Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Development Of An Innovative Observational Astronomy Class For High School Students In Collaboration With The University Of Texas/Rio Grande Valley, Alan W. Hendrick

Theses and Dissertations

The vision presented by the National Academy of Science Standards is for all students to spend more time ‘doing’ science in order to develop science literacy and be better prepared not only for college but also in understanding and participation in global current events. A course in observational Astronomy is just that, an opportunity for student to “do ‘science by collaborating with actual scientists in real research. The course follows a path in which students learn foundational knowledge and apply this knowledge to complete a successful celestial observation, interpreting the results by making inferences and predictions. This paper begins with …

Making Substitutions Explicit In Sasylf, Michael David Ariotti

Theses and Dissertations

SASyLF is an interactive proof assistant whose goal is to teach: about type systems,

language meta-theory, and writing proofs in general. This software tool stores user-specified

languages and logics in the dependently-typed LF, and its internal proof structure closely

resembles M2+ . This thesis describes a new usability feature of SASyLF, “where” clauses,

which make explicit previously hidden substitutions that arise through constructs in the proof

code, primarily case analyses. An overview of SASyLF and logical frameworks is given, with

motivating examples. The requirements for “where” clauses are discussed, including a formal

definition of correctness. The feature’s implementation in SASyLF …

Using Pedagogical Tools To Help Hispanics Be Successful In Computer Science, Rodger Irish

Theses and Dissertations

Irish, Rodger, Using Pedagogical Tools to Help Hispanics Be Successful in Computer Science. Master of Science (MS), July 2017, 68 pp., 4 tables, 2 figures, references 48 titles. Computer science (CS) jobs are a growing field and pay a living wage, but the Hispanics are underrepresented in this field. This project seeks to give an overview of several contributing factors to this problem. It will then explore some possible solutions to this problem and how a combination of some tools (teaching methods) can create the best possible outcome. It is my belief that this approach can produce successful Hispanics to …

Investigating The Mathematical Dispositions And Self-Efficacy For Teaching Mathematics Of Preservice Teachers, Jasmine M. Cruz

Theses and Dissertations

The study of the individual's beliefs and the role and influence they have on the individual's actions and behaviors, have long been examined and investigated by educators and psychologists. Moreover, researchers have overwhelmingly claimed and demonstrated that the beliefs held by teachers significantly influences their behavior and educational practices in the classroom. This thesis study investigates the mathematical disposition and self-efficacy for teaching mathematics of preservice teachers. The study's primary goals are to discover if there is a relationship or association between a teacher's mathematical disposition(MD) and his/her self-efficacy for teaching mathematics (SEFTM), and if there are significant differences between …

Increasing Marine Debris Awareness Through Public Education And Analyzing Fish For Microplastic And Pollutant Contamination, Stephanie R. Dubois

Theses and Dissertations

Marine debris is any persistent solid material that is manmade and then disposed of into the world’s oceans. Outreach and education was used in combination with biological research using an indicator fish species to raise awareness about the impacts of marine debris and encourage change in behavior to reduce marine debris. Pre and post surveys were administered during marine debris education tours for K-12 students at the Coastal Studies Lab on South Padre Island, Texas to determine change in knowledge and behavior regarding marine debris. Pinfish were collected from Laguna Madre and stomachs and livers removed for microplastics content and …

A Semi-Automatic Grading Experience For Digital Ink Quizzes, Brooke Ellen Rhees

Theses and Dissertations

Teachers who want to assess student learning and provide quality feedback are faced with a challenge when trying to grade assignments quickly. There is currently no system which will provide both a fast-to-grade quiz and a rich testing experience. Previous attempts to speed up grading time include NLP-based text analysis to automate grading and scanning in documents for manual grading with recyclable feedback. However, automated NLP systems all focus solely on text-based problems, and manual grading is still linear in the number of students. Machine learning algorithms exist which can interactively train a computer quickly classify digital ink strokes. We …