Discover USC, Part 2

In addition to public speaking opportunities, Discover USC also featured students presenting their research, creative, and public service projects on posters at a massive session in the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center. Elaine Clanton Harpine and I were fortunate enough to be co-mentors for three of them.

Sara Puckett and Mathew Haslinger, psychology majors at the University of South Carolina Aiken, presented a poster arising from their work at Elaine's reading clinic, the Reading Orienteering Club, which teaches phonemic awareness to at-risk first, second, and third-grade students. Sara and Matt's topic was, "Teaching Phonemic Awareness Improved Reading, Spelling, and Comprehension." Their colorful poster explained the program and presented data showing its effectiveness. They were co-sponsored by Dr. Elaine Clanton Harpine and Dr. Adam Pazda.

Sara Puckett & Matt Haslinger

Matt and Sara received an honorable mention award from the reviewers. Congratualtions, Matt and Sara!

Although a poster is a visual presentation, persons who present posters at a convention or conference also employ oral communication skills. The presenters stand by their posters so they can give a quick mini-talk explaining their poster and answer questions about them. Interested persons walk around the poster area, stopping to chat about posters that interest them.

Collytte Cederstrom

Collytte Cederstrom, who will direct the Reading Orienteering Club next fall, prepared and rpesented a poster on the topic, "Analysis of Reading Interventions for a Group-Centered Prevention Program." Collytte's poster gave preliminary results about students' reading development during the Reading Orienteering Club. She found "surprising positive results above what we predicted." Her project also examined the validity and reliability of the testing materials used during the program. She gave her usual lively oral explanation of the program to her vistors during the poster session. Elaine Clanton Harpine, Adam Pazda, and William Harpine were co-mentors for her research project.

Matt, Sara, Collytte, & Ashley

Also, Ashley Conklin, Matthew Haslinger, Collytte Cederstrom, and Sara Puckett displayed their excellent poster about "Helping Students for the Years to Come." This poster explained the Reading Orienteering Club's theory, operation, and projects. They discussed how the program used tutors and hands-on activities to motivate children to read by teaching phonemic awareness. Their poster used colors and images to great effect to help the reader understand the program at a glance. Photographs of children working in small group activities illustrated how group-centered interventions helped the children erase reading failure and achieve success.

Here are a couple more pictures:

Our Group: Matt, Collytte, Sara, Davonte', Michaela, & Ashley

A few of USC Aiken's prize winners

See my earlier post about some of the oral presentations at Discover USC.

Photos by Elaine Clanton Harpine & William Harpine