Archive for March, 2011

What does it mean to mentor students through the research process in Teacher Education?

Mentoring students through research means walking them through the entire process. Not only how to form research questions, choose a methodology, collect and analyze data, and present findings, but a focus on ethical research practices is extremely important. Students need to be exposed to the IRB process, not only as a required step in the research process, but also as the right thing to do in terms of protecting participants’ rights, especially those of children. Value also needs to placed on children’s consent to participation, not just as another step, but as an ethical, caring practice.

I think the students also need to be introduced to the world of scholarship as both consumers and producers. Learning the language of research, understanding how conferences work, and walking through a proposal submission process.

Teacher Education Research Goals:

1. Raise funds for student travel to research conferences. The experience of attending a research conference is a powerful part of preparing students to think as scholars. It demystifies it for them, making it an attainable goal to present their own work at future conferences.

2. Develop a Teacher Education Research Handbook  for faculty mentors and undergraduate researchers to have available as a resource. Will include things such as IRB history and processes, tips for constructing research questions, instructions for writing an abstract, templates for proposals or papers, etc.

3. Our hope is that 15 undergraduates per year will participate in substantive research projects beyond what is required in professional education courses.

QEP Thoughts Teacher Education.docx

Undergraduate Research—Scientific Reasoning

Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (A&E) are applied sciences building on the natural sciences (e.g., biology, chemistry) and for agribusiness, also the social sciences.  Therefore, our students have historically been exposed to the scientific method and critical reasoning throughout their academic experience at ACU.  Yet, to more fully engage our students in this process in the future, three key steps are being taken.  They are:

1)     All A&E students take AENV 110- Introduction to Agricultural and Environmental Systems at initial enrollment.  A part of the course curriculum concentrates on the scientific method and critical thinking, and how applied scientists use the scientific method.

2)     A&E has set an initial goal that 5% of our students will engage in faculty mentored research as undergraduates.  Subsequently, research findings will be developed into oral or poster presentations for delivery at disciplinary professional conferences.  A&E is currently meeting this goal.  In fact, many of our students have won honors at these conferences.  Students are also expected to present their research at the ACU Undergraduate Research Festival.  For the first time in 2011, ACU students will also present their research at the inaugural Research Symposium sponsored by the Agriculture Consortium of Texas.  Our next step is to increase this number to 10% of our undergraduates as funding allows.

3)     A&E students engage in senior-level capstone courses in their respective disciplines (i.e., agribusiness, animal science, environmental science).  Products vary, but senior-level students are expected to produce artifacts ranging from scientifically supported position papers to pieces built upon primary data.  All artifacts are evaluated by A&E faculty and several of them are assessed by evaluators outside of the department (e.g., writing samples for Writing Across the Curriculum, professional conferences).

The Department of Foreign Languages works with students on undergraduate research the following ways:

• Carolyn Thompson is serving as mentor for Jessica Backfisch’s poster presentation in the Research Festival.  The research project comes from the Senior Seminar on INTS…where each student has to write a 20-25 page research paper on an internationally focused problem.
• Harlan Rall is mentoring Lisa White–with a good part of mentoring also coming from Vernon Williams–for the same festival.  Lisa’s topic will look at immigration difficulties into the US and some reverse economical issues.
• Rall mentored the Model UN group, for Model UN presentations and competition.

The Department of Theater includes several projects to work with students in research and creative projects:

• In THEA 101 Transforming Artists, Donna Hester had first-year and new students in the Transforming Artists class produce an original play, Hungerville, written by ACU Theatre Alumnus Heather Amend.  The show is based on interviews with guests at a DFW ministry to the homeless.  A senior theatre major, Grant Scott, directed the 25-minute piece which included singing and dancing.  It was performed for the theatre departmental chapel in November.
• Adam Hester, directed Othello by William Shakespeare for the Abilene Shakespeare Festival June 24-26, July 1-3, 2010, in Fulks Theatre. Students were vital in creating images and research as they connected with ACU’s Mobile Initiative for an innovative approach to theatre (see [youtube jxFCsRRO6MA])
• In collaboration with ACU’s new core curriculum, the Department of Theatre chose a compelling play to coordinate with readings and experiences of the Cornerstone class required for every freshmen. Mother Teresa is Dead, by Helen Edmundson, played November 16-20, 2010, in Fulks Theatre offering talk-backs each night. Theatre students created the dramaturgical research used in the play and made it accessible to Cornerstone students.

