Other Education Commons^™

Building Before: Community Resiliency As Emergency Management, Alexandria Rinne

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

This project seeks to address gaps in emergency preparedness education related to tornado response. Through an examination of current research about best practices for tornado emergency management response and an examination of the needs of FEMA Regions 7 and 8, the author has identified key strategies and stakeholders to increase positive outcome through building community engagement and resiliency. Three presentations were created for delivery to key community stakeholders—local government officials; non-governmental organizations, social networks, and associations; and individual private citizens. The project offers an overview of background research and provides presentation slide decks, scripts, and discussion guides, all created with …

Cats Of Unl: An Investigation Into The Human-Feral Cat Relationships On A University Campus In Nebraska, Jacey Skoda

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

At the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL), there exists a population of feral cats that is monitored and cared for by a group known as Husker Cats. As the cats wander the sidewalks and gardens of the university, they may appear non-threatening and pleasant to have around. However, a feral cat presence could have detrimental impacts on the surrounding ecosystem, property, and community. The first component of this project, a survey of individuals on UNL campus, ultimately seeks to understand what those in the UNL community know about the feral cats, how they feel about the feral cats, and how they …

“Why You Always So Political?”: A Counterstory About Educational-Environmental Racism At A Predominantly White University, Martín Alberto Gonzalez

Taboo: The Journal of Culture and Education

Using critical race counterstorytelling, I tell a story about the experiences of Mexican/Mexican American/Xicanx (MMAX) undergraduate students at private, historically and predominantly white university in the Northeast. Drawing on in-depth interviews, participant observations, pláticas, document analyses, and literature on race and space and racism in higher education, I argue that the racially hostile campus environment experienced by MMAX students at their respective university manifests itself as a form of educational-environmental racism. Through narrated dialogue, Aurora (a composite character) and I delve into a critical conversation about how educational-environmental racism is experienced by MMAX students through a racialized landscape in the …

Exploring The Relationship Between Job Satisfaction And Teacher Retention Among Rural And Urban Elementary School Teachers In Kentucky, Whitney Shannon Wilson, Edris Barnette Humphrey

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A capstone submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in the Ernst and Sara Lane Volgenau College of Education at Morehead State University by Whitney Shannon Wilson and Edris Barnette Humphrey on April 12, 2023.

Healthcare Service Use, Help-Seeking Behaviors, And Health And Wellbeing In Attenuated Psychosis, Jasmine Ranjbari-Sisan, William D. Spaulding, Tierney K. Lorenz

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Persons with serious mental illness (SMI) receive poorer-than-standard healthcare, contributing to a 20-year reduction in the average life expectancy of persons with SMI. While extant literature describes the health disparities experienced by persons with SMI, little research examines the relationship between attenuated psychotic symptoms, healthcare service use, and help-seeking behaviors that may contribute to the disparities in this vulnerable population. This study explores the relationships between attenuated psychotic symptoms, physical health symptoms and related distress, healthcare service use, and help-seeking intentions to better understand health disparities in vulnerable and marginalized populations, such as individuals with SMI. Only a portion of …

Managing Programmatic Trade-Offs For Centers Of Teaching And Learning: Applying A Segmentation, Targeting, And Positioning Approach To Pedagogical Offerings, Christopher Vicente Hsin-Hung S. Chen, Ian G. Althouse, Caitlin P. Declercq, Mark L. Phillipson

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

The demands of current instructional realities for moving to completely online formats have led to dramatic changes in the ways that centers for teaching and learning serve their communities. Pedagogical programs have been adapted, invented, and reimagined for online modalities. In this article, we share an approach borrowed from marketing—segmentation, targeting, and positioning (STP)—and describe three cases showing the application of STP in our center’s work with instructors. This approach has helped us clarify and target our pedagogical priorities, allowing us to make appropriate trade-offs to produce more focused educational development programming that better meets our audience’s needs, constraints, and …

The Value Of Process In Racial Equity Work: Reflections From A Faculty Learning Community, Emily R. Shamash, Julie Berrett-Abebe, Latasha Smith, Stephanie Storms, Michael Regan, Jocelyn Novella, Laurie L. Grupp, Emily Smith, Alyson Martin

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This article explores how one higher education faculty learning community engaged in reflective practices in pursuit of their commitment to the inclusion of anti-racist content and pedagogy across their multidisciplinary curriculums. As a key initial step in engaging in this collaborative, cross-disciplinary work, they set out to consider collective definitions of key terms that are deemed critical to anti-racist pedagogy. This group engaged in a collaborative exploratory process to explore definitions and understanding of the following terms: whiteness, racism, race, racial equity, racial injustice/inequity, white supremacy, and anti-racism and document the reflective process by which the determination took place. Themes …

