Educational Robotics (ER) is an upcoming trend in education. It has been introduced in classrooms to improve the learning environment. It provides opportunities for young learners by promoting knowledge-building activities. STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education is viewed as a catalyst to ensure a successful future in…

Video activity schedules are a combination of video modeling and activity schedules that teach a singular task or a series of tasks to be completed. Instead of a sequence of pictures, videos demonstrate to the learner what is expected to be done. Research has focused heavily on using video activity schedules to teach daily living or vocational…

A prior randomized trial found a school social intervention yielded significantly better outcomes (social and autism features) immediately following intervention compared to typical school programming (services-as-usual [SAU]) for children on the autism spectrum. In that study, children in the SAU condition subsequently completed a summer social…

Struggling writers often need more instructional support than is present in commercially available process writing curricula. In this study, we employed a one-group, pretest-posttest design to evaluate whether 41 struggling primary grade writers who attended a university-based summer learning program would increase in writing ability, given a…

Summer camp jobs are often described as a fun and active way to spend the summer. This research aims to go beyond the surface, examining how college students use the skills and training they receive as summer day camp counselors and describing the specific ways they transfer those skills to academic settings. In-depth interviews were conducted…

Summer Ventures in Science and Mathematics is a four-week summer enrichment program where high school students study a variety of STEM topics. This article explores how participation in the Mathematical Evolution course affected students' skills in research, communication, and scientific reasoning and changes in self-efficacy towards STEM. Data…

Despite the substantial efforts made by higher education institutions to reduce dropout rates, a considerable proportion of students still discontinues their initial study program. In view of this situation, the present study aims to investigate whether participation in first-year courses for personal and academic support goes along with a…

Computational thinking (CT) skills are critical for the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, thus drawing increasing attention in STEM education. More curricula and assessments, however, are needed to cultivate and measure CT for different learning goals. Maker activities have the potential to improve student CT, but…

Integrating humanities and arts into STEM has been suggested to better prepare students for the workforce. Studies have shown that improvisation (abbreviated as improv), an educational program from humanities and arts, can potentially improve engineering pedagogy and learning. However, little is known about improv's impact on developing…

Tangible programming tools (TPTs) are promising teaching aids in programming courses due to their interactivity and ability to enhance early childhood students' computational thinking, spatial reasoning, and executive function skills. However, it remains unclear whether TPTs support these skills simultaneously. This study examines the impact of…

Purpose: To examine the impact of an out-of-school swimming program on children and youth from one underserved community. Method: Participants were 200 children and youth who attended the out-of-school swimming program during two consecutive summers. The theoretical framework employed drew from previous research on socialization. A mixed-methods…

The Accelerate Cancer Education (ACE) summer research program at The University of Kansas Cancer Center (KUCC) is a six-week, cancer-focused, summer research experience for high school students from historically marginalized populations in the Kansas City metropolitan area. Cancer affects all populations and continues to be the second leading…

Field-based practicum experiences are essential in connecting classroom theory to the real world. In this mixed methods study, we analyzed principal candidates' perceptions of their summer residency practicum experiences via a self-assessment principal leadership competency instrument and virtual semi-structured interviews. We found that principal…

Early research experiences play an important role in shaping students' academic and professional development and future career path. While many colleges and universities offer undergraduate students the chance to engage in research, a significant number of high school students face limited or no access to such opportunities. Initiatives such as…

From its inception, the Center for Gifted Education at William & Mary has been committed to the education of gifted students. Dr. Joyce VanTassel-Baska, founder of the CFGE, created a learning environment to work directly with gifted students and parents by providing diverse university-based pre-collegiate programs in both residential and…