Theses and Dissertations at Montana State University (MSU)
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Item Implementation of a school nurse-led anxiety screening protocol within an elementary school: a quality improvement project(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Nursing, 2024) Sanders, Donna Ruth; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Margaret Hammersla; This is a manuscript style paper that includes co-authored chapters.Childhood anxiety disorders are becoming increasingly prevalent in the US, with reported cases rising from 7.1% in 2016 to over 9.2% by 2020. This increase is often manifested through somatic symptoms in children, highlighting the urgent need for early detection and intervention, particularly in school settings where these symptoms frequently result in visits to school nurses. In a rural elementary school in Montana, there was a lack of systematic screening for anxiety among students aged 8-12. These students often present with somatic complaints that lack a clear medical diagnosis, leading to under-identification and inconsistent referral practices. The Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) framework guided the implementation of a school nurse-led anxiety screening initiative using the SCARED tool. This project focused on systematic screening of English-speaking students who exhibited recurrent, unexplained somatic symptoms. Key interventions included training the school nurse on the SCARED tool, the establishment of structured screening protocols, and improved communication with parents to meet legislative consent requirements. The initiative was highly successful, achieving a 100% identification rate for students meeting the anxiety criteria, with all positively screened students referred for further support. These results demonstrate a significant enhancement in schools' capacity to manage childhood anxiety. This quality improvement project effectively addressed the rising prevalence of anxiety disorders in elementary students, emphasizing the value of structured, nurse-led screening processes. It successfully met and exceeded the set SMART goals, offering a replicable model for early detection and management of anxiety in schools. This model also highlights the importance of considering somatic complaints as potential indicators of anxiety disorders.Item New standard of education: implementing a proficiency-based education model in a Montana elementary school district(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 2024) Walker, Melissa Elizabeth; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Christine Rogers StantonIn Montana, recent state-level educational legislation has been written to mandate that school districts adopt proficiency-based models of instruction and assessment. The intent of proficiency-based education is to provide students with rigorous and engaging learning opportunities, provide students with the individualized support needed to become proficient on grade-level standards, and ultimately prepare them for college, career, and civic life (Great Schools Partnership, 2018). Key characteristics of this model examined in this study include curricular resources aligned to standards, formative and summative assessments to guide instruction, varied instructional paces, providing students multiple opportunities to demonstrate proficiency, and embedding student self-assessment (Great Schools Partnership, 2018). The purpose of this research is to understand and explore Belgrade School District's implementation of proficiency-based education (PBE) structures within its elementary schools and develop a strategic action plan based on emergent facilitators and barriers. An intrinsic case study was conducted, and data was collected through semi-structured interviews with teacher and administrator participants. Structural coding was applied, and thematic analysis was conducted to identify facilitators and barriers to each criterion of PBE in Belgrade. The following themes emerged from participant responses: "time," "pockets," and "putting the cart before the horse." Each of these themes contains more specific barriers, such as lacking professional development, insufficient accountability from administrators, inadequate Tier 1 instruction, gaps in understanding of the rationale for PBE, and varied teacher buy-in, which participants feel contribute to a noncomprehensive implementation of proficiency-based education in the elementary district. An action plan was developed for the district based on these barriers, which can be adapted to fit schools in similar contexts that are facing similar legislative pressure. In addition to meeting accreditation requirements, adopting a PBE model has the potential to affect student achievement and educational experience due to its emphasis on equity (Levine & Patrick, 2018).Item Enhancing students' engineering identities and attitudes towards engineering and technology through place-conscious engineering activities(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 2024) Moonga, Miracle; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Rebekah Hammack; Nick Lux (co-chair)Students' engineering identities and attitudes toward engineering are important because they can determine if students will pursue engineering careers. However, a dearth of research focuses on how participating in place-conscious engineering affects students' engineering identities and attitudes towards engineering and technology. This explanatory sequential mixed methods study investigated the effect of engaging elementary students in place-conscious engineering activities on their engineering identities and attitudes towards engineering and technology. Students completed two place-conscious engineering activities: (1) following a local wildfire, students designed and built air filters to prevent smoke from entering the homes of affected families residing in a nearby community, and (2) after the state issued several warnings about eminent floods due to ice-jams on a local river, students designed flood prevention strategies. Quantitative data about students' engineering identities were collected using pre and post surveys of the two subscales of the Engineering Identity Development Scale (EIDS): (1) academic subscale and (2) engineering career subscale. Quantitative data regarding students' attitudes toward engineering and technology were collected using pre and post surveys of the engineering and technology subscale of the Students' Attitudes Toward Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM). Finally, to explain the trends observed in the quantitative data, qualitative data were collected through semi-structured focus group interviews. Findings suggested that students' academic identities and attitudes towards engineering and technology improved as a result of participating in place-conscious engineering activities. The study recommends exposing elementary students to place-conscious engineering activities to improve their engineering identities and attitudes towards engineering and technology.Item The effects of Medicaid expansion on special education enrollment(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 2021) Schultz, Gunnar Marcus; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Wendy A. StockThis paper examines the effects of Medicaid eligibility on special education enrollment, exploiting variation in childhood Medicaid eligibility arising from the Medicaid expansions of the 1980s and 1990s. I find that these expansions led to increased special education enrollment rates, particularly among children with 'non-severe' disabilities. Further, I