Digital Commons Network^™

Embedding The Scientists: Civic Issues As Context For Teaching And Learning, Heather Lettner-Rust, Alix Dowling Kink, Edward Kinman, Joellen Pederson, Phillip Poplin

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

We teach science as a path to meaningful civic engagement in a participatory democracy and as a path that should be open to all; our concern lies in how the next generation of young citizens1 address challenging civic issues both by applying science to other contexts—public and civic—as well as communicating science to others—peers and the public. To that end, our article seeks to explain an interdisciplinary capstone course for our general education program that we developed to promote and support science learning and science communication by teaching in the context of important civic issues.

Why Moffet Matters Now, Stephen Lafer, Jonathan M. Marine

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

James Porter Moffett (1929–1996) was a ground-breaking teacher, author, and theorist of language learning who had a profound impact on the fields of English Education, Language Arts, Composition, and Educational Psychology in the mid to late 20th century and was the first member of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning (AEPL). In the inaugural Moffett’s Corner, Steve Lafer and Jonathan Marine discuss how they came together, why they wanted to start this column, and what they hope to accomplish.

Public Narratives, Storytelling, And Trust: A Case Study In A Stem-Based Writing Program, Jeff Gagnon

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

In recent years, a growing body of scholars have argued that narrative storytelling is an effective and necessary science communication tool for the education of undergraduate STEM students. This research comes at a time when many in the public are becoming distrustful about science, scientists, and scientific communication. However, questions remain about which genre and style of narratives are most effective at building trust among STEM communicators and public audiences? My essay answers this question through a case study of narrative communication in my first-year writing classes. I analyze my attempts to teach STEM students that “public narratives,” a genre …

Addressing Gaps In Science Competencies: Incorporating Science Communication Into Existing Classes, Amy J. Hawkins, Melissa Rowland-Goldsmith, Nicole C. Woitowich

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Regardless of which career path a scientist decides to take, they must be able to communicate effectively with broad audiences. As such, science communication training has become an essential component of STEM professional development. While multiple national scientific societies have articulated the need to address these skills as in fundamental training, few undergraduate scientific training programs have formally addressed this in their degree programs. Here we present an innovative approach to teach this skill set by blending an online science communication course with existing curricula in the biomedical sciences. Online content from the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology …

Part 1: Creating Scientist-Citizens Through A Writing Minor, Melissa Carrion, Ed Nagelhout

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Part 1: Creating Scientist-Citizens through a Writing Minor

Weaving Science Communication Training Through An Undergraduate Science Program With A Focus On Accessibility And Inclusion, Adina Silver, Zoya Adeel, Tim Li, Abeer Siddiqui, Alexander Hall, Sarah L. Symons, Katie Moisse

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Science communication training can help scientists engage diverse audiences with the promise and process of science, helping to strengthen science literacy and preserve public trust in science. But not all scientists have access to such training. To address this shortfall, we have embedded a suite of science communication courses in the Life Sciences Program, the largest undergraduate science program at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. A foundational course focuses on making science accessible through inclusive language and media, while more advanced courses emphasize the importance of understanding and centering the values, beliefs, questions, and critiques of audiences, and using narratives …

Coastal Communications: Teaching Civic Scientific Literacy In English And Environmental Science And Resource Management Classes, Stacey Anderson, Kiki Patsch

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Named after the national park that lies just off of our Ventura County shores, California State University Channel Islands draws faculty who are committed to integrating the coast into their teaching and research. This context has inspired our interdisciplinary collaboration as teacher-scholars who hail from separate departments (English and Environmental Science and Resource Management). Our work together is designed to amplify civic scientific literacy in our classrooms as a means of elevating discourse on the growing challenges that threaten our coastal communities.

Part 2: Learning To Communicate About Science: Writing About (Science) Writing And The First-Year Writing Requirement, David Gerstle, Sarah Seeley, Marc Laflamme

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Part 2: Learning to Communicate About Science: Writing About (Science) Writing and the First-Year Writing Requirement

Getting Beyond “Craap”: Scientific Literacy In Fyw And Wad, Erica Duran, Lauren M. Springer

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

While first-year writing (FYW) programs often bear the responsibility for teaching students to write across the disciplines (Downs and Wardle), too often students restrict the concepts learned in FYW to the humanities, or even worse, a single class. Moreover, students frequently complete research assignments in FYW which restrict them to scholarly or peer-reviewed sources, hindering their ability to learn how to assess popular sources. This can be especially problematic with scholarly STEM sources, which are laden with unfamiliar technical terms. Although the writing and research skills learned in FYW are often intended to be interdisciplinary, FYW faculty have opportunities to …

English 101, Naomi C. Gades

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Poetry: English 101

Connecting Introduction - Reciprocal Engagement And Imperfect Pedagogy, Christy I. Wenger

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Connecting Introduction - Reciprocal Engagement and Imperfect Pedagogy

Aepl Members Respond To Lynn Z. Bloom’S Recipe1, Lynn Bloom, Bruce Novak, Geri Deluca, Libby F. Jones, Jeffrey Seizer, Elizabeth Vickers

