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Collaboration in Action: An Exploration of Collaborative Practice-Based Learning in Perservice Teacher Coursework
No full textNew teachers report not feeling prepared to effectively collaborate with other professionals and families; however, collaboration is a large component of their day-to-day work. Thus, there is a need for teacher preparation programs to incorporate instructional methods that provide preservice teachers with opportunities to not only learn about the concept of collaboration but also to put those skills into place prior to entering the classroom. One possible answer to this need is to incorporate practice-based learning. Practice-based learning has been shown to effectively increase skill implementation for instructional and behavior management strategies; however, there is a lack of research regarding the effectiveness of practice-based learning when practicing effective collaborative skills.
The aim of this three-paper dissertation is to better understand how practice-based learning is used to support preservice teachers’ understanding of collaborative skills. A secondary aim is to identify the effectiveness of a specific practice approach, simulated practice. Two experimental design studies were conducted to analyze the effectiveness of role play in comparison to a promising technology tool, mixed-reality simulation. A survey study was also conducted to better understand the current state of preservice teacher coursework and to inform future practice.
The results of this dissertation show that both roleplay and mixed-reality simulation can increase preservice teachers’ knowledge of and confidence in implementing effective collaborative skills. These findings inform future practice and provide insight on how effective collaborative skills can be blended with course content via practice-based learning
Burning the Wick At Both Ends: A Three Paper Investigation of Burnout and Educators
Get PDFResearchers in the late 20th century identified the impact of burnout on organizational and individual success. The urgency to address burnout in education has intensified following the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Teacher burnout, characterized by exhaustion, cynicism, and feelings of inadequacy, has been a commonly discussed topic among educators internationally following the COVID-19 pandemic. Recent studies highlight the alarming rates of burnout among educators, emphasizing the need for targeted interventions to support well-being and mitigate educator attrition. This collection of papers addresses three primary aspects of burnout and practice: a literature review of individual and organizational practice, a narrative case study investigating a successful educator, and a mixed-methods study examining the relationship between stress, burnout, and how educators talk about their practice
Self-Poled P(VDF-TRFE) Based Composites for Energy Harvesting and Wearable Sensor Applications
No full textThe growing demand for flexible, low-power, and self-powered wearable electronic systems has accelerated research interest in polymer-based sensors and energy harvesting technologies. Among piezoelectric polymer materials, Poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoro ethylene) [P(VDF-TrFE)], over the years, has garnered significant attention due to its unique piezoelectric properties, high dielectric constant, mechanical flexibility, thermal stability, chemical resistance, biocompatibility and compatibility with scalable fabrication processes. Despite its advantages, conventional P(VDF-TrFE)-based devices often require external poling and face limitations in integration with low-cost, flexible substrates. To overcome these limitations, this research study explores the nanofiller approach, along with facile fabrication processes, and structural design strategies aimed at achieving self-powered sensing and energy harvesting without the need for any complex poling procedures. This dissertation also investigates the enhancement of multifunctional device performance through the development of nanofiller-modified P(VDF-TrFE) composite thin films for hybrid sensing platforms using same P(VDF-TrFE) material .
This dissertation work presents a self-polarized piezoelectric composite thin film achieved through electrostatic interactions between P(VDF-TrFE) and carbon black nanoparticles. This configuration facilitates spontaneous dipole alignment and simplifies device fabrication, offering a promising solution for energy harvesting platforms. This also focuses on a piezoresistive pressure sensor based on the same composite formulation. The piezoresistive composite sensor is optimized for flexibility, repeatability, and high sensitivity under low-pressure conditions, making it suitable for applications in wearable health monitoring, soft robotics, and human-machine interfaces. This study also demonstrates a tri-layer energy harvester that incorporates a PDMS/carbon black interfacial layer. This layer promotes electrostatic dipole alignment in the P(VDF-TrFE) film, enabling enhanced energy conversion efficiency while maintaining mechanical conformity and simplicity of construction. Finally, this dissertation work will discuss the major findings and future direction of this project.
