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Student Engagement in Science and User-Centered Engineering: Educational Designs with Young Adolescents in an Invention Camp and Classroom Unit
No full textThesis advisor: G. Michael "Mike" BarnettStudent engagement is a central concept for educational practitioners, researchers, and evaluators, both as its own outcome and as connected with motivation, achievement, attainment, careers, and civic participation. In science and engineering education, young adolescence is a period when many students become disaffected or disengaged, especially when youths’ racial and ethnic, cultural and linguistic, and gender identities are not sustained through educational designs and implementations. Since a reemergence in the 1980’s, scholarship has approached student engagement in either individualistic or collectivist ways, with more hybrid and holistic models only recently emerging. In particular, more work is needed to explore whether social engagement is its own distinct dimension, or whether it intersects with dimensions like affective, behavioral, and cognitive engagement. This three-paper dissertation takes a philosophical lens of dialectical pluralism to interrelate multiple worldviews when examining student engagement, during an in-school-time invention project and an out-of-school-time invention camp. Adopting the methodology of a cultural psychology approach to design-based research, the study first considers the project and camp separately, then culminates in a cross-case comparison of the two. All papers are situated in “Mills City Public Schools”, a semi-urban district in the Northeast US. The first paper considers the second iteration of an insulating-device project with grade seven students. The second paper explores the second annual “Winter Vacation Camp” with grades six-eight campers inventing electronic doors. The third paper compares those two interventions, in a manner targeted towards educational practitioners. In sum, the paper-set provides qualitative, quantitative, and integrated evidence that a six-dimensional model is conceptually warranted and practically useful, through examples at the individual, small-group, and classroom/camp levels. Further, it provides educational design considerations for both in- and out-of-school time learning environments. The new model and design considerations support planning and analysis for more equitable engagement of youth, especially those with identities historically minoritized in science and engineering education.Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2022.Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education.Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction
The Role of Social Media as a Gender Socialization Agent for Cisgender College Students
Get PDFThesis advisor: Stephen PfohlThis research project looks at components of gender socialization for cisgender college students. Expanding on pre-existing research, I consider traditional agents of socialization and argue that social media should be newly considered as a primary agent of socialization. To do this, I interviewed 12 cisgender college students (aged 19-23). The traditional routes of socialization and social media were both found to be important gender socialization factors. Interestingly, social media was found to have two contradicting functions. It served to counter traditional ideas of gender through its role providing education and exposure to diverse identities. At the same time, though, participants also reported normative ideas on the types of posts that different genders were expected to publish, feeling pressure to meet these standards. As social media only continues to become more pervasive, this provides an important avenue for research on the role that it has played in a population that has been on these websites for nearly a decade.Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2022.Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: Departmental Honors.Discipline: Sociology
Rethinking Welfare Metrics: Beyond Aggregative and Composite Indicators to a Dashboard Approach
Get PDFThesis advisor: Joseph QuinnThesis advisor: Christopher BergerIn Economics, the concept of welfare, and specifically maximizing welfare, has been an important area of study since the inception of the field. Historically economists have used single indicators, like Gross Domestic Product (GDP), or Composite Indicators, like the Human Development Index (HDI), both to compare welfare across societies and understand the welfare level within one society. This paper presents a dashboard approach to welfare as an alternative and shows how a collection of indicators listed together gives the best picture of the welfare of a society. This project considers both the philosophical and theoretical background necessary for measuring welfare as well as the economic data to argue for this dashboard approach.Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2022.Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: Departmental Honors.Discipline: Economics
