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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#VanLife is a long-time, up and coming lifestyle movement on social media centered around the process of leaving the traditional nine-to-five work week for a life on the road in a camper van. While the ‘hippie-esque’ vagabond lifestyle has its humble roots long before the turn of the century, the inception of social media platforms such as Instagram and Pinterest have fueled the more recent popularization of a full-time life on the road. #VanLifers often freelance on the road, work part time jobs, or gain sponsorships to help fund their traveling and humble lifestyle.
As the #VanLife craze continues to grow, new businesses are finding ways to meet the demand in the market. For #Vanlifers who own and operate their own camper vans, specialized companies like GoWesty, Vanagain, and Boxeer offer a full range of parts, upgrades, and custom mechanical and systems conversion kits to keep these vans on the road as OE manufacturers discontinue production on these parts. For those who have an itch to try out the #VanLife for a shorter period and without the financial commitment, companies like Roamerica, TontoTrails, and adventureRIGS offer nightly and weekly rental opportunities on fully-outfitted campervans ready to hit the road.
For my Honors Project I wrote a complete analysis on the history, development, and modernization of the #VanLife movement. With plans to take to the road for an extended period of time after graduation, I also developed a complete financial plan for a one-year #VanLife experience. The financial plan includes a comprehensive set of budgets that scrutinize the start-up an operational costs of the #VanLife and associated travel.
As the #VanLife craze continues to grow, new businesses are finding ways to meet the demand in the market. For #Vanlifers who own and operate their own camper vans, specialized companies like GoWesty, Vanagain, and Boxeer offer a full range of parts, upgrades, and custom mechanical and systems conversion kits to keep these vans on the road as OE manufacturers discontinue production on these parts. For those who have an itch to try out the #VanLife for a shorter period and without the financial commitment, companies like Roamerica, TontoTrails, and adventureRIGS offer nightly and weekly rental opportunities on fully-outfitted campervans ready to hit the road.
For my Honors Project I wrote a complete analysis on the history, development, and modernization of the #VanLife movement. With plans to take to the road for an extended period of time after graduation, I also developed a complete financial plan for a one-year #VanLife experience. The financial plan includes a comprehensive set of budgets that scrutinize the start-up an operational costs of the #VanLife and associated travel.
ContributorsRischitelli, Noah Gary (Author) / Garverick, Michael (Thesis director) / Dawson, Gregory (Committee member) / WPC Graduate Programs (Contributor) / School of Accountancy (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
This creative project created and implemented a seven-day STEM curriculum that ultimately encouraged engagement in STEM subjects in students ages 5 through 11. The activities were incorporated into Arizona State University's Kids' Camp over the summer of 2017, every Tuesday afternoon from 4 to 6 p.m. with each activity running for roughly 40 minutes. The lesson plans were created to cover a myriad of scientific topics to account for varied student interest. The topics covered were plant biology, aerodynamics, zoology, geology, chemistry, physics, and astronomy. Each lesson was scaffolded to match the learning needs of the three age groups (5-6 year olds, 7-8 year olds, 9-11 year olds) and to encourage engagement. "Engagement" was measured by pre- and post-activity surveys approved by IRB. The surveys were in the form of statements where the children would totally agree, agree, be undecided, disagree, or totally disagree with it. To more accurately test engagement, the smiley face Likert scale was incorporated with the answer choices. After implementation of the intervention, two-tailed paired t-tests showed that student engagement significantly increased for the two lesson plans of Aerodynamics and Chemistry.
ContributorsHunt, Allison Rene (Co-author) / Belko, Sara (Co-author) / Merritt, Eileen (Thesis director) / Ankeny, Casey (Committee member) / Division of Teacher Preparation (Contributor) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
Description
In Spring 2015, I decided to study abroad in Granada, Spain. After scouring the Internet, I realized there was a lack of resources and information for study abroad students coming to the city. I decided to use my thesis project as an opportunity to create a multimedia, interactive e-book to help prospective study abroad students. This book walks them through what steps they need to take to prepare themselves and functions as a guide for when they arrive. It is a culmination of my own research, interviews with locals and surveys amongst other study abroad students.
