Matching Items (6)
Description
Vulnerability research is a fairly new field of study and has yet to be applied to fields such as improvisation or online content creation. Making vulnerability public in a way that necessitates improvisation is fundamental to YouTube content creation. This Creative Project focuses on drawing connections between Vulnerability and Improvisation as it relates to creating content for YouTube. I did this through creating my own content which consisted of four YouTube videos centering around the theme of embracing fear. I found that in order to create content, I had to practice vulnerability myself and embrace improvisation if I wished to communicate those same themes to my audience. This project revealed that there are many ways which this powerful vulnerability research is yet to be applied, specifically in the realm of vastly public arenas such as YouTube. This research shows that vulnerability is not only applicable to interpersonal relationships, but has the potential to influenced thousands when used in public spheres.
ContributorsEckert, Rebecca Hope (Author) / Branch, Boyd (Thesis director) / Hughes, Erika (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (Contributor) / School of Film, Dance and Theatre (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Locusts are a major crop pest in many parts of the world and different species are endemic to different countries. In Latin America, the South American Locust (Schistocerca cancellata) is the predominant species found mostly in Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Paraguay, and southern Brazil with Argentina being the most affected. Several control and management practices, including biological control, have been implemented in these countries in the past to control the locusts and reduce their impact on crop and vegetation, however, effective long-term control and management practices will require a detail understanding of how the predominant locust species in this region responds to resource variation. Research has shown that there is strong evidence that locusts, and many other organisms, will actively balance dietary macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates, and lipids) to optimize growth, survival, and/or reproduction. A study by Cease et. al, 2017, on the dietary preferences of the Mongolian locust (Oedaleus asiaticus) showed that it prefers diets that are high in carbohydrates over diets that are high in protein, in this case locusts self-selected a 1:2 ratio of protein:carbohydrate. This and many other studies provide vital insight into the nutritional and feeding preferences of these locust species but the effects that this difference in protein: carbohydrate preferences has on growth, egg production, flight potential, and survival has yet to be fully explored, hence, this study investigates the effects that nitrogen fertilization of wheatgrass will have on the growth, egg production, survival, and flight muscle mass of the South American locust in a controlled, laboratory environment.
ContributorsManneh, Balanding (Author) / Cease, Arianne (Thesis director) / Overson, Rick (Committee member) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Circles of Sustainability is a self-evaluation tool designed to build educator capacity in K-12 schools seeking sustainability solutions. Based on the Sustainable Schools Challenge Handbook from Memphis, Tennessee, Circles of Sustainability considers environmental impact and efficiency, a healthy and safe school environment, sustainability and environmental education, and engagement and empowerment as four key pillars of whole-school sustainability. Each pillar is composed of elements and rubric items, which are reviewed, totaled, and colored in on the front page of the tool to help educators visualize and evaluate the current state of sustainability at their school. Since its first iteration completed in May 2017, the tool has been used by 300 educators throughout the United States during ASU's Sustainability Teachers' Academy (STA) workshops. Circles of Sustainability is completed as part of an activity called "Evaluating Your Community," where educators complete the tool and then brainstorm sustainability projects and solutions for their school and community. This paper is a review and discussion of the research, informal feedback and formal feedback used to create the second iteration of the tool. A second iteration of the tool was created to make the tool more user-friendly and ensure each pillar, element, and rubric item are based in research. The informal feedback was conducted during STA workshops in Tempe, Arizona; Abingdon, Virginia; Princeton, New Jersey; Chicago, Illinois; Los Angeles, California; Tucson, Arizona; and Charlotte, North Carolina. The formal feedback was conducted using a survey distributed to teachers who participated in the Tucson and Charlotte workshops. Overall, educators have responded positively to the tool, and the second iteration will continue to be used in future STA workshops throughout the United States.
