Honors Theses
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Item Open Access Enhancing student visualization of primary stabilizing forces through 3D protein models(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2024) Flynn, Aine, authorThis Honors Thesis is an action-research project which involves creative design of a lesson plan for a Principles of Biochemistry course, aimed at making the challenging topic of protein structure more visual, engaging, and digestible. Action-research projects systematically test new practices, using collection of data as an evaluation of the effectiveness of the new practice. By combining scientifically accurate content with immersive pedagogy strategies, this thesis project explores how 3D protein models can enhance student understanding of primary stabilizing forces within protein structures. In contrast to traditional lecture-style lessons, this project tests if non-traditional pedagogical strategies improve student learning and performance. The lesson plan being tested consists of two parts: (1) guided-instruction construction of a 3D protein model, and (2) a corresponding worksheet. The lesson plan was taught in a flip-style class, in which students were instructed to watch the Echo360 recording of Dr. Sholder's traditional lecture on protein structure. The goal was for students to come to class with some context on the lecture material, before applying the content to an interactive activity during class. During class, students independently constructed their own 3D protein model, while following along with prompts on the corresponding worksheet. The physical protein model adapted Dr. Sholder's 2D representation of a protein (the helical wheel diagram) into a 3D model aimed at enhancing students' visuospatial understanding of molecular interactions. The goal was to help students better understand the learning objective: Compare and contrast the interactions driving the formation of secondary, tertiary, and quaternary structure of proteins. During project implementation– when the lesson plan was taught– students were instructed to construct the model, answer prompts on the worksheet, and answer iClicker "checkpoints" aimed at evaluating student comprehension at each level of protein structure. iClicker data indicated that over half the class benefitted from the lesson plan and interactive 3D protein model. However, more research is necessary to determine the effectiveness of the lesson plan. Some considerations in this project are time management, assessment/evaluation tools, and the flexibility of materials. Overall, this project offers a number of benefits for myself, people in my field, and people outside of my field.Item Open Access Personality similarities and differences within families(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2024-12-05) Connor, Sadie, authorThe following paper details a study conducted through a survey about personality type differences within families. The main goals were to see if significant patterns existed in personality types within families and to promote self-reflection on personality type in participants. Survey participants were directed to take the 16 Personalities test online, which is a free Myers-Briggs like Type Indicator. Participants were anonymous but connected their surveys to their families' through a unique family code. Patterns in personality type were analyzed based on the participants' answers to a free response question about what family position they held and who they participated with. Through the Chi-Squared Test of Independence, no significant correlations between family position or personality type/traits could be identified, however, the sample size of 56 participants was not large enough for the tests to be reliable. For this reason, comparisons were made mostly through data visualization, with emphasis on how patterns identified in that way should only be considered potential hypotheses for future studies with higher sample sizes. The patterns identified were that mothers and fathers had a tendency to be in the Sentinel and Diplomat personality categories, respectively, with seven out of 10 participating mothers being in the Sentinel category, and five of seven fathers being in the diplomat category. No significant personality types were found for any of the birth positions, but every birth order position did show a preference for specific letters in the personality type based off of the data visualization. The third letter (associated with Feeling vs Thinking) showed the most differences, with 31 out of 48 family comparisons having the third letter differ. The results for the self-reflection portion were generally positive and showed that the survey likely succeeded at promoting self-reflection in the participants, with 78% of participants saying they were likely or very likely to have a conversation with their family about their personality.