Theses and Dissertations from UMD
Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2
New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM
More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.
Browse
36 results
Search Results
Item SUPPORTING EQUITABLE CLIMATE CHANGE DECISIONS IN A RURAL COMMUNITY THROUGH EXPANDED NOTIONS OF CLIMATE DATA: USING CRITICAL DATA PERSPECTIVES AND PRACTICES TO SUPPORT CLIMATE LEARNING WHILE CO-DESIGNING AN ONLINE, MAP-BASED, EDUCATIONAL RESOURCE(2024) Killen, Heather Ann; Clegg, Tamara; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Climate change threats are ever increasing, forcing communities to ask: what do they value and how are they going to protect it? Community-based climate education should play a central role in supporting equitable local decisions regarding local responses to climate challenges. However, there is little research about how to best support communities, especially rural communities that may be skeptical of climate change, to see how climate change is affecting their landscapes. In my dissertation I explore a community-based effort to build a map representing a valued local landscape feature and how this effort can act to convene knowledge about local landscape and climate, ratify that knowledge through inclusion onto a map, and ultimately inform community decision making. Guided by the perspectives and practices of critical data science and storylistening I frame my research around data and story. Prior work has considered the role of climate data within environmental education and story within community scholarship, but there is still a need to explore expanded notions of data within community learning and the role of community-held stories in local decision making. My dissertation focuses on how local, personally held landscape and climate data might complement and extend local, institutionally held data and how map building might support data-rich storytelling and listening. Working within a conservative-leaning, rural community and using the ArcGIS StoryMap web application, I engaged six community members over six design sessions to collaboratively design an online, public map of a creek and associated nature trail at the center of their town. I find that participants engaged in six key map-building design processes as they interacted with their local landscape in new ways. I also find that participants used the knowledge they brought into the design space to collaboratively expand, challenge, and occasionally transform their shared understanding. Together these processes allowed local, often generationally held, climate and landscape knowledge to become community-held understanding that could be included as data within the map. Using this analysis, I present my Evidentiary Landscape Learning (ELL) framework, placing my insights into a community-based learning context. The ELL framework demonstrates a pathway for engaging community members to understand how local and beyond-local socio-cultural values and systems are physically embodied in their local landscapes.Item Leveraging Complexity Science to Promote Learning Analytics Adoption in Higher Education: An Embedded Case Study(2024) Moses, Phillip Scott; Ketelhut, Diane J; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The Society for Learning Analytics Research (SoLAR) defines learning analytics as “the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of data about learners and their contexts, for purposes of understanding and optimizing learning and the environments in which it occurs” (SoLAR, n.d.). To fully realize the potential of learning analytics, especially in its perceived ability to reveal previously hidden aspects of the learning process, researchers have called for more intentional approaches in order to harness resources and affect change. These researchers argue that without this coordinated effort to integrate learning analytics into the fabric of higher education institutions, the field will continue to languish, with learning analytics tools and approaches left forever incapable of affecting more systemic change. At the same time, other researchers focused on leadership and change management have recognized the difficulty, if not impossibility, of such top-down approaches. Instead, many researchers have pointed to the need to view higher education institutions through the lens of complexity science, and, in particular, to consider higher education institutions as complex adaptive systems (CAS) in which change tends to happen through the process of emergence. Within such a paradigm, change occurs from the ground up, as a result of countless interactions among many different agents (students, educators, and administrators, to name a few). Recognizing this conflict between the sort of top-down approaches suggested by many learning analytics researchers, and the ground-up reality recognized by many complexity science researchers, this dissertation project investigates how learning analytics usage is happening within a higher education institution. Using an embedded case study methodology to examine current learning analytics practices across multiple academic units and stakeholders within a single higher education institution, I apply a CAS framework to determine how this institution might expand and grow their approach to learning analytics across key areas.Item COMPUTATIONAL THINKING IN EARLY GRADE CLASSROOMS: HOW YOUNG LEARNERS INTERACT WITH PHYSICAL DEVICES TO GROUND THEIR UNDERSTANDING OF COMPUTATIONAL THINKING(2024) Bih epse Fofang, Janet Shufor; Weintrop, David; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Computational thinking (CT) has been supported as an important skill every young person should possess for the 21st century, with possible implications for problem-solving, self-expression, and creativity. Numerous initiatives, both within and outside classroom settings, have been developed in response to policy mandates aiming at broadening participation for all K-12 learners to acquire CT skills. Consequently, there has been a proliferation of computational