Implementation and Evaluation of an Open Educational Resource (OER) Laboratory Manual for Principles of Cell and Molecular Biology

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Description
This study aimed to enhance students’ experimental skills and laboratory techniques in cell and molecular biology. A trifold intervention involving a Gene Screen Worksheet, a Gene Screen Flowchart, and a laboratory manual were used, along with a mixed methods approach…

This study aimed to enhance students’ experimental skills and laboratory techniques in cell and molecular biology. A trifold intervention involving a Gene Screen Worksheet, a Gene Screen Flowchart, and a laboratory manual were used, along with a mixed methods approach to data collection. The trifold intervention was grounded in constructivism, design-based, inquiry-based, and project-based learning theories. The Gene Screen Worksheet was an inquiry-based learning assignment, while the Flowchart was a design-based learning activity. The laboratory manual was an open educational resource that incorporated project-based learning and constructivism within each experiment. This study addressed three research questions: the ability of the Gene Screen Worksheet to increase predictive power, the ability of the Gene Screen Flowchart to increase explanatory power, and the ability of the lab manual to increase both predictive and explanatory power. The results reported that students increased their predictive and explanatory power related to genetic screenings, addressing all three questions.
Date Created
2024
Agent

Using Student Agency to Increase Familiarity in a High School Career and Technical Education Engineering Program

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Description
Career and technical education (CTE) has existed for over a century involving several legislative transformations, including a name change, to create a positive reputation in the educational community. Although these transformations have deconstructed some negative perceptions, it has caused a…

Career and technical education (CTE) has existed for over a century involving several legislative transformations, including a name change, to create a positive reputation in the educational community. Although these transformations have deconstructed some negative perceptions, it has caused a lack of awareness among parents and students. This awareness problem guided this concurrent multistrand mixed-method action research study looking to increase familiarity, understanding, and interest in CTE programs at a comprehensive high school. Looking through the lens of critical constructivism, a nested youth participatory action research intervention was implemented where CTE students (i.e., student-researchers) were tasked as change agents to create a public service announcement to increase their peers’ familiarity, understanding, and interest in CTE. In a quantitative survey, coconstructed with student-researchers, familiarity showed a significant increase (t39 = 7.60, p < .05). During the intervention, qualitative data were collected and several themes emerged including students understanding the value of CTE when immersed in CTE and CTE having a concrete value that engages students in the classroom and beyond. Recommendations from this study included exposing students to the benefits of CTE early and often and the positive effect student agency has in raising familiarity with CTE programming.
Date Created
2024
Agent

Stronger Together: Building Connections Through a Middle School Advisory Program in China

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Description
This mixed-methods action research study aimed to improve school climate through the creation of a student advisory program that addresses the need to build strong relationships between middle school students and teachers. The program also intended to help students build…

This mixed-methods action research study aimed to improve school climate through the creation of a student advisory program that addresses the need to build strong relationships between middle school students and teachers. The program also intended to help students build a variety of skills that would help them meet challenges at school and in life. The implementation of this program took place in an international school in China over a period of 3 school years (2021/2022 to the mid-point of the 2023/2024 school year). With the conclusion of each school year, changes were made based on three rounds of quantitative and qualitative data in the form of questionnaires given to students and advisors. Small group discussions with students and the use of reflective logs written by advisors were also used. An analysis of the data indicated that the student population felt an increasingly overall positive experience in the advisory program through the 3 years. They experienced increased positive relationships with classmates and advisors and were more comfortable advocating for themselves than before. Meanwhile, actions taken to increase the collective efficacy of the group of teachers serving as advisors, including (a) the increase of resources and materials, (b) more frequent communication, and (c) the elevation of particular advisors to the role of lead advisor, lead to an improvement in overall experience. Advisors felt increasingly positive about their understanding, buy-in, and ownership of the advisory program. Overall, teachers felt the work they did in advisory was helpful to students. Lastly, in additional surveys taken by parents and students, perceptions of the school experience improved during this 3-year period. Implications for future practice and recommendations are discussed.
Date Created
2024
Agent

First-Generation Latinx Students’ Experience with High School Counselors

Description

The Latinx community is growing at an alarming rate in the country. First-generation Latinx Students are uninformed about navigating the educational system, which can place them at a higher risk of dropping out of college. The present work explores the…

The Latinx community is growing at an alarming rate in the country. First-generation Latinx Students are uninformed about navigating the educational system, which can place them at a higher risk of dropping out of college. The present work explores the relationship between high school guidance counselors and Latinx first-generation students by producing a podcast that features seven interviews with Barrett The Honors College's first-generation Latinx students. Student participants answered questions about their families, high school experience, and college transition. The student responses were shared with two high school counselors, who reflected on the student participants' answers and shared their perspectives on working with Latinx first-generation students. The findings suggest that the student-to-counselor ratio affects the role of counselors in assisting students, along with the determination of Barrett Honors Latinx First Generation students to push through obstacles to receive higher education.

