Author: ssheryr (Page 2 of 5)

Youth Education

Dr. Martinez

CODE 122

9 March 2025

Teachers’ Perspectives on Water Conservation Education

Our survey is mainly for teachers and educators. It was created to learn how educators feel about water conservation in the classroom, giving us a more open understanding of difficulties and challenges regarding water conservation and its importance in the education system. It is meant to educate the youth and upcoming generations on water quality and infrastructure because if the children are educated on these issues and resonate with them, they can ensure a better future.

Our survey has 9 questions and consisted of multiple-choice questions, open ended questions, and “select all that apply”. A question we asked was regarding the age group of kids that educators interact with. This would help us better analyze trends according to the demographics provided. In addition, another question we asked in our survey was regarding water topics.

We received 196 total responses. The majority of our responses came from those who interacted with sixth through eighth grade students. These educators think labs and experiments work best for engaging students. Data is evenly divided when asked if they’ve used interactive activities in the classroom, but the smallest proportions of responses said they were extremely familiar or not at all familiar with these conservation education practices.  

For those who answered “no”, we inquired about the barriers that prevented them from these activities. This data was spread evenly as well, but as you can see below, it seems like most teachers need money, materials, and are unaware of the urgency of this issue. Talking to legislators about this during System Day will be beneficial.

We asked if respondents were comfortable sharing where they get their lesson plans from. Most of the respondents said they got their lesson plans online or from textbooks, which will be helpful when we work on Lab #2. Here are a few resources we could use:

Common threads among success stories involve personal stories from students that led them to learn more emotionally. Other stories consist of high school students doing volunteer work with local nonprofits. Below are a few success stories we found particularly interesting.

The suggestions portion at the end of the survey was helpful so we have outside perspectives on what they find important. We have been working nonstop on this project for over 6 months now, and we could use the outside opinions on things we may be oblivious to. Examples of their suggestions included documenting water usage in their homes, going on field trips, and incorporating hands-on activities. 

The overall design of this survey was concise and to the point. Our use of open-ended and closed-ended questions to receive information from educators benefited our results. One way we can improve this survey is by honing in on our subjects, specifically STEM educators and any other science programs. By doing this information collected will be more exact and targeted to what we are doing in the future with JJK. In addition to improving this survey we can focus on getting a more diverse range of data over multiple student age ranges since most of our data came from school educators.

Sonia Sheryr

CODES 123

Dr. Bradley

April 13 2025 

Article Annotation

This article considers water infrastructure and its relationship to political and social inequality, factoring in the effects of rain and floodwater. The author conducted a comparative historical analysis of two separate neighborhoods representing elite and non-elite communities. Both neighborhoods indeed show that water infrastructures influence poverty and inequality. This article shows a different perspective on how water and other environmental characteristics can destroy an elite-driven urban development. Water access ended up becoming an overall key that some neighborhoods became legitimate and others transitory. The elite neighborhoods were granted with reliable water access that was consistent while the non elite neighborhoods were left dealing with their water infrastructure being specifically unreliable and other necessary needs not being sufficiently met. 

It was then known that it is absolutely necessary to keep a vital point of view on urban crisis discourse. There can be multiple different processes relating to the environment that end up benefiting some social groups while poorly affecting others. In addition, this all relates to the fact that Port au Prince needs to evaluate not just only on the effects of the growing demand of water infrastructure and the resources that come along with it; but also the inequalities that can affect a variety of social groups in different ways and can create numerous inequalities and how to combat that situation. 

The author, Claire Antone Payton, is associated with the University of Virginia. This article consists of multiple research ties and various first-person experiences. It also includes several citations and references, which increases its credibility and reliability. This article contains many different perspectives and variations, and keeping that in mind can influence biases or limitations. This article can be applied and used as a reference in several situations, such as researching past experiences to learn from and prevent them from happening in the future. This can help people get a look at what the situation was, how it arose, the thought process behind it, and the challenges and hardships faced along the way.

