Jaiden DeBoe

Author: jdeboe (Page 2 of 7)

Draft Outline of Project Idea

November 27, 2025 /

Project Idea Draft Title:

Learning Strategies for Student Engagement

Research Question: (stated as a testable question)

How does passive vs. active learning strategies effect student engagement on water? conservation education?

Hypotheses: (stated as mutually exclusive answers to your research question)

Active learning strategies engage students in classroom activities better than passive learning strategies.

Prediction: (stated as a range of expected results will lead you to reject or accept the stated or null hypotheses)

If passive learning strategies are replaced by active learning strategies in a school
environment, then student participation will increase.

Evidence: (Rationale of your hypotheses based on peer-reviewed scientific literature and science news on your topic)

Review Articles: (list the citation and what it says about your topic)

Siripoulos, Costas and Pomonis, Gerasimos. “Alternatives to ‘Chalk and Talk’: Active Vs. Passive Learning – A Literature Review of the Debate”. SSRN, 3 April 2007. https://ssrn.com/abstract=977283

Articles written by instructors stress the need for active learning strategies.

Gamo, Joel. “Anatomy Education-Paradigm Shift from Passive to Active
Learning-Effects on Student Engagement, Comprehension and Retention. A Review of Literature from 2012 to 2022”. The FASEB Journal, 13 May 2022, vol.
36, Anatomy Education‐Paradigm Shift from Passive to Active
Learning‐Effects on Student Engagement, Comprehension and Retention
A Review of Literature from 2012 to 2022 – Gamo – 2022 – The FASEB
Journal – Wiley Online Libraryissue S1.

Interactive methods such as peer teaching, blended classrooms, and augmented
reality led to over 50% retention, while passive learning strategies only led to
30% retention.

Pitterson, Nicole et al. “Measuring cognitive engagement through interactive, constructive, active and passive learning activities”. IEEE Xplore, 1 December 2016. Measuring cognitive engagement through interactive, constructive, active and passive learning activities | IEEE Conference Publication | IEEE Xplore

The ICAP framework found that students are actively learning when they discuss
school topics with their classmates or their teacher.

Willett, Laura Rees. “Comparing Active and Passive Learning: What Does the Evidence Really Say?”. Academic Medicine, May 2017, page 573. Academic Medicine

The author in this article is reviewing a research article which concluded that
active learning was the superior method in student education.

Research Articles: (list the citation and what it says about your topic)


Munna, A. S., and M. A. Kalam. “Impact of Active Learning Strategy on the
Student Engagement”. GNOSI: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Human
Theory and Praxis, vol. 4, no. 2, Apr. 2021, pp. 96-114, ED614302.pdf

The main problem in student engagement is teaching students based on their
current knowledge level.

Diepreye, Fapohunda and Odukoya, Jonathan. “The Impact of Passive and
Active Teaching Methods on Students’ Learning Among Secondary
School Students in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State”. Journal of Physics: Conference
Series, 2019, vol. 1378, issue 2. The Impact of Passive and Active Teaching
Methods on Students’ Learning Among Secondary School Students in
Yenagoa, Bayelsa State – IOPscience

The results of the study show that active learning strategies have more of an
impact on student education than passive learning strategies do.

Singh Minhas, Paras et al. “The effects of passive and active learning on student
preference and performance in an undergraduate basic science course”.
American Association for Anatomy, 20 March 2012, vol. 5, issue 4. The effects of passive and active learning on student preference and performance in an undergraduate basic science course – Minhas – 2012 – Anatomical Sciences Education – Wiley Online Library

A study performed on students in an animal physiology course shows that most
students would prefer a class with a mix of instructor-led and peer-led teaching.


Mikolaj, Christy. “Effective Instructional Strategies in Sixth Grade Inclusion
Mathematics Classrooms: The Effect of Active and Passive Engagement
on Concept Learning and Opportunity to Learn”. ProQuest, December 2019. Effective Instructional Strategies in Sixth Grade Inclusion Mathematics
Classrooms: The Effect of Active and Passive Engagement on Concept
Learning and Opportunity to Learn – ProQuest

This study shows that the average student would require a mix of learning
strategies in order to better understand school topics.

