Matching Items (50)
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- All Subjects: Education
- Creators: Computer Science and Engineering Program
Description
The purpose of this survey study was to collect data from pre-K-12 educators in the U.S. regarding their perceptions of the purpose, conceptions, use, impact, and results of educational research. The survey tool was based on existing questionnaires and case studies in the literature, as well as newly developed items. 3,908 educators in a database developed over 10+ years at the world's largest education company were sent a recruiting email; 400 elementary and secondary teachers in the final sample completed the online survey containing 48 questions over a three-week deployment period in the spring of 2013. Results indicated that overall teachers believe educational research is important, that the most important purpose of research is to increase effectiveness of classroom practice, yet research is not frequently sought out during the course of practice. Teachers perceive results in research journals as the most trustworthy yet also perceive research journals the most difficult to access (relying second-most often for research via in-service trainings). These findings have implications for teachers, administrators, policy-makers, and researchers. Educational researchers should seek to address both the theoretical and the applied aspects of learning. Professional development must make explicit links between research findings and classroom strategies and tactics, and research must be made more readily available to those who are not currently seeking additional credentialing, and therefore do not individually have access to scholarly literature. Further research is needed to expand the survey sample and refine the survey instrument. Similar research with administrators in pre-K-20 settings as well as in-depth interviews would serve to investigate the "why" of many findings.
ContributorsMahoney, Shawn (Author) / Savenye, Wilhelmina (Thesis advisor) / Nelson, Brian (Committee member) / Atkinson, Robert (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
This research study investigated the effects of high fidelity graphics on both learning and presence, or the "sense of being there," inside a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). Four versions of a VLE on the subject of the element mercury were created, each with a different combination of high and low fidelity polygon models and high and low fidelity shaders. A total of 76 college age (18+ years of age) participants were randomly assigned to one of the four conditions. The participants interacted with the VLE and then completed several posttest measures on learning, presence, and attitudes towards the VLE experience. Demographic information was also collected, including age, computer gameplay experience, number of virtual environments interacted with, gender and time spent in this virtual environment. The data was analyzed as a 2 x 2 between subjects ANOVA.
The main effects of shader fidelity and polygon fidelity were both non- significant for both learning and all presence subscales inside the VLE. In addition, there was no significant interaction between shader fidelity and model fidelity. However, there were two significant results on the supplementary variables. First, gender was found to have a significant main effect on all the presence subscales. Females reported higher average levels of presence than their male counterparts. Second, gameplay hours, or the number of hours a participant played computer games per week, also had a significant main effect on participant score on the learning measure. The participants who reported playing 15+ hours of computer games per week, the highest amount of time in the variable, had the highest score as a group on the mercury learning measure while those participants that played 1-5 hours per week had the lowest scores.
The main effects of shader fidelity and polygon fidelity were both non- significant for both learning and all presence subscales inside the VLE. In addition, there was no significant interaction between shader fidelity and model fidelity. However, there were two significant results on the supplementary variables. First, gender was found to have a significant main effect on all the presence subscales. Females reported higher average levels of presence than their male counterparts. Second, gameplay hours, or the number of hours a participant played computer games per week, also had a significant main effect on participant score on the learning measure. The participants who reported playing 15+ hours of computer games per week, the highest amount of time in the variable, had the highest score as a group on the mercury learning measure while those participants that played 1-5 hours per week had the lowest scores.
ContributorsHorton, Scott (Author) / Nelson, Brian (Thesis advisor) / Savenye, Wilhelmina (Committee member) / Atkinson, Robert (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
The goal of this research was to understand the different kinds of learning that take place in Mod The Sims (MTS), an online Sims gaming community. The study aimed to explore users' experiences and to understand learning practices that are not commonly observed in formal educational settings. To achieve this goal, the researcher conducted a four-year virtual ethnographic study that followed guidelines set forth in Hine (2000). After Hine, the study focused on understanding the complexity of the relationships between technology and social interactions among people, with a particular emphasis on investigating how participants shaped both the culture and structure of the affinity space. The format for the dissertation consists of an introduction, three core chapters that present different sets of findings, and a concluding chapter. Each of the core chapters, which can stand alone as separate studies, applies different theoretical lenses and analytic methods and uses a separate data set. The data corpus includes hundreds of thread posts, member profiles, online interview data obtained through email and personal messaging (PM), numerous screenshots, field notes, and additional artifacts, such as college coursework shared by a participant. Chapter 2 examines thread posts to understand the social support system in MTS and the language learning practices of one member who was a non-English speaker. Chapter 3 analyzes thread posts from administrative staff and users in MTS to identify patterns of interactions, with the goal of ascertaining how users contribute to the ongoing design and redesign of the site. Chapter 4 investigates user-generated tutorials to understand the nature of these instructional texts and how they are adapted to an online context. The final chapter (Chapter 5) presents conclusions about how the analyses overall represent examples of participatory learning practices that expand our understanding of 21st century learning. Finally, the chapter offers theoretical and practical implications, reflections on lessons learned, and suggestions for future research.
