Education Commons^™

The Role Of Active Student Responding In Higher-Education Classrooms, Ryan P. Singley

Honors Theses

Active student responding (ASR) is a collection of common teaching strategies used by educators that are recognized to increase the accomplishments and opportunities of students in a variety of ways. Previous research has assessed the role of active student responding in kindergarten through high school classrooms; however, no comprehensive literature review has assessed the effectiveness of ASR with post-secondary education classrooms (i.e., undergraduate and graduate students). This review assessed the effectiveness of four active student responding systems (e.g., guided notes, student response systems, response cards, and choral responding) on activity grade, test scores, class grade, grade point average, and student …

Academic Cheating And Stressors At The University Level, Samuel Borge

Honors Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine why academic cheating occurs. Prior studies have investigated students’ reasons for their academic cheating, and this study aimed to further this research by trying to determine variables that might influence the behavior. A total of 56 Assumption University undergraduate students participated. Self-report measures included the Survey on Academic Dishonesty (SAD) (McCabe & Trevino, 1997), the Perceived Stress Scale (Cohen et al., 1983), and a measure of self-control (Tangney et al., 2004). In addition, a novel probability discounting task was created as a second measure of academic cheating. This task assessed participants’ likelihood …

Southern Sustainability: An Examination Of Waste Management Mechanisms Within The University Of Mississippi Community, Haley Clift

Honors Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze and study local mechanisms surrounding waste management at The University of Mississippi. The research study gathers quantitative and qualitative research to make conclusions about sustainability and recycling practices on The University of Mississippi's campus. The thesis discusses whether those practices are effective for those in The University of Mississippi's community based on the data collected and research conducted. The researcher also offers proposals for the University of Mississippi community based on the research conducted.

The gap that exists in the waste management processes at The University of Mississippi was addressed by blending …

Troubled Past, Golden Opportunity: Public Memory And Memorialization At The University Of Southern Mississippi, Hannah E. Arnold

Honors Theses

This thesis argues that The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) consciously chooses to present historical narratives in its history in ways that best enhance the university’s image. Examining the narratives of M.M. Roberts and Oseola McCarty using the theoretical frameworks of public memory and collective memory study reveals that the way they are memorialized within university history include both conscious and subconscious silences that impact how they are remembered by the public. This thesis identifies gaps within these two historical narratives and shows how these gaps were influenced by factors designed to enhance the university’s public image. Overall, the public …

College Esports: Grassroots Hobby Turned Unregulated Industry, Grace Ann Alexander

Honors Theses

When traditional sports teams formed on college campuses, it took decades before they looked anything like college sports teams do today. College football is noted as beginning in 1869 (Parlier, 2022), NCAA formed in 1906, and the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision launched in 1978 (NCAA, 2023). In 2009, one of the first recorded college esports matches took place. In 2014, Robert Morris Universty started the first varsity-level college esports program. Now, there are an estimated 500 college esports programs amassing thousands of student participants. It took decades, if not a century, for college football to achieve these numbers. …

The Effectiveness Of The University Of Southern Mississippi's Marketing And Branding Efforts Among Prospective Students, Amy Clevenger

Honors Theses

With enrollment rates expected to surge over the next decade, the competition

between institutions of higher learning will also increase. Because of this, marketing

material produced by all institutions will need to adjust to become more effective at

establishing brand identity to attract the attention of prospective students. Using Aaker’s

brand identity model as a framework to understand branding methods, this research aims

to identify marketing communication strategies that are more effective in a prospective

student’s decision-making process. The thesis also investigates prospective students’

recall and perception of marketing material produced by USM to determine its overall

effectiveness and differences …

Test Optional Admissions: Pre And Post Enrollment, Mackenzie M. Turner

Honors Theses

This phenomenological qualitative study explores students’ experiences navigating test-optional admissions when applying to post-secondary education. This thesis examines how test-optional admissions influence students' admissions decisions. The recent policy changes in college admissions practices raise questions about student experiences when making decisions when regarding test-optional admissions. First, this study explores the factors that go into a student’s decision on whether to submit test scores in their college application. Second, this thesis investigates college admission administrators’ perspectives on test-optional policies at their respective universities. Third, this study analyzes where the views of college admissions and student applicants are dissimilar. One important insight …

