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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- Creators: Division of Teacher Preparation
- Creators: Brian, Jennifer
- Creators: Ostrom, Amy
The stigma surrounding math- that it is difficult, pointless, and requires your brain to be wired a certain way- has for a long time impacted the success of students throughout their schooling. Students sometimes perceive math as boring and begin to lose focus when the math concepts become more abstract as they reach middle school and high school. Sixth grade is when the brain shifts to more abstract thinking as kids transition from the concrete operational stage to the formal operational stage of cognitive development. This shift is reflected in the math curriculum and contributes to the struggle students face in learning math. To increase student engagement, gamification is a way to incorporate elements of gaming into education. Gamification can be used to motivate and encourage students to participate in their learning. In this project, a unit for 6th graders was designed to help combat students' math perception and failure that centers around a mystery game. Students learn about variables and expressions while engaging with the interactive mystery.
My research aims to determine the effectiveness of meditation and sleep applications (apps) on the reduction of anxiety and stress in college students, with a focus on sedative piano music. Results showed a significant reduction of stress and anxiety levels in college students when listening to sedative piano music versus non-sedative piano music. Music along with other therapy modalities in meditation and sleep apps show promise in reducing students’ anxiety and stress and promoting their successes.
As climate change continues to escalate natural hazards around the globe, certain communities feel the impacts of these disasters more so than others. After Hurricane Maria devastated communities in 2017, Puerto Rico struggled to respond to the needs of its citizens, particularly those in rural areas. Many of the regions affected did not have resilient community structures in place to be able to withstand the systemic ripple effects of the hurricane. However, various community endeavors have developed post-Hurricane Maria to foster community collaboration and resiliency, including the development of agricultural tourism, otherwise known as agritourism. <br/>Although agritourism has begun to develop in rural regions of Puerto Rico, including the municipalities of Utuado, Ciales, Florida, and Jayuya, a systems-understanding is lacking of the current agritourism situation in the region and its related capacities, limitations, and opportunities of agritourism. To address this gap, a spatially explicit understanding and map of the underlying tourism infrastructure is needed to support the development of sustainable agritourism in Utuado, Jayuya, Ciales, and Florida municipalities in Puerto Rico. <br/>This report spatially represents the current state of tourism opportunities in the region as a result of asking “What are the spatial networks of gastronomy, accommodations, farms, and attractions that support the development of agritourism in Utuado, Jayuya, Ciales and Florida municipalities in Puerto Rico?” Three steps lead to the spatial representation starting with developing a comprehensive inventory. Second, we visualize the spatial map through Google Maps. Lastly, we explore the larger context of the report through an ArcGIS Storymap. The inventory will help with better understanding the number and variety of tourism resources available. The spatial visualization will help with understanding the distribution of resources and explore potential connections between resources and what relationships could be fostered in the future. Lastly, the ArcGIS Storymap will serve as a framework for outlining the future development of the SARE project. Overall, this report outlines the spatial maps of tourism resources and provides a tool to be used by community partners, tourists, and project partners.
Brundtland’s definition of sustainability is the ability to “meet the needs of the present<br/>without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs” (IISD, 2021). But<br/>what if there are no future generations? Social sustainability, the sector of sustainability that<br/>foregrounds the well-being and livelihoods of people (and thereby continuation of humanity), is<br/>included in definitions within the sustainability field, but less developed in sustainability<br/>practice. In an effort to bridge this gap of knowledge, 14 U.S. cities and over 100 sustainability<br/>policies were analyzed for their social sustainability performance. An eight-item analytical<br/>framework that deals with differing areas of social equity guided the analysis. Results found that<br/>most cities’ sustainability departments fell short of truly addressing social sustainability<br/>concerns. Out of the eight items, the most frequently addressed were housing security and racial<br/>and gender equality whereas few, if any, cities addressed the more specific social concerns of<br/>immigration, technology and media, or arts/cultural preservation. Future research is<br/>recommended to gain a better understanding of the ways existing cities can improve in this area.
I have created a workshop for educators. The workshop describes the significance of adverse childhood experiences in a student's life. It also displays how an educator might use Social Emotional Learning strategies to support students who have experienced trauma.
The COVID-19 Pandemic has provided a challenge for educators to create virtual learning materials that are engaging and impactful during times of high stress and isolation. In this creative project, I explore the variety of virtual tools and web applications from Esri by creating a Story Map on the Verde River Watershed. This Story Map is intended for an audience of students in late middle school and early high school but can be a resource to teachers for a wider age range. The integration of interactive technology and virtual tools in educational practices is likely to continue past the immediate circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this Story Map is to showcase one of the many uses for geospatial web applications beyond the immediate realm of GIS.
Abortion is one of the most polarizing moral issues in our society today. This issue divides the country into two separate groups: Pro-choice or Pro-life. Our thesis analyzes published reviewed articles, media articles, policy papers, and perspective, opinion, and commentary pieces to discuss the ethical implications of selective abortion, specifically sex-selective abortion and genetic-selective abortion. Our thesis provides an overview of selective abortion, explores women’s bodily autonomy in the U.S., addresses the complexities of both sex-selective and genetic-selective abortion, and finally evaluates the U.S.’s regulation of selective abortion. Through these topics, we were able to determine the implications selective abortion has on the disabled community and how selective abortion is being used to ban abortion overall in the U.S.
Abortion is one of the most polarizing moral issues in our society today. This issue divides the country into two separate groups: Pro-choice or Pro-life. Our thesis analyzes published reviewed articles, media articles, policy papers, and perspective, opinion, and commentary pieces to discuss the ethical implications of selective abortion, specifically sex-selective abortion and genetic-selective abortion. Our thesis provides an overview of selective abortion, explores women’s bodily autonomy in the U.S., addresses the complexities of both sex-selective and genetic-selective abortion, and finally evaluates the U.S.’s regulation of selective abortion. Through these topics, we were able to determine the implications selective abortion has on the disabled community and how selective abortion is being used to ban abortion overall in the U.S.
Lithium ion batteries are quintessential components of modern life. They are used to power smart devices — phones, tablets, laptops, and are rapidly becoming major elements in the automotive industry. Demand projections for lithium are skyrocketing with production struggling to keep up pace. This drive is due mostly to the rapid adoption of electric vehicles; sales of electric vehicles in 2020 are more than double what they were only a year prior. With such staggering growth it is important to understand how lithium is sourced and what that means for the environment. Will production even be capable of meeting the demand as more industries make use of this valuable element? How will the environmental impact of lithium affect growth? This thesis attempts to answer these questions as the world looks to a decade of rapid growth for lithium ion batteries.