Education Commons^™

Amazon.Com, Inc Strategic Audit, Ningzhi Luo

Honors Theses

Amazon.com, Inc (Amazon) was founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994 as an online marketplace for books but later expanded to e-commerce, cloud computing, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. This large variety of products and innovations has contributed to Amazon as one of the most influential economic and cultural forces in the world (Eugene Kim, 2018). This study would specifically focus on the e-commerce area and analyze Amazon's position in this market from an external and internal perspective by using three models: Porter's Five Forces, PESTEL, and the SWOT model. The report would identify Amazon's competitive advantages and the challenges it …

Designing A Week-Long Biomedical Engineering Summer Camp To Increase Young Students’ Interest And Self-Efficacy In Stem, Kayla Ney

Honors Theses

In order to combat the negative feelings many young students have towards STEM, I designed a week-long summer camp that teaches students about biomedical engineering as well as collaboration, communication, and confidence with STEM subjects. This work includes a literature review outlining what STEM is and current issues in STEM education, including disinterest in STEM and attrition in STEM degree programs. The literature review outlines current methods and ideas being utilized to combat these issues, namely, inclusive pedagogical strategies, and how some of these concepts can be applied to the summer camp. The curriculum document included outlines each activity, its …

The Effect Of High School Disability-Based Peer Mentoring On Perspectives Toward People With Disabilities, Caroline Jacobs

Honors Theses

Negative perspectives towards people with disabilities have been shown to lead to discrimination, prejudice, and an overall decreased quality of life. One way to possibly improve attitudes and interactions with students with disabilities could be implementing peer mentoring programs for special education students in high school. Research presented in this thesis examines the difference in perspectives toward people with disabilities between people who have or have not participated as a mentor in a disability-based peer mentoring program in high school. Data were collected through an online survey that assessed peer mentoring experiences as well as a scale to measure comfort …

Nebraska Dog 4-H Learning Resources: Assessing Youth Opinions And Determining Focus Of Future Curriculum Development Efforts, Tressa Reiner

Honors Theses

The optimal method of teaching participants in the Nebraska Dog 4-H program has historically been a club led by an adult volunteer. However, participants in the program, particularly those 4-Hers without a club in their area, may benefit from additional learning resources such as online how to videos or short hands-on workshops. Online resources have been shown to be helpful in other extension related activities. In order to gain an understanding of Nebraska Dog 4-Hers’ current knowledge of existing resources and their opinions of current and potential future resources, a survey was sent to all 4-Hers enrolled in the Nebraska …

Arbor Day Foundation, Demi Van Reeuwijk, Drew Spadaro, Frances Munro, Leigh Hanson, Trevor Lockard, Mason Smalley

Honors Theses

Over the past 4 months, our team at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Business Honors Academy has been working directly with Nebraska’s own, Arbor Day Foundation, or Arbor Day, in hopes of applying our skill sets and mindsets to solve a pressing problem Arbor Day currently faces. We have been tasked with the challenge of identifying creative, scalable, and profitable new business ventures for Arbor Day that will aid the generation of new revenue sources. With these sources of revenue, Arbor Day desires to further inspire people to plant, nurture, and celebrate trees and in turn solve some of the …

The Arbor Day Foundation Employee Carbon Neutralization Program, Justin Mccall, Maya Mercer, Grant Biggs, Ray Anderson, Bret Klabunde, Colleen Doyle, Brady Conant

Honors Theses

Our College of Business Honors Academy Capstone Project aims to identify a new business opportunity for the Arbor Day Foundation that will allow ADF to further their mission while creating $1-2 million in revenue. Through research, analysis, and ideation, our team is proposing the Employee Carbon Neutralization Program (ECNP.)

Arbor Day Foundation New Business Venture, Leigh Hanson, Frances Munro, Demi Van Reeuwijk, Drew Spadaro, Trevor Lockard, Mason Smalley

Honors Theses

Over the past 4 months, our team at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Business Honors Academy has been working directly with Nebraska’s own, Arbor Day Foundation, or Arbor Day, in hopes of applying our skill sets and mindsets to solve a pressing problem Arbor Day currently faces. We have been tasked with the challenge of identifying creative, scalable, and profitable new business ventures for Arbor Day that will aid the generation of new revenue sources. With these sources of revenue, Arbor Day desires to further inspire people to plant, nurture, and celebrate trees and in turn solve some of the …

Green Delivery: An Arbor Day Foundation Partnership Program, Vincent Malene, Sarah Schilling, David Petersen, Anthony Hare, Cassandra Arritt, Ross Grieb

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Motivation In The Mathematics Classroom, Evan Thornton-Kolbe

Honors Theses

Mathematics has always seemed to be an unpopular subject amongst primary and secondary students in the United States. This project seeks to identify the roots of these attitudes and examine them in ways that allow for personal reflection, community building, and student advocacy. An individual’s access to educational resources and equitable treatment play a large role in shaping their mathematics learning identity. This topic was examined via traditional research methods for the written paper portion and also includes a set of lesson plans for teachers to use. These lesson plans utilize the ideas discussed in the paper portion to provide …

