Sunday, January 21, 2007

Possible Research Topics

The importance of making a long term health care center feel like home to its residents.

---- I feel that this is a very important topic that many people give little thought to. I’ve worked at a long term care facility for approximately three years now and feel I truly understand the importance. A large majority of the residents have been living at Greencroft, my place of employment, for ten plus years. Even though Greencroft needs to be run very similar to a hospital it is important that they are not left to feel like they are just patients at a medical facility but residents receiving care in their home.

What reforms need to be made to the Indiana education program to accomadate gifted students along with students with LD?

---- Unfortunately in the kindergarten to twelve grade education system Indiana is lagging behind most states. With such a large amount of under-educated students with learning disabilities many “average” classes have become simplified to accommodate them. This of course drops the academic level for the actual “average” students. In effect the “average” students are having to be placed in the “advanced” classes to be academically pushed while at the same time slowing down the pace for the truly “advanced” gifted students. How can we make our school systems accommodate them all?

What are the perks to a structured montessori learning enviroment?

----I was personally involved with a Montessori math program sixth to twelve grade at my school. In effect I went from being a little below average standardized math tester to well above average. It allowed me to move quickly through concepts that were easy for me to grasp while slowing down for the ones that did not come as easy for me. In the end I felt that I had a confident understanding and knowledge for all math concepts.

What is the importance of extra-curricular activities in school enviroments for the emotional and academic advancement of students?

----All through school I was very involved with a wide range of extra-curricular activities. I was President of the student body, in choir and involved in sports. And now I am a cheerleading coach for the high school and middle school I attended. I am a firm believer that when a child is involved with activities at their school it does more then just keep them off the streets. In any situation in life the more you feel involved and welcomed into the group you will try harder, be more confident and be more eager to attend. I believe this is true with student involved in extra-curricular activities at their school.

What are the advantages of year-round schooling?

----A large part of my family lives in Tennessee where year-round schooling is practiced. Some of my cousins lived up here in Northern Indiana attending a typical traditional school schedule and then moved there. They loved the year round schooling!! They found it so much easier to retain information instead of using the first month or so of school reviewing all the information you’ve lost from the year before.

Reforms that need to be made to the finicial aide programs.

----I come from a rather poor family. But according to Government we pack just about 1,000 to much a year for me to qualify for much aide. How is this possible? I think the FAFSA program needs to be re-evaluated.

4 comments:

Matthew Jehl said...

You have some great ideas about education. Education is so important to us. Ive heard such great things about the montessori programs. Its really a tragedy how gifted students are treated in out public school system. Frustration and boredom drive many students to drop out. How many of these people are gifted? These are the kind of people who make great accomplishments in the world, and we're letting them slip right through our fingers.

Worth Weller said...

these are all well thought out and very researchable topics Holly. There are some tasks in the learning module this week that'll help you narrow the list - I'll explain in class Wednesday night.

Stacey Pilling said...

I agree with you totally on the financial aid issue. Something does need to be done with it. I think that anyone willing to go to college should be given so much more help than they are. Federal loan interest rising is a problem also. My husband and I have both racked up about 100,000 in college loans and we can't find any help. We are not "poor", but we are most definetly not rich and we fall in a gap that gets no help. I wonder if we will ever be able to pay off our school loans? It's very scary. I think that the system is all messed up.

bineesh said...

Very nice idea...
Keep it up....
Regards,
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