find evidence that the effects are largely concentrated in late elementary school. The results suggest that broadened public healthcare access promotes student welfare through improved evaluation and identification of children with disabilities, primarily among low-income children.Item How the amplify science curriculum impacts 4th grade students and the teacher(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2020) Uppendahl, Kathryn Ann; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Greg FrancisIn this study, 4th graders at Benjamin Franklin Elementary in Kirkland, WA, were taught science using the newly adopted NGSS-aligned curriculum, Amplify. Throughout the Amplify Earth's Features unit, the author tracked student growth in the Science and Engineering Practice: engaging in arguments from evidence, measured student emotional and behavioral engagement, and measured student curiosity. Student pre-assessments and post-assessments, student surveys, short answer questions, teacher reflections, and video observed lessons were used to analyze the effects of the Amplify curriculum on students. While results suggest that insufficient opportunities for practice limited student growth, they also indicate that most students are both emotionally and behaviorally engaged. The study also found that while the Earth's Features unit fostered curiosity in the middle of the unit, students were less curious about the topics at the end of the unit.1Item Self-efficacy and science identify of second grade girls in STEM club(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2020) Shaw, Kathryn Elisa; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Greg FrancisSecond grade girls were invited to participate in an after-school STEM club. These students were identified because they would benefit from a STEM program, by both their teacher and our STEAM teacher. Girls in STEM fields are severely lacking in today's job market, and many programs target girls who are in upper elementary or middle school. This program was designed to catch girls at a younger age and give them exposure to science-based fields, so that positive experiences with science could keep them engaged throughout their elementary science career. This STEM club was jobs-based (and included jobs such as microbiologist, coder, aerospace engineer, forensic scientist, and geologist) and included mentors. Mentors were women, chosen from the community who had a specific interest in that science topic. Girls met the mentors and asked them about their jobs, hobbies, and goals. Girls came for one hour after school, two times a week. Girls were asked to be present for most, if not all, the STEM club dates. Students were assessed on their feelings of science identify and self-efficacy twice, once before the program began and once after the program had ended. These girls' scores were then compared to one another as well as the whole of second grade (both boys and girls), to determine importance. Girls in the STEM club were more likely to think of themselves as scientists, more likely to love science, more likely to have a belief that they can do any science and were more likely to believe that science came easy to them. Girls in the STEM club were also more likely to be familiar with science jobs and what they were more likely to believe that both boys and girls were good at science, or even that girls were better than boys at science. The girls in the STEM club were equally likely to want to be a scientist when they grew up as other second grade students.Item The impact of scientists' struggle stories on student grit(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2019) Stitt, Sarah Renee; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Walter WoolbaughPerseverance for long term goals, otherwise known as grit, is an essential character trait for the progress of mankind. The ability to stick with a task and even find joy and passion in that task is not something that can easily be taught, yet it is critical nonetheless. This study aimed to prove that the character trait of grit could be improved through the presentation of famous scientists' struggle stories. Teachers read aloud four different biographies of famous scientists told in a way that highlighted the challenges and obstacles that these discoverers had to overcome before they were ever recognized for their work. Results were recorded through the use of a pre and post grit survey and a challenge problem. Students and teachers were interviewed for further evidence. The survey results were variable while the challenge problems and interviews demonstrated positive outcomes.Item Improving measurement accuracy during science experiments with fourth grade students(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2018) Eichner, Samantha; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Walter WoolbaughThis action research study measured fourth grade students' length measurement accuracy on performance assessments and science experiments before and after treatment. The purpose of the treatment was to determine whether meaningful practice would improve students' accuracy. Students' measurement accuracy on science experiments and performance tasks was recorded along with observations, interviews, and surveys. To determine which system they were most accurate in, students measured in both the English and metric systems. The results suggest that with practice students can make notable gains and record fewer unreasonable answers.Item Incorporating literature into the science classroom(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2018) Browning, Linzy Sue; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Greg FrancisIntegration of subjects is a major goal within the classical education model, with teachers and parent educators seeking to present the various areas of study as interrelated strands, rather than stand-alone subjects. This project sought to integrate age-appropriate literature into an elementary homeschool co-op class's science course work to determine if doing so had an effect on student performance and student attitudes. It also assessed parental attitudes, in particular the extent to which the treatment modeled to them assisted them in integrating literature and history into their science instruction and how they felt about that. During the comparison and treatment periods, students were engaged in an 8-week human body unit, which included memorizing the major parts of each body system, experimenting with a variety of phenomena related to the function of the various systems, and making a life-sized paper model of the entire body with all of the major organs. During the 4-week comparison period, students were introduced to the week's body system and organs, with discussion about what functions the system and organs carry out. This was followed by a lab activity in which students explored a phenomenon related to the function of the system introduced that day. During the treatment period, classroom instruction was modified to incorporate 10-15 minutes of interaction with literature related to the body system and organs being studied, and students received literature to interact with during the week. Weekly quizzes showed an insignificant rise in scores with the treatment. However, student surveys and student and parent interviews indicated a decidedly positive shift in attitude toward the content with the incorporation of literature into the lessons.Item Matoaka Elementary School : an exploration into the inter-relationships between technology and livability(Montana State University - Bozeman, 1993) Boyer, Steven W.