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The flipped classroom is a teaching method that flips the activities done in and out of class, i.e., concepts are learned out of class and problems are worked in class under the supervision of the instructor. Studies have indicated several benefits of the FC, including improved performance and engagement. In

The flipped classroom is a teaching method that flips the activities done in and out of class, i.e., concepts are learned out of class and problems are worked in class under the supervision of the instructor. Studies have indicated several benefits of the FC, including improved performance and engagement. In the past years, further studies have investigated the benefits of FC in statics, dynamics, and mechanics of materials courses and indicate similar performance benefits. However, these studies address a need for additional studies to validate their results due to the short length of their research or small classroom size. In addition, many of these studies do not measure student attitudes, such as self-efficacy, or the difference in time spent out of class on coursework. The objective of this research is to determine the effectiveness of the flipped classroom system (FC) in comparison to the traditional classroom system (TC) in a large mechanics of materials course. Specifically, it aims to measure student performance, student self-efficacy, student attitudes on lecture quality, motivation, attendance, hours spent out of class, practice, and support, and difference in impact between high, middle, and low achieving students. In order to accomplish this, three undergraduate mechanics of materials courses were analyzed during the spring 2015 semester. One FC section served as the experimental group (92 students), while the two TC sections served as the control group (125 students). To analyze student self-efficacy and attitudes, a survey instrument was designed to measure 18 variables and was administered at the end of the semester. Standardized core outcomes were compared between groups to analyze performance. This paper presents the specific course framework used in this FC, detailed results of the quantitative and qualitative analysis, and discussion of strengths and weaknesses. Overall, an overwhelming majority of students were satisfied with FC and would like more of their classes taught using FC. Strengths of this teaching method include greater confidence, better focus, higher satisfaction with practice in class and assistance received from instructors and peers, more freedom to express ideas and questions in class, and less time required outside of class for coursework. Results also suggest that this method has a greater positive impact on high and low achieving students and leads to higher performance. The criticisms made by students focused on lecture videos to have more worked examples. Overall, results suggest that FC is more effective than TC in a large mechanics of materials course.
ContributorsLee, Andrew Ryan (Author) / Zhu, Haolin (Thesis director) / Middleton, James (Committee member) / Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
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Bangladesh is facing one of the largest mass poisonings in human history with over 77 million people affected by contaminated water each and every day. Over the last few years, the 33 Buckets team has come together to help fulfill this clean water need through filtration, education, and an innovative

Bangladesh is facing one of the largest mass poisonings in human history with over 77 million people affected by contaminated water each and every day. Over the last few years, the 33 Buckets team has come together to help fulfill this clean water need through filtration, education, and an innovative distribution system to inspire and empower people in Bangladesh and across the world. To start this process, we are working with the Rahima Hoque Girls' school in the rural area of Raipura, Bangladesh to give girls access to clean water where they spend the most time. Through our assessment trip in May 2012, we were able to acquire technical data, community input, and partnerships necessary to move our project forward. Additionally, we realized that in many cases, including the Rahima Hoque school, water problems are not caused by a lack of technology, but rather a lack of utilization and maintenance long-term. To remedy this, 33 Buckets has identified a local filter to have installed at the school, and has designed a small-scale business focused on selling clean water in bulk to the surrounding community. Our price point and association with the Rahima Hoque Girls' school makes our solution sustainable. Plus, with the success of our first site, we see the potential to scale. We already have five nearby schools interested in working to implement similar water projects, and with over 100,000 schools in Bangladesh, many of which lack access to the right water systems, we have a huge opportunity to impact millions of lives. This thesis project describes our journey through this process. First, an introduction to our work prior to the assessment trip and through the ASU EPICS program is given. Second, we include quantitative and qualitative details regarding our May 2012 assessment trip to the Rahima Hoque school and Dhaka. Third, we recount some of the experiences we were able to participate in following the trip to Bangladesh, including the Dell Social Innovation Challenge. Fourth, we examine the technical filtration methods, business model development, and educational materials that will be used to implement our solution this summer. Finally, we include an Appendix with a variety of social venture competitions and applications that we have submitted over the past two years, in addition to other supplementary materials. These are excellent examples of our diligence and provide unique insight into the growth of our project.
ContributorsStrong, Paul Andrew (Co-author) / Shah, Pankti (Co-author) / Huerta, Mark (Co-author) / Henderson, Mark (Thesis director) / El Asmar, Mounir (Committee member) / LaBelle, Jeffrey (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program (Contributor)
Created2013-05
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Description
The focus of education in the classroom traditionally is one of fact memorization and recall. The teaching process of linear knowledge progression is not always in tune with the way that the human brain actually processes, conceptualizes, and comprehends concepts and information. In an introductory engineering class, focused on materials

