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Date Permissions Signed

11-29-2016

Date of Award

Fall 2016

Document Type

Masters Field Project

Degree Name

Master of Education (MEd)

Department

Environmental Studies

First Advisor

Myers, Gene (O. Gene)

Second Advisor

Hollenhorst, Steven J.

Abstract

This study attempts to answer the question: What are the best methods for designing Environmental/STEM College Access Curriculum for Title I Classrooms? Participants were 98 5th-grade classes at two Title I schools. The treatment was 15 hours of College Access Curriculum: 7 hours occurred at the North Cascades Institute’s Mountain School, eight hours in the students’ regular classrooms. The curriculum was taught by Western Washington University students trained as coaches. Data were gathered from elementary students (pre- and post-program surveys, retrospective questionnaire and open-ended question), coaches (essays and teacher evaluations) and teachers (feedback form).

Data gathered from elementary students yielded little reliable or conclusive data to answer the initial question. Coach and teacher data were used to create recommendations for integrating new curriculum into a multi-program project. The six recommendations were: Meet with key people from each program at the beginning of the project to understand their program; Obtain as much information about each program as possible by asking for schedules, syllabi and any other available program documents; Attend at least one day observing critical integration points of each program; Understand the demographics of the people being serving by each program; Develop a rough draft of key curricular components and then meet with each program again to make sure that everyone understands their involvement and insure buy-in for the time and space needed for integration; Confirm expectations for each program by circulating a document that contains the final curriculum and responsibilities to be signed and returned.

Type

Text

DOI

https://doi.org/10.25710/dgmt-g070

Publisher

Western Washington University

OCLC Number

965501490

Subject – LCSH

Environmental education--Curricula--Washington (State); Science--Study and teaching (Elementary)--Washington (State); Technology--Study and teaching (Elementary)--Washington (State); Engineering--Study and teaching (Elementary)--Washington (State); Mathematics--Study and teaching (Elementary)--Washington (State)

Geographic Coverage

Washington (State)

Format

application/pdf

Genre/Form

masters theses

Language

English

Rights

Copying of this document in whole or in part is allowable only for scholarly purposes. It is understood, however, that any copying or publication of this thesis for commercial purposes, or for financial gain, shall not be allowed without the author's written permission.

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