Thesis Archives Search
This search engine will let you explore the over 1800 theses written in Honors at The University of Maine since the Program’s inception in 1935. You may search our thesis archives based on any of the fields listed above. If the thesis is available at the Reynolds Library (Thomson Honors Center) or Fogler Library (Special Collections), the information will appear below the bibliographic data. At last count, we had about 1800 theses in the Reynolds Library.
Search Results
American Students and an International Citizenship Perspective: What is the Impact Studying Abroad?
American Viewpoints on the Russian Revolution, March-November, 1917
Among These Different Selves: A Study of American Women Playwrights Past and Present
AN ADAPTIVE REUSE AND RESTORATION OF A MAINE BARN
AN AGENT-BASED MODEL OF URBAN SPRAWL: YORK AND CUMBERLAND COUNTIES, MAINE
Author:
Kaitlyn
Lavallee
Major: Mathematics & Economics Graduation Year: 2017 Thesis Advisor: Richard Barringer
Description of Publication:
Urban sprawl is defined as the movement of populations towards the fringes of urban centers, leading to the conversion of rural land to suburban consumption. This expansion in the distribution of populations has many implications for local and state policymakers, business owners and consumers. In Maine, sprawl is particularly prevalent in Cumberland County and York County, where the state’s population is the densest. The objective of this paper is to develop an agent-based model (ABM), which attempts to reflect the movement of households within these counties. These households make decisions sourced in microeconomic theory that are built into the model. Households seek locations that maximize utility, based on their income and time constraints. This model also incorporates a gravity model of migration to determine the likelihood that a household will migrate to another area when motivated by a higher income. Simulations of the model display characteristics of sprawl, including a decline in population density. Additionally, several policy simulations were conducted to demonstrate the effects on land use and projected population migration patterns. This model serves as a basis for future exploration and customization to forecast land-use trends, as well as the corollaries of potential economic policies or development
Location of Publication: fogler reynolds
URL to Thesis: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/honors/438
Major: Mathematics & Economics Graduation Year: 2017 Thesis Advisor: Richard Barringer
Description of Publication:
Urban sprawl is defined as the movement of populations towards the fringes of urban centers, leading to the conversion of rural land to suburban consumption. This expansion in the distribution of populations has many implications for local and state policymakers, business owners and consumers. In Maine, sprawl is particularly prevalent in Cumberland County and York County, where the state’s population is the densest. The objective of this paper is to develop an agent-based model (ABM), which attempts to reflect the movement of households within these counties. These households make decisions sourced in microeconomic theory that are built into the model. Households seek locations that maximize utility, based on their income and time constraints. This model also incorporates a gravity model of migration to determine the likelihood that a household will migrate to another area when motivated by a higher income. Simulations of the model display characteristics of sprawl, including a decline in population density. Additionally, several policy simulations were conducted to demonstrate the effects on land use and projected population migration patterns. This model serves as a basis for future exploration and customization to forecast land-use trends, as well as the corollaries of potential economic policies or development
Location of Publication: fogler reynolds
URL to Thesis: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/honors/438
An Analysis and Evaluation of Selected Strategies and Their Impact on the Growth of L. L. Bean, Inc.
An Analysis of American National Character and Values
An Analysis of Citizenship Education in Maine Middle Schools
Author:
Tom
Adams
Major: Secondary Education Graduation Year: 2021 Thesis Advisor: Rebecca Buchanan
Description of Publication:
An essential responsibility of public schooling is to cultivate civic awareness in students and prepare them to participate in a democratic society. Schools have, however, broadly failed this task, a trend the Maine Department of Education has attempted to reverse through policy. The 2019 edition of the MDoE’s Maine Learning Results (“MLR”) standards mandates that middle school social studies teachers implement civic action and service-learning projects (a.k.a. “citizenship education”) to address community needs and foster students’ civic identity. Existing literature suggests that citizenship education improves students’ civic awareness, community engagement, and future voting behavior, but the effectiveness of this new policy—particularly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic—is unmeasured. More broadly, the diversity of citizenship education efforts present among the population is unmeasured. This mixed-methods exploratory study analyzed the approaches toward citizenship education undertaken by Maine middle school social studies teachers and the factors affecting those approaches, as well as the effect of the MLR on those efforts. Data collection occurred over three phases: a survey sent to the population that collected information about teachers' citizenship education efforts, an interview phase that expanded on that data with in-depth information about teachers and their efforts, and a revised survey sent again to the population that addressed the shortcomings of the initial survey protocol. Findings revealed infrequent engagement with citizenship education across the population and minimal influence of the MLR. However, these findings also highlighted instances of exemplary citizenship education happening independent of the MLR. Potential supports to encourage and spread such efforts are discussed.