Modeling The Particle-On-A-Ring Theory In An Undergraduate Laboratory, Courtney Deslauriers

Honors Theses

In early chemistry education, students are often taught to think about electrons as small, negatively charged particles existing in planetary orbits around the nucleus of an atom, rather than creating an electron cloud. In reality, electrons exhibit wave-particle duality, and are best described as wave functions. This idea that the electrons travel as waves and are moving around the nucleus so quickly that it is not possible to know the speed or location of an electron at any given moment is extremely abstract and difficult to visualize. This concept is essential to the theory of quantum mechanics, and therefore is …

Table Stakes In The War For Talent: Examining The Role Of Educational Assistance Programs Among The Fortune 1000, Noah Hubbard

Honors Theses

This study gathered stakeholder viewpoints regarding the role of educational assistance programs among the Fortune 1000 companies during the war for talent. Thirteen semi-structured interviews revealed themes that addressed four guiding research questions. After analyzing the results of the interviews and reading relevant literature, I created recommendations for each of the questions. From the first guiding research question (How do educational assistance programs help attract and retain employees and differentiate companies from one another?), recommendations include: offer a broad range of programs from G.E.D. to master’s degrees, utilize tuition assistance models to improve access to educational assistance programs, and allow …

Increasing The Student Activity Fee, Alexandria Bea Mabry

Honors Theses

The Student Activity Fee is a five-dollar fee paid by every graduate and undergraduate student at the University of Mississippi through their university tuition. The purpose of the Student Activity Fee is to support any efforts and passions of student organizations to allow them the financial freedom to host intentional programming for students or provide items needed for the function and success of that organization. The Student Activity Fee Fund was estimated to be depleted by Fall 2023. Therefore, in order to protect the Fund, a Student Activity Fee increase to two-dollars per credit hour was proposed to the student …

The Leaky Pipeline Of Women In Stem, Lauren Jakobs

Honors Theses

Women make up more than half of biology-related doctoral degrees yet are still underrepresented in the faculty and higher-level positions of this field. This disparity is referred to as the leaky pipeline problem and exists in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) field. The goal of the research paper is to bring the leaky pipeline problem to the forefront and analyze solutions that can address it. This thesis will address the impacts of gender biases that people experience through childhood, adolescence, and high school into college and contribute to the lower retention of women in science. It will also …

An Analysis Of The Effects Of Covid-19 On Students At The University Of Mississippi: Family, Careers, Mental Health, Hannah Newbold

Honors Theses

This study analyzes the effects of COVID-19 on students at the University of Mississippi. For students, COVID-19 changed the landscape of education, with classes and jobs going online. Students who graduated in May 2020 entered a poor job market and many ended up going to graduate school instead of finding a job. Access to medical and professional help was limited at the very beginning, with offices not taking patients or moving appointments to virtual only. This would require that each student needing help had to have access to quality internet service, which wasn’t always guaranteed, thus producing additional challenges.

These …

Exploring How Popular Media Affects The Motivations And Hesitations Of Women Who Go Through Sorority Recruitment At The University Of Southern Mississippi, Whitley W. Howell

Honors Theses

Fraternity and sorority life is an important part of many college students’ experiences. Sororities provide college women with many opportunities for leadership, service, academics, and growth. Even though sororities have many benefits, they often have negative connotations in popular and social media. Often, these negative stereotypes affect people’s perception of sororities, and many women have hesitations about joining a sorority because of the way sororities are portrayed.

Sorority women express concern with the media’s negative representation of Greek life. The negative connotations affect how people see the sororities. Recruitment of new women into the chapters is an important part of …

Racial Representation For Faculty In Higher Education, Joo Ning Lim

Honors Theses

Diversity and representation for faculty in higher education are crucial to cater to the needs of diverse student populations in the 21st century. A significant factor that contributes to faculty diversity is the retention and recruitment of underrepresented minority faculty members. This study aims to provide valuable insights into the current state of racial representation of faculty in higher education institutions and identify solutions to improve the retention of underrepresented faculty. Specifically, this study investigates faculty retention and welfare by comparing data across five public, research institutions in the Midwest. Findings revealed that the racial representation of faculty within the …

A Unique, Project-Based, Microcourse To Teach The Fundamental Concepts Of Quantum Mechanics, Elijah Begin

Honors Theses

Spyder, a Scientific Python Development Environment, provides an easy-to-use software that can be used to generate data from quantum mechanical systems. This project proposes and explores a microcourse which takes advantage of this utility to teach undergraduates the fundamentals of quantum mechanics.

