Matching Items (9)
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- All Subjects: STEM
- Creators: Walters, Molina
- Creators: School of Social Transformation
Description
Women’s roles in society have changed significantly throughout the years. The movement to support the rights of women has been ongoing throughout the evolution of society but has been especially prevalent in the last century. The 1960s are when women began to enter the workforce instead of being limited to presuming roles as homemakers. Since that point in time, women have continued to thrive in the workforce and have pursued a larger variety of positions in various fields. Even though the opportunities for women continue to grow, there still seems to be an underrepresentation of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) related fields. The underrepresentation of women pursuing physician and entrepreneurship roles in STEM will be analyzed and the challenges this group of people specifically encounter will be examined. Our first proposal to encourage women to enter STEM focuses on middle-school initiatives and incubator programs. The second proposal, based on commonalities females face within the workforce, is finding a better work/home life balance with the development of new maternity/paternity leave policies. Through these initiatives, we believe that the gender gap in STEM can be bridged.
ContributorsTorres, Julianna M (Co-author) / Willbrandt, Maddie (Co-author) / Martin, Thomas (Thesis director) / Fette, Donald (Committee member) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
This thesis is explaining the background, methods, discussions, and future work of developing a low-budget, variable-length, Arduino-based robotics unit for a 5th-7th grade classroom. The main motivation for the Thesis came from self-motivation and a lack of K-12th grade teachers’ teaching robotics. The end goal of the Thesis would be to teach primary school teachers how to teach robotics in the hopes that it would be taught in their classrooms. There have been many similar robotics or Arduino-based curricula that do not fit the preferred requirement for this thesis but do provide some level of guidance for future development. The method of the Thesis came in four main phases: 1) setup, 2) pre-unit phase, 3) unit phase, and 4) post unit phase. The setup focused primarily on making a timeline and researching what had already been done. The pre-unit phase focused primarily on the development of a new lesson plan along with a new robot design. The unit phase was primarily focused around how the teacher was assisted from a distance. Lastly, the post unit phase was when feedback was received from the teacher and the robots were inventoried to determine if, and what, damage occurred. There are many ways in which the lesson plan and robot design can be improved. Those improvements are the basis for a potential follow-up master’s thesis following the provided timeline.
ContributorsLerner, Jonah Benjamin (Author) / Carberry, Adam (Thesis director) / Walters, Molina (Committee member) / Engineering Programs (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
STEM has increasingly become a buzz word in the world of education. According to Briener, et. al. (2012), the most common perspective of STEM education is teaching the integrated disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics as "one cohesive entity" instead of as separate subjects (p. 5). Prioritizing a STEM focus is a tactic many schools are beginning to adapt and one the United States government is financially backing, contributing significantly to the popularity of the movement (Briener, et.al., 2012). Across the nation, schools are making strides towards incorporating more STEM activities, and many school districts are designating entire schools as STEM schools. These STEM schools distinguish themselves with consistent commitment and attention to aspects of the STEM fields within instruction, including research opportunities for students, 21st Century skills, and a variety of learning environments. Bridges Elementary is one such identified STEM school that exemplifies these criteria, amongst others, setting a precedent for STEM schools to come.
ContributorsFefolt, Molly Lynn (Author) / Walters, Molina (Thesis director) / Oliver, Jill (Committee member) / Division of Teacher Preparation (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
As a Country, the United States is continually falling behind academically when compared to other Nations. Therefore, the purpose of my Honors Thesis is to enlighten others on the importance of incorporating science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) into our classrooms. When students have the chance to partake in hands on, inquiry based lessons, their new knowledge for the subject increases drastically. However, completing STEM lessons in the classroom is a challenging task. For this reason, I have designed a unit's worth of lesson plans, where the unit encompasses science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. These STEM lessons are inquiry-based so that students get an understanding that science is a learning process, not just a group of facts to be memorized. The lessons are written in the 5E format, as this format is based on the way human beings learn. I wanted to make this as easy as possible for teachers to bring inquiry-based STEM learning into the classroom. When students are allowed to take control of their own learning and make discoveries for themselves, they are going to realize the excitement that comes with STEM. This will lead more students to pursue STEM careers, thus helping bring the United States back to a competitive level academically.
ContributorsPiatak, Mary Frances (Author) / Oliver, Jill (Thesis director) / Walters, Molina (Committee member) / Division of Teacher Preparation (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
This study aims to critically analyze how the undergraduate computing world has become highly androcentric in the past decades. This thesis seeks to take a post-structuralist stance to improving the gender disparity that deconstructs many of the logics that emphasize gender differences in computational thinking. Ethnographic, qualitative data will be used and coalesced with critical feminist theory to create a robust solution to closing the gender gap in the undergraduate computing world.
