Education Commons^™

Student Characteristics, Pre-College, College, And Environmental Factors As Predictors Of Persisting In And Earning A Stem Degree: An Analysis Of Students Attending A Hispanic Serving Institution, Gloria Crisp, Amanda Taggart, Amaury Nora

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

This study examined the demographic, pre-college, environmental, and college factors that impact students’ interests in and decisions to earn a science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) degree among students attending a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI). Results indicated that Hispanic students were well represented among STEM majors, and students’ decisions to declare a STEM major and earn a STEM degree were uniquely influenced by students’ gender, ethnicity, SAT math score, and high school percentile. Earning a STEM degree was related to students’ first-semester GPA and enrollment in mathematics and science “gatekeeper” courses. Findings indicate that HSIs may be an important point …

Análisis LingüÍstico De La Escritura BilingüE (Español-Inglés) De Los Hablantes De Español Como Lengua Hereditaria En Los Estados Unidos, Maria Luisa Spicer-Ecalante

Languages, Philosophy, and Communication Studies Faculty Publications

Tradicionalmente; los hablantes de español por herencia (Spanish Heritage Speakers) en los Estados Unidos aprenden español en casa o en su comunidad. Sin embargo; la mayoría no recibe instrucción formal académica en español. Por lo tanto; su escritura en español y en inglés muestra ciertas características lingüísticas relevantes. En esta investigación se analizan los textos persuasivos/argumentativos de estudiantes universitarios de los siguientes grupos: hablantes de español por herencia (HELH); estadounidenses que estudian español (EESL) y mexicanos hablantes nativos de español (HNE). Los resultados del análisis lingüístico y estadístico sugieren que hay diferencias notables en la manera en la que cada …

Teachers' Perceptions Of The Effects Of The Arizona Instrument To Measure Standards (Aims) Test On Arizona High School Math And English Curriculum And Instruction, Joseph Leland Heywood

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This is a doctoral dissertation centered on a qualitative research case study on teachers' perceptions of the effects of a particular high-stakes test—the Arizona Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS) on high school English and math curriculum and instruction. Specifically, this case study involved three focus group interviews at three Arizona high schools. Participants were experienced English and math teachers at each school site. To broaden the perspective gained from the focus group interviews, the study included classroom observations and document analysis. Two of the high schools chosen are located on the Navajo Reservation and were specifically chosen to include an …

An Experimental Comparison Of Middle School Students' Motivation And Preference Toward Text- And Graphic-Based Programming, Stephen E. Williams

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this study was to compare seventh-grade students' motivation and preference toward text-based programming using Visual Basic, and graphics-based programming using Robolab. Motivation was defined by the My Class Activities questionnaire using the dimensions of interest, challenge, choice, and enjoyment. Preference was determined through team and individual student choice. This study was conducted with 122 students from three 6-week technology education classes. This study examined two hypotheses. First, middles school students will be more motivated when using a graphics-based programming language than text-based as measured by the My Class Activities survey. The second hypothesis for this study …

The Effectiveness Of The Implementation Of The Early Reading First Initiative On Preschool Students With Disabilities, Jiselle Jones

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Early Reading First Program emphasizes that preschool classrooms provide services to better prepare children entering kindergarten with the necessary language, cognitive, and literacy skills that can avert reading difficulties. This study investigated two questions. The first addressed the effectiveness of the ERF program on students identified with a disability within control and experimental groups. The second addressed the effectiveness of the ERF program on subpopulations of students within the ERF program categorized with a severe language delay or a mild/moderate language delay. To address the first question, results showed a statistically significant difference between the control sample and experimental …

Implementing Graphic Organizers In A General Education Earth Systems Classroom, Jennifer P. Slade