Together, these studies provide a comprehensive approach to advancing the design and function of polymer-based flexible electronics. By leveraging material synergies and interface engineering, this dissertation contributes to the development of scalable, poling-free, and cost-effective sensing systems. The methodologies and insights presented herein offer significant potential for future applications in wearable electronics, environmental monitoring, and self-powered biomedical systems
Influence of Experience and Risk With Natural Hazards on Geoscience Interest and Career Expectations
Get PDFUnderstanding student interest in geoscience is important, as it has the potential to inform departmental decisions such as the selection of classroom examples and marketing strategies to attract new geoscience majors. Recruitment to geoscience is critical to address future social and environmental challenges. Our work may also provide insight into how to approach persistent recruitment problems within departments, such as student enrollment and the lack of diversity within the geosciences. This work involves developing a geoscience interest scale, integrating geospatial and educational data sets related to hazard risk and interest, and an exploring career motivations as related to natural hazard risks and experiences. We found that students’ geoscience interest is related to some natural hazard experiences, students have an interest in the connections between social and environmental systems, and that students in introductory courses may have global, altruistic career goals. Our work aims to further understand ways in which interest develops, particularly in relation to natural hazards, and how that interest impacts students’ choices in their career pursuits. Developing an understanding of what drives student interest is important in supporting our students to achieve their goals through their academic and future careers
Evaluating COVID-19, Influenza, and RSV Vaccine Effectiveness
No full textRespiratory infectious diseases, including COVID-19, influenza, and RSV, pose significant public health challenges, especially during the respiratory virus season. Vaccination remains the primary intervention to mitigate morbidity and mortality associated with these diseases. Vaccine effectiveness (VE) can vary between seasons and populations, necessitating continuous evaluation. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the 2024-2025 COVID-19 mRNA vaccine, 2024-2025 seasonal influenza vaccine, and single-dose RSV vaccine over two seasons.
Utilizing electronic health records (EHRs) from the Prisma Health healthcare system, this dissertation emulated target trials to assess the vaccine effectiveness of each vaccine. Risk set propensity matching was used to get a balanced analytic sample between vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals, and Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate the hazard ratio (HR) of severe outcomes.
The findings demonstrate that all three vaccines provided meaningful protection against requiring Emergency department (ED) or more severe care, highlighting the role of vaccination in reducing the risk of moderate illness requiring medical care across different viral infections. This is particularly important for public health planning, as lowering ED admissions can significantly reduce healthcare burdens during respiratory virus seasons. However, the study also identified differences in protection against hospitalization. The COVID-19 vaccine showed strong effectiveness in preventing severe outcomes, while the RSV vaccine offered moderate protection, though with some uncertainty. In contrast, the influenza vaccine did not show substantial protection against hospitalization, suggesting it may be less effective in preventing severe cases during the 2024–2025 season.
This study highlights the variable effectiveness of vaccines against respiratory viruses, emphasizing the importance of ongoing evaluation to guide public health interventions. The observed differences in vaccine performance against ED visits and hospitalizations suggest that tailored strategies may be needed to optimize protection, especially for influenza, where the vaccine showed limited effectiveness in preventing severe outcomes during the 2024–2025 season
Culturally Relevant Pedagogy in Undergraduate General Chemistry
Get PDFGeneral chemistry is a foundational course for advancement in most undergraduate STEM programs, but unfortunately, many students do not continue in STEM after their experiences in their general chemistry course. Culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) has the potential to increase students’ positive experiences in general chemistry by centering their needs, identities, and backgrounds. However, this pedagogical approach has not been widely studied in the college general chemistry context. As such, my four-paper dissertation broadly aimed to explore both the implementation and outcomes of CRP in undergraduate general chemistry.
The first paper reviewed the literature on culture-based pedagogies across the full undergraduate chemistry curriculum. Research on culture-based pedagogies has grown considerably over the last decade, but a primary finding was that principles of CRP are rarely integrated in the introductory-level general chemistry course due to the course’s breadth, fast pace, large class sizes, and standardized assessments. The second paper explored six college chemistry instructors’ culturally relevant teaching experiences through semi-structured interviews. The instructors represented diverse teaching institutions across the United States. Although most of the instructors were familiar with CRP, few were implementing the full scope of the pedagogical framework (student learning, cultural competence, and critical consciousness) in their teaching practice.
