This study describes the implementation and findings from a consultation process designed to enhance the professional development (PD) offered to teachers working in Virginia's state-funded preschool program. A PD Rubric was developed to translate research on effective PD (i.e., PD practices linked to positive changes in teacher practice and/or…

Most pre-kindergarten (pre-K) and kindergarten curricula are challenging and engaging, but few are strongly grounded in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. In this study, the authors examined parental perception (N = 55) of the influences of a Saturday STEM enrichment program in one university center on pre-K and…

The environment in which faculty development centers operate has changed significantly. As a result, centers are asked to play a more important role in contributing to institutional strategic initiatives, assess outcomes of programs, and enhance faculty scholarship success. In the past, assessments have focused on attendance and satisfaction…

A professional development (PD) program for Strategic and Interactive Writing Instruction (SIWI) integrating effective PD features was implemented with teachers over 3 years. Using a 1-way analysis of variance, it was examined whether length of participation in PD impacted knowledge and ability to faithfully implement. Findings indicate…

First-year seminar programs have been a feature on the landscape of post-secondary teaching and learning in the United States, since they first appeared in the 1880s at Boston University (Mamrick, 2005). More recently, they have begun to appear at Canadian universities. For example, first-year seminars were introduced a decade ago at the…

The Occupational Therapy department at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa is responsible for ensuring students achieve psychomotor skill proficiency, as it is an essential component of health care practice. The aim of this study was to determine whether the introduction of opportunities to afford self-evaluation better prepared…

In this paper, we examine the impact of adopting a comprehensive school health (CSH) approach on reducing anxiety and depression of school-age children. We use the data from 245 schools that received government funding support to adopt a CSH approach in order to build health promoting school environments in Alberta. Using a linear multi-level…

This study investigated one-semester outdoor education program impact on adolescents' perceived self-authorship--the ability to form our identity independently from the expectations of external individuals and the capacity to invent our beliefs, identity, and relationships (Baxter Magolda, 1998; Kegan, 1982)--as measured by the Self-Authorship…

This study describes high school students' use of smart technology to enhance leisure-time physical activity. Participants included 109 students who completed an informational survey comprised of questions examining non-school sport and physical activity hours, daily video game hours, and use of Kinect active video games and smartphone apps.…

"Makerspace" has been lauded as a new way forward to create communities, empower students and bring together enthusiasts of all ages and skill levels "to tinker" and create. Makerspace education has been touted as having the potential to empower young people to become agents of change in their communities. This paper examines…

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of the university-level application of an Argument-Based Inquiry Approach, as compared to the traditional laboratory teaching method, on the ability of students to learn about optics and to demonstrate critical thinking. In this quasi-experimental study, pretest-posttest scores and CCDTI were…

DREAMzone is an educational intervention designed to increase higher education professionals' competency and self-efficacy for working with undocumented students. Grounded in social learning theory, we developed the DREAMer-ally instrument to investigate the effects of DREAMzone on DREAMer-ally competency and self-efficacy. Findings support the…

This study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of a soft skills employee training program. We examined willingness to learn and delivery methods (face-to-face vs. online) and their associations with the training outcomes in terms of learning and behavioral change. Results showed that neither participants' willingness to learn nor delivery…

Many administrators in Learning Assistance Programs (LAPs) have teaching duties, or take on teaching duties at some point in their careers. This study was designed to examine the impact of LAP experience on classroom pedagogy. A pilot study was utilized first through listservs and email chains to ask that question of LAP professionals. After…

Technology has reshaped conceptions of professional development by increasing access to information, enabling sustained follow-up efforts, and fostering teacher reflection and collaboration. Drawing on theoretical models of parent involvement and an ethic of caring, this study examined the perceptions and attitudes of educators toward…