Haidet, Paul et al. “A Controlled Trial of Active Versus Passive Learning
Strategies in a Large Group Setting”. Springer Nature, March 2004, vol. 9, pages
15-27. A Controlled Trial of Active Versus Passive Learning Strategies in a
Large Group Setting | Advances in Health Sciences Education

Although peer-led seminars allow for the most active engagement among
students, many of them will not care for the sessions as much compared to classes
taught my instructors.


Mahmood, Muhammad et al. “STRATEGIES FOR ACTIVE LEARNING: AN
ALTERNATIVE TO PASSIVE LEARNING”. SAVAP International,
November 2011, vol. 1, issue 3. Microsoft Word – 2011_1.3-20_

Active learning strategies make students more determined to seek out
information instead of blindly taking in facts.

Proposed Experiment: (Experimental Design of your research project)

Independent Variables: (What treatment or comparison groups or what factors will you modify)

The type of learning strategy (Active vs passive)

Dependent Variable: (What will you measure)

Student engagement and participation

Control Variables: (What will hold constant between treatments)

Age range, course, and classroom material

Procedures: (What you will do, how, how much, how often, how long, when)

We will develop lesson plans that utilize different learning strategies on the same
material. These lessons will be implemented for a fixed period of time and rotated
between various groups in between that fixed time.

Constructed Figure(s): (graphic representation of the proposed results of data that supports your proposed hypothesis/research question. hint: it’s based on your Prediction Statement)

Draft Outline of 2 Project Ideas

November 27, 2025 /

Group #2: Sonia Sheryr and Jaiden DeBoe


General Project Theme: Water Education


Project Idea #1: How does the type of classroom activity influence student engagement regarding water conservation.
Proposed Research Question: How does passive vs. active learning strategies effect student engagement on water conservation education?
Proposed Hypothesis: When active learning strategies are used for water conservation education, students are more likely to pay attention and participate.
Keywords: Education, Student engagement, Active learning, Water conservation
Found Review Articles: “Alternatives to ‘Chalk and Talk’: Active Vs. Passive Learning – A Literature Review of the Debate”
Found Research Articles:
“Where’s the evidence that active learning works?”
Found SciComm Articles:
“Millions of Views, But Does It Promote Learning?”

Project Idea #2:
How do real world challenges, such as access to clean water, affect children’s mental health and school performance.
Proposed Research Question: Do water equity challenges, such as poor access to clean water or flooding, cause a student’s grades and mental health to decrease?
Proposed Hypothesis: Being exposed to challenges related to water equity will cause a student’s grades and mental health to decline.
Keywords: Mental health, Flooding, Clean water, Academic performance
Found Review Articles: “The effects of household water insecurity on child health and well‐being”
Found Research Articles: “Water, food, and mental well-being: Associations between drinking water source, household water and food insecurity, and mental well-being of low-income pregnant women in urban Mozambique”
Found SciComm Articles: “Making waves: Mental health impacts of inadequate drinking water services”

Midterm Reflection

November 27, 2025 /
  1. Exam. How did the first exam go? What study strategies did you use? Do you think these were useful?
    The first exam did not go as well as I thought it would. Before the exam, I mainly reviewed the Jigsaw Preps and Reading Reflections in order to prepare. These methods turned out not to be extremely effective, as I did not perform as well as I expected.
  2. Grading Contract. Review your grading contract and assess yourself (See the ePortfolio Midterm checklist). Are you on track to earn your contracted grade? Include 5 sources (e.g., participation, project) of evidence to support your assessment. Are there any revisions you want to make?
    I believe I am on track to earn an A. I have performed all make-up work whenever I was unable to attend class, I have completed every group assignment successfully, such as Jigsaws and Research Project Outlines, I have contributed to group conversations, and all my work shows care and effort.
  3. Engagement. We have 2 jigsaws, 2 lectures, and 2 chapters of Braiding Sweetgrass left in the semester. What are 3 things I can do to keep you engaged in the second half of the semester? Group activities, more engaging lectures, and class discussions of Braiding Sweetgrass would help make the rest of the semester more engaging.
  4. Research Project. To what extent do you feel that you and your research partner(s) have been successful on your research project for CODE220 thus far? What are 3 changes you wish to implement moving forward? I believe we have done a good job at describing our research process and finding credible sources. In order to be more successful in the future, we must complete the assignments ahead of time, keep in touch throughout the week, and ensure we all have the same plans in mind.