The Effects Of Higher Education On Socioeconomic Mobility: A Comparative Analysis Of Outcomes At Bucknell University, Katrien Weemaes

Honors Theses

Income inequality and the lack of higher-education opportunities across the United States often correlate with families' socioeconomic status. In this honors thesis, the following questions will be examined: How does the social mobility of Bucknell Students compare with students from other national universities? How do a student’s race and financial aid status affect their ability to achieve social mobility? How has the rate of social mobility through Bucknell changed in recent years? How does a student’s current family socioeconomic status affect their ability to achieve high-income success upon graduation? Does the level of accessibility to Bucknell change when socioeconomic status …

College As A Pressure Cooker: Relationships Between The Pressure To Succeed, Mental Health Distress, And Coping In College Students, Jennifer Doherty

Honors Theses

This study set out with the intent of examining the relationships between pressure to succeed, depression, anxiety, stress, and coping. While previous studies have not really begun to explore the pressure to succeed, many have found support for individual variables of stress. By compiling commonly cited stressors and possible reasons for why they cause stress, we created the pressure to succeed scale, transforming these variables into a larger construct. Through multiple surveys including the newly constructed PSS, the USS (used for convergent validity), the DASS-21, and the Brief COPE survey, this study found support for this new phenomenon. Specifically, positive …

Ethnicity And Education: College Attendance Patterns Among Early 20th-Century Maine's Immigrant Community, Jacob M. Nash

Honors Theses

I examine the college attendance patterns of second-generation Russian-Jewish immigrants in Maine in the early 20^th century relative to other ethnic groups using individual-level Census records. I employ the Abramitzky, Boustan, and Eriksson (ABE) algorithm to track second-generation Jewish, Italian, French Canadian, English Canadian and European immigrants from the 1910 Census to the 1940 Census. My logistic regression analysis indicates that second-generation Jewish immigrants in Maine attended college at significantly higher rates than their peers of similar background in every other ethnic group. While I cannot evaluate them, I also discuss potential explanations for the disparity in college attendance …

More Than A Language: A Detailed Look At The English Major, Hannah Woods

Honors Theses

This thesis analyzes the perceptions of the English Major in order to come up with suggestions for the Univeristy of Mississippi English Department with the purpose of increasing enrollment in the English Program. The last decade has seen a large decrease in the number of English Majors throughout the country, and this decrease has been reflected in the University of Mississippi. This thesis looks at recent opinions of the English Major in society, including popular criticisms of the major and responces from the English community. It was found that the two main criticisms of the English Major are that graduates …

Measuring The Accessibility Of Mississippi High Schools' School Wellness Policy Documents, Samikshya Thapa

Honors Theses

BACKGROUND: Childhood obesity is a significant public health concern and its

prevalence is increasing. Since children spend much of their time in schools, programs available in this setting can play an important role in promoting student health and reducing obesity. With the purpose of addressing childhood obesity, the U.S. Congress passed the Healthy Hunger Free Kids (HHFK) Act, 2010, which strengthened the mandate and regulations for schools to develop and implement School Wellness (SW) policies put into place to promote students health. Transparency and accessibility of SW policies among schools and public communities are important and required for the development …

Identifying The Relationship Between Supplementary Educational Tools And Black Undergraduate Academic Performance, Joiliana Lecointe

Honors Theses

What is the relationship between supplementary educational tools and the success of undergraduate minority students of Black descent at Andrews University? About a third of all students who attend a private, non-profit, four-year college or university do not complete a degree in six years (Digest of Education Statistics, 2017). Andrews University is a Seventh-Day Adventist, private university, and thus is able to provide a greater quality of education as compared to public colleges and universities (Scholarships.com, 2020). This is reflected in higher six-year graduation rates of private universities, as well as higher grade point averages. Unfortunately, minorities, and specifically Black …