The focus of education in the classroom traditionally is one of fact memorization and recall. The teaching process of linear knowledge progression is not always in tune with the way that the human brain actually processes, conceptualizes, and comprehends concepts and information. In an introductory engineering class, focused on materials engineering and its related concepts, a system of lecture interventions has been put in place to increase concept comprehension by supplementing lecture units with various activities, from additional worksheets, explicit concept discussions, and most recently, YouTube videos showcasing specific concepts and situations. In an attempt to correct the lack of actual concept comprehension, these interventions seek to interact with the human mind in a way that capitalizes on its ability to process and interpret non-linear knowledge and information.

Using a concept test given prior to the lecture unit, and after, the difference in scores is used to recognize if the concepts presented have actually been comprehended. Used specifically in a lecture unit on solubility and solutions, the concept test tested student’s knowledge of supersaturated, saturated, and unsaturated solutions. With a visual identification and a written explanation, the student’s ability to identify and explain the three solutions was tested.

In order to determine the cause of the change in score from pre- to post-test, an analysis of the change in scores and the effects of question type and solution type was conducted. The significant results are as follows:
 The change in score from pre- to post-test was found to be significant, with the only difference between the two tests being the lecture unit and intervention
 From pre- to post-test, solution type had a significant effect on the score, with the unsaturated solution being the most easily recognized and explained solution type
 Students that felt that the YouTube videos greatly increased their concept comprehension, on average, performed better than their counterparts and also saw a greater increase their score from pre- to post-test
ContributorsLinich, Christopher Graham (Author) / Krause, Stephen (Thesis director) / Middleton, James (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program (Contributor)
Created2014-05
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Description
The purpose of this creative thesis project is to create the framework of an educational class package based off of a course offered at Arizona State University. The course chosen for this project is an honors course titled Deductive Logic: Leadership and Management Techniques and is taught by Dean Kashiwagi,

The purpose of this creative thesis project is to create the framework of an educational class package based off of a course offered at Arizona State University. The course chosen for this project is an honors course titled Deductive Logic: Leadership and Management Techniques and is taught by Dean Kashiwagi, PhD. The class package is designed to be published over an online platform so students and professors from various institutions can access the material. Currently the platform is in its final stages of development and is slated to go live on July of 2014. The future development of the package will be geared towards facilitating interdisciplinary collaboration between institutions based off of course concepts.
ContributorsGunnoe, Jake Alan (Author) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Thesis director) / Kashiwagi, Jacob (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program (Contributor) / Del E. Webb Construction (Contributor)
Created2014-05
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This thesis examines a variety of techniques implemented in modern senior design classes at Arizona State University with a special focus on the mechanical engineering senior capstone the traditional ABET capstone mechanical engineering capstone course, as well as the InnovationSpace Program. First, an overview regarding the growing profession of engineering

