Education Commons^™

General Chemistry Students’ Cognitive Engagement During Intermolecular Interactions Activity Involving Sodium Ions, Chloride Ions And Water, Kaylee Barbee, Cassidy Terrell, Adriane Randolph, Kimberly Linenberger Cortes

Symposium of Student Scholars

In chemistry, three-dimensional models are used to help students understand advanced topics. Understanding what causes an increase in cognitive load is critical because a greater cognitive load is often related to three-dimensional models. To understand cognitive load in relation to models, students were given both a virtual simulation to complete and three-dimensional models to use. Question four of the activity was further analyzed and broken down into smaller sections based on the molecules involved. With the three-dimensional modeling kits, the students were given water molecules, sodium ions, and chloride ions. The students were asked to figure out if certain molecules …

Modeling Functions: Modified Falling Ladder Task, Nakia Salam

Symposium of Student Scholars

Modeling Functions: Modified Falling Ladder Task

By the time students graduate from high school, the knowledge of functions has shifted from a conceptual understanding to a procedural approach, where the understanding of functions is based upon memorized computational steps that can’t be modeled. A focus on the computational aspect of functions can have a long-term effect on students’ ability to understand the meaning of functional relationships, negatively affecting their overall ability to reason mathematically. Without educators making a conscious decision to recognize the value of modeling and force its’ inclusion, there are few opportunities to experience the application of functional …

Assessing Education Needs Of Graduate Students For Data Management, Judith E. Pasek

Transforming Libraries for Graduate Students

Uncertainty remains as to areas of greatest need for instruction in research data management, and whether perceived needs differ between disciplinary faculty and graduate students. Data sharing requirements of research funders have provided the impetus in recent years for librarians to provide data management services. Instructional approaches ranging from workshops to credit courses are being developed, often without the benefit of first conducting a needs assessment.

A study of education needs in research data management was conducted jointly at the University of Northern Colorado and the University of Wyoming. Graduate students in science-based programs with research thesis or dissertation requirements …

Optimal Recovery Of Solutions Of Dirichlet Problems For Laplace's Equation, Najia Bacha

Symposium of Student Scholars

Laplace’s equation is a partial differential equation of the second order, which has a different use in mathematical physics (electrostatistics, mechanics, thermodynamics, etc.). Frequently also boundary condition is added (Dirichlet’s problem). The solution to this problem is well known. Our goal in this study is to develop an optimal method of recovery of the solution based on information we have on hand about the function (the function is not fully known. For example is known at N equally spaced points) and to compute the optimal error between the actual solution and the recovered one. We also consider similar question for …