The LAIR at East Texas A&M
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Reinventing Technology Professional Development: A Case Study Examining Perspectives of Veteran Secondary Teachers
No full textAs a dynamic system, the educational profession produces continued and inevitable change. The permeation of technology resources for learning presents a new instructional reality for veteran educators in the modern classroom environment. Educational stakeholders anticipate that within 21st-century classrooms, these veteran educators regularly utilize and incorporate technology resources as an integral part of designed learning opportunities for students. Research indicates that the disparity in technology integration practices for positive student learning outcomes in veteran teachers’ classrooms is becoming more and more evident (Hixon & Buckenmeyer, 2009; Mama & Hennessey, 2013; Schols, 2012;). Efforts to design and provide continued professional learning for veteran educators that merges curricular standards and stakeholder expectations presents an important challenge. How can technology professional development be designed to reinforce the use of technology resources for effective instructional purposes while providing the skills and pedagogical training for veteran educators to employ these tools with fidelity? Technology professional development intended to address this challenge questions the designer to not only consider a variety of technology tools to confront the disparity that exists, but also employ relevant methods and strategies to help veteran teachers refine their technology skills while empowering their personal pedagogical repertoire for effective use of tools within their instructional preparation. Current educational research suggests that genuine professional learning requires components of critical inquiry and reasoning to implement technology resources within the infrastructure of curricular mandates and frameworks (American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, 2008; Balan, Patterson-Manko, & Phillips, 2011; Mishra & Koehler, 2006; Smolin & Lawless, 2003, 2011; Mama & Hennessey, 2013). However, an examination of professional learning opportunities focused on technology integration reveals an undifferentiated approach in facilitating teacher immersion with available technology resources for learning and a lack of demonstrated progress for their use in beneficial student learning outcomes. Therefore, the purpose of this qualitative action-research bounded case study is to utilize a cyclical and sustainable model I designed to investigate veteran teachers’ perspectives toward professional development structures designed to promote their integration of technology resources within their instructional practice (Creswell, 2007, 2014; Merriam & Tisdell, 2016; Shagoury & Power, 1999; Smith, 1978; Stake, 1995, 2011; Yin, 2012, 2014)
Analyzing Effects of the Nuclear Equation of State on Properties of Neutron Stars
No full textNeutron stars are very dense objects composed of nuclear matter (neutrons, protons, mesons, and electrons), and are among the most mysterious objects in the universe. Neutron stars have a lot more neutrons than protons. The nuclear equation of state (EOS) is a relationship linking the pressure, neutron/proton ratio/asymmetry and density of nuclear matter inside neutron stars. The EOS thus has a symmetry energy term describing the energy associated with the neutron/proton ratio/asymmetry in neutron stars. It is a necessary input for solving numerically the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkov (TOV) equation governing the structure of neutron stars. To describe the EOS, one must know the L, Ksym, and Jsym, which are the slope, curvature, and skewness parameters of the symmetry energy. These parameters affect the mass, radius, and tidal deformability of neutron stars, which in turn tells us more about the underlying EOS of nuclear matter. This project focuses on investigating effects of various parameters of EOSs (L, Ksym, Jsym, etc.) that impact the properties of neutron stars (mass, radius, and tidal deformability). By comparing calculations and using these EOSs with data from recent observations of x-ray satellites and/or gravitational wave detectors, we have found that the crust-core transition density is dependent upon the L, Ksym, and Jsym as well as the Ksym- L correlations. Furthermore, we have determined that Ksym impacted the crust-core transition the most and have shown that Jsym barely impacts the parameters of neutron stars
Perceptions of Nutrition and Academic Performance in College Freshmen: A Phenomenological Qualitative Study
No full textNutrition impacts students’ academic performance in the college setting. Researchers have linked being classified as obese or overweight during childhood and adolescent years, according to the body mass index chart, to substandard performance in their academic careers. The purpose of this study was to investigate how traditional, 1st-year college students perceived poor nutritional habits to be formed and how those habits have impacted their academic performance. The qualitative research method used to complete this research study was phenomenology. For this study, I interviewed 8 traditional college students who have recently completed their freshman year of college about their nutrition choices and how they perceived their nutrition to impact their academic performance
Establishing Eastern Gamagrass (Tripsacum Dactyloides L.) via Transplantation into Texas Blackland Prairie Soils
No full textEastern Gamagrass (Tripsacum dactyloides) is a warm-season, perennial bunch grass, native from northeastern United States as far south as Bolivia and Paraguay. Eastern Gamagrass has excellent forage characteristics but strong seed dormancy has limited its use as a forage crop. Rapid, uniform establishment of a stand is possibly the most critical aspect of stand establishment. Eastern Gamagrass was successfully transplanted in Virginia. This study looked for differences in transplantation success between three registered cultivars of Eastern Gamagrass (“Pete”, “Iuka”, and “Medina”) to assess whether transplanting is a viable method to establish stands or enhance existing stands in the Blackland Prairie soils of Texas. Locations were harvested the following year to compare cultivars based on dry matter production per acre. Seed was germinated in a laboratory, transplanted into tree cones, and grown in a greenhouse. After 8 to 12 weeks, the seedlings were transplanted into a randomized complete block design at two different locations within the Blackland Prairie (Commerce, TX and Greenville, TX). Plant survival was assessed on a weekly basis for four weeks by counting the number of live plants per plot. Eastern Gamagrass survival rate by week averaged across varieties in Commerce, TX was significantly better (P =.0084) from Greenville, TX. “Medina” survival rate was significantly better (P = .0078) from “Pete” and “Iuka” when averaged across location and weeks. At Commerce, there were no differences between cultivars, harvest date or cultivars by harvest date for kilograms of dry matter per hectare. At Greenville, there were no differences between cultivars for kilograms of dry matter per hectare. Commerce and Greenville yields were not compared. May 2, 2020 harvest was significantly different from July 24, 2020 harvest at for crude protein (P = \u3c.0001), acid detergent fiber (P = .0417), and neutral detergent fiber (P = .0052)
Ted Alley, Oral History Index
No full textThis is an index of an oral history interview with Ted Alley. It was conducted on January 28, 2020. The interviewer is Marcia Lair.
