Sample Capstones  

MAED: NSEE 

Increased time spent in a natural setting related to an increase in pro-environmental behaviors and pro-environmental attitudes in adolescents by Mary Beck (2010)

The Use of Technology to Enhance Environmental Literacy by Ian (Joe) Burk

A Second Life By Design: Exploration of Learning Theory by Kate Conners (2009)

Investigative Research: Cigarette Filters with Vegetation, Soil, and Subterranean Environments by Eric Dahlberg

Energizing Outdoor Environmental Education: Criteria and Curriculum for Outdoor Energy Education by Lissa Eidelman (2010)

Reading with Nature by Lori Grabarkewitz

A Study of How Heritage Projects Connect Students to Learning Through Their Communities by Amanda Hakala (2009)

Human By Nature: Human Natural Heritage as a Guide for Teaching and Learning by Kendra Hunding

Using Student Journals to Facilitate Kolb’s Model of Experiential Education by Todd Hunter (2010)

Outdoor Learning as an Alternative to the Classroom for Struggling Students: Does it Increase Motivation and Enthusiasm? by Paul Jeffery

What effect does an exposure to nature have on students during their school day? by Valerie Jeffrey (2009)

Environmental Decision-Making of High School Students by Mark Lex

A Study of the Integration of Environmental Education and Christian Education: A Field Guide to Christian Environmental Education by Joel Light

How Earth Journaling Effects Student Writing in Word Choice, Voice and Ideas by Sharon Meister

Incorporating GPS Technology in Geography Curriculum by Brianne Messick (2009)

A Personal Study of Science Process Skills in a General Physics Classroom by Elizabeth Myers

Technology Integration in Environmental Learning: A Photography Based Case Study by Samuel Northey (2010)

Walter Meets a Mack: An Environmental Adventure Novel for Junior High Students by Michael Stoesz

Deforestation: A Case Study of the Cultural and Economic Dimensions in Kenya by Catherine Wanjugi  

MAESL 

Self advocacy, Medical Interpreting, and the LEP Patient (Appendix) by Stacey E. Achterhoff (2009)

The Educational Experiences of an ELL/LD Student by Kate Anderson (2011)

Pronouncing Three-Segment Final Consonant Clusters: A Case Study with Arabic Speakers Learning English by Anjanette Arnold (2010)

Children’s Literature and Math: How ELLs Benefit by Antoinette Azad (2008)

How Students use Academic Vocabulary Comprehension Strategies in Reading History by Andrea Barbera (2011)

A Method of Supplemental Science Vocabulary Instruction for Second-Grade English Language Learners by Hanni Baugh-Thomas (2008)

Accent, Self-Esteem and Community Involvement. A Study of Adult Non-Native English Speakers by Daniela Bergman (2012)

A Case Study of the Noticing-Reformulation Technique by Stephanie Bertram (2008)

An Exploration of the Role of Grammatical Feedback by Peers on Essay Writing in the Advanced English Language Learners’ Classroom by Angela Birk

Focused Topic Dialogue Journaling in ESL Workplace Instruction by Nancy Bjorn Nordeen

The Effect of Visual Images and Imagery on Immediate and Delayed Recall of Idioms by English Language Learners by Sarah Baker (2011)

Recount and Argument Writing by Chinese English Language Learners by Sarah Bjork (2011)

The Role of Cultural Awareness on L2 Comprehension and Retention of Culture-Specific Idioms by Kathleen Bjornson (2010)

Increasing Vocabulary Production through Explicit Vocabulary Instruction by Jennifer Blake (2009)

Evaluating Word Problems using Polya's Problem-Solving Strategy: Determining its Effects on an English Language Learner's Written and Oral Communication by Erin Bowman (2010)

Helping Mainstream Teachers Learn How to Teach English Language Learners by Elizabeth Brown (2012)

Do They Get the Picture? Visual Literacy and Low-Literacy Adult ESL Learners by Daniel Bruski (2011)

Identity Negotiation and Construction: A Case Study of Two Costa Rican Women Learning English by Jessica Buch

