Digital Commons Network^™

Local Implementation Effectiveness Of A Multi-Tier System Of Support In Elementary School Settings, Terry P. Houlton

Student Work

Ensuring all students learn at high levels is demanding. Multi-tier systems of supports (MTSS) has shown promise as a way to promote high levels of learning for all students while catching students who are struggling to learn. However, implementing MTSS models in school districts and schools has seen its challenges. The context of an individual school impacts efforts related to implementation especially related to implementing a system such as MTSS. During the 2016-2017 school year, using program theory-driven evaluation methods a program theory for MTSS was developed with input from members of the research school district. Then a questionnaire was …

Program Inspection And Testing Techniques For Code Clones And Refactorings In Evolving Software, Zhiyuan Chen

Student Work

Developers often perform copy-and-paste activities. This practice causes the similar code fragment (aka code clones) to be scattered throughout a code base. Refactoring for clone removal is beneficial, preventing clones from having negative effects on software quality, such as hidden bug propagation and unintentional inconsistent changes. However, recent research has provided evidence that factoring out clones does not always reduce the risk of introducing defects, and it is often difficult or impossible to remove clones using standard refactoring techniques. To investigate which or how clones can be refactored, developers typically spend a significant amount of their time managing individual clone …

Elementary Administrators’ Mathematics Supervision & Self-Efficacy Development, Kelly M. Gomez Johnson

Student Work

Mathematics curriculum reform is changing the content and resources in today’s elementary classrooms as well as the culture of mathematics teaching and learning. Administrators face the challenge of leading large-scale curricular change efforts with limited prior knowledge or experiences with reform curricula structures. Administrators, as the bridge between district and building-level initiatives, are in a unique position to impact and drive change. However, they face increasing responsibilities in their demanding roles and draw on their beliefs and leadership abilities to take action. Increased beliefs in their abilities as leaders, known as self-efficacy, guide administrators to commit and persevere during times …

Tool Support For Capturing The Essence Of A Concern In Source Code, Chuntao Fu

Student Work

Software evolves constantly to adapt to changing user needs. As it evolves, it becomes progressively harder to understand due to accumulation of code changes, increasing code size, and the introduction of complex code dependencies. As a result, it becomes harder to maintain, exposing the software to potential bugs and degradation of code quality. High maintenance costs and diminished opportunities for software reusability and portability lead to reduced return on investment, increasing the likelihood of the software product being discarded or replaced. Nevertheless, we believe that there is value in legacy software due to the amount of intellectual efforts that have …

Detection Of Comparability Subgraphs From Large Networks, Muthunagai Balakrishnamoorthy

Student Work

Real world large scale networks can be represented as graphs. This approach plays a key role in analysis in the domains of social networks [1] and bioinformatics [2], among others. Analyzing these networks is computationally complex and expensive, especially in terms of memory and time complexity. A popular technique subverting time and computation expense for analyzing networks is extracting substructures, which preserves more important information and less noise [12]. In this work, we use special a special substructure called comparability, which preserves transitive orientation. Our motive is to extract a maximal comparability subgraph since no algorithm exists. Our algorithm is …

The Influence Of Language Choice In Acceptable Use Polices On Students’ Locus Of Control, Stacy L. Lickteig

Student Work

One of the goals of education is for students to develop critical thinking skills. In order to build those skills, students must become critical and engaged users of information. Students become engaged and critical users of information when they have opportunities to explore and immerse themselves in information from different viewpoints and perspectives. Much of the information accessed by students today is located online. In many school districts, an Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) details what type of access students have to information found online. Using Rotter’s Locus of Control Theory, this study seeks to answer the question of how language …

Chinese Wines And Foreign Urns: Making Objects Of Lyric, Ryan Matthew Hintzman

Student Work

A 2016-2017 William Prize for best essay in East Asian Studies was awarded to Ryan Matthew Hintzman (Silliman College '17) for his essay submitted to the Department of Comparative Literature, "Chinese Wines and Foreign Urns: Making Objects of Lyric.” (Edward Kamens, Sumitomo Professor of Japanese Studies, advisor.)

Ryan Hintzman’s essay, Chinese Wines and Foreign Urns: Making Objects of Lyric is a work of awe-inspiring erudition, vision, and ambition. Ranging far and wide among traditional and more recent theories of the lyric and moving boldly from 8th century poems in Japanese to 19th and 20th century poems in English, Hintzman …

A Coffee-Scented Space: Historical, Cultural, And Social Impacts Of The Japanese Kissaten, Claire A. Williamson

Student Work

A 2016-2017 William Prize for best essay in East Asian Studies was awarded to Claire Williamson (Jonathan Edwards College '17) for her essay submitted to the East Asian Studies Program, “A Coffee-Scented Space: Historical, Cultural, and Social Impacts of the Japanese Kissaten.” (William Kelly, Professor of Anthropology and Sumitomo Professor of Japanese Studies, advisor.)

