Teaching with inquiry-based learning (IBL) can be used to increase high school students' science proficiency levels. Teachers must also be equipped and prepared to teach inquiry-based learning concepts. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate how prolonged professional development (PD) about IBL impacts science and agriscience teachers' intent to…

As Agricultural Education shifts to a more science-based curriculum to help fulfill shortcomings of the current United States science test scores, teachers implementing Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL) is becoming more important. For Agriculture Educators to do this, training is necessary for both new and experienced educators. This study was…

Background: Designed in 2012 with a first implementation in 2013, NE STEM 4U is a professional development program for post-secondary students/undergraduates, and serves as a source of outreach, content knowledge generation, and STEM literacy for youth in grades kindergarten through 8th grade (ages 5-14). The model empowers post-secondary students…

Research has highlighted the significant decline in teachers' implementation of newly acquired teaching practices following professional development (PD), primarily attributed to the absence of follow-up support. Even science teachers who have participated in intensive PD programs often encounter challenges in integrating new teaching practices…

Professional development (PD) programs for science and agriculture teachers designed around the inquiry-based learning (IBL) teaching strategy could help to improve science proficiency amongst our high school students. PD that continues over a longer period of time is more effective than short-term workshops. The purpose of this study was to…

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of active learning on student performance in a sophomore-level anatomy and physiology course. Exam grades of students from two consecutive fall semesters were compared. In the first year of the study, students (n=180) used skeletons, plastic muscular manikins, and illustrations to learn the…

There is a need to improve science comprehension in the United States. Incorporating scientific principles into the study of food production provides context to engage youth in STEM education. The Curriculum for Agricultural Science Education (CASE) is an inquiry-based program that stimulates scientific engagement. While agriscience teachers…

High-quality afterschool and summer programming serve an important role in Nebraska communities. They engage students emotionally, intellectually, and socially (National Research Council, 2015). They provide safe and caring supervision for children who might otherwise be unsupervised outside of school hours, they also discourage negative…

This paper describes a case study of two pure mathematicians who flipped their lecture to teach matrix determinants in two large mathematics service courses (one at Stage I and the other at Stage II). The purpose of the study was to transform the passive lecture into an active learning opportunity and to introduce valuable mathematical skills,…

The State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) published a series of case studies from 28 states to showcase examples of how ARRA EETT ("American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 Enhancing Education Through Technology") grant funds have impacted teaching and learning. SETDA collected data for the case studies through…

Sixteen scholarly papers and twenty abstracts comprise the content of the eighteenth annual Brick & Click Libraries Conference, held annually at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri. The proceedings, authored by academic librarians and presented at the conference, portray the contemporary and future face of librarianship.…

Superintendents and principals can have a positive and decisive impact on student achievement and higher graduation rates. Their essential leadership can illuminate the path to excellence for faculty and students. In upgrading curriculum and instruction, school leaders need to keep abreast of practices proven effective in other districts and…

The teaching of mathematics, which arguably is so abstract as to transcend place and community and even culture (according at least to a Platonic view of mathematics), will seem to some observers particularly ill-suited to instruction in place- or community- or culture-based approaches. Nevertheless, current thinking in mathematics education,…

The Common Core State (or other rigorous) Standards (CCSS) being implemented by states across the nation are prompting school leaders and teachers to seek ways to move the standards into classroom instruction, assignments and assessments. Schools wanting to ensure that student work meets grade-level standards are using differentiated instructional…

Addressing the "death of hope" in rural Nebraska during the 1980s farm crisis, the "School at the Center" project engages rural schools and communities in active learning projects: housing or historic-building repair, environmental repair, microenterprise development, exploration of local cultural heritage, and technology…