Department Honors projects
Education Department Honors Projects
Application Process
Students who wish to pursue Education Department honors collaborate with a faculty member to develop a personalized Honors project. Because of the Professional Semester during the senior year, Education students need to begin the Honors sequence (EDUC 497 and 498) during their junior year.
Watch this video to learn more.
Current Honors Students
Alix Gates- "Analysis of Children's Literature Representation of Communication Disorders and AAC"
Alix Gates is completing her Education Department Honors project toward her future career as a Speech Language Pathologist. She is conducting a text analysis study of children's literature featuring main characters with communication disorders or who use Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). To conduct that analysis, she adapted an existing tool to rate disability-related children's literature to more specifically critique representation of types of communication disorders, appropriateness of AAC, and more. Her study so far includes over 60 children's books from picture books and chapter books.
Examples of Past Projects:
The types of projects you can complete fall into three different categories. Here are some examples of past projects and topics that former students have finished:
Anna Marie Clark, University Honors Project
Anna Marie completed an extensive literature review about transition issues and options to support independent living of adults with intellectual disabilities. Extended that to co-present at international convention of Council for Exceptional Children. Proceeded to doctoral program in Occupational Therapy.
 |
Dani Pianucci Aschmann, University Honors and Education Honors Collaborated with faculty to conduct a study of growth across one semester for freshmen who take the study skills course at Messiah. Measured pre and post gains in 5 subscales of metacognitive regulation. Presented findings and implications to 2 university administrators. |
 |
Dayren Soto, Education Department Honors Conducted an Auto-Ethnography, studying herself as an English Language Learner. Included artifacts such as report cards, childhood journals, etc. |
Sami Fisher, Education Department HonorsSami Fischer (PreK-4 Cert.) presented her Honors Research Project on "Implementing Bibliotherapy in Early Childhood." She focused on how bibliotherapy can be used for young children processing trauma, specifically in regards to extended hospital stays and the foster care system. After substantial research and evaluation, Sami purchased a number of excellent examples of books that could be used for bibliotherapy in the classroom, with counselors, etc. Julianna Harris, University Honors and Education Department Honors
Julianna developed materials to support use of children's literature in the Oakes Museum of Natural History. She proceeded to obtain a Masters in Museum Education and now works as a Museum Educator in Massachusetts.
|
Paige Grotte Hendricks, Education Department Honors
Paige designed social stories and visual schedules to support children with autism participating in field trips to the Oakes Museum of Natural History. |
Laura Parks Weittstein, Education Department Honors
Laura studied math-related children's picture books to determine gaps in the material. She then wrote a book to fill a gap in data and probability. |
Are you interested in completing an honors project?
Funding Opportunities
Some past honors students have needed or chosen to purchase materials for their projects. We would like to help you with this! See below for some available awards you can apply for to help with any costs associated with your research. You can also use funding to support the costs associated with presenting at a conference:
Dr. Dorothy J. Gish Women in Leadership Award
A monetary award given to full-time female students at Messiah University who aspire to develop their gifts and advance in leadership roles. The maximum award for each individual proposal is $400. Students can apply using this application.
Anita Voelker Scholarship Fund for Research in Literacy Education
A monetary award open to students in the Education Department who are conducting, presenting, or writing about research in a field related to literacy. This can include Family Literacy, Children's Literature, Emergent Literacy, TESOL Literacy, Technology and Literacy, Writing Methods, Oral Literacy, Storytelling, Listening Skills, and other cross-departmental research collaboration with literacy as a focus. Learn more and apply for funding here. $150 max per person for an honors project.
Library Student Research Grant Award, Sponsored by Friends of Murray Library
This competitive grant, sponsored by Friends of Murray Library, provides funds for Messiah students who will be seniors in the following academic year to work on their senior honors projects or senior capstone projects. This is a great opportunity to experience a taste of graduate school or professional-level research using both Murray Library's print and digital collections as well as other relevant research materials for your chosen topic located at other institutions or organizations. Proposals are selected for funding by an interdisciplinary panel of judges chaired by Chad Frey, Chair of Friends of Murray Library. The grantee will be awarded $1,000 in the spring for the following academic year. Learn more about the Library Student Research Grant award here.