Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Chasing Polys: Interdisciplinary Affinity And Its Connection To Physics Identity, Tyler Scott

All Dissertations

This research is based on two motivations that merge by means of the frameworks of interdisciplinary affinity and physics identity. First, a goal of education is to develop interdisciplinary abilities in students' thinking and work. But an often ignored factor is students interests and beliefs about being interdisciplinary. Thus, this work develops and uses a framework called interdisciplinary affinity. It encompasses students interests in making connections across disciplines and their beliefs about their abilities to make those connections. The second motivation of this research is to better understand how to engage more students with physics. Physics identity describes how a …

Impact Of A Visual Programming Experience On The Attitude Toward Programming Of Introductory Undergraduate Students, Saurabh Godbole

Open Access Theses

Traditionally, textual tools have been utilized to teach basic programming languages and paradigms. Research has shown that students tend to be visual learners. Using flowcharts, students can quickly understand the logic of their programs and visualize the flow of commands in the algorithm. Moreover, applying programming to physical systems through the use of a microcontroller to facilitate this type of learning can spark an interest in students to advance their programming knowledge to create novel applications. This study examined if freshmen college students' attitudes towards programming changed after completing a graphical programming lesson. Various attributes about students' attitudes were examined …

Evaluating Optimum Levels Of Detail For 3d Interactive Aviation Maintenance Instructions, Nicholas Rohe

Open Access Theses

With the aviation industry shifting from paper based maintenance instructions to digital maintenance instructions, there needs to be a standard for what goes into creating the digital instructions. This study was done to determine what the optimum level of detail for 3D interactive aviation maintenance instructions. The definition of optimum for this study was: lowest amount of geometrical data with lowest rendering needed for comprehension and ease of use.

Online Simulations For Conceptual Understanding Of Thermoelectric Devices, Maria De Rosario Uribe

Open Access Theses

Computer simulations have been extensively used with educational purposes. However, the successful implementation in order to improve learning has been a matter of debate in research in education. The purpose of this case study is to analyze how a set of computer simulations can improve student understanding of thermoelectric devices. The study was developed in a learning context characterized by the advanced degree of difficulty of the topics treated, the high academic level of education of the students, and the online nature of the learning environment. As part of the course, students were provided with instructional materials that guided the …

The Indiana Cybersecurity Services Center (Incsc): A Cost-Benefit Analysis For K-12 Schools, Hans Christian Vargas Silva

Open Access Theses

The aim of this thesis is to determine if there are greater benefits than costs associated in the participation of public K-12 school corporations in the Indiana Cybersecurity Services Center (INCSC). This thesis is an ex-antecost-benefit analysis policy assessment of the INCSC. The study consisted of a sample of 6 school corporations from which 5 were classified as small and 1 was large. Three methods were considered for data collection; however conducting interviews was the most effective method due to the interaction with IT personnel from each organization in order to analyze current costs related to 4 areas of …

Helping Children With Autism Learn With Mathematics Software, Michelle Hansen

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are conditions where a person may exhibit developmental disabilities, significant social, communication and behavioral challenges, and process information differently than people without ASD. The Federal Government guidelines mandate inclusion of all students into the public school facilities. All school age children in the United States are afforded the same opportunities for public education.

The goal of this investigation was to evaluate the effectiveness of Computer-Aided Instruction (CAI) as a treatment for teaching mathematics to a group of autistic pupils in an elementary school environment. The public later elementary school is located in Kalamazoo, Michigan and had …

Investigating The Proposed Affordances And Limitations Of The Substance Metaphor For Energy, Lisa Goodhew

Honors Projects

This study explores the instructional advantages and disadvantages of representing energy as a material substance; this is done in the context of a computer simulation that illustrates processes of energy transfer and transformation. These affordances and limitations have been proposed in science education literature as extensions of the substance metaphor itself, but there is little empirical evidence to support them. This study is intended to provide preliminary empirical evidence for these affordances and limitations. We examine data from eight interviews conducted with students from Seattle Pacific University’s introductory physics classes as they used the simulation. We explore the hypotheses that …

Calculator Usage In Secondary Level Classrooms: The Ongoing Debate, Nicole Plummer

Honors College Theses

With technology becoming more prevalent every day, it is imperative that students gain enough experience with different technological tools in order to be successful in the “real-world”. This thesis will discuss the debate and overall support for an increased usage of calculators as tools in the secondary level classroom. When the idea of calculators in the classroom first came to life, many educators were very apprehensive and quite hesitant of this change. Unfortunately, more than 40 years later, there is still hesitation for their usage; and rightfully so. While there are plenty of advantages of calculator use in the classroom, …

Emotion Capture: Emotion Mimicry Using Facial Motion Capture, Thomas Emmauel Haley-Hermiz

Open Access Theses

This study explored the application of facial motion capture to Autism Spectrum Disorder therapy. The FaceShift technology was utilized in a behavior change intervention for children with ASD. The intervention focused on using facial expressions to display emotions.

