Arts - Buffalo State College

64
Education
The students sailed, as a class, onto Lake Erie; during the trip the
students learning about both sailing and about water quality issues.
Over the course of the excursion students collected and analyzed
samples from Lake Erie and the immediate Buffalo Harbor area.
The Buffalo Urban Outdoor Education provided both the in-class
lessons and the sailing excursion. Specifically, our group designed
and vetted a thirty-question pre/post test to assess student content
knowledge, attitudes and awareness. The test was administered to
18 science classrooms of about 160 middle school age students in
primarily urban schools within the Buffalo, New York area. Item
difficulty, discrimination and response patterns were used to assess
and refine test items; complete data sets were analyzed to measure
student learning. Additional data points included teacher surveys,
as well as classroom observation and field trip data. The data from
test development, as well as the analyzed classroom data sets will be
presented. The impact upon student learners will be discussed. The
overall impact of the program and suggestions for further program
refinement will also be shared.
Presentation Type and Session: Oral – Education
The Bilingual Brain: The Importance
of Second Language Acquisition In
Elementary Education
Sarah Banas, HON 400: All College Honors Colloquium
Faculty Mentors: Professor Andrea Guiati, Director, All College
Honors Program and Professor Pixita Del Prado Hill, Elementary
Education and Reading
Studies show that being bi- or multilingual can significantly
increase listening, studying, and problem-solving skills, along with
the ability to connect interpersonally and to develop cognitively.
A little known fact is that the ability to become bilingual can
start affecting the brain as early as infancy and decreases with
age. Also, mastering two languages has many advantages,
and those advantages can exponentially grow if implemented
during childhood. I will explore the advantages and the many
misconceptions regarding Second Language Acquisition. Through
my study I will also address the importance of funding for Second
Language Education at the elementary level, as these students are
our future working class and can benefit to the highest degree. In
addition, I will examine the many benefits of a second language in
all aspects of life, focusing on the English-Spanish relationship, in
our ever-growing world of global immigrations and connections.
Presentation Type and Session: Oral – Education
Common Core Learning Standards: Using
Informational Text In Teaching Science and
Social Studies
Courtney Hammond, Masters in Early Childhood and Childhood
Education and Robyn Ruiz, Masters in Early Childhood and
Childhood Education
Faculty Mentor: Professor David Henry, Elementary Education and
Reading
This project is a demonstration of how pre-service teachers can
contribute to the curriculum and instruction in a school. We will
present a model of instruction that can be used to integrate reading
and writing informational text in elementary social studies and
science instruction. The goals of our project are to develop a model
learning experience that integrates inquiry science, writing, and
reading informational text, based on the new ELA Common Core
Learning Standards (CCLS). Using the concept of a Document-
Based Question (DBQ), we have developed a learning experience
in social studies and science that effectively combine inquiry
lessons, reading and writing informational text, and authentic
experiences for the students. The documents will include various
informational texts, actual artifacts from nature, and data from
science observations. The Document-based activities give a structure
a learning experience that allow them to read, write, discuss, and
do inquiry with meaning. Students are assessed before, during
and after the learning experiences. This project is an example of
how learning can be active, interesting and focused on appropriate
learning goals, including the Common Core standards. Our
project demonstrates how pre-service teachers working in a PDS
partnership contribute to the effective learning and instruction.
Presentation Type and Session: Poster IV
Crayon Connections: Using Coloring
Book Pages To Facilitate Letter-Sound
Recognition
Mackenzi Jacobs, HON 400: All College Honors Colloquium
Faculty Mentors: Professor Carla DiChristina-Longo, Elementary
Education and Reading and Professor Andrea Guiati, Director, All
College Honors Program
To be a successful reader, children must learn to quickly connect
the letters of the alphabet to the corresponding letter-sound. Often
times, the letters of the alphabet are placed next to a picture of a
word that begins with the same sound. What if, instead of placing
a picture next to the letter and expecting the students to make the
connection, we make the letter into the picture of the word itself? In
this way, children can immediately see the connection between the
letter and sound. While in the home school setting, having children
build the picture is a practical means to have children make the
connection, in the classroom setting this could end up being a very
frustrating experience. To provide a similar experience for children
in schools, coloring book pages were designed for each letter. Key
words were selected using research-based criteria and images were
designed to clearly display the letter without any letter rotation.
Although capital letters were the focus, this same concept could