Teachers with a high sense of self-efficacy are more resilient to difficulties, experience greater job satisfaction and have higher expectations of their students. This study investigated teacher self-efficacy in high performing teachers at two points in their development: 1) as preservice teachers, halfway through their undergraduate degree using…

In 2014, the NIH Diversity Program Consortium (DPC) launched an initiative to implement and evaluate novel interventions at a variety of academic institutions across the country to engage undergraduate students from diverse backgrounds in biomedically-related research. The local intervention examined in the current study provides Critical Race…

Gamification has been studied in the context of English as a foreign language (EFL) teaching as an intriguing approach, and its impact on language skills and motivational states of learners has been an area of interest; however, further experimental and qualitative accounts on the matter are still required. Additionally, the construct of 'self' as…

Block mode of teaching, also called intensive mode of teaching, has received great recognition and interest from education sector. This mode of teaching is a compressed style of teaching in which classes are delivered in an intensive period of time. Block mode teaching has been found to have potential to enhance student performance. Although…

In this paper, we describe and evaluate a graduate mentoring program named "First ChEnnections," organized by the department of chemical engineering and later expanded to all engineering departments at a large, public research institution in the Southwest U.S. The main goal of this program was to develop a community to support first-year…

Drawing on a social identity framework of mathematical development, the authors present a model, Improving Girls' Math Identity (IGMI), designed to address two key "leaks" in the female STEM pipeline: undergraduate and middle school. IGMI involves a supportive professional development network for undergraduate women preparing to…

In this paper, we share the results of a cross-institutional study considering the impact serving as a peer mentor has on upper-level undergraduate students. Using a focus group methodology, we interviewed students in peer mentoring programs at two universities with the goal of identifying commonalities between the two sites regarding the benefits…

There is a need for mental health interventions for youth in the United States. Youth mentoring programs have proven to be successful in helping in a variety of aspects. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to gain insight into the lived experiences of participants in a therapeutic youth mentoring program. In addition to being paired 1:1…

A great deal of time and resources are invested throughout Canada to encourage students to learn French as a second official language through a variety of programs (core French, intensive French, and French immersion programs). Little is known, however, about the impact of these efforts once French language learners complete their high school…

Over the past two decades, mindfulness meditation has received increasing attention in academia and various fields of practice. More recently, it has also been introduced into environmental and sustainability education (ESE) settings. This study offers a first exploratory investigation of learner experiences with consumption-specific mindfulness…

This dissertation employs a multiple case study approach to explore the views and expectations of Latino-Hispanic parents of ELLs regarding their children's school English language acquisition programs (ELAP). The central research question investigates the perceived effectiveness of these programs and their alignment with parents' aspirations for…

Servant Leadership substantiates the truth that through service to others, while leading others, individuals fulfill a longing for living virtuous lives. This study evaluated the impact of a principal preparation program on candidate self-perception of five dispositional skills associated with servant leadership. To determine the impact of the…

Researchers typically embark on interdisciplinarity after the acquisition of disciplinary expertise. This article explores the possibility of teaching interdiciplinarity to undergraduate students who have not yet mastered or are in the process of mastering a discipline or disciplines. It focuses on junior-year students in the Whittier Scholars…

This study investigated the effect of a school-based and teacher-led psychosocial intervention that targeted academic underachievement among conflict-affected youths. We hypothesized that participants in the intervention would experience improved school functioning and reduced levels of stress-related symptoms after the intervention, in comparison…

Like many countries, Australia has persistent rates of school exclusion, juvenile offending and recidivism. In response, there has been a growth of 'alternative education' provision -- interventions that support young people to engage with learning opportunities outside the conventional education system. While alternative education programs…