An Evaluation of Landscape, Climate, and Management Impacts on Bumble Bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Bombus) In Agroecosystems

Christman, Morgan Elizabeth Utah State University ProQuest Dissertations & The 2022 해외박사(DDOD)

Bumble bees play pivotal roles in pollinating wild and cultivated plant communities. Unfortunately, bumble bee populations are declining due to disturbances such as landscape conversion and climate change. Additionally, traps used to monitor pest insect populations often capture bumble bees, leading to a concern that trap captures increase bumble bee mortality. First, I studied bumble bee communities based on land cover and weather variables in agricultural fields in Utah. Bumble bee communities were more diverse in agricultural fields with more agricultural land in the surrounding area, low temperatures, and high humidity during the growing season, and less diverse in fields with more urban land, high temperatures and low humidity. However, differences in species among sites suggest that all agricultural fields from this study have high conservation value for bumble bees; therefore, management strategies should maintain a variety of habitat types to promote resiliency of bumble bee assemblages. Next, I examined the effects of climate and landscapes on bumble bees in agricultural fields throughout the U.S. Bumble bee assemblages varied based on habitat characteristics, emphasizing that management practices should differ across the U.S. based on the local climate and landscapes in order to conserve bumble bees. I then measured the impact of trap captures on the size and development of field-released brown-belted bumble bee colonies. Only three brown-belted bumble bees were collected from traps, suggesting that these captures had negligible effects on the observed differences in weight and foraging activity. However, this does not mean that all bumble bee species are not affected. Finally, I evaluated the commercial potential of brown-belted bumble bees by determining if they can be successfully raised in a laboratory setting and by identifying the maximum temperature worker bumble bees can withstand before death. Brown-belted bumble bees can successfully be raised in a lab and can tolerate high temperatures, so they should continue to be evaluated for commercial purposes throughout the U.S. Overall, this research increased knowledge to provide more accurate management practices of bumble bee communities in agricultural systems throughout the U.S. and provided a foundation for developing brown-belted bumble bees as a commercialized pollinator.

Collaborative Practices of Rural Inclusive Postsecondary Education Program (IPSE) Directors

Goode Dimond, Elizabeth Susanne Utah State University ProQuest Dissertations & The 2022 해외박사(DDOD)

Inclusive postsecondary education programs (IPSE) for students with intellectual disabilities (ID) are relatively new, having their formal beginning in the Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA; P.L. 110-315) of 2008. These programs vary greatly and are found in urban, suburban, and rural areas of the United States. Those programs in rural areas face unique barriers and have unique strengths that affect how they collaborate and with whom they collaborate. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study is to describe the collaborative practices of rural IPSE program directors. This study gathered the lived experiences of rural IPSE program directors collaborating with agencies on- and off-campus through semi-structured interviews conducted via Zoom. Data were coded and analyzed for themes and patterns. These themes and patterns, as well as the essence of their collaborative experiences, are described and related to the Trainor et al. (2020) Framework for Transition.

An Exploration of System Level Dimensions of Nutrition in Relation to Health: Interprofessional Teams and Food Insecurity

Voorhees, McKenna Christy Utah State University ProQuest Dissertations & The 2022 해외박사(DDOD)