This thesis examines a variety of techniques implemented in modern senior design classes at Arizona State University with a special focus on the mechanical engineering senior capstone the traditional ABET capstone mechanical engineering capstone course, as well as the InnovationSpace Program. First, an overview regarding the growing profession of engineering and its relation to academic education is examined. Next, program and project overviews of both the capstone senior design course and the InnovationSpace are detailed, followed by a comparison of the two course's curriculum. Finally, key differences are highlighted, and suggestions introduced that might serve to improve both courses in the future. The senior design capstone course was found to lack accountability and diversity leading to a lack of innovative solutions. However, the course simultaneously succeeded in maintaining wellaccepted traditional engineer practices and documentation. The InnovationSpace program on the other hand provides accountability, diversity, and modern approaches to product development.
ContributorsKennedy, Patrick Bernales (Author) / Kuhn, Anthony (Thesis director) / Hedges, Craig (Committee member) / Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
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Description
The Downtown ASU campus Bio 201 and 202 anatomy labs are planning on revising the method in which students are presented and evaluated on lab material for the Fall 2016 semester. The goal of this thesis project was to analyze the methods used in previous semesters in order to determine

The Downtown ASU campus Bio 201 and 202 anatomy labs are planning on revising the method in which students are presented and evaluated on lab material for the Fall 2016 semester. The goal of this thesis project was to analyze the methods used in previous semesters in order to determine which method, if any, proved to be the most effective means of evaluation for the students. The general setup of the anatomy labs is that the students come to lab, receive that week's instruction, and then are quizzed on that week's material at the beginning of their next lab. Then roughly every five new segments there is a practical covering the cumulative information from the last five segments. Therefore it is imperative to analyze the current and previous methods of evaluation in order to find which one has the strongest correlation with an individual's quiz performance and their practical grade. Since the Fall 2014 semester three different quiz types have been used in lab while the practical has remained the same. The three different types of quizzes are written, turning point, and no quiz; in order to determine which method was most effective overall practical averages for each student was compared to their corresponding quiz average. This data was put into Excel and used to generate a graph in order to determine the r-squared values to determine which had the strongest correlation. The results showed that no matter what quiz type was used there was no statistically significant correlation between quiz performance and practical performance; in fact practical averages were nearly identical between semesters for Bio 201 and 202. However, visual analysis of the graph demonstrated that certain quiz methods did seem to be more effective than others. For Bio 201 it seemed that written quizzes were the most effective means of evaluation, while in Bio 202 the turning point quizzes were best.
ContributorsOlson, Zachary G (Author) / Kingsbury, Jeffrey (Thesis director) / Legere, Jenny (Committee member) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
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Description
The college textbook is the most commonly required component of almost any college course, regardless of a student's academic discipline. Professors often expect students to have access to the textbook and to use it to complete assigned readings. Textbooks often contain features that are designed to facilitate active reading, or

The college textbook is the most commonly required component of almost any college course, regardless of a student's academic discipline. Professors often expect students to have access to the textbook and to use it to complete assigned readings. Textbooks often contain features that are designed to facilitate active reading, or critical engagement with the information being read, to enhance learning of the material. However, students often do not read or prioritize reading the textbook. Students who do read, tend not to read the textbook as intended or use many of the features designed to promote active reading and enhanced learning of the material. Educational studies of textbooks tend to focus on aspects related to topics more relevant to publishers or professors with less research on aspects of the textbook applicable to students at the college level. The purpose of this study is to evaluate students' textbook use and their attitudes toward the textbook in an introductory biology course. Results of this study indicate students hold positive attitudes toward their textbook in an introductory biology course and majority of students do not use components meant to facilitate active learning. Although students report completing assigned readings, students may actually be reading select portions of what is assigned in using the textbook to prepare for exams. These results suggest that students may only be using their textbook to enhance their understanding of materials they expect to be tested on. The findings of this study help to understand the role of the textbook from the perspective of the student and provide insight for improving textbook design and use in science courses at the college level.
ContributorsRudolph, Alexia Marion (Author) / Vanmali, Binaben (Thesis director) / Chen, Ying-Chih (Committee member) / Yoho, Rachel (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
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Description

This study aims to produce efficient and effective group writing workshops for students within the Barrett Honors College at Arizona State University. To balance two opposing theories in writing center pedagogy - the direct instruction theory and the student-led/ collaborative theory - this study also aims to determine whether a

This study aims to produce efficient and effective group writing workshops for students within the Barrett Honors College at Arizona State University. To balance two opposing theories in writing center pedagogy - the direct instruction theory and the student-led/ collaborative theory - this study also aims to determine whether a balanced combination of these approaches in writing workshops will increase student confidence in their writing abilities. Several writing workshops were held over Zoom utilizing a combination of direct teaching methods and collaborative techniques. Students were then surveyed to determine whether they found the workshops helpful, learned new skills, and/or grew more confident in their abilities. The student responses proved the hypothesis that a combined approach leads to an increase in student confidence.