toys and tools specifically designed for young learners, including codable robots introduced into classrooms and educational environments. With the growing prevalence of computational devices in educational settings, educators, curriculum designers, and researchers must cultivate diverse teaching approaches and deepen their understanding of how young learners engage with these devices to acquire CT skills effectively within classroom contexts. In this dissertation, I present findings of how elementary-grade learners develop CT skills when they program Sphero robots in mathematics classroom activities. I specifically focused on the kinds of representations students developed, considering their perspectives (understanding) of the environment, and the practices they engaged in to accomplish given tasks.To understand how young learners acquired CT skills, I observed fourth-grade learners as they interacted with activities on the Sphero.Math curriculum to program the Sphero robot in mathematics classrooms. The Sphero.Math curriculum was developed through a collaborative effort between researchers and DCPS partners. Findings from this work revealed that representations play an important role in supporting young learners to engage in CT practices such as Pattern recognition, algorithm design, problem decomposition, and abstraction (PRADA). Findings showed that representations such as (1) concrete manipulatives, (2) language, (3) graphic, (4) symbolic and (5) embodied representations provide scaffolds for learners to gain (PRADA), CT skills through iterating, testing, debugging, abstracting, modularizing, and reusing code. Additionally, the design features of the Sphero robot and its programming environment support CT knowledge acquisition. Features such as (1) programmable LEDs provided opportunities for learners to break down tasks and create opportunities to organize and structure components to get visual feedback that helped them recognize patterns. (2) Taillight (“aim”) LED provided visual cues, that facilitated the involvement of geocentric orientation and embodied practices that empowered students to establish sensorimotor references. (3) Sphero’s virtual protractor supported students through the CT component of abstraction to address the geocentric aspects of the Sphero robot. (4) block-based environment/language, that involves the use of shapes and colors as effective visual aids and abstraction tools, to support the learners’ construct to algorithms. This research can serve as a resource for researchers, curriculum designers, educators, and designers to answer questions about design, choice of computational tools, and their respective programming environments that can afford meaningful CT experiences. Familiarizing learners with representations within CT robotics learning environments serves as a gentle initiation into emerging topics in education such as AI, ML, and data science, given the pivotal role representations play within these fields.Item How Can Debugging With Physical Computing Be More Playful For Children?(2024) Zeng, Danyi; Williams-Pierce, Caro; Library & Information Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)In response to the ongoing call for the education of computational thinking, I explored how debugging activities in a physical computing environment can be more playful and learnable for children. While a lot of studies have addressed the importance of debugging in generic programming learning, the benefits and challenges of physical computing implementation in classrooms, or the potential of playfulness in STEM education, few research focused on an interdisciplinary conversation that sought design solutions to bring playfulness into the learning experience and to improve the user experience cohesively. In this study, based on a synthetical understanding of the relevant studies from computer science, human-computer interaction, and education, I situated the concept of fragile knowledge into the complex, multiple-object environment of physical computing. Accordingly, I designed two debugging projects on micro:bit for 8 participants at KidsTeam at the University of Maryland to understand their intuitive approaches to debugging in the physical computing environment. I analyzed the video data of the two 90-minute sessions and applied semantic coding to examine and compare the participants’ earning experiences, including typical progress and failures. The qualitative findings revealed: 1) the differentiation in the process of debugging between the first-time and returning learners of programming, 2) the participants’ passion for customizing after success by upgrading their projects or testing the limit of the physical chip, and 3) two forms of spontaneous collaborations. Across those experiences, I further identified the failures without feedback caused by the micro:bit’s current coding environment and extended Fish Tanks and Sandboxes, two playful learning principles, to provide design insights for future physical debugging activities that support the findings above.Item UNDERSTANDING LEARNING AND SKETCHING EXPERIENCES OF CHILDREN INVOLVED IN STEM DESIGN(2023) Shokeen, Ekta; Williams-Pierce, Caro Dr.; Library & Information Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Sketching is considered a helpful activity in STEM design and education. Scholars have argued for including children in designing technology as it has been found to improve product design and leads to social and cognitive benefits for children. However, little is known about children’s learning and sketching experiences when participating in design activities. How do children sketch during design activities? How do children learn about sketching in design activities? What information do they share via their sketches? What information do they use for sketching? How do they use sketching in the overall design process? How do learning and sketching relate to STEM design? This three-paper dissertation uses empirical and theoretical approaches to address these questions. The first paper uses an ethnographic case study