ and Gender Studies into Massachusetts 9-12 United States History Curriculum Frameworks(2016-01-01) Pesaturo, SarahGender and LGBTQ studies have emerged as fields worthy of academic study since the 1980s. While they have increasingly entered college curricula, much work still has to be done for these to be integrated into public K-12 curricula. Currently, the Massachusetts 9-12 United States History Curriculum operates without these histories. My work aims to expand the current curriculum in such a way that integrates and emphasizes (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) LGBTQ and gender histories within the pre-existing U.S. History Standards. The areas of study are taken directly from the Massachusetts learning standards, specifically focusing on the curriculum framework of U.S. History II, Reconstruction to the Present, 1877 to 2001. I address two key sections: Age of Reform: Progressivism and the New Deal, 1900 to 1940 and Cold War America at Home: Economic Growth and Optimism, Anticommunism, and Reform, 1945-1980. My work provides the necessary historical background for teachers to familiarize themselves with important figures, events, ideas, and movements within these time periods. It also provides a selection of recommended readings for teachers to help incorporate this material into their classrooms. The outline also includes a collection of primary sources and inquiry questions for historical investigations. My purpose is to add additional information that will help fill educational gaps, enrich and enliven the curriculum, and provide students with a more inclusive and multicultural American history.