Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University proudly showcases the work of undergraduate honors students by sharing this collection exclusively with the ASU community.
Barrett accepts high performing, academically engaged undergraduate students and works with them in collaboration with all of the other academic units at Arizona State University. All Barrett students complete a thesis or creative project which is an opportunity to explore an intellectual interest and produce an original piece of scholarly research. The thesis or creative project is supervised and defended in front of a faculty committee. Students are able to engage with professors who are nationally recognized in their fields and committed to working with honors students. Completing a Barrett thesis or creative project is an opportunity for undergraduate honors students to contribute to the ASU academic community in a meaningful way.
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- All Subjects: Education
- Creators: Kashiwagi, Jacob
Description
Engineering education has long sought to incorporate greater diversity into engineering programs to prepare the profession to meet the engineering challenges of society. Increasing or retaining the conative diversity of engineering programs may help extend other kinds of diversity in the profession as well (Marburger, 2004). One measure of conation is the Kolbe ATM index.
Kolbe ATM is an index developed by Kathy Kolbe to measure the conative traits on an individual. The index assigns each individual a value in four categories, or Action Modes, that indicates their level of insistence on a scale of 1 to 10 in that Action Mode (Kolbe, 2004). The four Action Modes are:
• Fact Finder – handling of information or facts
• Follow Thru – need to pattern or organize
• Quick Start – management of risk or uncertainty
• Implementor – interaction with space or tangibles
The Kolbe A (TM) index assigns each individual a value that indicates their level of insistence with 1-3 representing resistant, preventing problems in a particular Action Mode; 4-6 indicating accommodation, flexibility in a particular Action Mode; and 7-10 indicating insistence in an Action Mode, initiating solutions in that Action Mode (Kolbe, 2004).
To promote retention of conative diversity, this study examines conative diversity in two engineering student populations, a predominately freshmen population at Chandler Gilbert Community College and a predominately junior population at Arizona State University. Students in both population took a survey that asked them to self-report their GPA, satisfaction with required courses in their major, Kolbe ATM conative index, and how much their conative traits help them in each of the classes on the survey. The classes in the survey included two junior level classes at ASU, Engineering Business Practices and Structural Analysis; as well as four freshmen engineering classes, Physics Lecture, Physics Lab, English Composition, and Calculus I.
This study finds that student satisfaction has no meaningful correlation with student GPA.
The study also finds that engineering programs have a dearth of resistant Fact Finders from the freshmen level on and losses resistant Follow Thrus and insistent Quick Starts as time progresses. Students whose conative indices align well with the structure of the engineering program tend to consider their conative traits helpful to them in their engineering studies. Students whose conative indices misalign with the structure of the program report that they consider their strengths less helpful to them in their engineering studies.
This study recommends further research into the relationship between satisfaction with major and conation and into perceived helpfulness of conative traits by students. Educators should continue to use Kolbe A (TM) in the classroom and perform further research on the impacts of conation on diversity in engineering programs.
Kolbe ATM is an index developed by Kathy Kolbe to measure the conative traits on an individual. The index assigns each individual a value in four categories, or Action Modes, that indicates their level of insistence on a scale of 1 to 10 in that Action Mode (Kolbe, 2004). The four Action Modes are:
• Fact Finder – handling of information or facts
• Follow Thru – need to pattern or organize
• Quick Start – management of risk or uncertainty
• Implementor – interaction with space or tangibles
The Kolbe A (TM) index assigns each individual a value that indicates their level of insistence with 1-3 representing resistant, preventing problems in a particular Action Mode; 4-6 indicating accommodation, flexibility in a particular Action Mode; and 7-10 indicating insistence in an Action Mode, initiating solutions in that Action Mode (Kolbe, 2004).
To promote retention of conative diversity, this study examines conative diversity in two engineering student populations, a predominately freshmen population at Chandler Gilbert Community College and a predominately junior population at Arizona State University. Students in both population took a survey that asked them to self-report their GPA, satisfaction with required courses in their major, Kolbe ATM conative index, and how much their conative traits help them in each of the classes on the survey. The classes in the survey included two junior level classes at ASU, Engineering Business Practices and Structural Analysis; as well as four freshmen engineering classes, Physics Lecture, Physics Lab, English Composition, and Calculus I.
