Category Archives: Student Research

Attend our Fall 2020 Lurie College Learning Showcase

SJSU Lurie College of Education Learning Showcase

Join us on Friday, December 4, from 4-7pm to support students from across Lurie College as they present their research, fieldwork experiences, co-curricular experiences, and more at our semi-annual Learning Showcase! The event will begin with a keynote from Ana Benderas, Director of ELA and Humanities at Quetzal Education Consulting; include a range of student presentations and panels; and conclude with small group discussions and prizes. Learn more about each of the sessions and RSVP at sjsu.edu/education/showcase.

Lurie College Alumni Publishes Journal Article

Congratulations to recent Child and Adolescent Development alumni Melody Mann, whose research article “Understanding Child Noncompliance in the Early Care Setting” was published in the SJSU McNair Scholars Program Research Journal! Read the article at bit.ly/32gj4Ba

ABSTRACT

This study examines how teachers respond to children’s noncompliance in early care settings. This structured observational study will focus on the moment to moment interactions occurring within the preschool classroom between both the child and teacher. It is predicted that (1) teacher’s direct bids to children will promote greater instances of child compliance than indirect bids, and (2) teachers’ responsive language will promote greater instances of child compliance than restrictive language. The results of this study will contribute to existing knowledge about the nature of teacher child interactions in the early care settings.

Listen to Episode 6 of the Book Boat Podcast

SJSU Lurie College of Education alumni Alejandra Valencia (MA/Multiple Subject Credential Program) and Jocelyn Rodriguez (MA/Multiple Subject Credential Program) have released the sixth episode of their podcast, The Book Boat!  In this episode, Let’s Have The Conversation, they dive into approaching sensitive topics with students through the book Something Happened in Our Town: A Child’s Story about Racial Injustice.

Get connected to future episodes and content on YouTube, Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Instagram, or Facebook.

Read the 2019-20 Lurie College of Education Annual Report

At the SJSU Lurie College of Education, we prepare transformative educators, counselors, therapists, school and community leaders.  We do this through an emancipatory approach across our teaching, scholarship, and service.  While this has been a challenging and tumultuous year, our annual report shines a light on the numerous ways that we’ve embodied these principles and the many reasons for gratitude, pride, and hope in the work of our Lurie College students, faculty, staff, and alumni.  Read the 2019-2020 annual report.

Help Shape Upcoming Lurie College LGBTQ+ Support and Inclusion Training Sessions

SJSU Lurie College of Education Faculty Kyoung Mi Choi and Robert Marx

Lurie College of Education faculty Robert Marx and Kyoung Mi Choi will conduct training sessions for SJSU faculty, administrators, and staff around LGBTQ+ support and inclusion at SJSU. In preparation for that training, they are seeking current SJSU students who identify as LGBTQ+ to participate in their research about their experiences on campus and in class, as well as their suggestions for how SJSU could be improved. All the data they collect will be confidential, and your name will not be associated with any of your responses. Your responses may be shared with members of our campus community, including professors, staff, and administrators in the College of Education and across campus, but no identifying information will be included. To share your input with Dr. Marx and Dr. Choi, please complete this brief Google form.  If you’re taking this survey on a mobile device, please turn it sideways [landscape mode] so that you can see all response options.

Continue Reading…

Listen to Episode 5 of the Book Boat Podcast

SJSU Lurie College of Education alumni Alejandra Valencia (MA/Multiple Subject Credential Program) and Jocelyn Rodriguez (MA/Multiple Subject Credential Program) have released the fifth episode of their podcast, The Book Boat!  In this episode, The Power of Names, they discuss the books The Name Jar and Alma and How She Got Her Name.

Get connected to future episodes and content on YouTube, Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Instagram, or Facebook.

Latinx students at SJSU, Please Share Your Experiences of COVID-19

Dear Lurie College students,

My name is Karina Chavez. I am a current SJSU student pursuing my Master’s degree in Child and Adolescent Development.  My career objective is to contribute to a broader understanding that helps bridge inequities in our society by contributing to research that focuses on community well being.

