Education Commons^™

Appalachian Economic Futures, Dewayne Barton, John Deskins, Paul Corbit Brown, William Hal Gorby, Jill Moles Mullins, Nicholas F. Stump, Matt Winans, Brenden E. Mcneil, Eloise Elliott, Chris Haddox, E Gordon Gee, Eddie Brzostek, Audra Slocum, Trevor Mckenzie, Tom Hansell

Exhibit Panels

When people talk about the future of Appalachia, they typically mean economic futures: What will happen to coal jobs? How will Appalachia diversify its economy? What about poverty? Stereotypes about our region represent our people as disinterested in education, and hostile to innovation, technology, and sustainability. We see a different story. This part of the exhibit looks at ways that Appalachians are taking their strong sense of culture, their linguistic distinctiveness, and their relationship to the natural world to imagine new futures in diverse industries, sustainable practices, and stronger education systems.

Appalachian Futures At Wvu: Class Projects, West Virginia University Libraries

Exhibit Panels

Classrooms across campus are connecting the Appalachian past to our possible futures, in subjects across the curriculum. These are just a few such projects where WVU student researchers helping to chart a distinctly Appalachian path forward.

Research For Non-Profits, A Service Learning Class In Grantseeking Research, Alyssa Wright

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

This chapter describes Research for Non-Profits a 300/500 level service-learning course that introduces non-profits and grantseeking while teaching research and information literacy skills. Students in the course create a funder research portfolio for a non-profit client with a funding need. As students draft, revise, and polish the portfolios, they hone their research skills as well as engage with larger information literacy concepts, particularly the value of information, information creation as a process, and how authority is constructed and contextual. The chapter describes the course’s long development road as well as how partnerships were built, not only with the campus center …

A Comparison Of Pre-College Enrichment Program Participants And Non-Participants: College Academic Performance Measures, Sherron Mckendall, Alan Mckendall, Ann Chester

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

This paper analyzes College Grade Point Averages (CGPAs), American College Testing Composite (ACTC) scores and Scholastic Assessment Test Total (SATT) scores of over 1,300 undergraduates at West Virginia University (WVU) who participated in the Health Sciences and Technology Academy (HSTA) to those students who did not (Non-HSTA). Traditionally, pre-college enrichment programs provide academic enrichment to underrepresented youth with the intent of increasing their chances for post-secondary entry and success. Factorial design determined if HSTA participants were better prepared to pursue postsecondary study. Overall, the results reveal that HSTA students outperformed their Non-HSTA counterparts in that there were significant differences in …

Demonstrating The Efficacy Of The Health Sciences And Technology Academy: Using Archival Standardized Test Scores To Analyze An Ost College-Preparatory Program For Underserved Youth, Feon Smith, Sherron Mckendall, Ann Chester, Bethany Hornbeck, Alan Mckendall

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

To combat educational and health disparities, out-of-school-time (OST) STEM enrichment programs provide services to underserved youth to encourage them to pursue college and health careers. This article describes a study conducted to determine if the Health Sciences and Technology Academy (HSTA) program participants who receive year-round educational interventions to prepare them for STEM and health sciences majors performed better on the West Virginia Educational Standards Test (WESTEST2) than non-participants. This study provides descriptive and inferential statistics, specifically one-way ANOVAs with one-to-one matching based on grade level, gender, race, and GPA at the end of the 8th grade year for 336 …

Symmetry Of Energy Divergence Anomalies Associated With The El Niño-Southern Oscillation, Evan Kutta, Jason A. Hubbart, Timothy P. Eichler, Anthony R. Lupo

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

The El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a dominant source of global climate variability. The effects of this phenomenon alter the flow of heat from tropical to polar latitudes, resulting in weather and climate anomalies that are difficult to forecast. The current work quantified two components of the vertically integrated equation for the total energy content of an atmospheric column, to show the anomalous horizontal redistribution of surface heat flux anomalies. Symmetric and asymmetric components of the vertically integrated latent and sensible heat flux divergence were quantified using ERA-Interim atmospheric reanalysis output on 30 model layers between 1979 and 2016. Results …

Confucius Institute's Effects On China's Higher Education Exports: A Perspective From Cultural Difference And Institutional Quality, Donald Lien, Feng Yao, Fan Zhang