ContributorsLee, Yoonhee Naseef (Author) / Hayes, Elisabeth (Thesis advisor) / Gee, James (Committee member) / Nelson, Brian (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
The problem under investigation was to determine if a specific outline-style learning guide, called a Learning Agenda (LA), can improve a college algebra learning environment and if learner control can reduce the cognitive effort associated with note-taking in this instance. The 192 participants were volunteers from 47 different college algebra and pre-calculus classes at a community college in the southwestern United States. The approximate demographics of this college as of the academic year 2016 – 2017 are as follows: 53% women, 47% men; 61% ages 24 and under, 39% 25 and over; 43% Hispanic/Latino, 40% White, 7% other. Participants listened to an approximately 9-minute video lecture on solving a logarithmic equation. There were four dependent variables: encoding as measured by a posttest – pretest difference, perceived cognitive effort, attitude, and notes-quality/quantity. The perceived cognitive effort was measured by a self-reported questionnaire. The attitude was measured by an attitude survey. The note-quality/quantity measure included three sub-measures: expected mathematical expressions, expected phrases, and a total word count. There were two independent factors: note-taking method and learner control. The note-taking method had three levels: the Learning Agenda (LA), unguided note-taking (Usual), and no notes taken. The learner control factor had two levels: pausing allowed and pausing not allowed. The LA resulted in significantly improved notes on all three sub-measures (adjusted R2 = .298). There was a significant main effect of learner control on perceived cognitive effort with higher perceived cognitive effort occurring when pausing was not allowed and notes were taken. There was a significant interaction effect of the two factors on the attitude survey measure. The trend toward an improved attitude in both of the note-taking levels of the note-taking factor when pause was allowed was reversed in the no notes level when pausing was allowed. While significant encoding did occur as measured by the posttest – pretest difference (Cohen’s d = 1.81), this measure did not reliably vary across the levels of either the note-taking method factor or the learner control factor in this study. Interpretations were in terms of cognitive load management, split-attention, instructional design, and note-taking as a sense-making opportunity.
ContributorsTarr, Julie Charlotte (Author) / Nelson, Brian (Thesis advisor) / Atkinson, Robert (Committee member) / Savenye, Wilhelmina (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
RecyclePlus is an iOS mobile application that allows users to be knowledgeable in the realms of sustainability. It gives encourages users to be environmental responsible by providing them access to recycling information. In particular, it allows users to search up certain materials and learn about its recyclability and how to properly dispose of the material. Some searches will show locations of facilities near users that collect certain materials and dispose of the materials properly. This is a full stack software project that explores open source software and APIs, UI/UX design, and iOS development.
ContributorsTran, Nikki (Author) / Ganesh, Tirupalavanam (Thesis director) / Meuth, Ryan (Committee member) / Watts College of Public Service & Community Solut (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Bioscience High School, a small magnet high school located in Downtown Phoenix and a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math) focused school, has been pushing to establish a computer science curriculum for all of their students from freshman to senior year. The school's Mision (Mission and Vision) is to: "..provide a rigorous, collaborative, and relevant academic program emphasizing an innovative, problem-based curriculum that develops literacy in the sciences, mathematics, and the arts, thus cultivating critical thinkers, creative problem-solvers, and compassionate citizens, who are able to thrive in our increasingly complex and technological communities." Computational thinking is an important part in developing a future problem solver Bioscience High School is looking to produce. Bioscience High School is unique in the fact that every student has a computer available for him or her to use. Therefore, it makes complete sense for the school to add computer science to their curriculum because one of the school's goals is to be able to utilize their resources to their full potential. However, the school's attempt at computer science integration falls short due to the lack of expertise amongst the math and science teachers. The lack of training and support has postponed the development of the program and they are desperately in need of someone with expertise in the field to help reboot the program. As a result, I've decided to create a course that is focused on teaching students the concepts of computational thinking and its application through Scratch and Arduino programming.
