IST 494: Integrative Studies Capstone

by Jamie Gibson

For my research paper, I have chosen the topic of Gender and Learning Styles.  What I hope to explore more about this topic is rather or not learning styles reflect your gender.  I have heard many times that boys and girls learn very different from one another, which results in different learning styles for both boys and girls.  My main question that will help guide me through this project is if it is true that gender plays an important role in determining learning styles or is it more based solely on each individual and their personalities.   Although I love working with children, I do not have any myself so I feel that this topic would be of interest to other people because many people have children of their own and want the best for their children. It also could be of interest to teachers who might be struggling to understand different methods to help their students and need useful information to help them. If teachers and parents read information about this topic and find out rather gender does play an important role in learning styles, then they can use this information and research to alter their teaching strategies.

After considering the topic of Gender and Learning Styles, I plan to engage the disciplines of Psychology and Education into my research paper.  I have chosen Psychology for one of my disciplines because the topic of gender is described in Psychology as characteristics that distinguish between being a male or a female and behavior.  One of my focuses for this paper is determining if gender, meaning a male or female, plays a role in determining how a student learns.  I feel that the topic of gender for my paper and the direction I am taking is considered to be under the discipline of Psychology because I am using gender to help guide my overall question.   For my second discipline, I have chosen Education.  I plan on using the topic of learning styles to include with Education because I feel it is important to understand how children learn and use that information to help students in and out of the classroom.  I work at a day care and I love interacting with the children and seeing them mature throughout the school year.  After choosing these two disciplines, I believe by focusing on only these will help me in my future career with something involving children because I can use the information that I have researched to help me better understand how children learn and why. 

My four disciplines for the Integrative Studies program are Psychology, Education, English, and Diversity.  When I read about this research paper, I knew instantly that I wanted to do something related to Psychology and Education.  I have always found how people interact and why people do what they do very interesting.  Psychology courses that I have taken have been one of my favorite disciplines in college.  My second favorite discipline is Education.  I am interested in how children learn and ways that I can help them become successful.  I chose to research my topic about children’s learning styles because I feel it is important to understand the different ways children learn and interact with their environment.  I am a strong believer that children learn differently and not all at the same rate, but I am curious to know if it is based on gender or on each individual.  From my experience with working with children of all ages on a daily basis, the information that I will research and find out about my topic of Gender and Learning Styles, and information that I have learned from courses in Psychology and Education will help me with this research paper because I can add my ideas into the paper that I have learned over the years to strengthen the paper.

One question that I have is rather or not the topic of gender should be more considered under Psychology or Diversity, based on my plan for this research paper and what I intend to find out.  Psychology does concentrate on gender and what distinguishes between male and female but more importantly the behavior but gender could also fall under the discipline of Diversity because both males and females are very different and Diversity tends to focus more on all the ways that humans are both similar and different, rather than their behavior. 

Another question that I have is about the structure of our research paper.  Are we focusing more on the information that we find and giving both sides or are we just trying to prove our question one way or another?

by Maureen Dunn

The topic that I have decided on was actually an idea given to me by Dr. Krouse, I was originally going to use my management and psychology disciplines, but now I’m going to use my English and Psychology disciplines. I am going to explore the middle class and self improvement. The questions that will guide my paper will be why does the middle class feel the need to self improve through book clubs? What are they getting out of these book clubs?

            My argument that I currently have is that middle class people think of book clubs as self improvement, because they are able to surround themselves with others who are like them but with different point of views. Through this they will have different discussions, deep conversation, and they will be intellectually fulfilled. I think that people will be interested by this topic, because people are fascinated by how others find fulfillment in their lives. Most people can also relate to book clubs whether it is through college courses, discussing a book someone is reading to a friend, or actually participating in a book club. While researching this paper I am hoping to learn how middle class American’s find self improvement through reading.

            The two disciples that I will be using are Psychology and English. I took cognitive psychology last fall, and while I was taking that course I had to read Blink and decide how this book relates to cognitive psychology. Also taking this course I learned how the brain works and reacts to different stimuli. The second disciple is English, I am currently in contemporary literature and we are engaged in a “book club” setting in every class. We have conversations about every chapter in each book we read. We discuss the themes, symbols, character relationships, and different issues that happen in the books. This allows me to know what it feels like to be in a book club. When I leave that class I feel that I know there are people who have the same thoughts, feelings, and people who have completely different view points on the same book. This makes me feel that I have a better understanding of the book, because I have more than one point of view.

            I chose those two disciples, because they work together. When you are reading you’re engaged psychologically. You are thinking about what is happening, and depending on the book and issues that are happening in the reading you can think about topics more. Then you want to talk about them to people who are experiencing the same feelings with the novel.

            Dr. Krouse gave me the idea during a classroom chat. I was having trouble thinking of a topic. I was deciding between using my marketing and management disciplines, and I could not think of a topic. Then she used as an example Oprah’s Book Club. The other topic I have been thinking about for a week was how “blue collar” bosses chose the blue collar applicant over the white collar applicant. When Dr. Krouse gave this example it stuck with me, and I have been thinking about it since then. I also think it was appealing, because of the class that I am currently in.

            I have been writing research papers since I have been in college, and I feel since I love to write that it will be an advantage for me. Once I find a topic I want to write about I will keep writing until I am finished. I will also use what I have learned in my psychology classes and what I know about the mind.  