Week 7 Reflection

November 27, 2025 /
  1. In “Picking Sweetgrass”, Kimmerer encourages us to consider the degree of reciprocity in our transactions.
    a. How adequately do you think our money-based economy provides for reciprocity? (Kimmerer asks herself on page 177, “How do we consume in a way that does justice to the lives we take?”)
    I believe that our modern economy has a lot of shortcuts in order to ensure that the rich and powerful spend less money on goods or services that take a lot of effort from the lower class. For example, Elon Musk, the multi-billionaire founder of companies such as Tesla and the Boring Company, avoids paying taxes by changing his income status. Musk receives salaries from his multiple different companies in the form of stocks and cryptocurrency, which are not taxable. So, technically, his income is $0 a year. Along with that, multiple US companies, hoping to maximize their profits and enrich their owners, often outsource their product manufacturing to
    countries in Asia and Africa, where the people working on the products can be paid less than a dollar an hour.
    b. In what ways might the convenience of all of our “taking” — what Kimmerer sees as the rampant consumerism of modern life — complicate our participation in this reciprocity? The sad truth about being having a lot of money is that it is never enough. As people start to earn more money, suddenly their income goals start to rise. A million dollars a year is not enough, they want 10 million. After a couple years, they want 100 million, and all that money has to come from somewhere. Many of the millionaires in our modern society get rich at the expense of the poor. This unfair distribution is a result of the upper class paying less for a good or service than what it is actually worth. c. What do you think about Kimmerer’s conclusion that “[n]ot everything should be convenient” (179)? Rewards that are easy to earn are generally not as well appreciated if they were easy to attain. For example, designer clothes are not just valuable because they look better than generic store brand clothes, they are valuable because they are difficult to attain. This is why you often notice that people who just recently became rich wear a lot of designer outfits, while people who have been rich for years are less picky about the clothes that they put on. Once you no longer have to put in much effort to earn money, money means less to you, but when you’re working towards a project to get you rich, the money means everything to you. d. How might the rules of Honorable Harvest find adoption in our modern economy? What choices would consumers have to make in order for that to happen? In order for Honorable Harvest to be adapted in our society, our entire food industry would have to go through a drastic change. The food we currently get from crops is done so in a mass harvest that does not take time to acknowledge the life force of the plants. If we wanted to start performing practices, such as asking for permission from the plant, that means fruit and vegetables would be a lot harder to put onto shelves in supermarkets. This change would force consumers to either switch their diets or grow their own produce. e. How might cultural values stand in the way of such adoption? (Recall Kimmerer’s description of early European who regarded the rules of Honorable Harvest as laziness.) Many people may not understand or care about the cultural significance of such practices. Having access to an abundance of food is something that we take for granted nowadays. We do not truly comprehend the idea that the food we eat comes from multiple different forms of life that all play an important role in nature. f. Now focus on how this applies to the question of energy. Kimmerer says, “By no stretch of the imagination is coal given to us” (p. 187). Might the rules of Honorable Harvest be applicable to energy consumption? While the Honorable Harvest only focuses on caring for life energy, its rules can be applied to other forms of energy as well. Practices such as not overusing electricity or fossil fuels in order to save some for others could be done to stop the misuse of energy as a whole. g. What are some of the choices that Kimmerer is asking us to think about in this chapter? One of the ideas that Kimmerer questions is why we buy food and produce in supermarkets that come from animals and plants that are slaughtered at mass. There is no celebration of life or gratitude for resources involved in the process of bringing food to our grocery stores, simply killing in order to get the products that we want and need