Mainstream & ELL Collaboration: A Case Study of a Mathematics Classroom by Cathryn M. Burrell

The Thomson Method of Study for Second Language Acquisition: A Diary Study by Heidi Caasi

The Teaching of Academic Writing by Practicing ESL Teachers in an Intensive English Program by Ellie Caldwell (2011)

Social Language in a Dual Immersion Setting by Anna Carlson (2011)

The Impact of Immigrant Life Experiences on Collegiate Critical Thinking Skills by Kristyn Clark (2011)

An Analysis of Somali Pronunciation Errors by Elizabeth Conway (2008)

How Does a Music Program Affect the Reading Fluency of Second Grade ESL Students? by Candace Cooper (2011)

Promoting Family Bilingualism: A Case Study Using the Thomson Method by Yvonne Crawford (2011)

Using the Language Experience Approach as a Part of Differentiated Literacy Instruction  by Shannon Curran

Teaching Prosody Through Readers Theatre by Ann Daly (2009)

English Language Learners' Reading Norms on the NWEA MAP Reading Test: A Tool in the Special Education Referral Process by Kate Dammann (2011)

Using AlphaSmarts to Improve the Quantity and Quality of Writing of Fifth Grade English Language Learners by Patricia Davis (2008)

Metaphonological Ability in Low-Literate Adult Somali English Language Learners by Sarah Davis (2009)

The Power of Co-teaching: Predictors of Attitudes on Elementary ESL/General Education Co-teaching by Stephanie DeFrance Schmidt

Using Music in a Senior High Level 1 ESL Classroom to Teach the Two Modal Auxiliaries 'Can' and 'Will' by Crystal DeVore

ELL Instructional Concerns of a Low Incidence School: A Case Study by Laurie Dirnberger (2010)

The Correlation Between Self-Efficacy Beliefs, Language Performance, and Integration Amongst Chinese Immigrant Newcomers by Jennifer Dodds (2011)

Selected Factors Determining Language Choice in Young Bilingual Children  by Angela Dorn de Samudio

Metacognitive Reading Strategy Instruction and Academic Texts: How College Level Bidialectal Students May Benefit  by Leigh Easton (2011)

Implementing the Rich and Intensive Method of Vocabulary Instruction for English Language Learners by Mary Ellen Elliott

ESL Secondary Students Reading-while-listening: Improving Academic Reading Comprehension with Recorded Texts by Nancy Ericson

Onset and Rime Instruction in a Low Level ABE ESOL Reading Classroom by Erin Evans

Implicit and Explicit Corrective Feedback for Middle School ESL Learners by Ben Fawbush (2010)

Comprehension of Aspect in English by Spanish-Speaking Students in an Adult Basic Education Program by Andrea Feshbach

Reading Inference and Aspect Instruction by Kerry Feyder (2010)

The Rap on Stress: Teaching Stress Patterns to English Language Learners Through Rap Music by Janelle Fischler

Action Research Study of a Child with a Chinese Cultural Background by Tatiana Fridman

Passive Voice and Participial Adjective Development in English Language Learners by Michelle Fuller (2011)

A Robust Vocabulary Approach with a Music Component by Juan Garcia (2010)

Academic Writing Strategies for Secondary ELLs in Social Studies by Sara George (2011)

After School Clubs and English Language Learners' Self-Esteem by Marilyn Gleason (2008)

Determining the Effectiveness of Ongoing, Intentional Reflection on Teaching and Learning in the Development of Volunteer Adult ESL Teachers by Minda Gomez (2012)

Journaling Through the Challenge of Change by Derek Grosskurth (2008)

Cooperative Learning in an English as a Second Language Classroom by Judith Grundman

Factors Affecting Latino Students’ Attendance at Free Adult English Classes  by Stephanie Guza (2009)

Increasing Oral Reading Fluency with Elementary English Language Learners by Judith Hacker (2008)

Understanding Written Directions: An Examination of Factors Contributing to the Comprehension Breakdown in L2 Developmental Reading Students by Mary Hagen (2012)

