Education Commons^™

The Perceived Role Of Online Stem Dual Credit In Rural Nebraska High Schools, Trentee Bush

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This exploratory study was based on interviews with twelve participants, four community college dual credit coordinators and eight high school administrators (principals and guidance counselors). The purpose was to understand the role of dual credit STEM courses in rural Nebraska high schools and the impact these courses had on the institution. The interview process revealed the lack of uniformity in dual credit processes throughout the state.

The concept of dual credit is widely discussed. The potential benefits and challenges of these courses and programs are vast. Without national legislation, each state can make determinations and decisions about state-wide policies related …

Full Stem Ahead, Shawn Knowlton, Megan Elbel

Honors Expanded Learning Clubs

After school club that introduces students to STEM and builds problem-solving skills through hands-on, interactive activities.

Stem Opportunities - High School 2019, Huey-Xian Kelly Wong, Madeleine Rauhauser, Annie Morgan Nelson

Honors Expanded Learning Clubs

This publication details the lesson plan for the “Opportunities in STEM” club for the summer of 2019. This club began out of a desire to educate high school students about the opportunities and careers available in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields. Often, students feel that the prospect of entering a STEM field is daunting and out of their grasp. What it means to be a scientist is often unclear, and students never consider opportunities out of the fear of the unknown, particularly when science is associated with complexity and difficulty. This lesson plan integrates experiments with a wealth …

Traffic Noise And Sexual Selection: Studies Of Anthropogenic Impact On Bird Songs And Undergraduate Student Reasoning Of Evolutionary Mechanisms, Sarah Spier

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Humans have transformed much of the natural landscape and are continuing to do so at an accelerated rate, compromising natural areas that serve as important habitat for many species. Roads impact much of the environment as they fragment habitat and introduce traffic noise into the acoustic environment, deferentially affecting wildlife in roadside habitat. I explored how traffic noise affects the detection of birds based on whether their vocalizations were masked by traffic noise. Masked species detection was not affected by an increase in traffic noise amplitude, while there was a negative effect of traffic noise amplitude on unmasked species detection, …

Traffic Noise And Sexual Selection: Studies Of Anthropogenic Impact On Bird Songs And Undergraduate Student Reasoning Of Evolutionary Mechanisms, Sarah Spier

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Humans have transformed much of the natural landscape and are continuing to do so at an accelerated rate, compromising natural areas that serve as important habitat for many species. Roads impact much of the environment as they fragment habitat and introduce traffic noise into the acoustic environment, deferentially affecting wildlife in roadside habitat. I explored how traffic noise affects the detection of birds based on whether their vocalizations were masked by traffic noise. Masked species detection was not affected by an increase in traffic noise amplitude, while there was a negative effect of traffic noise amplitude on unmasked species detection, …

The Impacts On Rural Families When Engaging In Stem Education, Kimberly Felton-Canfield

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Family STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Nights and Family STEM Backpacks are a way for schools to provide stakeholders the opportunity to work together in a hands-on, interactive environment to learn more about STEM subjects. Students, teachers, parents and community partners learn through various activities what career choices are available that engage STEM disciplines. Through action research, qualitative data was gathered to discover the community impact of attending a Family STEM night and participating in Family STEM Backpack Projects. Participants completed pre- and post- event surveys and open-ended interview questions. The whole community was invited to participate in Family …

Assessment And Engagement Strategies For Stem, Aaron Rohde

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In this study, I looked at how does student engagement change when a certain assessment is announced prior to a unit. This study looks at what different assessment levels have been researched to accomplish and how to utilize that to our advantage. I researched how does student engagement change when STEM projects are introduced in a 5th grade classroom. It is the role as educators to work towards providing our students with the opportunities to express their levels of knowledge and to show students what they have achieved. This study looks at what I found to be important about STEM …

Impact Of Robotic Challenges On Fifth Grade Problem Solving, Julie Rankin

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This action research project was designed to investigate the impact of educational robotics in a fifth grade rural classroom. The integration of science, technology, engineering, and math in education (STEM) has sparked an increase of robotics in the classroom. The purpose of the study was to determine if problem-solving skills can be impacted through continuing involvement with challenges using various educational robotics and programming tools. The study sought to answer two research questions: (1) How does the introduction of robotics challenges in a fifth-grade classroom impact students’ problem solving skills? (2) How do robotics in the classroom impact student interest …

Influence Of Stem Lessons On Critical Thinking, Brooke Waddell

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The study of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) is leading educators into a new world of teaching. The classroom roles have been reversed and students are now in charge of their own learning. Students are learning how to engineer and solve real-world problems through critical thinking. Integrated STEM lessons are teaching students to use their prior knowledge across subject areas to prepare themselves for the workforce needed in the 21^st century. This study was conducted in a rural second grade classroom with the number of students ranging from 16 to 21. Throughout this study qualitative data was collected. …