Location of Publication:
URL to Thesis: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/honors/704
Major: Secondary Education Graduation Year: 2021 Thesis Advisor: Rebecca Buchanan
Description of Publication:
An essential responsibility of public schooling is to cultivate civic awareness in students and prepare them to participate in a democratic society. Schools have, however, broadly failed this task, a trend the Maine Department of Education has attempted to reverse through policy. The 2019 edition of the MDoE’s Maine Learning Results (“MLR”) standards mandates that middle school social studies teachers implement civic action and service-learning projects (a.k.a. “citizenship education”) to address community needs and foster students’ civic identity. Existing literature suggests that citizenship education improves students’ civic awareness, community engagement, and future voting behavior, but the effectiveness of this new policy—particularly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic—is unmeasured. More broadly, the diversity of citizenship education efforts present among the population is unmeasured. This mixed-methods exploratory study analyzed the approaches toward citizenship education undertaken by Maine middle school social studies teachers and the factors affecting those approaches, as well as the effect of the MLR on those efforts. Data collection occurred over three phases: a survey sent to the population that collected information about teachers' citizenship education efforts, an interview phase that expanded on that data with in-depth information about teachers and their efforts, and a revised survey sent again to the population that addressed the shortcomings of the initial survey protocol. Findings revealed infrequent engagement with citizenship education across the population and minimal influence of the MLR. However, these findings also highlighted instances of exemplary citizenship education happening independent of the MLR. Potential supports to encourage and spread such efforts are discussed.
Location of Publication:
URL to Thesis: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/honors/704
AN ANALYSIS OF INSERVICE PHYSICAL SCIENCE TEACHERS’ UNDERSTANDING OF ACCELERATED MOTION
Author:
Eijah
Tabachnick
Major: Physics Graduation Year: 2017 Thesis Advisor: Michael Wittmann
Description of Publication:
Continued observation of teachers within the University of Maine Physical Sciences Partnership showed persistence over many iterations of professional development (PD) the use of an inconsistent model of accelerated motion. This model identified acceleration in the same direction as velocity as positive (speeding up is defined as positive acceleration) and acceleration opposed to velocity as negative; we will call this the speed model. We found use of this model in middle school physical science teachers in a survey and through interviews. A PD activity was also observed to study the teachers’ use of vectors and coordinate systems to solve kinematics problems. The “speed model” is used in place of the coordinate-based formalism of physics – termed the “direction model” in this paper – even though the speed model is insufficient to describe all physical situations. After careful identification of teacher resources, we see that they have the mathematical skills, and ability to use vectors within a coordinate system, which should allow them to arrive at the direction model; however, when faced with acceleration questions, many revert to using the speed model. The speed model may come from minus sign confusion in calculating changes in velocity, or it may be a velocity-dependent coordinate system; either way its persistence in the teacher population needs to be addressed.
Location of Publication: fogler reynolds
URL to Thesis: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/honors/259/
Major: Physics Graduation Year: 2017 Thesis Advisor: Michael Wittmann
Description of Publication:
Continued observation of teachers within the University of Maine Physical Sciences Partnership showed persistence over many iterations of professional development (PD) the use of an inconsistent model of accelerated motion. This model identified acceleration in the same direction as velocity as positive (speeding up is defined as positive acceleration) and acceleration opposed to velocity as negative; we will call this the speed model. We found use of this model in middle school physical science teachers in a survey and through interviews. A PD activity was also observed to study the teachers’ use of vectors and coordinate systems to solve kinematics problems. The “speed model” is used in place of the coordinate-based formalism of physics – termed the “direction model” in this paper – even though the speed model is insufficient to describe all physical situations. After careful identification of teacher resources, we see that they have the mathematical skills, and ability to use vectors within a coordinate system, which should allow them to arrive at the direction model; however, when faced with acceleration questions, many revert to using the speed model. The speed model may come from minus sign confusion in calculating changes in velocity, or it may be a velocity-dependent coordinate system; either way its persistence in the teacher population needs to be addressed.
Location of Publication: fogler reynolds
URL to Thesis: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/honors/259/