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ALSDE funds three research projects

April 2010

The Alabama State Department of Education recently awarded $5,000 grants for three different research and outreach projects in the College of Education.

The projects receiving funding were:

"AuburnVoices: Developing Advocacy and Leadership Skills among Students in the College of Education,'' a collaboration involving Drs. Jamie Carney and Caroline Dunn and doctoral candidate Kathy Robinson in the Department of Special Education, Rehabilitation, Counseling/School Psychology. Carney, professor and coordinator of the counselor education doctoral program, and Dunn, professor of rehabilitation and special education, are working with Robinson to provide grant writing, advocacy and leadership training for student leaders within the College of Education. The AuburnVoices program also involves the college's student groups in collaborative projects to assist at-risk schools.
"Prediction as a Tool to Enhance Instructional Practice,'' a project of Dr. Lisa Kasmer, assistant professor of elementary mathematics education in the Department of Curriculum and Teaching. Kasmer's study will investigate the effectiveness of teachers using prediction questions to provide informal assessments of student thinking and whether prediction questions improve instructional practice. The study will attempt to enhance teaching understanding of student conceptions about mathematics, prompt teachers to reflect on how to teach the subject most effectively and result in more complex instructional strategies for improving subject comprehension.
"Increasing Preschoolers' Physical Activity and Time On-task using Structured Classroom-based Physical Activity Breaks,'' a collaboration between Drs. Danielle Wadsworth and Leah Robinson, assistant professors of in the Department of Kinesiology. Wadworth, who directs the college's Faculty and Staff Fitness Program, specializes in health promotion, while Robinson's research focuses on motor behavior. The study aims to evaluate the effect classroom-based physical activity breaks have on preschool-age children's physical activity levels during the school day and on-task behavior during instruction time.

Last Updated: May 17, 2011