This project was focused on creating a trade book that could be used in Kindergarten through first-grade classrooms for science lessons. I have analyzed and researched the benefits of using trade books in the classroom. Along with those benefits, best practices were also looked at. I then applied those key questions, ideas, and concepts that are used to determine the use of a trade in the classroom, and created my own trade book. The trade book was centered around a standard from Next Generation Science Standards for Kindergarten through first-grade. The focus of this book was to inform children, in an age appropriate, yet scientifically accurate and engaging format, what living organisms need in order to survive and grow. The trade book brings all the research and creativity together in order to inform and benefit students in their learning process. This creative project has allowed me to broaden my literary skills, as well as my creativity for teaching in the classroom.

The focus of this thesis is to inform the reader(s), particularly families who are considering homeschooling, about the many different facets of homeschooling. The research focuses on a variety of topics, from the origins of homeschooling, to its advantages and disadvantages, to its effectiveness from academic and social standpoints, and more. Homeschooling for students with disabilities is another key topic of the paper, particularly in the areas of students with gifted abilities, as well as students with autism. Other topics include choosing a curriculum, state monitoring of homeschooling, additional resources for homeschooling families, and more. A section detailing the author’s own personal experiences of being homeschooled from Kindergarten all the way to high school graduation is also included. Through the research behind this thesis, as well as the author’s own personal experiences, readers will gain a glimpse into the world of homeschooling.

Did He Kill the Mockingbird? is a play I wrote, which explores the effects of being on the Autism Spectrum plays in Arthur Radley’s life. Arthur Radley is a very misunderstood member of Maycomb County, who is constantly seen as a lesser member of society in Maycomb County.

Did He Kill the Mockingbird? provides an alternate ending to To Kill a Mockingbird. In the original play, the townspeople never discovered that Arthur Radley killed Bob Ewell. In Did He Kill the Mockingbird? a townsperson overhears Atticus Finch and Heck Tate discussing Bob Ewell's death. This leads the townsperson to tell others in Maycomb County of the events that had unfolded the night Bob Ewell died.
As the play progresses, we explore how ignorance, willful and not, change the daily lives and actions of individuals who have mental illnesses and disabilities such as Autism. The townspeople may not see a problem with the way they treat Arthur Radley, as he is just a man who they believe stabbed his mother. However, in reality, they are causing more harm by encouraging and perpetuating rumors about Arthur Radley. In turn, the rumors enhance the stigma that plagues Arthur Radley.
Jean Louise Finch is the main character in Did he Kill the Mockingbird? Jean supports Arthur Radley, and is able to see the good in him although the rest of the townspeople continue to believe he is a bad person.

I hope that my version of this alternative ending to original play brings to light the changes that we need to make as a society to encourage the acceptance of all people. As a society, we need to treat all people, whether disabled or not, as equals. Rather than perpetuating stereotypes, we need to encourage everyone to work hard and reach for their goals whatever they may be.

This project outlines the research-based strategies that teachers can implement into their classrooms to create and improve upon teacher-students relationships. The project begins by examining the positive effects of having strong teacher-student relationships. The thesis then moves to discuss the existing literature on specific strategies that teachers can implement into their classrooms. This literature is then categorized into six broad categories that summarizes the specific strategies. This information is compiled and portrayed on a website that is shown in the word document. The website serves as both a tool and a collaborative domain for teachers to learn about strategies they can use to build their relationships with their students, as well as share strategies or documents they use in their classroom to form meaningful relationships.

This course will cover the history, ethics and impact of the fair trade movement for a variety of stakeholders in the Global South and Global North. We will be participating in various activities that will acquaint us with different topics, including globalization, the gender wage gap, environmental degradation and supply chain management. Guest speakers from the fair trade community will contribute their perspectives regarding the movement. Students will gain an understanding of the tradeoffs of the fair trade movement for the different actors throughout the length of the supply chain. Students will describe the purpose of the fair trade movement and who it seeks to serve. Students will explain what the Fair Trade certification entails for the actors who engage in the system. Students will debate the tradeoffs of the fair trade movement, incorporating the perspectives of multiple stakeholders from both the Global South and Global North. Finally, students will evaluate Fair Trade as a tool for sustainability both socially and economically.

This project examined the importance of inquiry in science education. The Arizona Science
Standards call for a change from teaching facts to teaching students to construct explanations of phenomena by engaging in science and engineering practices. Through a blend of science and engineering practices, core ideas, and crosscutting concepts, the performance expectations form standards that address applying ideas to explanation of phenomena, problem solving, and decision making. The ideas conveyed in the standards need to be developed over time through multiple lessons. Rather than simply present information to students, the Arizona Science Standards require teachers to support students in constructing explanations of phenomena and developing solutions to problems. The integration of the Arizona Science Standards in the science curriculum through the Five E model has the potential to provide students with inquiry- based learning that will help develop their science literacy skills. The 5E inquiry model consists of five phases: Engagement, Exploration, Explanation, Elaboration, and Evaluation. Each phase contributes to the learning process as students are encouraged to actively build their knowledge. The learning experiences in science education become richer and more meaningful to students when the science literacy skills are successfully integrated into the 5E inquiry model. Not only will the students learn the skills of science, but also, they will be actively engaged with science content. Active engagements with science will likely foster interest and positive attitudes towards science. This thesis project developed a way to implement inquiry-based learning through an electricity and magnetism unit that uses the 5E model and aligns with the Arizona State Science Standards. The goal of this project was to develop a science unit that can be implemented in future classrooms.

