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Expansion And Inclusion Of Creative Writing: A Course For Academic Writers

This thesis argues for the creation of a creative writing course that will target and benefit students who do not see themselves as writers, but who seek help with their writing, either personally or academically. Creative writing as a discipline has turned toward professionalization and a career focus and thus narrowed their student outreach and blocked their ability to show the benefits of creative writing to students across fields of study. Creative writing skills can benefit students of all disciplines and skill levels by producing better writing and writers, as well as improved critical thinking and reading skills within those students. Combined with writing center theory and placed within the University Writing Center, this course will utilize writing center ideas of peer collaboration, self-directed learning, low-stakes learning, and non-hierarchical teaching to engage students in an encouraging and dynamic environment. Pointing to personal anecdotes and experience, the history of creative writing, and a literature review of creative writing within the classroom, this thesis claims that there is a place in the academic world, a need even, for this type of creative writing course for non-creative writers

Lev Vygotsky Speaks: Early childhood curricula

Early childhood curricula have become a major source of conversation in recent decades. The desire for growth and reform in the education field has contributed to changing tides in the classroom, leading to more child-centered approaches that are believed critical in the acquisition of holistic development. Two such curricula that have received recent attention are Reggio Emilia and Tools of the Mind, both of which stem from the foundational beliefs of Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky. It is the aim of this paper to analyze both Reggio Emilia and Tools of the Mind in terms of how they compare to Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of development. Due in large part to the interpretation of his theoretical components, these two models have caught the attention of early childhood education leaders and scholars. However, the degree to which Vygotsky is represented in each curriculum remains up for discussion. It is through the intentional promotion of strong social environments and the development of necessary cognitive skills that a curriculum model could actualize the beliefs of Vygotsky. Additional research to understand what this might involve is certainly worth further analysis

When Intelligence is (Dys)Functional for Achieving Sales Performance

Using two different samples of salespeople, the authors investigate how a combination of general mental ability (GMA) and specific skills and capabilities (social competence and thinking styles) allows salespeople to reach their sales goals. The study finds evidence for an interaction between GMA and social competence. If combined with high social competence, high GMA leads to highest sales performance; if combined with low social competence, high GMA leads to lowest sales performance. In addition, interaction effects between GMA and a judicial thinking style were found. Salespeople high on GMA have the most potential for attaining high levels of sales performance when combined with specific skills; when lacking these skills they may become the firm’s worst performers.sales;knowledge;general mental ability;knowledge based marketing;thinking styles

An intervention study of primary age gifted students with strong nonverbal abilities from low income and culturally diverse backgrounds

The prevalence of high nonverbal reasoning strength among children from low income, culturally diverse backgrounds challenges the education community to provide effective instruction for these students (Briggs et al., 2008; Koshy & Robinson, 2006; Olszewski-Kubilius, 2007; Robinson et al., 1997; VanTassel-Baska, 2003b; VanTassel-Baska, Feng, & Evans, 2007). Research on the well-being and progress of young gifted students confirms that stimulating material resources, association with intellectual peers, and formal educational interventions designed to optimize students\u27 strengths improves the educational outlook for these students (Bittker, 1991; Campbell et al., 2001; Clasen, 2006; Corno et al., 2002; Morelock & Morrison, 1999; Ramey & Ramey, 2004; Robinson et al., 1997; Sarouphim, 1999; VanTassel-Baska, 2006; VanTassel-Baska et al., 2002; VanTassel-Baska, 2007). In this study, a Vygotskian perspective provided the framework for an instructional intervention (Vygotsky 1978 version, 1986 version, 1994 version). Consistent with the perspective, the intervention included intellectual scaffolding to support conscious thought and formal learning in science, and encouragement of individual learning in the zone of proximal development.;The researcher undertook this study to determine if the use of instructional strategies capitalizing on nonverbal reasoning strength would improve achievement in science learning with a William and Mary life sciences curriculum unit. A six week, 24 hour program in a southeastern Virginia urban district provided the venue for the study. Second graders from Title I schools who scored above the 80th percentile on the Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) nonverbal battery and significantly lower on verbal and quantitative batteries qualified for the program. Twenty-three students participated, resulting in a treatment group of 13 students and a comparison group of 10 students.;The nature of the intervention was a William and Mary Life Sciences unit modified for the treatment group. Treatment group teachers used enhanced instructional activities that incorporated the use of scientific symbols, active rehearsals of new knowledge, visual mental models, and descriptive writing, as recommended by Lohman and Hagen (2003) and others (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 2000).;Results of unit assessments indicated that both the treatment and comparison groups showed statistically significant increases in concept attainment ( p \u3c .001). However, the treatment group showed significantly higher mean scores than the comparison group in concept attainment (p \u3c .05). Neither treatment nor comparison groups showed significant gains for scientific reasoning over time; however, the treatment group scored significantly higher in scientific reasoning than comparison students (p \u3c .001). Both groups significantly increased their content knowledge (p \u3c .05); and the treatment group made significantly greater gains from pre- to post-assessment (p \u3c .05).;The findings suggest that students who are exposed to high-quality research-based instructional units tailored to and aligned with their cognitive strength in nonverbal reasoning may show gains in science learning. Future research should employ larger samples, randomly assigned, to strengthen results and improve the ability to generalize the findings to school districts with similar populations of students with strong nonverbal reasoning skills from culturally diverse, low income backgrounds

Youth and Digital Media: From Credibility to Information Quality

Building upon a process-and context-oriented information quality framework, this paper seeks to map and explore what we know about the ways in which young users of age 18 and under search for information online, how they evaluate information, and how their related practices of content creation, levels of new literacies, general digital media usage, and social patterns affect these activities. A review of selected literature at the intersection of digital media, youth, and information quality -- primarily works from library and information science, sociology, education, and selected ethnographic studies -- reveals patterns in youth's information-seeking behavior, but also highlights the importance of contextual and demographic factors both for search and evaluation. Looking at the phenomenon from an information-learning and educational perspective, the literature shows that youth develop competencies for personal goals that sometimes do not transfer to school, and are sometimes not appropriate for school. Thus far, educational initiatives to educate youth about search, evaluation, or creation have depended greatly on the local circumstances for their success or failure