Education Commons^™

Understanding Gender Gaps In Student Achievement And Stem Majors: The Role Of Student Effort, Test Structure, Self-Perceived Ability, And Parental Occupation, Lina Anaya Beltran

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Increasing women’s participation in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) has become a policy goal for many countries. This dissertation focuses on the origin and measurement of gender gaps in student achievement and self-perceived ability, as well as their potential role in predicting college career choices in STEM.

The first two chapters provide an international overview of gender achievement gaps and focus on issues around measurement using data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). These chapters study the role of student effort in predicting gender gaps in achievement and whether or not test structure, defined as question difficulty …

An Investigation Of The Effects Of Self-Efficacy On Stem Implementation, Caroline Buechel

Curriculum and Instruction Undergraduate Honors Theses

In order to equip students with the 21^st Century skills necessary for today’s society, STEM education must be properly implemented in school curricula (Lamb, Akmal, & Petrie, 2015). To do so, it is important for teachers to possess both proficient knowledge of the subject matter and confidence towards the implementation of STEM. A person’s beliefs about their ability is known as their self-efficacy (Bandura 1997). Related to education, Bandura notes that this self-efficacy affects a teacher’s views on their ability to handle tasks, obligations, and challenges related to a challenge (1997). Additionally, numerous studies indicate that this self-efficacy in …

The Intersection Of Influential Reading With Writing In Multimodal Contexts, Grace Rusk Kerr

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Numerous studies have touted the importance of teacher self-efficacy on the motivation and achievement of their students (Ashton & Webb, 1986; Bandura, 1994 & 2002; Mojavezi & Tamiz, 2012). When teachers have high levels of self-efficacy (the level at which teachers believe they can affect student outcomes), their students achieve at higher levels and develop increased levels of motivation. By extension, we posit that if teachers have increased self-efficacy regarding their own writing abilities, it will translate into increased motivation and achievement levels for their students in the area of writing. The purpose of this three-article dissertation is to support …

Project Luminous: An E-Textiles Workshop Study To Increase Science Technology Engineering Mathematics/Science Technology Engineering Art Mathematics Interest In Middle School Girls, India Semone Callahan

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this research study, young middle schoolers engaged in a stimulating workshop that seamlessly merged fashion with technology and electrical engineering. Students learned how to use simple hand sewing skills to create wearable-tech items using conductive thread, sewable LED lights, and sewable battery packs. The objective of the study was to increase young women’s interest in Science Technology Engineering Mathematics/Science Technology Engineering Art Mathematics (STEM/STEAM).

Forty-eight middle school girls spent a day learning about the basics of e-textiles and building working products using their new knowledge. The day is split into three lessons. In lesson one students build a simple …

Service Learning Through Extracurricular Activities: Development And Implementation Of A Transportation Engineering Learning Module, Karla Diaz Corro

Civil Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

This project developed an easy to implement, low-cost learning module. The module has students compare and contrast the challenges of gathering comprehensive and quality transportation data through advanced technologies and traditional approaches while introducing traffic engineering topics like traffic signal timing. The modules target middle through high school students and first and second year undergraduate engineering students. The learning modules introduce transportation engineering using an engaging open-source computer simulation game adapted by students at the University of Arkansas, as part of a capstone project. The activities in the learning modules require off-the shelf, low-cost computer hardware, making it easy for …

Coupling K-12 Music Education With Science, Technology, Engineering And Math (Stem) Curricula: Implementation Of A Stemusic Outreach Program, Mallory Maestri

Civil Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Many studies have investigated the effects of music on evoking human emotions and diverse types of brain responses. One study by Juslin and Vastfjall indicates that hearing music can stimulate brain stem reflexes, create emotional contagion, recall episodic memories and provoke visual imagery. Due to the influence music has on human brain waves, researchers have been studying the effect of music on enhancing the spatial abilities of young students. Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) professions rely heavily on spatial skills. Research on the connection of music with spatial skills proposes that when the brain processes rhythm a “mental rotation” …

Evaluating The Policies That Lead To Stem Educational Attainment At The University Of Arkansas For Transfer Students, Bryan Hill

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The US has a critical need to produce more STEM graduates and that need is exponentially more critical in Arkansas. Arkansas currently ranks last in the percent of STEM degrees conferred compared to overall degrees awarded. Students intending to pursue a STEM four-year college degree who start at a two-year college are significantly less likely to succeed in earning that degree. Arkansas passed Acts 672 and 182 aimed at strengthening the success of students who transfer from two-year colleges into four-year institutions. This study sought to evaluate the effectiveness of the Acts by determining if the University of Arkansas (UA) …

Designing Sewn Circuits And Stem Self-Efficacy In Middle School Girls, Kara Kaiser

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to determine if the experience of designing and sewing LilyPad Arduino circuits in crafts projects can increase middle school girls’ STEM self-efficacy. Boys STEM self-efficacy will also be assessed to determine if LilyPad Arduino circuits can also increase boys’ STEM self-efficacy. Researchers have been wondering why there is a male dominance in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields and why some women do not have a particular interest in these subjects. There are several reasons this could happen; stereotypes conveyed to them by parents and/or teachers, they genuinely are not interested in STEM …