COVID-19 has impacted everyone in different ways.  It is important to focus on how Latinx students at San Jose State University are being affected.  This study aims to better understand the stressors experienced by Latinx college students during COVID-19 Shelter-in-Place, the academic challenges, and how students cope.

Your participation involves a survey that will take about 15 minutes to complete.  The survey inquires about your experiences during the COVID-19 Shelter-in-Place.  To thank you for participating, you will be eligible to enter a drawing for a $20 Amazon gift card.  The likelihood of winning a gift card is approximately 60%. Complete the survey at sjsu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8wu9DWcU0JGR2TP

Thank you!

Listen to Episode 4 of the Book Boat Podcast

SJSU Lurie College of Education alumni Alejandra Valencia (MA/Multiple Subject Credential Program) and Jocelyn Rodriguez (MA/Multiple Subject Credential Program) have released the fourth episode of their podcast, The Book Boat!  In this episode, The Beginning of Conversations Around Race in the Classroom, they discuss books such as Not Quite Snow White and Let’s Talk About Race and discuss critical questions such as:

  • Who writes stories?
  • Who benefits from stories?
  • Who is missing from stories?

Get connected to future episodes and content on YouTube, Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Instagram.

 

Lurie College Hiring Student Research Assistant

As part of a collaborative project focusing on the intersections between dual immersion programs and students with disabilities, we are able to offer a student research assistant position. This position is funded for 60 hours of work through the fall and spring 2020-2021 academic year. In compliance with university policy, this position will pay $16/hr. This opportunity will provide you with experience working directly with faculty investigating issues surrounding dual immersion programs and special education, where you will be responsible for helping create a database of research participants, collecting data. While we will be recruiting multiple student volunteers, we also anticipate the person hired for this position to lead activities with other student volunteers.

Benefit to you: Exposure to research, and mentorship plus interdisciplinary experience. It is our desire that the candidate will be enriched and their abilities in conducting research will be expanded. The person selected for this position will have the opportunity to play an active role in the planning and implementation of this research.

Required Qualifications

  • Interest in education, social justice and equity issues.
  • Strong interpersonal communication skills through multiple communication methods (e.g., phone, email).
  • Familiar with educational institutions (districts, schools, levels of district management/organization).
  • Data-base management on excel.
  • Organization and time management skills.

Preferred Qualifications

  • Able to communicate in two or more languages and demonstrate the ability to communicate interculturally.
  • Have taken/are taking a research methods course.

If you are interested in participating in this project:

Submit this Google Form by Wednesday, September 23, that includes:

  1. A resume
  2. A list of references (2-3 references, including one faculty/staff member at SJSU)
  3. A cover letter that describes your interest in participating in this project.

 

Listen to Episode 3 of the Book Boat Podcast

SJSU Lurie College of Education alumni Alejandra Valencia (MA/Multiple Subject Credential Program) and Jocelyn Rodriguez (MA/Multiple Subject Credential Program) have released the third episode of their podcast, The Book Boat!  In this episode, Our Current Favorites, they discuss books such as Planting Stories, Kamala and Maya’s Big Idea, and others.  Get connected to future episodes and content on YouTube, Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Instagram.

 

Lurie College Learning Showcase | Joanna Gaeta

During the Spring 2020 transition to remote teaching and learning, we asked a handful of our Lurie College students to share their insights on learning as they relate to our priority areas – community-engaged, culturally sustaining, interdisciplinary, and holistic. Learn more about Joanna Gaeta, a graduate and credentia student in our Department of Special Education. In this video, Joanna discusses her academic transformation, relationships with her faculty, and new opportunities that opened up as a result.

Watch all of the student features and view some additional course features from our Lurie College Learning Showcase at sjsu.edu/education/showcase

Connect with Lurie College at https://linktr.ee/sjsulurie to receive more news about academic and student life!  Video edited by Sydney Ahmadian.