Many factors influence health; two such factors that warrant additional research include interdisciplinary healthcare teams and food insecurity. These factors may be particularly important among vulnerable populations such as individuals with special healthcare needs, lower income populations, and individuals with disabilities.Interdisciplinary teamwork promotes improved, and more efficient patient care through the collaboration of healthcare providers in various professional disciplines. Registered Dietitian Nutritionists (RDNs) are experts in the science and application of nutrition, which plays an important role in various disease states. Despite the established need for RDNs on interdisciplinary teams, there is limited research in the interdisciplinary scholarship targeting this profession. As a first step in determining the quality of RDN integration in healthcare teams, interdisciplinary attitudes of RDNs and students studying to become RDNs across the United States (U.S.) were analyzed. Results revealed that the specific area of specialty of the RDN (clinical RDNs), feeling more valued by other team members, more frequent participation in teams, and gender (females) were associated with more favorable attitudes of interdisciplinary healthcare teams. More time with the RDN credential was associated with slightly less favorable attitudes.In 2017, the accreditation parameters for dietetic programs in the U.S. required that all programs include interprofessional-related education (IPE) to support students in their future readiness to participate effectively in interdisciplinary teams. As a step to determining IPE effectiveness in dietetic students, this dissertation explored various aspects of IPE, including specific IPE approaches alongside student and program director perspectives, as well as how directors determine whether students meet the IPE-related learning objectives. Main findings indicated that multiple approaches to meet IPE standards were related to higher student satisfaction of IPE. Additionally, few programs seem to be utilizing validated tools to evaluate whether students are meeting IPE-related learning objectives, which makes the broad assessment of readiness for interdisciplinary teamwork challenging.Food insecurity occurs when the quality or quantity of available food is insufficient. Lower income individuals and persons who have a disability experience food insecurity at higher rates. This dissertation investigated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on food access and food insecurity in lower-income Utahns four to six months following the onset of COVID-19 (March 2020). Frequent difficulties with physical access to food in combination with children in the home were related to food insecurity severity, as were employment changes during the pandemic, and older age. This emphasizes the need for additional support and preventative efforts for lower-income families in reducing food access challenges during times of crisis, such as a pandemic.This dissertation also examined the relationship between disability and self-reported health status, and whether food insecurity among persons with disabilities contributed to disparities in self-reported health. Results suggested that food insecurity may play a role in poorer self-reported health in individuals with disabilities compared to individuals without disabilities. This finding is important, as it proposes that reducing food insecurity among persons with disabilities may impact health outcomes.In conclusion, this dissertation substantially adds to existing work by investigating RDN and dietetic student attitudes of interdisciplinary teams and aspects of IPE in dietetic programs; a profession that is generally understudied in the interdisciplinary healthcare research. Moreover, this research explored food access, food insecurity, and health in vulnerable populations—lower income individuals and persons with disabilities. The exploration of food access/food insecurity among lower-income Utahns may help to reduce health burden in this population. Lastly, reducing food insecurity in persons with disabilities may impact self-reported health. Though the interdisciplinary teams-related research in RDNs and students did not directly correspond to health outcomes in the studies conducted herein, perhaps they set the stage for future research in the area.

A Case Study of the Driven 2 Teach Program: Site-Based Experiential Professional Development for History Teachers

Call, Hadyn Bowen Utah State University ProQuest Dissertations & The 2019 해외박사(DDOD)

Driven 2 Teach is a privately funded program for history teachers in the state of Utah. The program emphasizes the importance of teacher travel to educate history teachers in the places where history happened. This study investigated the program's influence on participant gains in learning about history and how to best teach about the past, social studies professional development, teacher beliefs, and changes in instructional practices. This study utilized a case study methodology, autoethnography, and six interconnected frameworks: Professional development, experiential education, site-based learning, pedagogical content knowledge, teacher beliefs, and professional learning communities. This study helps demonstrate the effectiveness of travel as a teaching method. Data from this study were used to answer the following questions: How do history teachers perceive their pedagogical content knowledge as changing as a result of participating in the Driven 2 Teach program? How do the experiences with Driven 2 Teach differ from other professional development experiences? How do history teacher beliefs about social studies education contribute to the changes in pedagogical content knowledge and instructional practice? How do these history teachers plan on changing instructional practices based on their new pedagogical content knowledge? The results of this study show that participants' knowledge of historical content and how to best teach that content increased significantly. This study also found that more social studies professional development is needed in the state of Utah. Teachers' confidence levels increased because of their experience with this program in regard to teaching history and social studies skills to their students. Participants, as a result of participation with Driven 2 Teach, are more likely to teach students' skills using social studies content rather than merely teaching social studies through rote memorization. Participants want to incorporate more hands-on learning experiences for students, and use more primary source documents in their lessons. Traveling together to historical sites and other important places with other social studies teachers enhanced the learning of all involved and increased the retention of what was learned. Participants benefited from both planned and unplanned events, and had experiences that made them realize even more, the importance of social studies education and incorporating multiple perspectives when learning about the past.

Teachers' Conceptions of Mathematics and Intelligent Tutoring System Use

Glaze, Andrew R Utah State University ProQuest Dissertations & The 2019 해외박사(DDOD)

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to investigate the relationship between teachers' conceptions of mathematics and their use of intelligent tutoring systems for mathematics instruction. Intelligent tutoring systems are adaptive computer programs which administer mathematics instruction to students based on their cognitive state. A conception is a mixture of beliefs and knowledge. The participants in this study were 93 junior high school mathematics teachers from three school districts in the Midwest. Data were gathered using a two-part online survey. The first part of the survey contained questions about their use of intelligent tutoring systems, graphing calculators, Desmos and dynamic geometry software. The second part of the survey contained Likert questions from the teachers' version of the Conceptions of Mathematics Inventory. Desmos is a website providing interactive classroom activities and a user-friendly graphing calculator. Dynamic geometry software is a class of interactive geometry programs. The quantitative analysis revealed no statistically significant interactions between teachers' conception scores and intelligent tutoring system use, or between teachers' conception scores and how intelligent tutoring systems were used. There were statistically significant interactions between teachers' conception scores and their use of graphing calculators, Desmos, and dynamic geometry software. The qualitative analysis revealed that teachers used intelligent tutoring systems for differentiation. Teachers used graphing calculators, Desmos, and dynamic geometry software for visual, computational, and exploratory purposes. Teachers exclusively using intelligent tutoring systems to incorporate technology should also incorporate technology which promotes student exploration.

