Freshman Year Research Articles

Joyce Weisbecker: The first indie game developer

Joyce Weisbecker was always interested in her father Joseph’s work. What child wouldn’t be? Joseph was the inventor of the Think-a-Dot and other games, a writer, and a magician who loved learning and teaching. But that’s not all. Joseph was also the engineer who led RCA into a new technological era with his 8-bit microprocessor architecture. Throughout the 1970s, he prototyped and developed a number of programmable video games, educational systems, and game consoles, all showcasing what a game changer the microprocessor was going to be to a nascent consumer electronics industry. These included the hobbyist’s build-it-yourself COSMAC Elf articles and the Studio II programmable video game console. Weisbecker followed along with her father’s inventions, spending time with him in his at-home workshop, and in the summer of 1976, before her freshman year in college, she sold her car race game <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Speedway</i> to RCA for its Studio II, making her the first indie game developer.

Thriving under pressure: The effects of stress-related wise interventions on affect, sleep, and exam performance for college students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Nearly all students experience stress as they pursue important academic goals. Because stress can be magnified for students from disadvantaged backgrounds, it becomes important to identify interventions that can help mitigate this stress, particularly for these populations as they enter academic environments. We examine the effects of stress mindset and stress management interventions administered to students from disadvantaged backgrounds (N = 140) before freshman year. We compare effects on affect, sleep, and performance during end-of-year exams seen in a subset of these students who could be tracked via experience sampling (N = 57) to those of a comparison group at the same elite university (N = 74) receiving no such stress interventions. As predicted, we find significant differences in exam-week positive affect between the stress mindset and comparison groups. However, there was no difference in positive affect between the stress mindset and management groups or the stress management and comparison groups. For negative affect, stress, sleep, and exam performance, we find no significant differences between any of the three groups. However, both stress interventions decoupled the significant negative association between exam-week stress and exam performance exhibited by the comparison group, rendering the relationship nonsignificant. The reduction in this association was somewhat more pronounced for the mindset relative to the management group. These findings suggest that mindset and management approaches both confer benefits in certain circumstances and highlight the potential value of targeting mindsets about stress using a "wise intervention" approach for students from disadvantaged backgrounds during stressful times. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Computer or teacher: Who predicts dropout best?

IntroductionMachine learning algorithms use data to identify at-risk students early on such that dropout can be prevented. Teachers, on the other hand, may have a perspective on a student’s chance, derived from their observations and previous experience. Are such subjective perspectives of teachers indeed predictive for identifying at-risk students, and can these perspectives help increase the prediction performance of machine learning algorithms? This study puts 9 teachers in an upper secondary vocational education program to the test.MethodsFor each of the 95 freshmen students enrolled in the program, these teachers were asked whether a student would drop out by the end of their freshman year. Teachers answered this question at the beginning of the program and again after the first 10 weeks of the program.ResultsTeachers predicted dropout better than the machine learning algorithms at the start of the program, in particular, because they were able to identify students with a very high likelihood of dropout that could not be identified by the algorithms. However, after the first period, even though prediction accuracy increased over time for both algorithms and teachers, algorithms outperformed the teachers. A ranking, combining the teachers composite and the random forest algorithm, had better sensitivity than each separately, though not better precision.

Supporting First Generation Latinx Freshmen: The Importance of University Resources, Faculty, and Peers

ABSTRACT The rise of Latinx college enrollment has resulted in a corresponding increase in colleges identifying as Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI). Yet, Latinx students’ degree attainment continues to lag, with a noteworthy drop in attendance after the first year of college. Freshman year is a pivotal time as students adjust to a new environment and must learn how to successfully navigate college. During this developmental transition, campus support is key in helping students successfully transition and persist in college. This qualitative study examined first generation Latinx students at an HSI to assess students’ navigation of college, explore their knowledge and utilization of campus services, and examine their engagement with peers and faculty. Although many students acknowledged the presence of campus resources, there remained a disconnect in how to become integrated within the campus community. Universities can better support first generation Latinx students by reflecting on how institutional practices can be more visible to students, and promoting opportunities for relational exchanges between students, their peers, and professors to increase students’ sense of belonging and retention over time.