Critical Consciousness and Educational Leadership: School Leadership for Critical Consciousness in Students
Get PDFThesis advisor: Rebecca LowenhauptDiscussions in education today should focus on how schools can develop students who are critically thinking, ethical, and active citizens who contribute to creating a more just society. One way to frame the ability to think critically and act socially is what Freire (1993) described as conscientização, or critical consciousness. School leaders should work to cultivate communities that develop the critical consciousness of students. This case study of a public school district in the Northeastern United States explores the leadership practices that foster the development of critical consciousness in students. Critical consciousness is conceptualized in this study as the ability to analyze systems of oppression, have agency in one’s ability to make change, and take action for social change against injustice. Data sources include13 interviews with administrators, teachers, and students, as well as a document review. Findings indicate that the strategies and practices that leaders use to support students’ critical consciousness can be categorized into the overarching groups of value and vision setting, attending to student voice, and instructional leadership that provides a critical perspective. These categories are not mutually exclusive or exhaustive. Leadership for critical consciousness was also found to be particularly important during times of crisis related to injustice. Recommendations for leaders include building schools with a coherent and explicit vision around critical consciousness, exercising instructional leadership to support courses, curriculum, and professional development that promote critical consciousness, institutionalizing structures that amplify the voice of students, and preparing for challenges and crises that center around issues of justice.Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2022.Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education.Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education
Schopenhauer and the Question about the Immortality of the Self in Idealism:
Get PDFThesis advisor: Marius StanThis dissertation is about the immortality of the self and whether from a transcendental idealist perspective, one could sustain this notion based on theoretical grounds. It is well known that Kant closed this door in the Critique, and this is the position that Kantian scholars defend. But has Kant set up a series of dogmatic premises that presuppose that we accept conclusions for which Kant offers no argument? Thus, this dissertation aims at a minimal ontology of the human self within an idealist framework. To do this, I turn to Schopenhauer’s ‘perfected system of criticism.’ Without abandoning idealism, Schopenhauer introduces an objective perspective that suggests a more ontological robust understanding of the self. Although Schopenhauer’s position can be interpreted in a way favorable to theoretical arguments for the immortality of the self, his commitment to an identity of brain/mind, and the consequences that he draws from this, obscures some of his most important contributions. To tackle this issue and others, I analyze the Plotinian perspective, a philosophical position that blends epistemology and ontology which I think solidifies my interpretation of Schopenhauer and breaks the supposed identity between brain/mind. Thus, theoretical arguments for the immortality of the self are possible when idealism is an account in which epistemology and ontology intermingle. Specifically, an argument is supported by a premise that is accepted by both Plotinus and Schopenhauer, namely, that of the existence of Ideas, real objects external to the human mind which are responsible for the existence of sensible individuals. These ideas are in themselves unified by a higher principle which Plotinus names the One and Schopenhauer the Thing in Itself. In absolute terms, this ultimate reality is the root of our true self, but we are not identical to it because in human beings there is multiplicity which manifests itself in us by how we cognize things as external to ourselves (understanding) and how we desire things that we do not find within us (will).
Chapter 1 opens with a discussion about the ‘true self’ according to Kant. Although this true self could be identified with the pure apperception of the Transcendental Deduction given that Kant argues that it is the source of unity of experience, after examining the different degrees of unity in representations, I conclude that the unifying principle of all sensible experience and the subject itself exist in a non-sensible world. The intelligible character of the Third Antinomy could be that principle, but I reject this in favor of the thing in itself. Nevertheless, the intelligible character’s residence as an individual in the non-sensible world hints at the construction of theoretical arguments for the immortality of the true self.