Sonia Sheryr

CODES 123

Dr. Bradley

30 March 2025 

Article Annotation

This article provides insight into the Gullah and Geechee families and how they represent a narrative of Black life in the United States. Also, how collective land ownership brought the power of opportunities for culture and traditions. To figure out how this work played a factor in the sustainability of Gullah and Geechee culture, interviews were conducted between several nonprofit advocates, social workers, local families, and regional research centers. In 2007, interviews were conducted with nine individuals, and the research method that the author chose was called snowball sampling. Each individual represented families, reflecting various situations and actions being taken to address the problem and maintain control of their land. 

The history of past generations and their property describes how Black communities made their own ways and compromises for the better when they were excluded for the future of their own generations. This research article is credible, and the author’s research is associated with St. Olaf College. This research article also includes ethnographic research, a method that focuses on qualitative research. Ethnographic research focuses on the systematic study of people in their natural environment to better evaluate their culture, viewpoints, and perspectives. This research article provides various amounts of information to educate and inform. There could be a bias in this research article due to the interviews possibly being viewed as being focused on the thesis statement regarding cultural outlook. 

I found this research article to be very informative, and I gained a lot of information I did not know previously. I learned how crucial it was to understand how land becomes a representation of a family’s health,  how to reflect on the success and failure of heirs’ property, and how to pass it down to future generations.

Sonia Sheryr

Dr. Bradley

CODES 123

25 February 2025

Article Annotation

This article is in regard to data cleaning and how it is such a crucial step in research. Another way we describe data cleaning is data transformation because we are just taking the data and preparing it the best we can so it can get analyzed correctly. The article’s authors talked about how data cleaning is vital, but it can also take away important information. At times, we can make hidden choices during data cleaning, which is when we can unknowingly make small changes or “clean-ups” that can have an excessive effect on the dataset itself. Taking out any data, even if it may seem irrelevant or extra, can cause a fluctuation in data results and evaluations.

The authors suggested a method called indexing as a substitute for data cleaning. Indexing would consist of structuring information in a way of a system that separates two topics of information, but they both end up relating to each other. This results in capturing the complete picture and diversity of the information without mistakenly taking crucial information out.

This article is rich in detailed information and elaborates on several viewpoints from different perspectives. This article consists of vital information as it initiates the idea of a substitute for data cleaning, which is indexing. There is a slight bias when the authors state that it is essential that every little bit of data must be conserved and used, but this is not always true for all situations. This article consists of several main ideas and provides even more supporting details. I did not really know much about data cleaning and what positive and negative effects came along with it until this article. This article was a heavily informative piece of writing, and it made me think about the impacts of data cleaning.

 Sonia Sheryr

Dr. Bradley

CODES 123

13 April 2025 

Reflection 7

In the first section of the article, the author provides a general historical overview of Port-au-Prince’s perspective through hydrological experiences. The rest of the article focuses on the social politics of urban water in the 1970s, which proved to be a time of rapid growth. Concentrating on this and different community areas, including elite and non-elite regions, provides an objective, assertive perspective and keeps the reader fully engaged.

Ideas regarding archival silence or gatekeeping often remind us that these are generally based on people’s firsthand experiences and are influenced by their decisions. These stories and experiences give us a look at the past and influence us to elaborate on the challenges people were facing then and what is being done to prevent these.

Archives that are spread across different locations or are harder to access can result in researchers having incomplete or inaccurate information. This can lead to biases, other limitations, confusion, and incompleteness. If I were looking to use archives in my projects focusing on water or inequality, I’d look for plans regarding infrastructure for water and development in urban areas regarding inequality. I would likely encounter a challenge from archives being hard to access or scattered throughout different locations.

Sonia Sheryr

CODES 123

Dr. Bradley

6 April 2025

Reflection 6

Throughout my interview, I noted the personal experiences because those would be crucial pieces to include and take note of. While analyzing my data, I observed common points that were constantly included and mentioned various times. I followed the overall theme and how the answers related to each other. Data cleaning involves the use of qualitative research and the thought of bringing a new perspective to elaborate on. Data cleaning could be worded as data organizing, since one can analyze the data and structure the following topics accordingly.

