Education Commons^™

Implementing The Caspie Coursebased Research Experience At The United States Military Academy: Affective Responses And Effects On Critical Thinking, Anthony Michael Chase

Open Access Theses

The Center for Authentic Science Practices in Education (CASPiE) pioneered a course-based research experience approach to teaching chemistry laboratory courses. The method had previously been studied in a variety of institutional settings. Recently, the United States Military Academy at West Point decided to develop CASPiE-style modules for the introductory honors chemistry course. This research setting presents clean experimental-control comparisons and a group of faculty who were completely new to the method. Equipping students with authentic research experiences early in their education is important regardless of the institution. However, cadets at a military academy must make decisions relatively early (the outset …

Impact Of A Visual Programming Experience On The Attitude Toward Programming Of Introductory Undergraduate Students, Saurabh Godbole

Open Access Theses

Traditionally, textual tools have been utilized to teach basic programming languages and paradigms. Research has shown that students tend to be visual learners. Using flowcharts, students can quickly understand the logic of their programs and visualize the flow of commands in the algorithm. Moreover, applying programming to physical systems through the use of a microcontroller to facilitate this type of learning can spark an interest in students to advance their programming knowledge to create novel applications. This study examined if freshmen college students' attitudes towards programming changed after completing a graphical programming lesson. Various attributes about students' attitudes were examined …

Chinese Undergraduate Students’ Preference For Chinese Tas And American Tas In The U.S. Context, Ruochen Li

Open Access Theses

This study researches and compares Chinese undergraduate students' (N=70) perceptions of and preferences for American TAs and Chinese TAs, and identifies factors that play significant roles in influencing Chinese students' perceptions and preferences. Multiple independent variables were measured, including age; gender; years at Purdue; years in the U.S.; GPA; overall TOEFL score; experiences with Chinese TAs; effectiveness of Chinese TAs; effectiveness of American TAs; English ability of Chinese TAs; and native speaker preference, ethnic identity, and level of acculturation, among which ethnic identity and level of acculturation are the major variables the current study aims to examine. Preference for Chinese …

Designing Sustainable Mentoring Programs: Examining The Role Of Social Community In The Stem College Student Experience, Joi-Lynn Mondisa

Open Access Theses

In order to begin to understand how to design programs that promote community development and produce beneficial outcomes for community members, we must first define the elements and functions of such a community. In this thesis, I define social community as an environment where like-minded individuals engage indynamic, multidirectional interactions that facilitate social support . Using a human-integrated systems approach, I propose a social community model for STEM minority mentoring programs to understand how a community's design plays a role in the learning and enrichment of its members. The social community model is comprised of three main components: program …

Augmented Reality Application Utility For Aviation Maintenance Work Instruction, John Bryan Pourcho

Open Access Theses

Current aviation maintenance work instructions do not display information effectively enough to prevent costly errors and safety concerns. Aircraft are complex assemblies of highly interrelated components that confound troubleshooting and can make the maintenance procedure difficult (Drury & Gramopadhye, 2001). The sophisticated nature of aircraft maintenance necessitates a revolutionized training intervention for aviation maintenance technicians (United States General Accounting Office, 2003). Quite simply, the paper based job task cards fall short of offering rapid access to technical data and the system or component visualization necessary for working on complex integrated aircraft systems. Possible solutions to this problem include upgraded standards …

Evaluating Optimum Levels Of Detail For 3d Interactive Aviation Maintenance Instructions, Nicholas Rohe

Open Access Theses

With the aviation industry shifting from paper based maintenance instructions to digital maintenance instructions, there needs to be a standard for what goes into creating the digital instructions. This study was done to determine what the optimum level of detail for 3D interactive aviation maintenance instructions. The definition of optimum for this study was: lowest amount of geometrical data with lowest rendering needed for comprehension and ease of use.

Online Simulations For Conceptual Understanding Of Thermoelectric Devices, Maria De Rosario Uribe

Open Access Theses

Computer simulations have been extensively used with educational purposes. However, the successful implementation in order to improve learning has been a matter of debate in research in education. The purpose of this case study is to analyze how a set of computer simulations can improve student understanding of thermoelectric devices. The study was developed in a learning context characterized by the advanced degree of difficulty of the topics treated, the high academic level of education of the students, and the online nature of the learning environment. As part of the course, students were provided with instructional materials that guided the …

The Indiana Cybersecurity Services Center (Incsc): A Cost-Benefit Analysis For K-12 Schools, Hans Christian Vargas Silva