Mpower: Thesis Project For Increased Financial Investment, Sustainability, And Growth For The Mpower: Lead Through The Creed Program, Annabella Sills

Honors Theses

MPower is a leadership and diversity conference hosted annually by the UM Student Union for incoming freshmen. I conducted a meeting with University officials including the Dean of students providing concrete evidence for why the University of Mississippi should increase financial investment for the program. Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, our scheduled stakeholder meeting had to be pushed to the fall semester as many departments are unable to collaborate on this project at this time. Therefore, this thesis paper has been adjusted accordingly. My thesis work will be used to collaborate with multiple campus departments to increase the sustainability …

Determining The Success Of Collegiate Student Athletes, Cadie Annett

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

An Exploration Of Homeschooled Students’ Motives For Applying To An Honors College, Claire Callagher

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

The Diversion Of Diversity: Uncovering The Antiblackness Of Diversity Initiatives, M. Jordan Alexander

Honors Theses

In more recent years, Diversity has been a driving force in universities across the country. As underrepresented groups in the United States have gained more traction in the political and legal realms, they have gained the agency and the ability to advocate for their inclusion in institutions and structures that previously denied their access. This gaining of agency within these public realms is what has fueled higher education institutions across the country to really push for diversity, in both their faculty and student populations. The ideology behind this push is multiculturalism or multiracialism; this idea by its premise, the inclusion …

The Effects Of Stem Education On Economic Growth, Mallory Croak

Honors Theses

This thesis aims to build on existing studies of human capital and returns to education with a focus on innovation-fueling, STEM-based education, to answer: How does STEM education affect macroeconomic growth across different countries? A review of literature reveals that many studies account for human capital in growth equations, measured as average years of education. However, educational attainment as a measure of human capital leaves out the additional impact of research, technological know-how and innovation on growth. This thesis seeks to bridge some of the overlap between education and innovation as it affects productivity by focusing on education in STEM—fields …

Exploring Issues Of Diversity Experiences In Student Organizations Sponsored By The University Of Southern Mississippi, Cornelia Welch-Dick

Honors Theses

Colleges and universities are becoming increasingly racially/ethnically diverse. Previous studies have noted that an increase in racial/ethnic diversity has positive outcomes for minority and majority groups. Additional research supports that positive diversity experiences in student organizations have benefits for college students (Kuk & Banning, 2010; Cheng & Zhao, 2007; Antonio, 2001). While the benefits of increased diversity are clear, no previous study was found to have looked at diversity experiences at USM or more specifically, USM’s student organizations. The current study examined the degree to which leaders of each organization perceived experiences of diversity as positive compared to the members’ …

The Impact Of Modern Aesthetics: Stained Glass In The Chapel Of The Holy Spirit, Assumption College, Julia Goyette

Honors Theses

This analysis will look into the design and function of the fifteen abstract alcove windows in the Chapel of the Holy Spirit on the campus of Assumption College. An image and visual analysis of each will be provided followed by an explanation of how the modern aesthetic of art has impacted the above-mentioned windows.

The Impact Of Community Service In The Classroom Setting: A Research Study, Julie Dunn

Honors Theses

Community service has been linked to different psychological benefits. The field of positive psychology is growing and the purpose of the present study was to expand this research by examining other psychological benefits to those who participate in community service. We examined this relationship when community service is a requirement for the class. We compared Community Service Learning (CSL) participants with non-CSL participants of the same course. Participants completed questionnaires that assessed flourishing, self-esteem, serenity, gratitude, and their views about community service at the beginning (before completing community service) and at the end the semester. Contrary to our hypothesis, there …

Cultivating Cultural Exchange: Improving University Study Abroad Programs, Katherine Crawford

Honors Theses

My affinity for culture, both foreign and domestic, has greatly shaped my life and future career path. As I have been frequently reminded, I did not take the “typical” exchange route. However, I accredit this atypical experience to my passion towards the subject. My first immersive cultural experience occurred during a yearlong, high school, Rotary led exchange to Bourges, France. Simply put, it changed my life. I encountered the culture first hand, accepting a new normal: bisous greetings, daily baguettes, and a well-structured hierarchy. Within six months, I considered myself fluent in the language. I lived with French families, was …