ContributorsGuido, Julia (Author) / Graff, Sarah (Thesis director) / Popova, Laura (Committee member) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
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Description

The purpose of this study was to bring new information to the field of education research on<br/>graduation rates and school programming. Research on graduation rates and the effects of school<br/>programs exist, however there is not an abundance of research aimed specifically at Title I high<br/>schools. The goal was to find

The purpose of this study was to bring new information to the field of education research on<br/>graduation rates and school programming. Research on graduation rates and the effects of school<br/>programs exist, however there is not an abundance of research aimed specifically at Title I high<br/>schools. The goal was to find what school characteristics might impact graduation rates in this<br/>population. The thesis focused on Title I high schools in the Phoenix Union District with a<br/>graduating 2019 class of at least 250 students. This limited the effect of variability (school size,<br/>location, socioeconomic status). To research this topic, school characteristics were selected<br/>including course rigor, mentor programs, and college prep programs, as well as specific schools.<br/>To obtain the information, multiple sources were used including the Arizona Department of<br/>Education website, school websites, and school administrators/staff. The research revealed that<br/>the effect of course rigor, college prep programs, and mentorship on graduation rates in Phoenix<br/>Union High Schools is not apparent. Further research should be conducted into other possible<br/>causes for the gaps in graduation rates between the Title I high schools in this district. Future<br/>research on ELL students and programs in the Phoenix Union district and their effectiveness or<br/>lack thereof is also recommended. The research shows that this large demographic negatively<br/>correlates with the overall graduation rates at the six schools researched.

ContributorsSmith, Keegan Brett (Co-author) / Mora, Marilyn (Co-author) / Kappes, Janelle (Thesis director) / Panneton, Teresa (Committee member) / Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program (Contributor, Contributor) / Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description

The incidence of childhood obesity has become increasingly prevalent in the United States in recent years. The development of obesity at any age, but especially in adolescence, can have lasting negative effects in the form of cardiometabolic disease, increased incurred healthcare costs, and potential negative effects on quality of life.

The incidence of childhood obesity has become increasingly prevalent in the United States in recent years. The development of obesity at any age, but especially in adolescence, can have lasting negative effects in the form of cardiometabolic disease, increased incurred healthcare costs, and potential negative effects on quality of life. In recent years, a rising trend of obesity, in both adults and adolescents, has been observed in lower income and ethnic groups. Increased adiposity can be influenced by modifiable factors -(physical activity, caloric intake, or sleep) or by non-modifiable factors (ethnicity, genetic predispositions, and socioeconomic status). The influence of these factors can be observed in individuals of all ages, including infants. A common indicator of the development of childhood obesity is rapid weight gain (RWG) within an infant’s first year of life. The composition of the gut microbiome can act as a predictor for RWG and the development of childhood obesity. Infants are exposed to an immense microbial load when they are born and their gut microbiome is continually diversified through their method of feeding and the subsequent introduction to solid foods. While currently understudied, it is understood that cultural and socioeconomic factors influence the development of the gut microbiome, which is further explored in this analysis. The DNA from 51 fecal samples from infants ranging from 3 weeks to 12 months in age was extracted and sequenced using next-generation sequencing, and the resulting sequences were analyzed using QIIME 2. Results from alpha-diversity and beta-diversity metrics showed significant differences in the gut microbiome of infants when comparing groups based on baby race/ethnicity, household income, and mom’s education. These findings suggest the importance of sociodemographic characteristics in shaping the gut microbiome and suggest the importance of future studies including diverse populations in gut microbiome work.

ContributorsGallello, Chloe (Author) / Whisner, Corrie (Thesis director) / Petrov, Megan (Committee member) / Redding, Kevin (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor)
Created2023-05