Date Created
2023-05
Agent

Student and Teacher Perspectives on What Makes Students Successful in High School:
Evidence from Phoenix-area Schools

Description

Education is known for being powerful in reducing poverty, improving health, promoting healthier economies, and providing peaceful and productive opportunities for young people worldwide. It’s a key to success that has been threatened in the state of Arizona through low…

Education is known for being powerful in reducing poverty, improving health, promoting healthier economies, and providing peaceful and productive opportunities for young people worldwide. It’s a key to success that has been threatened in the state of Arizona through low funding, teacher shortages, and a lack of resources. Inadequate learning environments further educational inequalities and hinder academic achievement among students. In finding a solution, the objectives of education policy in Arizona are analyzed from an economic and equity standpoint.

Date Created
2023-05
Agent

Student and Teacher Perspectives on What Makes Students Successful in High School:
Evidence from Phoenix-area Schools

Description

Currently in the United States, Arizona high school students are testing at a standardized testing level barely being ranked in the top 50%. As far as education goes, Arizona's education system is not successful in demonstrating neither teacher nor student…

Currently in the United States, Arizona high school students are testing at a standardized testing level barely being ranked in the top 50%. As far as education goes, Arizona's education system is not successful in demonstrating neither teacher nor student success. As past high school students from different forms of education being private, public, or charter, we three have seen what successful and unsuccessful schools are. We also have seen what successful teachers look like. It is our goal to help understand what makes an education system successful and what Arizona can do to help the success of their teachers and their students. The students in high schools today are the future of our world and it is the duty of the education system to help prepare for their future and to be successful. What we currently don’t know and hope to learn from this thesis are the factors that go into making a high school successful and their students also successful. As of right now Arizona is currently ranked 46th in education out of all states and territories belonging to the United States. This means that there are states with schools producing a higher success rate with their students. Not only is the Arizona Education ranking low but its teacher rankings are also low in work environment, student performance, salary compensation, and student success as well as countless others ranking as the 50th state in teacher success. It is clear that the Arizona education system needs to find reform and our goal is to search for what changes need to be made in our classrooms and work environment to create not only more successful teachers and students but also to create a successful education system.

Date Created
2023-05
Agent

The Impact of a Design Workshop on the Quality of Educational Outreach Products and Clean Energy Fellows’ Knowledgeability of the Broader Impacts of their Research

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Description
While deep disciplinary knowledge will be required to develop next-generation clean energy technologies, the skills to work across disciplines and with diverse stakeholders will also be required. Providing authentic and explicit opportunities for graduate students in science, technology, engineering, and…

While deep disciplinary knowledge will be required to develop next-generation clean energy technologies, the skills to work across disciplines and with diverse stakeholders will also be required. Providing authentic and explicit opportunities for graduate students in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) to engage in the broader impacts (BI) 0f their research could support the development of these skills. A concurrent mixed methods action research study was conducted to evaluate the effects of a three-part, semi-structured design workshop on clean energy fellows’ knowledgeability of the broader impacts of their research, their identification with the clean energy field, and their ability to develop high-quality educational outreach products. This study was grounded in a sociocultural theory of learning and informed by several conceptual frameworks: situated learning (Lave & Wenger, 1991), communities of practice (Wenger, 1998), and knowledgeability (Wenger-Trayner & Wenger-Trayner, 2015). Quantitative data was collected through a rubric and survey informed by guiding principles from the Broader Impacts Review Document for National Science Foundation Proposals (Center for Advancing Research Impact in Society, 2020). Qualitative data was collected through this survey and a focus group interview. Results demonstrated a significant, strong, and positive correlation between attendance at the design workshop attendance and Product of Lasting Value (PLV) quality. Unfortunately, the lack of respondents in the post-survey prevented the ability to quantify any changes that took place in fellows’ knowledgeability of the BI of their research and their identification with the clean energy field due to the innovation. Yet, results from the focus group interview do show that some fellows experienced increased knowledgeability of the BI of their research and identification with the clean energy field, but these gains were not necessarily due to the PLV Design Workshop.
Date Created
2022
Agent