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Previous research has shown that implementing graphic organizers and giving the needed instruction to use and study content information increases academic gain of students with learning disabilities. In the present study students actively engaged in using graphic organizers, which helped them demonstrate their learning on multiple choice questions. On the multiple choice test, the overall mean gain for the experimental group was 45%. The control group's overall mean gain on the multiple choice test was 30%. While the posttest scores for students in the graphic organizer group were significantly higher than posttest scores of students in the control group, few …

The Impact Of Knowledge, Attitudes, And Peer Influence On Adolescent Energy Drink Consumption, Alyson C. Ward

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Adolescents are labeled as sensitive to caffeine, though despite this predisposition, consumption is high among this population. Energy drinks are a current trend in soft-drink-like beverages and are marketed to 11-35 year olds. However, unlike soft drinks, energy drinks are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, and therefore do not have to limit their caffeine content.

This cross-sectional, correlational study sought to identify the role that knowledge, attitudes, and peers play in adolescent energy drink consumption. Adolescents (n = 199), ages 18 to 21, at a university in the west were surveyed. Descriptive statistics revealed that 25% …

Ethics In Higher Education, Susan R. Madsen

Susan R. Madsen

This presentation focuses on the following Robinson and Moulton quote found in the book "Ethical Problems in Higher Education": The myth that institutions of higher education are sheltered from the struggles and conflicts of the “real world” is widely accepted even by people who ought to know better—those of us in academic settings who confront, struggle with, bemoan, or try to ignore the serious ethical issues that arise. People outside academia may tease us about the ivory tower world and our innocence and naiveté. With a twinge of guilt, we in academia accept their teasing because the myth tells us …

Innovative Reflection Tools For Developing Leadership For Transformation, Susan R. Madsen, Katherine A. Tunheim

Susan R. Madsen

Since developing leadership is seeded in learning, there is a continuous effort to understand the most effective methods and techniques to assist individuals in becoming leaders. The purpose of this engaging workshop is to offer a variety of innovative tools that both academics and practitioners can use with adult learners in various settings to help them further develop leadership knowledge, competencies, and skills through enhanced reflection experiences. We cannot help create leaders who transform without helping them first be transformed by their own learning experiences. Learning that transforms individuals is learning that changes individuals. Since developing leadership is a transforming …

Educational Data Mining Approaches For Digital Libraries, Mimi Recker, Sherry Hsi, Beijie Xu, Rob Rothfarb

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

This collaborative research project between the Exploratorium and Utah State's Department of Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences investigates online evaluation approaches and the application of educational data mining to educational digital libraries and services. Much work over the past decades has focused on developing algorithms and methods for discovering patterns in large datasets, known as Knowledge Discovery from Data (KDD). Webmetrics, the application of KDD to web usage mining, is growing rapidly in areas such as e-commerce. Educational Data Mining (EDM) is just beginning to emerge as a tool to analyze the massive, longitudinal user data that are captured in …

Sixth Grade Lesson Plan: Heat Moves, Getaway Special Team 2009

Education and Outreach

No abstract provided.

Changing Higher Education Learning With Web 2.0 And Open Education Citation, Annotation, And Thematic Coding Appendices, Heather Leary, M. Harrison Fitt, David Wiley

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Research

Appendices of citations, annotations and themes for research conducted on four websites: Delicious, Wikipedia, YouTube, and Facebook.

Fifth Grade Lesson Plan: Solid, Liquid, And Gas, Getaway Special Team 2009

Education and Outreach

No abstract provided.

Faculty Ethics Unveiled: Scholarship--Et Tu, Brute?, Susan R. Madsen, James Davis

Susan R. Madsen

Little actual research has been conducted to explore the ethics of the faculty of higher education. A review of the literature has discovered four primary categories of faculty ethics, which include scholarship, teaching, service, and professional (e.g., consulting, treatment of colleagues and peers). This paper will focus on the scholarship category and includes research (e.g., authorship, conflicts of interest, plagiarism/citing-including self-plagiarism, ethical approval, research design, redundant publications, misconduct, accuracy, personal criticism of others) and review of other's work as a reviewer or editor (e.g., unbiased, speed/timeliness, accuracy, responsibility, objectivity, confidentiality, conflicts of interest). The purpose of this paper is to …

Easy Table Runner, Christine E. Jensen, Debra Proctor, Ronda Olsen, Karen Biers

All Current Publications

This is a how-to guide that provides instructions for making an easy table runner.

