Abstract This Complete Research paper investigates the impact of a pedagogical intervention designed to promote equity of learning opportunities for historically underrepresented students in first-year engineering programs. Engineering programs have long struggled to create inclusive and equitable learning environments. Much work has been spearheaded by administrative groups such as departments of Diversity & Inclusion seeking to promote equity through changes to broader institutional culture. Student classroom experiences remain relatively neglected and thus such efforts have rarely inspired STEM faculty buy-in. Consequently, students from historically underrepresented groups, especially those students perceived to have lower social capital, may still face substantial disparities in their classroom experiences, including exclusion from perceived high-profile team roles. A flagship first-year engineering design course at a medium-sized, private university in the Midwest provided a unique opportunity to address many of these disparities. The course covers essential communication skills, how to grapple with complex problems, and the ability to work in teams. Faculty and student feedback, however, suggest that teams may allocate work among team members in ways that inhibit historically underrepresented students from access to the full range of course learning objectives. To improve equity of learning opportunity for all students, the course was modified to include a structured teamwork approach which identifies four key team tasks—primary research, secondary research, training building and testing, and project management—and aligns them with roles assigned to each team member. In five 16-student experimental sections in both fall 2019 and winter 2020, students rotated through the four roles, and the associated planning, doing and documentation. In the control sections, the teams were left to allocate work for themselves. The study used indirect measures of students' learning rather than direct measures to assess the impact of the intervention. In Fall 2019, experimental sections showed increased growth in five inclusive team based learning outcomes, and six measures associated with course learning objectives. In winter 2020, there were fewer statistically significant differences between experimental and control, with only two inclusive team based outcomes and four course learning outcomes. Since the Fall 2019 and Winter 2020 post-survey data were collected in very different contexts, most notably the start of the pandemic, data from the two quarters cannot be combined into a single larger dataset. However, some of the increased learning associated with inclusive team-based learning outcomes, and course learning outcomes implies some impact across the quarters related to intentional role rotation of work associated with course learning objectives. Although we were not able to isolate the impact on historically underrepresented groups in engineering, the results are encouraging and do imply that it could be beneficial for this population. Future work would look to access a larger group of students in a single context to allow for measurement of the impact on role rotation on historically underrepresented minorities in engineering.
This paper, through the lens of the Los Angeles Riots of 1992, examines the repercussions of racial prejudices that are often ignored during the rapid development of the United States. To assess the dominant factor in causing the Riots, the paper explores and revisits a variety of factors that are associated with the exacerbation of the relationship between Korean-Americans and African-Americans, especially those in Los Angeles Koreatown. Using analysis of recent events, the paper details the traumatic aftermath of the Riots that continues to haunt numerous communities. The paper offers both theoretical and actionable insights into the future development of race relations in America and the maintenance of America’s founding values. This paper, in its entirety, contributes to the understanding of how nuanced interactions between distinct populations could trigger unanticipated conflicts.
A counseling tool routinely used by pediatric audiologists and early intervention-specialists is the often-named "common sounds audiogram" (CSA). Typically, a child's hearing detection thresholds are plotted on the CSA to indicate that child's audibility of speech and environmental sounds. Importantly, the CSA may be the first item that parents see when their child's hearing loss is explained. Thus, the accuracy of the CSA and its associated counseling information are integral to the parents' understanding of what their child can hear and to the parents' role in the child's future hearing care and interventions. Currently available CSAs were collected from professional societies, early intervention providers, device manufacturers, etc., and analyzed (
Objective: Updated cochlear implant technology and optimized fitting can have a substantial impact on speech perception. The effects of upgrades in processor technology and aided thresholds on word recognition at soft input levels and sentence recognition in noise were examined. We hypothesized that updated speech processors and lower aided thresholds would allow improved recognition of soft speech without compromising performance in noise. Study Design: 109 teenagers who had used a Nucleus 22-cochlear implant since preschool were tested with their current speech processor(s) (101 unilateral and 8 bilateral): 13 used the Spectra, 22 the ESPrit 22, 61 the ESPrit 3G, and 13 the Freedom. Main Outcome Measures: The Lexical Neighborhood Test (LNT) was administered at 70 and 50 dB SPL and the Bamford Kowal Bench sentences were administered in quiet and in noise. Aided thresholds were obtained for frequency-modulated tones from 250 to 4,000 Hz. Results were analyzed using repeated measures analysis of variance. Results: Aided thresholds for the Freedom/3G group were significantly lower (better) than the Spectra/Sprint group. LNT scores at 50 dB were significantly higher for the Freedom/3G group. No significant differences between the 2 groups were found for the LNT at 70 or sentences in quiet or noise. Conclusion: Adolescents using updated processors that allowed for aided detection thresholds of 30 dB HL or better performed the best at soft levels. The BKB in noise results suggest that greater access to soft speech does not compromise listening in noise.
Although children with unilateral hearing loss (UHL) are at risk for educational difficulties and behavioral problems, the research on treatment outcomes is limited. Previous studies suggested that children with UHL would benefit from frequency-modulated assistive devices only. The objective of this study was to examine whether children with UHL would benefit from using a conventional hearing aid in the poorer-hearing ear.Eight children, 7 to 12 years of age, with mild to moderately severe UHL and their parents and teachers participated in this study. The participants were fitted with digital hearing aids by use of pediatric prescriptive targets. The primary outcome measures were speech perception tests in quiet and noise and subjective assessments from participants, parents, and teachers, administered before hearing aid fitting and after 3 months of hearing aid use.The group average speech perception scores showed no significant aided benefit or detriment in any of the conditions tested. However, subjective assessments showed large significant aided benefits at home and school according to the children and their parents, and in quality of life as reported by the children with UHL.Overall, the results suggest that a hearing aid trial should be considered for children with mild to moderately severe UHL, with individual monitoring for benefit.
