2007 Sample Capstone Projects
Beyond Accountability-Test
Transparency and the Formative Use of Tests for Children
This project offers a broad in-depth analysis of the degree
to which Massachusetts, Virginia, and New York make transparent their end-of-the-year test questions
and their similarities and differences in how they develop test
questions and use test data for accountability purposes. My research
provides the basis for comparing the degree of formative use that
each state makes possible as a result of testing their children each
year and provides evidence to determine the extent to which
transparency in this testing helps to improve the overall ability to
educate our nation's children.
Mentor. John Sanderson, Curry School of Education
Finding a Balance: Where Learning Disabilities Meet the
Classroom
Which form of instruction—inclusion or pull-out service—is
better for a student with learning disabilities who struggles in
reading? This project explores engagement of time and instructional
activities in both classrooms.
Mentor. Kristin
Saveski. Currv School of Education
Anorexic Women and How They Use Fashion Magazines
Recent deaths of
anorexics in the fashion industry have brought this disease to the
forefront of modern culture. Anorexic women receive affirmation,
comfort and reassurance from reading fashion magazines; while not a
root cause of anorexia, fashion magazines can be a trigger, like
many other environmental or physiological factors, that can lead
women to anorexic behaviors.
Mentor: Kate Wood, BIS, Department of Sociology
Expatriate Success!
What are the major
causes of expatriate failure within the framework of American
multi-national corporations. What are these companies currently
doing to help expatriates succeed, and how can they improve and
expand on these steps in order to ensure expatriate success?
Mentor:
Bill Wilkerson, BIS, McIntire School of Commerce
Successful Leadership Behaviors for Front Line Hospitality Managers
The project addresses the idea that leadership can be taught rather
than solely learned through experience. Front line managers can
learn to lead effectively by embracing and then utilizing behaviors
grounded in ethic and principle.
Mentor: Peter Ronayne, BIS, Department of Politics
Triangle:
A Catalyst for Improved Fire Safety in Factories?
The goal of this
project is to investigate the aftermath of the fire and determine if
it played a major role in making it a requirement for New York City
factory buildings to have a working automatic sprinkler system,
automatic/manual audible fire alarms, and fireproof doors leading to
interior stairwell exits. The importance of this project is that it
will determine whether this was a significant event in history that
served as a catalyst for many of the fire safety building
regulations that are still in existence today or just another fire
that cost many people their lives with little impact on improving
fire safety.
Mentor: Ann Marie Plunkett, BIS
Fighting HIV/AIDS: Community Based Youth Education Programs
This project investigates community based youth education programs
in Africa, such as the Summertown Project, why they have failed and
what new programs need to do in order to be effective in preventing
HIV/AIDS through youth education. As a case study, I use Grassroot
Soccer (GRS) to show how one non-governmental organization uses a
unique approach to improve HIV/AIDS prevention programs for youth in
Africa. GRSs approach to education is not necessarily the answer,
but rather one of many different ways in which HIV/AIDS education
can be improved.
Mentor:
Ann Marie Plunkett, BIS
Determining the Impact of Work/Life Programs on Low-Wage
Organizations
This project explores how employees and employers in low-wage
organizations are affected by lack of work/life programs. As a
rule, people employed by low-wage organizations are those in the
greatest need of work/ life programs. Also, as a rule, low-wage
organizations traditionally focus on maximizing profits through
minimizing costs. Unfortunately, work/life programs are ignored by
low wage organizations because they are viewed as an additional
cost. Therefore, those that could benefit the most from these
programs are the least likely to receive them. This paper explores
the many effects, financial implications, purposes and possibilities
of work/life programs for low-wage organizations.
Mentor: John Corlett, BIS
A
Struggle for Independence: Iran's Natural Gas Industry Under
Unilateral U.S.
This project will
highlight the ineffectiveness of U.S. sanctions on Iran's natural
gas industry and show that the real factors effecting natural gas
production involved were revolution, war, Iranian energy policy, and
foreign investments.
Mentor: Andy Wilson, BIS
Cemeteries Can Be Healing Landscapes
The purpose of this research is to study how cemeteries can function
as places for healing. Healing is restoring and resting the mind. In
this context, cemeteries are more for the living than the dead.
Mentor:
Reuben Rainey, School of Architecture
Fair Trade in Central America
A description is as
follows: The Fair Trade movement seeks to provide small producers
with a means to compete in a global market. This project will look
at Fair Trade certified producers in Central America in order to
answer the question of whether they see any economic reward from
fair trade policies.
Mentor: John Corlett, BIS
Study and Application of Carl Jung's Theory of the Midlife Years
The objective of
this research is to evaluate Carl Jung's concept of
the midlife stage of personality development, the individuation
process. Do his conclusions provide information that can help a 'midlifer'
to successfully traverse her or his pivotal midlife years and move
to the second half of life?
Mentor: John Corlett, BIS
The
Potential for Garden Based Nutrition Education to Alleviate
Childhood Obesity
This project
evaluates the effectiveness of garden based nutrition education in
schools as a childhood obesity prevention program within the
framework of existing research on childhood obesity and successful
intervention programs.
Mentor: Stephanie van Hover, BIS, Curry School of Education
Does Weekly Joint Church Attendance Create a More Satisfying
Marriage?
In this project my
goal was to find out whether there is a correlation between weekly
joint church attendance and the level of satisfaction in a
marriage. My hypothesis was that joint church attendance creates a
more satisfying marriage; however, I faced many arguments that
disagreed with my standpoint. After careful analysis of many
different opinions, polls, and past research my outcome may surprise
you.
Mentor: Kate Wood, BIS, Department of Sociology
Free Will in a Deterministic Universe
The
philosopher Daniel Dennett argues that free will is compatible with
determinism. I explore Dennett's position, as well as those of his
critics, in an attempt to evaluate Dennett’s contribution to the
free will/ determinism debate.
Mentor: Glenn Kessler, BIS
Greek Myth, Plato, and the Soul's Immortality
This Capstone will
focus on Plato’s theory of the immortality of the soul and how his
theory was influenced by Greek myths. Through his dialogues,
specifically, the Apology, Meno, Phaedo, and
The Republic, I will assess how his theories were influenced by
Greek mythology and demonstrate this by comparing them to Homer’s
Iliad and Odyssey and the myths of Hades.
Mentor: Ann Marie Plunkett, BIS
Color or Shape? A Study in Optical Art
I will determine if
shape stimulates the eye more than color.
Mentor: Laurance Wieder, BIS
Finding Data's Soul: Consciousness and Machines
Can a machine be
conscious? Using the Multiple Drafts Model of consciousness, I will
show that it is theoretically possible for machines to have a
consciousness and that neural networks are
providing us with some promising leads.
Mentor: Glenn Kessler, BIS
Student Interaction in the Online Learning Environments: What
Factors Inhibit the Effective use of Interaction and Collaboration
This research is an
accumulative examination of specific issues reported in case studies
of courses involving interaction or collaboration. The purpose of
this study is to identify if there are consistent themes among the
issues that occur which hinder student interaction, and thus
collaborative activity in the online environment of distance
education. If consistent issues are found, this research will also
explore what experts propose can help move educators beyond these
hindrances.
Mentor: Stephanie B. Scheer Conley, School of Continuing &
Professional Studies