Extraction And Analytical Method For N-Nitrosoatrazine Using Liquid Chromatography Paired With Tandem Mass Spectrometry, Carolyn Billings

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Atrazine is an herbicide used in the United States to control weeds. When combined with nitrite, atrazine can be nitrosated to form N-nitrosoatrazine (NNAT) in vivo and in vitro under acidic conditions. Atrazine can also be metabolized to atrazine mercapturate, deethylatrazine (DEA), didealkylatrazine (DDA), and deisopropylatrazine (DIA). Atrazine is monitored in drinking water due to its possible carcinogenicity. The objective of this study was to develop extraction and analytical methods for NNAT, atrazine, and atrazine metabolites. An instrument detection limit, extraction methods comparison, and extraction method detection limit were determined. To compare methods, Fischer 344 rat tissue samples were …

Exploring Modern Trends And Prevention Strategies For Childhood Obesity: A Comprehensive Literature Review, Anya E. Bogen

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

This literature review seeks to provide an overview of the current research on childhood obesity. The study examines the prevalence and causes of childhood obesity, including genetic, environmental, and behavioral factors. The review also discusses the health consequences associated with childhood obesity, such as the increased risk for chronic diseases and psychological and social problems. Additionally, the review explores the effectiveness of interventions designed to prevent childhood obesity, including individual lifestyle modifications, education from health practitioners and school programs, and global, national, and state programs to promote wellness. The literature review concludes that childhood obesity is a complex and multifactorial …

Wakara's Waterscapes: Storytelling, Cartography, And Rhetorical Sovereignty On The Shores Of The Green River, Abbey O'Brien

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

In the mid nineteenth-century, Wakara, a prominent Ute leader, witnessed the invasion of his homeland by Mormon settlers and mountain-men. He met the scouts and explorers who were sent out to examine the land and waterscapes, and who drew maps along their way. It was those same maps which were eventually used as tools to justify colonial expansion all across the Utah territories, Wakara’s home. But Wakara resisted. Employing his understandings of the roles that cartography and the written word played in Mormon and settler discourse, Wakara created his own maps in order to assert his Indigenous authority over the …

Introduction, Ligaya Franklin, Jehan Senai Worthy

Future Callings Lesson Plans

The authors provide an overview of the Future Callings project and explain the impetus for the creation of these lesson plans: to further inquiry about what professionalism is and how those in the early college network navigate between creating meaningful, committed, and sustainable worldmaking work while also maintaining their own sense of self." The authors also provide a statement on asynchronous work and share eight student learning outcomes.

A Look Into The Physiological Impacts Of Childhood Cancers And Modeling Of Tumor Growth Rate, Erica Steiner, Kimberly Hansen, Marissa Stanton

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Cancer is one of the deadliest diseases present in the world. Children have different reactions to diseases and treatments; thus, it is important to study those reactions specifically in children. Knowing how children are impacted by these factors can be helpful in diagnosis and treatment of cancer. I performed this study by researching the different types of cancer I was interested in and using MATLAB to code for and simulate a growth curve of a brain tumor. I found that there are many different physiological impacts of different cancers in children. As for the modeling, I was able to get …

A Device For Measuring Acoustic Output Intensity Of Transcranial Doppler Ultrasound Transducers For Comparison With Fda Regulations, Sarah Altman, Gregory Bashford, Benjamin Hage

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Transcranial Doppler Ultrasonography (TCD) is a non-invasive methodology which can evaluate cerebral blood flow velocity in real time. Single-element focused circular transducers placed on the scalp produce ultrasound waves capable of penetrating the skull with minimal aberration, enabling measurement of the Doppler shift. As such, TCD can measure blood flow velocity in the internal carotid and vertebral arteries, as well as the arteries of the Circle of Willis: the Anterior Cerebral (ACA), Posterior Cerebral (PCA), and Middle Cerebral Arteries (MCA). Intracranial aneurysm and ischemic stroke are serious conditions in which ballooning or occlusion of cerebral vessels cause insufficient perfusion, leading …

April 2023 Bulldog Alumni & Friends News, Kari Jones, Garrett King

Bulldog Alumni & Friends News

Bulldog football alumni and fans gathered last weekend for a reunion at the Spring Game on Friday night followed by the Legacy Golf Tournament Saturday morning.

The 2023 North Family Endowed Lecture in Parks & Recreation Management was held March 24 in the North Family Building at Crowder Lake University Park.

