Molly Duncan Excels In Three Minute Thesis Competition

2017 Mar 31

Molly Duncan, of Saint Louis, a Georgia State University graduate student, placed second in the Georgia State University Three Minute Thesis Competition (3MT), held March 27, 2017.

Duncan, an Educational Psychology student in the university's College of Education and Human Development, presented a thesis on the improvement of deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) children's vocabulary through conversation.

For placing second in the master's division, Duncan won a prize of $250.

Duncan's research focuses on training teachers to use recasting during their everyday conversations with students in order help to improve DHH children's vocabulary without added cost or instructional time. Her advisor is Dr. Amy Lederberg.

3MT is a research communication competition that was developed by the University of Queensland in Australia in 2008. Since its inception at the University of Queensland, the competition has grown to be held in 19 countries and 35 research universities in the United States. The purpose of this competition is to develop academic, presentation, and research communication skills.

3MT helps students enhance their ability to explain research effectively and appropriately to an intelligent, but non-specialist audience. Students had three minutes to present compelling orations on their thesis or dissertation topics and their significance.

3MT is not an exercise in "watering down" research but forces students to consolidate their ideas and concisely explain their research discoveries.

For more about graduate education at Georgia State, visit http://graduate.gsu.edu.