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As part of a group project, myself and four teammates created an interactive children's storybook based off of the "Young Lady's Illustrated Primer" in Neal Stephenson's novel The Diamond Age. This electronic book is meant to be read aloud by a caregiver with their child, and is designed for reading

As part of a group project, myself and four teammates created an interactive children's storybook based off of the "Young Lady's Illustrated Primer" in Neal Stephenson's novel The Diamond Age. This electronic book is meant to be read aloud by a caregiver with their child, and is designed for reading over long distances through the use of real-time voice and video calling. While one part of the team focused on building the electronic book itself and writing the program, myself and two others wrote the story and I provided illustrations. Our Primer tells the story of a young princess named Charname (short for character name) who escapes from a tower and goes on a mission to save four companions to help her on her quest. The book is meant for reader-insertion, and teaches children problem-solving, teamwork, and critical thinking skills by presenting challenges for Princess Charname to solve. The Primer borrows techniques from modern video game design, focusing heavily on interactivity and feelings of agency through offering the child choices of how to proceed, similar to choose-your-own-adventure books. If brought to market, the medium lends itself well to expanded quests and storylines for the child to explore as they learn and grow. Additionally, resources are provided for the narrator to help create an engaging experience for the child, based off of research on parent-child cooperative reading and cooperative gameplay. The final version of the Primer included a website to run the program, a book-like computer to access the program online, and three complete story segments for the child and narrator to read together.
ContributorsLax, Amelia Ann Riedel (Author) / Dove-Viebahn, Aviva (Thesis director) / Wetzel, Jon (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
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Description
The Accelerated Reader Program has been a widely used reading program in elementary schools in the United States. However, even with its popularity, there have been controversies on if and how it should be used in the classroom. Arguments in support say the program gets children to read and that

The Accelerated Reader Program has been a widely used reading program in elementary schools in the United States. However, even with its popularity, there have been controversies on if and how it should be used in the classroom. Arguments in support say the program gets children to read and that it is a helpful tool for teachers to keep track of each students reading abilities. Arguments against suggest that book choice is decreased, book levels are askew, the quizzes do not promote higher level thinking, and the use of incentives may send the wrong signals to students. Schools have started to abandon the program in the recent years, but maybe it will come back bigger and stronger. In the meantime, schools need to make sure that enriching books fill the schools and classrooms to promote reading for their students.
ContributorsGeske, Tara Briana (Author) / Serafini, Frank (Thesis director) / Esch, Mark (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2013-12
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Description
The present studies experimentally compared the effectiveness of self-explaining versus taking notes for improving comprehension of a difficult science among readers who varied in prior knowledge, reading skill, and later vocabulary skill. Study 1 (N = 70) examined how instructions to simply “note-take” or “self-explain” influenced text-based and inferential

The present studies experimentally compared the effectiveness of self-explaining versus taking notes for improving comprehension of a difficult science among readers who varied in prior knowledge, reading skill, and later vocabulary skill. Study 1 (N = 70) examined how instructions to simply “note-take” or “self-explain” influenced text-based and inferential comprehension. Task did not influence comprehension performance but, as expected, readers with higher science prior knowledge outperformed their less knowledgeable peers, who also earned lower scores on inferential questions compared to text-based questions. To replicate and extend these findings, Study 2 (N = 60) provided readers with more specific, distinct instructions and examples for self-explanation and note-taking tasks prior to engaging in the same task. The results showed that, in the self-explanation task, high-knowledge readers outperformed low-knowledge readers on the text-based questions. These results suggest that self-explanation supported more knowledgeable and skilled readers for text-based questions.
ContributorsGoblirsch, Emily (Author) / McNamara, Danielle (Thesis director) / Butterfuss, Reese (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies, Sch (Contributor)
Created2022-05
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Description
Objective: The main goal for this meta-analysis was to examine the word decoding abilities of children with non-syndromic cleft lip and/or palate (NSCL/P) compared to their typically developing peers. Age, hearing status, language abilities, speech abilities, and socioeconomic status were examined as predictors of the word decoding skills

Objective: The main goal for this meta-analysis was to examine the word decoding abilities of children with non-syndromic cleft lip and/or palate (NSCL/P) compared to their typically developing peers. Age, hearing status, language abilities, speech abilities, and socioeconomic status were examined as predictors of the word decoding skills of children with NSCL/P.
Methods: After searching through PubMed and PsycINFO and screening each article to see if the studies matched our inclusion and exclusion criteria, 7 studies qualified for this meta-analysis. Across all studies, 274 children with NSCL/P were compared to 267 of their typically developing peers. The mean age for children with NSCL/P was 118.8 months (SD = 49.19) and 119.8 months (SD = 49.81) for typically developing children. Effect sizes and demographic information (i.e. study location, sample size, assessments used, etc.) were pulled from each study.
Results: The average effect size for this systematic review is -0.41, demonstrating that children with NSCL/P performed 0.41 standard deviations less than their typically developing peers on measures of word decoding. This was calculated using the RVE-model. Both the older and younger age range showed deficits in their word decoding abilities compared to their typically developing peers. Hearing status, language abilities, and speech abilities were reported minimally with many inconsistencies between studies.
Conclusions: These findings suggest that children with NSCL/P perform poorer on word decoding tasks than their noncleft peers. These differences are found in both the younger and older populations of our sample. More evidence and fewer inconsistencies in the research are needed to determine whether hearing, language, and speech abilities have an effect on the word decoding skills of children with NSCL/P.
ContributorsHaas, Jordan Charline (Author) / Scherer, Nancy (Thesis director) / Lancaster, Hope (Committee member) / College of Health Solutions (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05