Infusion Rather Than Isolation: Integrating Principles Of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, Decolonization, And Indigenization In Toolkits For Remote Instruction During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Robin Attas, Lauren Anstey, Lindsey Brant, Karalyn Mcrae

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

In the spring of 2020, our Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) developed the Transforming Teaching and Teaching Assistant Toolkits, consisting of in-house and curated open-access resources on various aspects of remote teaching, along with accompanying webinars. We deliberately infused principles of equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) and decolonization and Indigenization across all aspects of the resources for several reasons: our CTL’s commitment to these principles as institutional priorities that are the responsibility of all staff, numerous theorists’ advocacy to adopt inclusive pedagogies across the curriculum rather than tokenistic “add-and-stir” gestures, and a desire to counter the inequities in education …

Spatial And Temporal Patterns Of Red Foxes And Coyotes Through Camera Traps And Citizen Science, Nadia Wojcik

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Wildlife may change their temporal activity patterns or spatial distribution in response to human activity in developed landscapes. Citizen science and camera trap approaches have both been used to study wildlife in urban areas, though both methods have their strengths and weaknesses. I studied the temporal activity and spatial occurrence of red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) and coyotes (Canis latrans) in Lincoln, Nebraska to test ecological and methodological hypotheses. Specifically, I compared camera trap detections of red foxes and coyotes to observations of red foxes made by residents of Lincoln. Using these two data streams, I evaluated temporal activity patterns and …

College Students' Relationship With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder And Learning Accommodations At The University Of Nebraska-Lincoln, Brianna Danehey, Kim Hansen Dr., Chelsea Witt Dr.

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) can provide many challenges for college students due to difficulties focusing, multi-tasking, and staying organized. Colleges are required to offer academic accommodations to students with disabilities in an attempt to provide students with an equitable learning environment. However, accommodations may be ineffective if they are highly unattainable, unused by the student once granted, or hindered by university faculty.

The objective of this study was to identify barriers to receiving effective and beneficial academic accommodations for individuals with ADHD at the University level and to provide insight into college students' knowledge and relationships relating to the …

Morehead State University's Caep Accreditation Handbook, Kristie R. Williams

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A capstone submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in the Ernst and Sara Lane Volgenau College of Education at Morehead State University by Kristie R. Williams on March 22, 2023.

Alternative Techniques For Blind Low Vision Students Enrolled In Coding Courses, Robert Jaquiss

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

BLV (blind low vision) students face difficulties when taking coding classes. Individual Development Environments (IDE) can be inaccessible which make it difficult if not impossible for BLV students to complete coursework. Alternative techniques are described which will allow a BLV student to successfully complete coursework. The author has found the Command Line Interface (CLI) is often a recommended alternative to a Windows based IDE interface. Many blind computer programmers use the Windows and Linux command interfaces which are described as part of this discussion.

Preceptors’ Experiences Training Public Health Interns In Remote Workplace Settings, Olivia S. Anderson, Ella August

Internet Journal of Allied Health Sciences and Practice

Background: The discourse around COVID-19 related challenges to classroom instruction has been highly visible, but little has been published on learning experiences outside the classroom that prepare students to work in the “real world.” Method: We interviewed five Master of Public Health internship preceptors about their experience in 2020 with student interns to formulate pertinent survey questions to distribute to a larger sample. Our questionnaire included closed- and open-ended questions regarding student attributes and skills that shaped the success of the internship. Data were collected from internships sites of one midwestern university. Results: Nearly all 26 preceptors that responded to …

The Concentration Of Heavy Metals In Lincoln Nebraska's Tap Water, Evan Neuhaus

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Heavy metals are commonplace in nature, and are typically found in scarce quantities in all drinking sources. However, in high enough concentrations, they can have a myriad of negative health effects. This study seeks to find the concentrations of such metals in the Lincoln water supply utilizing the resources of the Water Center at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. To test for discrete concentrations of trace elements, a method of using Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) was implemented. ICP-MS uses plasma to ionize and atomize a sample which is then filtered into a series of cones into a …

Midwest Roadside Safety Facility Expansion For Enhanced Research Capabilities, Joseph (Lj) Hajduch, Isaac Hansen, Jeff Schroeder, Hozhin Sleman, Ben Wortman

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

As Civil Engineering students, this group was tasked with designing and proposing an engineering solution to a real-world problem. In this case, the Midwest Roadside Safety Facility in Lincoln, Nebraska was looking for a planned proposal to add an additional building to their property for the purpose of additional research and office space. The group decided on the name Zana Engineering – Zana translating to “highly educated” in Kurmanji – to function as the organization responsible for creating this proposal and presentation. Zana Engineering designed this plan on several key factors, most significantly utility, affordability, safety, sustainability, functionality, longevity, and …