The results of the study exhibit that all students involved achieved a higher percent in both facial expressions attempted and successfully demonstrated in intervention over baseline. However, this increase was not maintained in generalization. Without a successful generalization the intervention would not be recommended in its current framework. Recommendations for further research are provided.

A Computer-Based Approach For Identifying Student Conceptual Change, Junchao Yan

Open Access Theses

Misconceptions are commonly encountered in many areas of science and engineering where a to-be-learned concept conflicts with prior knowledge. Conceptual change is an approach for identifying and repairing the misconceptions. One of the ways to promote student conceptual change is providing students with ontological schema training. However, assessment of conceptual change relies on qualitative analysis of student responses. With the exponential growth of qualitative data in the form of graphical representations or written responses, the process of data analysis relying on human experts has become time-consuming and costly. This study took the advantages of natural language processing and machine learning …

Usability Testing Of The M.A.E.G.U.S. Serious Game, James He

Open Access Theses

Interpreting raw data in serious games and simulations can be a time consuming and uninteresting task without visualizations. This study proposes one possible solution for an interface that incorporates data visualizations for Whittinghill and Nataraja's (2013) MAEGUS simulation, a serious game used to increase the retention of wind energy and solar energy concepts in students, while still being fun. After the interface was designed and developed, a think aloud usability test was conducted to answer the following research questions: how do students use a series of information visualizations to operate a multi-variate game-based simulation and what are some the usability …

M.A.E.G.U.S: Measuring Alternate Energy Generation Via Unity Simulation, Kavin Muhilan Nataraja

Open Access Theses

This paper presents the MAEGUS serious game and a study to determine its efficacy as a pedagogical tool. The MAEGUS serious game teaches sustainable energy concepts through gameplay simulating wind turbines and solar arrays. Players take the role of an energy manager for a city and use realistic data and information visualizations to learn the physical factors of wind and solar energy generation. The MAEGUS serious game study compares game assisted learning to a more traditional teaching method such as reading material in a crossover study, the results of which can inform future serious game development for educational purposes.

Media Portrayal Of Individuals In The Lower Class And Its Effects On Attributions Of Educational Hardships, Krista A. Burke

Communication Studies

This study investigated how media portrayals of individuals in the lower class affect people’s beliefs about educational hardships in lower socioeconomic areas. Specifically, this study looked at the attributions of these hardships to determine if media consumption had an effect on the internality of attributions. It was hypothesized that increased media consumption would be related to an increased tendency toward internal attributions. It was hypothesized that increased media consumption would lead to lower support for policy changes regarding education. A survey was distributed to assess media consumption habits and attitudes toward educational hardships in the lower class. Correlation results yielded …

Prelude - An Augmented Reality Ios Application For Music Education, Kristen Brown

Honors Projects

Augmented reality (AR) is a technology which serves to enhance the real world environment through the addition of relevant digital content, and has many potential applications within a variety of different fields, including, but not limited to, fields such as marketing, entertainment, medicine, and education. The purpose of this project is to develop an iOS augmented reality application for music educators that will serve as a tool in teaching students to recognize specific music notes and symbols.

Exploratory Study Of Student Instructional Choice In Online Learning, Andrew Hurd

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This exploratory study considers choice theory, decision theory, and the constructivist theory of education to explore college-level computer science learners' behavior when presented with multiple instructional modes (instructional methods for the presentation of course content, such as video, text, audio, animation, etc.) in an online learning environment.

Education And Women Mathematicians In The Middle East, Syeda Tooba Zahra

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Middle Eastern women have made important contributions in the field of Mathematics. The purpose of this thesis is to understand the educational background for women in the Middle East and look at the life and contribution of a sample of women mathematicians in representative Middle Eastern countries such as Turkey, Lebanon, Iran, and Pakistan.

Introduction To Parallel Computation, Clinton Mckay

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Introduction to Parallel Computing is a course designed to educate students on how to use the parallel libraries and tools provided by modern operating systems and massively parallel computer graphics hardware.

Using a series of lectures and hands-on exercises. Students will learn about parallel algorithms and concepts that will aid them in analyzing a problem and constructing a parallel solution, if possible, using the tools available to their disposal.

The course consists of lectures, projects, quizzes, and homework. The combination of these components will deliver the necessary domain knowledge to students, test them, and in the process train them to …