Student-Mentor Spotlight: Dahyeon Jung and Dr. Kim Tsai

SJSU Lurie College of Education Child and Adolescent Development Department Graduate Student Dahyeon Jung and Faculty Kim Tsai

Shoutout to Lurie College Child and Adolescent Development graduate student Dahyeon Jung and faculty Kim Tsai, who were recently featured on the SJSU College of Graduate Studies blog for their working relationship while Dahyeon is completing her thesis!  Read the feature at Student-Mentor Spotlight: Dahyeon Jung and Dr. Kim Tsai

Apply for a Lurie College Research Supplies Grant

SJSU Lurie College of Education Learning Showcase Melody Mann

Lurie College is proud to provide financial support to its students who are in need of supplies to conduct their academic research.  Undergraduate, graduate, credential, and doctoral students are eligible to apply for up to one $200 grant per fiscal year (July 1 – May 31) towards expenses for research supplies.  A limited amount of funding is available.  To apply, download, complete, and submit our Student Research Supplies Application form (PDF).

Research Feature | Julia Doan and the SEED Research Team

SJSU Lurie College of Education Child & Adolescent Development Student Julia Doan

With the support of a Lurie College Student Research Award, Julia Doan worked with our Supporting Early Education and Development (SEEDs) research team to conduct a study on children’s early understanding of numbers and math. Julia is an undergraduate student who has just completed her Junior year pursuing a ChAD major, with a focus on Community Programming, and a minor in Deaf Education. She is also an active member of our ChAD community and has recently taken on a leadership role in the new Early Childhood Student-Alumni Network (ESAN). “I got a chance to apply the knowledge that I have learned in my classes into research, which helps me retain that knowledge and understand how it applies in real life situations,” said Doan. “I am proud to be a part of the team’s collective study and data collection efforts and I am excited to contribute additional knowledge about number and counting abilities that children have, which can possibly be used by teachers in the future during their teaching practices.” An early report of study findings was presented at the biennial meeting of the Cognitive Development Society and Julia will present a final report at the upcoming Western Psychological Association conference (rescheduled for Fall 2020). This work would not have been possible without Julia and the support of Lurie College.

Listen to Episode 2 of The Book Boat Podcast

SJSU Lurie College of Education alumni Alejandra Valencia (MA/Multiple Subject Credential Program) and Jocelyn Rodriguez (MA/Multiple Subject Credential Program) have released the second episode of their podcast, The Book Boat!  In this episode, 1st Week of School, they discuss possible books and activities to begin the school year with.  Get connected to future episodes and content on YouTube, Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Instagram.

 

Research Feature | Kim Tsai and the Lurie College “TsaiKicks”

SJSU Lurie College of Education Child and Adolescent Development Faculty Kim Tsai Research Team

An overwhelming majority of adolescents in the U.S. receive insufficient sleep which has significant repercussions on their cognitive functioning, psychological well-being and physical health.  Relative to the increasing knowledge on the importance of sleep for healthy development, less is understood about contextual factors that promote optimal sleep.  As such, the overarching goal of this study was to investigate how family dynamics affect adolescent sleep.  Restful sleep is facilitated by perceptions of physical and emotional security and given that the family is a primary context in which important feelings of emotional safety are nurtured, it is critical to better understand how features of the family context shape adolescent sleep.

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Spring 2020 Lurie College Alumni Launch The Book Boat Podcast

Shoutout to SJSU Lurie College of Education alumni, Alejandra Valencia (MA/Multiple Subject Credential Program) and Jocelyn Rodriguez (MA/Multiple Subject Credential Program), who recently took their love for books, literacy, education, and social justice, and turned it into their podcast, The Book Boat!  Watch their first episode, Our Beginning, below and get connected to future episodes and content on YouTube, Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Instagram.

Research Spotlight | Social Media and Social Issues

SJSU Lurie College of Education Research Feature Ellen Middaugh, Mark Felton, Henry Fan

Participation in public discourse is critical to the democratic process. It allows us to connect and collaborate with people who agree with our political opinions and it allows us to understand, negotiate or compete with those who disagree with us.  As public discourse moves online to social media, we must understand how this shift changes public discourse and what knowledge and skills are needed for youth to participate as informed, ethical and empowered digital citizens in these settings.