The Perception Of Stigma As A Barrier To Help-Seeking Among Immigrant Populations, Zuha Qadeer

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Immigrants receive mental health services less than their U.S.-born counterparts, even after accounting for the lower rate of mental health difficulties often found among these populations. Stigma is one such barrier that is significant in reducing mental health service utilization among immigrant populations. This study explores how immigrants perceive stigma as a barrier to seeking help for trauma-related mental health concerns. Using qualitative data from a study on an adaptation of Written Exposure Therapy in Latinx immigrants (Andrews et. al, 2022), I examined the role of stigma in participants’ perceived barriers to care and their proposed strategies for reducing them. …

The Influence Of Complex Coastlines On The Sea Breeze And Convection Initiation In Coastal North Carolina, Logan Howard, Adam L. Houston

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

The sea breeze is a common phenomenon in coastal regions around the world. Their development and propagation can be treated as a density current. It is well known that many factors influence density current propagation, including wind. Depending on the orientation, the wind speed and shear can enhance or inhibit the development of the sea breeze. In places like eastern North Carolina, complex coastal geography can create river and sound breezes that, upon collision, have the potential to initiate thunderstorms. Using Cloud Model 1, simulations were conducted to model the behavior of the sea breezes in eastern North Carolina and …

Nebraska Politics And The Environment: Framing Political Communication In The State Of Nebraska In Comparison To National Level Discourse, Samuel Taylor

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Environmental public policy has seen little change on the national level in recent decades due to Congressional gridlock. Politicians on both sides of the aisle have entrenched their opposing viewpoints, and their communication on the topic utilizes issue frames to help sway the public to see their side. On the Republican side, these issue frames take the form of the “scientific uncertainty” and “economic consequences” frames. This study, based on issue framing, surveys the communication of Nebraska’s Republican State Senators to determine if they utilize the same issue frames or if they diverge from their national counterparts. By analyzing recent …

High-Risk Sexual Behavior In Nebraska Adolescents; History, Risk Factors, And Mediation, Kiya Hudson

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

High-risk sexual behavior is a public health crisis that impacts adolescents at staggering rates. In Nebraska, rates of sexually transmitted infection (STI) and sexually transmitted disease (STD) cases have been on the rise over the last four years. The problem this paper addresses is the need to fill in the gaps in knowledge surrounding high-risk sexual behavior in Nebraska adolescents. It is important to address these gaps in knowledge because currently, we are failing our adolescents when it comes to providing them with all of the necessary skills, information, and tools to lead a healthy life. When we know how …

Math Education Project And Rso Creation, Keegan Oldani

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Reflection on Math Education Senior Honors Project and RSO Creation

Male Hormonal Contraceptives: Associations Between Students’ Perception Of And Trust In Usage And Endorsement Of Gender Norms, Zoe Keese

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

As clinical trials continue to test the safety and efficacy of new male contraceptive options, evaluating attitudes towards them is critical in expanding access to reproductive healthcare. The present study sought to investigate the relationship of endorsement of traditional masculine and feminine gender norms with attitudes towards male hormonal contraceptive pills. Using a Qualtrics survey, 45 participants rated their attitudes towards different measures, including attitude towards the male contraceptive pill, willingness to use male hormonal contraception, and endorsement of traditional masculine and feminine gender norms. The results of the survey indicated that there was a significant positive correlation between endorsing …

Using Game Theory To Model Tripolar Deterrence And Escalation Dynamics, Grace Farson

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

The study investigated how game theory can been utilized to model multipolar escalation dynamics between Russia, China, and the United States. In addition, the study focused on analyzing various parameters that affected potential conflict outcomes to further new deterrence thought in a tripolar environment.

A preliminary game theoretic model was created to model and analyze escalation dynamics. The model was built upon framework presented by Zagare and Kilgour in their work ‘Perfect Deterrence’. The model is based on assumptions and rules set prior to game play. The model was then analyzed based upon these assumptions using a form of mathematical …

Cell Volume As A Determinant Of Virus-Mediated Population Growth In Ciliates, Jace Miller, John Paul Delong Phd

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Many protists and other small aquatic organisms consume virus particles, a behavior known as virovory. Some species of protists, such as the ciliate Halteria grandinella, can grow and divide using viruses as their sole food source. Other ciliate species have previously been shown to consume large quantities of viral particles, but it is unclear if they are able to support population growth with viruses alone. Because large ciliates have a higher energy demand, we hypothesize that they will be unable to support population growth on a virus-only diet. We fed nine ciliate species a diet of chloroviruses and found …