ContributorsColbert, Julia (Author) / Schoon, Michael (Thesis director) / Merritt, Eileen (Committee member) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / Division of Teacher Preparation (Contributor) / School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Nature journaling in school gardens is a unique way to engage students in the natural world, providing time to notice, wonder, and observe through writing and drawing while engaging in environmental and sustainability learning. With the number of school gardens increasing in the United States, educators can benefit from understanding what students experience while participating in garden-based learning activities so they can adapt their teaching to fit the educational needs of their participants. School garden studies typically focus on measuring academic and health outcomes and nature journaling studies typically focus on educator experiences with one classroom. We facilitated a nature journaling study with four elementary classrooms in a public, Title I school in the desert southwest to explore student experiences while nature journaling in their school garden. Our findings show that nature journaling provides opportunities for students to engage in sustainability literacy by helping them to develop a sense of place in their school garden, inspire environmental stewardship, and practice systems thinking right outside their classrooms.
ContributorsColbert, Julia (Author) / Merritt, Eileen (Contributor, Contributor) / Fischer, Daniel (Contributor, Contributor) / Marston, Sallie (Contributor)
Created2020-04-02
Description
In Senegal, West Africa, soils are a vital resource for livelihoods and food security in smallholder farming communities. Low nitrogen (N) soils pose obvious challenges for crop production but may also, counterintuitively, promote the abundance of agricultural pests like the Senegalese locust, Oedaleus senegalensis. In this study I investigated how the abundance of locusts and grasshoppers are impacted by soil fertility through plant nutrients and how these variables change across land use types. We worked in two rural farming villages in the Kaffrine region of Senegal. Overall, there was little variation in soil properties and an agricultural landscape low in soil organic matter (SOM) and inorganic soil nitrogen. I corroborated that SOM is a significant driver of soil inorganic N, which had a positive relationship to plant N content. Of the management practices we surveyed, fallowing fields was important for soil nutrient restoration and years spent fallow was significantly correlated to inorganic soil N and SOM. O. senegalensis was least abundant in groundnut areas where plant N was highest. Additionally, I found a significant negative correlation between O. senegalensis abundance and plant N, suggesting that plant nutrients are an important driver of their populations. Grasshoppers, excluding O. senegalensis, were more numerous in grazing areas and fallow areas, perhaps due to a higher diversity of ecological niches and host plants. These results connect land use, soil, and vegetation to herbivores and suggest that improving soil fertility could be used as an alternative to pesticides to keep locusts at bay and improve crop yields.
ContributorsWord, Mira (Author) / Hall, Sharon (Contributor) / Robinson, Brian (Contributor) / Manneh, Balanding (Contributor) / Beye, Alioune (Contributor) / Cease, Arianne (Contributor)
Created2018-04-10
Description
The composition of this project can be described as half responsive digital media composition and half social experiment. It is built for the seven screen display of the Decision Theater and utilizes a combination of digital media and creative software tools along with sensor technology to create a media environment that responds to real time physical feedback from participants. The experience uses different desired interactions or “levels” to examine the tension between Shalom Schwartz’ three sets of bipolar cultural values represented in his theory on cultural value orientation. Cultural values are significant drivers of human behavior that change throughout time, however rarely does society name and define these dominant forces outright. This project aims to expose people to consider these forces through interactive discovery and game play. The installation’s primary user input is based on movement and physical interaction and includes visual rewards for desired forms of cooperative engagement. Sustainability science and research often cites education and communication initiatives as the next actionable steps towards a sustainable solution. Art and design are two fields that are uniquely suited for completing this next step, because they both regularly examine, critique, create, and comment as a part of shaping culture and encourage reflexive thinking about our norms and values. The design process included interdisciplinary engagement which is detailed alongside project outcomes, theoretical ties to sustainability, symbolic representations, and observations of user experiences. It may be considered a pilot test of the potential for creative and interactive digital art platforms to allow for the exploration of cultural values and connections to sustainability. This ability to reflect and consider the assumptions that may be engrained within cultural value orientation is fundamentally important to the wider recognition of the cultural shifts needed to create a sustainable future.
ContributorsNixon, Brittany (Author) / Cloutier, Scott (Contributor) / Branch, Boyd (Contributor)
Created2017-03-23