An Examination of Moral Judgment in College: Integrating Developmental and College Impact Frameworks.

Research examining student outcomes in college most often employs either a college impact framework (focusing on the organization and make-up of a college and participation in and experiences with various components of that college) or a developmental framework (focusing on students engagement with cognitive processes that are consistent with theoretically supported mechanisms of development). This study examines the value of integrating these two frameworks in the examination of the developmental of moral judgment during college. Drawing on data from the Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education, this study examines the development of moral judgment in two samples of students at the end of their first and fourth years of college. Hierarchical linear models were first estimated using the developmental and college impact frameworks individually, and then with a framework that integrates the two. Changes in adjusted pseudo-R2 and coefficient effect sizes were then compared across the models to assess the relative explanatory power of the three frameworks and the threat of omitted variable bias in the restrictive frameworks. Variables consistent with both developmental and college impact frameworks were significant predictors of moral judgment in both samples; this remained true even after the models were integrated. However, few college experiences or institutional conditions were significant predictors of change in moral development. The variables with the largest estimated effects were students’ precollege characteristics (such as academic ability and gender). Additionally, models estimated with an integrated framework provided more explanatory power, both before and after the large effects of precollege variables were taken into account. Integrated models also yielded different effect sizes for most independent variables than the separate frameworks, indicating the presence of omitted variable bias. This study demonstrates that using an integrated framework provides a broader and more detailed picture of the development of moral judgment in college. Researchers and educators alike are encouraged to conceptualize this development using frameworks that do not rely solely on participation in institutional programs or the cognitive demands of those programs, but, rather, to design and implement programs that take both approaches into account.PhDHigher EducationUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/108722/1/mapple_1.pd

An Assessment of Engineering Students' Curricular and Co‐Curricular Experiences and Their Ethical Development

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/95194/1/j.2168-9830.2012.tb00058.x.pd

We can’t get no satisfaction!: The relationship between students’ ethical reasoning and their satisfaction with engineering ethics education

Student satisfaction is a common metric for evaluating classes and other educational programs, and sometimes that satisfaction is seen as a proxy for effectiveness of those programs. For this paper, we examine student satisfaction within the context of engineering ethics education, examining the relationship between student satisfaction and ethical reasoning ability. As part of a national study of ethics education, we draw on survey data from 3,914 undergraduate engineering students, and results suggest that higher levels of ethical reasoning actually predict lower levels of satisfaction with ethics education. Further, the amount of ethics education and the methods through which it is taught also affect students’ levels of satisfaction.National Science FoundationPeer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/86096/1/E3_ASEE_Satisfaction_2011.pd

Outcomes of engaging engineering undergraduates in co-curricular experiences

The effects of involvement in co-curricular experiences (i.e. internships, co-ops, service projects, and clubs and organizations) on student persistence in college is well documented in the education literature. What remains unclear are the specific ways that involvement influences the development of engineering undergraduate students. We found that when engineering students are involved in co-curricular experiences they exhibit greater leadership skills, are more thoughtful about their ethical decisions, and can articulate how involvement influences their ethical development. In this paper, we explore outcomes of participating in co-curricular experiences for engineering students at four undergraduate focused institutions.National Science FoundationPeer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/86117/1/E3_ASEE_Cocurricular_2011.pd

Impact of Different Curricular Approaches to Ethics Education on Ethical Reasoning Ability

National Science FoundationPeer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/86116/1/E3_ASEE_Curricular_2011.pd

Transiting Disintegrating Planetary Debris around WD 1145+017

More than a decade after astronomers realized that disrupted planetary material likely pollutes the surfaces of many white dwarf stars, the discovery of transiting debris orbiting the white dwarf WD 1145+017 has opened the door to new explorations of this process. We describe the observational evidence for transiting planetary material and the current theoretical understanding (and in some cases lack thereof) of the phenomenon.Comment: Invited review chapter. Accepted March 23, 2017 and published October 7, 2017 in the Handbook of Exoplanets. 15 pages, 10 figure

The Science of Sungrazers, Sunskirters, and Other Near-Sun Comets

This review addresses our current understanding of comets that venture close to the Sun, and are hence exposed to much more extreme conditions than comets that are typically studied from Earth. The extreme solar heating and plasma environments that these objects encounter change many aspects of their behaviour, thus yielding valuable information on both the comets themselves that complements other data we have on primitive solar system bodies, as well as on the near-solar environment which they traverse. We propose clear definitions for these comets: We use the term near-Sun comets to encompass all objects that pass sunward of the perihelion distance of planet Mercury (0.307 AU). Sunskirters are defined as objects that pass within 33 solar radii of the Sun’s centre, equal to half of Mercury’s perihelion distance, and the commonly-used phrase sungrazers to be objects that reach perihelion within 3.45 solar radii, i.e. the fluid Roche limit. Finally, comets with orbits that intersect the solar photosphere are termed sundivers. We summarize past studies of these objects, as well as the instruments and facilities used to study them, including space-based platforms that have led to a recent revolution in the quantity and quality of relevant observations. Relevant comet populations are described, including the Kreutz, Marsden, Kracht, and Meyer groups, near-Sun asteroids, and a brief discussion of their origins. The importance of light curves and the clues they provide on cometary composition are emphasized, together with what information has been gleaned about nucleus parameters, including the sizes and masses of objects and their families, and their tensile strengths. The physical processes occurring at these objects are considered in some detail, including the disruption of nuclei, sublimation, and ionisation, and we consider the mass, momentum, and energy loss of comets in the corona and those that venture to lower altitudes. The different components of comae and tails are described, including dust, neutral and ionised gases, their chemical reactions, and their contributions to the near-Sun environment. Comet-solar wind interactions are discussed, including the use of comets as probes of solar wind and coronal conditions in their vicinities. We address the relevance of work on comets near the Sun to similar objects orbiting other stars, and conclude with a discussion of future directions for the field and the planned ground- and space-based facilities that will allow us to address those science topics