These findings informed a larger concurrent mixed methods study, which proposed the integration of CRP with the three-dimensional learning framework to support a more robust implementation of CRP in college general chemistry. The third paper (qualitative self-study) examined my own experiences navigating the opportunities and challenges of implementing CRP in a large, coordinated general chemistry lecture course. Analysis of my reflective journal, instructional artifacts, and student feedback highlighted the importance of student voice, active learning strategies, and ongoing reflection in the effective adoption of CRP.
The fourth paper (quantitative survey) explored the relationship between CRP and students’ maintained situational interest in chemistry. First-semester general chemistry students (n=844) completed the Measure of Chemistry Interest survey as well as an adapted version of the Student Measures of Culturally Responsive Teaching Survey (SMCRT). Findings established the modified SMCRT as a valid and reliable tool for measuring student outcomes associated with CRP in the college chemistry context and suggest that CRP may support students’ maintained interest in chemistry.
Together, these four papers highlight both the challenges of integrating CRP in large general chemistry courses and its potential for fostering more positive, engaging, and relevant student learning experiences. Despite the complexities of implementing CRP in undergraduate general chemistry, it is imperative that instructors continue to adopt the pedagogical approach in support of increasing students\u27 positive experiences and interest in the gateway STEM course
Parent Perception of Preschool Programs: Improving Parent Knowledge of Preschool Programs Through Targeted Recruitment
Get PDFParent knowledge of preschool enrollment processes and the benefit of early education has been an issue at Mountain Elementary. Early childhood learning opportunities are a predictor of later academic success, and it is important that parents know about the available opportunities for early learning in public schools.
The purpose of this intervention is to create a targeted parent outreach program to recruit students to the four-year-old kindergarten programs at Mountain Elementary. This study attempts to answer whether targeted outreach increases enrollment numbers at Mountain Elementary.
After conducting two parent outreach events and creating two video-based social media posts, I analyzed whether any significant shifts occurred with enrollment. The outreach events did not create any notable change in enrollment. The media outreach plan offered valuable insights into the perception of Mountain Elementary and the school district. The PDSA cycle gave me the opportunity to engage with the community and reflect on how social media and in person events work together to create and maintain an image of Mountain Elementary with the community
Bilevel Network Interdiction Models for Human Trafficking Disruption
No full textIn this dissertation, we study a series of bilevel network interdiction problems motivated by applications in human trafficking disruption. First, we consider a bilevel network interdiction problem where the follower aims to maximize the amount of flow from the source node to the sink node and the leader aims to minimize the number of arcs from a critical set that have positive flow on them in the solution obtained by the follower. This problem models the situation where an anti-trafficking agent wants to minimize the number of people affected by the trafficking operations whereas the trafficker wants to maximize trafficking revenue. We consider both the optimistic and pessimistic variants of this bilevel optimization problem and develop their respective single-level reformulations. Next, we study three bi-objective bilevel network interdiction models involving a coalition of anti-trafficking agents, who aim to optimize key metrics by removing individuals from a sex trafficking network, and traffickers, who seek to maximize their trafficking revenue. Then, we investigate a robust bilevel network interdiction problem where the follower, who operates the network, solves a minimum cost flow problem, and the leader, who interdicts the network, minimizes the total flow on arcs from a special set in the solution obtained by the follower. The problem includes uncertainty as the leader does not know the follower’s operational cost but only knows that it belongs to an uncertainty set. For each problem, we present solution methods and conduct extensive computational experiments to draw computational and domain-specific insights
Progress Towards Uranium Isotope Ratio Measurements Directly from Cotton Swipes with the Liquid Sampling – Atmospheric Pressure Glow Discharge (LS-APGD) Ionization Source
