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Description
We, a team of students and faculty in the life sciences at Arizona State University (ASU), currently teach an Introduction to Biology course in a Level 5, or maximum-security unit with the support of the Arizona Department of Corrections and the Prison Education Program at ASU. This course aims to enhance current programs at the unit by offering inmates an opportunity to practice literacy and math skills, while also providing exposure to a new academic field (science, and specifically biology). Numerous studies, including a 2005 study from the Arizona Department of Corrections (ADC), have found that vocational programs, including prison education programs, reduce recidivism rates (ADC 2005, Esperian 2010, Jancic 1988, Steurer et al. 2001, Ubic 2002) and may provide additional benefits such as engagement with a world outside the justice system (Duguid 1992), the opportunity for inmates to revise personal patterns of rejecting education that they may regret, and the ability of inmate parents to deliberately set a good example for their children (Hall and Killacky 2008). Teaching in a maximum security prison unit poses special challenges, which include a prohibition on most outside materials (except paper), severe restrictions on student-teacher and student-student interactions, and the inability to perform any lab exercises except limited computer simulations. Lack of literature discussing theoretical and practical aspects of teaching science in such environment has prompted us to conduct an ongoing study to generate notes and recommendations from this class through the use of surveys, academic evaluation of students' work and ongoing feedback from both teachers and students to inform teaching practices in future science classes in high-security prison units.
ContributorsLarson, Anika Jade (Author) / Mor, Tsafrir (Thesis director) / Brownell, Sara (Committee member) / Lockard, Joe (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
This thesis contains three chapters, all of which involve using culturally inclusive education to explore the experiences of religious undergraduate biology students. The first chapter is an essay entitled "Toward Culturally Inclusive Undergraduate Biology Education," which describes a literature review performed with the aim of characterizing the landscape of cultural competence and related terms for biology educators and biology education researchers. This chapter highlights the use of 16 different terms related to cultural competence and presents these terms, their definitions, and highlights their similarities and differences. This chapter also identifies gaps in the cultural competence literature, and presents a set of recommendations to support better culturally inclusive interventions in undergraduate science education. The second chapter, entitled "Different Evolution Acceptance Instruments Lead to Different Research Findings," describes a study in which the source of 30 years of conflicting research on the relationship between evolution acceptance and evolution understanding was determined. The results of this study showed that different instruments used to measure evolution acceptance sometimes lead to different research results and conclusions. The final chapter, entitled "Believing That Evolution is Atheistic is Associated with Poor Evolution Education Outcomes Among Religious College Students," describes a study characterizing definitions of evolution that religious undergraduate biology students may hold, and examines the impact that those definitions of evolution have on multiple outcome variables. In this study, we found that among the most religious students, those who thought evolution is atheistic were less accepting of evolution, less comfortable learning evolution, and perceived greater conflict between their personal religious beliefs and evolution than those who thought evolution is agnostic.
ContributorsDunlop, Hayley Marie (Author) / Brownell, Sara (Thesis director) / Collins, James (Committee member) / Barnes, M. Elizabeth (Committee member) / School of Human Evolution & Social Change (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
My thesis/creative project is a series of videos, supplemented by a paper documenting all the research. The project focuses on domestic and feral cats through the viewpoint of the “warrior cats” book series. The use of a particular fandom as a vehicle for science communication is a unique platform for use as a thesis/creative project. The narrated videos are made with the intention of being presented on YouTube or a similar viewing platform to an audience that is already familiar with the book series. The videos would fit on the site as a form of educational film known as video essays. The videos cover a range of topics to relate this book series to real situations with domestic animals, particularly cats, and wildlife. Each video is around ten to twenty minutes long and presented as episodes in a series.
The objective of my thesis project is to help bridge the gap between entertainment and science. I grew up reading the warrior cats, and I assume I was similar to many other children and young teens who did not understand domestic cats or ecology enough to question anything in the books. I know that much of these books are fictional, but that does not mean that it can’t be analyzed and used as a tool for teaching. The goal is to reach common ground with those people who have an interest in the warrior cats series, and help them understand it in a new light, as well as the world around them. I aim for the takeaway of this series to encourage people to explore the concepts I discuss and consider expanding upon the ideas within the Warriors universe or with their own cats.
The objective of my thesis project is to help bridge the gap between entertainment and science. I grew up reading the warrior cats, and I assume I was similar to many other children and young teens who did not understand domestic cats or ecology enough to question anything in the books. I know that much of these books are fictional, but that does not mean that it can’t be analyzed and used as a tool for teaching. The goal is to reach common ground with those people who have an interest in the warrior cats series, and help them understand it in a new light, as well as the world around them. I aim for the takeaway of this series to encourage people to explore the concepts I discuss and consider expanding upon the ideas within the Warriors universe or with their own cats.
