An understanding of how sensemaking unfolds when elementary students engage in engineering design tasks is crucial to advancing engineering teaching and learning at K-12 levels. Sensemaking has been widely studied in the context of science as a discipline. In this paper, we seek to contribute to the more nascent efforts to build theory about the…

Reading to Dogs (RTD) in schools, a form of animal-assisted education (AAE), is growing in popularity and prevalence. RTD involves children reading to a registered dog with benefits to well-being and reading outcomes thought to arise because of the unconditional positive regard and non-critical listening bestowed on the child by the dog. Yet RTD…

In this article, we adopt assemblage as "methodology" and as a way to foreground the vitality and relational agency of other species as they encounter humans. Research as assemblage is a process of becoming with others, and we experienced that ontological process during three environmental excursions as we became entangled in…

The purpose of this study is to assess how the use of therapy dogs affect elementary students' anxiety levels and attendance. This study adds to the existing research base on the impacts of therapy dogs and the association between anxiety and attendance. Specifically, children who have frequent absences often have challenges in multiple areas, as…

Prior research highlights the role of number manipulation activities in fostering the early mathematical development of children. This study (N = 1,491) explored the effect of a bear-themed intervention on enhancing arithmetic abilities in kindergarten students. Utilizing a pre- and post-test design, the study compared the advancements of children…

Children's storybooks often contain fantasy elements, from dragons and wizards to anthropomorphic animals that wear clothes, talk, and behave like humans. These elements can impact children's learning from storybooks both positively and negatively, perhaps due in part to their ability to capture children's interest and attention. Prior research…

Strong evidence supports a role for protein degradation in fear memory formation. However, these data have been largely done in only male animals. Here, we found that following contextual fear conditioning, females, but not males, had increased levels of proteasome activity and K48 polyubiquitin protein targeting in the dorsal hippocampus, the…

Autism spectrum disorder is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by a wide range of behavioral alterations, including impaired social interaction and repetitive behaviors. Numerous pharmacological interventions have been developed for autism spectrum disorder, often proving ineffective and accompanied by a multitude of side effects. The gut…

Case studies are valuable tools for instruction but are often limited to a single topic and a single class period. Courses such as evolution that synthesize multiple concepts around a common theme, however, can use a single case study type project that extends over the entire semester to develop and link core concepts. A central theme in…

Early life stress (ELS) experiences can cause changes in cognitive and affective functioning. This study examined the persistent effects of a single traumatic event in infancy on several adult behavioral outcomes in male and female C57BL/6J mice. Mice received 15 footshocks in infancy and were tested for stress-enhanced fear learning, extinction…

In two instrumental conditioning experiments with rats, we examined the impacts of acquisition and extinction cues on ABC renewal of instrumental behavior. Animals were reinforced with food for lever pressing in one context, followed by extinction of the response in a second one. Presentations of a brief tone accompanied extinction in Experiment 1…

Raising livestock for food production is a unique cultural phenomenon. It has been well documented that showing livestock as part of 4-H contributes to practical skills, knowledge, and life skills. While it is common to view livestock production through skills-based or economic lenses, there are subtle nuances of the phenomenon, social, cultural,…

The aim of this research was to study the effect of a horseback-riding programme on postural control in a group of autistic children (ASD). Nine children aged 9 to 12 years participated in this study through a multiple baseline across subjects design. The whole programme took place over nine months. Participants followed a previously developed…

We present an alternative to the traditional classroom lecture on the topics of metabolic scaling, allometric relationships between metabolic rate (MR) and body size, and reasons for rejecting Rubner's surface "law," concepts that students have described as challenging, counterintuitive, and/or mathematical. In groups, students work with…

Many K-16 educators agree that active learning is a key component for student success in life sciences. At the same time, some instructors are frustrated by inconsistent student participation in these activities and may revert to traditional teaching strategies. Horse caregivers face a similar frustration when they lead a horse to water and it…