This study finds that student satisfaction has no meaningful correlation with student GPA.
The study also finds that engineering programs have a dearth of resistant Fact Finders from the freshmen level on and losses resistant Follow Thrus and insistent Quick Starts as time progresses. Students whose conative indices align well with the structure of the engineering program tend to consider their conative traits helpful to them in their engineering studies. Students whose conative indices misalign with the structure of the program report that they consider their strengths less helpful to them in their engineering studies.
This study recommends further research into the relationship between satisfaction with major and conation and into perceived helpfulness of conative traits by students. Educators should continue to use Kolbe A (TM) in the classroom and perform further research on the impacts of conation on diversity in engineering programs.
ContributorsSmith, Logan Farren (Author) / Seager, Thomas P. (Thesis director) / Adams, Elizabeth A. (Committee member) / Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Programs (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
The two authors completed the entirety of their schooling within the United States, from preschool to university. Both authors experienced loss of interest towards their education each successive year and assumed the nature of learning and education was to blame. The two students took a class on the Kashiwagi Information Measurement Theory their second years at Arizona State University and applied the concepts taught in that class to past experiences in the United States education system to determine the cause behind their waning interest in their education. Using KSM principles the authors identified that the environment produced by and ineffectual and inefficient educational system is what resulted in their, and the majority of their peers, growing dissatisfaction in their education. A negative correlation was found between GPA and control. As the control in a students environment increased, their GPA decreased. The data collected in this thesis also supports the conclusions that as a student is exposed to a high stress environment, their GPA and average amount of sleep per night decrease.
ContributorsKulanathan, Shivaan (Co-author) / Westlake, Kyle (Co-author) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Thesis director) / Kashiwagi, Jacob (Committee member) / Gunnoe, Jake (Committee member) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Chemical Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
Education is a very sensitive topic when it comes to implementing the right policies. From professionals well-versed in the topic, to the very students who are being taught, feedback for reform is constantly being addressed. Nonetheless, there remains a large gap between the performance of some of the most advanced countries in the world and the United States of America. As it stands today, USA is arguably the most technologically advanced country and the outright leader of the free market. For over a century this nation has been exceeding expectations in nearly every industry known to man and aiding the rest of the world in their endeavors for a higher standard of living. Yet, there seems to be something critically wrong with the way a large majority of the younger generation are growing up. How can a country so respected in the world fall so far behind in what is considered the basics of human education: math and science? The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) is a series of assessments taken by countries all around the world to determine the strength of their youth's knowledge. Since its inception in 1995, TIMSS has been conducted every four years with an increasing number of participating countries and students each time. In 1999 U.S. eighth-graders placed #19 in the world for mathematics and #18 for science (Appendix Fig. 1). In the years following, and further detailed in the thesis, the U.S. managed to improve the overall performance by a small margin but still remained a leg behind countries like Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Russia, and more. Clearly these countries were doing something right as they consistently managed to rank in the top tier. Over the course of this paper we will observe and analyze why and how Singapore has topped the TIMSS list for both math and science nearly every time it has been administered over the last two decades. What is it that they are teaching their youth that enables them to perform exceptionally above the norm? Why is it that we cannot use their techniques as a guideline to increase the capabilities of our future generations? We look to uncover the teaching methods of what is known as Singapore Math and how it has helped students all over the world. By researching current U.S. schools that have already implemented the system and learning about their success stories, we hope to not only educate but also persuade the local school districts on why integrating Singapore Math into their curriculum will lead to the betterment of the lives of thousands of children and the educational threshold of this great nation.
