Browsing by Subject "Middle School"

Now showing 1 - 10 of 10
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    Block-level, non-work accessibility data for planned transitways in the Twin Cities
    (2021-01-12) Carlson, Kristin; Owen, Andrew; carl4498@umn.edu; Carlson, Kristin; University of Minnesota Center for Transportation Studies, Accessibility Observatory
    Accessibility to grocery stores, primary healthcare, elementary, middle, and high schools by transit is measured for the Twin Cities. Census block-level minimum travel times to the first, second, third,...,tenth destination are calculated before and after incorporating services changes to the transit network. The transit network baseline includes the Green Line extension and Orange Line. Five planned transitways are evaluated against the baseline including the B Line and local route 21 changes, the D Line and local route 5 changes, the E Line and local route 6 changes, the Gold Line, and the Rush Line. The analysis is completed for four departure windows during the weekday. The report associated with this data aggregates across the Twin Cities metropolitan worker population and disaggregates by worker demographics.
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    Cultivating Student-Staff Connections in Middle School: An Integrative Theory of Creating Space as a Holistic Approach to Promoting Adolescent Health and Wellbeing
    (2019-01) Fredkove, Windy
    Connection with a caring adult in the school setting contributes to healthy youth development, yet little is known about the nuanced patterns and processes leading to student-staff connectedness (SSC). The purpose of this constructivist grounded theory study was to explore the process through which school staff members connect with students in middle school settings and identify the factors influencing that process. Data was collected and analyzed over a nearly two-year period using semi-structured interviews and observations with 24 staff members in varying roles from two middle schools situated within a large, metropolitan school district in the Midwest. Line-by-line, focused and theoretically-sensitive axial coding, constant comparison, theoretical sampling, extensive memoing and reflexive journaling were used to analyze data. The integrative theory of Creating Space is the core, overarching process within which the SSC process takes place. Creating Space and the SSC process describe what staff members do. The how is characterized by (a) the higher-level awareness process of seeing within, beyond and between; (b) two translational processes described as embracing our shared humanness, and equilibrating with empathy; and (c) a praxis-level process of demonstrating relational artistry. The multi-dimensional space that is created by school staff members offers numerous potential connection-catalysts that may spark a students-staff connection. Nurses, teachers and other allied staff working with adolescents in schools have an opportunity to encourage healthy youth development, promote human thriving, and contribute to equity and social justice by Creating Space within which meaningful connections can flourish.
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    Evaluating the Effectiveness of Positive Life Changes Social-Emotional Learning Curriculum
    (2014-07) Young, Julie Lavonne
    A pre-and post-test multiple baseline study was conducted in a suburban middle school to ascertain the utility of Positive Life Changes as a targeted (Tier 2) intervention. Specifically, the study sought to determine whether Positive Life Changes yields a significant increase in (a) academic engagement and (b) social emotional competence for students, and to explore student perceptions of intervention strength related to this potential growth. Participants (N = 10) were divided into three groups and received the intervention curriculum twice a week during lunch-group sessions for five weeks. The intervention led to positive growth in both academic engagement and social emotional competency. Potential mechanisms leading to social emotional growth and implications for practice are discussed.
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    A follow-up study of Eco Education’s environmental service-learning program.
    (2010-11) Hobert, Thomas Milton
    The purpose of the study is to determine student views of the influence of the Eco Education Urban Stewards program’s impact on their involvement in community environmental initiatives. Eco Education is a non-profit organization in St. Paul that facilitates an urban, environmental, year-long science curriculum delivered in middle schools in Minnesota. The year-long program ends with an urban, environmental service-learning project. Ten high school students from the Inter District Downtown School who had completed Urban Stewards in middle school took a survey and were interviewed and compared with ten high school students who had a more traditional middle school science experience. Semi-structured oral interviews were conducted with each student. Transcriptions of the interviews were analyzed and compared to the survey results. The survey results were tabulated and given numerical values to compare the Eco Education and non-Eco Education students. Common themes and differences were discovered when comparing the survey results and interview transcriptions of the two groups. Urban Stewards students demonstrated more awareness of environmental issues, concerns and community projects but not by a significant amount.
