Digital Commons Network^™

Defining, Operationalizing, Developing, And Assessing Candidate Dispositions In Teacher Education, Alan John Zenkert Jr.

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This inquiry seeks to identify the beliefs of college students prior to their entry into a teacher education program (pre-program students), teacher educators, practicing P-12 teachers, and practicing P-12 administrators (teacher education professionals) related to the construct “dispositions” in teacher education. Grounded in a social constructivist understanding of teaching and learning, this primarily phenomenological study utilizes the analysis of survey data to uncover and explore multiple perspectives on beliefs about dispositions in teacher education in an effort to identify implications for teacher education research and practice.

Findings suggest that pre-program students and teacher education professionals believe that dispositions are an …

Beaver Reintroduction Correlates With Spotted Frog Population Restoration And Terrestrial Movement Patterns Of Newly Metamorphosed Columbia Spotted Frogs In The Owyhee Uplands Of Southwestern Idaho, Hallie Anne Lingo

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines topics relevant to Columbia spotted frogs (Rana luteiventris) in the Owyhee Uplands of southwestern Idaho. First, I present a detailed discussion of both the ecology and conservation status of spotted frogs. Concerns about declining spotted frog numbers in the southern portions of the species’ range were first expressed in the early 1990’s. In response, several studies on the behavior and ecology of spotted frog have been conducted by Boise State University. In addition, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game monitors the status of spotted frogs in the Owyhees using an occupancy model developed and implemented in …

Geophysical Investigations Of The Seattle Fault Zone In Western Washington And A Geothermal System At Mount Princeton, Colorado, Andrew Patrick Lamb

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

We use an array of existing and modified geophysical techniques to investigate the active Seattle thrust fault zone in western Washington and a geothermal system at Mt. Princeton Colorado. Through the integration of different geophysical methods, we can extend our observations of the surface geology to beneath the subsurface, thereby giving us a greater understanding of the structures and their kinematic interplay.

We find geophysical evidence through the use of potential field and seismic data for the Seattle fault zone extending further to the west than previously thought. We also find evidence that the Seattle fault zone may be linked …

Integrated Geophysical Exploration Of A Known Geothermal Resource: Neal Hot Springs, Clinton Ryan Colwell

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

I present an integrated geophysical characterization of the Neal Hot Springs geothermal system in eastern Oregon. This newly established 23 MW geothermal production site is located in a region of complex geology and intersecting faults associated with two major extensional systems; the Oregon-Idaho Graben and the western Snake River Plain. The intersection of two dominant fault orientations, coupled with a high geothermal gradient from relatively thin continental crust and radioactive decay from a shallow granitic body, produces the pathways and heat needed for deep water circulation at Neal Hot Springs. New geologic mapping, geochemistry, and measurements from several boreholes in …

Synthesizing Measurement, Modeling And Remote Sensing Techniques To Study Spatiotemporal Variability Of Seasonal Snow, Andrew R. Hedrick

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Mountain snowpacks vary drastically over length scales as small as 1—2 meters in complex terrain and require high resolution measurements to accurately quantify the spatial distribution of snow. This thesis explores this spatial distribution using remote sensing, modeling and ground-based observations. Snow depth estimates from airborne LiDAR at 5 m resolution over 750 km² was compared to in situ observations and results from physically-based snow and wind redistribution models, and a new low cost method for continuous depth measurements at the slope scale was developed.

Repeated airborne Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) surveys are capable of recording snow depth …

Assessing Local Snow Variability Using A Network Of Ultrasonic Snow Depth Sensors, Erik Thorsten Boe

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

During the 2009-2010 winter season, 21 inexpensive ultrasonic snow depth (USD) sensors were constructed and installed, in addition to two standard Judd USD sensors, at Treeline and Lower Deer Point sites located within the snow dominated Dry Creek Experimental Watershed, near Boise, Idaho. Six USD sensors, including a single Judd Communications USD sensor, were installed at the Treeline site along a northeast to southwest transect of the small 0.02 km² catchment. Seventeen USD sensors, including a single Judd Communications USD sensor, were installed at Lower Deer Point in a randomized stratified pattern with respect to aspect and vegetation to …

Estimating Deep Percolation In The Mountain Rain-Snow Transition Zone, Patrick Richard Kormos

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Deep percolation (DP) is estimated from a small study catchment in the semi arid rain-snow transition zone in the foothills north of Boise, ID. A water balance is performed at the catchment soil bedrock interface, where soil drainage is assumed to be partitioned into DP and streamflow. While stream flow is measured, soil drainage must be estimated. We model the snow dynamics and surface water inputs (SWI) to the soil (Chapter 3), and the soil dynamics and soil drainage to the soil-bedrock interface (Chapter 4). The high spatiotemporal dataset used in this modeling effort is presented for the 2011 water …