ContributorsGarcia, Johnny Nico (Author) / Bateman, Heather (Thesis director) / Meloy, Elizabeth (Committee member) / College of Integrative Sciences and Arts (Contributor, Contributor) / School of Art (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Menstruation - a stigmatized topic and a social taboo- has led to a lack of menstrual hygiene awareness and improper practices impacting women’s health adversely over generations in India. Akshara aims to increase menstrual hygiene education and reduce stigma in India. A creative children’s illustrated book, and interactive workshop curriculum about menstruation were designed and published in Hindi and English. Menstrual hygiene workshops, utilizing the designed tools, were conducted in Delhi and Ghaziabad, India to over 230 students through NGO partnerships in December 2018. The response to the menstrual hygiene and stigma workshops was overwhelmingly positive, and a significant increase in the knowledge and awareness survey scores was observed after the curriculum teachings and classroom discussions. This evaluation highlights and provides a potential solution path to eradicate the root cause of the menstruation stigma in underprivileged women through education and open conversations on the topic starting at a pivotal young age. The main aim of the workshop was to help eradicate the stigma associated with menstruation and menstrual health in India through education.
ContributorsBhalla, Jahnavi (Co-author) / Dani, Advika (Co-author) / Schuster, Roseanne (Thesis director) / Hruschka, Daniel (Thesis director) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution & Social Change (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Nutrition has been around for as long as human beings have resided on the planet, giving it one of the most impactful roles in history, particularly in medicine. Certain herbs or dietary restrictions could help individuals recover from illnesses—this form of healing has been passed down generations, which medical providers from all over the world take advantage of. Before the era of antibiotics and pharmaceutical companies, food was the medicine used to treat. As civilization has flourished and become progressive, it seems that certain qualities of the past have been forgotten, such as the power of diet. Medical providers like to push patients towards pharmaceutical intervention because of the financial profit that this method entails, which has been shown to backfire. These interventions are not solving the true problem, but only applying a short-term solution. Dietary restrictions as well as the increase in heart-healthy foods can entirely reverse these conditions in order to avoid the fatal effects they may have. With the increase in nutritional education amongst the population via medical providers, specifically primary care providers, patients are able to reverse the symptoms of effects of chronic cardiovascular disease amongst others.
ContributorsTarin, Marjan (Author) / Huffman, Holly (Thesis director) / Moore, Marianne (Committee member) / College of Integrative Sciences and Arts (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-12
Description
Since the days of Plato’s Academy and Aristotle’s Lyceum, the intellectual community has been divided in two. This division has continued into the present day, most notably evidenced by the dichotomy between science and arts majors. There has been much debate over the last two centuries regarding how to bridge this divide, and whether or not doing so is necessary. Scholars like C. P. Snow have argued that interdisciplinary education is humanity’s only hope for confronting its current and future problems, while scholars like F.R. Leavis believe calls to restructure education are an oversimplification of a more complex problem. With its emphasis on global and local outreach, interdisciplinary education, and use-inspired research, the New American University model currently in use by Arizona State University is a literal attempt at bridging this divide. Schools like the College of Integrated Sciences and Arts have created an environment that encourages interdisciplinary collaboration. President Crow attributes this progress to what he calls “the design approach.” Unlike a rigid blueprint, the design approach instead looks at each problem in isolation, allowing for a unique solution to be tailor-made to fit each scenario. Despite the initial successes of the New American University model, however, it is still important to remain observant and critical of its practices into the future, as too much of an emphasis on interdisciplinarity could have the opposite of its intended effect, and potentially drive students who wish to specialize away from traditional universities altogether.
ContributorsPeru, James (Author) / Martin, Thomas (Thesis director) / Kane, Joshua (Committee member) / College of Integrative Sciences and Arts (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-12
Description
This research highlights how problems that women face at the structural, social, professional and individual level impact their business success, personal growth, and the business economic environment. The first section of the paper provides a global view about gender gaps and challenges. The second section is narrowed down to the city of Baños de Agua Santa in Ecuador where the findings were sought through a grounded theory research. After the analysis of the findings, a business model has been developed which addresses the major challenges and problems that women and the city are currently encountering. The ultimate purpose is to implement the project in the city; it promotes entrepreneurial education, innovation, association, and personal growth. The overall research is a cutting-edge study as it emphasizes that the business success of women entrepreneurs is not solved by one big fixed but more through a holistic solution.
