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Examining Attitudinal Shifts Regarding STEM Education in Primary School Students With the Addition of Game Based Assignments
No full textThere are an estimated 3 to 4 million open job positions in STEM fields (Ball, Huang, Cotten, & Rikard, 2018; Chen, 2013), lacking qualified individuals to fill them. Graduation rates for undergraduate degrees in STEM fields average just over 430,000 degrees per academic year (National Center for Education Statistics, 2023), leaving an approximate 2.5 million positions unfilled. This lack of workers and qualified individuals is a concern for the scientific community because a lack of degrees obtained results in a lack of scientists in the field and therefore less opportunity for advancement. To address this issue, the researcher proposes a form of early intervention through attitudinal intervention to impact students while still undergoing significant cognitive development. This study introduces a game-based, coding STEM intervention for fourth and fifth grade students wherein the students will code accurate simulations of magnetic and electromagnetic properties. The experimental group will receive an additional assignment where they will design a video game as a class, centering on the physics principle of electromagnetism, to assess resulting attitudinal changes and implications of this additional assignment. The researcher observed a significant shift in attitude of the experimental group, while the control group had only minor changes. This data demonstrates to the researcher that this is a viable form of intervention to increase student attitude towards STEM and STEM education
The Examination and Evaluation of the Public Foster Care System\u27s Attachment-Based Intervention and Trainings for Foster Parents in the West North Division of the Midwestern States
No full textThe effectiveness of many foster parent training curricula in the United States foster care system is basically unknown (Adkins et al., 2018). Furthermore, there is little to no research that indicate when and how attachment-focused interventions and trainings are being implemented in the United States. Thus, the initial purpose of this study was to examine and evaluate interventions and trainings pertaining to attachment that exist throughout the United States public foster care system. As this study progressed however, the purpose shifted to answering this question: How is the Midwest foster care system training staff and foster parents on issues of attachment and how is the system being held accountable? To gather data on attachment-specific trainings and interventions, the researcher navigated and collected information regarding attachment and trainer qualifications from each state government webpage as well as workers from the public foster care system within each state. Training material was requested from each state; however, the researcher was not able to collect any training material. The researcher analyzed and compared each state and their attachment-based interventions and/or training within the use of two tables and two graphs. The states that utilized the TIPS-MAPPS training were found to follow the recommendations of past research regarding trainer qualifications. Kansas was the only state out of the seven states to have all six components within Table 1 found. This study found that a large portion of the information being sought was unable to be determined. Which directly correlates to the lack of accountability within the public foster care system. Thus, the researcher was able to conclude that public foster care policies should all, at least, have a required attachment-based training for foster parents that should be taught by at least two qualified instructors. Within the foster care system, these trainings materials should be accessible through each state’s government website and easy to open and read through
Using Scorecards to Improve the Performance of Behavior Technicians in an Autism Treatment Clinic
No full textStaff performance is important to the success of businesses and employers often use different methods to increase staff performance and motivate their staff. Performance scorecards, goal setting, and feedback are some methods of increasing staff performance. The goal of the current study was to partially replicate and extend Griffin et al.’s (2019) study utilizing performance scorecards to increase targeted behaviors of employees. In the current study, pre-intervention survey results were used to inform the choice of intervention based on deficiencies. Based on the results of the pre-intervention questionnaire, it was concluded that “task clarification and prompting” and “performance consequences, effort, and competition” were deficiencies. The scorecard intervention was linked to reinforcers from the beginning of the study, and in Phase 2 of the intervention, two contingencies were in place, an individual contingency as well as a group contingency. Graphic feedback was also utilized weekly. Interpretation of the results suggest that this intervention was effective in increasing scorecard scores, especially in Phase 2 when specific contingencies and goals were in place. A reversal and one-month follow-up were conducted, showing that intervention effects were maintained
