SoE Graduate Student Conference Papers

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    The effectiveness of flipped learning on student performance and learning experience
    (Wichita State University, 2023-04-14) Gautier, Austin; Schott, Gabriel; Martinez Garcia, Hazel; Alagic, Mara
    Flipped learning is a constructivist teaching and learning strategy by which students individually acquire content knowledge outside of class by accessing teacher-defined learning activities. Class time is then structured to reinforce that knowledge and activate higher-order thinking processes in individual and group contexts. Existing literature referencing flipped learning lacks experimental research focusing on the effectiveness of the approach in primary school settings. The aim of this study is to add to this body of knowledge by studying the effectiveness of flipped learning on academic performance and student learning experience in the sixth-grade science classroom. Three sections of the class taught by the same teacher will be studied over a four-week period as they cover a defined learning unit. A standardized pretest and posttest referencing the standards associated with the selected content unit will provide quantitative data regarding student learning performance. Qualitative surveys will consider how flipped learning affects the learner's experience. Mixed method data collected through this study will be used to identify practical correlations between flipped learning, student performance, and student learning experience. This research will add to this body of knowledge by providing new data on the effectiveness of flipped learning in a rural primary school setting.
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    Approaches to investigating disaster risk reduction (DRR)
    (Wichita State University, 2022-04-29) Jothimani, Santhosh; Alagic, Mara
    Wide-ranging and uncertain threats from natural disasters to public health, energy networks, cybersecurity, and other interconnected facets of human activity make explicit the need for the development of resilience-driven strategies to protect against undesirable consequences of uncertain, unexpected, and dramatic disasters-related events. The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) defines disaster resilience as "the ability to plan and prepare for, absorb, recover from, and adapt to adverse events". Disaster risk reduction (DRR) and resilience strategies have the potential to change how communities prepare for the potential disruptions of key services such as energy, water, transportation, healthcare, communication, and financial services. The objectives of DRR policies are often ill-defined and under-specified by policymakers and practitioners and it is almost impossible to assess how well the resources committed to these policies translate to improving DRR in at-risk communities. To address this problem, this research aims to contribute a framework for the better conceptualization and measurement of disaster risk reduction. This research also includes features within resilience thinking and a summary of the results obtained in the synthesis of articles on disaster resilience management. This research is part of the convergence project within the Disaster Resilience Analytics Center (DRAC).
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    Are Dual Credit Enrollment programs serving underrepresented students as intended?
    (Wichita State University, 2021-04-02) Holmes, Juliana D.; Alagic, Mara
    Dual Credit Enrollment (DCE) and concurrent enrollment programs consist of a partnership between a high school and a post-secondary institution (PSI) whereby high school students earn college credit through a variety of means. These programs have been in existence for decades, however, the 2015 Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) contained a directive, and funding, to increase post-secondary education access--particularly through dual and concurrent enrollment programs ("ESSA," 2015)--which has generated rapid DCE growth. Many extol the advantages of DCE as a "well-established practice to prepare students for college that is supported by research and stakeholders in education" (Grubb, Scott, & Good, 2017, p. 17); however, other scholars question if underrepresented high school students are getting the same opportunities to excel through use of DCE (Kremer, 2020). Because of this rapid growth, consistency in implementation, oversight, and assessment varies a great deal among States, districts and schools. In this research, I will use two channels to gain information, a student survey to a cross section of Kansas High School students will provide information from the student perspective, including their awareness and participation levels with dual credit programs, reasons for taking dual credit, and what resources they are utilizing, which will be graphed with their demographic data: grade, ethnicity, free/reduced lunch, and first generation status. Additionally, through a detailed review of offerings from the largest local community college provider of dual credit instruction, I will be able to report on the availability of dual credit courses in our local area, in comparison to each schools demographic populations. These two channels of information will allow me to review if the intended goals of dual credit programs are in alignment with practice, highlight areas of weakness or inconsistency, determine if goals are being met locally, and offer concepts for further discussion.
