As we count down the years remaining before a global climate catastrophe, ever increases the importance of teaching environmental history and fostering environmental stewardship from a young age. In the age of globalization, nothing exists in a vacuum, yet our traditional education system often fails to reflect the abundant connections between content areas that are prevalent outside of schools. In fact, many of the flaws of the field of education have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and a forced transition to online schooling, with many educators reverting to outdated practices in a desperate attempt to get students through the year. The aim of this project was to design a unit curriculum with these issues in mind. This month-long environmental history unit engages students through the use of hands-on activities and promotes interdisciplinary connections. The unit can be taught in a physical, online, or hybrid American history class, and will hopefully inspire and motivate students to become environmental stewards as they look toward their futures on this planet.

Due to what is known as the “biologically desert fallacy” and the pervasive westernized ideal of wilderness that has influenced widespread American Conservation culture for millennia, urban areas have long been deemed as areas devoid of biodiversity. However, cities can contribute significantly to regional biodiversity and provide vital niches for wildlife, illuminating the growing awareness that cities are crucial to the future of conservation and combating the global biodiversity crisis. In terms of the biodiversity crisis, bats are a relevant species of concern. In many studies, different bat species have been broadly classified according to their ability to adapt to urban environments. There is evidence that urban areas can filter bat species based on traits and behavior, with many bats possessing traits that do not allow them to live in cities. The three broad categories are urban avoiders, urban adapters, or urban exploiters based upon where their abundance is highest along a gradient of urban intensity. A common example of an urban exploiter bat is a Mexican Free-tailed bat, which can thrive and rely on urban environments and it is found in the Phoenix Metropolitan area. Bats are important as even in urban environments they play vital ecological roles such as cactus pollination, insect management, and seed dispersal. Bat Crazy is a thesis project focused on urban enhancement and the field of urban biodiversity. The goals of this thesis are to observe how bio-conscious urban cities that work to promote species conservation can serve as a positive tool to promote biodiversity and foster community education and engagement for their urban environment.

Beautiful and rich in history, the Arabic language is spoken by over 422 million people. The language has significant social and political importance, and it is increasingly taught in universities around the United States. When languages are taught their aim should be not only to teach learners to communicate effectively, but also to gain a deep understanding and respect of culture, people, and history. The Al-Kitaab textbook series by Georgetown University Press is utilized as the main learning material in most universities in the United States to teach Arabic language. The highly political and negative nature of the series limits students’ comprehension to a political perspective influenced by the conflicts in the Middle East and has a severe impact on not only students’ learning ability but also their perception of the Arabic language and culture. While the series sufficiently provides the political vocabulary necessary for roles in government, it overlooks the importance of a full understanding of the cultural richness and nuances of the Arabic language necessary for an appreciation of history, arts, and literature of the region. The overarching objective of this project is to analyze the Georgetown University Press Al-Kitaab textbook series for Arabic language instruction and compare it to the Vista Higher Learning Sentieri textbook for Italian language instruction to plan a new Arabic curriculum to increase student enrollment. This comparison will explore recurring themes present in each textbook series and display the detrimental and outdated depictions of Arab culture presented throughout the Al-Kitaab series. Different aspects of the textbooks will be discussed including vocabulary and vocabulary progression, biographies of important figures, in-text activities, reading passages, and recurrent themes. Through revamping the learning materials used to teach Arabic, Arizona State University (ASU) and the School of International Letters and Cultures (SILC) can become innovative leaders in the instruction of university-level Arabic language.

The paper analyzes migrant education in Arizona. For the purposes of this paper, migrant students are children of farm workers. The paper analyzes the challenges this student demographic faces in obtaining an education. Included is also a bill proposal for the Arizona State Legislature to enact. The bill proposes that there be a migrant scholarship program for students attending a university in the Arizona Board of Regents.

The education that a student receives in the United States is influenced by an array of factors. One of the main influential factors is the financial resources a school has access to. Additionally, identities such as race, class, and gender all substantially impact the level of education a student has access to. Often students in minority groups, such as Hispanic students, experience additional challenging educational experiences than others. This is due to the intersectionality of their identities impacting their education. Within the Hispanic population, the unique educational experiences of Hispanic females are often disregarded. This paper analyzes the implications of intersectionality on the education of Hispanic females in Arizona. In order to examine this, a qualitative research study involving interviews with Hispanic female college students was done. Interviews consisted of questioning the participants about their K-12 educational experiences in Arizona’s education system, the school factors impacting their education, the familial factors impacting their education, and their college experiences. Key findings show that the educational experiences of Hispanic female students in Arizona are impacted by (a) familial support, (b) the role of Hispanic values/traditional gender roles, (c) a lack of financial resources, (d) an underrepresentation of Hispanic culture, (e) and inadequate college readiness resources. The findings of the study show that the intersectionality of gender and race/ethnicity creates additional disadvantages for the education of Hispanic female students. Furthermore, the results emphasize the need to take intersectionality into account when examining the educational differences that exist in the education system.

The 5E model of instruction is most commonly used in STEM; however, this thesis explores the idea of integrating the 5E model into second-language teaching of Spanish. Furthermore, this project incorporates technology into the 5E system to create engaging lessons. The overarching question of this paper is “How can technology and the 5E model be combined to create effective 5th-grade Spanish lesson plans?” This thesis includes four complete Spanish 5E lesson plans designed for a 5th-grade class.