Get PDFThe liquid sampling – atmospheric pressure glow discharge (LS-APGD) ionization source is a novel microplasma ionization source capable of ionizing a diverse set of both inorganic and organic chemical species including, ionic metal constituents as well as ligated metallic species, polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), halogens, proteins, and even per/poly fluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS). The ability to generate ions from diverse chemical species, known as combined atomic and molecular (CAM) ionization, is not found with traditional ionization sources. In addition, the LS-APGD is capable of coupling with mass spectrometer platforms typically reserved for “organic” mass spectrometry, such as the high-resolution Orbitrap mass spectrometer platform, without the high gas flow, solution flow and power requirements of typical inorganic ion sources (i.e., inductively coupled plasma). The LS-APGD and the Orbitrap mass spectrometer coupling represent a high-resolution mass spectrometric platform that can leverage the high mass resolution to overcome isobaric interferences in inorganic analysis. Traditionally, isobaric interference requires prior separations to remove the isobaric interferent before the analysis of the analyte of interest. With the LS-APGD / Orbitrap coupling offering a baseline resolution of 70,000 (at m/z 200), many isobaric interferences can be separated in the mass spectrum without resorting to costly, time-consuming sample manipulations prior to measurement. In addition, by using external data acquisition systems such as the Spectroswiss FTMS Booster, the mass resolution can be increased to ~1,000,000, potentially eliminating most isobaric interferents. The use of high mass resolution has numerous benefits to the nuclear forensics and safeguarding communities, including significant time savings by reducing complex separations. In addition, by eliminating the need for separations, measurements can be taken directly from environmental swipes using microextractions without impact from other species that may be present on the swipe surface. Using microextractions to analyze the swipe surface directly will result in more representative uranium isotope ratio measurements since they are not biased by the uranium bound in the cotton swipe, which contributes to the traditional bulk digestion measurement. In addition, using microextractions allows for spatial resolution across the swipe surface, which allows for more understanding of the uranium enrichment levels and activities within the investigated facility.
The works presented in this document are the first steps towards demonstrating the capabilities of the LS-APGD / Orbitrap platform for routine analysis of environmental swipes. Studies were conducted using moving average data processing methodologies to improve uranium isotope ratio measurements for transient signals. In addition, an uncertainty budget was generated for uranium isotope ratio measurements, presenting each measurand\u27s individual contribution to total measurement uncertainty. The LS-APGD / Orbitrap coupling capabilities were also expanded to other actinides by the measurement of plutonium. Finally, the use of high mass resolution was used to measure uranium isotope ratios in the presence of high concentrations of Pb, Pt, Ta, and W; these elements form polyatomic isobaric interference that hampers uranium isotope ratio measurements with ICP-MS, thus demonstrating the power of interference-free isotope ratio measurements using mass resolution alone. These experiments mark essential milestones towards using microextraction / LS-APGD /Orbitrap for isotope ratio determinations directly from environmental swipes for the nuclear forensics and safeguarding communities
The Role of Free-Standing Birth Center Physical Environments in supporting Culturally Sensitive Care Experiences and Maternal Health Outcomes for Historically Underrepresented Communities
No full textIn the U.S., thousands of birthing persons (BPs) experience unanticipated complications during labor and childbirth resulting in severe morbidity and mortality each year. However, BPs from racially and ethnically diverse historically underrepresented communities (HUCs) are disproportionately affected by these outcomes. Existing research suggests that a culturally sensitive maternal care approach can help overcome these disparities by improving provider-patient trust, treatment adherence, experience of care, and maternal health outcomes. The physical environment of maternal care settings also affects childbirth experiences and maternal care outcomes. However, few studies explore how the physical environment supports the culturally sensitive maternal care experiences of BPs from HUCs. This mixed methods study uses surveys, interviews, and case study analysis to explore how the physical environment of community-based midwifery care settings, such as free-standing birth centers (FSBCs), supports the culturally sensitive maternal care experiences and outcomes for BPs with low-to-moderate risk pregnancies from HUCs. The main objective of this study is to develop evidence-based design guidelines to improve culturally sensitive maternal care experiences for BPs from HUCs. The resulting evidence-based design guidelines focus on (1) BPs’ autonomy, (2) social support, (3) comfort, (4) proximity and access to key design elements and features, (5) cultural significance in elements of positive distraction, (6) spaces reflecting HUCs’ maternal care needs, (7) flexibility and adaptability of spaces, (8) physical, psychological, and cultural safety, (9) elements that help BPs from HUCs feel welcome and represented, (10) BPs’ privacy needs, (11) familiarity of maternal care environments, (12) functionality and aesthetics of maternal care spaces, and (13) visibility between care and support spaces. Understanding these guidelines and their implementation strategies can help design culturally appropriate facilities to improve the maternal care experiences and outcomes from BPs from HUCs and reduce the prevailing maternal health disparities