Japan has a long and well-documented history as a tea culture, from everyday practices to the refined aesthetics of the tea ceremony and its associated arts. Yet modern Japan is also a highly developed culture of coffee, and this is the topic that Claire Williamson …

Enclave Of Ingenuity: The Plan And Promise Of The Beijing Intellectual Property Court, Max Goldberg

Student Work

A 2016-2017 William Prize for best essay in East Asian Studies was awarded to Max Goldberg (Pierson College '17) for his essay submitted to the Ethics, Politics, & Economics Program, "Enclave of Ingenuity: The Plan and Promise of the Beijing Intellectual Property Court.” (Frances Rosenbluth, Damon Wells Professor of Political Science, and Paul Gewirtz, Potter Stewart Professor of Law, advisors.)

Max Goldberg’s thesis, Enclave of Ingenuity: The Plan and Promise of the Beijing Intellectual Property Court, examines in depth one of the most interesting institutions in today’s China – an experimental court that stands at the intersection of …

Left To Chance: Gifted Students And Recreational Reading, Sara J. Churchill

Student Work

This qualitative multiple case study explored the factors that impact the recreational reading selections of gifted students. Eleven students in grades four and five participated in the study. The methods of data collection included in-depth personal interviews and analysis of library circulation records and independent reading program data. The Theory of Reasoned Action was used as a framework to examine the answers to the research question and subquestions and three areas of concern were identified. Those areas are: 1) The role of the school librarian in recreational reading selections, 2) The impact of assigned reading on recreational reading, and 3) …

Empathy: Do Levels Vary By Years Of Service, Age Or Gender?, Josh Jessen

Student Work

Leadership in education requires empathy. Empathy is the conduit to engaging students and little is known about empathy in adults (Eisenberg & Fabes, 1990; Hoffman, 2000; ZahnWaxler, Radke-Yarrow, Wagner, & Chapman, 1992) and even less is known about empathy in teachers. This study seeks to measure objective quotients of empathy among educators for the purposes of recruiting and maintaining highly empathetic teachers who might realize greater learning gains.

An Analysis Of Empathy As Leadership Attributes And Action In Educational Administrators And Teacher Leaders, Jill K. Bruckner

Student Work

The study of empathy, as both a concept and a construct, spans disciplines and decades. As such, its relevance to relationships, empirical definition, significance to leadership, motivational factors, and position in emotional intelligence comprise a wide range of perceptions, applications, and examination across fields ranging from psychology to biology to education. This purpose of this research was to examine the relationship between educational leaders’ self-perception of empathy and to explore how attitudes relate to leadership attributes and action. Results were designed to inform practice, expand understanding, and to compensate for a gap in research regarding measured relationships between empathy and …

Becoming Independent: Employer Practices That Enhance Success For Employees With An Autism Spectrum Disorder, Stuart P. Stofferahn

Student Work

This qualitative study explored employer practices that enhanced success for employees with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Four employers in the southwestern United States who partnered with Southwest Autism Research and Resource Center participated in the study. Data was collected through individual, indepth interviews with the participants to address four themes that emerged from this study: 1) accommodations that were necessary to enhance the chances of success for an employee with an ASD; 2) positive effects on workplace morale/camaraderie; 3) connections to increased or improved customer relations/satisfaction; 4) How hiring an employee with an ASD has a positive effect on …

Towards Student Engagement Analytics: Applying Machine Learning To Student Posts In Online Lecture Videos, Nicholas R. Stepanek

Student Work

The use of online learning environments in higher education is becoming ever more prevalent with the inception of MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) and the increase in online and flipped courses at universities. Although the online systems used to deliver course content make education more accessible, students often express frustration with the lack of assistance during online lecture videos. Instructors express concern that students are not engaging with the course material in online environments, and rely on affordances within these systems to figure out what students are doing. With many online learning environments storing log data about students usage of …

Applications Of Graph Embedding In Mesh Untangling, Jake Quinn

Student Work

The subject of this thesis is mesh untangling through graph embedding, a method of laying out graphs on a planar surface, using an algorithm based on the work of Fruchterman and Reingold[1]. Meshes are a variety of graph used to represent surfaces with a wide number of applications, particularly in simulation and modelling. In the process of simulation, simulated forces can tangle the mesh through deformation and stress. The goal of this thesis was to create a tool to untangle structured meshes of complicated shapes and surfaces, including meshes with holes or concave sides. The goals of graph embedding, such …