approach to qualitatively examine information-sharing practices and learning opportunities from children’s engagement in interest-driven sketching. Findings suggest that sketching can provide multiple learning opportunities to children. Also, it can be helpful to gather information about the broader contexts of children’s lives which can help identify their needs and improve the future design of technologies for children. The second paper presents a theoretical framework, Radical Constructivist Cooperative Inquiry (RCCI), for understanding children’s learning in design activities. Based on the theoretical synthesis of the cooperative inquiry design approach and the radical constructivist perspective of learning, RCCI establishes six pillars of learning in design. Finally, the paper discusses how these six pillars can be utilized in design activities to support children’s learning. The third paper is a secondary analysis of video data of children’s learning and sketching experiences in engineering design in their home environments. It focuses on examining the relationship between children’s sketching and learning following the RCCI framework with the thematic analysis method. Results suggest that sketching can engage children in learning about STEM skill sets. These three papers collectively contribute empirically and theoretically to building knowledge about improving and sustaining design cycles by children in STEM learning contexts.Item Development of Low-Cost Autonomous Systems(2023) Saar, Logan Miles; Takeuchi, Ichiro; Material Science and Engineering; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)A central challenge of materials discovery for improved technologies arises from the increasing compositional, processing, and structural complexity involved when synthesizing hitherto unexplored material systems. Traditional Edisonian and combinatorial high-throughput methods have not been able to keep up with the exponential growth in potential materials and relevant property metrics. Autonomously operated Self-Driving Labs (SDLs) - guided by the optimal experiment design sub-field of machine learning, known as active learning - have arisen as promising candidates for intelligently searching these high-dimensional search spaces. In the fields of biology, pharmacology, and chemistry, these SDLs have allowed for expedited experimental discovery of new drugs, catalysts, and more. However, in material science, highly specialized workflows and bespoke robotics have limited the impact of SDLs and contributed to their exorbitant costs. In order to equip the next generation workforce of scientists and advanced manufacturers with the skills needed to coexist with, improve, and understand the benefits and limitations of these autonomous systems, a low-cost and modular SDL must be available to them. This thesis describes the development of such a system and its implementation in an undergraduate and graduate machine learning for materials science course. The low-cost SDL system developed is shown to be affordable for primary through graduate level adoption, and provides a hands-on method for simultaneously teaching active learning, robotics, measurement science, programming, and teamwork: all necessary skills for an autonomous compatible workforce. A novel hypothesis generation and validation active learning scheme is also demonstrated in the discovery of simple composition/acidity relationships.Item EXPLORING EMBODIED MATHEMATICAL COGNITION THROUGH FROM HERE TO THERE!(2023) Katirci, Nihal; Williams-Pierce, Caroline; History/Library & Information Systems; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation seeks to investigate how digital gestures connect to students’ mathematical understanding when playing From Here to There! (FH2T). This investigation explores the intersection of three fields, game-based learning, embodied cognition, and mathematics education. I used three studies which break down the different aspects of the overall research: Study 1 (The Game Interaction Study) covers the interaction between the game and the researcher; Study 2 (The Quantitative Gesture Study) is based on an analysis of the quantitative data gathered by the developers; and Study 3 (The Student Observations Study) focuses on collecting qualitative data and analyzing it through embodied mathematical cognition and failure and feedback lenses. These three studies illuminate the understanding of digital gestures and mathematical learning.Item Techquity in the Classroom: Designing to Include Equity and Social Justice Impacts in Computing Lessons(2022) Coenraad, Merijke; Weintrop, David; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Technology is ubiquitous in modern society. It affects our daily activities and exists in every household and on every street corner. Yet, research has shown that both the process of creating technologies and the technologies themselves are biased. New technologies are based on datasets, algorithms, and designs that encode developer and data biases. As youth increasingly use technologies in their daily lives, experience the effects of technologies and algorithms, and learn to be technology creators, it is important for them to critically explore and understand the ways that technology introduces and perpetuates inequities. In this three-article dissertation, I present a design study on the development and implementation of materials specifically designed to teach about Threats to Techquity. Threats to Techquity are aspects of computing and technologies that cause or could cause inequalities, especially inequalities based on marginalized identities (e.g., inequalities due to race, immigration status, gender, sexual orientation, ability). To understand how to bring Techquity into the classroom, I partnered with youth and teachers using participatory design to develop the “Talking Techquity” curriculum for middle grades (5th through 8th grade) students. Findings from this work revealed: (1) youth initially named and identified examples of visible Threats to Techquity, but as they learned more about these