Conceptualizations of a Flea Market Space
No full textThe ubiquitous presence of flea markets is emblematic of midwestern life. They illustrate common consumption practices and distinct modes of entertainment. This study investigates how vendors within a large, midwestern flea market conceptualize and utilize the space. Additionally, this study reveals the relationship between variant conceptualizations of the market and the merchandise sold by individual vendors. Existing research identifies a tension between social and economic dimensions within flea markets. This study extends prior research by examining the specific social fulfillments vendors garner and identifying other non-economic rationalizations for participation within the market. The results are derived from ethnographic observations and supplemental semi-structured interviews with vendors. Each interview is analyzed according to thematic analysis, supported by contextual field notes. The subsequent analysis explores the diverse non-profit incentives that motivate vendors to continue their work. From the data, five themes emerged that explain variant conceptualizations of the market: (1) Life After Labor, (2) The Primacy of People, (3) Personal Investment in Merchandise, (4) Hoarding, (5) Identity Maintenance. In sum, this study is an exploration of how vendors understand and function within the quasi-economic spaces they participate in
Investigation of the Neuroprotective Effects of Grape Seed Extract on Trigeminal Ganglion Primary Cultures
No full textMigraine and temporomandibular disorders (TMD) are prevalent, debilitating orofacial pain conditions involving peripheral and central sensitization of the trigeminal system. The pro-inflammatory neuropeptide calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), which is synthesized and secreted from trigeminal ganglion neurons, is implicated in the underlying pathology of migraine and TMD. Secreted CGRP modulates the excitability state of neurons and glial cells that express CGRP receptors. Recent studies from our lab in preclinical models of migraine and TMD have provided evidence that dietary supplementation with a proanthocyanin-enriched grape seed extract (GSE) inhibits trigeminal pain signaling. The effect of GSE was blocked by an antagonist of the GABAB receptor, which is expressed on primary trigeminal neurons. My study aimed to investigate the cellular mechanisms by which GSE functions to modulate CGRP expression using primary trigeminal ganglion cultures. The effect of GSE on CGRP secretion from trigeminal neurons was determined by radioimmunoassay. To determine if the effects of GSE involve modulation of CGRP expression or the GABAergic system, changes in the expression of CGRP, GAD 65/67, GABAA receptor, and GABAB1 and GABAB2 receptor subunits were investigated by immunocytochemistry. GSE significantly inhibited the basal level of CGRP secretion but did not alter the neuronal expression of CGRP. GAD 65/67 expression levels in neurons were increased in response to GSE incubation. No change in the neuronal expression of GABAA was observed in response to GSE. GABAB1 expression in neurons, satellite glial cells, and Schwann cells increased in response to GSE. GABAB2 expression was elevated in satellite glia and Schwann cells. My findings support the notion that GSE inhibition of basal CGRP secretion involves increased neuronal GAD 65/67 and GABAB receptor expression. GSE repression of CGRP release in the ganglion coupled with increased GABAB1 and GABAB2 glial cell expression would suppress neuronal excitability and the development of peripheral sensitization. In summary, I propose that GSE mediates neuroprotective effects that support its potential as a nutraceutical therapeutic in the management of migraine and TMD
Agriculture
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Self study (Summer 2022)
External reviewer report (Fall 2022)
Action plan (Spring 2023)https://bearworks.missouristate.edu/program-review/1070/thumbnail.jp
Framing an Insurrection: A Typology of Responses by Evangelical Leaders
No full textAs the January 6 insurrection unfolded, religious leaders who had supported Donald Trump were set on a behavioral process of response or silence. Some religious leaders offered statements that largely condemned the violence, others promoted conspiracy theories about the actors involved, and still others offered a defensive response. This study compiles Twitter data of religious leaders from January 1 through the six-month anniversary on July 6, 2021, and finds that their responses form a typology from the conciliatory to the antagonistic. This typology is a useful framework to assess their immediate and changing responses in the contestation of January 6. The insurrection represents a potential rally event in an ongoing narrative of Christian nationalism, and how religious leaders frame it bears implications for the civic education and engagement of their followers
Missouri Soybean Exports and the Democratizing Market Force