Scientist Spotlight (Dr. Danielle Lee)

November 26, 2025 /

I think that many people view their interpersonal relationships as “one of a kind” or “unique to humanity”. Even I was a firm believer in the idea that many aspects of human interactions were not shared by other animals besides primates. However, Dr. Lee’s research has shown that these patterns, such as having more than one partner, are common among bird species as well. These resources also make me think about other human interactions that may be shared among different animals. For example, I once read a research article about other species of animals displaying homosexual tendencies, which shows that they may not be as different than us as we would like to think. My only questions now are “How do other species of animals compare to humans and birds?” and “What other tendencies do we actually share with other animals?”.


Dr. Danielle Lee also explores the idea of hip hop being a good way to educate students on natural occurrences. As a young scientist, she was able to draw connections between her research and the music that she enjoyed listening to. This concept makes me think differently about what it means to be a scientist. While a scientist usually derives their passion for research from a curiosity about the world, these curiosities do not have to revolve around academic topics. As
seen in the TED Talk, many scientists are able to connect their personal life with scientific discoveries in order to make sense of them. Not only does this allow scientists to draw true inspiration from their home lives, but it also allows them to share their findings in a way that can connect with people who have a similar personal life to them.

Reflection #5

November 25, 2025 /

With the semester two weeks from ending, I am finalizing the product that I will present to Heartlands in the upcoming semester. I successfully analyzed the results of my survey and managed to include them in my content assignment. Currently, I am reflecting on my work this past semester and planning for the next one. A lot of progress was made throughout this semester, with my product, my group project, and my solo project. While the two projects are nearly complete, the product itself requires a lot more work, most of which will be completed in next year’s CODES course. 

For my content assignment, I decided to go for two separate products, one for Heartlands and one for SIUE. The first part is a document, or report, of the results of my survey, which will be sent to Heartlands. This will mainly serve as a way to show Heartlands the research that I have conducted throughout the year and what the outcome of this research was. It will include the list of 40 professors, along with their emails, and the course they teach which Heartlands could collaborate in. Each educational department mentioned will also be followed by the chairs of said department. I also plan to add information from the survey responses, such as common responses to short answer questions, or percentages. This information will be displayed in the form of pie charts and bar graphs that can best represent the ratios of certain responses. 

In the second half of my product, I will add a brochure about Heartlands that will be given out to professors at SIUE who teach courses related to ecology and environmental science. Forming a connection between two organizations goes both ways, while the priority in this project is for Heartlands to learn how to connect with young adults, it is also important for the instructors at SIUE to know what exactly Heartlands is. This brochure will include events that Heartlands runs, such as the Jingle Hike Challenge, and people who I personally have collaborated with at Heartlands, like Anna. However, one aspect of this product will require another separate meeting with Heartlands. From the surveys, I discovered that several SIUE professors have ideas on how Heartlands could contribute to the average classroom, such as through giving lectures or networking with students. In order to meet the expectations of both parties, I will need to find a solid middle ground on contributions for both the professors and Heartlands. 

Now that the first semester of sophomore year is nearly over, the culmination of over a year of research is slowly coming to a close. Fortunately, the majority of the brainstorming for my product will be completed in these last 3 weeks. I already have the ideas and the early drafts of my content assignment, so I will be able to focus all my attention on implementing the product next semester. The research I have done on this project has taken a lot of time and effort, but I am excited to see just how successful it will be for me in the upcoming year. 

Reflection #4

October 21, 2025 /

As I am approaching the end of the semester, I am beginning to wrap up and perform the final steps of my research project. I have just sent out the survey I made on community organizations over a week ago to exactly 40 professors at SIUE who teach science or ecology courses. Currently, I have only 10 responses in total, yet I believe that these results alone are going to set a precedent for any other professors who decide to participate. Many of the answers that I have received on my survey have been relatively similar, with only 1 or 2 outliers. It appears that the majority of the participants are in agreement on what roles community organizations could play on campus, whether that is giving lectures to students or advertising volunteer opportunities. Unfortunately, these participants do not speak for the majority of SIUE professors, so until I get more responses, I will simply analyze the current ones and look for trends. 

