An increasing body of literature continues to highlight the relationship between our connection with nature and the positive effects on our physical health and psychological well-being as well as enhancing our motivations and engagements within learning contexts. However, with more time being spent indoors and free time increasingly structured by…

Campus climate can strongly affect the experiences of collegiate students who identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community. Using person-centered methodologies and thriving as methodological and conceptual lenses, we created groups of institutions based on perceptions of climate to illustrate differences in LGBTQ+ student engagement using data from…

This resource review focuses on the use of the DISCflex instrument in the classroom. While frequently administered in industry, DISC-style instruments are less frequently used in academic contexts, despite a usefulness in clarifying and working with preferred behaviors. This review provides a brief history and description of the DISCflex…

How much should student effort matter in their course grades? How much does student effort actually matter? What is the link between student effort and student performance, especially when the effort is not specifically focused on a specific performance metric? This paper examines these questions normatively as well as by analyzing student data…

Safety skills are recognized as essential lab skills for students, necessitating the incorporation of active learning of chemical safety education into undergraduate curricula. Meaningful engagement of students in training and education on principle-based lab safety skills, chemical information sources, and general safety instructions is crucial…

Student motivation has been identified as important in supporting the learning, growth, and development of physical education students. A key construct that is housed within motivation is situational interest. Situational interest is an affective response that has been associated with enhanced levels of student engagement and involvement. The aim…

Most educators agree that students' academic grades should be kept separate from measures of organization, engagement, or timeliness. But how do we move toward the goal of all students' being engaged in learning, giving effort, and being conscientious about deadlines without attaching those behaviors to a grade? This seems to be the million-dollar…

This brief addresses two evaluation questions: (1) What are the effects of supporting educators to intentionally intensify their practice on their overall implementation of targeted classroom practices (i.e., prompting, engaging, and praising)? and (2) What are the effects of educators intentionally intensifying their classroom practices on the…

This paper provides an in-depth exploration of reading engagement, a complex construct that encompasses cognitive, behavioral, and emotional dimensions. Drawing from social cognitive theory, the study examines how individual abilities, motivational beliefs, and environmental factors influence reading engagement. It identifies key strategies for…

While children receive most emotional messages from their caregivers, schools provide a unique opportunity to promote social-emotional competence. Early childhood educators and administrators should consider the long-term outcomes of incorporating SEL for young learners and school staff. One strategy to promote young students' social-emotional…

In this reflective essay, I examine the impact of corporal punishment in Ghanaian schools by drawing on my experiences as both a victim and a former perpetrator of these practices. Through reflecting on the punitive discipline I endured and later enforced, I highlight the detrimental effects on students' well-being, self-worth, and engagement in…

Teachers' skill in fostering students' engagement and limiting disruptive behavior is important for maintaining a safe, productive, and effective learning environment. Yet, teachers lacking specific training in classroom and behavior management continue to report high levels of stress and are more likely to leave the profession (Ingersoll,…

Academic boredom is a complex and underestimated problem in schools in many countries. The research on this phenomenon is mostly from Germany and Northern America. During the last two-three decades several studies have highlighted some aspects of academic boredom and its relationship to motivation and school-based learning behavior and outcomes.…

Girls tend to do better than boys academically, in part because they are more engaged in school. What if they weren't? Using nationally representative data, I examine how equal starting points and trajectories of behavioral engagement in elementary school could change gender test score gaps. I find that equal engagement patterns could entirely…

Reflective students who are pro-active in thought processing in the classroom often do not receive the same level of positive appraisal from teachers. Many educators have been conditioned by universal norms to believe that to talk profusely during class time means to engage while to remain frequently quiet tends to denote a lack of engagement. The…