Matching Items (4)
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- All Subjects: STEM
- Creators: Atkinson, Robert
Description
Guitar Hero III and similar games potentially offer a vehicle for improvement of musical rhythmic accuracy with training delivered in both visual and auditory formats and by use of its novel guitar-shaped interface; however, some theories regarding multimedia learning suggest sound is a possible source of extraneous cognitive load while playing so players may score higher with sound turned off. Also, existing studies have shown that differences in the physical format of interfaces affect learning outcomes. This study sought to determine whether (a) the game’s audio content affects rhythmic accuracy, and (b) the type of game controller used affects learning of rhythmic accuracy. One hundred participants were randomly assigned in approximately equal numbers (ns = 25) to the four cells of a 2x2 between-subjects design. The first variable was the audio content of the game with two levels: on or off. The second variable was the type of game controller: the standard guitar-style controller or tablet interface. Participants across all conditions completed a pre- and post-test with a system that required them to tap along with repeated rhythmic patterns on an electronic drum pad. Statistical evidence showed better outcomes with a tablet controller with respect to input time error, reduction of extra notes played, and reduction of missed notes; however, the guitar-style controller produced superior outcomes in terms of avoiding missed notes and was associated with higher satisfaction by participants. When audio was present better outcomes were achieved at multiple factor-levels of reduction of missed responses, but superior outcomes in input time error were seen without audio. There was no evidence to suggest an interaction between controller type and the presence or absence of audio.
ContributorsThomas, James William (Author) / Zuiker, Steven J (Thesis advisor) / Atkinson, Robert (Thesis advisor) / Savenye, Wilhelmina C (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
In today's world, technology plays a large role in everyone's life. However, there is a short supply of professionals to fill the roles in the computing field. When examining closer, it is clear that one group has a smaller representation: women. This can be contributed to many factors early in the women's lives and academic careers. In hopes of increasing the number of women computing professionals, this thesis aimed to understand the problem of a lack of women in technology and studied how hackathons could be a possible solution. The research followed Desert Hacks as it examines the typical participants as well as the hackathons effects on women's morale in technology. Two important questions during the investigation were what kind of women are attending hackathons and how do women feel about the technology industry after a hackathon? The results suggested that hackathon had an overall positive effect on women's motivation in the computing field. Additionally, most research participants believed that everyone has the potential to do well in the field and that gender inclusion is important for the industry. This ideology can foster a healthy environment for women to become more motivated in computing. Through these results, hackathons can be seen as another mean to help motivate women in the field and open up the possibility of future studies of women and hackathons.
ContributorsVo, Thong Bach (Author) / Atkinson, Robert (Thesis director) / Chavez-Echeagaray, Maria Elena (Committee member) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
Description
This paper about the Garden Grub concerns the growing Agritech industry along with exposing middle school students to STEM education. Currently over half of America's students are not prepared to be successful in our technology driven world. These students did not have the opportunity to be exposed to many Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math related careers or majors before entering the working world and/or college. These students are unaware of the real-life applications these topics can have and will never have the chance to pursue these fields. Using the Garden Grub, students will be introduced to the world of Agritech and how traditional agriculture is changing in include more technology. The Garden Grub is designed to not only introduce students to STEM in general, but specifically the Agritech Industry. With the Garden Grub kit and instructions students will be able to construct a small device that will monitor the external temperature and the soil moisture of a plant they are growing. For future implementations of the Garden Grub, we will develop a structured lesson plan to teach the users more about the device they are building. This is so in the future users could continue their education in Agritech and STEM because they have more knowledge on the subjects From standalone testing the Garden Grub, the device was able to successfully monitor the lettuce to ensure that it grew successfully. The Garden Grub instructions and kit were tested in a fourth-grade classroom, where college volunteers worked with the students to begin to create their own device. While there was not enough time to successfully complete the product the fourth graders were more interested in STEM than when we first started. Even though they struggled in the beginning, students quickly learned basic concepts , such as +/- circuit power, transfer of data, and sensor connections. More recently we were able to go into a middle school and teach in a classroom with the students who were part of a coding elective course. Since our last outing we were able to update the user manual and prepare more ahead of time. This gave us more time to explain the concepts to the students, along with being able to successful build all of the devices. They began to think of ways that this device could be applicable to their lives along with how the Garden Grub could be improved in the future.
ContributorsWynia, Rachel Marie (Author) / Lin, Elva (Thesis director) / Eakin, Hallie (Committee member) / WPC Graduate Programs (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
The purpose of this instructional design and development study was to describe, evaluate and improve the instructional design process and the work of interdisciplinary design teams. A National Science Foundation (NSF) funded, Transforming Undergraduate Education in Science (TUES) project was the foundation for this study. The project developed new curriculum materials to teach learning content in unsaturated soils in undergraduate geotechnical engineering classes, a subset of the civil engineering. The study describes the instructional design (ID) processes employed by the team members as they assess the need, develop the materials, disseminate the learning unit, and evaluate its effectiveness, along with the impact the instructional design process played in the success of the learning materials with regard to student achievement and faculty and student attitudes. Learning data were collected from undergraduate geotechnical engineering classes from eight partner universities across the country and Puerto Rico over three phases of implementation. Data were collected from students and faculty that included pretest/posttest scores and attitudinal survey questions. The findings indicated a significant growth in the learning with the students of the faculty who were provided all learning materials. The findings also indicated an overall faculty and student satisfaction with the instructional materials. Observational and anecdotal data were also collected in the form of team meeting notes, personal observations, interviews and design logs. Findings of these data indicated a preference with working on an interdisciplinary instructional design team. All these data assisted in the analysis of the ID process, providing a basis for descriptive and inferential data used to provide suggestions for improving the ID process and the work of interdisciplinary instructional design teams.
ContributorsOrnelas, Arthur (Author) / Savenye, Wilhelmina C. (Thesis advisor) / Atkinson, Robert (Committee member) / Bitter, Gary (Committee member) / Houston, Sandra (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015