Physics classrooms, from high school through graduate school, chronically enroll far too few women, people of color, English language learners, and low-income students. Research suggests students' science identity functions as a strong indicator for their continued pursuit of physics coursework and careers. Further research indicates students'…

The purpose of this study is to determine if Project-Based Learning (PBL) retrieval activities can impact knowledge gains and retention in high school mathematics students, and to look for a possible relationship between student achievement level, retrieval activity type, and mathematics knowledge retention. For two mathematical topics, ten high…

This research seeks to understand how secondary science students make space for themselves in the classroom. Specifically, this study examines the interplay between classroom structures and students' agentic negotiations while identifying the relationship between students' enacted agency and their authored science identities by drawing from a…

The purpose of this study was to use Kuh's theory of student engagement to compare levels of active and collaborative learning, student and faculty interaction, and support for learners for African American males in community college using the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) data. The independent variables were the levels of…

The effect of class size on student learning has numerous policy implications and has been a major subject of conversation and research for decades. Despite this, few studies have been done on class size in the context of university settings or physics courses. This dissertation helps address that gap in the literature by quantitatively analyzing…

The purpose of this study was to examine how small groups of students in an introductory undergraduate chemistry course construct CERs and the influence of race, gender, and perceived status during this construction. The small groups of students engaged in three chemistry activities that required them to generate a claim, evidence, and reasoning…

This research examines the student engagement of senior accounting majors in three major areas of engagement using National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) data: level of academic challenge, active and collaborative learning and student-faculty interaction. Senior accounting majors are compared to senior business administration majors and…

Over the course of several decades, a large body of research written with a focus on community colleges has accumulated based on the high need for remediation in mathematics, and has been associated with high attrition rates at that level. Reform efforts have been largely unsuccessful. This qualitative study was conducted so that the phenomenon of…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the degree to which differences were present between First-Time in College (FTIC) community college students and non-FTIC community college students with respect to specific student behaviors. Of particular interest was whether reported student effort and student engagement differed between these…

The purpose of this study is to examine whether transfer status and type matter for student engagement and if so, what student characteristics affect this relationship. Data from senior students at four-year institutions across the United States who completed the National Survey for Student Engagement (NSSE) in 2009 were used. Descriptive…

The purpose of this study was to discover which student engagement variables and student characteristics predict student academic achievement. The research utilized the standardized national Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) to examine data from 19,516 students from 13 Illinois community colleges. The outcome of student…

Nursing schools are facing demands to admit and graduate increasing numbers of students to meet the needs of the future healthcare system. Nursing schools must therefore admit, retain and graduate qualified applicants, able to provide care in complex healthcare environments. Educators are challenged to identify the best educational practices to…