Thanks to the support of the Lurie College Faculty-led Student RSCA award, a research team composed of Dr. Ellen Middaugh (Department of Child and Adolescent Development) and Dr. Mark Felton (Teacher Education) hired SJSU student and Lurie College Ambassador Henry Fan as a lead research assistant for this work.  During the first phase of the project, they worked with Mr. Fan to develop a coding system and sampling strategy for data analysis.  The research team has had a presentation accepted for the annual conference of the Association of Internet Researchers (Middaugh, Felton & Fan, 2020).  They have now begun phase 2, where Mr. Fan has helped train a team of three volunteer research assistants in our coding system.  Mr. Fan also took the lead in scheduling and conducting in-depth interviews with social media participants.

The research team is currently exploring how the source and dialogic purposes of posts impact the amount, type and quality of responses on two topics of public interest (COVID-19 and DACA).  They hope to disseminate their findings via publication during Summer 2020, and also use them to inform an experimental course entitled, Social Media & Social Issues (ChAD 196), to be offered during the Fall 2020 presidential election season.

Research Spotlight | Queer Educators and Counselors Network

The SJSU Lurie College of Education provides a range of grants to support students in their academic endeavors to become transformative educators, counselors, therapists, and leaders.  As a result, Lurie College faculty Robert Marx and Kyoung Mi Choi were able to collaborate with SJSU students, the SJSU Pride Center and the SJSU International Student and Scholar Services to conduct workshops to increase awareness around the unique challenges and strengths among LGBTQ+ international students.  This initiative has since grown into the Queer Educators and Counselors Network (QECN) – learn more at sjsu.edu/education/qecn.

SJSU Lurie College of Education Faculty Kyoung Mi Choi and Robert Marx

Student Spotlight | Kyah Cobb and Robert Abarca

The SJSU Lurie College of Education provides a range of opportunities to support students in their academic endeavors to become transformative educators, counselors, therapists, and leaders.  We spoke with our Communicative Disorders and Sciences students Kyah Cobb and Robert Abarca, who were able to collaborate with Professor Paul Cascella on a research project that explores communication supports for elders dually diagnosed with intellectual disability and dementia.  Listen to their insights in the podcast below!

The project has two focus areas: 1) a systematic review of the literature, and 2) the development of a new rating scale identifying positive communication supports for people with dual diagnoses. To date, the systematic review has surveyed and analyzed contemporary peer-reviewed academic journal articles, doctoral dissertations, professional organizations’ webpages, and professional blogs. Initial results suggest two findings. First, there is a gap in literature
describing communication supports for people with dual diagnoses versus people with dementia. Second, dementia-alone recommendations are rarely applied to people with a dual diagnoses. To date, a draft of the new rating scale is in the pilot-phase of verifying its reliability and validity.

SJSU Lurie College of Education Communicative Disorders and Sciences Students Kyah Cobb and Robby Abarca

“The whole research project is about the connection between intellectual disabilities and dementia.  What we have been looking into focuses on aspects of Down syndrome and the correlation in communication strategies for those who are also dual diagnosed with dementia.”

Continue Reading…

Student Spotlight | Joanna Gaeta and Samuel Bland

The SJSU Lurie College of Education provides a range of opportunities to support students in their academic endeavors to become transformative educators, counselors, therapists, and leaders.  We spoke with our Special Education Department graduate students Joanna Gaeta and Samuel Bland, who were able to collaborate with Assistant Professor Saili Kulkarni on a research project that examines beliefs about disability and race among special education teachers of color.  Listen to Joanna and Samuel’s insights below!

SJSU Lurie College of Education Special Education Department Students Joanna Gaeta and Samuel Bland

“We are currently working on studying special education teachers of color and what their beliefs are about disability and race.  We’re trying to see how do teachers position themselves to help out our students when we see disparities – whether it’s behavioral issues or academic issues within the school setting – and then how we as the special education teachers contend with that on the education front.”

