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K-State Today

May 18, 2016

College of Education hosts undergraduate research fair

Submitted by Patrice Scott

Dean Mercer with several future teachers at the Spring 2016 Undergraduate Research Fair.

The College of Education had its spring 2106 Undergraduate Research Fair in which 19 students participated.

Poster presentations ranged in topics from international literacy to music education. Debbie Mercer, dean of the college, was impressed with the level of student research and appreciated the extra time faculty advisors invested in each project.

"I am thrilled with the scholarly work these students presented," Mercer said. "As time goes on, I believe these young professionals will view this as an invaluable asset to their academic coursework and provide a foundation that will be used throughout their professional teaching career."

Daniel Patterson was one of the presenters. He is a senior in secondary education-social studies and completed a research project about instructional video games in social studies.

"Research enriches coursework by serving as an area of application," Patterson said. "You use the knowledge you learned in class and apply it to the real work you do. You learn why you learned what you did in class by doing research."

Six of the poster presentations were action-research projects:

  • Dara Denton, senior in secondary education-English presented "National Board Certification: What is it and Why does it Matter?" Faculty advisors are Vicki Sherbert and Todd Goodson. 
  • Caleb Roth, senior in secondary education-English, and Jordyn Holle, senior in secondary education-social studies presented "Knowledge Brokering." Faculty advisors are Sally Yahnke and Megan Klozenbucher, clinical instructor.
  • Amanda Braun, senior in secondary education-biological sciences, presented "Addressing Culture through Culture Human Population Growth." Faculty advisor is Lori Goodson.
  • Dylan Owings, senior in secondary education-biological sciences, presented "Science has No Boundaries." Faculty advisor is Leah McKeeman.
  • Paige Gasper, Hunter Sherretts and Ryan Smallwood, seniors in elementary education, presented "The Swedish Partnership Project: Teaching and Learning with Technology." Faculty advisor is Lotta Larson.
  • Ronald Atkinson, senior in music education, presented "Teaching Writing through Culture and Music for ESL/non-ESL Students." Faculty advisor is Lori Goodson.

 Honors projects included:

  • Emily Tilden, sophomore in elementary education, "Nature Integration and the Student's Environmental Perspective." Faculty advisor is Laura Tietjen. 
  • Elizabeth Hix, senior in secondary education-speech, "Manuscripts Developed During Study Abroad." Faculty advisor is Todd Goodson.
  • Daniel Patterson, senior in secondary education-social studies, "Instructional Electronic Gaming in Social Studies: An Evaluative Rubric for Judging Games." Faculty advisor is Brad Burenheide. 

Other projects included:

  • Joseph Fedrizzi, senior in music education, "Selections." 
  • Senior art education exhibit: Brooke Kuehny, senior in art education; Taylor Holthaus, senior in art education; and Jonathan Atteberry, senior in art education. Faculty advisor is Trina Harlow.