Adviser Value Added and Student Outcomes: Evidence from Randomly Assigned College Advisers

This paper provides the first causal evidence on the impact of college adviser quality on student outcomes. To do so, we exploit a unique setting where students are randomly assigned to faculty advisers during their first year of college. We find that higher adviser value added (VA) substantially improves freshman year GPA, time to complete freshman year and four-year graduation rates. Additionally, higher adviser VA increases high-ability students’ likelihood of enrolling and graduating with a STEM degree. Our results indicate that allocating resources towards improving the quality of academic advising may play a key role in promoting college success. (JEL I23, I26, J24, J31, O15)

Analysis and Enlightenment of Interpersonal Relationship Conflicts of Freshmen in Dormitory

Interpersonal relationship refers to the psychological and social connection formed by mutual influence between people in the process of interaction (Shen, 2008). Dealing with dormitory interpersonal relationship plays an important role in college students' study, life, physical and mental health development. From the perspective of the counselor's work, based on the case of a male dormitory interpersonal conflict incident in freshman year, this paper considers that the counselor can effectively resolve the interpersonal conflict in the dormitory of college students by the following methods: (1) Anticipate and deal with emergencies in a timely manner; (2)Guide students to resolve conflicts on their own through communication; (3) Build the "micro-culture" of dormitory; (4) Give full play to the role of class committee in class management. This paper provides practical reference for counselors to carry out dormitory management for freshmen and deal with interpersonal crisis events of college students.

Identifying Prerequisite Courses in Undergraduate Biology Using Machine Learning

Many undergraduate students who matriculated in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) degree programs drop out or switch their major. Previous studies indicate that performance of students in prerequisite courses is important for attrition of students in STEM. This study analyzed demographic information, ACT/SAT score, and performance of students in freshman year courses to develop machine learning models predicting their success in earning a bachelor’s degree in biology. The predictive model based on Random Forest (RF) and Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) showed a better performance in terms of AUC (Area Under the Curve) with more balanced sensitivity and specificity than Logistic Regression (LR), K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN), and Neural Network (NN) models. An explainable machine learning approach called break-down was employed to identify important freshman year courses that could have a larger impact on student success at the biology degree program and student levels. More important courses identified at the program level can help program coordinators to prioritize their effort in addressing student attrition while more important courses identified at the student level can help academic advisors to provide more personalized, data-driven guidance to students.

MENTORING PRACTICES IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE: A SUPPORTIVE ENVIRONMENT FOR STUDENTS OF EFL

This paper aims to discuss the development of the teaching project Mentoring Practices in English Language: a supportive environment for students of EFL, under the effects and circumstances of the remote teaching context. Focused on the systematic monitorship of contents and related knowledge, this project seeks to offer, in the Portuguese-English language program at Felcs/UFRN, pedagogical support for students in their freshman and sophomore years who present learning difficulties related to the English Language. The report addresses aspects that underlie the work with activities that aim to improve the quality of the undergraduate course and the teacher training process: the interaction and learning space, the use of technological resources, and the approach and use of the target language linked to the development of the participants’ autonomy. This proposal is theoretically based on studies developed by Harmer (2007), Bygate (2001), Larsen-Freeman (2001), and others. Data obtained through monitoring, and dialogue with those involved during the meetings point to the importance of the pedagogical support that is provided through the mentoring project, taking into consideration the existence of gaps and weaknesses in learning, which become evident at the beginning of the educational process in Higher Education.

Parental monitoring, family conflict, and adolescent alcohol use: A longitudinal latent class analysis.

This study examined relationships among parental monitoring, family conflict, and subgroups of adolescent alcohol use identified through longitudinal latent class analyses (LLCA). Differences in these subgroups across sex and race/ethnicity were also examined. The present study used data (N = 4,067; 51% male, 49% female) collected during a longitudinal study in which adolescents completed questionnaires each semester for seven semesters, beginning in spring of their freshman year of high school until spring of their senior year. LLCA demonstrated three classes of drinking over time (low, increasing, and moderate use). The majority of adolescents were increasing-use drinkers. Moderate drinkers were more likely to be male than female; nondrinkers were most likely to be African American; and increasing-use drinkers were more likely to be Mexican American. Adolescents who received less maternal monitoring and experienced more family conflict were more likely to be identified in the class of moderate alcohol use compared to nonuse. These results highlight the importance of encouraging parental monitoring and decreasing family conflict to reduce the likelihood of adolescent alcohol use throughout the high school years (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Pioneer Mother

