The aim of this dissertation was to develop and validate a novel Epistemic Competence Beliefs Measure (ECBM) in order to explore students' ability to evaluate the characteristics of scenarios about complex and controversial social issues. Epistemic competence was hypothesized to be critical in performing multiple source use (MSU) tasks and in the…

Apart from providing a bird's eye view of a given domain of inquiry (Ioannidis et al., 2015), systematic reviews such as methodological syntheses offer a magnifying glass on prevalent existing problems in primary research and furnish empirically grounded solutions to rectify these issues (Page et al., 2021). As survey research in second language…

Evolution is a key feature of undergraduate biology education: the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has identified evolution as one of the five core concepts of biology, and it is relevant to a wide array of biology-related careers. If biology instructors want students to use evolution to address scientific challenges…

Creativity and collaboration are key components of a mathematician's work, and thus in the preparation of future mathematicians, undergraduate mathematics courses should aim to develop students who can effectively work collaboratively and creatively with one another. Despite this need, research on mathematical creativity has primarily investigated…

There is a critical national nursing workforce shortage, with estimates of over 200,000 new job openings for Registered Nurses (RNs) annually through 2031 (AACN, 2022). These forecasted workforce needs challenge nursing programs to increase student enrollment (Dowling et al., 2021) while maintaining high-quality education standards. Student…

The purpose of this study was to replicate Reeve et al., (2023) by applying the newly proposed tripartite model of self-determination theory (SDT to the context of higher education. The study also investigated the validity of the "Three State Questionnaire" (TSQ) as a measurement tool in higher education. The study consisted of 521 first…

This study focuses on creating a reliable and valid instrument to measure high school students' perceptions of academic challenge. The research is divided into four phases: qualitative analysis, item development, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and validation. Initial data from college students' retrospective views and high school students'…

Within the field of music education, previous literature has examined numerous features of relationships between students and teachers, but survey instruments measuring these relationships from the student perspective are lacking. Accordingly, two studies were conducted to develop and evaluate a new survey instrument measuring students'…

The purpose of this research study was to examine differences in perceptions of spirituality outcomes between online and in-person students taking theology courses at a Christian liberal arts college in the Midwestern United States. Using a validated instrument, the Religious Education Survey (RES), 71 students were surveyed. A one sample t test…

Learning analytics researchers have been diligently integrating trace data to study Self-Regulated Learning (SRL). Compared to traditionally used survey data, trace data, such as log or clickstream data designed and interpreted to understand a certain SRL construct, are considered to be more effective in capturing dynamic SRL as fine-grained…

The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to understand the lived experiences of foreign language anxiety or xenoglossophobia, for college students enrolled in foreign language courses at The Southern University. The topic was guided by Krashen's theory of second language acquisition, as it relates to many aspects of the actual…

This dissertation investigated predictors of scientific civic engagement among undergraduate students through a multimethod approach, focusing on how educational experiences shaped students' engagement with their communities using scientific skills. This multipart study addressed gaps in understanding how educational practices, identity, and sense…

We live in an attention economy where many of our interactions are mediated by technologies incentivized to exploit our attention. The consequences of this exploitation, so far as they are known, affect how we spend our time, and also our capacity for reflection and self-awareness, which can have lasting effects across our life and relationships.…

This study uses narrative analysis to track undergraduates' proof schemes throughout a transition proofs course at a research 1 university in the Midwest, with a focus on student example use and how it influences their schemes. Assessment data and cognitive interviews were conducted at four points throughout the semester in order to track the…

Adolescent mental health is a growing concern in the United States. Children who experience mental health issues struggle in the school environment if their needs are not met. Teachers play a critical role in the classroom when identifying students who struggle with mental health issues. The purposes of this convergent, parallel mixed-methods…