Latino Stepcouples' Experiences Two Years after Stepfamily Education and a Narrative Study Regarding Changes in a Latino Stepfamily Two Years after Stepfamily Education

Goodey, Sheryl Ann Utah State University ProQuest Dissertations & The 2019 해외박사(DDOD)

There are two studies in this dissertation. Both are about couples in a stepfamily who attended stepfamily education called, Smart Steps: Embrace the Journey. The first study explored how 13 Latino stepcouples felt the concepts they learned in stepfamily education influenced their couple relationship, parenting, and their family. Participants ranged in age from 25 to 43. They were interviewed two years after participating in the course. They talked about positive changes that happened in their couple relationship, parenting relationship, and their family as a result of participating in stepfamily education. It was also found that the course helped them to improve their stepparent/stepchild relationship. The second study examined how one Latino stepcouples' journey unfolded after participation, and the subsequent experiences that occurred when their stepchildren moved in with them. They were interviewed right after the course was completed, one year later, and two years later. Their story is told from when the couple met, having two biological children, and then moving five stepchildren into their home. They explained how the concepts they learned helped their stepfamily. Future studies on Latino stepfamilies and the strengths and weaknesses of these studies are discussed.

Delivering on a Promise: A Longitudinal Cohort Study of Emergent Bilinguals' Academic Achievement in a Utah Dual Language Program

Campbell, J. Eric Utah State University ProQuest Dissertations & The 2022 해외박사(DDOD)

Emergent bilingual (EB) students are a growing population in the U.S. school system currently comprising over 10% of the total population. U.S. school districts have educated EB students using a myriad of practices, including dual language immersion (DLI). Many studies have looked at the academic achievement of native-Spanish speaking EB students, yet there is a dearth of research on DLI in medium-sized school districts in rural settings. This study focused on native-Spanish speaking EB students in a DLI program in a rural Utah district. Specifically, the study compared student academic achievement in English acquisition, English language arts, mathematics, and grade point average of EB students enrolled in DLI to EB students not enrolled in a DLI program.Student achievement data for EB students was collected from 2014-2020 (N = 1,046). Using various regression methods such as ordinal logistic regression, multiple regression, and multilevel modeling (MLM), the study sought the predictive power of DLI after controlling for gender, free and reduced lunch status, and special education enrollment. Results found that on average DLI students performed as well as or better than their non-DLI peers. MLM analyses indicated that EB students enrolled in DLI had superior growth trajectories to their non-DLI peers over time.

Impacts of Tourism on the Ecophysiology of the Endangered Northern Bahamian Rock Iguana (Cyclura Cychlura)

Webb, Alison C Utah State University ProQuest Dissertations & The 2020 해외박사(DDOD)

The Influence of a Values Affirmation Intervention on Students’ Mathematical, Social, and Epistemological Empowerment

Bala, Carrie Olson Utah State University ProQuest Dissertations & The 2022 해외박사(DDOD)

The purpose of this study was to better understand the influence of educators’ attention to identity construction as tenth grade Emergent Bilinguals and native English-speaking students develop mathematical, social, and epistemological empowerment in a mathematics classroom. I incorporated a framework detailing critical consciousness as a mediator between students’ identity construction and their empowerment development. I employed a mixed methods transformative design, utilizing quantitative and qualitative methods to analyze the influence of a values affirmation intervention on students’ critical consciousness and empowerment. To follow, I incorporate integrated analysis to highlight emerging and differing patterns in the empowerment data, the specific characteristics which may have contributed to these themes, and the need for multiple measures. Approximately 80 tenth-grade Emergent Bilingual and native English-speaking students were recruited from a western high school to participate in the study. Results suggest that students of different identities experience empowerment differently in the mathematics classroom. Findings provide a foundation suggesting that efforts to attend to students’ identities may positively contribute to their empowerment. In particular, values affirmation interventions correspond with improved mathematical empowerment outcomes, particularly for Emergent Bilingual students, but are associated with limited or negative influences on students’ social and epistemological empowerment outcomes. Findings also suggest that both reflection and traditional assessments are necessary to adequately capture students’ development in the mathematics classroom. I recommend further research to develop techniques which highlight students’ empowerment, specific to their language and gender identities.

Enhancing the Production and Sustainability of Pasture-Fed Beef Using Non-Traditional Legume Forages

Bolletta, Andrea I Utah State University ProQuest Dissertations & The 2020 해외박사(DDOD)