Most of the questions I posed within the survey allowed the participants to share their experience with and feelings about community organizations. For example, when asked what classes they currently teach or plan on teaching at SIUE that benefit from involvement with community organizations, many of the participants simply said “None”. However, courses in Geography and Anthropology were mentioned as possibilities. While these responses were not extremely significant on their own, it was what their responders went on to say which caught my attention. The same participants who offered solutions for the first question later mentioned how they had students doing community service work for community organizations in the past. The majority of the responders, regardless of any experience with community organizations or lack thereof, had a positive outlook on these groups and the impact they can have on the lives of students. But when the question of “How is this beneficial to Heartlands?” comes up, there are two specific questions that I like to look at. First off, how would the professors utilize these community organizations in class? Most of the participants said either through lectures or networking with students. Beyond that, there were several topics that professors had brought up when asked what courses could benefit from a community organization lead, such as climate change, forever chemicals, and urban farming. Even though my number of responses is rather low, I am able to notice patterns in responses, which could change or remain constant as more participants decide to join. 

The second half of the semester has just begun, and the time to collect data is slowly decreasing. In this next week, I will make adding more participants my priority by resending the survey to the professors who I have not received a response from. The biggest issue with the trends I am currently noticing is that I have no idea whether or not they will hold up as I get more responses. I want to be able to give Heartlands a reliable product that will allow them to partner with students and professors at SIUE in order to push their projects forward. Right now, I simply need to ensure that I get the most answers possible. Then, and only then, can I begin decoding the data. 

Implementation Plan

October 17, 2025 /

My goal is to determine what specific issues affect local regions in order to determine how to get people engaged on problems in their community. I will do this by going to local sites and researching the community problems that they are trying to fix. Some data points that I will need for this are: what problems each site is attempting to fix, what regions these problems affect, and what the average adult can do to contribute. The results of my research will allow me to make an infographic breaking down individual problems faced by local residents, which can help me understand what causes people from specific regions are most likely to support and what they can do to contribute.

Reflection #3

October 7, 2025 /

Recently, my research into local sites aimed at solving water equity issues in communities has proven unsuccessful. While the sites that I have found in and outside of Heartlands have offered great opportunities for community involvement and volunteering, they still fell short of my goal of giving young adults a reason to be interested in water conservation. I want to give Heartlands a way to connect to people within my age range who are willing to invest some of their time into aiding conservation organizations that work in their region. Now, I have decided the best way to reach this goal is to cut out local sites and connect Heartlands to young adults through SIUE instead. 

SIUE has a large number of students who fit the “young adult” age range. Besides meeting this criterion, there are many students who currently take classes related to ecology and water resources as well. In order to reach these particular students, the method I am going for is to reach out to the professors of these courses and have them connect the students to Heartlands. I created a list of 40 courses that would either mention or teach concepts related to ecology. Among the many core subjects were anthropology, biology, chemistry, civil engineering, and environmental science. Even though not every course listed will go about teaching ecology, I made sure that the outliers were at least related to a type of science. Afterwards, I found the professors who will be teaching each course next semester, which brings me to my new product for this project. 

My plan is not to sign each professor up for a specific program or give them a site to visit. Instead, I merely want to set up contact between these teachers and Heartlands Conservancy, so that they have a list of potential SIUE professors. All I need to do now is separate the professors who are interested from the professors who are not, which I will be doing through a survey. Using the list I have just come up with, I plan on sending the 40 professors a survey that questions their interest in working with community organizations on water equity issues. Some questions ask about the professor about their experience working with community organizations while others ask the professor how they believe their students could benefit from partnering with local organizations. After I receive responses from the professors, I will send these results to Heartlands so that they will know which teachers they can collaborate with. 

In the end, Heartlands Conservancy will have a long list of professors at SIUE that they can partner with in order to connect to an even longer list of young adults. Although it is unfortunate that my original plans for this project did not turn out the way that I expect, I believe that my new product will prove a lot more useful to Heartlands in the long run. As I have stated already, the sites that I found were engaging, but not motivative enough for the average young adult. If I want to get people my age involved in water conservation, finding those who are already interested in ecology and introducing them to Heartlands is the best approach.