For a Better Life: A Case Study of a High School Latina Learning English in a Rural Community by Wendy Hall (2008)

Rural Content Area Teachers' Attitudes and Perceptions of Non-native English Speakers in Secondary Classrooms by Nicole Hedrick (2010)

Grade Two ESL Writers: Teacher-Modeled Writing and Oral Rehearsal by Kristine Heim

ESL and Mainstream Co-teaching Practices in one Elementary School by Daria Hendrickson (2011)

A Study Using Literature and Reflective Journals to Connect Cultural Identity to Future Goals by Sandra Hisakuni (2010)

Improving Phonemic Awareness Using Whole-Part-Whole Reading Instruction and the Language Experience Approach with Semi-Literate and Non-Literate Karen-Speaking Adults by Andrea Hokeness (2010)

Pull-Out to Collaboration: Becoming an Effective ESL Co-Teacher by Nancy Martinsen Holt

Graphic Novels in ESL: A Case Study of a Secondary Literature-Based Classroom by Jessica Holte Emery (2011)

Raising Muslim Adolescents: Somali Parents Perceived Challenges in Raising their Children in the Public Schools by Gale Husom (2009)

The Instruction of Language Learning Strategies for Low-Proficiency ESL Learners by Kimberly J.E. Iverson

"We're Good Friends": Out-of-Class Relationships Between Teachers of ESL and their Adult Students by Erica Jacobson (2011)

Adult Sudanese Students in Transitional English Classes: Factors That May Contribute to Academic Writing Readiness by Kathleen Ann Jensen (2008)

Language Objectives: Clear as Mud Helping Intermediate Language Learners Meet and Exceed Grade Level Standards by Alicia Johnson (2011)

Writer's Workshop in the Inclusive Classroom: Does It Meet the Needs of Newcomer English Language Learners?  by Anne Josephson

Investigation of L1 Influence on Avoidance of Relative Clauses by Japanese Learners of English: Do the Learners Transfer the Use of Japanese Relative Clauses into English? by Sanae Kano

A Dropout Dilemma: The Dynamics of Newly Arrive High School English Language Learner Retention and Graduate in a Large Midwest Urban School District by Calvin Keasling (2011)

Response to Intervention (RTI) Process Teams' Perception of the ESL Teacher's Role by Amy Kennedy (2012)

 What are Pakistani English language teachers’ perceptions of the barriers to promoting English language acquisition using student-centered Communicative Language Teaching with the students of their ESL classrooms? by Amna Kiran

Raising Awareness of Self-Efficacy through Self-Regulated Learning Strategies for Reading in a Secondary ESL Classroom by Amanda Koehler

Exploring the Teaching of Inference Skills  by Michela Kopitski

Listening to learn: Using focus group interviews in cross-cultural settings by Gail Koski (2009)

The Effect of Pronoun Reference Drill & Practice on the Reading Comprehension Scores of Middle School ELLS by Julia Marie Kral

The Somali and Secondary School Choice by Jillane Krause

A Study of How to Effectively Prepare Latino Parents for Supporting Their Children's Literacy by Veronica Kremer (2010)

What Factors Influence the Academic Success of Liberian High School Students? by Jane Lang

Methods to Improve Student Ability in Problem Solving Math Word Problems by Jennifer Langeness

Vocabulary Analysis of Word Problems on the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment of Mathematics by Ariane Lanier (2011)

Preserving Immigrant Languages: Parent Perspectives on the Benefits of Three Heritage Language Schools by Tara Larsen (2011)

Computer-Based Phonological Awareness Training for Adolescent English Language Learners by Kimberly Laska (2009)

Acculturation Factors a Working Model During the Special Education Referral Process by Robyn Law (2011)

A Study of the /O/ Phoneme as Pronounced by Women in the Morrison, Carver, and LeSeur Counties in Minnesota by Gretchen Leach

Language Learning Strategies of Older Somali and Oromo English Learners by Ahri Lee (2011)

