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Description
For as long as humans have been working, they have been looking for ways to get that work done better, faster, and more efficient. Over the course of human history, mankind has created innumerable spectacular inventions, all with the goal of making the economy and daily life more efficient. Today, innovations and technological advancements are happening at a pace like never seen before, and technology like automation and artificial intelligence are poised to once again fundamentally alter the way people live and work in society. Whether society is prepared or not, robots are coming to replace human labor, and they are coming fast. In many areas artificial intelligence has disrupted entire industries of the economy. As people continue to make advancements in artificial intelligence, more industries will be disturbed, more jobs will be lost, and entirely new industries and professions will be created in their wake. The future of the economy and society will be determined by how humans adapt to the rapid innovations that are taking place every single day. In this paper I will examine the extent to which automation will take the place of human labor in the future, project the potential effect of automation to future unemployment, and what individuals and society will need to do to adapt to keep pace with rapidly advancing technology. I will also look at the history of automation in the economy. For centuries humans have been advancing technology to make their everyday work more productive and efficient, and for centuries this has forced humans to adapt to the modern technology through things like training and education. The thesis will additionally examine the ways in which the U.S. education system will have to adapt to meet the demands of the advancing economy, and how job retraining programs must be modernized to prepare workers for the changing economy.
ContributorsCunningham, Reed P. (Author) / DeSerpa, Allan (Thesis director) / Haglin, Brett (Committee member) / School of International Letters and Cultures (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
"Improving Life Outcomes for Children in Arizona: Educational Social Impact Bond" is a creative project that is structured as a pitch to the Arizona Department of Education to consider social impact bonds as a way to fund pilot education programs. The pitch begins with a brief overview of the umbrella of impact investing, and then a focus on social impact bonds, an area of impact investing. A profile of Arizona's current educational rankings along with statistics are then presented, highlighting the need for an educational social impact bond to help increase achievement. The pitch then starts to focus particularly on high school drop outs and how by funding early childhood education the chances of a child graduating high school increase. An overview of existing early education social impact bonds that are enacted are then presented, followed by a possible structure for an early education social impact bond in Arizona. An analysis of the possible lifetime cost savings of investing in early childhood education are then presented, that are as a result of decreasing the amount of high school drop outs. Lastly, is a brief side-by-side comparison of the Arizona structure to the precedent social impact bonds.
ContributorsRodriguez, Karina (Author) / Simonson, Mark (Thesis director) / Trujillo, Gary (Committee member) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / School of Accountancy (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
To supplement lectures, various resources are available to students; however, little research has been done to look systematically at which resources studies find most useful and the frequency at which they are used. We have conducted a preliminary study looking at various resources available in an introductory material science course over four semesters using a custom survey called the Student Resource Value Survey (SRVS). More specifically, the SRVS was administered before each test to determine which resources students use to do well on exams. Additionally, over the course of the semester, which resources students used changed. For instance, study resources for exams including the use of homework problems decreased from 81% to 50%, the utilization of teaching assistant for exam studying increased from 25% to 80%, the use of in class Muddiest Points for exam study increased form 28% to 70%, old exams and quizzes only slightly increased for exam study ranging from 78% to 87%, and the use of drop-in tutoring services provided to students at no charge decreased from 25% to 17%. The data suggest that students thought highly of peer interactions by using those resources more than tutoring centers. To date, no research has been completed looking at courses at the department level or a different discipline. To this end, we adapted the SRVS administered in material science to investigate resource use in thirteen biomedical engineering (BME) courses. Here, we assess the following research question: "From a variety of resources, which do biomedical engineering students feel addresses difficult concept areas, prepares them for examinations, and helps in computer-aided design (CAD) and programming the most and with what frequency?" The resources considered include teaching assistants, classroom notes, prior exams, homework problems, Muddiest Points, office hours, tutoring centers, group study, and the course textbook. Results varied across the four topical areas: exam study, difficult concept areas, CAD software, and math-based programming. When preparing for exams and struggling with a learning concept, the most used and useful resources were: 1) homework problems, 2) class notes and 3) group studying. When working on math-based programming (Matlab and Mathcad) as well as computer-aided design, the most used and useful resources were: 1) group studying, 2) engineering tutoring center, and 3) undergraduate teaching assistants. Concerning learning concepts and exams in the BME department, homework problems and class notes were considered some of the highest-ranking resources for both frequency and usefulness. When comparing to the pilot study in MSE, both BME and MSE students tend to highly favor peer mentors and old exams as a means of studying for exams at the end of the semester1. Because the MSE course only considered exams, we cannot make any comparisons to BME data concerning programming and CAD. This analysis has highlighted potential resources that are universally beneficial, such as the use of peer work, i.e. group studying, engineering tutoring center, and teaching assistants; however, we see differences by both discipline and topical area thereby highlighting the need to determine important resources on a class-by-class basis as well.