Chapter 2 argues that Schopenhauer also rejects the role assigned to the pure apperception: only the thing in itself is the original source of unity. Schopenhauer accepts the Kantian intelligible character with clear indications that it is an ontologically real entity. The ontological import of the intelligible character reinforces its role in seeking a theoretical argument for the immortality of our true self. I propose that a pathway to a theoretical argument in favor of the immortality of the true self is also suggested in Schopenhauer’s doctrine of Ideas. The subject of cognition, through the alteration of its cognitive faculties in aesthetic contemplation, discovers itself as the correlate of a Pure Subject of Cognition whose objects are Pure Objects or, as Schopenhauer calls them, Ideas. In this alteration, the empirical subject of cognition is ‘elevated’ to the intuitive grasping of Ideas as a Pure Subject. Among Ideas, I argue that Schopenhauer points to something that can be interpreted as an idea of individual. Given the immortal nature of Ideas, we must also be immortal. Chapter 3 focuses on the question about immortality in both Kant and Schopenhauer. On the one hand, I show that Kant has not abandoned the notion of the human soul or its immortality. Instead, he claims to have clarified the origin of all disputes regarding the human soul while laying out the rules for guarding ourselves against future errors. On the other hand, Schopenhauer has no problem accepting that immortality is a fact of common sense, but he rejects that the individual survives. He bases this conclusion on his conviction that individuality emerges with the intellect, while the intellect only emerges with the brain. The subjection of the intellect to the brain is one of the most salient features of Schopenhauerian psychology. However, I propose that Schopenhauer’s objective perspective, a perspective whose implications are hardly at the center of attention in Schopenhauer’s studies, cannot be used to its full potential – as for example to defend that the individual human being is immortal too – unless this identification of intellect and brain is abandoned. To find arguments that can be used to differentiate the mind from the brain, I propose the study of Plotinus.
Chapter 4 aims to provide a framework to illuminate the possibilities built into Schopenhauer’s objective perspective. The survey of Plotinus’ philosophy of self and immortality in this chapter suggests interesting starting points for a new interpretation of some of Schopenhauer’s insights. An important consequence of this study is the formulation of arguments to show that the mind or intellect cannot be characterized as identical to the brain. After studying Plotinus, a fact becomes clear, namely, that Schopenhauer, although critical of the concept ‘soul’, does not discard its content; instead, he finds ample use of it for his own unique purposes.
Chapter 5 concludes that the discussion of Kant’s and Schopenhauer’s psychology reveals the flaw in their respective projects, namely, their demand that cognition of the human soul should mirror cognition of sensible objects. This is a conclusion that is also revealed by the study of Plotinus. However, I reaffirm my position that Schopenhauer’s idealism is a step forward in the right direction. I discuss four ‘great themes’ – born from the encounter between Schopenhauer and Plotinus – which provide the general context that helps me propose how the theoretical argument for the immortality of the true self works in transcendental idealism. I argue that these four great themes, areas where ontology and epistemology intersect, refocus not just Schopenhauer’s philosophy by helping us to become aware of the nonverbalized implications of his metaphysics, it even suggests that Plotinus’ metaphysics could benefit from the Schopenhauerian reflection.Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2022.Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: Philosophy
Fundamental Studies and Applications of Electrolyte/Electrode Interfaces:
No full textThesis advisor: Dunwei WangThesis advisor: Matthias WaegeleLithium metal anode (LMA) holds great promise as alternative anode material for next-generation high energy density batteries. Efficiency and safety are two most critical concerns that impede practical application of LMA due to unstable interface between the electrode and the electrolyte. Solid electrolyte interphase (SEI), a passivation layer formed from electrolyte decompositions on the LMA surface, dictates the chemical and mechanical evolution of the electrode/electrolyte interface, and therefore directly affect the cycle life of lithium metal batteries. Although significant progress has been achieved to improve battery performance, a thorough understanding of SEI functions and properties is still inadequate. Both compositional and structural complexity severely hinder the efforts to uncover the SEI formation and evolution mechanism. To achieve stable lithium plating and stripping over cycling, it is necessary to lay a foundation of composition-structure-property relationships that can guide rational design of ideal SEI.First, to solve the safety and efficiency issues simultaneously, a facile and effective way to enable LMA in nonflammable electrolyte was identified by simply introducing oxygen into the battery. Reversible lithium plating and stripping was realized in a flame retardant triethyl phosphate solvent otherwise incompatible to LMA. A unique electrochemically induced electrolyte decomposition pathway was proposed and studied computationally and experimentally. The SEI formation mechanism enriches the knowledge of on the complex reactions toward an ideal SEI. The operation of Li-O2 batteries and Li-ion batteries were also demonstrated in a nonflammable phosphate electrolyte system.