Pioneer Mother

Daily Gastrointestinal Symptoms And Weight Loss In A Young Female Athlete

HISTORY: 21-year-old female college ice hockey player with PMH of depression/anxiety on sertraline presents with a 3-month history of abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. This was accompanied by a 15-pound weight loss since freshman year of college. She states that she experiences emesis and diarrhea daily, however feels like she has a normal appetite and eats until she feels full. She presented to the ED, prior to our visit, for abdominal pain and vomiting, and was prescribed a PPI with no lab work at the time. At our visit, she did report feeling anxious as she had ended a 3-year long relationship which she described as being “toxic.” PHYSICAL EXAMINATION: General Appearance: Anxious appearing young Caucasian female in no acute distress with mild hand tremor Abdominal: Tenderness to palpation over the epigastric region without rebound tenderness. Prominent aortic pulse noted in abdomen. No lower quadrant or right upper quadrant tenderness to palpation. Resp: No acute respiratory distressCV: Regular rate and rhythm. No murmurs or clicks. No cyanosis of the fingers or lips. DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSIS: 1) Gastroesophageal reflux disease 2) Inflammatory Bowel Disease/Irritable Bowel Syndrome 3) Celiac disease4) H. Pylori TEST AND RESULTS: Fecal studies (calprotectin feces, stool culture, stool leukocytes, H Pylori stool, stool ova and parasites, FOBT) returned negative. TSH levels returned undetectable with free thyroxine levels returning elevated at 5.45. CMP returned borderline abnormal with mildly decreased CO2 and mildly increased BUN. CBC, ESR, CRP, celiac disease panel all negative. FINAL WORKING DIAGNOSIS: Thyrotoxicosis secondary to Grave’s disease TREATMENT AND OUTCOMES: The athlete was held from sporting activity due to concern for caloric deficiency as well as increased cardiac load to due hypermetabolic state. She was referred to Endocrinology where her thyrotropin receptor antibody returned positive consistent with Grave’s disease. She was initiated on atenolol for symptomatic control.

Exploring Temporal Changes In Exercise Behavior, Perceived Fitness, And Identity In Former High School Athletes

While exercise promotion is recommended to preserve athletes’ post-sport transition quality, specific understanding of behavioral changes after retirement is unknown and necessary for program development. PURPOSE: Document temporal changes to exercise behavior, perceived fitness, and identity in former high school athletes (FHSAs) entering college, understand their exercise experiences, and explain why observed changes occurred using mixed methods. METHODS: Over their freshman year, FHSAs completed 8 online surveys assessing bodyweight, perceived fitness (Likert scale 1-5), self-reported exercise, perceived barriers (Likert scale 1-5), and identity (Likert scale 1-7). Responses were analyzed using hierarchical mixed modeling procedures, idiographic visual analysis, and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC). A subsample completed semi-structured interviews incorporating their survey data, which underwent thematic analysis. RESULTS: As a group, FHSAs (N=35, 7 men, 18±0 years) exhibited no statistically significant changes in any primary outcomes, but idiographic analyses revealed substantial intra-individual variation. Most variables demonstrated “poor”-“fair” consistency (ICC .271-.654); only bodyweight (ICC=.987), athlete identity (ICC=.788), and exercise identity (ICC=.898) exhibited “good”-“excellent” consistency. Interviews (n=14) yielded 5 themes: adapting to transition, from “athlete” to “athletic exerciser”, motivational determinants to exercise, within-person pre-condition, and environment. CONCLUSION: FHSAs maintained relatively high levels of exercise, identity, and ‘good’ fitness perceptions as a group. However, noted variability from participants’ time devoted to schoolwork, exercise-specific social supports, and COVID-19 restrictions suggests individual responses were not represented by average values. FHSAs’ sports backgrounds provided exercise-related competence and self-regulatory abilities, but made balancing fitness expectations and losses difficult. Future directions should explore other former athlete populations’ behavior, ways of nurturing FHSA’s exercise-related competence and self-regulation, and the cyclical relationship conceptualized from interviews between participants’ exercise and identity.

