Graduate Projects from 2015 – 2016

AN ASSESSMENT OF A PRE-SERVICE CLASS IN OUTDOOR ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION FOR GOSHEN COLLEGE STUDENTS

– Lee Renshaw

I investigated a Goshen College outdoor education pre-service course, called BIOL-340, for students majoring in elementary education. BIOL-340 differs from most other outdoor education training programs in that it fully immerses participants in outdoor education for three weeks. The objective of this study was to use an alumni survey to find out what the main lessons were for the class and if these teachings were incorporated into the participants’ educational careers following graduation.

ASSESSING LONG-TERM SCIENCE KNOWLEDGE RETENTION OF FOURTH GRADE STUDENTS

– Katie Stoltzfus

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect that a pre-field trip, in-class lab experience has on long-term science knowledge retention. Two parallel versions of in-class curriculum were created for two fourth grade classrooms. One utilized teacher-centered instructional methods of lectures and individual activities. The other utilized student-centered methods of collaborative activities and group discussion. Students were assessed three days prior to the in-class instruction period and again three months after a field experience related to the curriculum content. My assumption was that the student-centered curriculum would demonstrate more knowledge retention.