ContributorsLiu, Deming (Author) / Meuth, Ryan (Thesis director) / Nakamura, Mutsumi (Committee member) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
CourseKarma is a web application that engages students in their own learning through peer-driven social networking. The influence of technology on students is advancing faster than the school system, and a major gap still lingers between traditional learning techniques and the fast-paced, online culture of today's generation. CourseKarma enriches the educational experience of today's student by creating a space for collaborative inquiry as well as illuminating the opportunities of self and group learning through online collaboration. The features of CourseKarma foster this student-driven environment. The main focus is on a news-feed and Question and Answer component that provides a space for students to share instant updates as well ask and answer questions of the community. The community can be as broad as the entire ASU student body, as specific as students in BIO155, or even more targeted via specific subjects and or skills. CourseKarma also provides reputation points, which are the sum of all of their votes received, identifying the individual's level and or ranking in each subject or class. This not only gamifies the usual day-to-day learning environment, but it also provides an in-depth analysis of the individual's skills, accomplishments, and knowledge. The community is also able to input and utilize course and professor descriptions/feedback. This will be in a review format providing the students an opportunity to share and give feedback on their experience as well as providing incoming students the opportunity to be prepared for their future classes. All of the student's contributions and collaborative activity within CourseKarma is displayed on their personal profile creating a timeline of their academic achievements. The application was created using modern web programming technologies such as AngualrJS, Javascript, jQuery, Bootstrap, HTML5, CSS3 for the styling and front-end development, Mustache.js for client side templating, and Firebase AngularFire as the back-end and NoSQL database. Other technologies such as Pivitol Tracker was used for project management and user story generation, as well as, Github for version control management and repository creation. Object-oreinted programming concepts were heavily present in the creation of the various data structures, as well as, a voting algorithm was used to manage voting of specific posts. Down the road, CourseKarma could even be a necessary add-on within LinkedIn or Facebook that provides a quick yet extremely in-depth look at an individuals' education, skills, and potential to learn \u2014 based all on their actual contribution to their academic community rather than just a text they wrote up.
ContributorsCho, Sungjae (Author) / Mayron, Liam (Thesis director) / Lobock, Alan (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / School of Arts, Media and Engineering (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
The modern web presents an opportunity for educators and researchers to create tools that are highly accessible. Because of the near-ubiquity of modern web browsers, developers who hope to create educational and analytical tools can reach a large au- dience by creating web applications. Using JavaScript, HTML, and other modern web development technologies, Genie was developed as a simulator to help educators in biology, genetics, and evolution classrooms teach their students about population genetics. Because Genie was designed for the modern web, it is highly accessible to both educators and students, who can access the web application using any modern web browser on virtually any device. Genie demonstrates the efficacy of web devel- opment technologies for demonstrating and simulating complex processes, and it will be a unique educational tool for educators who teach population genetics.
ContributorsRoos, Benjamin Hirsch (Author) / Cartwright, Reed (Thesis director) / Wilson Sayres, Melissa (Committee member) / Mayron, Liam (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
With the development of technology, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of machine learning programs. These complex programs make conclusions and can predict or perform actions based off of models from previous runs or input information. However, such programs require the storing of a very large amount of data. Queries allow users to extract only the information that helps for their investigation. The purpose of this thesis was to create a system with two important components, querying and visualization. Metadata was stored in Sedna as XML and time series data was stored in OpenTSDB as JSON. In order to connect the two databases, the time series ID was stored as a metric in the XML metadata. Queries should be simple, flexible, and return all data that fits the query parameters. The query language used was an extension of XQuery FLWOR that added time series parameters. Visualization should be easily understood and be organized in a way to easily find important information and details. Because of the possibility of a large amount of data being returned from a query, a multivariate heat map was used to visualize the time series results. The two programs that the system performed queries on was Energy Plus and Epidemic Simulation Data Management System. By creating such a system, it would be easier for people of the project's fields to find the relationship between metadata that leads to the desired results over time. Over the time of the thesis project, the overall software was completed, however the software must be optimized in order to take the enormous amount of data expected from the system.
ContributorsTse, Adam Yusof (Author) / Candan, Selcuk (Thesis director) / Chen, Xilun (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Music (Contributor) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Despite the advancement of online tools for activities related to the core experience of taking classes on a college campus, there has been a relatively small amount of research into implementing online tools for ancillary academic resources (e.g. tutoring centers, review sessions, etc.). Previous work and a study conducted for this paper indicates that there is value in creating these online tools but that there is value in maintaining an in-person component to these services. Based on this, a system which provides personalized, easily-accessible, simple access to these services is proposed. Designs for user-centered online-tools that provides access to and interaction with tutoring centers and review sessions are described and prototypes are developed to demonstrate the application of design principles for online tools for academic services.
ContributorsBerk, Nicholas Robert (Author) / Balasooriya, Janaka (Thesis director) / Eaton, John (Committee member) / Walker, Erin (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor)
Created2013-12