Continue Reading…

Watch our MA in Special Education Student Research Project Presentations

Congratulations to our Lurie College graduate students in our Department of Special Education who recently presented their final research projects!

  • 3:34 – Nathaly Cisneros-Mendoza: “Perceptions of Latino/a parents when accessing services for their child with autism”
  • 11:51 – Marissa Richers: “Cerebral Palsy: The impacts on a child’s motor and social development”
  • 20:32 – Fatema Rahim: “Impact of South Asian cultural views on parents of children with special needs”
  • 29:12 – Monica Gonzalez: “The effect of a graphic organizer intervention on math word problem solving skills for English language learners with high incidence disabilities”
  • 40:26 – Elizabeth Sanchez: “The effect of culture on parent involvement in special education”
  • 50:31 – Ashley Highsmith: “The disproportionality of black students in special education”
  • 1:02:00 – Madison Henry: “Homeschooling vs public schooling: Decisions to homeschool children with special needs”
  • 1:10:01 – Dilkash Ahmed: “Teacher perceptions of assistive technology classroom implementation”

Connect with Lurie College at https://linktr.ee/sjsulurie to receive more news about academic and student life!

Attend the Lurie College MA in Special Education Research Presentations

Join us on Tuesday, May 12, from 7-8:30 on Zoom at https://sjsu.zoom.us/j/92109854969 to learn from 8 graduate students in our Department of Special Education as they present their thesis research!

  • Nathaly Cisneros-Mendoza: “Perceptions of Latino/a parents when accessing services for their child with autism”
  • Marissa Richers: “Cerebral Palsy: The impacts on a child’s motor and social development”
  • Monica Gonzalez: “The effect of a graphic organizer intervention on math word problem solving skills for English language learners with high incidence disabilities”
  • Dilkash Ahmed: “Teacher perceptions of assistive technology classroom implementation”
  • Ashley Highsmith: “The disproportionality of black students in special education”
  • Madison Henry: “Homeschooling vs public schooling: Decisions to homeschool children with special needs”
  • Elizabeth Sanchez: “The effect of culture on parent involvement in special education”
  • Fatema Rahim: “Impact of South Asian cultural views on parents of children with special needs”

MA in Special Ed Research Presentations

Watch the Faces of Learning Student Researcher Panel

During the Fall 2019 and Spring 2020 semesters, a group of SJSU undergraduate student researchers met with students across campus to get a deeper understanding of their learning experiences and then utilized photography and narrative to shine a light on those students’ learning experiences.

Watch this virtual Student Researcher Panel to learn from those who were most involved in this project and visit http://sjsu.edu/education/faces to view their student-curated exhibition.

SJSU Faces of Learning Project | Meet Project Coordinator Briettny

The Lurie College Faces of Learning Project shines a light on SJSU students’ learning experiences – huge thanks to graduate student Briettny Curtner for sharing her experience with us!  When asked about what motivated her to participate, she said, “This project was my first hands-on experience with qualitative research. It provided the opportunity for me to support students, learn a methodology, and curate authentic representation of each Spartan who shared their learning story with us.”

Visit sjsu.edu/education/faces to view the student-curated photo exhibition and RSVP to attend our student panel on Thu., Apr. 30, at 12pm.

SJSU Lurie College of Educaiton Counselor Education Department Graduate Student Briettny Curtner

– Name: Briettny Curtner
– Pronouns: She/Her/Hers
– Year and Major / Minor: Second Year, Graduate Student / Education, Counseling and Student Personnel
– Fun Fact / Hobby: I have been to 13 states!
– What motivated you to participate in this project? This project was my first hands-on experience with qualitative research. It provided the opportunity for me to support students, learn a methodology, and curate authentic representation of each Spartan who shared their learning story with us.

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Connect with Lurie College at https://linktr.ee/sjsulurie to receive more news about academic and student life.  Audio edited by Sydney Ahmadian.