Engagement And Computational Thinking Through Creative Coding, Dana Hoppe

Honors Theses

Rising enrollments in Computer Science pose an opportunity to engage students from diverse backgrounds and interests; and a challenge to deliver on positive learning outcomes. While student engagement is the driving factor for increased learning performance and retention, it has been declining to new lows for Computer Science students in recent years. In order to further explore the potential of contextualized computing as a tool for increasing engagement in computing and developing Computational Thinking aptitude in students, we have developed an introductory computing course contextualized with Art and Design with modules centered around guiding pedagogical principles and aimed at middle …

Navigating The Social Determinants Of Health: First Steps Toward Assessing And Addressing Socioeconomic Needs, Jocelyn Daubendiek

Honors Theses

The Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) are the socioeconomic conditions that shape a person’s life and can include an individual’s housing situation, economic opportunities, ability to obtain food, access to transportation and healthcare, level of education, and exposure to discrimination and violence. When people struggle with these socioeconomic aspects of their lives, their health will be negatively impacted as a consequence. In this study, the SDOH of patients were evaluated at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and Nebraska Medicine through the use of a survey about socioeconomic needs, and the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) of each participating patient was …

Reinforcement In The Classroom: Reference Guide, Morgan Buehler, John Maag

Honors Theses

My initial research question was “how can I make information about appropriate reinforcement techniques easily available to elementary educators?” Upon beginning this endeavor, I realized the most efficient way to do so would be to condense a variety of information on this topic into an easy to read access guide. This brochure contains information educators can reference when trying to analyze behavior, create classroom environments or build individual or group behavior plans/goals. It was written with the purpose that anyone in the education world could have quick and easy access to valuable information without having to search through a textbook …

Secondary Mathematics Teachers' And Students' Approaches To Engagement And Motivation For Mathematics Learning In The Classroom, Leenah Bouzid

Honors Theses

Engagement and motivation in a mathematics classroom is an issue that educators and researchers continually examine and analyze to understand and develop ways to maintain or increase. The main goal of this thesis research project is to gain insight and understand what engagement and motivation means in a mathematics classroom by examining secondary mathematics teachers and students. The literature from researchers and educators describe components that contribute to engagement and motivation such as mathematical disposition, which is the attitudes and beliefs towards the subject and learning the subject, self-efficacy, which is about the student’s belief in one’s own capabilities, intrinsic …

Evaluating Teacher Turnover Rates In America, Canada, And Finland, Mary Greufe

Honors Theses

According to the Consortium for Policy Research in Education [CPRE] Report, Seven Trends: The Transformation of the Teaching Force, researchers “found that [in the United States] more than 41 percent of new teachers leave within 5 years of entry” (Seven Trends: The Transformation of the Teaching Force; Ingersoll, Merrill, and Stuckey; 2014). This research project will review why America has high turnover rates in the teaching profession. The project will evaluate America’s teacher’s education program, then compare it to Canada and Finland’s workforce conditions for teaching staff in public schools. Specifically, the evaluation will focus on compensation, school climate indicators, …

Encapsulating Educational Design For Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Lauren Praeuner

Honors Theses

This paper is a thesis/creative project hybrid split into two parts. First, it examines different aspects of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), the symptoms experienced by those on the spectrum, and the guidelines that parents, medical professionals, and educators should follow to ensure a holistic approach to the care and education of children with autism. The text also notes some of the considerations that designers should review when designing educational facilities for these individuals, as well as few precedents that successfully do so. The second part of the paper presents my team’s architectural studio project, contributed to by UNL students Lindsay …

Development And Implementation Of A Biochemistry Argumentation Task To Promote Scientific Literacy Among Undergraduate Students, Lukas Hall

Honors Theses

Science education reform efforts at the postsecondary level have been lacking regardless of meaningful reform at the K-12 level. Of these reforms, the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) serve to reframe effective science teaching and learning as three-dimensional (3D). That is, 3D instruction integrates core disciplinary ideas, cross-cutting concepts, and science practices to support students’ science learning. There have been calls to extend this 3D model to the postsecondary level. The purpose of this study was to design, implement, and evaluate a 3D task in a university-level biochemistry course. The task was implemented as a homework assignment to 107 students …

Teaching Language For Proficiency: Learning Descriptions In Spanish 1, Anna Helzer

Honors Theses

For this creative project, I have designed a 15-day unit plan for a Spanish 1 (novice level) language class, teaching the vocabulary and skills needed to understand and produce descriptions of people in students’ second language (L2) of Spanish. Throughout the creation of this unit plan, I have combined my own experience in practicums and student teaching with the most cited research in the fields of language acquisition and pedagogy in order to create lessons which will best facilitate novice language learners’ acquisition of the Spanish language and culture.

The unit plan includes overall content and language objectives as well …

The River And The Ranger: The Crafting And Background Of An Interpretive Program, Amy J. Heusinkvelt

Honors Theses

The central part of this creative project was the development and presentation of an interpretive program delivered in conjunction with employment at the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway. To supplement this place-specific program, a second program was developed retaining similar themes to the first, but designed to be presented in Lincoln. A brief history of the National Park Service as well as the fundamentals of interpretation were researched and elaborated upon to provide both a base and background for presentation of the interpretive programs. The project includes both self-assessment of the programs and research, as well as remarks, suggestions, and …