Education Commons^™

A View Into Secondary Education Mathematics, Thomas Krieger Jr.

Honors Theses

Teaching methods, and the effects they can have on students, are important to consider for a classroom because when teaching you should allow for every student to have an opportunity. Every student should feel encouraged in the classroom, however not every method may allow for that. An important task for a teacher is to find out how to reach their students in their classroom; be it adapting methods or choosing when to implement one item over another. This task differs with every student that enters the classroom as no student is the same. Every students’ differences stem from their academic …

Real Time Call-Flagging System To Respond To Suicidal Ideation In Call Centers, Vishnu Menon, Joseph Carrigan, Charles Floeder, Thomas Walton, Devin Mcguire

Honors Theses

The 2021-2022 Signature Performance Design Studio team developed a live audio call-flagging system that enables faster responses and new response pathways to veteran crises by call service representatives and their management team. Using a custom made deep learning model, live audio streaming server, and Teams broadcasting add-on, the system empowers Signature Performance call service representatives to make quicker and more well informed decisions to provide veteran’s the best care possible.

Analysis Of The Effectiveness Of Different Techniques For Creating Cross-Platform Compatible Software, Michael Westberg

Honors Theses

Creating cross-platform compatible software is a major issue in a world where users utilize a variety of devices and platforms. To ensure that a piece of software is accessible to as many users as possible, software must be cross-platform compatible. There are four main approaches that can be done to achieve this state of being cross-platform compatible, each with both advantages and disadvantages. These methods are: creating the software as separate binaries, using a scripting language with a cross-platform interpreter, compiling to an intermediate language, and creating the software as a web application. This paper will discuss how each of …

Remotely Close: An Investigation Of The Student Experience In First-Year Mathematics Courses During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Sawyer Smith

Honors Theses

The realm of education was shaken by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. It had drastic effects on the way that courses were delivered to students, and the way that students were getting their education at the collegiate level. At the University of Nebraska – Lincoln, the pandemic dramatically changed the way that first-year mathematics courses looked for students. By Spring 2021, students had the opportunity to take their first-year math courses either in-person or virtually. This project sought to identify differences between the two methods of course delivery during the Spring 2021 semester, regarding interaction with peers …

Exploration Of Piccirillo's Trick On Low Crossing Number Knots, Gabriel Adams

Honors Theses

Piccirillo recently discovered a process that can be applied to an unknotting number one knot to convert it into a different knot called a Piccirillo dual. Piccirillo duals have been shown to have the same n-trace and the same sliceness. However, exploration and knowledge of this process is limited. We were able to generate the Piccirillo duals for several low-crossing number knots. We offer the foundation for and explain how to follow the Piccirillo process and generate Piccirillo duals. This talk assumes little knowledge of knot theory and concisely gives newcomers a clear introduction to get started working with Piccirillo …

Application Of Linear Algebra Within The High School Curriculum: Designing Activities To Stimulate An Interest In Upper-Level Math, Shelby Castle

Honors Theses

This senior project outlines potential lecture activities for a guest speaker or teacher in a high school classroom to present interesting applications of linear algebra. These applications are meant to be pertinent to things students at this age level are already learning or are interested in. The activities are designed such that the ideas of upper-level math are introduced in a very guided and non-intense way. The intent of the activities is mostly applications and interesting results rather than mathematical lecturing or instruction.

The high school level courses explored in this project are chemistry, economics, and health/physical education. For these …

Agricultural Carbon Markets: How Could They Work?, Andrew Havens

Honors Theses

The resurgence of voluntary markets in which consumers can purchase carbon credits generated by agricultural carbon sequestration has brought up many questions for farmers looking to potentially enter the market. Past carbon markets, such as the Chicago Climate Exchange, ended when a recession hit, causing demand for credits to swiftly decline. How can modern voluntary markets face these challenges along with new ones and be successful? This research paper, completed as an undergraduate thesis project at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, examines the economic and scientific factors behind soil carbon sequestration credits. An extended literature review combined with estimation of a …

Existence And Uniqueness Of Minimizers For A Nonlocal Variational Problem, Michael Pieper

Honors Theses

Nonlocal modeling is a rapidly growing field, with a vast array of applications and connections to questions in pure math. One goal of this work is to present an approachable introduction to the field and an invitation to the reader to explore it more deeply. In particular, we explore connections between nonlocal operators and classical problems in the calculus of variations. Using a well-known approach, known simply as The Direct Method, we establish well-posedness for a class of variational problems involving a nonlocal first-order differential operator. Some simple numerical experiments demonstrate the behavior of these problems for specific choices of …

Interaction With Augmented Reality Sandbox Does Not Produce Greater Gains In Topographic Map Skills For Undergraduate Students, Celeste Kenworthy

Honors Theses

The augmented reality (AR) sandbox allows students to interact with topographic maps in a 3D space. Being able to understand topographic maps is important to geologists and they are taught in many introductory geology courses. Recent research has focused on whether the AR sandbox can improve students’ topographic map skills. Previous studies have found that students who interact with the AR sandbox do not score significantly better on topographic map assessments (TMAs) than their peers. One proposed reason for this is the limited time students have to interact with the AR sandbox. This study sought to address this by creating …

Biochar: Properties And Potential Benefits For Agricultural Soil In Rwanda, Andromede Uwase

Honors Theses

Physical and chemical soil degradation is becoming a major challenge for agricultural productivity in Rwanda, which is the most important part of the country’s economy. The wide spreading soil degradation in Rwanda is mainly a result of naturally poor soils coupled with unsustainable soil management leading to, for example, accelerated soil erosion, acidification, nutrient loss, compaction, and to decreasing yields. Biochar, as an end product of pyrolysis of biomass in the absence of oxygen, has been proposed as a soil amendment in remediation strategies because of its positive effects on soil productivity relevant parameters such as soil pH, structure, nutrient …