See: http://blogs.acu.edu/cornerstone/

• Amy Simpson was involved in a number of Austin-based theatre projects, which allowed her to work inter-departmentally and with students.  Honor’s College and English Professor Joe Stephenson and Simpson served as Dramaturgs for the acclaimed Hidden Room production of The Taming of the Shrew, which has produced with “original practices”, in much the same way it would have been presented in Shakespeare’s day.  Dr. Stephenson and Simpson served as consultants for these “original practice” elements of the show.  The play starred ACU Theatre alumnus Ryan Crowder and featured ACU Theatre alumnus Nathan Jerkins.

• Simpson also worked with Theatre senior Emily Rankin to write a small article for a production of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged, which was presented by Penfold Theatre of Austin (a theatre started by three ACU Theatre alumnus, Crowder, Jerkins and Sean Martin).  Emily served as the Stage Manager for the show, which was presented in an outdoor venue.

• Gary Varner’s Children’s Theatre class wrote a musical morality play based on Aesops fables and is getting ready to tour it to area schools this semester.
• Sandy Freeman worked with a senior design student to research, co-design, and execut costume, hair and makeup designs for the Abilene Shakespeare Festival’s production of Othello, Fulks Theatre at ACU, June 24-26, 2010. This production that was transposed into a contemporary style was conceived in conjunction with the ACU Mobile Learning Initiative, employing live audience feedback during the show and scenic elements projected onto eight wide-screen monitors.
• Freeman served as a costume consultant and stylist for a professional photographic shoot with photographer Gordon Trice for artwork for the new wing of Cook Children’s Hospital in Ft. Worth, Texas, October 25-26, 2010.
• Freeman attended the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Regional Festival with seven Theatre majors in Amarillo, February 22-25, 2011.  Most of these students were entered in juried competitions with both undergraduate and graduate students in the areas of Directing and Acting.  Several placed in the final rounds, acknowledged as leading competitors in this six-state region.

The Biology Department contribution to the QEP might include:

(1)  We currently have several undergraduate students involved with faculty on research projects during the long school term and summers.  The goal would be to boost that number of students from the current half dozen to at least twice that.

(2)  We currently take several students every year to professional conferences where they make poster or oral presentations.  The goal would be to encourage this activity and increase the number of students participating.

(3)  BIOL 497 (Seminar in Biology) has been expanded to a three-hour capstone course in the Core Curriculum.  This course will deepen the activity of encouraging critical thinking in graduating Biology majors through reading, discussion, and writing.

The are the ways English faculty are contributing (and have been contributing) to undergraduate research at ACU:

1.  Creative writing students, mentored by creative writing faculty in and out of class, continuously win undergraduate contests and publish in peer-reviewed magazines.

2.  English faculty often chair or serve as reader for various Honors Capstone writing projects.

3. In English 412, faculty assist the teacher of record in mentoring English majors through their research projects and presentations.

Papers Judging Sheets 2010

Posters Judging Sheets 2010

These are rubrics that are used to evaluate papers/presentations/posters of research, scholarly, or creative projects submitted to the ACU Undergraduate Research Festival.

Review of Submitted Abstracts

This is the rubric used to evaluate and rank abstracts of papers and posters submitted to the Undergraduate Research Festival.

This rubric may be used or adapted for use for student’s Research Activity Journal and Assessment of Project Report.

ACU QEP CREATE Rubric