No full textA commonly held assumption of America’s post-Cold War place in the world is that prolonged contact with American capitalism and democracy will lead to the adoption of these systems in all nations that participate in international trade. This paper attempts to verify or disprove that assumption by examining a specific traded commodity between two specific nations, the institutions that support this trade, and the people actively participating in it. The growth of soybean exports from the state of Missouri provides this vehicle for examining the trade history between the United States of America and China, and provides evidence that disproves the assumption that democracy is an inevitable outcome of this trade. Through agricultural exports data provided by the US government, past analyses of US-China trade relations, as well as personal interviews conducted with policy and government advocates, businesspeople experienced in US-China trade, and personal experiences participating in US-China trade, I examine the recent history of US-China agricultural trade relations and why these did not satisfy American foreign policy expectations of creating a democratic China. In order to do this, I have divided the periods after which soybean trade between the United States and China began into three periods: the period of Domestic Self-Sufficiency, the Strategic Period, and the State-Owned Enterprise Period. Along with the relevant historical and economic background information underlying Modernization Theory, I introduce the concept of a force in a capitalistic market that propels a state toward democracy through private exchanges, which I term the Democratizing Market Force (DMF). I show that, contrary to expectations, American individuals participating in soybean exchanges with China since the early 1970s did not act primarily out of ideological interest. Based on this case study, it is also evident that a naturally occurring Democratizing Market Force never manifested itself in the soybean trade between Missouri and China, thus disproving the social scientific theories about the ideologically deterministic nature of such exchanges
Activity Patterns Among Head-Started Juvenile Alligator Snapping Turtles (Macrochelys Temminckii)
No full textIn contrast to many species of aquatic turtle, Alligator Snapping Turtles (Macrochelys temminckii) are putatively nocturnal. Data supporting this assertion are chiefly anecdotal, however, and two recent studies cast doubt on this generalization. Differences in activity patterns may be related to variability in temperature and photoperiod across the species’ range and may be influenced by ontogenetic changes, as well. To assess this, I equipped juvenile Alligator Snapping Turtles spanning a range of different ages with activity data loggers. I used 4-year-old turtles were to measure latitudinal differences in activity which were reared in hatchery ponds spanning the species’ latitudinal range and located in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. I also used 2- and 7-year-olds reared in Oklahoma to investigate ontogenetic changes in activity patterns. Temperature varied predictably with latitude, with warmer water temperatures occurring at lower latitudes. Daily activity patterns defied simple classification, but crepuscular activity was observed more frequently than was predominantly nocturnal or diurnal activity. The effect of latitude on diel patterns was inconsistent, with turtles in Louisiana consistently showing higher levels of activity and occasionally showing differences in daily activity patterns, with peaks of activity occurring where other sites showed lack of activity, from turtles at other sites. Seasonal activity did vary among the three age classes that I tested, with 7-year-old turtles showing higher levels of activity than the other two age classes throughout summer and autumn, and 2-year-old turtles showing higher than expected levels of activity in the winter months. Diel activity did differ some among age classes, but still showed similar periods of high activity around dawn and dusk. My results suggest that the activity patterns of Alligator Snapping Turtles change with latitude and developmental stage and, in combination with previous studies, demonstrate that while nocturnal activity occurs in this species, nocturnality is a poor general descriptor
Examining the Effectiveness of Khan Academy as an Instructional Tool in a Highschool Mathematics Course
No full textWith the many educational resources available to today’s educators, it is critical that educators utilize the best options to maximize instructional time and resources. With the widespread use of Khan Academy, it is worthwhile to examine if its most well-known attribute, its math program, is effective in improving student outcomes. This study examined if the use of Khan Academy in a high school math course would improve participating student scores over the course of a quarter marking period. The researcher anticipated that participating students would experience higher math scores and increased confidence in their ability to handle covered mathematical concepts