Economics Faculty Working Papers Series

This article uses a panel data of international student flows to China from 2000–2014 to investigate Confucius Institute (CI)’s effects on China’s educational service exports. We find that CI, as a comprehensive platform for promoting Chinese language and cultural exchange, has a significant positive effect on China’s education exports. The effects of CI on China’s education exports are transmitted through promoting Chinese language, bridging cultural gaps, and reducing psychic distance. We further find that the effects of CI on China’s education exports are heterogeneous, depending on the level of cultural difference and institutional quality in the host country. The effects …

Gender Fairness Within The Force Concept Inventory, Adrienne Traxler, Rachel Henderson, John Stewart, Gay Stewart, Alexis Papak, Rebecca Lindell

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Research on the test structure of the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) has largely ignored gender, and research on FCI gender effects (often reported as “gender gaps”) has seldom interrogated the structure of the test. These rarely crossed streams of research leave open the possibility that the FCI may not be structurally valid across genders, particularly since many reported results come from calculus-based courses where 75% or more of the students are men. We examine the FCI considering both psychometrics and gender disaggregation (while acknowledging this as a binary simplification), and find several problematic questions whose removal decreases the apparent gender …

The Effects Of Different Versions Of A Gateway Stem Course On Student Attitudes And Beliefs, Xiangming Wu, Jessica Deshler, Edgar Fuller

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Background

Substantial research has been conducted focusing on student outcomes in mathematics courses in order to better understand the ways in which these outcomes depend on the underlying instructional methodologies found in the courses. From 2009 to 2014, the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) studied Calculus I instruction in United States (US) colleges and universities in the Characteristics of Successful Programs of College Calculus (CSPCC). One aspect of this study attempted to understand the impact of these courses on student experience.

Results

In this paper, we describe results from an examination of the effect of course structure on students’ attitudes …

Tinkering With Logo In An Elementary Mathematics Methods Course, Keri Duncan Valentine

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

With an increased push to integrate coding and computational literacy in K–12 learning environments, teacher educators will need to consider ways they might support preservice teachers (PSTs). This paper details a tinkering approach used to engage PSTs in thinking computationally as they worked with geometric concepts they will be expected to teach in K–5. Experiences programming in Logo to construct authentic artifacts in the form of two-dimensional geometric graphics not only supported PSTs’ understanding of core geometric and spatial concepts, but also helped them to make connections between mathematics and computational literacy. Artifacts and discourse are discussed as they relate …

Hidden Figures Class Museum Project, Amanda Benigni, Anna Smith

Museum Assignments

In the secondary English/Language Arts classroom, inquiry-based learning is most often adopted as a method for teaching literary analysis. But teachers too often overlook the fact that literary analysis is not the only means of facilitating inquiry-based learning. Research, particularly archival research, can provide students with yet another opportunity for inquiry and reflective thinking.

Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly (both the mass-market paperback and the Young Reader's Edition), is a text that is especially well-suited to teaching archival research skills to young learners, as it is itself the product of a rigorous, thoughtful, and purposeful research project conducted by …

Women In Engineering, Arianna Frisina

Women in STEM

The timeline consists of significant events of women in engineering. The years range from 1939 to 1974 and contains information from Hidden Figures and a peer-reviewed article that was found on JSTOR. The timeline shows the years that the women (Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, Christine Darden, and Mary Jackson) began working for NACA. It also includes the time Christine Darden discovered her passion for math, when Kitty O’Brien Joyner sued the University of Virginia, the year of the Civil Rights Act, when Katherine Johnson was able to attend the editorial meetings, and Mary Jackson enrolling in engineering classes. The year …

The Influence Of Physical Activity On International Graduate Students’ Cross-Cultural Adjustment: A Qualitative Longitudinal Study, Shuang Li, Sam Zizzi

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

International students face multiple challenges due to cross-cultural transition. Physical activity plays a significant role in maintaining health and well-being for college students. Little research has explored how international students’ physical activity interacts with their acculturation. Using a longitudinal qualitative approach with individual interviews and non-participant observation, the current study examined how physical activity interacted with new international students’ transition in the United States. Nine first-year international students who engaged in weekly physical activity were enrolled. Each individual was interviewed twice,in the middle (i.e., Jan and Feb) and at the end of their first academic year (i.e., May and June). …

