When students use metacognition, they can more effectively problem solve on their own and in groups. Most metacognition studies have focused on individual learners while a few studies have begun to explore the metacognition learners use in social settings. Little is known about the comparison between how an individual student may use metacognition…

Drawing inspiration from Dr. Ada Long's (1995) presidential address, the authors describe an experience that facilitates neighborhood-building among honors educators and students across the nation as well as a neighborhood approach to understanding social problems. Focusing on food justice in the first year of the Justice Challenge, honors…

Self-regulated learning (SRL) promotes both current and future academic achievement and must be adapted based on task demands. To develop SRL, gifted students must have opportunities to experience optimally challenging tasks. Gifted students' past experiences (or lack thereof) with challenging tasks affects how they approach current tasks, which…

Postsecondary honors educators are adept at identifying problems and proposing solutions in honors education, but they may not disseminate their solutions effectively. This essay argues that honors administrators should familiarize themselves with the professional and scholarly resources that NCHC institutional membership affords, and then they…

As a "wicked problem," climate change requires interdisciplinary understanding and collaboration in order to prepare future leaders to develop solutions. To this end, as an ecologist and an anthropologist at a mid-sized university in the southeastern U.S., we designed a pair of interdisciplinary, research-intensive courses for first-year…

This paper highlights the design process and implementation for an "all majors" undergraduate course that allows students a chance to reconnect with the natural world. During this course students explore a wide range of biological and physical science based topics that seek to highlight human intervention and our impacts on the planet.…

Responding to Patricia J. Smith's essay on the appropriateness of professionalizing honors education, the author argues that discussions of specialization and standardization across honors programs should be suspended until academia has sufficiently dealt with the endemic problem of undercompensated contingent labor. The author further suggests…

This quantitative study examined the relationship between well-being and stages of the creative process, including problem identification and construction, idea generation, and idea evaluation among gifted young adults (n = 173). A sample of college honors students responded to multiple measures of well-being, creative problem-solving tasks, the…

While members of the academy are particularly adept at complaining and poking holes in most proposals that cross their paths, we are less comfortable with offering solutions. This essay asks members of the honors community to consider some of the major challenges facing honors education today and propose solutions that might be adapted on a…

Computational thinking (CT) is a way of making sense of the natural world and problem solving with computer science concepts and skills. Although CT and science integrations have been called for in the literature, empirical investigations of such integrations are lacking. Prior work in natural selection education indicates students struggle to…

We report the results of a preregistered, cluster randomized controlled trial of a mathematics learning intervention known as interleaved practice. Whereas most mathematics assignments consist of a block of problems devoted to the same skill or concept, an interleaved assignment is arranged so that no 2 consecutive problems require the same…

It is well documented that as an educational system we subject students from particular racial and socioeconomic backgrounds to unequal schooling experiences. Some researchers attribute the unequal schooling experiences and outcomes of minoritized students of color to their limited access to educational resources, like skilled teachers and quality…

Honors colleges aim to provide unique first-year experiences that promote life skills and emphasize process over product in an interdisciplinary setting that builds community. A two-semester, five-semester-hour course sequence with colloquia tackles these challenges by introducing an entrepreneurial mindset that pushes students toward innovative…

In this work, we examine students' ways of thinking when presented with a novel linear algebra problem. Our intent was to explore how students employ and coordinate three modes of thinking, which we call computational, abstract, and geometric, following similar frameworks proposed by Hillel (2000) and Sierpinska (2000). However, the undergraduate…

Problem solving and critical thinking are buzzwords used in defining general chemistry learning goals. Assessments including well-structured homework, quizzes, and exams are designed and incorporated to build these skills. Our research expanded upon the types of assessments and analyzed the effect of writing assignments for promoting problem…