ContributorsLongbons, Chandler Tenell (Author) / Thornton, Leslie (Thesis director) / Roschke, Kristy (Committee member) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
Woman with Wanderlust is a travel blog made to break down the stereotypes of female travelers as they are portrayed in mass media. The idea came to me when I was preparing to study abroad in Morocco and every person I talked to felt the need to remind me how dangerous the world was for a woman on her own. There were many references to the popular movie ‘Taken’ starring Liam Neeson. When I decided I wanted to continue the blog on my backpacking trip through Europe, once again ‘Taken’ was referenced but people also insisted I was going to fall in love with an Italian man and never come home. It felt, to me, that the world saw the female traveler as naive and weak or in need of a man in her life. In contrast men are often encouraged to take years off to travel, to seek adventure or find themselves.
I decided I could use my education from the Cronkite School in writing, photography and social media to produce a resource for women looking to travel abroad. I could tell stories of my personal experiences that could both inspire and prove that a solo trip can be done. I also wanted to touch on topics that are not generally covered by popular travel blogs since they are specific to women. Topics like how to dress, making sure you travel during the day if you’re traveling alone and finding birth control or feminine hygiene products when you are traveling.
I funded the trip myself and currently the blog is designed, written and photographed entirely by me. Moving forward I would like to feature other women on my blog, especially those who have made travel a priority or a career. I plan on continuing to build the blog, hopefully gaining sponsors and becoming a more well known resources, and helping change the landscape of travel and travel blogging to become more female friendly.
I decided I could use my education from the Cronkite School in writing, photography and social media to produce a resource for women looking to travel abroad. I could tell stories of my personal experiences that could both inspire and prove that a solo trip can be done. I also wanted to touch on topics that are not generally covered by popular travel blogs since they are specific to women. Topics like how to dress, making sure you travel during the day if you’re traveling alone and finding birth control or feminine hygiene products when you are traveling.
I funded the trip myself and currently the blog is designed, written and photographed entirely by me. Moving forward I would like to feature other women on my blog, especially those who have made travel a priority or a career. I plan on continuing to build the blog, hopefully gaining sponsors and becoming a more well known resources, and helping change the landscape of travel and travel blogging to become more female friendly.
ContributorsMcfarland, Cydney Grey (Author) / Amparano, Julie (Thesis director) / Hawken-Collins, Denise (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Inspired by my own experiences, I began this study to examine students' cultural engagement while studying abroad. Students' motivations to study abroad vastly vary and no two experiences are the same, due to the multitude of factors involved. Study abroad program providers and organizations frequently cite intercultural competence as a vital skill in the 21st century for all young professionals to build, and is often a goal of students to develop through their study abroad experiences. Before departure, some students may have a romanticized, grand vision of integrating themselves in a foreign culture and learning the language. Upon arrival, reality may prove to be quite different and students can get swept up in the novelty of living in a new environment and traveling with their new American friends from the same program. The vision of intercultural competence and foreign language acquisition gradually fades when realizing just how difficult they both are to achieve, especially in such a short time period. My hope is that this study can highlight issues that returned students of study abroad programs faced while abroad and can provide valuable insight for future study abroad participants into how to become more immersed in their host culture. By creating awareness of the merits of intercultural competence and the methods to develop it through study abroad, future students can become better equipped to have a more enriching experience. https://cultureasustudyabroad.wordpress.com/
ContributorsThoesen, Raquel Nathania (Author) / Scott Lynch, Jacquelyn (Thesis director) / Herrera Niesen, Carrie (Committee member) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
Students across the United States lack the necessary skills to be successful college students in Science, Technology and Math (STEM) majors and as a result post-secondary institutions are developing summer bridge programs to aid in their transition. As they develop these programs, effective theory and approach are critical to developing successful programs. Though there are a multitude of theories on successful student development, a focus on self-efficacy is critical. Summer Bridge programs across the country as well as the Bio Bridge summer program at Arizona State University were studied alone and through the lens of Cognitive Self-Efficacy Theory as mentioned in Albert Bandura's "Perceived Self-Efficacy in Cognitive Development and Functioning." Cognitive Self-Efficacy Theory provides a framework for self-efficacy development in academic settings. An analysis of fifteen bridge programs found that a large majority focused on developing academic capabilities and often overlooked development of community and social efficacy. An even larger number failed to focus on personal psychology in managing self-debilitating thought patterns based on published goals. Further, Arizona State University's Bio Bridge program could not be considered successful at developing cognitive self-efficacy or increasing retention as data was inconclusive. However, Bio Bridge was tremendously successful at developing social efficacy and community among participants and faculty. Further research and better evaluative techniques need to be developed to understand the program's effectiveness in cognitive self-efficacy development and retention.
