One of the key challenges of Engineering Education is developing students' ability to navigate and solve problems that have multiple solution paths. In order to accomplish this, the process of solving these moderately- and ill-structured problems needs to be better understood. We used two approaches to achieve this. First, we performed problem…

The current study investigates Talk Aloud Problem Solving (TAPS) for master's level students at Endicott College in preparation for the Behavior Analysis Certification Board (BACB) exam. The exam format of multiple-choice questions was used as the basis for acquisition and utilization of a TAPS skill repertoire. The purpose was to add to the…

Students in Master of Business Administration programs enroll in this type of degree program intending to develop or learn skills ranging from financial modeling to crafting and communicating a new business proposal. Associated with a career switch or progression, frequently MBA students arrive in their new, post-graduation roles with a skill gap…

The following inquiry asks the question: "What is the experience of transformation using imaginal knowing in counseling education?" Inspired by personal experience of transformation through education, the author engages this question by exploring others' experience of imaginal knowing in the context of a core-curriculum graduate-level…

The world has experienced rapid changes, leading to pressing issues such as environmental degradation, social inequality, and resource depletion. As a transdisciplinary field, evaluation has emerged as a crucial tool in addressing these challenges and promoting systemic change. However, concerns have been raised regarding the field's capacity to…

Human health and wellbeing are rooted in the environment, and thus are threatened by environmental degradation. The healthcare industry, as the largest sector of the economy by volume and workforce, is a significant contributor to environmental degradation. Sustainable solutions mitigate environmental degradation and protect future generations.…

I have created a general workflow that describes how students reason through non-trivial organic predict-the-product problems. This was accomplished through an iterative process that combined the experiences of instructors with holistic impressions of think-aloud interviews, incorporating feedback from both undergraduate focus groups and graduate…

The current study utilized a qualitative phenomenological design to explore Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs)' experiences related to being victimized in the workplace. Through individual interviews, rich information was collected related to types of workplace bullying behaviors GTAs experienced, factors that encourage and discourage reporting…

It has been well-establishing in the field of educational research that traditional educational methods such as passive lectures and labs where students follow pre-designed procedures to verify information already told to them are not effective for promoting meaningful and lasting conceptual understanding. Alongside this knowledge have come a…

Research has indicated that African American undergraduate students experience racial microaggressions within their university contexts, and these experiences are associated with negative outcomes such as symptoms of depression and anxiety (Cokely, Hall-Clark, & Hicks, 2011; Nadal, 2011; Nadal, et al., 2014). Little is known about the…

Hackathons, the time-bound collaborative project-based competitions increasingly popular with undergraduate CS students, are both transformative and problematic. On one hand, they are unique opportunities to apply skills learned in the classroom to real-world, interest driven projects that celebrate risk taking, collaboration, and playfulness. On…

Mental health issues are growing in the United States. Postgraduate school is widely known to increase the level of psychological difficulties (Dyrbye et al., 2006) experienced by students. There is a need to address mental health care in graduate nursing students. This project was a descriptive observational comparison pre-post-intervention…

This study explored the learning experiences of higher education students who suffered childhood trauma (CT). Eleven participants both undergraduate and graduate who attended a Midwestern university self-identified as CT survivors. There was research on the negative impact of CT on learning in children and adolescents, as well as posttraumatic…

Becoming a skillful prover is critical for success in advanced undergraduate and graduate mathematics courses. In this dissertation, I report my investigations of proof and the proving process in three separate studies. In the first study, I examined the amount of logic used in student-constructed proofs to help in the design of…

This dissertation examines the problem-solving processes of seven graduate student novices enrolled in a course in educational assessment and ten educational assessment experts. Using Jonassen's (1997) ill- and well-structured problem-solving frameworks, I analyze think-aloud protocols of experts and novices as they examine ill-structured…