The Undergraduate Symposium, hosted by the College of Arts and Sciences, serves as a showcase of research and creative academic excellence at Eastern Michigan University emphasizing a tradition of outstanding student achievement. The annual event has grown in both size and distinction since its inception in 1981.

Seventeen students from the College of Education participated in the 2007 event held at the EMU Student Center.

List of Speakers: Special Education | Teacher Education

Special Education

Shana Baber
Professor Carole Gorenflo, sponsor
Cued Speech and Its Use by Speech-Language Pathologists
Cued speech was originally developed as a teaching technique to be used with deaf students by Dr. R. Orin Cornett. Cued speech, consisting of eight handshapes (for the consonants) and four positions around the face (for the vowels) in combination with visual information provided on the face and lips, will be demonstrated. This technique permits representation of all phonemes, or speech sounds, of spoken language in a visual form. Because of its integration of multiple senses and brain areas -- sound, sight, kinesthesia, and motor movement -- this presentation will address how cued speech may be particularly well suited to help many students with exceptional needs, regardless of their hearing status.

Megan Bultsma and Sarah Gibbons (pictured at right)
Professor Ann Orr, sponsor
A Collaboration in Assistive and Educational Technology: Department of Special Education, Eastern Michigan University and C.S. Mott Children's Hospital, The University of Michigan
This presentation chronicles the experiences of our one and a half year internship with C.S. Mott Children's Hospital. The internship was created in an effort to bring state of the art educational and assistive technology to the hospital to better serve patients, some of whom have exceptional learning needs. The internship produced tangible products which included training manuals, an assistive technology cart, videoconferencing system for distance learning, and a K-12 educational software library.

Reeda Firth-Harrison
Professor Alicia Li, sponsor
The Effects of Brain Gym on Visual Response Time
This study examines the use of brain gym and how it effects the visual response time of students who are visually impaired and learning disabled. Brain gym is a program that incorporates cross-motor activities to activate the brain and theoretically increase eye-teaming skills as well as learning. This project involved recording visual response times before and after brain gym movements. The impact of brain gym on visual response is examined.

Claire Letendre
Professor Linda Polter, sponsor
Can You Hear Me Now?
Becoming a teacher of the hearing impaired requires one to be knowledgeable of the anatomy and physiology of the ear. Learning how normal hearing occurs is the first step, before learning the different types and ways of describing a hearing loss. This presentation was developed for the introductory course for students majoring in hearing impairment. This course focuses on basic knowledge of hearing impairments and teaching strategies for this population. The purpose of this multi-media presentation was to provide an overview of critical anatomical and physiological elements of hearing prior to enrollment in the next course, "Introduction to Audiology."

Allysa Rivet
Professor Linda Polter, sponsor
An Adapted Speech Assessment for Young Children with Hearing Impairments
This test was designed to determine whether a child is able to produce a certain sound in the initial, medial and final positions of words. Instead of giving the child a list of words to pronounce, the child is shown common pictures to name. This allows a child with little or no reading ability to be tested to determine which sounds the child has mastered or needs work on. As a special point of interest, a videotape demonstrating my administration of the test to a preschool child who has a hearing impairment will be shown.

Teacher Education

Mandy Church
Professor Peggy Moore-Hart, sponsor
Extra! Extra! Read All About It: Publishing in the Elementary School
Attention all teachers, parents and students! Are you looking for an alternate way to help strengthen the reading and writing process? This session will explore how publishing affects reading and writing. What I am going to focus on is why publication is an important part of learning to read and write. The presentation also focuses on the steps of revising and editing and how publishing may promote higher level thinking.

Rachelle Doublet, Carol Cherian and Jungeun O
Professor Caroline Gould, sponsor
Ethnic Marriage
Our research question asks what the purpose of marriage is among Catholic Indians, Catholic Filipinos and Koreans. The purpose of marriage is to create the foundation for family and also to legitimately have kids. The sacrament of marriage is so important that divorce is highly frowned upon. The rituals of marriage have as their basis, symbolic meanings that underlie the unity of husband and wife. Also, the roles between the husband and wife in the marriage have changed since our parents' generation. Today, the husband and wife have more equitable roles and are truly partners in their family's life.

