COE Communicator Volume 2 | Seite 3

Dissertation Defense Ashlie Beals Arkwright has successfully defended her dissertation, “Fourth and Eighth Grade Students’ Conceptions of Energy Flow through Ecosystems.” Beals Arkwright completed her undergraduate degree in middle school education at UK with a focus on science and social studies. She also completed her Master of Arts in Education at UK in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction with a focus on science education. She has worked at the School for Creative and Performing Arts in Lexington for the past 14 years as the science teacher for sixth through eighth grades. Kentucky River Watershed Follow-Up Teacher Workshop Drs. Becky Krall and Jennifer Wilhelm (UK College of Education STEM Department), Dr. Carol Hanley (College of Agriculture, Food and the Environment) and Dr. Stephen Testa (Department of Chemistry) hosted a follow-up workshop in September to prepare teachers to implement project-based watershed investigations with their students. Teachers from Fayette, Jessamine, Henry and Grant counties participated in a Council on Postsecondary Education-funded grant project this summer to learn about the ecology and geology of the Kentucky River Watershed. Units they develop combine project-based investigations with community learning experiences. A subset teachers also will present their projects at the upcoming Kentucky Science Teachers Association annual meeting. Project-based Investigations on Water Quality in the Kentucky River Watershed is a two-year, $260,000 project designed to improve middle school teachers’ knowledge of the watershed, ecological concepts, and develop their skills in creating and implementing project-based units. Dr. Laurie Henry from the UK College of Education Department of Curriculum and Instruction, and Bethany Kellersberger and Dr. Jessica Hearn from the Evaluation Center, are partners in this collaborative project. EARLY CHILDHOOD, SPECIAL ED & Rehab counseling International Division of Early Childhood Conference Dr. Jennifer Grisham-Brown and the Early Childhood Laboratory staff (Charlotte Manno, Rebecca Crawford, Christy Kaylor, Kim Nicholas and Mary Beth Caldwell), along with Kristie Pretti-Frontczak (B2K Solutions, Ohio) and Lynn Sullivan (Region 11 Education Service Center, Texas), presented a preconference workshop at the International Division of Early Childhood Conference recently in St. Louis. The title of the presentation was “Practices to Support Inclusive Early Childhood Programs.” Staff of the Early Childhood Lab staff members talked about their model for delivering a high quality curriculum framework to all children in early childhood settings. Grisham-Brown and graduate student Alicia Bauchmann gave a presentation on the International Division of Early Childhood’s Monograph 16 titled “Blended Practices for All Children,” coedited by Grisham-Brown. Bauchmann, along with students Corey Gannon and Dorothy Mitchell, co-authored an article with Grisham-Brown titled “Delivering Individualized Instruction During Ongoing Classroom Activities and Routines” for the Monograph. See http:// bookstore.dec-sped.org/product-p/16. htm for details. Lane Highlighted by University of Georgia Dr. Justin Lane, a faculty member who ѕ