The First Steps Toward Developing Leadership Programs For Women In The United Arab Emirates: A Survey Study Exploring The Transformation Of Emirati College Students, Susan R. Madsen

Susan R. Madsen

Developing effective leaders has become one of the most critical challenges for many organizations today, as strong, competent leadership often separates high-performing, successful organizations from less effective ones. In many countries research is being conducted to assist practitioners in designing successful leadership development programs for both men and women. However, in some countries, such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE), these efforts are only in their infancy, and leadership development for women is a new concept. Needless to say, there is no evidence of existing research on the development of women leaders in that country, and only a few indications …

Balancing The Budget, Fitting It All In, Melanie Jewkes

All Current Publications

How do I make a budget that actually works for me and my family? This packet with walk you through setting up a budget step-by-step, and includes fool-proof tips to make your budget work for you.

Teaching Children Money Management, Melanie Jewkes

All Current Publications

Don't fret if, as a parent, you don't feel qualified to teach your children about money. Talking about money and choices made with money (for better or worse) is a great place to start. This publication covers what and how to teach children about money management skills, and gives every-day parents ideas to start the conversation.

Toward Creating Computer-Based Math Learning Favoring High-School Females, Yanghee Kim

Yanghee Kim

Research indicates that teenage females prefer to work and perform better at the learning environment that supports frequent interactions and allows them to build relationships with others. This paper will introduce a computer-based algebra-learning environment MathGirls equipped with pedagogical agents (digital life-like characters) that simulate real-world social interactions and relations. The goal of MathGirls is to help young women of high-school age build positive attitudes toward and self-efficacy in math learning through this simulated social context. To investigate the efficacy of MathGirls, a classroom experiment was conducted with 83 high-school females. The experiment examined the effects of agent attributes (female …

Developoing A Review Rubric For Learning Resources In Digital Libraries, Heather Leary, Sarah Giersch, Andrew Walker, Mimi Recker

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

Over the past 10-15 years, educational digital libraries (DLs) have acquired online learning resources of varying levels of granularity (e.g., from images to entire lessons) and of varying sources of authorship (e.g., grant-funded subject matter experts; K12 teachers; graduate students). The challenge is to balance collecting and providing access to online learning resources while maintaining a level of resource quality that distinguishes DLs from internet search engines. In response, many educational DL builders have established review rubrics.

Dropped Waist Skirt With Ruffles, Ronda Olsen, Karen Biers, Debra Proctor

All Current Publications

This is a how-to publication on creating a dropped waist skirt with ruffles.

Easy Hot Pad, Ronda Olsen, Debra Proctor, Susan Haws

All Current Publications

This is a how-to publication on making your own hot pads.

A Model For Doctoral Students' Perceptions And Attitudes Toward Written Feedback For Academic Writing, Gulfidan Can

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this study was to investigate social science doctoral students' perceptions and attitudes toward different characteristics of written feedback and written feedback providers for their academic writing. Moreover, it aimed to provide an explanatory model to describe the relationships between these perceptions and attitudes, students' revision decisions, and other potentially relevant factors in their written feedback practices. The investigation was informed by two theoretical frameworks: principles of instructional design and conditions of learning, and situated learning and communities of practice.

The study used a mixed methods approach in which qualitative data collection and analysis was followed by quantitative …

The Effects Of A Short-Term Teacher Abroad Program On Teachers' Perceptions Of Themselves And Their Responsibilities As Global Educators, Raquel Cook

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In October 2007, two hundred American educators traveled to Japan for three weeks as guests of the Japanese government under the Japanese Fulbright Memorial Fund (JFMF) Teacher Abroad program. The purpose of the trip was to increase understanding between the people of Japan and the United States; to enrich American and Japanese curricula with international perspectives; to encourage appreciation for the people, culture, and educational system of Japan; and to expand professional development opportunities for educators.