Improving Software Quality By Synergizing Effective Code Inspection And Regression Testing, Bo Guo

Student Work

Software quality assurance is an essential practice in software development and maintenance. Evolving software systems consistently and safely is challenging. All changes to a system must be comprehensively tested and inspected to gain confidence that the modified system behaves as intended. To detect software defects, developers often conduct quality assurance activities, such as regression testing and code review, after implementing or changing required functionalities. They commonly evaluate a program based on two complementary techniques: dynamic program analysis and static program analysis. Using an automated testing framework, developers typically discover program faults by observing program execution with test cases that encode …

Algorithms For Modular Self-Reconfigurable Robots: Decision Making, Planning, And Learning, Ayan Dutta

Student Work

Modular self-reconfigurable robots (MSRs) are composed of multiple robotic modules which can change their connections with each other to take different shapes, commonly known as configurations. Forming different configurations helps the MSR to accomplish different types of tasks in different environments. In this dissertation, we study three different problems in MSRs: partitioning of modules, configuration formation planning and locomotion learning, and we propose algorithmic solutions to solve these problems.

Partitioning of modules is a decision-making problem for MSRs where each module decides which partition or team of modules it should be in. To find the best set of partitions is …

The Development Of Step Up To Quality: What It Means For Families, Patricia A. Drewes-Hynek

Student Work

In June 2013 the Nebraska legislature signed into being LB507, also known as the Step Up to Quality Act. Designed to answer the need for quality early childhood care and experiences across the state of Nebraska, Step Up to Quality is Nebraska’s Quality Rating and Improvement System. Years in the making, Step Up to Quality aims to provide accountability for child care programs receiving state child care subsidy returns, increase family access to early childhood experiences through lowering of the income requirement levels to receive child care subsidy, and to provide an objective rating system for child care providers that …

A Comparative Analysis Of 6th Grade Academic And Nonacademic Outcomes In Two Different School Configurations, Anne M. Macfarland

Student Work

The purpose of this two-group descriptive efficacy study was to explore the relationship between school configuration and academic and non-academic outcomes of sixth grade elementary students compared to academic and non-academic outcomes of sixth grade middle school students. The independent variable is the school configuration. Group 1 includes sixth grade students who attended school in an elementary school configuration (n=619). Group 2 includes sixth grade students who attend school in a middle school configuration (n=811). There were six dependent variables for this study that fell into two specific themes: academic (reading and mathematics achievement) and non-academic (number of days absent …

Instrucational Coaching: A Multiple Case Study Investigation Of A Pre-Service Teacher’S Self Efficacy Through Supportive And Reflective Dialogue, Amanda Steiner

Student Work

According to the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future (1996), “…learning cannot occur in college classrooms divorced from schools” (p. 31). University coursework that is paired with carefully coordinated field experiences as well as being supported by university faculty that are skilled in helping the teacher candidate examine their practice through purposeful questioning and reflective dialogue can set the stage for developing a teacher candidate’s belief in their capabilities to reach their goals (Darling – Hammond, Hammerness, Grossman, Rust, and Shulman, 2005; Costa & Garmenston, 2002; Bandura, 1977). The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore …

Comparing Formative And Summative Instruments: What Tools Inform Practice And Guide Teacher Candidate Decision Making?, Christina L. Wilcoxen

Student Work

With an increased focus on field-based preparation, the relationship between P12 school districts and universities has been forced to change with little or no support to create effective third space environments. The complexity of the student teaching experience is compounded by the need for redefined roles, the lack of a common lexicon and the incongruence of accreditation systems. A Convergent Parallel Mixed Methods study was conducted to compare the use of formative and summative evaluation tools used to evaluate teacher candidates during student teaching. It also explored how the use of these two tools impacted the feedback provided and implemented …

Elementary And Secondary Teachers’ Attitudes And Efficacy For Teaching English Language Learners In The Mainstream Classroom, Dawn L. Mathis

Student Work

The purpose of this study was to evaluate Elementary and Secondary teachers’ attitudes, efficacy, and cultural proficiency with mainstream ELL students. This study further explored teachers’ beliefs toward professional development, differentiating curriculum and instruction, and understanding language acquisition with mainstream ELL students. The resulting data will be utilized to provide comprehensive feedback to the school district and surrounding school districts in Midwestern urban areas with similar ELL student populations. Using a quantitative, Likert scale evaluation re-designed using, English-as-a-second-language (ESL) Students in Mainstream Classroom: A Survey of Teachers (Reeves, 2006), will provide feedback for future professional development, curriculum and instruction development, …

The Delivery Of Professional Developemnt In The Middle School: Exploring Optimal Settings, Times, And Participants, Carrie A. Mohr

