Education Commons^™

Exploring Students’ Epistemological Understanding Of Atomic Structure Models, Claire V. Ward, Morgan Balabanoff

The Cardinal Edge

Developing a robust understanding of atomic structure and the nature of matter is foundational across chemistry and STEM courses. The development of this concept is challenging because it relies on models to illustrate something not directly observable. Scientific models are important tools used to explain phenomena, particularly phenomena that are not directly observable. In general chemistry, students are typically asked to consider four different models: (1) the particle model, (2) the nuclear model, (3) the Bohr model, and (4) the Quantum model. Each depiction has its own advantages and limitations, where instructors introduce each model to explain specific parts of …

Utilizing Markov Chains To Estimate Allele Progression Through Generations, Ronit Gandhi

Honors Theses

All populations display patterns in allele frequencies over time. Some alleles cease to exist, while some grow to become the norm. These frequencies can shift or stay constant based on the conditions the population lives in. If in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, the allele frequencies stay constant. Most populations, however, have bias from environmental factors, sexual preferences, other organisms, etc. We propose a stochastic Markov chain model to study allele progression across generations. In such a model, the allele frequencies in the next generation depend only on the frequencies in the current one.

We use this model to track a recessive allele …