Broadly speaking, these are the goals of global education. The question this qualitative case study examined is whether teachers who participate in isolated, short-term …

An Assessment Of Utah Resident Incentives And Disincentives For Use Of Opencourseware (Ocw), Anne Arendt

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This dissertation examines Utah resident views of incentives and disincentives for use of OpenCourseWare (OCW) and how they fit into the theoretical framework of perceived innovation attributes established by Rogers. Rogers identified five categories of perceived innovation attributes, which include relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, and observability.

A survey instrument was developed using attributes that emerged from a Delphi technique with input from experts in the OCW field. The survey instrument was sent to 753 (n = 753) random individuals between 18 and 64 years of age throughout Utah based on information obtained from Alseco Data Group, LLC.

Results …

The Effects Of Online Homework On Achievement And Self-Efficacy Of College Algebra Students, David Shane Brewer

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study compared the effectiveness, in terms of mathematical achievement and mathematics self-efficacy, of online homework to textbook homework over an entire semester for 145 students enrolled in multiple sections of college algebra at a large community college. A quasi-experimental, posttest design was used to analyze the effect on mathematical achievement, as measured by a final exam. A pretest-posttest design was used to analyze the effect on mathematics self-efficacy, as measured by the Mathematics Self-efficacy Scale. The control group completed their homework using the textbook and the treatment group completed similar homework using an online homework system developed by the …

Combining Information To Answer Questions About Names And Categories, Ginger L. Kelso

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Children's language and world knowledge grows explosively in the preschool years. One critical contributor to this growth is their developing ability to infer relations beyond those that have been directly taught or modeled. Categorization is one type of skill commonly taught in preschool in which inference is an important aspect. This study explored the development of specific types of inferences within a categorization relation: those among naming items and categories, selecting items based on their names and categories, and answering questions that relate names and categories. Children learned names and categories for a set of unfamiliar cartoon characters through one …

Intuitive Eating And Its Relationship With Physical Activity Motivation, Amy Campbell Nielson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Research has shown that restrictive eating, or dieting, can be devastating to one's health. A new paradigm, intuitive eating, suggests that individuals eat based off of their physiological cues, and not for emotional or social ones. To date, restrictive eating has been extensively researched, but intuitive eating has not. The main purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between intuitive eating and its relationship between physical activity motivation and physical activity maintenance, using the self-determination theory.

Participants completed a survey to determine their intuitive eating level, their physical activity motivation, and their physical activity maintenance (n = …

Social Cognitive Predictors Of College Students' Fruit And Vegetable Intake, Denice C. Ahlstrom

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study examined the social cognitive theory factors of home availability of fruits and vegetables, nutrition knowledge, food preparation ability, and cooking self-efficacy and the demographic factors of race/ethnicity, age, gender, marital status, living situation, and meal plan participation in relation to college students' fruit and vegetable consumption. The study sample was comprised of students attending on-campus classes at Utah State University during spring semester of 2009. Data were collected via traditional pencil-and-paper surveys distributed during classes with students in varying stages of their college education and from different fields of study. In total, 207 surveys were used for the …

The Relationship Between Religiosity And Educational Pursuit And Perception Among College Students At Utah State University, Randy A. Larose

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of religiosity on the pursuit of education and the perceptions towards education among college students at Utah State University (USU). The study focused on what religious variables were useful in predicting postsecondary educational pursuit and either positive or negative educational perceptions among students at USU. From a systematic random sample of 1,460 USU students, a correlational research design was used for this study. Multiple linear regression (MLR) techniques were used to determine which of the various measures of religiosity provided the greatest degree of predictive value for ascertaining educational pursuit …