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    Identity In Mathematics Spaces For Middle And High School Students: A Case Study Approach To The Revealing Of Identities In Formal And Informal Mathematics Spaces
    (2020-05) Gullickson, Elena
    It is acceptable and commonplace in society to proclaim a discomfort and dislike for mathematics. However, mathematics continues to be a gatekeeper for participation in westernized academic spaces (Moses and Cobb, 2002). When looking at the normative structures that exist in schooling systems, much can be learned from the voices and behaviors of students. This research provides critical information for effectively inviting students to participate in mathematical settings such that they choose to reveal their authentic identities. As defined in this research, identity is socially constructed, fluid, and multi-dimensional (Barton, Tan, & Rivet, 2008; Bishop, 2012; Nasir, 2002). Using the theoretical frameworks of funds of identity (Esteban-Guitart & Moll, 2014), mathematics identity (Bishop, 2012; Gutiérrez, 2013; Martin, 2013) and power, agency, and resistance (Chambers et al., 2014, Emirbayer & Mische, 1998; Foucalt, 1982), this research interrogates the ways that middle and high school students reveal their identities in mathematics spaces. This research investigated the identity emergings of two eighth grade students and three eleventh grade students using case study methodology drawing from critical ethnographic practices. Data for this study came from observing students in both formal and informal mathematics settings and from semi-structured interviews. The findings from this study revealed six themes and four implications that contribute to the body of literature on student identity and reframe mathematical pedagogies and practices to be more appealing to all students.
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    An In-Depth Focus on An Emerging STEM School, A Community-Based Framework for STEM Integration, and Fostering Students’ STEM Interest
    (2019-08) Leammukda, Felicia Dawn
    The fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) have been and continue to be dominated by White men (Corbett & Hill, 2015). Women and students of color are underrepresented in post-high school STEM majors and careers in relation to the current demographics of the United States population (Corbett & Hill, 2015). The middle school years mark a decline in interest and positive attitudes toward STEM (Riegle-Crumb, Moore, & Ramos-Wada, 2010). Researchers argue that teaching and learning through STEM integration and the creation of STEM schools, particularly in areas with a high population of under-represented students, could ameliorate this situation. This three-paper dissertation focused on an urban, community middle school located in the Midwestern United States working to develop a STEM focus. The first paper is a case study that explored the factors that impact how teachers and administrators work to develop as an emerging STEM school. The second paper develops a conceptual framework for STEM integration which takes an inclusive approach and incorporates social justice, community strengths and expertise, and personal relevance, and explores the implementation of this conceptual framework. The third paper focuses specifically on ways to foster STEM interest in female students through their participation in inclusive, integrated STEM units. Overarching themes from the three studies include the need for: (i) an inclusive approach to STEM integration; (ii) STEM integration with community connections; and (iii) awareness of social justice-related issues in STEM that promote gender and racial equity in STEM education.
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    Middle School Literacy Practices, Teachers who Construct them, and Students who Experience Reading Difficulties and Disabilities
    (2015-07) Brodeur, Katherine
    Public narratives about middle school literacy utilize high-stakes assessment results to categorize students, often in unilateral and unproductive ways (Franzak, 2006; Vasudevan & Campano, 2009). In contrast, empirical evidence suggests middle school students who fail to meet proficiency benchmarks represent a variety of skill profiles (Dennis, 2013; Lesaux & Keiffer, 2010) and interact with peers, texts, and teachers differently based on their identities and perceived identities (Hall, 2009; 2012). Despite this evidence, broad categorizations of students play a role in the design of many middle school instruction programs. Classroom literacy practices are influenced by teachers' interpretations of this information as well as other historical and local factors as they construct uniquely situated local literacy practices. This dissertation, structured as three separate but related papers, examines the intersection of a social practice view of literacy and a social construction view of disability. By documenting the literacy practices observed, the teachers' aims in constructing them, and the participation of students who are identified as struggling, this dissertation particularized what reading disability and difficulty meant for two students across multiple contexts in one middle school. Implications of this research suggest that understanding students with reading difficulties and disabilities from multiple perspectives, centering on their expertise, will enable teachers to enact more inclusive practices and contribute new viewpoints to research.