ContributorsCurrat Luna, Daphne Christelle (Author) / Mary, Sully De Luque (Thesis director) / Joshua, Ault (Committee member) / Thunderbird School of Global Management (Contributor) / College of Integrative Sciences and Arts (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-12
Description
In response to a national call within STEM to increase diversity within the sciences, there has been a growth in science education research aimed at increasing participation of underrepresented groups in science, such as women and ethnic/racial minorities. However, an underexplored underrepresented group in science are religious students. Though 82% of the United States population is religiously affiliated, only 52% of scientists are religious (Pew, 2009). Even further, only 32% of biologists are religious, with 25% identifying as Christian (Pew, 2009; Ecklund, 2007). One reason as to why Christian individuals are underrepresented in biology is because faculty may express biases that affect students' ability to persist in the field of biology. In this study, we explored how revealing a Christian student's religious identity on science graduate application would impact faculty's perception of the student during the biology graduate application process. We found that faculty were significantly more likely to perceive the student who revealed their religious identity to be less competent, hirable, likeable, and faculty would be less likely to mentor the student. Our study informs upon possible reasons as to why there is an underrepresentation of Christians in science. This further suggests that bias against Christians must be addressed in order to avoid real-world, negative treatment of Christians in science.
ContributorsTruong, Jasmine Maylee (Author) / Brownell, Sara (Thesis director) / Gaughan, Monica (Committee member) / Barnes, Liz (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Learning student names has been promoted as an inclusive classroom practice, but it is unknown whether students value having their names known by an instructor. We explored this question in the context of a high-enrollment active-learning undergraduate biology course. Using surveys and semistructured interviews, we investigated whether students perceived that instructors know their names, the importance of instructors knowing their names, and how instructors learned their names. We found that, while only 20% of students perceived their names were known in previous high-enrollment biology classes, 78% of students perceived that an instructor of this course knew their names. However, instructors only knew 53% of names, indicating that instructors do not have to know student names in order for students to perceive that their names are known. Using grounded theory, we identified nine reasons why students feel that having their names known is important. When we asked students how they perceived instructors learned their names, the most common response was instructor use of name tents during in-class discussion. These findings suggest that students can benefit from perceiving that instructors know their names and name tents could be a relatively easy way for students to think that instructors know their names. Academic self-concept is one's perception of his or her ability in an academic domain compared to other students. As college biology classrooms transition from lecturing to active learning, students interact more with each other and are likely comparing themselves more to students in the class. Student characteristics, such as gender and race/ethnicity, can impact the level of academic self-concept, however this has been unexplored in the context of undergraduate biology. In this study, we explored whether student characteristics can affect academic self-concept in the context of a college physiology course. Using a survey, students self-reported how smart they perceived themselves in the context of physiology compared to the whole class and compared to the student they worked most closely with in class. Using logistic regression, we found that males and native English speakers had significantly higher academic self-concept compared to the whole class compared with females and non-native English speakers, respectively. We also found that males and non-transfer students had significantly higher academic self-concept compared to the student they worked most closely with in class compared with females and transfer students, respectively. Using grounded theory, we identified ten distinct factors that influenced how students determined whether they are more or less smart than their groupmate. Finally, we found that students were more likely to report participating less than their groupmate if they had a lower academic self-concept. These findings suggest that student characteristics can influence students' academic self-concept, which in turn may influence their participation in small group discussion.
ContributorsKrieg, Anna Florence (Author) / Brownell, Sara (Thesis director) / Stout, Valerie (Committee member) / Cooper, Katelyn (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
Science and technology have significant influence over the everyday lives of ordinary citizens. As these two disciplines have become more advanced, their influence has only become more pronounced, leading to many socioscientific issues and bioethical dilemmas that society and scientists must grapple with. In order to create informed, thoughtful citizens and effective future scientists, science educators must provide students with the skills they need to assess, evaluate, and address bioethical controversies. To do this, educators must explicitly teach students about bioethics and scientific argumentation. However, currently, this content is not commonly taught in science classrooms. Instead, science is presented as a discipline in which there are clear answers. Students are often expected to memorize lists of facts and are not made aware of the impact that science has on their own lives and those of others. This three-lesson unit seeks to help students make the connections between science content and its social implications and teach them the scientific argumentation skills necessary to critically evaluate and defend their positions regarding bioethical dilemmas. In the first lesson, students learn about bioethics and practice developing potential solutions to hypothetical bioethical dilemmas. In the second lesson, students are introduced to scientific argumentation and use their new skills to create mini-arguments regarding the bioethics of what happened to Henrietta Lacks, a black woman whose cervical cancer cells were used in research without her consent. Finally, in the third lesson, students work in groups to create fully developed arguments that support their position regarding the issue of tissue ownership. The last two lessons of the unit were implemented in a high school science classroom. After implementation, it was found that students have strong opinions regarding scientific controversies and enjoy learning and arguing about the social implications of science. However, students struggled to understand the mechanics of scientific argumentation and had trouble clearly expressing their ideas and opinions via argumentation. Additionally, students were very dogmatic in their positions and displayed a lack of understanding of the nuance of bioethical controversies.
ContributorsNath, Anita Lakshmi (Author) / Walters, Molina (Thesis director) / Oliver, Jill (Committee member) / College of Integrative Sciences and Arts (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12