Open Access Theses

The aim of this thesis is to determine if there are greater benefits than costs associated in the participation of public K-12 school corporations in the Indiana Cybersecurity Services Center (INCSC). This thesis is an ex-antecost-benefit analysis policy assessment of the INCSC. The study consisted of a sample of 6 school corporations from which 5 were classified as small and 1 was large. Three methods were considered for data collection; however conducting interviews was the most effective method due to the interaction with IT personnel from each organization in order to analyze current costs related to 4 areas of …

Student's Objectives And Achievement Strategies For Laborataory Work, Taylor M. Owings

Open Access Theses

In this study, we look at students' objectives and strategies for completing their objectives for undergraduate labs. Students across two universities and three levels of chemistry were surveyed at the beginning of the semester in the fall of 2012 using an open ended survey to identify the goals students had for the course. The students responses were coded and used to create a survey that went out to the same courses at the end of the fall semester. Using data from the fall of 2012, the survey was modified and data was collected in the fall of 2013 at one …

Effective Geoscience Pedagogy At The Undergraduate Level, Kelsey Warden

Open Access Theses

This investigation used constructivist pedagogical methods within the framework of an introductory level undergraduate geoscience course to gauge both the changes in attitude and cognition of students. Pedagogy was modified in the laboratory setting, but maintained in the lecture setting and homework. Curriculum was also maintained in the lecture, but was changed in the laboratory to emphasize the large concepts and systems stressed in Earth Science Literacy Principles. Student understanding of these concepts and systems was strengthened by factual knowledge, but recall and memorization were not the goal of the laboratory instruction. The overall goal of the study was to …

The Nature Of Parental Involvement In Middle School: Examining Nonlinear Associations, Elizabeth A. Wehrspann

Open Access Theses

Middle school is a time during which the importance of school performance and academic motivation increases, yet actual adolescent achievement and motivation tend to decline during this period. Extent research and theory highlight the importance of parental involvement in education for adolescents, as most work shows that parent involvement is positively related to academic achievement and motivation. However, there are also many mixed findings regarding the link between specific types of involvement (i.e., home-based involvement and academic socialization) and these outcomes. Further, little work has been done to examine the possible age-related differences in these associations. Guided by Self-Determination Theory …

A Web-Based Online Collaboration Platform For Formulating Engineering Design Projects, Sainath Varikuti

Open Access Theses

Effective communication and collaboration among students, faculty and industrial sponsors play a vital role while formulating and solving engineering design projects. With the advent in the web technology, online platforms and systems have been proposed to facilitate interactions and collaboration among different stakeholders in the context of senior design projects. However, there are noticeable gaps in the literature with respect to understanding the effects of online collaboration platforms for formulating engineering design projects. Most of the existing literature is focused on exploring the utility of online platforms on activities after the problem is defined and teams are formed. Also, there …

Hybridity And Dynamics Of An Individual’S Learning Styles, Quintana Marie Clark

Open Access Theses

Based on Kolb Learning Style Inventory 4.0, the objectives of this research were to demonstrate the existence of hybrid learning styles and demonstrate the existence of dynamic learning styles between subject matters (mathematics and English). Understanding an individual's dynamic distribution of learning styles might be used to further improve the quality of instruction, learning, and educational materials. Optimizing the quality of instruction, learning, and educational materials is important because careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields are increasingly needed. Personalized learning has been identified as an area that could improve the quality of STEM education. Exploiting individuals learning …

Examining Teachers’ Knowledge And Attitudes Towards Immigration And Undocumented Immigrants, Esmeralda Cruz

Open Access Theses

It is projected that by the year 2040, one in three children entering the classroom in the United States will be a second-generation immigrant. Among children of Latino immigrants, four in ten second-generation immigrant children have at least one undocumented immigrant parent and therefore live in mixed-status families. These demographic changes have significant implications for the schools and teachers who must be prepared to educate and meet the needs of these children; however, many teachers are not equipped to address the needs of these students. The present study examined whether participation in an immigration workshop would improve teachers' knowledge and …

Preschoolers’ Physical, Social, And Engineering Play Behaviors: Differences In Gender And Play Environment, Zachary S. Gold

Open Access Theses

This study explored gender differences in the occurrence of 66 preschoolers' (ages 3-to-5; 29 girls, 37 boys) physical, social, and "engineering thinking play" behaviors across three play environments: the traditional playground, the dramatic play area, and an environment in which children played with large, manipulable, loose parts. Previous research has indicated that young children are not engaging in enough physical play to maintain healthy lifestyles. Play may also have benefits for social competency and cognitive development. Observations of children's engagement with a new and engaging play material, Imagination Playground TM blocks, which are designed to foster imaginative and creative constructive …