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    Transforming attitude towards learning: Cognitive and metacognitive thinking and critical coreflection
    (Wichita State University, 2020-05-01) Shetler, Elizabeth; Alagic, Mara
    INTRODUCTION: Cognition can be defined as all mental processes and abilities in which people engage on a daily basis such as memory, learning, problem solving, and evaluation, reasoning and decision-making. Cognition helps to generate new knowledge through mental processes and helps to use the knowledge that people have in daily life. Metacognition is often defined as thinking about thinking. It allows us to complete a given task well through planning, monitoring, evaluating and comprehending. This means while cognitive processes allow normal functioning of individuals, metacognition takes it a level higher/deeper making a person more aware of his/her cognitive processes. PURPOSE: This study examined how cognitive and metacognitive thinking helps students transfer prior and current learning to new contexts with the emphasis on critical reflection and co-reflection (in support of metacognition) while transforming their attitude towards learning. METHODS: The research was conducted by using a mixed research methodology in an English class of 18 high-school senior students. Interviewing students as well as observing grades and attitudes towards learning comprised the first part of the data collection. The questions involved in the interview consisted of questions that lets them explain their flexibility in an every-changing world. In addition, students reflected on the different elements that they have learned during class using a Google form survey document. Students also co-reflected in a group of their peers in order to show what they excelled at and what they need to work on to become effective participants during group work. RESULTS: Collaboration is not something these students consider relevant. However, reflecting on their independent and group work students have a potential to increase their motivation to be better learners and teammate. From these collected data, I have found that students are more mindful with what they are doing when working with a group and want to communicate and teach each other more about what they know so they can grow and help others learn. I have also found the students want to hear different perceptive when discussion based conversation is involved. CONCLUSION: These students knew that the learning was not only for them. That gave them a push to help to complete the work for their group members. Cognitively they are learning something new as in the novel and the different point of view of their peers. Metacognitively they are using what they know about how to read a novel, note taking, organizing, leadership, communication, and bringing it to other to help them grow and learn together.
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    Self-advocacy levels in college TRIO participants and their collegiate non-TRIO participating peers
    (Wichita State University, 2020-05-01) Lubbers-Payne, Mercedes; Alagic, Mara
    Self-advocacy is, essentially, one's ability to represent themselves or their interests. Consider self-advocacy like a circle with two prongs; those prongs would be self-determination (Ryan and Deci, 2000) and Self-Efficacy (Bandura, 1994). Self-determination is one's ability to determine and identify life choices and actions, while self-efficacy is the confidence to enact actions in one's own life. Therefore, self-determination can be represented as thought, self-efficacy as confidence, and self-advocacy as action. Self-determination and self-efficacy consequently enable self-advocacy in individuals, but current research has not explored either term in conjunction with one another as covariables dependent for self-advocacy. The literature surrounding self-advocacy is categorical with components such as motivation (Ryan and Deci, 2000; Chia Liu, W., John Wang, C.K. Hwa Kee, Y., Koh, C., Coral Lim, B.S., & Chua, L, 2013; Niemic, C. and Ryan, R., 2009; Simon, Aulls, Dedic, Hubbard, and Hall, 2015), parenting styles (Aslam and Sultan, 2014; Turner, Chandler, and Heffer, 2009), and self-efficacy (Macphee, Farro, and Canetto, 2013; Einarson and Santiago, 1996; Pittenger, Khushwant, and Heimann, 2000; DeFrietas and Bravo Jr., 2012) connecting to self-determination, but has not yet connected both self-determination and self-efficacy to self-advocacy. I believe that there is sufficient cause to relate mentoring as an aspect of participating in a TRIO program and that TRIO programs assist students in satisfying the needed conditions to meet self-efficacy and self-determination in students, which then leads to improving self-advocacy levels in students. I want to explore the connection between self-advocacy levels between college students at a mid-western four-year university who participate in a TRIO program and their peers who do not participate in a TRIO program. I want to see if there is a connection between TRIO participation as well as the number of years in a TRIO program and the levels that students self-report for their self-advocacy levels. Students' perceived self-advocacy levels may impact the ability of the student to communicate their academic, personal, financial, and other needs within their college career. The results of this research would allow further research into general college student self-advocacy and the factors or support services on college campuses that encourage and promote student self-advocacy.
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