ContributorsMalkoc, Aldin (Author) / Ankeny, Casey (Thesis director) / Krause, Stephen (Committee member) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
The purpose of this thesis is to understand peer-to-peer study habits at Arizona State University, and provide recommendations for improving these habits through online integration. This was done by researching current peer-to-peer collaboration literature, and analyzing online integration efforts. Interviews of Arizona State University students were carried out in order to discover specific insights on study patterns at this university. The scope of this research study was further limited to freshman and sophomore engineering, mathematics, and science majors in order to mitigate the impacts of external factors. The background research and study illuminated various flaws in existing peer-to-peer collaboration tools and methods. These weaknesses were then used to design two online tools that would be incorporated into a student resource dashboard. The first tool, called "Ask a Peer", provides a question and answer forum for students. This tool differs from existing products because it provides a mobile platform for students to receive reputable and immediate responses from their classmates. The second tool, "Study Buddy Finder", can be used by students to form study partnerships. This tool is beneficial because it displays information that is essential to students deciding to work together. The thesis provides detailed designs for both modules, and provides the foundation for implementation.
ContributorsPatel, Niraj (Author) / Balasooriya, Janaka (Thesis director) / Eaton, John (Committee member) / Walker, Erin (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor)
Created2013-12
Description
Diabetes is a growing epidemic in developing countries, specifically in rural Kenya. In addition to the high cost of glucose testing, many diabetics in Kenya do not understand the importance of testing their blood glucose, let alone the nature of the disease. This project addresses the insufficiency of educational materials regarding diabetes in rural Kenya. The resulting documents can easily be adjusted for use in other developing countries.
ContributorsBuchak, Jacqueline (Author) / Caplan, Michael (Thesis director) / Snyder, Jan (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
Engineers have a strong influence on everyday lives, ranging from electronics and trains to chemicals and organs [1]. However, in the United States, there is a large knowledge gap in the roles of engineers, especially in K-12 students [2] [3]. The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) recognizes the current problems in engineering, such as the dominance of white males in the field and the amount of education needed to become a successful engineer [4]. Therefore, the NAE encourages that the current engineering community begin to expose the younger generations to the real foundation of engineering: problem-solving [4]. The objective of this thesis is to minimize the knowledge gap by assessing the current perception of engineering amongst middle school and high school students and improving it through engaging and interactive presentations and activities that build upon the students’ problem-solving abilities.
The project was aimed towards middle school and high school students, as this is the estimated level where they learn biology and chemistry—key subject material in biomedical engineering. The high school students were given presentations and activities related to biomedical engineering. Additionally, within classrooms, posters were presented to middle school students. The content of the posters were students of the biomedical engineering program at ASU, coming from different ethnic backgrounds to try and evoke within the middle school students a sense of their own identity as a biomedical engineer. To evaluate the impact these materials had on the students, a survey was distributed before the students’ exposure to the materials and after that assesses the students’ understanding of engineering at two different time points. A statistical analysis was conducted with Microsoft Excel to assess the influence of the activity and/or presentation on the students’ understanding of engineering.
The project was aimed towards middle school and high school students, as this is the estimated level where they learn biology and chemistry—key subject material in biomedical engineering. The high school students were given presentations and activities related to biomedical engineering. Additionally, within classrooms, posters were presented to middle school students. The content of the posters were students of the biomedical engineering program at ASU, coming from different ethnic backgrounds to try and evoke within the middle school students a sense of their own identity as a biomedical engineer. To evaluate the impact these materials had on the students, a survey was distributed before the students’ exposure to the materials and after that assesses the students’ understanding of engineering at two different time points. A statistical analysis was conducted with Microsoft Excel to assess the influence of the activity and/or presentation on the students’ understanding of engineering.
ContributorsLlave, Alison Rose (Author) / Ganesh, Tirupalavanam (Thesis director) / Parker, Hope (Committee member) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
This paper explores factors to study why the number of students in STEM are not as high as they could be. Based on both Veda and Soumya's personal experiences, factors were chosen to understand their impact on whether a high school student would choose a STEM major in their college of choice, which could lead them to having a career in STEM. The factors explored will be location, grade level, school, parent/guardian involvement, teacher involvement, media influences, and personal interest. Data was collected through surveys sent to both high school and college students. The high school data came solely from schools in the Phoenix area, whereas college students' data came from across the world. These surveys contained questions regarding all of the above factors and were crafted so that we could gain further insight into each factor without producing bias. Each factor had at least one personal experience by either Veda or Soumya. Many of the survey responses gave insight to how and why a student would decide to pursue STEM or why they did pursue STEM. The main implications derived from the study are the following: the importance of a good support network, active parent/guardian and teacher involvement, and specifically active science teacher involvement. Data from both college and high school students showed that students highly valued a science teacher. One recommendation from this thesis is to provide a training for teachers to learn about how to connect concepts they teach to real-world applications. This can be administered through the district so that they may bring in anyone they feel is qualified to teach such topics such as industry professionals or teachers who specialize in teaching STEM. The last recommendation is for parents to participate in a workshop that will inform them of how to be more involved/engaged with their student.