This interview focuses on Ted Alley’s life in Delta County, Texas, his service in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, and his career as a mortician operating the Delta Funeral Home.
Ted Alley was born to Wendell and Doris Lee Toon Alley on January 28, 1948. Alley recalls memories of attending schools in Delta County, Texas, including typing class and playing the knife game mumblety-peg.
In 1967, after his graduation from high school, Alley joined the Army. He went to Fort Polk, Louisiana for basic training and then to Fort Rucker, Alabama where he trained as a helicopter mechanic. Alley served in Vietnam for one year where he flew on a “smoke ship” helicopter. Years later, Alley reunited with the pilot and door gunner to visit the helicopter on display at a New York American Legion Post. When Alley returned home from Vietnam, he married Lyn Newman.
In 1970, following his discharge from the Army, Alley began attending East Texas State University. After Lyn’s father, owner of the Delta Funeral Home, passed away, Alley began working part time at the funeral home. He completed a program at the Dallas Institute of Funeral Services and eventually obtained his morticians license. He bought the Delta Funeral Home from Lyn’s mother in 1979 and provided funeral services to the community for forty-two years.https://lair.etamu.edu/scua-oral-history-all/1048/thumbnail.jp
Betty Holman Hoskison, Oral History
No full textThis is a video recording of an oral history interview with Betty Holman Hoskison. It was conducted on February 25, 2020. The interviewer is Louise Skinner. The videographer is Sandy Bond.
This interview focuses on Betty Holman Hoskison’s memories of growing up in Delta County, Texas and her recollections of how a disastrous car accident affected her family’s life.
Betty Holman Hoskison was born to Jake and Myrtle Rogers Holman in 1934. She grew up in Clarendon and Klondike, Texas. Hoskison recalls memories of many of the families and businesses in the area. She began dating Rayford Hoskison when she was 17 and the couple was married in 1951. They moved between Dallas, Texas and Delta County often in order to find employment.
The family, including Hoskison’s parents, went on a road trip in 1960. A catastrophic car wreck killed Hoskison’s mother and injured all the members of the family. Multiple members of the family were unable to work for a period of time as a result of their injuries.
Ultimately, Hoskison and her family settled in Delta County. Hoskison worked at Walmart for more than seventeen years. At age seventy, Hoskison achieved her GED. In addition, Hoskison is a quilter and shares stories about making her first quilts.https://lair.etamu.edu/scua-oral-history-all/1053/thumbnail.jp
Evaluating Contamination and Remediation at a Northeast Texas Hi-Yield Chemical Site, 1960- 1996
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Facilitating a Path to New Teacher Certification Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic: Unpacking States’ Unchanged-New Flex” Guidelines
No full textIn the United States, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, schools and testing centers were forced to close on-site locations. With teacher candidates no longer able to complete clinical teaching or take certification exams in person, states created new recommendations for facilitating a pathway to teacher certification. Specifically, 19 states provided guidelines that allowed educator preparation programs (EPPs) flexibility in how teacher candidates completed existing certification requirements. By analyzing summaries of these states’ guidelines, themes of time, technology, flexibility/nonflexibility, and EPPs emerged. Using a comprehensive lens, this brief examines the role and implications of each of these themes in teacher certification during these unprecedented times
Predicting Science Literacy: A Multiple Regression Model of Factors That Influence Science Literacy
No full textAcademic scholarship has focused on the development of an operational definition (Bybee, 1997; Laugksch, 2000; Miller, 1998), classification system (Roberts, 2007), or intervention (Allchin, Andersen, & Nielsen, 2014) of science literacy. The present study investigated the relationship between science literacy, as measured by the Test of Science Literacy Skills, and predictive factors commonly collected in secondary schools. This quantitative correlation study examined the relationship between variables commonly collected by schools with science literacy performance to quantify the impact of and target intervention at variables most likely to impact science literacy. Predictive factors included Gender, Ethnicity, Economic Need, English Proficiency, Number of Science Courses Completed, Biology Content Knowledge, English Language Arts Content Knowledge, Algebra Content Knowledge, and Attitude Toward Science. Participants were selected through convenience sampling from a single suburban high school in the southwestern United States. A hierarchal, multiple regression model was developed using the Theory of Reasoned Action and Planned Behavior framework (Fishbein & Ajzen, 2010). The model predicted science literacy based on distal, opportunity, propensity, and demographic factors. A significant regression equation was found. Results suggest that students’ science literacy scores can increase by increasing the number of science courses complete, facilitating interventions via English Language Arts, and supporting students’ development of a positive attitude toward science