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Description
The purpose of this research paper is to examine the current state of Arizona's public K-12 education system and offer tangible solutions to improve it. An overview of the state's educational funding and performative rankings reveals a deeply disadvantaged system that especially disadvantages low income students. Arizona continually ranks in the bottom quartile in the nation for both K-12 performance and public education spending. By examining the best practices employed by some of the highest-ranking school systems in the world and reconfiguring them to fit Arizona, the state can significantly improve its national and international rankings. Research was conducted into four Scandinavian countries and four Southeast Asian countries selected based on 2016 K-12 Achievement Scores, Gross National Happiness Index, National 2016 Social Progress Index, and the 2016 Social Mobility Index as follows: Finland, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, and China (Hong Kong). After dissecting each countries' public school characteristics and funding formula, it was clear that each block of countries offered different solutions to the problems presented by Arizona's current educational climate. Namely increasing the efficacy of social welfare programs that directly impact low income students in K-12, improving statewide teacher certification standards, modeling the school year to be more like Southeast Asian countries to reduce summer learning loss, and facilitating an "educational culture" similar to that of Japan.
ContributorsBentley, Jackson Christopher (Author) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Thesis director) / Katherine, Clemens (Committee member) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
The objective of this research study is to assess the effectiveness of a poster-based messaging campaign and engineering-based activities for middle school and high school students to encourage students to explore and to pursue chemical engineering. Additionally, presentations are incorporated into both methods to provide context and improve understanding of the presented poster material or activity. Pre-assessments and post-assessments are the quantitative method of measuring effectiveness. For the poster campaign, ASU juniors and seniors participated in the poster campaign by producing socially relevant messages about their research or aspirations to address relevant chemical engineering problems. For the engineering-based activity, high school students participated in an Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering program "Young Engineers Shape the World" in which the students participated in six-hour event learning about four engineering disciplines, and the chemical engineering presentation and activity was conducted in one of the sessions. Pre-assessments were given at the beginning of the event, and the post-assessments were provided towards the end of the event. This honors thesis project will analyze the collected data.
ContributorsBueno, Daniel Tolentino (Author) / Ganesh, Tirupalavanam (Thesis director) / Parker, Hope (Committee member) / Chemical Engineering Program (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
"Maybe it's hatred I spew, Maybe it's food for the spirit." "I was not born under a rhyming planet." One of the above quotes is by the famous poet William Shakespeare and the other is by famous rap artist, Eminem. In modern society, many students view the works of artists like Eminem to be understandable and even relatable, while the works of classic poets like Shakespeare are a foreign language. However, when the lines are isolated from their entirety, it is very hard to determine the author of each. This Creative Project focuses on how we can use the works of modern lyricists to help teach the works of traditional literature. Not all students are fond of poetry and many of them view literary analysis as a tedious activity. However, almost everyone enjoys listening to music. This Creative Project shows how listening and interpreting modern song lyrics can be used as a tool to teach literary analysis. One of the main reasons students have difficulty with literary analysis is that they have trouble relating to the wording and style of the literature. By analyzing works more familiar to them (i.e. Kendrick Lamar, The Beatles, or Bob Dylan) the skills will be more easily transferable to analyzing traditional literature. The idea that songwriters can be comparable to famous poets has been picking up traction in recent years. In fact, in 2016, Bob Dylan, American singer and songwriter, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature breaking a trend of novels being awarded. This project's goal is to create a class unit for high school English students that teaches analytical skills for contemporary texts (i.e. modern song lyrics). In addition, a unit was created that used the analysis of contemporary lyrics in a middle school Social Studies course. This differentiation shows that development of literary analysis skills are applicable to subjects other than English Literature.
ContributorsCramer, Philip (Co-author) / Weinstein, Julian (Co-author) / Bjork, Robert (Thesis director) / Green, Randell (Committee member) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor) / Division of Teacher Preparation (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
In modern society, computer science (CS) professionals are necessary in the workforce. A growing number of fields and disciplines require the analytical and programming skills that come from a CS education. Despite the growing demand for programmers, the dropout rate within undergraduate CS programs remains high. In an effort to improve retention and make CS more accessible, I prototyped a mobile application that will help students through the principal deterrents that students face in their undergraduate years. Utilizing survey responses from 51 peers I determined the core courses and concepts within the CS curriculum that provoked the most concern to select the topics covered in the mobile application. The results show that the major barrier courses are CSE 310: Data Structures and Algorithms, CSE 340: Principles of Programming Languages, and CSE 355: Introduction to Theoretical Computer Science. Also using interviews and market research, I went through an iterative design process until I arrived at my final prototype that provides users a visual timeline of their program, examples for each individual topic, the ability to interact with other users, and create quizzes covering content they learned. This prototype is intended to lead to a fully developed application that will prepare and encourage students to further their professional careers in CS.