English-Medium Instruction and Content Learning in Freshman Year: An Investigation of a Saudi University Students’ Challenges and Learning Strategies

The present study investigates the challenges that science freshmen perceive in English-medium instruction at Prince Sattam bin Abdelaziz University in terms of language and learning as well as the frequency of relevant learning strategies employed by students. A questionnaire was used to collect data from 376 students enrolled in the First Year Program at Prince Sattam Bin Abdelaziz University, considering their gender, scientific tracks, and previous English exposure. Results reveals that females were less comfortable communicating with professionals in their classrooms. Simultaneously, freshmen females perceive greater challenges in content comprehension, knowledge application, and learning adaptability. Therefore, they relied on learning strategies supported by L1 more frequently than males. Comparison of groups based on tracks shows that engineering students have more difficulty communicating with professionals than medical students. Furthermore, freshmen with extensive prior English exposure had fewer difficulties communicating with their peers and professionals. They perceived fewer difficulties with content comprehension, knowledge application, and learning adaptability. In contrast, freshmen with little prior exposure to English relied more on L1-related learning strategies. The findings show significant differences in perceiving EMI-related challenges and adopted learning strategies based on the relevant variables. They suggest that the shift from high school Arabic-medium education to English-medium instruction in higher education requires careful institutional and individual planning.

Knee Movement Characteristics of Basketball Players in Landing Tasks Before Onset of Patellar Tendinopathy: A Prospective Study.

BackgroundPatellar tendinopathy is one of the most common injuries for basketball players. Jumping and landing movement patterns are potential risk factors for patellar tendinopathy.HypothesisMale college basketball players who developed patellar tendinopathy would demonstrate greater peak vertical ground reaction force and knee flexion angular velocity, and smaller knee flexion range of motion and knee flexion angles at initial contact compared to players who did not develop the injury when performing a stop-jump task within a year prior to the onset of the injury.Study DesignProspective study.MethodsFreshmen college basketball male players (n = 181) were recruited for three consecutive years and followed to the end of the third year of the study. Three-dimensional kinematic and kinetic data during a stop-jump task were collected for all participants at the beginning of each school year. Peak vertical ground reaction force, knee flexion angle at initial foot contact with the ground, range of motion for knee flexion and maximal knee flexion angular velocity during the landing phases of the stop-jump task were collected and calculated. Development of patellar tendinopathy was monitored in follow-up. Independent t-tests and Cohen's d effect sizes (ES) were used to compare movement patterns between injury and no injury groups for each school year.ResultsA total of 60 knees developed patellar tendinopathy. The injury groups had a significantly greater peak vertical ground reaction force in freshmen and junior years (P = 0.020, ES = 0.13; P = 0.046, ES = 0.17), smaller knee flexion ROM in freshmen year (P = 0.002, ES = 0.10), and greater maximum knee flexion angular velocity in freshmen and junior year (P = 0.012, ES = 0.10; P = 0.001, ES = 0.35) during the horizontal landing phase before the takeoff of the jump compared to the no injury groups. The injury groups also had a significantly smaller knee flexion angle at initial contact during vertical landing phase after the takeoff of the jump in freshmen and junior years (P = 0.001, ES = 0.36; P = 0.001; ES = 0.37) during vertical landing phase.ConclusionPeak vertical ground reaction force, knee flexion angle at initial foot contact, knee flexion range of motion, and maximum knee flexion angular velocity are associated with patellar tendinopathy among male college basketball players in different school years.

Our Town, Dallas Theater Center, Dallas, Texas

<i>Our Town</i>, Dallas Theater Center, Dallas, Texas

“Sure a Strong Devil”: Mabel Frazer, A. B. Wright, and the University of Utah Art Department's 1937 Sexual Misconduct Case

“Sure a Strong Devil”: Mabel Frazer, A. B. Wright, and the University of Utah Art Department's 1937 Sexual Misconduct Case

Vertically‐Integrated Course‐Based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) Structure a Biomedical Research Certificate Program that Promotes Inclusivity

