Education Commons^™

Resource Use And Success In Life Science Graduate Education, Maryrose Weatherton

Doctoral Dissertations

Given that attrition rates for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) graduate programs have been higher than 50% for more than a decade, increasing student success in graduate programs has long been a focus of research in higher education. However, previous research has paid little attention to the opinions and experiences of graduate students themselves. Graduate students’ lived experiences may be critical to understanding factors driving graduate attrition and to improving STEM graduate programs broadly. This dissertation explored two understudied aspects of the graduate student experience: students’ definitions of success and their use of resources.

I used interviews and surveys …

Data-Wisdom As A Framework For Building Data Literacy, Rita Swartzentruber

Masters Theses

In a world where “big-data” rules, the need for data literate citizens is critical. Not only do we need citizens who can read data, but also citizens who are critical of data practices that perpetuate racist practices. One potential answer for this call is to create “data-wise” citizens. The purpose of this design-based research study was to explore how secondary and post-secondary students can develop data-wisdom through the analysis of three data-inspired artistic data visualizations. This study examined the growth of data-wisdom in participants, the development of classroom norms, and the increase in positive perceptions of mathematics in participants. Data …

Factors Related To Student Persistence In A New Residential Stem High School: The Case Of The Tennessee Governor’S Academy For Mathematics And Science, Amy Cinci Sullins

Doctoral Dissertations

Public and private sectors are grappling with decreasing numbers of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professionals as the need for them rises. State-supported STEM residential high schools may be the premier conduit to educate and socialize students in order to prepare for STEM college majors and careers. Gaining understanding of how these schools can nurture students academically and affectively so that they successfully matriculate to university STEM settings is valuable; however, minimal research exists related to the affective domain in relationship to retention at state-supported STEM residential schools. This exploratory, mixed methods case study describes factors that contribute to …