ContributorsRoldan, Jorge (Author) / Ganesh, Tirupalavanam (Thesis director) / Trowbridge, Amy (Committee member) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
As a member of the National Academy of Engineering’s Grand Challenge Scholars Program (GCSP) and the new Next Generation Service Corps (NGSC), I began this project interested in investigating the benefits and outcomes of these programs on my development throughout my undergraduate experience. Since interdisciplinarity is a core component of both programs, my thesis focused on the development and analysis of a survey to measure the interdisciplinary competence of undergraduate students in various programs and majors throughout ASU. In order to develop the survey items, we adapted questions by Lattuca, et al, which only analyzed the interdisciplinary competence of engineering students. Based on our responses, the quantitative data surfaced some interesting discrepancies between students in engineering and non-engineering majors. Broadly, the data also showed that students in GCSP and NGSC have higher interdisciplinary competence, implying there may be some benefits to both. Additionally, a preliminary theme analysis of the qualitative data seems to demonstrate that students appreciate a wide variety of opportunities to be exposed to disciplines outside of their primary major, and programs such as GCSP and NGSC which highlight interdisciplinarity expose students to opportunities they otherwise wouldn’t have known about. In the future, I would recommend evaluating the impact of students’ motivations for joining each program and examining the possible implications on their interdisciplinary competence. There are other outcomes that weren’t examined as part of this study, so it may also be interesting for future researchers to investigate other components of each program like the impacts of service learning or entrepreneurial experiences.
ContributorsChen, Diana Karen (Author) / Ganesh, Tirupalavanam (Thesis director) / Trowbridge, Amy (Committee member) / Watts College of Public Service & Community Solut (Contributor) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
The principles of transformational play challenge the assumption that learning and "real life" are inherently separate spheres, and instead, intimately connect the two spheres by integrating the often separate treatment of person, content, and context. By positioning person, content, and context in a way that traditional learning environments cannot, transformational play puts students in the role of active protagonists in their own learning and positions them to use their growing knowledge to make authentic choices that can affect problems they face in reality and thereby transform: the circumstances of their lives, the way they understand knowledge as a functional asset, and the way they see themselves as agents with the ability to act and create change. This can be especially empowering to students who have thus far been facing a feeling of hopelessness or powerlessness in their lives. Teachers can apply the concepts behind transformational play throughout the learning process to improve the consequentiality of students' learning experiences.
ContributorsCurtis, Camryn (Author) / Barab, Sasha (Thesis director) / Arici, Anna (Committee member) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor) / Division of Teacher Preparation (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
Description
This thesis provides recommendations to implement journalism and publishing programs into Montessori secondary education systems. This applies to students of 11 years or older that can be found in more than 210 Montessori schools across the nation, according to the American Montessori Society. Much of the foundation for this thesis is created by my own experience starting a journalism program at Desert Garden Montessori School in Phoenix, Arizona. The literature review looks at the history of Montessori education; the differences between Montessori education and traditional public schooling; the benefits of journalism programs for secondary education systems; and the observed fit between journalism and Montessori philosophies. The greater research explores my experience as a journalism adviser for Desert Garden Montessori School, and my own lessons learned through the spring 2015 semester. The final suggestions for a journalism program are split into three sections: those by the Desert Garden Montessori students, by certified members of American Montessori Society, and my own final recommendations. It then looks into areas for further research to solidify the expansion of journalism programs into other Montessori schools. The appendices contain newsroom documents and material published during my time as journalism adviser for Desert Garden Montessori School. This includes the magazines and stories created by the newsroom students.
ContributorsOtarola Alfaro, Miguel Angel (Author) / Gilger, Kristin (Thesis director) / Roschke, Kristy (Committee member) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05