J. Gresham Machen And The End Of The Presbyterian Controversy, Samuel Jordan Kelley

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

From 1922 to 1936, the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America suffered an extended period of conflict and finally schism. This Presbyterian controversy was part of the broader fundamentalist-modernist conflict seizing American evangelical Protestantism in this era. By the early 1930s the fundamentalists, led by Westminster Theological Seminary’s New Testament professor J. Gresham Machen, began to adopt controversial methods for combating modernism. The most notable of these was the formation of an extra-ecclesiastical, conservative foreign missions board, the Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions (IBPFM). Refusing to cede his ground, Machen stood trial in the church’s court and …

Examining Instructional Supervision In A Leadership Preparation Program: A Comparison Of Supervision Experiences In Different Internship Structures, Robin David Winslow

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Instructional leadership is an essential role for school leaders. School leaders must be equipped with the skills to directly improve instruction. This study focused on how a leadership preparation program can prepare aspiring school leaders in instructional supervision skills during an internship. The study compared different instructional supervision structures with interns in the same program. One group of interns practiced instructional supervision skills with pre-service teachers and the other group practiced instructional supervision skills with teachers in their respective schools. Interns were assessed on the quality of supervision, beliefs about supervision, and the knowledge of the supervision process. The results …

Identifying Formative Assessment In Classroom Instruction: Creating An Instrument To Observe Use Of Formative Assessment In Practice, Steven G. Oswalt

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Is formative assessment observable in practice? Substantial claims have been made regarding the influence of formative assessment on student learning. However, if researchers cannot be confident whether and to what degree formative assessment is present in instruction, then how can they make claims with confidence regarding the efficacy of formative assessment? If it is uncertain whether and to what degree formative assessment is being used in practice, then any claims regarding its influence are difficult to support. This study aims to provide a vehicle through which researchers can make stronger, more substantiated reports about the presence and impact of formative …

An Investigation Into The Water Budget And The Management Of The Snake River System, John Whitney Hildreth

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Future climate change poses a major conceptual challenge to the availability of water resources due to the uncertainty involved with changes to the hydrologic cycle. Over the past decades, observed warming temperatures across the Western United Sates have shown significant impacts on river basin scale hydrology. This research uses physically based modeling tools to assess the hydrologic impacts of climate change in the Snake River Basin. Physically based hydrologic modeling studies of future climate do not typically take into account interactions between groundwater and surface water. To account for these interactions, the Variable Infiltration Capacity model is coupled with the …

Implementing The Universal Tier Of Schoolwide Positive Behavior Interventions And Supports, Katie Bubak

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Public schools are confronted with establishing productive teaching and learning environments. Not only can students’ challenging behavior soak up educators’ time and resources, but these behaviors may also rob the pupils of critical academic instructional time. Schools need the tools and skills to identify and implement effective solutions to problem behavior. Schoolwide Positive Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) has been shown to optimize the capacity of schools to address schoolwide, classroom, and individual student problem behavior through research-validated practices.

This multiple-case study investigated the practices that have led one school to execute the SWPBIS’s critical features as they were intended to …

Education, Print Culture, Social Literacy, And Religiosity: A Multi-Grounded Theory Of Textual Mediation Found In Early And Contemporary Mormonism, Ezra G. Gwilliam

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This study is a multi-grounded theory (Goldkuhl & Cronholm, 2010) approach to identify potential relationships between print culture, uses of social literacy, and education found in historical Mormonism (1830-1844) and the contemporary church, which has a reported parity between education and religiosity (Cooperman, 2012). Through the theoretical model of multi-grounded theory, scholars of Mormon history were identified and interviewed to help establish what relationship may have existed and if there is relevance between the past and present church in the context of print, literacy, religiosity and education. Two literacy theories, Venezky’s (1996) theory of literacy expansion and Barton and Hamilton’s …

Always A Bridesmaid Never A Bride: Examining The Deinstitutionalization Of Marriage And The Modern Day Spinster, Kasha Nicole Glynn

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the deinstitutionalization of marriage and the stigmatization of women who remain single past the expectant marital age. The goal of this research was to investigate the social identities of women who remain single past the age of twenty-five, and to gain an understanding of how gender-based stereotypes influence their lives by examining their personal experiences. In an effort to better understand the stigmatization of today’s single woman, a qualitative method using focus groups was adopted for this study.

