Racing to Health, Blog 1

Student blog posts from the Great VCU Bike Race Book

Racing to Health, Blog 2

Student blog posts from the Great VCU Bike Race Book

The Spiritual Connection: Honoring Faith Traditions and Polishing "Spiritual Literacies" in the Writing Conference at Christian Institutions

Much has been said about the future of writing centers and the need for consultants to respect the multifaceted literacies and diverse backgrounds of their clientele.2 In light of this issue’s theme of “connected writing,” writing center scholarship’s interest in bridging gaps between race, socio-economic status, and multimodal literacies proves that genuine connection is truly a priority in writing center theory and practice. But scholars have said surprisingly little about the effect of “spiritual literacies” and faith traditions on student writing: for instance, how might a writer’s faith inform her writing patterns and, relatedly, how does her writing represent her religious convictions?3 What role does the consultant/tutor play in helping a writer negotiate the presentation of her spirituality within a larger community’s written discourse? Perhaps most importantly, how can we help students write about their faith in a way that helps them connect with others outside of their faith tradition?University Writing Cente

Arrive, explore, reflect: the development and evaluation of a web-based program to introduce high school students to landscape architecture

The profession of landscape architecture has struggled with public perception since the mid-nineteenth century. Community programs, coloring books, and educational toolkits are just some of the methods employed in the profession\u27s attempt to improve public perception. Very little research has been conducted to test the efficiency of these educational attempts. The goal of this thesis is to create a Web-based program to effectively educate young members of the public. The program uses five mini lessons to present information about landscape architecture to the student. Links to the World Wide Web are scattered throughout the program to supplement lesson material. A chat is available for those students interested in communicating with a professional landscape architect. To assess the effectiveness of the program, information is collected from answers submitted by student users from within the program. From a total of sixteen questions, twelve are modeled after Bloom\u27s Taxonomy to provide an analysis of student comprehension. The remaining four questions allow the student to express opinions and suggestions for program improvement. Although little literature exists that explores the evaluation of a Web-based educational landscape architecture program, surveyed literature does suggest its potential success. This study suggests that students can effectively learn about landscape architecture through use of such a program. This Web-based program can be used as an initial step in the development of more sophisticated Internet-based methods of educating high school students or the general public about the profession of landscape architecture

The effect of frequent quizzing on student learning in a high school physical science classroom

This research explores the effects of frequent quizzing versus no quizzing in a high school Physical Science class. The study population included two freshman level Physical Science Honors classes. The content in this study included Classifying Matter, States of Matter, Atomic Bonding, Motion and Forces and Motion. For each chapter covered one class served as a control group, getting no quizzes, and the other class served as an experimental group, getting frequent quizzes. Prior to being taught information on the 5 chapters covered in this study, a 15-question pre-test was administered to the students. The information was delivered in the same manner, by lecture and PowerPoints, to both the control and the experimental groups. Upon completion of each section of the chapter, the experimental group took a 10-question quiz. The control group was allowed to review their notes. A post-test was given after covering all of the material for each chapter. The pre-tests and post-tests were generated using software and a question database for choosing questions based on state standards and learning objectives. Raw gains of the study population from pre-test to post-test were analyzed and compared to determine if the quizzes had increased student knowledge for the chapter. No statistical significance was found between the non-quizzed and the quizzed groups

Automatic Dispensing Pill Caddy for the Elderly

The report, Aging in the United States, finds that baby boomers who are at retirement age are in worse health compared with previous generations. More of them are living with chronic conditions such as high cholesterol, hypertension, diabetes, arthritis, and heart disease; all which require medication. The report also anticipates the number of people with dementia could nearly triple in the coming decades, resulting in senior adults requiring more assistance with daily activities. Our product intends to enhance the quality of life of the older adult population by providing a pill dispenser that creates convenience with alerts and notifications. This makes the dosage easily accessible to those with cognitive and other impairments, and helps these adults to live a healthier lifestyle all the while minimizing the stress involved and time needed to take their medication. The demographics for our customer base include those who are ages 65+ who have difficulty with memory, individuals who live with multiple diseases/chronic conditions, and elderly individuals who live independently and require regular assistance. We will reach our most relevant market by selling our product individually and also by providing access to hospitals, insurance companies, and care providers. Our product will add value to our end user’s life, is easily accessible for the elderly customers and can easily be changed with evolving technology.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/capstone/1190/thumbnail.jp

Bridging the Gap: Handling Born-Digital Records in Manuscript Repositories

Due to the rapidly burgeoning volume of born-digital records, it behooves archives to determine how they can best bridge the gap between handling analog and handling born-digital records. In addition to analyzing existing case studies of repositories that already accession and process electronic records, the study presented in this paper used both a survey instrument and semi-structured interviews with archivists to investigate whether and how manuscript repositories are handling born-digital materials. The intent of this study has been to pinpoint some of the problems that plague manuscript repositories in particular and to identify some practical steps that have already been taken at similar repositories and should be replicated and suggest courses for further study and action. The problems of handling born-digital materials, especially when it comes to providing access, are not unique, and the profession would be well served by finding a space for collaboration to solve these thorny issues.Master of Science in Library Scienc

From seed to sip - A small batch hop experiment

The Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service periodically issues revisions to its publications. The most current edition is made available. For access to an earlier edition, if available for this title, please contact the Oklahoma State University Library Archives by email at [email protected] or by phone at 405-744-6311

Shifts in Species Interactions Due to the Evolution of Functional Differences between Endemics and Non-Endemics: An Endemic Syndrome Hypothesis

Species ranges have been shifting since the Pleistocene, whereby fragmentation, isolation, and the subsequent reduction in gene flow have resulted in local adaptation of novel genotypes and the repeated evolution of endemic species. While there is a wide body of literature focused on understanding endemic species, very few studies empirically test whether or not the evolution of endemics results in unique function or ecological differences relative to their widespread congeners; in particular while controlling for environmental variation. Using a common garden composed of 15 Eucalyptus species within the subgenus Symphyomyrtus (9 endemic to Tasmania, 6 non-endemic), here we hypothesize and show that endemic species are functionally and ecologically different from non-endemics. Compared to non-endemics, endemic Eucalyptus species have a unique suite of functional plant traits that have extended effects on herbivores. We found that while endemics occupy many diverse habitats, they share similar functional traits potentially resulting in an endemic syndrome of traits. This study provides one of the first empirical datasets analyzing the functional differences between endemics and non-endemics in a common garden setting, and establishes a foundation for additional studies of endemic/non-endemic dynamics that will be essential for understanding global biodiversity in the midst of rapid species extinctions and range shifts as a consequence of global change