Background: Although past research demonstrated growth mindset interventions to improve school outcomes, effects were small. This may be due to the "theoretical" nature of psychosocial techniques (e.g., reading about brain plasticity), which may not be optimally convincing for students. Aims: To address this issue and improve…

Meaning-making and sense-making are generally assumed to be part of students' personal vocational knowledge development, since they contribute to both students' socialisation in a vocation and students' personalisation of concepts, values and beliefs regarding that vocation. However, how students in vocational education acquire meaning and make…

The Rhythmic Arts Project (TRAP) curriculum integrates visual, tactile, auditory and speech experiences through rhythmic drumming actions to address life skills. We evaluated life skills before and after participation in TRAP in a school-based setting in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Participants were 23 children in grades 6-12 in…

The Issue: To prepare for the demands of postsecondary education and the workforce, students need to master content and build skills that allow them to collaborate with others, and then apply that knowledge to new situations. Students will be able to access a wider range of opportunities in college, career, and civic life if they possess the…

Attention has been focused for decades on the need to improve high school students' preparation for the workplace. Employers report that nearly half of their entry-level employees are inadequately prepared and lack basic communication and critical thinking skills as well as a work ethic. Although a postsecondary credential is considered necessary…

This study investigates how high school students respond to an environment of authentic science inquiry while participating in an intensive summer institute, the Waksman Student Scholars Programme at Rutgers University. We examined how students apprenticed with expert scientists in a study of contemporary questions in molecular genetics. Students…

What skills and competencies do high school students need to master for future success? And what can high schools do to develop these skills? Research on skills has tended to focus either on college readiness or on workplace readiness, often in isolation and frequently without reference to what the broader field of youth development tells us…