Week 5 Reading Reflection

September 30, 2025 /
  1. What is your favorite quote from this section of Tending Sweetgrass?
    “If what we aspire to is justice for all, then let it be justice for all of Creation”. This quote is written on page 147 in the chapter Allegiance to Gratitude. This particular quote was impactful for me because it reminded me how we do not always look at the natural world as a part of us. Often, we view plants and animals as simple resources that can be used to fuel us as we further our expansion. Maybe it is because our modern lives are too busy for
    us to dedicate any time to preserving nature. Maybe it is because we see ourselves as above the rest of “Creation” simply because of our advanced minds. Regardless, the natural world is something that we have continuously exploited for our own gain, when it should be treated as equally as people.
  2. Kimmerer discusses maple sap and how much is required to make just a little syrup
    and how much labor is involved not only for the people collecting and making it, but for the trees themselves to produce the sap. Think of an activity in your life that
    represents an amount of time that is unusually abbreviated. What shortcuts/conveniences do you rely on to live your daily life as you do? What would
    happen to your schedule if you could not count on these conveniences?
    I believe that social media and online messaging is a crucial part in shortening modern communication. Nowadays, we do not need a person’s phone number or email to get in contact with them. All we have to do is look up a person’s name on a social media platform such as Instagram or Facebook and we can get a direct line to communicate with them. This has proven to be a huge convenience in our daily lives. First of all, we do not have to fear about never talking to an old friend or relative again because of a lack of contact
    information. Along with that, social media platforms have made the messaging process across phone brands much easier, with sites like Instagram offering video calls and read receipts between different phone types. However, this type of communication can make interactions feel a lot less personal than real life. Online disputes happen all the time in our modern era because people are able to say whatever comes to mind and then hide behind a computer screen afterwards. This is a huge contrast to how life used to be before the internet, when the things you said truly had consequences. In my life, I know social media plays a huge role in the people I keep in contact with. Without the internet, I most likely would not have as many people to talk to or hear from on a daily basis. While this would make it difficult to keep in contact with old friends, I also think it would free up a lot of my time.
  3. Kimmerer describes how Haudenosaunee children attending a school near her
    home recite a Thanksgiving Address every day. Imagine a public-school day in a
    typical public school in your area.
    a. What might it be like if the children followed a practice similar to the one
    Kimmerer describes in the school that the Haudenosaunee children attend? Is this
    a realistic suggestion? Why or why not?
    I feel like forcing kids to recite a Thanksgiving Address at school, not knowing
    whether or not these practices are also instilled at home, will not have any major effects on the average student. Most public-school students are either barely awake for the morning announcements or disinterested in school entirely, which would make this practice simply another routine for them. Besides, with the history of the United States government and Native American communities, I do not believe a suggestion like this would even be considered.
    b. Compare this to other common schoolroom practices, like reciting the “Pledge of
    Allegiance.” In what ways is might this be similar? In what ways different?
    In recent years, the Pledge of Allegiance has become a practice that most
    Americans do not take seriously. Even in high school, many students do not stand for the Pledge of Allegiance just because of what it represents to them. It is often a reminder to people of the corrupt actions the federal government has taken against people of minorities in the country’s past. I believe, while many students may look at this practice differently, tons of others will find a reason to reject it. c. What does this bring up for you about the changes you are willing to work for in order to live in the type of culture in which you hope to live? I hope for a society that is able to unite, not just as a nation, but as a species. Practices like the Pledge of Allegiance primarily focus on uniting the country, when our real goal should be to unite the world. We divide ourselves into groups based on culture, language, and race, and we reject anyone who is not like us. Even nature is rejected and kicked to the curb as if it is an infinite resource that we can go back to whenever we need it. Maybe practices like reciting the Thanksgiving Address are not the solution, but they are one step closer to uniting the world for the ultimate goal of preserving all life.
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