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

AEPL Members Respond to Lynn Z. Bloom’s Recipe

Negotiating Scientific Identity And Agency: Graduate Student Perspectives On A Public Communication Of Science Course, Lilly Campbell

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Drawing on interviews with nine graduate science students, this article explores perspectives on a Public Communication of Science (PCS) course designed to help students translate their research for a public talk given at a local town hall. I first outline the history of the student-run course and then discuss three course components—public rhetoric of science; improvisation; and audience awareness. Within each component, I describe one student’s particular experience with the course. I describe how students transferred rhetorical lessons from the course to their academic writing but could also transfer rigid views of communication from their scientific work back into their …

Back Matter, Wendy Ryden

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Back Matter

Sessional Spa Time, Amber Moore

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Poetry: Sessional spa time

Contributors To Jaepl, Vol. 28, Wendy Ryden

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

List of contributors and biographies for JAEPL, Volume 28.

A Cross-Sectional Analysis Of The Sports Nutrition Knowledge, Attitudes, And Behaviors Among Student Athletes At The University Of Alaska Anchorage, Emily J. Thompson

Student Projects for Graduate Degrees

Nutrition is essential for college athletes. However, many athletes may not meet nutrition recommendations for their specific sport due to a lack of knowledge or because they do not believe that proper nutrition is essential for their performance. To ensure that programs best meet the needs of athletes, it is important to understand athletes’ current knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors (KAB) related to sports nutrition to improve nutritional awareness and elicit desired behavior change. The idea that improving KAB can lead to behavior change specific to nutrition is well-studied and has its foundations in social cognitive theory. However, there is a …

A Good Death: End-Of-Life Lawyering Through A Relational Autonomy Lens, Genevieve Mann

Washington Law Review

Death is difficult—even for lawyers who counsel clients on end-of-life planning. The predominant approach to counseling clients about death relies too heavily on traditional notions of personal autonomy and a nearly impenetrable right to be free from interference by others. Rooted in these notions, contracts called “advance directives” emerged as the primary tool for choosing one’s final destiny. Nevertheless, advance directives are underutilized and ineffective because many people are mired in death anxiety, indecision, and the weight of planning for a hypothetical illness. In the end, many do not get the death they choose: to trust in others and share …

In Modeling Digital Learning, Remember Pictorial Competence., Georgene Troseth, Gabrielle Strouse

School of Education Faculty Publications

Barr and Kirkorian summarize decades of research about young children’s learning and transfer from screen media, offer a new theoretical model of factors involved in early multimedia learning, and suggest a future research agenda to study learning from commercial media products “in the wild” of everyday family life outside the lab. In this commentary, the authors offer background on the development of symbolic understanding and “pictorial competence” for young children’s learning from screen media and attempt to deepen the discussion of cognitive factors and individual differences that affect early learning.

How Self-Criticism Predicts Momentary Suicidal Ideation Differently For Overcontrolled And Undercontrolled Personality Styles, Ethan Dennis

Psychological Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Suicide is one of the leading causes of death in the United States, and nearly everyone who attempts suicide engages in ideation. Suicidal ideation varies over time and across contexts, indicating the need to untangle the interaction of momentary processes associated with ideation. We predict that people will experience increased ideation in moments of emotional pain when they engage in self-criticism. Moreover, people with differing interpersonal motives, such as that of agency (i.e., valuing competence at tasks deemed important to one’s self-worth) and communion (i.e., valuing the degree of closeness in one’s relationships) may be prompted to self-criticize in moments …

The Ux Fest Slo Website Redesigned For Better Comprehension, Isabel A. Pascua

Graphic Communication

UX Fest SLO is a student organization that strives to help Cal Poly students learn and foster their UX skills by providing accessible UX learning opportunities. UX Fest SLO is known to be a successful organization that allows students to learn and grow in their craft; however, the number of students that benefit from this organization is not as high as the club would like.

One of the reasons why UX Fest SLO may not see this growth in numbers is due to a poorly designed website. Users are unable understand what the club is all about when they look …

Haaland V. Brackeen: The Indian Child Welfare Act, States' Rights, And The Survival Of America's First Peoples And Nations, Andrew B. Reid

Denver Law Review

At the end of its 2023 term, the United States Supreme Court issued a long-awaited decision on the Indian Child Welfare Act, Haaland v. Brackeen. The Court was presented with the direct conflict between three well-established bodies of constitutional law: (1) the right of individuals against racial discrimination, (2) the rights reserved by the states under Tenth Amendment federalism, and (3) federal supremacy over the states in matters concerning Native peoples and nations. These conflicts risk the survival of Native families, communities, and culture as well as the collective rights of Native peoples to their survival as inherently sovereign nations …

Osteoarthritis Disease Severity In The Temporomandibular Joint And The Knee Joint: A Comparative Cadaveric Study, Jessica A Immonen, Jason Ciccotelli, Linh M Nguyen, Lesley Gilmer, Landen Broadhead, Mackenzie Kitchen, Conner Paul, Jeremy James

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to determine the level of disease severity in a pilot cohort of temporomandibular joints (TMJs) and compare them to the pathology findings previously characterized in cadaveric knee joints.