The Role of Bi-Weekly Phone Calls in Supporting Adult English Language Learners in Distance Learning by Erica Lehner (2011)

Home Language Use: A Case Study of a Mother and Her Daughter by Laura Lenz (2011)

Teaching Bilingual Students with Specific Language Impairment by Gretchen Lund

Supervisor Perceptions of Workplace ESL Instruction by Laura Lund (2008)

Using Pre-reading Learning Strategies to Better Prepare ELLs for Texts in Guided Reading by Valissa Maas

Maestra, ¿Qué Es un Alfabeto? / Teacher, What is an Alphabet?  by Katherine Malaga

Summarizing Strategies for Newcomers: Explicit Strategy Instruction in an American History Class by Jeanette Marr (2010)

Focus-on-Form in Elementary ESL: Experimenting with the Error Correction Techniques of Repetition and Metalinguistic Clue by Corey Mattson (2010)

The Effect of Two Types of Text Modification on English Language Learners' Comprehension: Simplification versus Elaboration by Suzanne Maxwell (2011)

The Effect of a Reading Program with a Focused Fluency Instruction on Reading Comprehension and Fluency of Adult ESL Learners by Celeste Mazur (2009)

The Development of Map-Reading Skills in the Adult English as a Second Language Classroom  by Lisa McCallum (2008)

Hmong Learners' Deletion and Replacement of Syllable-Final Consonants in English by Suzanne McCurdy (2010)

Pursuing Academic Literacy for English Language Learners in the Community College Setting by Jan McFall

Noticing and Grammatical Aspect in ESL  by Jonna Meidal (2008)

Low-Literacy Adult English Language Learners: Oral Recall and Recasts by Celia Martin Mejía (2011)

The Adequacy of Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA) Scores to Measure Reading Ability of English as a Second Language (ESL) Students  by Kathleen Miller

How ESL Support Shapes Students: Perceptions of the K-12 Experience by Hmong Undergraduate Students by Erin Myhrer (2011)

Cooperative Learning and ESL Students' Participation by Angela Nguyen (2010)

Using Poetry to Teach Reading Comprehension Strategies to English Language Learners by Jennifer Norris (2010)

Code Switching in Oral and Written Communication with a Systematic Review of Written Code Switching by Megan Obermueller

The Effects of Pre-Reading Strategies on the Comprehension of Culturally Unfamiliar Texts for Adolescent English Language Learners by Kristie O’Brien

Using Electronic Whiteboards to Teach Phonemic Segmentation to Kindergarten English Language Learners by Rebecca Olson (2010)

Spanglish: Identifying Some Motivations a Group of Bilingual Adolescents Had to Code-switch in Informal Social Interactions by Liliana Orsi (2008)

AAVE Use and College Success: A Qualitative Student of Ten Former Students of a College Developmental Writing Course by Teresa Otto (2012)

Nonverbal Communication Between Peaceworkers in Training: An Integral and Cross-Cultural Perspective by Jennifer Ouellette

Affecting L2 Attitude and Motivation Through Drama by Jonell Pacyga (2009)

Implementing Writers Workshop: An Attempt to Increase Grammar Skills and Motivation Among Middle School English Learners by Jessica Perez (2011)

Student Motivation Towards Foreign Language Learning: Why do High School Students Take Two or Four Years of Spanish? by Amy Peters (2009)

A Self-Directed Approach to Turkish Language Acquisition: A Diary Study by Jill Peterson (2012)

Home and School Come Together: Family Literacy as a Third Space by Elizabeth Pichardo (2012)

The Comparison of Robust Vocabulary Instruction and Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition in Advance Adult, International, Academically-Oriented English Language Learners by Adrienne Pond (2011)  

How Native Spanish and Native Somali Speakers Label Inanimate Nouns Vis-a-Vis Gender by Anna Rau (2010)

Factors Influencing the Syntactical Tense/Aspect Features of Indian World English: The Simple Present Tense by Sue Ann Rawlins

Perceptions of Silent Sustained Reading Held by Middle School English Language Learners by Dean Reasoner (2010)