Middle And Elementary School Students’ Changes In Self-Determined Motivation In A Basketball Unit Taught Using The Tactical Games Model, Stephen Harvey, Alexander Gil-Arias, Megan L. Smith, Lindsey R. Smith

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Studies examining student motivation levels suggest that this is a significant factor in students’ engagement in physical education and may be positively affected when teachers employ alternative pedagogical models such as game-centered approaches (GCAs). The aim of this study was to investigate changes in self-determined motivation of students as they participated in a GCA-basketball unit taught using the Tactical Games Model (TGM). Participants were 173 students (84 girls), 79 middle school (45 girls) and 94 (39 girls) elementary school students from four seventh and five fourth/fifth grade co-educational classes. Two teachers taught 32 (middle) and 33 (elementary) level one TGM …

History Of Desegregation In West Virginia - Timeline 2, Ashley Porter

West Virginia Connection

The lesson plan in this correlates to the book Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly. This plan shows the history of the desegregation in the state of West Virginia and provides facts about what happened during that time. This will give you the ability to give a brief history to fully understand the hardship for African Americans, and also to show students how the education system has changed overtime. This history lesson connects with Hidden Figures because there is a direct connection to the educational system to the real-life people Katherine Johnson and Dorothy Vaughan. Both had attended schools in …

History Of Desegregation In West Virginia - Handout, Ashley Porter

West Virginia Connection

The lesson plan in this correlates to the book Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly. This plan shows the history of the desegregation in the state of West Virginia and provides facts about what happened during that time. This will give you the ability to give a brief history to fully understand the hardship for African Americans, and also to show students how the education system has changed overtime. This history lesson connects with Hidden Figures because there is a direct connection to the educational system to the real-life people Katherine Johnson and Dorothy Vaughan. Both had attended schools in …

History Of Desegregation In West Virginia - Timeline 1, Ashley Porter

West Virginia Connection

The lesson plan in this correlates to the book Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly. This plan shows the history of the desegregation in the state of West Virginia and provides facts about what happened during that time. This will give you the ability to give a brief history to fully understand the hardship for African Americans, and also to show students how the education system has changed overtime. This history lesson connects with Hidden Figures because there is a direct connection to the educational system to the real-life people Katherine Johnson and Dorothy Vaughan. Both had attended schools in …

History Of Desegregation In West Virginia - Lesson Plan, Ashley Porter

West Virginia Connection

The lesson plan in this correlates to the book Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly. This plan shows the history of the desegregation in the state of West Virginia and provides facts about what happened during that time. This will give you the ability to give a brief history to fully understand the hardship for African Americans, and also to show students how the education system has changed overtime. This history lesson connects with Hidden Figures because there is a direct connection to the educational system to the real-life people Katherine Johnson and Dorothy Vaughan. Both had attended schools in …

History Of Desegregation In West Virginia - Slides, Ashley Porter

West Virginia Connection

The lesson plan in this correlates to the book Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly. This plan shows the history of the desegregation in the state of West Virginia and provides facts about what happened during that time. This will give you the ability to give a brief history to fully understand the hardship for African Americans, and also to show students how the education system has changed overtime. This history lesson connects with Hidden Figures because there is a direct connection to the educational system to the real-life people Katherine Johnson and Dorothy Vaughan. Both had attended schools in …

Cold War Activities, Maureen Miller, Hope Bragg, Christy Keefer

Integrated Math & Social Studies Lessons

These activities provide students with the background regarding the importance of the work being done by the women of West Computing. Students will develop a knowledge base of the events that occurred after World War II that led to the escalation of the Cold War. The lessons include short video clips that provide students with information in a media format that appeals to them. Through synthesizing the research completed by each student, the class will compile a timeline of Cold War Events. It was these events that lead to the urgency of the United States to win the war which …

Math And Physics Activities, Maureen Miller, Hope Bragg, Christy Keefer

Integrated Math & Social Studies Lessons

Mathematics is at the core of the Hidden Figures story. These women were united by their passion for the field of mathematics. Society often portrays that there are “bad” math students, those that struggle with calculations and applications. The structure of these activities, pairing of students, permits students to support each other in working through the problems. The video clip allows students to establish connections between mathematical calculations and scientific concepts. The physics problems that students complete are motion problems that beginning rocket engineers would have solved to determine how high their rocket flew.

