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- Creators: Barrett, The Honors College
- Creators: Bartlett, Tara Lynn
Does school participatory budgeting (SPB) increase students’ political efficacy? SPB, which is implemented in thousands of schools around the world, is a democratic process of deliberation and decision-making in which students determine how to spend a portion of the school’s budget. We examined the impact of SPB on political efficacy in one middle school in Arizona. Our participants’ (n = 28) responses on survey items designed to measure self-perceived growth in political efficacy indicated a large effect size (Cohen’s d = 1.46), suggesting that SPB is an effective approach to civic pedagogy, with promising prospects for developing students’ political efficacy.
In my undergraduate honors thesis, I strive to convey my idea that dance is more than just movement, it’s one of the many artistic tools used to express emotions; which therefore has the power to storytell without words. It is my hope to create a captivating form of art that you not only view, but can interact and interpret.
This thesis explores the impact of physical activity--what I have chosen to call “moments of movement” -- inside the classroom throughout the elementary school day. Journal-based observations were made by a student teacher placed in a special education 4th-6th grade writing and reading resource classroom from August-December of 2018 and a fourth grade general education classroom from January-May of 2019. All observations were made at Adams Elementary School, a Title 1 school, in the Mesa, Arizona school district. At this K-6 grade school, many students live with the challenges of poverty, neglect, unstable family dynamics, and trauma. Because the teachers work tirelessly to cultivate a sense of home for the students, there is a strong emphasis on non-traditional teaching methods, including the AVID program and the Kagan, and Tribes strategies.
Ms. Norris (the special education teacher) and Ms. Foss (the fourth grade teacher) both have strong backgrounds in fitness and naturally incorporate physical activity in their classrooms, which is not something typically found at elementary schools. In this paper, physical activity strategies in classrooms of Ms. Norris and Ms. Foss are analyzed, as well as the benefits of implementing these strategies. The impact of these “moments of movement” on the whole class and individual students is discussed, and suggestions are made to help educators incorporate “moments of movement” into their own classrooms. Educators can use the strategies present at Adams Elementary School as a model for incorporating exercise in their own classrooms.
This project is intended to fill gaps in the professional knowledge of music educators in the state of Arizona concerning the pedagogy, content, and importance of a visual education program in the scholastic marching band. It also aims to contribute to the general pool of knowledge surrounding visual education. While music educators are often expected to begin teaching marching band immediately following their graduation, many do not ever receive proper training in the visual aspect of the marching arts. The marching band is the most visible element of a holistic educational music program, and often represents the school to the community and the educator to their administrators. While significant music training is given at the collegiate level, many educators have not had further experience in the marching arts. The author uses his experience in Drum Corps International, as well as in teaching marching band to synthesize research-based practices into a handbook of immediately applicable visual pedagogical information that would be immediately useful to any music educator.
In this paper, I propose that taking an embodied approach to music performance can allow for better gestural control over the live sound produced and greater connection between the performer and their audience. I examine the many possibilities of live electronic manipulation of the voice such as those employed by past and current vocalists who specialize in live electronic sound manipulation and improvisation. Through extensive research and instrument design, I have sought to produce something that will benefit me in my performances as a vocalist and help me step out from the boundaries of traditional music performance. I will discuss the techniques used for the creation of my gestural instrument through the lens of my experiences as a performer using these tools. I believe that, through use of movement and gesture in the creation and control of sound, it is more than possible to step away from conventional ideas of live vocal performance and create something new and unique, especially through the inclusion of improvisation.