Honors Projects

Abstract

The study will focus on the ability of students to retain information over the course of a year. We will do this by surveying 8th grade students, on material they were to have learned the previous year in the Social Studies content area. In order to understand how this retention process works, we will investigate how certain demographics, which the students fit into, will affect the outcome for that student's ability to succeed in the classroom. Our hypothesis is that there are at least one to two of these demographic categories that will affect a student’s ability, either positively or negatively, to retain information from the previous year and possess the ability to recall it a year later. In order to reach a conclusion for this hypothesis, we will look for the answers to the following questions. Each question will revolve around a student’s ability to retain information, with each question focusing on a distinct demographic element of the students’ lives. These questions include: Gender, Age, Race/Ethnical Background, Family Structure (Parental/Guardian situation, amount of siblings, birth order), Parents Educational Background (High School Diploma, College Degree, etc.), amount of work done outside the classroom, typical grade students earn in the subject, and the level of interest towards Social Studies. After receiving the answers to these demographic questions and comparing the scores of the student, we will use statistical measures to see if there are any correlations between the two variables.

Major

Middle Childhood Education

First Advisor

Mark Earley

First Advisor Department

Educational Foundations, Leadership and Policy

Second Advisor

Sansanee Longbrake

Second Advisor Department

School of Teaching and Learning

Publication Date

Spring 2013

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