Analyzing the Effectiveness of Expository Writing Instruction with South Korean Middle School Students: A Bounded Case Study Approach by James Riley (2011)

The Role of Play in Second Language Acquisition: A Bilingual Grandmother and a Preschool Child  by Joyce Robles (2009)

Adapting Reader's Workshop for Upper Elementary Language Academy Students by Claire Roberts (2010)

Text Talk As a Vocabulary Teaching Tool: Does It Meet the Needs of English Language Learners? by Jessica Rooney (2008)

Oral Language Instruction in Spanish: A Study of First Grade Spanish Speakers in a Dual Immersion Program by Gloria Rosso White (2011)

Meeting Learning Objectives: Using an Alternative Text by Joseph Rothstein (2008)

Teaching Email Skills in the Adult Basic Education English as a Second Language Classroom by Susan Ryan

Advocacy or Apathy? American Indian Parent Involvement in an Off-Reservation Middle School by Wendy Sanderson (2011)

Impacts of Student Autobiographies on Mainstream Teachers’ Perceptions, Attitudes, and Instruction of English Language Learners by Emily Schmidt (2009)

The Effect of Reading Fluency Practice on Overall Comprehension of Non-Fiction Content-Area Texts in Grade Four English Language Learners by Karn Schwartzhoff (2008)

Differentiating/Modifying Mainstream Expository Texts for Third & Fourth Grade English as a Second Language Students by Lynn Sedivy

Describing Communicative Competence in a College Nursing Degree Program by Megan Seydow (2012)

Facilitating Communicative Competence for Adult Non-Native English Speakers by Rosemary Sharkey

Self-efficacy and Reading by Cynthia Shellberg (2009)

Uncovering Factors that Influence English Pronunciation of Native Somali Speakers by Jill Singer

Perceptions of Academic Progress and Acculturation: A Case Study of Two Somali Women in College by Kari Smalkoski

Effect of Modifications to the Pop-Up Grammar Strategy in the TPRS Method in Teaching the Japanese Direct Object Marking Particle Wo(o) to Middle School Students by Ayumi Stockman (2009)

Code Switching in an ESL Classroom: A Case Study with Four Hmong Middle School Students by R. Anne Strupeck

Personal Narrative: From Story to Science by Dena Thorson (2011)

Exploring ESL Family Involvement in Schools by Renee Turner

Does the Use of Dialogue Journals Affect the Writing Fluency of Low-Literacy Adult Somali Students? by Marlese VanderMolden

Pre-Teaching Math Language Lessons for the Success of English Language Learners by Michelle Vanden Plas (2009)

Do Dialogue Journals with Recasts Improve the Writing Skills for Adult Learners with Limited Literacy Skills? by Michelle Voit (2009)

Using Inspiration Software to Facilitate Information Transfer for English Language Learners by Mary Warpeha

How an audiobook library program influences book interactions of three ESL kindergarteners by Molly Wellner (2010)

Using Scaffolding to Teach Phonological/Phonemic Awareness Skills to English Language Learners by Britta Wicklund

Attitudinal Reactions of Standard American English Speakers to Foreign-accented Speech by Elizabeth Will (2010)

How Does Reader’s Theater Affect English Language Learners’ Reading Fluency and Reading Comprehension by Kirsten Winter (2011)

Understanding Eligibility Practices of Specific Learning Disability Special Education Services for Underachieving Immersion Students by Kristine Marie-Widness Woelber

Sing, Sing a Song: How using songs affect productive vocabulary acquisition of English language learners by Nicole Winter (2010)

Adjectival Participles as Emotion Words by Inna Wolfson

I Wrote It Like This ‘Cause That's Just How He Said It: Finding Space for the African American Vernacular English in a Sixth Grade Classroom by Mary Wurl

Moving Towards ESL Co-teaching: A Case Study by Kerry Young

What Effects Does Language Anxiety Have on ESL Students' Decisions to Speak English in a Middle School Classroom? by Ryan Zgutowicz (2009)