ContributorsKichloo, Parth (Co-author) / Leverenz, Michael (Co-author) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Thesis director) / Kashiwagi, Jacob (Committee member) / Rivera, Alfredo (Committee member) / Department of Management (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
The purpose of this creative thesis project is to create the framework of an educational class package based off of a course offered at Arizona State University. The course chosen for this project is an honors course titled Deductive Logic: Leadership and Management Techniques and is taught by Dean Kashiwagi, PhD. The class package is designed to be published over an online platform so students and professors from various institutions can access the material. Currently the platform is in its final stages of development and is slated to go live on July of 2014. The future development of the package will be geared towards facilitating interdisciplinary collaboration between institutions based off of course concepts.
ContributorsGunnoe, Jake Alan (Author) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Thesis director) / Kashiwagi, Jacob (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program (Contributor) / Del E. Webb Construction (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
In the Spring 2013 and Fall 2013 semesters, a survey was taken of students enrolled in the principal undergraduate civil engineering structures course, CEE 321: Structural Analysis and Design, to assess both the prevalence of technology in the lives of the students and the potential ways this information could be use to improve the educational experience. The results of this survey indicated that there was a considerable demand for additional online resources outside of the formal classroom. The students of CEE 321 requested online lecture videos in particular, and so a project was launched at the start of the Spring 2014 semester to deliver a large body of academic instructional videos. In total, a collection of 30 instructional videos which covered all key topics covered over a semester of CEE 321 was published. The driving interest behind this creative project is to increase the level of understanding, comfort, and performance in students enrolled in the class. Although the quantity of initial student feedback is relatively small, the reactions are distinctly positive and reflect an improvement in understanding amongst the responding students. Over the course of upcoming semesters, qualitative and quantitative assessments of the impact of the videos are expected to provide a better indication of their quality and effectiveness in supporting student comprehension and performance in CEE 321. Above all, the success of these videos is directly tied to their ability to function as living, adaptable resources which are continuously molded and improved by student feedback.
ContributorsReasor, Drew Donn (Author) / Rajan, Subramaniam (Thesis director) / Hjelmstad, Keith (Committee member) / Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Programs (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
Clean and accessible drinking water is a crucial and limited resource. As the world's population grows and demand increases, water resources will become more limited. This project aims to educate students on water resources, drinking water, and how biomimicry can allow society to improve its water usage. The project consists of a ten day unit plan which addresses several water topics such as: the various uses of water, water distribution, where drinking water comes from, the water treatment process, and more. After establishing background knowledge on water and surrounding issues, the students will be challenged to design a water bottle using biomimicry. Biomimicry is looking at nature to draw and inspire solutions to human problems. This unit has been optimized for use by elementary teachers. The ten day unit consists of a lesson summary, objectives, standards, and recommended activities for each day. Of the ten days, three lesson plans were fully developed using the 5E format. The research supporting this project is compiled in the following report.
ContributorsSalik, Rachael (Co-author) / Burke, Aurora (Co-author) / Walters, Molina (Thesis director) / Larson, Kelli L. (Committee member) / Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Programs (Contributor) / Division of Teacher Preparation (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MSBR) is a clinically standardized meditation process that has been shown to facilitate the treatment of a variety of mental and physical disorders. The known efficacy of mindfulness-based stress reduction is derived from research on participants who are defined as unhealthy in some form. The potential benefits of mindfulness-based stress reduction for individuals who are considered to be healthy is under-studied, as less attention has gone into this subject area. Information Measurement Theory is a predictive theory that simplifies reality, and through this logical simplification, allows people to predict and see into the future. The concepts that are central to Information Measurement theory are natural laws, unique conditions, and relationships of unique conditions between the past, present, and future and the event model. This project aims to answer the question of if individuals, who are considered to be healthy, experience the same beneficiary results, that mindfulness-based stress reduction models execute, through the conception and knowledge of Information Measurement Theory. This study aims to compare MBSR and IMT in order to determine the consequences of each on the individual. The purpose of this study is also to highlight the promising success that Leadership Society of Arizona has achieved through the teaching of IMT in leadership courses.
ContributorsPirotte, Genevieve Katherine (Author) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Thesis director) / Kashiwagi, Jacob (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12