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Item Student experiences of interdisciplinary connections in high school science courses(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2022) Yamagiwa, Nicole Collier; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: C. John GravesIn high school, students often perceive science as an independent entity, and many struggle to connect their current course of study between science classes and/or beyond the realm of science as a whole to increase overall relevance and connection to their lives. In order to engage students and create higher value and increase curiosity in science classes, students must be able to recognize science as a starting place for many interdisciplinary connections. This study investigated how and where students made connections between science classes and other subjects on a biweekly basis. This study also investigated in what formats students felt most connected to science and beyond. Concept Maps were used as a mechanism before summative assessments to visually evaluate how students made connections between the material they were learning as well as what was relevant to their lives. The results indicated that, out of four classes (Geology, Honors Geology, Biology, and Honors Biology), Honors Geology was the most connected as a class over the course of three Quarters of the school year. Students in non-honors classes were the least connected more often. Students felt most connected between scientific disciplines and connecting material outside of science through casual conversations, rather than homework, assessments, or projects. As a whole, however, the students felt more aware of science and its connections due to the implemented biweekly surveys.Item The effects of field experience in a physical geology high school classroom(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2020) Lorenz, Vincente James; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Greg FrancisThe field trip experience has been around for the better part of two centuries (Emmons, 1836; Falcon-Lang, 2009; Hopkins, 1835a, b; Perry 1899). However, with fast-paced technological lifestyles, a shift to teach toward high-stakes testing, and transportation budget cuts, field trip experiences have been pushed increasingly to the outskirts when it comes to modern education. The purpose of this research is to assess the effects of geology field experiences on student learning in a high school geology classroom. A sub-question concentrated on student attitudes and engagement toward studying science. Seventeen public high school students ranging from sophomores to seniors completed the study in a single classroom. The students studied four different geologic sites specific to Indiana. Study sites included a meteor impact site as a non-treatment study and a glacial geology site as a treatment study. Students then studied a second non-treatment site identified as an ancient seafloor environment, and a treatment site focused on karst topography. A variety of data collection tools assessed students both quantitatively and qualitatively. Students completed pre and post-surveys, comprehension pre and post-tests, site-specific notes and drawings, as well as interviews. Teacher recorded observations and a reflective journal were kept to monitor students and their behavior throughout the study. During the non-treatment period students were told to take notes and draw field sketches based on a specific site in the classroom. During a treatment period students took a field trip to complete notes and field drawings at a specific geologic field site. It is important to note that this study was interrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak and so one non-treatment and one treatment site had to be completed as part of e-learning. I filmed one treatment site to generate a virtual field experience. Student results indicated an overall positive impact toward studying geology via field experiences. Although it was interesting that more students were engaged in the classroom rather than in the field, students displayed positive gains for both treatment units. Students surveyed and interviewed displayed an overall better attitude and appreciation toward studying science.Item Geographic perspectives on state-directed heritage production in Twentieth-Century Montana(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2019) Briwa, Robert Merrill; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: William Wyckoff; William Wyckoff was a co-author of the article, 'Making heritage through Montana's official state highway maps, 1914-2000' in the journal 'Geographical review' which is contained within this thesis.Heritage produces deeply entrenched understandings about places across a range of geographic scales. Heritage is a deliberate framing of identity, actively constructed to promote ties binding history to place. This research interrogates the intersections of heritage, landscape, and state government in twentieth-century Montana. It examines how selected Montana state institutions produced heritage. The Montana Department of Transportation (MDoT), Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks (FWP), and the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) direct heritage production through numerous practices, including cartography (MDoT), state park management (FWP), and historic preservation (SHPO). This dissertation draws from conceptual frameworks of place identity and heritage and employs qualitative methods--principally archival research and document analysis--to examine how these state institutions produce Montana heritage. Between 1914 and 2000, the MDoT used its highway map program to anchor Montana heritage around five themes: territorial identity, mythic west, natural wealth, outdoor recreation, and hospitality. Montana's state park