Theses and Dissertations at Montana State University (MSU)
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Item A pedagogoy of stewardship : discourse, theory, and emotion in teaching literature(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2002) Lagerwey, Sandra JeanItem Individualizing the writing process through a genre-based, social-process pedagogy(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2006) Wilke, William Walter; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Kirk BranchMany contemporary composition scholars are moving beyond process theory, contending that the act of writing effectively is one of complex social interaction, an intricate ballet of intellectual feigns, parries and thrusts, that cannot be reduced to the simple process of prewriting, writing and rewriting to be taught in the same, or even similar, manner to every person. In fact, they argue, there can be no effective classroom composition pedagogy that reveals the social nature of the act of writing to the student in any meaningful way. And yet a wealth of personal observations have shown that a great many working world adults-a substantially greater proportion of the population than that found in the first-year writing class-have mastered the skill of effective writing to a significant extent, leading to the conclusion that experience and maturation can and does teach the social nature of the many genres of everyday writing. What follows is an attempt to create a curriculum that recognizes the social nature of writing and incorporates it into the classroom setting through collaborative writing exercises, genre-awareness and assignments designed to reveal to the individual writer his or her own way of producing desired effects on readers. The curriculum also aims to hasten some of the experience and maturation that reveals the social nature of writing to so many writers as they wend their way through the working world. What is initially proposed is then taken into two first-year writing classes in succeeding semesters and evaluated on the basis of student responses and instructor observations. Those methods of evaluation are admittedly lacking in a high degree of reliability. However, this essay concludes with some suggested refinements and a proposal for a more thorough testing of the curriculum's effectiveness.Item Burdens and Blessings : heuristic pedagogy for the rhetorical endeavor in composition(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2005) Lenart, Joshua Bela; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Kirk BranchRhetoric has been a cornerstone of Western thought for at least the last 2500 years, whether disdained as manipulative techniques exercised by immoral lawyers and corrupt politicians or prized as an elegant mastery of language displayed by leaders and dignitaries. This essay posits that rhetoric is always a fundamental part not only of Western but of all societies. Maintaining such a constitution necessarily raises the questions how and why should educators acknowledge rhetoric's role in their instruction. Of the innumerable sites for introducing an increased focus on rhetorical instruction in universities, the most obvious should be first year composition classrooms since these sites are oftentimes 1) mandatory and 2) already situated, loosely or extensively, around rhetorical understandings of the classroom and the world in which the classroom exists. The methods of this heuristic essay are designed to draw attention to the need for composition instructors to increase instruction on and around rhetoric, both classical and modern, in order to gain a fuller understanding of how our culture exists within itself and in relation to other cultures. In order to illustrate this need, I offer an historical overview of the discipline, as first designed by classical rhetors beginning with the early sophists and Aristotle, which continued largely unchanged until the middle part of the nineteenth century and the inception of the Morrill Land-Grant College Act after which time emerged what is popularly termed modern rhetoric. By examining these two discrete eras in rhetoric's history, I hope to highlight not only the need for, but in fact the demand for revisiting both eras in contemporary composition classrooms. This essay also posits that rhetoric, historically and contemporarily, can have the most dramatic effect on changing the social conditions in which students and educators exist. This argument could not operate without the understanding that increased focus on compositional rhetoric is necessary today insofar as it strives to continually realize social and political change, which focuses primarily on achieving a greater sense of democracy in our educational systems and thereby our culture. Consequentially, the conclusions reached here are at best suggestive and, as the title suggests, heuristic.Item Student misconceptions : identifying and reformulating what they bring to the chemistry table(Montana State University - Bozeman, Graduate School, 2011) Modic, Amiee L.; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Peggy Taylor.The primary goal of this project was to investigate methods of identifying student misconceptions as they related to the particulate nature of matter, and then to determine what types of treatments might be effective toward helping students redefine their concepts. Misconceptions were identified through the Particulate Nature of Matter Assessment, as well as through knowledge probes and the Conceptual Change Model. The primary methods of treatment included laboratory activities, model building and animations. Post-assessments and interviews revealed an improvement in the understanding of molecular size and conductivity of solutions at a conceptual level, while student understanding of phase changes did not improve as much. Interviews and small group discussion proved to be surprisingly useful and hold promise for future lesson planning.