DESIGN: Thirty-one intact TMJs from 17 cadaveric donors were harvested and arthritic lesioning seen in the knee joint was investigated on the condyle and the fossa of the TMJ. Prevalence of gross alterations was equated and disease severity was determined for sex- and age-based donor pools using a validated, osteoarthritis (OA) disease severity scale (DSS). Knee joint DSS scores were also compared to the TMJ …

A Holistic Approach To Leadership Development And Self-Efficacy For Frontline Managers, Alberta Green

Dissertations

According to Clifton and Harter (2019), managers determine an organization’s success. Specifically, managers determine 70% of worker engagement. Researchers (Bandura, 1997; Dwyer, 2019) have associated self-efficacy with leadership strengths. As such, frontline managers (FLMs) need holistic leadership development (HLD) training in the four leadership domains—analytic, conceptual, emotional, and spiritual—to improve their competencies and bolster their self-efficacy (Clifton & Harter, 2019; Ward, 2018). Integrative leadership development models that prioritize organizational resources through holistic leadership development offer a modern approach to addressing FLMs’ leadership skill development and self-efficacy (Guidi et al., 2018). According to Bandura (1997), self-efficacy is how individuals evaluate their …

An Examination Of The Utilization Of Programming For Female Delinquency Prevention In Jamaica, Regan R. Reid

All Dissertations

Little to no academic inquiry has examined interventions targeting girls involved in the justice system in Jamaica. This qualitative study asked: (1) How do girls in conflict with the law in Jamaica experience victimization? (2) How does the justice system respond to girl offenders who have also been victims? (3) What are the needs of girls in conflict with the law in Jamaica? (4) What programs exist specifically for girls in conflict with the law? (5) How effective have existing programs been for girls in conflict with the law, and do outcomes vary across education levels and settings (i.e., rural …

Enhanced Market Timing: Long Short-Term Memory Neural Network For Optimal Entry And Exit In Stock Market, Jerome Chinua Hall

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This thesis investigates applying a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) Neural Network for forecasting optimal times to enter and exit the stock market. Given the inherent imbalance in the dataset, where most days are not opportune for market actions, and the challenge of predicting such infrequent occurrences, we will employ a five-day window before and after the identified optimal market entry or exit time. A prediction is considered correct if it is within this five-day interval. The model was trained on historical S&P 500 data, using features such as exponential and simple moving averages of the closing price, the ten-day percentage …

An Exploration Of The Impact Of Playing A Puzzle Game On Collaborative Problem Solving Skills, Dima Kassab

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The purpose of this research was to gain a better understanding of the impact of game mechanics on developing collaborative problem solving (CPS) skills. CPS skills are important for the complex work environments of the 21st century, and games appear to provide potential learning experiences where such skills can develop. The research questions of this study tackled how collaborative problem solving skills developed and how game environments through game mechanics can contribute to such development. Following a qualitative approach, the interactions between dyads in a puzzle game was analyzed using the PISA Collaborative Problem Solving framework (2015). This research contributed …

Effects Of Aerobic Exercise On Rage And Lrp1 In Stz And Hfd Models Of Diabetes: Relationship With Cognitive Function And Aβ Clearance, Corey Joseph Frank

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The number of individuals with diabetes worldwide has quadrupled since 1980, making diabetes the 4th most common cause of death from non-communicable disease. Since 1975, the number of individuals classified as obese has tripled to 650 million adults, or 13% of the global population (World Health Organization, 2018). Obesity rates in the United States are three times the global average, with 39.8% of adults having a body-mass index of 30 or greater (Hales, 2017). At the same time, in the United States, AD is the sixth most common cause of death, with 5.8 million currently diagnosed, a number that may …

Tye's Intentionalism: Representationalism & Bivalency Of Transparency, Ryan Skunda

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

In this paper I examine the intentionalist theory of phenomenal consciousness articulated by the philosopher Michael Tye. Tye’s theory is also considered a representationalist theory, representationalism is a theory in the philosophy of mind that argues that we have internal representations in our mind that allow us to represent things that are in the world. Tye presupposes a connection between representationalism and intentionalism, which I challenge as part of my argument against him. I use his commitment to transparency and its bivalent nature to illustrate a conundrum for Tye and argue that an enactivist approach to phenomenal consciousness is superior …

The Effect Of Autonomic Nervous System Functioning And Childhood Maltreatment On Empathy In Early Adulthood, Edward Charles Merritt

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Childhood maltreatment has a well-established link to both physical and psychological detriments later in life. Specifically, maltreatment has been found to be associated with changes in physiological functioning and increased aggressive behavior. Despite the well understood link with aggressive behavior, few studies have focused on the effects childhood maltreatment has on empathetic and prosocial behavior. Experienced adversity is theorized to increase one’s tendencies to adopt perspective and to feel a sense of responsibility for another’s welfare (Lim & DeSento, 2016). This study aims to examine how baseline autonomic functioning of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system moderate the relationship between …