Nature journaling in school gardens is a unique way to engage students in the natural world, providing time to notice, wonder, and observe through writing and drawing while engaging in environmental and sustainability learning. With the number of school gardens increasing in the United States, educators can benefit from understanding what students experience while participating in garden-based learning activities so they can adapt their teaching to fit the educational needs of their participants. School garden studies typically focus on measuring academic and health outcomes and nature journaling studies typically focus on educator experiences with one classroom. We facilitated a nature journaling study with four elementary classrooms in a public, Title I school in the desert southwest to explore student experiences while nature journaling in their school garden. Our findings show that nature journaling provides opportunities for students to engage in sustainability literacy by helping them to develop a sense of place in their school garden, inspire environmental stewardship, and practice systems thinking right outside their classrooms.

Effective online learning strategies have become a much-debated topic with the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic. Technological innovation has constantly been used to improve the education of students since its first use in the 1980s. Although online learning has been available to students in every single state in the US, along with a significant increase in online enrollment in virtual schools, teachers were simply not prepared for this sudden, immense transition. At the beginning of the pandemic, regardless of the preparedness and effectiveness of teachers across the country, time was not spent creating unique lessons to guide the education of our students, but it was instead spent rushing through quick and easy lesson plans. In order to better prepare for the future, this thesis will use a literature review of pedagogical practices and online learning, a survey of 52 ASU students, and the creation of the Online Learning Resource Hub (OLRH) in order to find the best approach to online learning for students in the 21st century.

Here’s the latest from my blog- Tips for Struggling Writers, sharing my knowledge on<br/>how not only special educators, but anyone can help individuals who struggle with writing. I share my input as well as including immense research and peer reviewed articles to show my understanding of the value of education. Through my blog, one should be able to sit down and understand what makes up a special education world. My blog is the fast track version of a Special Education 101 class. As you travel through, I hope to share different tips, tricks, and techniques that you can apply in your own classroom.

Digital learning tools have become ubiquitous in virtual and in person classrooms as teachers found creative ways to engage students during the COVID 19 pandemic. Even before the pandemic and widespread remote learning, however, digital learning tools were increasingly common and a typical part of many classrooms. While all digital learning tools are worthy of study, math digital learning tools (MDLTs) designed for K - 8th grade in particular raise questions of efficacy and usefulness for classrooms. This paper shows that MDLTs are an effective tool to raise students’ math achievement across K - 8th grade, and that time spent on MDLTs can lead to better understanding of a topic than traditional, teacher led instruction. However, if the MDLT is being delivered in a language the student is not familiar with, that student will not be able to benefit from MDLTs in the way other students do. This is also true of students who receive Special Education services. Additionally, higher quality MDLTs that provide feedback that attaches meaning to students’ work creates a better learning environment for students than one with simpler feedback. Based on my experiences with student teaching this year and using the popular MDLT IXL frequently, I recommend that MDLTs not just be used for independent practice time, but for whole class, problem solving sessions where students have to use mathematical thinking in new content areas. This will build deeper conceptual learning and a greater sense of achievement in students.

The purpose of this project was to create a resource for parents to introduce them to the PBIS framework that is used in many schools across the country, and to three low-intensity positive behavior management strategies that can be utilized to prevent problem behaviors at school and home. The three strategies included in the resource are: behavior specific praise, precorrection, and high probability request sequences. All three of these strategies have been shown, through research, to help promote positive relationships between adults and children, and decreased problem behaviors when they are used in the classroom and school settings. Through a literature review that was conducted at the beginning of the project, it was found that there is very little research on the use of the three strategies by parents. This resource could potentially lead to more education and research being done on both the social validity of these strategies and their use in the home setting.

As climate change continues to escalate natural hazards around the globe, certain communities feel the impacts of these disasters more so than others. After Hurricane Maria devastated communities in 2017, Puerto Rico struggled to respond to the needs of its citizens, particularly those in rural areas. Many of the regions affected did not have resilient community structures in place to be able to withstand the systemic ripple effects of the hurricane. However, various community endeavors have developed post-Hurricane Maria to foster community collaboration and resiliency, including the development of agricultural tourism, otherwise known as agritourism. <br/>Although agritourism has begun to develop in rural regions of Puerto Rico, including the municipalities of Utuado, Ciales, Florida, and Jayuya, a systems-understanding is lacking of the current agritourism situation in the region and its related capacities, limitations, and opportunities of agritourism. To address this gap, a spatially explicit understanding and map of the underlying tourism infrastructure is needed to support the development of sustainable agritourism in Utuado, Jayuya, Ciales, and Florida municipalities in Puerto Rico. <br/>This report spatially represents the current state of tourism opportunities in the region as a result of asking “What are the spatial networks of gastronomy, accommodations, farms, and attractions that support the development of agritourism in Utuado, Jayuya, Ciales and Florida municipalities in Puerto Rico?” Three steps lead to the spatial representation starting with developing a comprehensive inventory. Second, we visualize the spatial map through Google Maps. Lastly, we explore the larger context of the report through an ArcGIS Storymap. The inventory will help with better understanding the number and variety of tourism resources available. The spatial visualization will help with understanding the distribution of resources and explore potential connections between resources and what relationships could be fostered in the future. Lastly, the ArcGIS Storymap will serve as a framework for outlining the future development of the SARE project. Overall, this report outlines the spatial maps of tourism resources and provides a tool to be used by community partners, tourists, and project partners.

The COVID-19 Pandemic has provided a challenge for educators to create virtual learning materials that are engaging and impactful during times of high stress and isolation. In this creative project, I explore the variety of virtual tools and web applications from Esri by creating a Story Map on the Verde River Watershed. This Story Map is intended for an audience of students in late middle school and early high school but can be a resource to teachers for a wider age range. The integration of interactive technology and virtual tools in educational practices is likely to continue past the immediate circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this Story Map is to showcase one of the many uses for geospatial web applications beyond the immediate realm of GIS.

The purpose of this project was to create a resource for parents to introduce them to the PBIS framework that is used in many schools across the country, and to three low-intensity positive behavior management strategies that can be utilized to prevent problem behaviors at school and home. The three strategies included in the resource are: behavior specific praise, precorrection, and high probability request sequences. All three of these strategies have been shown, through research, to help promote positive relationships between adults and children, and decreased problem behaviors when they are used in the classroom and school settings. Through a literature review that was conducted at the beginning of the project, it was found that there is very little research on the use of the three strategies by parents. This resource could potentially lead to more education and research being done on both the social validity of these strategies and their use in the home setting.