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.
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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 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 Design for Just-In-Time: Resource Design for Self-Teaching Computer Science and Online Learning(2020) Lindeman, Carrie Lucille; Weintrop, David; Library & Information Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The goal of this study is to investigate how just-in-time resources may support self-teaching for adult computer science learners who are new to coding. For people learning computer science on their own, just-in-time resources can be essential for solving problems. A popular online resource that computer scientists of all experience levels rely on is Stack Overflow, a forum that has a question and answer format. Resources like Stack Overflow can help new programmers problem-solve their code without consulting a teacher or professor. However, these resources may be creating barriers in the learning experience that should prepare them for future computer science education. By observing learners using just-in-time resources and interviewing learners about their habits, this thesis provides guidance on potential design suggestions for better supporting users’ future learning. Understanding how just-in-time materials currently support self-teaching for adult novice computer science learners will provide the foundation for these designs.Item A HOUSE OF BRICK: USING THE ACRL FRAMEWORK TO [RE]BUILD A STRONGER, MORE SUSTAINABLE DEMOCRACY THROUGH A STAND-ALONE, INFORMATION LITERACY COURSE(2017) Douglass, Courtney Lawrence; Jaeger, Paul; Library & Information Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This thesis explores the relationship with and value of information literacy to a successful, democratic society. It analyzes societal needs and presents historical and philosophical relevance for the value of understanding how to acquire, use and create accurate, timely and relevant information pieces and products. Finally, this thesis presents a model for teaching information literacy as an independent social or information science course, and how a college at a major research university has moved to implement such a course for the benefit of the University at large.Item A Case Study on A Cross-Context Asynchronous Online Writing Tutorial: The Mediated Learning Process for U.S.-Based Tutors and L2 Writers in Taiwan(2014) Chen, Pei-Jie; Martin-Beltran, Melinda; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Giving students written feedback has been a common practice in L2 writing instruction. Written feedback has been widely studied in second language writing and acquisition research, yet many questions and disputes remain concerning its effectiveness (See Ferris, 2010). While most research on written feedback has adopted the cognitive psychological perspective focusing on its effectiveness (Hyland, 1998, 2000), this study aims at discovering the mediation, mutual growth and engagement between tutors and writers in an asynchronous online writing tutorial. In the tutorial, U.S.-based tutors (teacher candidates in a teacher education program) worked with L2 writers (graduate students) in Taiwan on their English academic writing course assignments (biodata and summary). Data sources included written comments by the teacher candidates, writer's drafts, uptake documents, interview transcripts, self-evaluations, and field observation notes. Oriented by speech act and Vygotskian theoretical framework and using discourse analysis, this qualitative case study identified 12 feedback acts under three categories (direct, indirect, and conversational Feedback Acts) among three focal dyads throughout the tutorial. Findings suggest that the three tutors used feedback acts strategically to guide the L2 writers, particularly using IFA and CFA as mediational tools to provide various metalinguistic explanations, give extended information, and asked thought-provoking questions to stimulate writers' thinking in the tutorial process along with the corrections, suggestions, or requests they made. As writers incorporated more than 70% of the feedback, they found the tutorial process beneficial for their revision and learning of English academic writing. Tutors also learned to accommodate writers' needs, providing feedback within their zone of proximal development and applying concept-based instruction and dynamic assessment. This study contributes to second language writing and learning research, revealing the complexity of tutor-writer interaction and feedback process and providing a window into how written feedback can foster communication and dialogues between tutors and writers. Close examination of discourse in the tutorial context offers insights into the mutual growth and engagement for the participating teacher candidates and L2 writers. This study also has implications for both L2 writing instructors and teacher educators who seek new ways to engage language learners and teacher candidates in their learning processes.