To understand the unique role of different SEI compositions, in the second part of this thesis, we designed and synthesized two-component artificial SEI model structures for comparison study. Our central hypothesis is that tailoring LiF and Li3PO4 compositions in the SEI layer can achieve a balanced and improved electrode/electrolyte stability. A magnetron sputtering method was developed to prepare LiF and Li3PO4 mixture films on Cu substrate. Preliminary results from battery cycling tests shows that mixture SEI structure is correlated to improved Coulumbic efficiency. Next, to understand detailed Li+ ion transport properties of the SEI. We presented an outline the current understanding of Li+ ion transport mechanisms and their dependence on the SEI. We also built on this fundamental knowledge to discuss practical effects in experimental systems. Lastly, we shared our perspectives on critical remaining questions in this field.
In parallel to study on electrochemical energy system, developing electrochemical methods for integrated catalysis constitutes another part of thesis. We demonstrated that reactivity of an immobilized iron catalyst could be altered by application of an electrochemical potential to a surface to enable polymerization of different classes of monomers. A method was developed to pattern functional surfaces by using electrochemical potential to activate and deactivate polymerization reactions. The orthogonal reactivity of switchable polymerization catalysts was utilized to create patterned surfaces functionalized with two different polymers initiated from mixtures of monomers.Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2022.Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: Chemistry
Cognitive, Socioemotional, and Neural Mechanisms Associated with Age-Related Differences in First and Third Person Moral Judgments:
No full textThesis advisor: Elizabeth A. KensingerThesis advisor: Hiram BrownellThe present research used a combination of resting-state functional connectivity and behavioral testing within and beyond the laboratory to examine how age is associated with potential cognitive and socioemotional motivational mechanisms in relation to first-person moral decision-making and third person moral judgments. Part I investigated whether the gray matter structure and resting-state functional connectivity of the Default Mode Network were similarly related to working memory capacity and sacrificial moral decision-making in younger and older adults. Results indicated that better working memory performance was positively associated with Default Mode Network segregation in both groups, as marked by increased within-network resting-state functional connectivity, and decreased between-network connectivity. Critically, reduced bias to endorse the utilitarian option during sacrificial dilemmas involving incidental harm was associated with increased segregation of the Default Mode Network in younger adults. Similar behavioral performance in older adults, however, was associated with reduced segregation of the Default Mode Network via increased coupling with Salience Network regions. These findings suggest that Default Mode Network functional integrity may be differentially associated with age-related changes in working memory capacity and sacrificial moral decision-making.
Part II investigated whether age differences in utilitarian moral decision-making extend beyond the laboratory in non-sacrificial settings during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results indicated that older age and negative affect were associated with the purchase of extra amounts of hard to find good and medical supplies. Negative memory was additionally associated with the purchase of hard to find goods. Advancing age was also associated with reported distribution of these goods to family members, suggesting that these behaviors may have actually resulted in more utilitarian outcomes than when younger adults reported purchasing these goods. These findings suggest that advancing age may be associated with the engagement in utilitarian moral decision-making in real-world settings more than sacrificial moral decision-making literature might suggest. These results also highlight the link between emotional memory and moral decision-making in real-world settings.
Part III sought to determine whether younger adults display memory biases for mixed-valence moral scenarios about others’ actions in a similar manner to the negativity biases demonstrated in the emotional memory literature. It also sought to determine whether episodic memory content could be used to predict subsequent judgments about agents’ actions. Indeed participants demonstrated an immoral memory bias for motivational content that they learned about agents’ actions. Additionally, memory for motivational content appeared to predict subsequent judgments of agents’ actions. These findings suggest that the information recalled from episodic memory stores may be important for informing subsequent moral judgments about agents’ actions. These immoral memory biases observed in younger adults highlight important avenues for future research to consider when examining age-related motivational shifts in emotional memory and moral judgment.