Perception of the Role of K-12 Schooling: Completing the Evaluative Loop for Sustainable Human Capacity Building Infrastructure (HCBI)

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Description
This study examined perception of K12 schooling systems as experienced by a randomsample of adults in Phoenix, AZ. It explored whether the values purported as key factors in the American K12 schooling system - as presented in academic literature - were…

This study examined perception of K12 schooling systems as experienced by a randomsample of adults in Phoenix, AZ. It explored whether the values purported as key factors in the American K12 schooling system - as presented in academic literature - were compatible with the lives, interests and goals of ‘users’, student-participants. In addition, it offered opportunity for post-K12 student-participants to share their views on the purposes, goals, and outcomes they held to be important. The sample consisted of 139 post-K12 stu- dents/individuals residing in Phoenix, AZ. Mean age of student-participants was 29. Results indicated a mismatch between purported K12 schooling goals and important outcomes embedded in the system and values held by the K12 student-participants. The participants in this research generally perceived K12 schooling as valuable, both to themselves and to society at large, but stressed that the deficiencies they perceived in the system were particular to delivery platforms as they relate to the learning styles of students and belonging. Future life skills and success - in and after K12 schooling - whether related to college or not were also of importance. Results revealed that the initial hypothesis of income, age, and ethnicity as key factors in satisfaction with K12 schooling was not borne-out. Rather it revealed that a sense of belonging and the suitability of learning platforms to the individual learning styles of students were of greatest significance.
Date Created
2022
Agent

Predictive Utility of a Proficiency Cut Score in a Benchmark Assessment

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Description
Since the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act required classifications of students’ performance levels, test scores have been used to measure students’ achievement; in particular, test scores are used to determine whether students reach a proficiency level in the state…

Since the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act required classifications of students’ performance levels, test scores have been used to measure students’ achievement; in particular, test scores are used to determine whether students reach a proficiency level in the state assessment. Accordingly, school districts have started using benchmark assessments to complement the state assessment. Unlike state assessments administered at the end of the school year, benchmark assessments, administered multiple times during the school year, measures students’ learning progress toward reaching the proficiency level. Thus, the results of the benchmark assessments can help districts and schools prepare their students for the subsequent state assessments so that their students can reach the proficiency level in the state assessment. If benchmark assessments can predict students’ future performance measured in the state assessments accurately, the assessments can be more useful to facilitate classroom instructions to support students’ improvements. Thus, this study focuses on the predictive accuracy of a proficiency cut score in the benchmark assessment. Specifically, using an econometric research technique, Regression Discontinuity Design, this study assesses whether reaching a proficiency level in the benchmark assessment had a causal impact on increasing the probability of reaching a proficiency level in the state assessment. Finding no causal impact of the cut score, this study alternatively applies a Precision-Recall curve - a useful measure for evaluating predictive performance of binary classification. By using this technique, this study calculates an optimal proficiency cut score in the benchmark assessment that maximizes the accuracy and minimizes the inaccuracy in predicting the proficiency level in the state assessment. Based on the results, this study discusses issues regarding the conventional approaches of establishing cut scores in large-scale assessments and suggests some potential approaches to increase the predictive accuracy of the cut score in benchmark assessments.
Date Created
2021
Agent

Been There, Done That: Peer Coaching and Community Cultural Wealth

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Description
Peer coaching is an emerging approach higher education institutions are using to increase student success outcomes for first-year students. This study examined how peer coaches use their community cultural wealth with the students they coach and how coaching encouraged first-generation…

Peer coaching is an emerging approach higher education institutions are using to increase student success outcomes for first-year students. This study examined how peer coaches use their community cultural wealth with the students they coach and how coaching encouraged first-generation students to access the community cultural wealth they bring with them to college. The theoretical framework guiding this study was Yosso’s theory of community cultural wealth. I used a qualitative approach and interviewed five peer coaches and conducted focus groups with 15 first-generation, first-year students who had received coaching. Findings indicate peer coaches used the six dimensions of community cultural wealth with students they coach, including aspirational, familial, linguistic, navigational, resistant, and social capital. Students also reported peer coaching helped them access their community cultural wealth, especially as compared to advising and faculty interactions. Three key differentiators emerged when comparing coaching to other forms of support: relatability, sense of belonging, and self-confidence.
Date Created
2020
Agent
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