Student Work

The purpose of this study was to describe and understand the experiences of teachers and instructional leaders related to the delivery of professional development at the middle school level. This qualitative study examines four professional development experiences and provides a summary of emerging themes related to those experiences for both teachers and instructional leaders at the middle level in order to describe the phenomenon of professional learning at the middle level. Utilizing four schools in the Omaha Public Schools, a focus group of teachers and an instructional leader comprise the sample from each school. Professional development delivery models are separated …

Nebraska Collegiate Methods Professors’ Perceptions Of The Next Generation Science Standards: A Semi-Structured Interview Approach, Ashley B. Rasmussen

Student Work

This study utilized a semi-structured interview approach to identify how college methods professors in Nebraska are engaging pre-service K-12 teachers with the Next Generation Science Standards and to determine if this information is being carried over to Nebraska K-12 classrooms. The study attempted to address these items by answering the following research questions. First, what level of exposure and knowledge do methods professor have with regard to NGSS, and what are their perceptions? Second, what specific instructional strategies are college professors implementing to inform pre-service teachers about NGSS? Finally, are methods professors observing the three dimensions of NGSS carry over …

The Experiences Of Female High School Students And Interest In Stem: Factors Leading To The Selection Of An Engineering Or Computer Science Major, Sharon K. Genoways

Student Work

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education creates critical thinkers, increases science literacy, and enables the next generation of innovators, which leads to new products and processes that sustain our economy (Hossain & Robinson, 2012). We have been hearing the warnings for several years, that there simply are not enough young scientists entering into the STEM professional pathways to replace all of the retiring professionals (Brown, Brown, Reardon, & Merrill, 2011; Harsh, Maltese, & Tai, 2012; Heilbronner, 2011; Scott, 2012). The problem is not necessarily due to a lack of STEM skills and concept proficiency. There also appears to be …

The Impact Of A Professional Development Initiative On Technology Integration Within Instruction, Angela M. Daigle

Student Work

The purpose of professional development is to give teachers the skills and dispositions that they need to increase student achievement. There are many programs and initiatives that school districts can follow, but do they actually work. This is the question that school districts have to be asking themselves in order to determine if the professional development is worth the investment. Does the training that we give our teachers make a difference in what they do every day with students? This research seeks to answer the question ”Did the professional development initiative developed and implemented by this Midwestern suburban school district …

Examining Teacher Experiences: A Qualitative Study On Inclusion In The Elementary Classroom, Jennifer L. Sinclair

Student Work

This qualitative study utilized a semi-structured interview approach to better understand the experiences of general education teachers (n = 8) with the inclusion of special education students in the general education classroom. By gaining information about the experiences that general education teachers have with supports and services for, as well as communication about, inclusion, the study results provide additional information about experiences in order to inform the supports teachers receive to better educate students with and without disabilities. Each semi-structured interview was transcribed and coded for themes. Seven key themes emerged from findings: Acceptance, Time in General Education Classroom, Supports …

Towards An Understanding Of The Mental Model Process While Writing Sql Queries, Zahra Hatami

Student Work

SQL (Structured Query Language) is a standard language to communicate with a relational database system. SQL is a core competency for people in the data management field and is, therefore, a foundational skill taught to users in information systems. This research analyzes users’ mental models while they formulate SQL queries. The purpose of this thesis is to understand the strategies users use. These strategies both reflect and help develop the users’ mental models. This research attempts to discover users' mental models while learning SQL for the purpose of finding better ways to teach SQL skills. This research analyzes data from …

Mutual Fund Of The Minds: A Correlational Study On Education And The Economy At The State Level, Aaron Jay Bredenkamp

Student Work

During his tenure, President Barak Obama promoted education as a key to economic prosperity. However, in the post recession economy, many states reduced school funding. In Nebraska, the Governor attempted to reduce taxes for voters, while the Legislature examined how to balance the budget with a school funding formula that continually called for increased funding. Chapter One outlines this ongoing conflict between state and federal policy. Chapter Two provides a historical context of school finance policy with the state of Nebraska’s school finance history being provided in even greater detail. The indicators used to measure the economic impact of education …

Expectation-Centered Analytics For Instructors And Students, Suzanne L. Dazo

Student Work

Learning analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis, and reporting of data about learners and their contexts. An outcome and primary goal of learning analytics should be to inform instructors, who are primary stakeholders, so that they can make effective decisions in their courses. To support instructor inquiry, I apply theory on reflective practice to learning analytic development. Articulating an instructor's pedagogical expectations is one way to begin facilitating a reflective practice. Expectations based on instructor goals serve as a natural next step and the springboard from which data can be collected. I hypothesize that a learning analytic that encodes and …