The findings of the present work highlight the complex interplay of cognitive and socioemotional motivational mechanisms associated with age-related effects on first-person moral decision-making and third-person moral judgments. In the context of the broader literature, the findings indirectly point to the involvement of age-related motivational mechanisms in all three studies. These findings have important implications for moral development in the second half of life.Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2022.Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: Psychology
Feeling safe in precarious work: How workers in life-and-death professions create community holding spaces for safe emotional processing
No full textThesis advisor: Jean M. BartunekIn certain professions, members are routinely exposed to situations where their life or the life of someone else is on the line. Workers in these professions are exposed to traumatic situations over the course of a career and are likely to experience certain feelings such as sadness, emotional pain, and fear in response to these traumatic events. Through two inductive qualitative studies, this dissertation builds theory around how individuals involved in life-and-death work (police officers), process the emotions that are elicited by traumatic events without violating the emotional norms of their profession that encourage suppression. These two studies show how individuals create a trusted group of “safe others” with whom they experience a psychological sense of community. Together, community members imbue certain physical spaces with meaning (“safe places”). When safe others come together in safe places, community holding spaces are created which enable the enactment of safe emotional processing.Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2022.Submitted to: Boston College. Carroll School of Management.Discipline: Management and Organization
Social Dominance Orientation, Racial Identity, and Acculturation Strategies: An Examination of Asian-Born Racial and Cultural Dominants in the United States
Get PDFThesis advisor: Janet E HelmsAsian-born racially and culturally dominant group members (ABDs) enjoy greater social, political, and economic power and privileges in their Asian home countries, but their migration to a White dominant society in the US changes their social status as presumed members of Asian American racial and ethnic groups. However, it is not known how ABDs’ disparate psychological experiences of social dominance across two cultural contexts affect their racial and acculturation-related experiences in the US. Thus, the current study investigated the interactions among social dominance orientation, experiences with anti-Asian racism, racial identity schemas, and acculturation strategies of ABDs. Asian-born individuals, self-identified majorities in their Asian home countries (N =192), completed a demographic questionnaire and measures that assessed their levels of social dominance orientation (SDO), racism distress levels, racial identity schemas, and acculturation strategies. Multivariate multiple regression analyses and simple linear moderation analyses were used to investigate relationships among SDO and racism distress and racial identity schemas and acculturation strategies. The findings showed that ABDs’ levels of SDO and racism distress were related to ABDs’ racial identity schemas. ABDs’ levels of SDO were positively related to their use of the Assimilation strategy in the US, but not to other types of acculturation strategies. Moreover, racism distress levels did not moderate the relationships between ABDs’ levels of SDO and their racial identity schemas, or between SDO and acculturation strategies. ABDs’ racial identity schemas and acculturation strategies were related and SDO moderated the relationships between racial identity and acculturation.
In this exploratory study to examine Asian acculturation strategies and racial identity, the obtained results suggest that ABDs’ preferences for social hierarchy have implications for their racial and acculturation processes in the US. Limitations and implications of the results for research and clinical practice are discussed.Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2022.Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education.Discipline: Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology
Learning from Peers' Private Information: Evidence from Failed M&A
Get PDFThesis advisor: Amy HuttonI investigate the effects of private information acquisition from M&A due diligence on bidders’ subsequent actions. Using a sample of negotiated and announced M&A deals that fail to close, I find that, following the failed transactions, bidders achieve higher investment efficiency and higher innovation outputs. Cross-sectional cuts demonstrate that the effects are more pronounced when a bidder has greater opportunities to learn from the target firms’ proprietary information. While bidders benefit through M&A negotiations, target firms bear costs from sharing proprietary information, as shown by a modest decline in their innovation and product outcomes. Overall, my study contributes to the understanding of the real effects of learning from peers’ proprietary information.Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2022.Submitted to: Boston College. Carroll School of Management.Discipline: Accounting