Jennifer K. Harb
Professor Margaret Moore-Hart, sponsor
A Lesson Learned: Integrating Literature into the Content Areas
Our goal as future educators is to promote effective and enjoyable learning for all students. The integration of literature into the content area curriculum can help us to achieve it. When chosen and presented with care, literature can aid in student comprehension, motivation, and literacy. Students find learning more meaningful when it is related to their lives, and literature provides many real world connections and applications. It is also accessible to students of varied backgrounds, learning styles, and abilities.

Jennifer Marie Hartley
Professor Mary Rearick, sponsor
Effective Before, During and After Reading Strategies
In order to efficiently succeed in today's society, being a literate individual is fundamental. To be literate can be interpreted through a variety of spectrums including development of literacy applicable to technology, reading and writing. Integration of literacy goals in early elementary and throughout all levels of education is fundamental. The integration of literacy outcomes in core subject areas while incorporating effective before, during and after-reading strategies paves the path for students to achieve literacy. These strategies effectively demonstrate the essentials of reading and interpreting a variety of texts to encoding and decoding vocabulary and comprehending valuable information.

Thomas Kennedy
Professor Elizabeth Johnson, sponsor
Look at the Time: A Comprehensive Investigation of the Influences and Stimuli That Impact How Time is Measured and Experienced
Learning the aspects of time measurement (e.g., minutes, weeks, months) is a part of most children's early elementary experience. This unit plan takes a comprehensive approach, exploring the social and scientific influences of calendars. By examining multiple calendars the students will not only gain a deep understanding and comfort with their own calendar, but they will also acquire enduring concepts about why and how social norms are developed, as well as an appreciation of diversity.

Brigit Locke
Professor Peggy Moore-Hart, sponsor
Reading the World: The Importance of Teaching Content Knowledge Through Trade Books
Nonfiction is a forgotten genre in the elementary curriculum. Students are often not introduced to expository text until fourth grade, at which time they may receive developmentally inappropriate textbooks. This deficit in exposure and quality impairs students' ability to independently manage text, while the use of nonfiction trade books provides students with engaging and authentic instruction. This presentation reviews current research on trade book use and offers suggestions for incorporating such materials into the classroom.

Pamela Parkinson
Professor Bette Shellhorn, sponsor
An Alphabet Book for Nicholas: A Personalized Alphabet Book for a Struggling Reader
Field experiences present us with interesting challenges. In a field experience, I tutored a first grader who had trouble with alphabet identification. As a pre-service reading teacher, I wrestled with how to help my student secure this most basic skill. Research says that students like to "see" aspects of their own self, reflected in the pages of books. Taking this idea one step further, I designed my student "his own" alpha-book.

Rebecca Seres
Professor Martha Baiyee, sponsor
Catching the Rainbow: Identifying Colors Through a Performance-Based Assessment
Assessment is an essential tool for educators that provides insight into curriculum development and organization. A variety of testing methods can be implemented, but they may not accurately depict the child's achievement and progress. Performance-based assessment is an ongoing form of assessment that allows the child to demonstrate his or her knowledge in a variety of ways. Today's presentation will illustrate a performance-based assessment game intended to assess the color recognition skills of three- and four-year-olds.

John P. Guthrie III
Professor Martha Baiyee, sponsor
Are Children Learning?
Children learn through engaging in various activities that are of interest to them. The quandary for a teacher is determining what the child has learned and to what extent. This presentation will show some typical activities children are engaged in, what they learn while they do these activities and how the learning is documented using assessment techniques.

Stephanie Kozlowski, Derrick Miller and Ryan King
Professor Stephanie Daza, sponsor
Can We Teach Toward Social Justice?
Kevin Kumashiro's book, Against Common Sense, analyses different ways in which oppressive education appears in schools and offers possible suggestions to alleviate the problem. Using this book and results from a survey, we compared the awareness of education students at Eastern Michigan University and current elementary teachers in regard to oppressive practices in the classroom.

For more information see the Undergraduate Symposium XXVII Web site.

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