This Perspective builds on a related RAND Corporation report that describes the implementation of Findhelp at four North Carolina community colleges in 2021 and 2022. Findhelp is an online tool to connect students to resources in their communities to help meet their basic nonacademic needs. The North Carolina Community College System, with support…

Group design research studies can provide evidence to draw conclusions about "what works," "for whom," and "under what conditions" in special education. The quality indicators introduced by Gersten and colleagues (2005) have contributed to increased rigor in group design research, which has provided substantial…

Open Educational Resources (OER) can offer educators the necessary flexibility for tailoring educational resources to better fit their educational goals. Although the number of OER repositories is growing fast, few studies have been conducted to empirically test the effectiveness of OER integration in the classroom. Furthermore, very little is…

Learning and teaching algebra concepts are frequent problems for both students and teachers alike. Students struggle to learn algebra, and teachers struggle to identify the best way to teach algebra. It is recurrent that teachers use instructional methods that promote memorization, and, consequently, the learning process may prove unsatisfactory.…

Unless otherwise noted, data and charts are based on surveys conducted between July 14 and October 16, 2021 among a sample of 1,007 special education parents and 3,648 non-special needs parents. The interviews were administered online and the data were weighted to approximate a target sample of parents based on gender, educational attainment, age,…

Khan Academy is a large and popular open educational resource (OER) with little empirical study into its impact on student achievement in mathematics when used in schools. In this study, we examined the use of Khan Academy as a mathematics intervention among seventh grade students over a 4-week period versus a control group. We also compared…

This study explores how upper-grade elementary makers' spaces reveal creative thinking and critical thinking in identified and unidentified gifted students. It provides evidence that the situated learning context of makers' spaces elicit high-level motivation through constructionist practices and 21st century learning processes that leads to…

Despite the growing call for local autonomy and flexibility, few scholars have examined the role of school district-level flexibility on resource allocation and staffing patterns. Leveraging the charter system law within the State of Georgia, we utilize a generalized difference-in-differences approach to estimate the impact of flexibility of…

Nature-based tourism experiences have the potential to change the environmental knowledge, attitudes and behavior of visitors; but such experiences may be beyond the physical and/or financial reach of many people. To influence the conservation behavior of populations world-wide, a more accessible yet equally effective strategy is required. Using…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine whether, and how, electricity consumption by students in university residence halls were impacted through three intervention strategies. Design/methodology/approach: The current investigation uses a quasi-experimental design by exposing freshman students in four matched residence halls and the…

This study tested the effect of four short videos appealing to environmental values on home irrigation users' intent to use good irrigation and fertilization practices. The videos were largely ineffective, and there was only a small effect on one of the behaviors within the fertilizer loss treatment group. Implications point to a need for…

This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of two different teaching methods on learning effectiveness. OpenCourseWare was integrated into the flipped classroom model (experimental group) and distance learning (control group). Learning effectiveness encompassed learning achievement, teacher-student interactions, and learning satisfaction.…

Assessing the retention of knowledge is the first step of environmental education programs. The low education level in rural areas is one factor influencing habitat loss in Madagascar. We tested whether environmental education lessons given to teachers from a municipality, Iaboakoho, in a priority area for lemur conservation were retained after…

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of first-year undergraduates' (n = 5,368) use of academic library resources in their first year on their degree completion or continued enrollment after four years of study. Propensity score matching techniques were used to construct treatment (library users) and control (library nonusers) groups…

This research explored whether viewing documentary films about the natural or built environment can exert a measurable influence on behaviors and perceptions. Different documentary films were viewed by subjects. One film emphasized the natural environment, while the other focused on the built environment. After viewing a film, a computer game…