ContributorsRahman, Risa Fayeza (Author) / Navabi, Farideh (Thesis director) / Scott, Kimberly (Committee member) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
This project examined the need for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) activities within a specific modality (centers) and their potential influence on elementary students with a particular emphasis on gender. STEM is an interdisciplinary curriculum that seeks to seamlessly incorporate science, technology, engineering, and math. Due to the increasing demand for STEM professions and proficiency within each aspect, the education system and individual educators require lessons and modalities that motivate learning in each of these areas. Administrators and teachers need creative ways to provide effective STEM implementation. Currently, the education system as a whole lacks creative and motivating material for these four domains. Not only this, but there has been a misunderstanding in regard to what effective STEM implementation entails, as well as a dearth of classroom ready lessons for educators. As a result, this thesis project developed a way to implement STEM through the use of learning centers. Learning centers are defined as designated areas within a classroom that allow easy access to a variety of learning materials. Within these centers are activities that reinforce concepts by using inquiry-based learning. Learning centers are effective in developing additional concepts or providing students with a greater breadth of knowledge on a concept. This thesis project developed three STEM learning center activity boxes and two STEM learning center outlines. Creating effective STEM learning centers and outlines was a multistep process. The first step was to develop a 3E lesson plan for each activity. Once the lesson plans were revised and complete, the creation of the three activity boxes was next. To create the activity boxes, all the required materials and worksheets were gathered and printed. From there, the next step was to implement the learning centers in a classroom to observe the results and propose any modifications. Afterwards, a reflection detailing the results and modifications was made. In the end, the goal of this project was to develop easily implemented STEM activities for my future classroom. Coming up with a creative way to get kids curious and excited about STEM is key in building STEM awareness. Not only did my project create STEM activities I can implement, but it also allowed me the opportunity to share my activities with other teachers. As a result, influencing the spread of STEM amongst future and current teachers.
ContributorsSchott, Nicole Elizabeth (Author) / Walters, Molina (Thesis director) / Oliver, Jill (Committee member) / Division of Teacher Preparation (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Clean and accessible drinking water is a crucial and limited resource. As the world's population grows and demand increases, water resources will become more limited. This project aims to educate students on water resources, drinking water, and how biomimicry can allow society to improve its water usage. The project consists of a ten day unit plan which addresses several water topics such as: the various uses of water, water distribution, where drinking water comes from, the water treatment process, and more. After establishing background knowledge on water and surrounding issues, the students will be challenged to design a water bottle using biomimicry. Biomimicry is looking at nature to draw and inspire solutions to human problems. This unit has been optimized for use by elementary teachers. The ten day unit consists of a lesson summary, objectives, standards, and recommended activities for each day. Of the ten days, three lesson plans were fully developed using the 5E format. The research supporting this project is compiled in the following report.
ContributorsSalik, Rachael (Co-author) / Burke, Aurora (Co-author) / Walters, Molina (Thesis director) / Larson, Kelli L. (Committee member) / Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Programs (Contributor) / Division of Teacher Preparation (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
This report attempts to understand the effects of the many aspects that pertain to a woman’s path into the construction industry and their role in limiting women’s overall representation in the construction industry. More specifically, it aims to understand how upbringing, background, and culture impact women that do pursue careers in the construction industry. This paper presents some of the current and prominent issues being faced by women in in the construction industry, including those in the trades. These issues then contribute to their lack of representation and forceful exit. Additionally, it assesses personal narratives from a localized group of women who are currently employed at a large construction company. This information and these narratives are analyzed jointly to try and gain a better understanding of the current challenges being faced by women in comparison to those reported previously. This joint comparison allows for a deeper understanding of women’s perception of the construction industry as a whole.
ContributorsContreras, Marisa (Author) / Lou, Yingyan (Thesis director) / Parrish, Kristen (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Eng Program (Contributor)
Created2022-05
Description
The research described in this dissertation involved the use of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to characterize II-VI and III-V compound semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) and dilute-nitride alloys grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) and intended for photovoltaic applications. The morphology of CdTe QDs prepared by the post-annealing MBE method were characterized by various microscopy techniques including high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), and high-angle annular-dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy (HAADF-STEM). Extensive observations revealed that the of QD shapes were not well-defined, and the QD size and spatial distribution were not determined by the amount of CdTe deposition. These results indicated that the formation of II-VI QDs using a post-annealing treatment did not follow the conventional growth mechanism for III-V and IV-IV materials. The structural properties of dilute-nitride GaAsNx films grown using plasma-assisted MBE were characterized by TEM and HAADF-STEM. A significant amount of the nitrogen incorporated into the dilute nitride films was found to be interstitial, and that fluctuations in local nitrogen composition also occurred during growth. Post-growth partial relaxation of strain resulted in the formation of {110}-oriented microcracks in the sample with the largest substitutional nitrogen composition. Single- and multi-layered InAs QDs grown on GaAsSb/GaAs composite substrates were investigated using HR-TEM and HAADF-STEM. Correlation between the structural and optoelectronic properties revealed that the GaAsSb barrier layers had played an important role in tuning the energy-band alignments but without affecting the overall structural morphology. However, according to both XRD measurement and electron microscopy the densities of dislocations increased as the number of QD layers built up. An investigation of near-wetting layer-free InAs QDs incorporated with AlAs/GaAs spacer layers was carried out. The microscopy observations revealed that both embedded and non-embedded near-wetting layer-free InAs QDs did not have well-defined shapes unlike conventional InAs QDs. According to AFM analysis and plan-view TEM characterization, the InAs QDs incorporated with spacer layers had smaller dot density and more symmetrical larger sizes with an apparent bimodal size distribution (two distinct families of large and small dots) in comparison with conventional InAs QDs grown without any spacer layer.
ContributorsTang, Dinghao (Author) / Smith, David J. (Thesis advisor) / Crozier, Peter A. (Committee member) / Liu, Jingyue (Committee member) / Mccartney, Martha R (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014