The Impact Of User Centered Design On Student Motivation, Craig T. Locker

Open Access Theses

There is a current push for STEM education within the U.S.; however current studies show that students' interest to pursue STEM fields is decreasing as they progress through high school. This lose in interest has shown to have a strong tie to students' perceived levels of motivation towards the subject. The question that this studied set out to answer was if user centered design (UCD) would affect students perceived level of motivation. For this study a treatment of UCD was compared to a traditional high school engineering design curriculum, with the goal to identify if UCD would have a positive …

Computer Vision Aided Lip Movement Correction To Improve English Pronunciation, Shuang Wei

Open Access Theses

This paper explored the possibility of improving the pronunciation of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners by correcting their mouth-lip movement through visual feedback methods. As an EFL learner, I noticed that while learning pronunciation, for some words, the mouth-lip movement (e.g., opening size and duration) will affect the final pronunciation. A prototype system was developed to compare the standard pronunciation mouth shape movement with a user's pronunciation mouth shape movement and give visual feedback to users. Using computer vision technology, the mouth shape movement of standard pronunciation is extracted into moving contours. The user's mouth movement is video …

Relations Between Teachers’ Motivation And Students’ Motivation: A Self-Determination Theory Perspective, Inok Ahn

Open Access Theses

There is little research that examines impact teachers' motivation on students' motivation due to sparse attention to teachers' motivation. The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the relations between teachers' motivation and students' motivation using self-determination theory. Participants were 697 5th and 6th students and 35 of their teachers in Seoul, South Korea. Students completed the questionnaires for motivation, basic psychological needs, and perceptions of teacher's instructional styles. Teachers also answered questionnaires about their own motivation. Multiple regression analyses were used to analyze the data. Teaching experience was controlled for throughout the analysis process due to its significant …

Emotion Capture: Emotion Mimicry Using Facial Motion Capture, Thomas Emmauel Haley-Hermiz

Open Access Theses

This study explored the application of facial motion capture to Autism Spectrum Disorder therapy. The FaceShift technology was utilized in a behavior change intervention for children with ASD. The intervention focused on using facial expressions to display emotions.

The results of the study exhibit that all students involved achieved a higher percent in both facial expressions attempted and successfully demonstrated in intervention over baseline. However, this increase was not maintained in generalization. Without a successful generalization the intervention would not be recommended in its current framework. Recommendations for further research are provided.

Design And Evaluation Of An E-Learning Service For Online Self-Presentation Education: A User-Centered Design Approach, Zhihua Dong

Open Access Theses

With the booming of Web 2.0, cyber recruiting becomes much more prevalence. This makes online self-presentation literacy a necessity for college students to prepare for better career opportunities. This study proposed to design and implement a working prototype of an online educational platform for college students to learn about online self-presentation management. The design and implementation of the working prototype followed an iterative design process, through which the design was created, evaluated, and improved. Within this process, cognitive walkthrough study, competitive analysis, and usability testing study were adopted as major methods to design and evaluate the prototype.

Through the design …

Analyzing Responses To Open Ended Questions For Spirit Using Aspect Oriented Sentiment Analysis, Animesh Jain

Open Access Theses

Open ended questions provide an effective way of measuring the attitude and perception of respondents towards a topic. Surprising Possibilities Imagined and Realized through Information Technology (SPIRIT) was a program (2008-2012) that employed open-ended questions to gauge program participants' attitudes related to computing. SPIRIT sought to increase the interest of high school students, especially female students, towards computing courses and careers. Pre- and post-attitude surveys were used during the program to measure the changes in attitudes of the participants towards IT and also to analyze the impact different sessions had on different demographic groups of participants. The open-ended survey questions …

Multiple Case Studies Of Stem Teachers' Orientations To Science Teaching Through Engineering Design, Madeline Grace Rupp

Open Access Theses

The following master's thesis is composed of two manuscripts describing STEM teachers' orientations to science teaching through engineering within the context of the Science Learning through Engineering Design (SLED) partnership. The framework guiding both studies was science teaching orientations, a component of pedagogical content knowledge. Data were collected via semi-structured interviews, multi-day classroom observations, pre- and post-observation interviews, implementation plans, and written reflections. Data sources were analyzed to generate two orientations to science teaching through engineering design for each participant.

