First-generation, freshmen students struggle to complete the financial aid process at a four-year private university in Louisiana, impacting their financial and academic well-being. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore first-generation, freshmen student perceptions of how they construct knowledge about the financial aid…

Leadership plays a crucial component in an organization's success. The present mixed-methods study investigated the relationship of perceived stress among first-year college students who were emerging adults aged 18 through 24 and mindfulness training. The study was two-fold, beginning with the quantitative portion. The participants (N = 36)…

This performance improvement-based dissertation in practice analyzed and addressed a retention performance problem embedded in a higher education setting. A problem of practice is defined as an ongoing performance problem that exists in the context of a scholar-practitioner's workplace (Burrington & Throne, 2021) which, if addressed, can lead…

While faculty to freshmen mentoring (FFM) has been shown to benefit freshmen, not all of them wish to engage in such a program when entering higher education. This questionnaire survey (N = 551) built on the theory of planned behavior to investigate the determinants of freshmen's intention to engage in a large-scale FFM program called POLLEM.…

The development of the mathematical concept of the infinite, through the reflections that arise from personal notions and perceptions and the analysis of some ideas of Galileo and Cantor, invites us to investigate the relationship between intuition and formalization for the understanding of the said concept. This paper aims to observe and describe…

Mindfulness is an important metric of human functioning that has been a topic of cultural and academic attention over the past 30 years (Spijkerman et al., 2016) and can help to elevate one's awareness and internal psychological experience (Wielgosz et al., 2019). To date, there remains an absence of literature examining perceptions of mindfulness…

Magnetic molecular models help students explore molecular structures and interactions. In this study, we investigated how pairs of students used magnetic models to explore hydrogen bonding and the 6-fold symmetry of snowflakes. Fourteen first-year students enrolled in a chemistry unit participated in pairs. Students' interactions with the magnetic…

The goal of this study is to test the effect of a growth mindset (GM) intervention with an added implementation intentions (II) protocol on French first-year university students' mindset, creating a new type of psychosocial intervention (GMII). We exposed participants to 3 intervention conditions (GMII vs. GM vs. control), measured mindset via…

Scientific instruments have long been a vital part of science, paving pathways to remarkable scientific advancements. Such advancements have changed the world both socially and culturally, especially in the past few decades. Students can be introduced to this idea through the concepts of nature of science (NOS): scientific observations are often…

This study discusses a writing assessment for State University's first year integrated experience of Technology 120: Design Thinking in Technology and English 106: First-Year Writing and the implications it provides for curriculum design. The study used Adaptive Comparative Judgment to determine whether integrated research essays that utilized…

The present study aimed to examine the specific relations between five motivational regulation strategies (i.e., interest enhancement, environmental control, self-consequating, performance self-talk, mastery self-talk), academic self-concept, and three cognitive learning strategies (i.e., organization, elaboration, rehearsal) of 415 university…

Research on English for academic purposes (EAP) has mainly adopted a product-oriented view, but rather rarely observed academic writing as a learning process. From the socio-cognitive perspective of learning, the present study investigated first-year EAP learners' self-regulated learning (SRL) strategies for and beliefs about academic writing and…

This paper describes a mixed methods study of Japanese first-year tertiary learners' attitudes to English language learning models. It outlines the results from a survey comprised of a verbal guise test (measuring respondents' attitudes to both linguistic and personality features) and vocabulary elicitation, which was administered to 87…

Academic and social deficits, a nine-month secondary school-to-university learning loss, a readiness gap for university-level coursework, and limited cultural capital characterize the transition to university for Botswana's secondary school completers seeking a STEM qualification. This study investigated internationally implemented developmental…

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is complex neurodevelopmental disorder that is exhibited through a wide-range of symptoms including social interactions, communication deficits, limited interests, and repetitive behaviors (e.g., stimming). The prevalence of autism amongst children and adolescents continues to grow with 1 in 36 diagnosed annually…