            I want to know what everything thinks about using this for my final paper. Is this a good topic, do middle class people find self-improvement through book clubs? Are there other aspects of this topic that I have not thought of? I am concerned that this topic is to narrow and I might not be able to find a lot of information on this topic. Does anyone know where I can find information on this topic, or any scholarly websites? Mostly, I want to know if this topic is interesting to others as it is to me, and if it sounds like a good topic?

by James Mathes

The Evolution of Man has covered many millions of years from the early primate to the modern human.  The time period has been covered with many changes in both the physical form and the development of the brain.  Two items have been necessary throughout this time.  The first is survival.  This means that the creature had to find food and water.  The second is the need for recreation.  What is recreation?  Can it be combined with survival skills?  Is recreation more than play? 

As a graduate student it will be my goal to study games and sports in ancient societies, both in the prehistoric and historic context.  This will combine the fields of History, Anthropology, Physical Education and Psychology.  It will also contain elements from Sociology and religion.  But that area is much too wide for this paper.  This paper will cover a small portion of that area of study and that is hunting as a sport.

Ancient societies utilized two methods to sustain life and they were hunting and gathering.  Gathering is the collection of food stuffs such as berries, nuts, grains, edible roots and tubers.  Hunting is the pursuit of animals that may be eaten such as deer, elk, etal.  This is utilizing hunting as a survival skill.  The question is how the aspect of hunting change from survival skill to a sport did.  Sport is not considered as a survival skill.  Can it be?  This is another question to be answered.

This paper will discuss how man evolved from a creature with the brain size of a chimpanzee to modern man and how hunting skills aided in that evolution.  The study will cover how the rise of class structure in societies changed with the merit of the hunter.  Another thing that will be discussed is how changes in society allow the hunt to become a leisure time sport and not be a necessary item for survival.

Among the items to be discussed is the rise of agriculture and how this effect changed societies.  The domestication of animals followed by the rise of herding will be considered in relation to hunting.  The rise of these two skills caused many changes in societies one of which is the rise of class structure.  The paper will include remarks relating to hunting conduct before and after this event.

Religion will be discussed in its relationship to hunting.  Were rituals necessary before, during and after the hunt?  Many cultures will be discussed pertaining to this aspect.  What were the religious beliefs pertaining to the killing of certain animals?

Who were the hunters in the different societies?  Was it the poor or the rich?  Was it reserved for the nobility?  The paper will discuss such societies as the Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and Native American (including the Eskimo) and compare them to modern society.

What animals were hunted by different societies and what was the animal’s importance to these societies?  Did different classes hunt different animals and if so why?   Did they hunt the same animal for different reasons? 

What did the hunting of certain animals have to do with the male ritual known as the “Rites of Passage?”  Was the animal the same or different in different cultures?  What did the animal represent in the different cultures? 

What makes hunting such a popular sport in modern times?  It seems rather unsporting to hunt a defenseless animal when all the food one needs is available over the counter at any grocery store in the nation.  What is the thrill of shooting an animal that has a very small range to live in due to population and could not fight back?  It has no chance.  If this was a human we would call it murder.  The hunters should do something really exciting and hunt each other but alas, this is dueling and illegal.

So, I will get off my soap box and on with writing this paper.  The only person that should be restricted by my beliefs is me.  Everyone should be able to follow the pursuit of happiness in their own way. 

With the factors mentioned this paper will be an attempt to explain how hunting became a sport and not a survival skill.  The idea is based on the idea that a sport is a competition being two things with winning or losing the deciding factor.  Survival is not the deciding factor nor is the ritual of competition for mating rights the deciding factor.  The sport is to be consider only in the competition form.

I have discussed this theme with Drs. Murphy and Voelker from the Anthropology Department and with Drs. Landon, Fleming and Ramage of the History departments and receive some suggests.  I would appreciate any suggests from my classmates as to how to proceed.     

by Amberly Behrens

Part 1:

            I have chosen my research topic to be over consumers’ behaviors, specifically the buying habits of mothers for young children and babies. I plan to consult with specialty store personnel of children wear, sales marketing research professionals, and actual mothers. I will put together a survey/questionnaire covering many topics. Some of these topics will include spending habits, why they buy what they buy, financial situations, gently used versus new items, rewards cards and store credit cards. My goal is to get into the minds of the mothers on topics such as name brand clothing. Does what a child wears reflect the the type of mother they are, or is it just for show? The economy isn’t great right now, but mothers continue to overspend on clothing and accessories for their babies.

Part 2:

            The disciplines I plan to incorporate in my research are marketing, psychology, and some communication skills. Throughout my college career I have taken many many marketing courses. The courses I want to focus on for this topic are Consumer Behavior, Marketing Research, and Sales Management. Sales management taught me how to make a sale and the steps to becoming a a successful salesperson. In Marketing Research, I learned how to conduct a survey and approach potential people to survey. The Consumer Behavior course plays the biggest role in the research paper. This class taught me how to get into the minds of the consumer and figure out why they spend the way they do. Marketing has to do with the sellers side and psychology is more focused on the buyers reasons. I need want to know both, which is what my psychology courses taught me how to figure out. I will also be using communication skills from various English and speech courses to speak to the people I will approach.

Part 3:

            Spending habits have always been an interest of mine, which is why I originally went into marketing, I want to know why people buy what they buy instead of other products, or saving that money. Being a new mom (any day now if I ever go into labor) I spend pretty much all of my money on baby supplies. In the past week alone, I have been signed up for Babies R Us, Gymboree, and Huggies rewards cards. Baby necessities are so expensive and the suppliers can keep the prices high because of the demand of the products. Baby clothes are by far the most expensive. Mothers, including myself, are willing to pay these outrageous prices for a tiny article of clothing their child will be grown out of in a month. Why do we do this? The economy is low, money is tight, but our babies are dressed in name brand clothes.

Part 4:

            I do have concerns about this topic. Will I be able to gather enough information? Where else can I obtain information for this topic? Should I submit my survey/questionnaire?