The first manuscript illustrates a single case study conducted with a sixth grade STEM teacher. Results of this study revealed …

A Computer-Based Approach For Identifying Student Conceptual Change, Junchao Yan

Open Access Theses

Misconceptions are commonly encountered in many areas of science and engineering where a to-be-learned concept conflicts with prior knowledge. Conceptual change is an approach for identifying and repairing the misconceptions. One of the ways to promote student conceptual change is providing students with ontological schema training. However, assessment of conceptual change relies on qualitative analysis of student responses. With the exponential growth of qualitative data in the form of graphical representations or written responses, the process of data analysis relying on human experts has become time-consuming and costly. This study took the advantages of natural language processing and machine learning …

The Influence Of An Advanced Agriculture & Life Science Course On Students' Views Of The Nature Of Science, Megan N. Anderson

Open Access Theses

One of the goals in today's society is to ensure that students exiting school have the ability to understand, develop, and comprehend scientific information. For students to be able to meet these goals, it is imperative that they become scientifically literate and understand the concept of the Nature of Science (NOS). The discipline of Agricultural Education has strong connections with science and today many students are earning science credit and developing science understanding through Agricultural Education courses. If students are continuing to gain science mastery through their Agricultural Education courses, they should also be gaining adequate conceptions of science and …

An Exploratory Study Of Diversified Mentoring Relationships Among Graduate Students And Their Advisors In Science, Technology, Engineering, And Mathematics Fields, Krystin R. Bodden

Open Access Theses

Minorities and women continue to be underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. In graduate education, factors such as racism, prejudice, discrimination, sexism, stereotypes, tokenism, and a lack of role models can all plague students and contribute to uncompleted degrees and non-entrance into STEM fields. One of the tools being used to combat these barriers is effective mentoring. Graduate students and their advisors generally have close working relationships and advisors serve in a tremendously important role in the development of the graduate student, so an effective mentoring relationship is vital.

The purpose of this study was to explore …

An Economic Analysis Of Sizing Constraints: Price Discrimination And Changes In Welfare Under The New York City Soda Ban, Brian A. Bourquard

Open Access Theses

This thesis uses profit maximizing techniques and nonlinear, second-degree price discrimination theory to describe changes in consumption and gains and losses in welfare of consumption under a container size constraint. It observationally examines the New York City soda ban to provide insight into retailer behavior in the event of such a ban, and examines three cases to highlight potential retailer decisions to compensate for a ban: to continue using a restricted menu of pricing options; to sell only to high type soda consumers; or to serve both markets with a one-size-fits-all strategy. This thesis finds that the ban generally reduces …

Eliciting And Characterizing Students’ Mental Models Within The Context Of Engineering Design, Chelsey Ann Dankenbring

Open Access Theses

Recently, science education reform documents have called for the incorporation of engineering principles and practices into the K-12 science standards and curriculum. One way this has been done is through the use of engineering design tasks as a way for students to apply their scientific understandings to real-world problems. However, minimal studies have documented students' conceptions within the context of engineering design. Thus, the first chapter of this thesis outlines the steps taken to develop a draw-and-explain item that elicited students' mental models regarding the cause of the four seasons after finishing an engineering design task. Students' mental models regarding …

Usability Testing Of The M.A.E.G.U.S. Serious Game, James He

Open Access Theses

Interpreting raw data in serious games and simulations can be a time consuming and uninteresting task without visualizations. This study proposes one possible solution for an interface that incorporates data visualizations for Whittinghill and Nataraja's (2013) MAEGUS simulation, a serious game used to increase the retention of wind energy and solar energy concepts in students, while still being fun. After the interface was designed and developed, a think aloud usability test was conducted to answer the following research questions: how do students use a series of information visualizations to operate a multi-variate game-based simulation and what are some the usability …

Career Intentions Of International Master Students In Hospitality And Tourism Management, Wenjun Li

Open Access Theses

The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate career intentions of international master's students in hospitality and tourism management (HTM) in the United States. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a sample of 19 participants at two different U.S. institutions. Interview questions were designed to better understand students' career intentions upon graduation and the determinants behind the plans. Results indicated that student's career intention should include measures of career decision self-efficacy, academic and career outcome expectations, and career exploration intentions. Unique personal background (e.g., gender and marital status, length of time in the U.S.), industrial working experience (e.g., internships), and …

M.A.E.G.U.S: Measuring Alternate Energy Generation Via Unity Simulation, Kavin Muhilan Nataraja

Open Access Theses

This paper presents the MAEGUS serious game and a study to determine its efficacy as a pedagogical tool. The MAEGUS serious game teaches sustainable energy concepts through gameplay simulating wind turbines and solar arrays. Players take the role of an energy manager for a city and use realistic data and information visualizations to learn the physical factors of wind and solar energy generation. The MAEGUS serious game study compares game assisted learning to a more traditional teaching method such as reading material in a crossover study, the results of which can inform future serious game development for educational purposes.