Separate Gender Activity, Maureen Miller, Hope Bragg, Christy Keefer

Integrated Math & Social Studies Lessons

The activities in this lesson support the students to investigate the development of STEM fields. The lessons incorporate single and mixed gender activities to encourage free discussion. Students will explore their own biases regarding those who have contributed to STEM knowledge. Through research and discourse, students will examine how society reinforces our preconceived notions and how that effects career choices. The video clips permit the students to examine how media can influence our opinions and ideas. The final activity, creation of a Woman in STEM poster, emphasizes the importance of leaving a legacy for future generations.

Ssr— Silent Sustained Reading Activity, Maureen Miller, Hope Bragg, Christy Keefer

Integrated Math & Social Studies Lessons

The SSR lesson outlines a strategy to incorporate literacy development in a Science or Social Studies classroom. There are short answer questions based on readings from the Hidden Figures Young Readers’ Edition, as well as open-ended journal questions. Questions are available for each chapter, so students can complete them at their own pace.

Civil Rights Activities, Maureen Miller, Hope Bragg, Christy Keefer

Integrated Math & Social Studies Lessons

The activities in this lesson support the students to investigate the development of Civil Rights initiatives leading to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The lesson includes readings on Jim Crow laws, Brown vs Board of Education, Montgomery bus boycott, and the sit-in movements, .

The Transition From Naca To Nasa, Courtney Samans

Cold War & Space Race

The artifact that I have created to be a resource for teachers is a PowerPoint presentation on the transition from The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), to The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

Animals In Space!, Courtney Wright

Cold War & Space Race

This is an extremely flexible project about the role of animals in space that you should adapt to fit your classroom’s needs. When I designed this lesson plan, I kept in mind different socioeconomic levels, and access to technology (or rather, lack thereof). I have attached my personal “daily” schedule for your use and guidance, but this project can be adaptable to any classroom without any set time restrictions. The point of this project is to allow students to learn how to research and present information. Additionally, it corresponds with the Hidden Figures nonfiction book because it requires students to …

The Transition From Naca To Nasa - Slides, Courtney Samans

Cold War & Space Race

The artifact that I have created to be a resource for teachers is a PowerPoint presentation on the transition from The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), to The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

Tuition Increases Geaux Away? Evidence From Voting On Louisiana's Amendment 2, Joshua C. Hall, Serkan Karadas

Economics Faculty Working Papers Series

In many states, public institutions of higher education have the autonomy to raise tuition. This has not been the case in Louisiana since a 1995 constitutional amend-ment required a two-thirds majority of the state legislature for any tuition increase. In November of 2016, voters in Louisiana rejected Amendment 2, a constitutional amendment that would have given state institutions of higher education autonomy in setting tuition. We examine parish-level voting on Amendment 2 using an empirical political economy model and find that parishes with a greater percentage of African-Americans and university employees were more likely to vote yes. Student enrollment at …

Student Awareness And Use Of Rubrics In Online Classes, Patricia Haught, Terence C. Ahern, Laurie Ruberg

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

The design, development and deployment of online instruction has become standard practice. The focus of the study was on student perceptions of course rubrics and not on the rubrics, themselves, or the instructors. In order to improve student engagement online we conducted an exploratory study of the awareness and perceptions of course rubrics. Fifty graduate students completed an online survey at the end of the semester about their awareness and perceptions of course rubrics. All students reported that they were aware that course rubrics existed. They indicated that they had learned about this information through the course syllabus, professor announcements …

West Virginia State Employees’ Preferences For Worksite Wellness Programming, Peter Kadushin, Sam Zizzi, Nidia Henderson

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Objectives: To investigate the wellness programming preferences of state employees in West Virginia.

Study Design: A survey-based, descriptive analysis of employees’ preferences

Methods: State employees (n = 18,791) of West Virginia were given a38-item wellness survey. Items assessed employees’ interest in programming, methods for receiving wellness information, and incentives for participation.Descriptive statistics were run to provide a summary of state employees’ preferences.

Results: The survey response rate was 40%. Respondents showed interest in physical activity (81.0%), nutrition (77.6%) and stress management programming (61.1%). A personalized webpage was the highest rated method of receiving wellness information and a discount on insurance …