We performed an inductive study to advance theory on how a crisis can inspire individuals to be persistently creative in successive cycles. We draw from rich data of 17 volunteer projects in the Tech4Covid movement, a Portuguese organization of entrepreneurs who gathered online to develop digital solutions to help society during the COVID-19…

In this paper I analyze a problem solving event in a secondary mathematics classroom. As the event unfolds, the teachers, including me, understand the event as involving interactions that were not related to learning. By adopting an expansive view of learning, I advance a different interpretation, that the interactions tell a story of student…

Social and emotional learning (SEL) strengthens students' abilities to regulate their emotions, thoughts, and behaviours and to interact successfully with others. There are an array of important social and emotional skills (SES): goal-setting, working to one's potential, resilience, creativity, perseverance, problem solving, and caring about the…

Recent evidence indicates substantial heterogeneity in the returns to skills across countries, but only a few studies have explained the varying patterns in the return to skills. Using the 2013 STEP data for Ghana and Kenya, we estimate the causal effect of cognitive and noncognitive skills on a large set of labour market outcomes by controlling…

This article presents the findings of an exploratory investigation involving the direct assessment of the quality of abstract thinking of two cohorts of South African university entrants who had very good school leaving qualifications. The investigation was prompted by the observation of difficulties these students seemed to have had in a first…

In this important resource, Dr. Fleming (a noted expert in the field of minority retention) draws on educational evaluations she has developed in the course of her distinguished career. This book analyzes the common factors and the role institutional characteristics play in minority student retention to show what really works in increasing…

Research in goal theory has often relied on the general linear model, ignoring some central assumptions of the theoretical framework under investigation. The purpose of the two studies reported here was to illustrate how the Rasch model can supplement traditional statistical analyses when evaluating the effects of goal orientations on persistence.…

A descriptive model is proposed to describe the path of adult problem solving and thinking that leads to reentry into college, retention, and eventual completion of a college degree. Intrinsic and extrinsic facilitators and inhibitors to degree completion, theories of motivation, and persistence are explored. (SLD)

This document reviews the experiences of College Bound, a joint four-year Boston Public Schools/Boston College enrichment and support program for multicultural, urban, public high school students. The program was designed to supplement the regular high school curriculum and was intended to refine basic skills, stimulate critical thinking and…