system, particularly Bannack State Park, demonstrates federal and local influences in evolving state visions of heritage at a Montana ghost town. National narratives centered on Euro-American westering experiences evolved to a more culturally inclusive heritage at Bannack. Montana's historic preservation movement under the direction of the SHPO shows a trend towards a decentralized planning model that increasingly emphasizes preservation outcomes grounded in regional and more inclusive perspectives. In Montana's urban landscapes, however, local contexts and generative forces weaken state-directed preservation. These case studies offer six common characteristics of state-directed heritage production in the American West. 1) States shape heritage production in a variety of ways and these diverse institutional drivers evolve over time. 2) State-directed heritage production reflects an evolving dynamic existing across institutional and geographic scales. 3) Key individuals matter in heritage production and they have the ability to shape long-term narratives of state-produced heritage. 4) Sufficient funding from state and federal sources consolidates states' abilities to produce heritage, while insufficient funding from state and federal sources weakens states' abilities to produce heritage. 5) The evolving content of heritage production reflects changing cultural values and related political mandates. 6) State-directed heritage in Montana relies on dispersed heritage governance.Item The impacts of place based education in a middle school science classroom(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2018) Tinder, Cathleen; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Greg FrancisPlace-Based Education is grounded in teaching and learning in the immediate environment, fostering students' connection to place, creating vibrant partnerships between schools and communities. Lesson plans are focused on local topics, and learning is focused on the natural settings around the school or community. Place-Based Education seeks to remedy the consequences of students having less exposure to the natural world, due to digital screen time saturation. This is particularly relevant to science education, and to instilling a love of science and nature in children. This study was conducted on 33 sixth graders at Sea Crest School, an independent school in the San Francisco Bay Area. PBE-focused curriculum was implemented in partnership with the National Park Service, measuring whether PBE had more of an impact on (1) science comprehension, (2) curiosity about and connection to the local landscape, or (3) curiosity and interest in the subject matter. Quantitative measurements included a pre-and post-test and Likert survey, and weekly assessments during the six-week unit, which cycled equally between PBE and traditional inquiry. Qualitative measurements included student interviews, field investigation journals, and post field trip reflections. The results indicated that PBE had the greatest impact on science learning, with substantial positive gains in connection to environment/sense of stewardship, and curiosity and interest in subject matter.Item Geology of the NW 15-minute Ural Quadrangle, Lincoln Co., Montana(Montana State University - Bozeman, 1961) Shelden, Arthur W.Item Making the west malleable : coal, geohistory, and western expansion, 1800-1920(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2015) Zizzamia, Daniel Francis; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Michael ReidyHistorians have long understood the West as a region shaped by aridity. Yet by analyzing scientific imaginations as they interacted with the materiality of western landscapes, this dissertation argues that the history of the American West was equally influenced by the discovery of the watery deep past of its paleo-landscapes. The physical geography and remnant resources generated through geologic time in the American West decisively influenced western settlement and the advancement of American science in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. Through government reports, scientists breathed new life into the ancient denizens and environments of the West. Where others saw an eternal and timeless desert, many scientists saw a plastic and ever-evolving environment. Boosters absorbed the authority of their science to lend credence to visions of a plastic West that would once again become a verdant paradise. Imagined vibrant paleo-environments portrayed once-and-future fertile landscapes that overrode the dominant perception of the American West as arid and hostile to life. With the power granted by coal paired with new technologies, and the Eden-like scientific visions of a former fertile West, vast human-induced climatological changes became an empowering possibility to a nation driven to settle the West. A "paleo-restorative dream" emerged in which the West--by the agency of humans--would return to ancient Edenic landscapes. Indeed, the geoengineering that pervades contemporary discussions concerning climate change and drives hopes to terraform Mars had their origins in the nineteenth century drive to recreate the American frontier.Item The basalts of Yellowstone Valley, southwestern Montana(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 1967) Bush, John HaroldItem Surficial geology of a part of the northeast flank of the Bridger Range, Montana(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 1976) Schrunk, Verne KeithItem The geology and geothermal potential of the upper Madison Valley between Wolf Creek and the Missouri Flats, Madison County, Montana(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 1976) Weinheimer, Gerald JosephItem Geology of a part of the north end of the Gallatin Range, Gallatin County, Montana(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 1966) Tysdal, Russell Gene