threats, they uncovered and discussed invisible Threats to Techquity more frequently and identified these threats as topics to be taught to peers; (2) youth and teacher designers had similar instructional priorities and utilized similar pedagogical strategies when designing and critiquing learning experiences about online data collection and data use, but had contrasting ways of discussing examples and different learning goals; and (3) when implementing “Talking Techquity,” teachers who helped co-design the curriculum made adaptations to content and project requirements to provide more scaffolding and ensure students experienced success based on teachers’ perceptions of student needs and other factors. This research encourages researchers, curriculum designers, educators, and students themselves to consider how to teach and learn about the Threats to Techquity affecting youth’s daily lives and demonstrates how participatory design methods can help uncover key conceptualizations and instructional priorities that make this possible.Item COMPUTATIONAL THINKING IN THE ELEMENTARY CLASSROOM: HOW TEACHERS APPROPRIATE CT FOR SCIENCE INSTRUCTION(2021) Cabrera, Lautaro; Clegg, Tamara; Jass Ketelhut, Diane; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Researchers and policymakers call for the integration of Computational Thinking (CT) into K-12 education to prepare students to participate in a society and workforce increasingly influenced by computational devices, algorithms, and methods. One avenue to meet this goal is to prepare teachers to integrate CT into elementary science education, where students can use CT by leveraging computing concepts to support scientific investigations. This study leverages data from a professional development (PD) series where teachers learned about CT, co-designed CT-integrated science lessons, implemented one final lesson plan in their classrooms, and reflected on their experience. This study aims to understand how teachers learned about CT and integrated it into their classroom, a process conceptualized as appropriation of CT (Grossman et al., 1999). This dissertation has two parts. The first investigates how teachers appropriated CT through inductive and deductive qualitative analyses of various data sources from the PD. The findings suggest that most teachers appropriated the labels of CT or only Surface features of CT as a pedagogical tool but did so in different ways. These differences are presented as five different profiles of appropriation that differ in how teachers described the activities that engage students in CT, ascribed goals to CT integration, and use technology tools for CT engagement. The second part leverages interviews with a subset of teachers aimed at capturing the relationship between appropriation of CT during the PD and the subsequent year. The cases of these five teachers suggest that appropriation styles were mostly consistent in the year after the PD. However, the cases detail how constraints in autonomy to make instructional decisions about science curriculum and evolving needs from students can greatly impact CT integration. Taken together, the findings of the dissertation suggest that social context plays an overarching role in impacting appropriation, with conceptual understanding and personal characteristics coming into play when the context for CT integration is set. The dissertation includes discussions around implications for PD designers, such as a call for reframing teacher knowledge and beliefs as part of a larger context impacting CT integration into schools.Item SEARCHING FOR A FACE: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY OF NON-FACE-TO-FACE UNDERGRADUATE LEARNING(2021) Stakland, Steven Keyes; Hultgren, Francine; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Online education is increasingly dominating the experience of formal learning. Although possible at any level of formal education this non-traditional program of learning via the Internet seems to be most accepted for undergraduates. Few have explored the meaning of the experience. The purpose of this dissertation is to present the meaning(s) of non-face-to-face learning for undergraduates. I define online education as non-face-to-face since it never requires a fully embodied encounter with others in real time, e.g., even in a synchronous video exchange reciprocal eye contact is impossible. I met several times with nine participants from different institutions who had taken or were currently enrolled in online classes (prior to 2019). Over the course of my conversations with these participants I recorded and created a text from our conversations and their written accounts. Using the method of hermeneutic phenomenology I present themes here based on my interpretation of that text. I have found that the loss of face-to-face contact is essential to the phenomenon in ways I did not anticipate. The meaning of the phenomenon is related to the essence of technology itself. Considering the meaning of online learning engages with the definition and purpose of education. Although the experience is described in terms of efficiency (ease and convenience) it is also shot through with absence, multitasking and voyeurism. The feeling of efficiency gives a sense that learning is absent. This leads to frustration with the experience. Non-face-to-face learning is described as a kind of game. It can give undergraduates a greater sense of responsibility for their education but without embodied presence with others the vulnerability that leads to community is absent. The explicitness of the asynchronous textual nature of the exchanges between students and instructors introduces ambiguity. The purpose of earning credits comes to dominate the experience instead of the means of learning. I give insights related to the vital importance of in-person learning and indicate paths for further phenomenological work in online education particularly related to teaching. Non-face-to-face learning should be thought of as something different than in-person learning. It cannot ever be a copy or full replacement.