Education Commons^™

Simplification Of Robotics Through Autonomous Navigation, Grant Turner

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

With self-driving vehicles, college campus food delivery, or even automated home vacuuming systems, robotics is undoubtedly becoming more prevalent in everyday society and it can be expected to continue with time. While many people are owners, users, or even just spectators of theses robotic products or services, there seems to be a negative perception of robotics that poses an intimidation factor regarding the attempt to understand the ideas driving technology. This perception tends to view robotics as machines that require rich education to understand the complexity and interworkings of, thus attempts understand the field are neglected.

To combat this line …

Public Perceptions Of Language Education In Taiwan: English In A Multilingual Context, Isabel Eliassen

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Language policy in Taiwan has been a focus of the government since the days of the Kuomintang (KMT) dictatorship, when languages other than Mandarin were ruthlessly suppressed. After democratization, local languages were allowed again, but soon English became Taiwan’s top language education priority. However, not all Taiwanese agree with the decision to prioritize English. Despite claims that English is important for economic and diplomatic reasons, my survey found that most Taiwanese did not support English education when it threatened local Taiwanese languages. The survey also found that despite a significant amount of debate in academic literature about the role of …

Effective Community Engagement Programs In Contemporary Concert Dance Companies, Emily Caldwell

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Arts education is extremely important yet underrated and underfunded in our country today. Some professional dance companies provide educational opportunities in dance and other areas of the arts for youth and others within the community as a means to combat this problem. This project is a compilation and synthesis of my research on how to most effectively create and implement children’s outreach programs in contemporary modern concert dance companies. The purpose of this research is to study how professional dance companies give back to their communities through engagement with children via classes, performances, workshops, etc. and to determine the most …

Investigating Special Education Services For Elementary English Language Learners Within The South-Central U.S.: A Survey Of General Education, Special Education, And Esl Teachers, Kylie Bray

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

This paper explores solutions to the issue of overrepresentation in special education among the English Language Learner (ELL) population. Reasons for overrepresentation of this population can be summarized into three main categories: diagnostic problems, TESOL shortages, and improper assessment tools. By educating future and current teachers on proper ways and techniques to teach, academic failure among ELL students is prevented. Assessment forms need to be revised and accountability needs to exist to ensure that poor teaching and learning environments are not being diagnosed as a disability. An attempt to find how effectively these solutions have been implemented into schools, overrepresentation …

Autism And The Foster Care System In Kentucky, Caroline Clark

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

According to the CDC, one in 59 children are diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (Centers for Diseases and Prevention, 2020). More than 10% of those in the foster care system also have an autism diagnosis. The purpose of this project was to understand the general public’s knowledge and beliefs about both subjects. I conducted this study to identify any misconceptions, assumed facts, and opinions about both foster care and autism. I collected these data through anonymous surveys. The data were then analyzed and examined to create an app to benefit current and future foster parents who foster individuals with autism.

Regression Analysis: Graduation Rate In Kentucky Public High Schools, Rebecca Price

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Kentucky’s Public High School graduation rates vary widely across the rural and urban regions in the state. In addition to their graduation rates, each of these schools have their own unique demographics, funding, teacher-student ratio, etc. that define said school’s identity. This research aims to analyze the aforementioned variables, as well as other variables listed on each school state report card, in order to create a model to predict any school’s graduation rate.

In order to create this model, data was taken on all public high schools in Kentucky from the Kentucky Department of Education’s School Report Card. Data were …

The Financial Reality Of A Career In Veterinary Medicine For Kentucky Residents, Shelby Ackermann

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

The financial burden of a veterinary medical education continues to increase with rising tuition prices. According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, the average educational debt of a veterinary student graduating in 2020 was approximately $157,000 (Bain, 2020). Studies published by the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association suggest that suicide rates among veterinarians are higher than that of the general population and list debt as a primary contributing factor. The purpose of this project is to expose students to the financial reality of veterinary medicine, increase awareness of financial and career opportunities, and compile information gathered from interviews …

Parenting Stress And Child Disruptive Behaviors: The Mediating Role Of Parental Negative Talk, David Roehm

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

High parental stress and child disruptive behaviors tend to coexist. Furthermore, parental negative talk towards children cam impair child functioning later in life. In the present study, we sought to determine whether parental negative talk was a mediating variable between parenting stress and child disruptive behaviors. Fifty-two parent-child dyads from Eastern Kentucky participated in an analog Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) behavioral observation and parents were given self-report measures for parenting stress and child disruptive behaviors.

Bivariate and multiple regression analyses were used to predict variance in child disruptive behaviors based on parenting stress with parental negative talk as a mediating …