ContributorsPushpraj, Soumya (Co-author) / Inamdar, Veda (Co-author) / Scott, Kimberly (Thesis director) / EscontrÃÂas, Gabriel (Committee member) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
Concept mapping is a tool used in order to visually represent a person's understanding of interrelated concepts. Generally the central concept is in the center or at the top and the related concepts branch off, becoming more detailed as it continues. Additionally, links between different branches show how those concepts are related to each other. Concept mapping can be implemented in many different types of classrooms because it can be easily adjusted for the needs of the teacher and class specifically. The goal of this project is to analyze both the attitude and achievement of students using concept mapping of college students in an active learning classroom. In order to evaluate the students' concept maps we will use the expert map scoring method, which compares the students concept maps to an expertly created concept map for similarities; the more similar the two maps are, the higher the score. We will collect and record students' scores on concept maps as they continue through the one semester class. Certain chapters correspond to specific exams due to the information contained in the lectures, chapters 1-4 correspond to exam 1 and so forth. We will use this information to correlate the average concept map score across these chapters to one exam score. There was no significant correlation found between the exam grades and the corresponding scores on the concept maps (Pearson's R values of 0.27, 0.26, and -0.082 for Exam 1, 2 and 3 respectively). According to Holm et all "it was found that 85% of students found interest or attainment in the concept mapping session, only 44% thought there was a cost, and 63% thought it would help them to be successful."
ContributorsFarrell, Carilee Dawn (Author) / Ankeny, Casey (Thesis director) / Middleton, James (Committee member) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
For my thesis, I chose to write a children’s book on financial education. The purpose of the book is to introduce financial terms such as savings, loans, and opportunity cost into a child’s life. The goal of the book is to inspire young individuals to start having open discussions about their finances and what these terms mean as well as how it applies to their daily lives.
The inspiration of the book came from my personal upbringing. I was born and raised in Mesa, Arizona, where I would see title loans businesses in every street corner. Many close family friends grew a dependency on these loans. As I grew older, I became aware of the long-term effects these businesses had on these families and I became inspired to make a change.
My book is meant to introduce simple financial terms into a child’s life with the hopes that they will begin to converse with family and friends about these terms. My book specifically incorporates the terms: loans, opportunity costs, savings, and affordability. These four topics were chosen through surveying a high school class by gathering information such as what they know, how much they know, and what they would like to learn more about. The intended audience would be students reading at a 3rd grade reading level. This grade level is ideal for my book based off information found on the Arizona Department of Education’s website. Final revisions were done with the help of my committee as well as through feedback received from children.
The book itself is 31 pages long with illustrations on every page. The illustrations consist of photographs and drawings. The drawings were purposely placed, roughly, and without color, on the photographs to symbolize the rough patches in life in yet a colorful world.
Proposition 1184 plays a major role in the future of my book. Proposition 1184 is
currently working its way through the Arizona legislature and would require all high school students to take a class on financial basics, replacing the current economics class requirement. I plan to continue working with Mesa Public Schools to get my book, or a similar project, incorporated into the Mesa Public Schools curriculum. I envision the book starting discussions related to financial topics which will in turn familiarize children with these terms’ definitions and begin the movement of financial education in Arizona.
The inspiration of the book came from my personal upbringing. I was born and raised in Mesa, Arizona, where I would see title loans businesses in every street corner. Many close family friends grew a dependency on these loans. As I grew older, I became aware of the long-term effects these businesses had on these families and I became inspired to make a change.
My book is meant to introduce simple financial terms into a child’s life with the hopes that they will begin to converse with family and friends about these terms. My book specifically incorporates the terms: loans, opportunity costs, savings, and affordability. These four topics were chosen through surveying a high school class by gathering information such as what they know, how much they know, and what they would like to learn more about. The intended audience would be students reading at a 3rd grade reading level. This grade level is ideal for my book based off information found on the Arizona Department of Education’s website. Final revisions were done with the help of my committee as well as through feedback received from children.
The book itself is 31 pages long with illustrations on every page. The illustrations consist of photographs and drawings. The drawings were purposely placed, roughly, and without color, on the photographs to symbolize the rough patches in life in yet a colorful world.
Proposition 1184 plays a major role in the future of my book. Proposition 1184 is
currently working its way through the Arizona legislature and would require all high school students to take a class on financial basics, replacing the current economics class requirement. I plan to continue working with Mesa Public Schools to get my book, or a similar project, incorporated into the Mesa Public Schools curriculum. I envision the book starting discussions related to financial topics which will in turn familiarize children with these terms’ definitions and begin the movement of financial education in Arizona.
ContributorsMorales, Irma Lucero (Author) / Desch, Tim (Thesis director) / Wolfe, Mindy (Committee member) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05