ContributorsTummala, Sailesh Vardhan (Author) / Orchinik, Miles (Thesis director) / Brownell, Sara (Committee member) / Shortlidge, Erin (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor)
Created2015-05
DescriptionA comprehensive business model aimed at providing young travelers with authentic local experiences while reducing the financial burden of travel by leveraging users primary and extended networks.
ContributorsAskin, Christian Edward (Author) / Miller, Duane (Thesis director) / Peck, Sidnee (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Management (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Recon International Adventures is an online adventure travel community that provides guide operators and adventure seekers a central communication platform. This platform gives adventure seekers all the tools they need to plan their trips and allows guide operators to better communicate the value that they can provide by creating a virtual preview of their trips. This platform will serve as an ideal place for endemic advertising thus increasing bookings for guide operators listed on the site and giving outdoor gear and clothing companies exposure to their target market. Recon will operate on a lean business model and test our minimal viable product with consumers before scaling.
ContributorsTsonis, Nicholas Ramsey (Author) / Miller, Duane (Thesis director) / Ostrom, Lonnie (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Department of Management (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Various reports produced by the National Research Council suggest that K-12 curricula expand Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics to better help students develop their ability to reason and employ scientific habits rather than simply building scientific knowledge. Every spring, the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) in conjunction with Arizona State University holds a professional development workshop titled "Engineering Practices in the Secondary Science Classroom: Engineering Training for Grade 6-12 Math and Science School Teams". This workshop provides math and science teachers with the opportunity to either sustain existing engineering proficiency or be exposed to engineering design practices for the first time. To build teachers' proficiency with employing engineering design practices, they follow a two-day curriculum designed for application in both science and math classrooms as a conjoined effort. As of spring 2015, very little feedback has been received concerning the effectiveness of the ASU-ADE workshops. New feedback methods have been developed for future deployment as past and more informal immediate feedback from teachers and students was used to create preliminary changes in the workshop curriculum. In addition, basic laboratory testing has been performed to further link together engineering problem solving with experiments and computer modelling. In improving feedback and expanding available material, the curriculum was analyzed and improved to more effectively train teachers in engineering practices and implement these practices in their classrooms.
ContributorsSchmidt, Nathan William (Author) / Rajan, Subramaniam (Thesis director) / Neithalath, Narayanan (Committee member) / Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Programs (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
A longing to revisit the people, places, and moments of my past has followed me for years, sometimes affecting me to the extent that the past seems to intrude on my present. In this piece, I wish to turn a critical eye on these feelings of nostalgia and examine how strong emotion can emerge from nothing more than fractured, faded memories. Using footage of moments I had recorded over six months of living in Europe, I seek to sculpt these images from my past into a form that rejects the daze of nostalgia for the fragmented truth of memory. My background is in more traditional narrative filmmaking, and so I was excited to work in this experimental three-screen format, in which I could explore the concept of memory in a manner that felt truer to how I actually experience it. I tested various combinations of imagery in my videos to build the progression of the piece, which I hoped would play out in an associational style that mimicked the process of my own memory. I hope that this will cause people to walk away from the piece thinking about how memory can fuel emotion and even to investigate their own relationship to the past.
ContributorsPowell, Matthew Rhys (Author) / Bradley, Christopher (Thesis director) / Brye, Anne (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Film, Dance and Theatre (Contributor)
Created2015-05