Design Thinking is a popular topic and problem-solving method that is gaining attention and being used more and more often across disciplines in recent years such as “IT, Business, Education and Medicine” (Dorst, 2011). Its ability to address wicked problems, problems that are inherently complex and socially layered, has branded it an attractive and useful problem-solving method for a wide range of industries and consequently a wide range of problems. Its human centered and empathetic approach to addressing problems also paints design thinking to be an action-based method that works well with interdisciplinary teams in which all members have the same desired end. More recently, its use has expanded to the field of education and is being cited as a way to develop 21st century learners and redefine the field of education as a whole. This paper intends to examine design thinking in the context of the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College of Arizona State University specifically. The goals of this paper are to define design thinking for the educational field, examine and analyze the methods of it use, as well as determine the purpose for exposing undergraduate education students to the process. Through expert interviews of faculty and staff members that were analyzed for common themes and other consistencies, an understanding of how the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College defines design thinking is obtained, as well as the various uses and applications of design thinking skills and process for the field of education. The paper describes multiple areas in which design thinking is being implemented internally, externally, and within teacher preparation curriculum through the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College and details the four main reasons for exposing future teachers to design thinking practices and principles.

Cochlear implant (CI) successfully restores hearing sensation to profoundly deaf patients, but its
performance is limited by poor spectral resolution. Acoustic CI simulation has been widely used
in normal-­hearing (NH) listeners to study the effect of spectral resolution on speech perception,
while avoiding patient-­related confounds. It is unclear how speech production may change with
the degree of spectral degradation of auditory feedback as experience by CI users. In this study,
a real-­time sinewave CI simulation was developed to provide NH subjects with auditory
feedback of different spectral resolution (1, 2, 4, and 8 channels). NH subjects were asked to
produce and identify vowels, as well as recognize sentences while listening to the real-­time CI
simulation. The results showed that sentence recognition scores with the real-­time CI simulation
improved with more channels, similar to those with the traditional off-­line CI simulation.
Perception of a vowel continuum “HEAD”-­ “HAD” was near chance with 1, 2, and 4 channels,
and greatly improved with 8 channels and full spectrum. The spectral resolution of auditory
feedback did not significantly affect any acoustic feature of vowel production (e.g., vowel space
area, mean amplitude, mean and variability of fundamental and formant frequencies). There
was no correlation between vowel production and perception. The lack of effect of auditory
feedback spectral resolution on vowel production was likely due to the limited exposure of NH
subjects to CI simulation and the limited frequency ranges covered by the sinewave carriers of
CI simulation. Future studies should investigate the effects of various CI processing parameters
on speech production using a noise-­band CI simulation.

Previous research has determined that sentence comprehension is affected when taxing an individual’s cognitive resources, such as attentional control and working memory. This can be done by manipulating the prosody of simple and complex sentences, by allowing irregular rhythm and pitch changes to occur within speech. In the present thesis, neurotypical adults were asked to comprehend sentences with normal and monotone prosody in three different versions of a sentence-picture matching task. A no-load version served as a control with the other two taxing cognitive resources in these individuals. In addition, individuals completed four other tasks that are known to reliably measure working memory. Our results indicate a possible relationship between high accuracy in complex sentences spoken in a monotone prosody with working memory when time restraints are placed on individuals. Collectively, these results may lead to a new way of working with individuals in speech therapy who have suffered a stroke by better understanding the cognitive resources that are taxed in different types of sentence comprehension settings.

As an aspiring educator pursuing a degree in education, hours have been spent observing, visiting, and working in classrooms of elementary schools. In this time, it has become apparent that social studies and science are not a priority within classrooms or even schools as a whole. This dilemma caused extreme disconnect, amongst students, throughout the common and crucial science and social studies standards that should be taught and implemented daily by law. These content experiences, especially in science, expose students to skill sets and themes that are highly desired throughout higher education, the career world, and for the well-being and longevity of planet Earth.
As a solution to this problem, I created an after school program to provide staff and myself additional time to implement such curriculum and expand the depth of knowledge that students are exposed to. This positive additional time to the educational day, was able to come to life through a grant that I wrote and received to transport students from their elementary school to a local greenhouse. At the greenhouse, I was able to create a series of lessons focused on the resources needed for gardens and plant production. Through these lessons, I utilized inquiry based lesson plans to provide me with a template that was unique from typical lessons taught at school. Through these hands on experiences in our club, students were able to work at their own pace and learn about resources, soil, water, pollinators, and parts of a flower.