Underrepresented mentors are critical for impacting the trajectory of underrepresented students toward research careers. Not only do they share lived experiences but can understand the unique challenges of navigating a predominantly white, ableist university. Undergraduates often view these mentors as role models for successful science careers and these mentors can create supportive microenvironments for underrepresented students. Although first‐ and second‐year classes offer broad access and are often the site of first contact with underrepresented faculty, teaching centered instructors are less likely to have an active research program. Minority‐serving undergraduate research programs can generate social stigma due to competitive norms of science culture and embedded bootstrapping rhetoric. Course‐based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) are often cited as a particularly promising approach to preparing and motivating undergraduates to pursue graduate study that avoids stigma. However, authentic research projects rarely can be completed in a single semester, and CUREs are not typically designed to prepare students to enter particular research labs. Furthermore, CUREs typically are only available in third and fourth years, have extensive prerequisites, and are restricted to honors students (only 19% of underrepresented students in the five biomedical majors have sufficient GPAs to be eligible for honors at TAMU). One‐semester CUREs are insufficient to prepare underrepresented students for graduate study. The Biomedical Research Certificate (BRC) Program provides vertically integrated CUREs to prepare undergraduates for the next stage of their careers. A research certificate was created to address these considerations. The BRC is a multi‐college program that allows undergraduates to perform research in collaborative teams from the students’ freshman to senior years. Open to any major, it attracts diverse students across the university interested in participating in multi‐semester health‐related research. Because there are no entry requirements (e.g., prerequisites or minimum GPA) and courses count toward degree plans, it is the only program at TAMU in which there are no barriers to participating in research starting in their freshman year. This access has radically expanded research participation of lower‐division undergraduates. Freshmen explore multiple research disciplines and join a particular research track in their sophomore year. Built to expand to meet the ever‐increasing needs of both students and research labs, the BRC has grown to include research tracks in health disparities, computational biology, in vitro experimentation, human subject research, bioinformatics, and neuroscience. These tracks not only engage undergraduates in authentic research projects, but also provide the critical skills needed to take full advantage of opportunities across TAMU in junior and senior years.

Longitudinal latent class analysis of tobacco use and correlates among young adults over a 10-year period

IntroductionWe assessed patterns and correlates, including demographic characteristics, psychological factors, and social role transitions, of young adults’ tobacco use over time. MethodsIn the fall of 2010, we recruited a cohort of 3146 students from 11 colleges in North Carolina and Virginia. Participants completed baseline and at least two survey waves between 2010 and 2019. ResultsThe sample was 49.8% female, 15.7% non-white, and 6.6% Hispanic. Longitudinal latent class analysis revealed a five-class model with distinct patterns and correlates of tobacco use. Limited Use (52.6% of sample) had minimal use. College-Limited Combustible Tobacco Users (18.6%) had moderate probability of cigarette, cigar, and waterpipe smoking, which decreased to no use post-college. Intermittent Sustained Polytobacco Users (10.9%) had low probability of use that continued post-college. College Polytobacco with Continued Cigarette and E-Cigarette Users (14.5%) had high probability of use of cigarette smoking and increasing probability of e-cigarette, both of which continued post-college. Sustained Polytobacco Users (5.7%) had moderate probability of use of tobacco products across all waves. ConclusionsPatterns of tobacco use varied considerably. In most classes, tobacco use was highest during freshman year and in three classes, use continued post-college. Prevention activities should focus on first-year students and target those at risk for post-college tobacco use.

Longitudinal analysis of the environmental literacy of undergraduate students in Eastern Taiwan

Although higher education is crucial for training future professionals to deal with environmental challenges, there have been few longitudinal studies exploring how university students’ academic major influences their environmental literacy. This study identifies significant differences in environmental literacy among students from different colleges at a public comprehensive university in eastern Taiwan, both at the onset and towards the end of their studies. This analysis also shows how undergraduate students’ environmental literacy changes over time. It was found that freshman students in different colleges had similar environmental literacy levels except for science and engineering students. But after four years the environmental literacy gap between seniors in management and non-management students became obvious. In addition, seniors’ environmental literacy generally decreased or remained the same as that in their freshman year. The results suggest that to foster environmentally responsible citizens, educators in higher education should put more effort on cooperating with non-formal environmental education programs and connecting their teaching with environmental issues, action strategies, and inspiring visions. Finally, implications for program developers and policymakers in higher education are discussed.

Did court dismiss student‐athlete's free speech claim?

A female student accepted a partial scholarship to play on Delaware State University women's golf team. During her freshmen year, the student‐athlete attended a party hosted by upperclassmen members of the tennis team. Her roommate became sick after drinking too much alcohol and needed help getting home. The student‐athlete called her mother to seek advice on what to do. The mother later called the golf team coach to report the party and drinking incident.