Three Educator majors and three School of Education faculty members presented at the 2025 Paul D. Lack Scholars Showcase was held April 25.
Stephanie Henry and Zaria Smith ’26, Early Childhood Education, presented “Family Math Fluency Kits.” For a kindergarten and a second grade classroom, the teacher candidates created kits to encourage family collaboration, develop number sense, and improve math fluency. Each kit contained all the materials and, with the help of Kerlyn Campos ‘26, included directions in English and Spanish.
Gabrielle Green ’26, Elementary Education (on behalf of herself and Nursing major Kyle Maloney) presented a poster, “Hygiene Heroes.” As a result of this project, the two students digitally published a text for a Kindle or eBook platform. Additionally, a cognitive content dictionary was created for students to use for vocabulary and comprehension in reading the text, and a science lesson is incorporated as an experiment to show the effects of healthy handwashing.
Valerie Valdez, Assistant Professor (on behalf of herself and colleague, Jesse Schneiderman, Assistant Professor) presented, “Implementing a Justice-Centered, Trauma-Informed Pedagogy to Help Multi-Lingual Learners Thrive.” The presentation highlighted the strengths multilingual learners bring to the classroom, examined barriers to learning they may encounter, and analyzed how trauma may affect their learning. Pedagogical justice offers strategies for supporting these learners, overcoming barriers, and reducing the effects of trauma.
Lisa Moyer, Director of Graduate Education, presented “Palestinian STEM Education Framework,” a collaborative project with the Palestinian Ministry of Education and colleagues from U.S. universities to conduct gap analysis and suggest improvements in Science, Math, and Technology curriculum for Palestinian children in grades 5-9. This work includes the development of a tool for curriculum analysis, curriculum reform based on situational analysis, and teacher training.