Researchers can ensure they retain essential details without losing clarity by including several in-person or hands-on experiences along with quotes that present a new point of view. Whether or not people view qualitative research as reliable is a factor that determines how seriously they’ll take the study. When coding qualitative data, stating the clear topic or underlining the main goal helps create an outline one can follow. Tackling each subject individually as you go is the key to effective coding.

Sonia Sheryr

CODES 123

Dr. Bradley

30 March 2025

Reflection 5

People can act differently around you based on your identity, resulting in biased results. In addition, the way we interpret information can vary based on our different identities. This occurs because we often interpret things based on our previous experiences. In research and studies, direct quotes from those in the communities are vital; this brings direct experiences from people and shows how those can or can not relate to a situation. This can also give a personal perspective and introduce one to think of situations from different viewpoints. 

Ethnography brings a new perspective and shares related experiences to understand research better. It provides a deeper dive into the leading topic and brings multiple contexts to comprehend. Ethnography competes with the general knowledge of stereotypes and combats them with honest thoughts and experiences. I definitely would experiment with ethnography in my research because it provides a whole new perspective and a deeper understanding.

Sonia Sheryr

Dr. Bradley

CODES 123

23 March 2025

Reflection 4

Interviews are a way to collect general data and information in places where it can be challenging to observe. Interviews are conducted for a variety of reasons and come in various formats. This is a great way to gather information from a variety of groups and to compare and contrast the data in real-world situations. Focus groups can be very crucial in aiding information for interviews. They can cause people to share their opinions and viewpoints and start a discussion. Researchers can also observe how people discuss the problem and what topics are specifically brought up. This emphasizes sharing experiences and learning from others.

Researchers can see how individuals construct their thought processes, observe how people collaborate on questions, and compare viewpoints in the group. Organizing qualitative data can be structured with in-depth interviews. This research method is like having informal conversations that consist of opinions. These interviews go toward deeper levels of reflection. Listening is vital in these conversations to take in what is being said. Organizing research is crucial when credible and ethical data are needed.

Sonia Sheryr

Dr. Bradley

CODES 123

9 March 2025

Reflection 3

Groupthink played a crucial role with the way decisions were made that ultimately led to the Challenger exploding. When the engineers mentioned their concern about the launch​​, Mr. Mason said, “We have to make a management decision.” He turned to Bob Lund and asked him to take off his engineering hat and put on his management hat. After that, management was the one to take the next steps and formulate points to base their decisions on. 

Group polarization absolutely amplified risk taking and played a role in deciding if the decisions were effective or not. Especially since they were so dedicated to launching the challenger in the first place which places a biased mindset when it comes to safety concerns and delaying the launch. An example is when they go against the engineers word, and conclude the launch being safe and ready to go. 

Social facilitation plays a vital role in high-pressure environments, and that pressure can cause a rush in decisions. It is absolutely crucial to think through decisions, big and small; not doing so can result in missing essential pieces of information and can be a disaster waiting to occur. Social loafing does factor in with the decision-making process. In this case, there is no one person to blame for the explosion, since it wasn’t one person who made all the leading decisions.

One lesson I learned from this was make sure you thoroughly think through decisions, and don’t feel pressured by leading factors because it can lead to incorrect and inaccurate decision making.

Due Date:                                    4-8-25                                                            Name: Sonia Sheryr          

Source Analysis

Title: Down Under. The community most exposed to sea-level rise is also one of the poorest

Author: Charlie Mitchell

Source Date:                                                                                                           

Source Type: Article                                                                                                

Context : 

This article consists of multiple headings and pictures that change as one scrolls through. Throughout the article, there are various captions that provide the reader with a summary or explanation. Several quotes are also provided that give a different perspective and point of view to look at the situation differently. 

Summary :     

 Around 1,200 homes and businesses were damaged by water, and insurance payouts topped 28 million dollars. The housing was of low quality, with a dubious foundation. The swamp was filled with whatever filling material was on hand, usually sand, and filled to only slightly above the water table. The network of pumping stations and drainage pipes, many decades old, was not up to the task.                                   

Analysis:        

The world is constantly changing, and so should our methods. We need to be able to adapt and conquer to meet the new standards to prevent such detrimental events from occurring. It is crucial to always consider all factors when devising a solution to a problem.