Matching Items (2)
Description
The project was designed to increase awareness of sustainability and environmental science in public high school students who would otherwise not be exposed to complex environmental problems. This was done by testing the effectiveness of a simple yet comprehensive curriculum that could satisfy and expand the scope of the Arizona Education Science Standard, Essential HS.E1U3.14, while simultaneously being accessible to (and teachable by) any school instructor. Another goal of the project is to stimulate the minds of students who would otherwise not be introduced to the topics of sustainability and environmental science. Utilizing proven visualization and engagement techniques, the curriculum focuses on five key subjects: waste, water, energy, ecosystems, and environmental challenges. Each of these subjects had an educational presentation, interactive activities, question and answer sessions, and bonus activities. To test the overall effectiveness of the curriculum, students were given a pretest to gauge initial comprehension, and then after the five subjects (or modules) were taught, the same test was distributed again to the students. The aforementioned was done with two groups of students. Posttest results support the project effectiveness. The data indicate that the lessons had a positive impact on the test results, with one class averaging 33.6% better on the posttest than the pretest, indicating that the concepts taught did resonate with the students in a measurable way.
ContributorsAcciardo, Nicholas William (Author) / Saffell, Erinanne (Thesis director) / Whipple, Kelin (Committee member) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / School of Earth and Space Exploration (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
In the last decade, the population of honey bees across the globe has declined sharply leaving scientists and bee keepers to wonder why? Amongst all nations, the United States has seen some of the greatest declines in the last 10 plus years. Without a definite explanation, Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) was coined to explain the sudden and sharp decline of the honey bee colonies that beekeepers were experiencing. Colony collapses have been rising higher compared to expected averages over the years, and during the winter season losses are even more severe than what is normally acceptable. There are some possible explanations pointing towards meteorological variables, diseases, and even pesticide usage. Despite the cause of CCD being unknown, thousands of beekeepers have reported their losses, and even numbers of infected colonies and colonies under certain stressors in the most recent years. Using the data that was reported to The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), as well as weather data collected by The National Centers for Environmental Information (NOAA) and the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), regression analysis was used to investigate honey bee colonies to find relationships between stressors in honey bee colonies and meteorological variables, and colony collapses during the winter months. The regression analysis focused on the winter season, or quarter 4 of the year, which includes the months of October, November, and December. In the model, the response variables was the percentage of colonies lost in quarter 4. Through the model, it was concluded that certain weather thresholds and the percentage increase of colonies under certain stressors were related to colony loss.
ContributorsVasquez, Henry Antony (Author) / Zheng, Yi (Thesis director) / Saffell, Erinanne (Committee member) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05