Twenty-five participants were selected using a purposive, inclusion/exclusion sampling technique. Three focus groups consisting of six participants each and …

Computing Curvature And Curvature Normals On Smooth Logically Cartesian Surface Meshes, John Thomas Hutchins

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This thesis describes a new approach to computing mean curvature and mean curvature normals on smooth logically Cartesian surface meshes. We begin by deriving a finite-volume formula for one-dimensional curves embedded in two- or three- dimensional space. We show the exact results on curves for specific cases as well as second-order convergence in numerical experiments. We extend this finite-volume formula to surfaces embedded in three-dimensional space. Exact results are again derived for special cases and second-order convergence is shown numerically for more general cases. We show that our formula for computing curvature is an improvement over using the “cotan” formula …

Classroom Teachers Learning To Navigate The Internet For Increasing Student Critical Reading And Writing Skills: A Mixed Methods Study, Meleah S. Mcculley

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The focus of this mixed methods case study was a three-month professional development workshop designed to guide junior high school classroom teachers as they learned to integrate new literacies skills into their curriculum. The participants were all educators in one district that was in the process of transitioning to the Common Core State Standards and the SMARTER Balanced Assessments. Significant gains were obtained in teachers’ self-reported personal technology knowledge and technology experiences during the study. Along with the gains, factors were seen that might impede teachers from learning about or using the Internet for academic purposes.

Strategies To Decrease Movement Variability In The Ankle Joint In Cyclists, Claudia Guadalupe Chavez

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Coordination variability is thought to be indicative of a cyclist’s skill level as novices have higher levels of variability than experts (Sides & Wilson, 2012). It was hypothesized that the externally focused instructions with visual feedback group would decrease coordination variability in the ankle joint to a greater extent than those in the internally focused instructions with visual feedback group. Six cyclists (30-40 years) completed a four day acquisition period and a retention test. During this time participants cycled for 10-15 minutes at a power output equal to 2.0-2.5W/kg of body mass. Participants were provided with internally or externally focused …

Anchoring The News With Comedy: Considering The Role Of Critique In News Through An Analysis Of "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart", Tabitha Louise Simenc

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the role of critique in news and its necessity in a media landscape focused on journalistic ideals of objectivity. Using The Daily Show with Jon Stewart as a case study, this research first, examines the way in which the program fulfills the normative tasks of the media and can be considered news. Second, it considers how the program, and others like it, operate outside the realm of traditional news media and are, consequently, not subject to expectations of objectivity, potentially allowing for greater critique of powerful political, economic and media entities. Finally, the role of news in …

The Effects Of Anthropogenic Noise On The Foraging Efficiency Of A Gleaning Bat And The Activity Levels Of A Natural Bat Assemblage, Jessie Patrice Bunkley

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Anthropogenic noise is prevalent across many landscapes, posing a threat of disturbance to countless human and wildlife populations. Studies have revealed that a variety of organisms are negatively affected by an increasingly loud soundscape, including auditory predators such as bats. Bats that exhibit a gleaning hunting strategy passively listen for low frequency, prey-produced sounds. Anthropogenic noise often falls within the same spectral range as important prey cues, potentially masking these signals. I investigated the effects of two sources of anthropogenic noise, traffic and gas compressor station noise, on the foraging efficiency of the North American gleaning bat Antrozous pallidus in …

Dam Mormons: Responding To The 1976 Teton Dam Disaster In The "Lord's Way", Lauriann Vaterlaus Deaver

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The June 5, 1976, Teton Dam collapse occurred in a unique region of Idaho where the population comprised as much as ninety-five percent of residents belonging to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The homogenous nature of this population influenced the nature of the recovery effort following the disaster. The Teton Dam recovery effort provided an opportunity for the LDS church, using its welfare system and priesthood (lay male leadership) organizational structure to seamlessly work with government agencies. Church leaders used the reports of positive interactions between its members and the federal and local leaders to celebrate an …

Building The Modern World: Morrison-Knudsen Construction Company, James David Duran

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

After working on construction projects in Boise, Idaho, Morris Hans Knudsen and Harry Morrison combined their resources and skills to form Morrison-Knudsen Company (M-K) in 1912. The two of them built a world-class construction and engineering company that, at one time, was the industry leader in their field. Their success relied upon fast, cost-effective, construction and an uncanny ability to match their company’s mission to the goals of U.S. foreign and domestic policy. When Harry Morrison moved to the position of president in 1939, he took M-K international by presenting his company as the deliverer of modernization to the developing …

Electrochemical Reduction Of Aqueous Uranium, Jonathan M. Scaggs

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The electrochemical reduction of uranium in acidic aqueous environments with the express purpose of generating U(III) consistently is critically evaluated. Generating U(III) in an aqueous environment is difficult and extremely unstable and has historically been difficult to achieve and isolate for further investigation. The electrochemical cell, electrodes, supporting electrolytes, and pH’s are all reviewed and evaluated for the purpose of optimizing the systemic requirements to electrochemically generate U(III). Several new types of electrochemical cells to include two new spectroelectrochemical for UV-Vis and FT-Raman investigation were designed and tested for the purpose of analyzed the redox species of aqueous uranium generated …

"Not Everyone Was Asleep": Anti-Colonial Personifications Of Antiquity And Progress In José Rizal's Touch Me Not And El Filibusterismo, Lyn K. Uratani

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The cultural emphasis placed on José Rizal’s execution in 1896 has overshadowed his life and renders his novels Touch Me Not and El Filibusterismo unfamiliar to Western readership and postcolonial scholars. Since his novels emphasize the difficult questions about the absence of progress and ethnic identity for the indigenous populace, I argue that to read them for plot alone is to overlook his main focus: the formation of the Filipino identity.

