Hitting the sweet spot

November 3, 2015 by
Arielle Bodine, an applied math and economics double major, recently researched why professional golfers receive endorsements through the Opportunities for Undergraduate Research Experience at Missouri S&T. She’s shown here at the S&T Golf Course. Sam O’Keefe/Missouri S&T

Arielle Bodine, an applied math and economics double major, recently researched why professional golfers receive endorsements through the Opportunities for Undergraduate Research Experience at Missouri S&T. She’s shown here at the S&T Golf Course. Sam O’Keefe/Missouri S&T

While some undergraduate students peer through microscopes or write computer programs for their research projects, senior Arielle Bodine made the world of professional golf her laboratory. The applied math and economics double major recently took an eagle-eyed look at the factors that led Phil Mickelson and 46 other top professional golfers to pick up valuable endorsements. Her research was part of the Opportunities for Undergraduate Research Experience at Missouri S&T.

“Professional golfers make a significant portion of their yearly earnings from sources that are not tournament purses,” says Bodine. “In fact, many golfers make more money from endorsements and off-course appearances than they do from golfing in tournaments.”

Bodine, of St. Charles, Missouri, credits Dr. Michael Davis, associate professor of economics and an expert in sports economics, with opening the door for her to tackle a research project.

“I was taking his Intermediate Macroeconomic Theory class and he asked me if I had ever done an OURE project,” she says. “I thought it would be cool but had never pursued it. Now I’m absolutely glad I did.” [Read more…]

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Rethinking thinking

July 8, 2015 by
Bekah Davis observes students at John F. Hodge High School in St. James, Missouri.

Bekah Davis observes students at John F. Hodge High School in St. James, Missouri. Photo by Sam O’Keefe

For many Missouri S&T freshmen, Chemistry 1310, General Chemistry, is a tough hurdle in their academic careers. Many students struggle with the academically rigorous and demanding course. When the faculty who teach General Chemistry approached Daniel Reardon, assistant professor of English and technical communication at S&T, about testing the effectiveness of the course, he had the perfect student in mind to complete the research.

Reardon chose Bekah Davis, then a senior in English education, to help complete the project. As part of an Opportunities for Undergraduate Research Experience (OURE) project, Davis aligned Chemistry 1310 exam questions with Norman L. Webb’s Depth of Knowledge (DOK) Levels to study how well S&T students performed on each type of question. Webb’s four knowledge levels range in difficulty from recall and reproduction questions, DOK level 1, to extended thinking questions, DOK level 4.

“After aligning the scores of exams, I looked at the average scores on a problem-by-problem basis,” says Davis. “I discovered a large drop in the average student score when the questions required critical and strategic thinking, DOK level 3, or extended thinking.”

Based on her work, Davis concluded that many of the students in General Chemistry are not equipped to answer level 3 and level 4 questions – and Davis thinks she knows why.

“This problem may be caused in part by standardized testing because those tests do not ask level 3 and 4 questions, so students never learn how to approach them,” she says. “This is an important topic in need of further study to bring about needed and effective changes to education.”

Davis completed her student teaching this past spring before graduating in May. She currently works as an editor at the U.S. Geological Survey.

“I hope that my research will spur my colleagues and peers to continue this research and encourage other scholars to contribute to this discussion on standardized testing,” she says. “I want to continue this research and I’m excited to see where it goes in the coming years.”

By Arielle Bodine

 

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Championing STEM for minorities

September 9, 2014 by
Championing STEM for minorities

Electrical engineering junior Emily Hernandez wants to see more diversity in the engineering fields and she is doing her part to help.

Emily Hernandez didn’t wait until college to start recruiting fellow minorities to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. She started as an eighth-grader during a University of Memphis camp called Girls Experiencing Engineering near her Germantown, Tennessee, hometown. [Read more…]

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