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    The Minnesota Children, Youth and Families At Risk Project: Impact Report 2009
    (University of Minnesota Extension, 2009) Skuza, Jennifer; Tzenis, Joanna; Sheldon, Timothy
    The Minnesota CYFAR Sustainable Communities Project is focused on strengthening the ability of middle school aged youth to set and achieve short and long-term educational goals by using an innovative and organic afterschool program model that is highly experiential. The aim of the program is to help youth own their learning by igniting their interest in education and to work with parents and guardians to support them in their role as their child's first educator. This impact report describes the program model and the educational resources we used to develop it. It also highlights some of the promising early results, along with the resources developed during the project’s first year. There are also find descriptions of the communities, youth, and parents this project serves.
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    Student academic engagement and the academic achievement gap between black and white middle school students: does engagement increase student achievement?
    (2009-10) Sbrocco, Renee
    Too many students leave American high schools unable to read, write, or even do simple math. This academic failure falls disproportionately on students of color. In addition, student academic disengagement is ubiquitous in American schools. In 2004, The National Research Council and Institute of Medicine found that large numbers of American students are not fully engaged intellectually in the teaching and learning enterprise (Marks, 2000). The effects of student disengagement are most severe among minority students, a group which scores lower in achievement and higher in drop-out rates (Voelkl, 1997). Given the disparity between White and Black students in academic achievement and academic engagement, the purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between academic engagement and the achievement of eighth grade students in three suburban middle schools. The study utilizes a post-positivism philosophy given the quantitative methods used to analyze perceived levels of academic engagement of eighth-grade students. The engagement data was then analyzed compared to student academic achievement. In conclusion, the study showed that more engaged students demonstrated higher academic achievement. In addition, the effects of engagement have the ability to reduce the effects of race on academic achievement.
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    Understanding Middle School Students' Perceptions of Physics Using Girl-Friendly and Integrated STEM Strategies: A Gender Study
    (2015-05) Dare, Emily
    According to the American Physical Society, women accounted for only 20% of bachelor's degrees in the fields of physics and engineering in 2010. This low percentage is likely related to young girls' K-12 education experiences, particularly their experiences prior to high school, during which time young women's perceptions of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) and STEM careers are formed (Catsambis, 1995; Maltese & Tai, 2011; National Research Council, 2012; Sadler, Sonnert, Hazari, & Tai, 2012; Tai, Liu, Maltese, & Fan, 2006; Scantlebury, 2014; Sikora & Pokropek, 2012). There are no significant gender differences in academic achievement in middle school, yet young women have less positive attitudes towards careers in science than their male peers (Catsambis, 1995; Scantlebury, 2014). This suggests that the low female representation in certain STEM fields is a result of not their abilities, but their perceptions; for fields like physics where negative perceptions persist (Häussler & Hoffman, 2002; Labudde, Herzog, Neuenschander, Violi, & Gerber, 2000), it is clear that middle school is a critical time to intervene. This study examines the perceptions of 6th grade middle school students regarding physics and physics-related careers. A theoretical framework based on the literature of girl-friendly and integrated STEM strategies (Baker & Leary, 1995; Halpern et al., 2007; Häussler & Hoffman, 2000, 2002; Labudde et al., 2000; Moore et al., 2014b; Newbill & Cennamo, 2008; Rosser, 2000; Yanowitz, 2004) guided this work to understand how these instructional strategies may influence student's perceptions of physics for both girls and boys. The overarching goal of this work was to understand similarities and differences between girls' and boys' perceptions about physics and physics-related careers. This convergent parallel mixed-methods study uses a series of student surveys and focus group interviews to identify and understand these similarities and differences. Classroom observations also helped to identify what instructional strategies teachers used that influence student perceptions. Findings from this study indicate very few differences between the perceptions of physics and physics-related careers for 6th grade girls and boys. However, the differences that exist, though subtle, may indicate how K-12 science instruction could more positively influence girls' perceptions. For instance, while girls are just as interested in science class as their male counterparts, they are more motivated when a social context is included; this has implications for how they view physics-related careers. The findings of this study shed light on not only why fewer females pursue careers in physics, but also how K-12 science reform efforts might help to increase these numbers.