In light of Spain’s historical treatment of its colonies, my work responds to the lack of attention given to Touch Me Not and El Filibusterismo as integral texts of …

Characterization And Feasibility Of A Portable Oxygen Concentrator For Use With A Mass Casualty Ventilator, Paul Robert Williams

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The American Association for Respiratory Care has reported a need to stockpile 5,000-10,000 mass casualty ventilators with supplemental oxygen in preparation for pandemic emergencies (1). The American Medical Association specifies oxygen concentrators supply oxygen at 5 liters per minute at ≥90% purity (2). However, these design specifications may not be the most efficient use of system resources in portable oxygen concentrators using pressure swing adsorption. A testbed was developed to investigate the system performance of an oxygen concentrator while altering the system inlet and outlet pressures and flow rates. This investigation demonstrates that a more efficient portable oxygen concentrator, which …

Ordinary Effort, John Mcmahon

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The thesis is primarily concerned with how the search for knowledge is driven by a quest for certainty, resulting in a compulsion to fix knowledge in explicit rules and procedures. Rather than producing a satisfactory sense of stability, this produces comedy and tragedy as human endeavors play out against a backdrop of arbitrary structure.

Three videos explore this problem through the lens of professional sport, where the quest for certainty is evaluated against the application of rules, against rules governing the action of the body, and against the attempt to circumvent the rules. Theoretical background is provided by examining the …

A Test Of Whether Human Handling Causes Developmental Or Habituation Effects On The Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Stress Response Of Young American Kestrels (Falco Sparverius), Erin Leigh Wonder

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Early exposure to stressors affects subsequent stress responses in both mammalian and avian species, with the likelihood for lasting effects depending, in part, on the magnitude of the stressor. However, it is unclear whether lasting effects are the result of developmental changes to the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis or habituation to the stressor. I investigated the effects of human handling, a known stressor, in free-living American kestrel (Falco sparverius) nestlings to determine if this brief, non-invasive stressor causes lasting changes in the stress response of handled birds, and whether alterations in the stress response were the result of developmental …

Misremember Me, Alex Kiesig

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

An American travels to Crete with his English ex-girlfriend in Misremember Me, a modern novel in the tradition of the Lost Generation.

Interactive Focus+Context Glyph And Streamline Vector Visualization, Joshua Joseph Anghel

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

With data sets growing in size, more efficient methods of visualizing and analyzing data are required. A user can become overwhelmed if too much data is displayed at once and be distracted from identifying potentially important features. This thesis presents methods for focus+context visualization of vector fields. Users can interact with the data in real time to choose which regions should have more emphasis through a mouse or touch interface. Streamlines and hedgehog based visualizations are used to provide focus+context to vector visualizations. The presented visualization methods are shown to be more computationally efficient and are shown to scale well …

A Precambrian History Of Cratonic North American Crust Beneath The Snake River Plain, Idaho, Emerald Kirke Shirley

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Granulite xenoliths erupted in Neogene basalts, and a rare outcrop of Precambrian basement along the northern margin of the Snake River Plain (SRP), can be used as windows into the origin and stabilization of the lower crust of southern Idaho. Previous work to determine the nature of the lower crust beneath the Snake River Plain was conducted on a suite of xenoliths exposed in Southern Idaho at Square Mountain (SM), Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve (CRMO), and the Spencer-Kilgore (SK) area (Leeman, 1979; Leeman et al., 1985; Matty, 1984; Wolf et al., 2005), as well as on …

Teacher Efficacy, Preparedness, And Empathy In Working With Refugee Students, Kelley Jo Moneymaker-Lamson

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

One of the most difficult pedagogical challenges Sawtooth School District elementary teachers are currently facing is the influx of refugee students and the uncertainty as to how to best assist them in becoming both academically successful as well as comfortable in a new social milieu. The purpose of this mixed method study is to evaluate teacher efficacy, sense of preparedness and empathy in relation to working with refugee students. Teachers' sense of self-efficacy has been linked to student achievement, student motivation and students' own sense of self-efficacy. However, there is a gap in research that explores teacher efficacy, preparedness and …