Common concerns for many instructors of introductory college courses are that their students do not prepare for or attend class, are minimally engaged, and exhibit poor reading comprehension and writing skills. How can instructors respond to these challenges? Research finds that frequent testing improves the learning outcomes of students. Can it…

This article explores the viability of online crowdsourcing for creating matched-comparison groups. This exploratory study compares survey results from a randomized control group to survey results from a matched-comparison group created from Amazon.com's MTurk crowdsourcing service to determine their comparability. Study findings indicate…

Background: To promote regular physical activity (PA) among children and adolescents, authors recommend that physical education (PE) teachers offer their students programmes that would allow them to be physically active outside PE classes. However, such programmes are rarely rigorously assessed and it is recommended that further studies be…

Background: It has been claimed that thematic or integrated approaches to curriculum delivery offer a range of advantages over subject-based modes of delivery including improved pupil motivation. Purpose: This study put claims regarding pupil motivation to the test, using the achievement goals framework. This contemporary approach to understanding…

The purpose of this study was to compare the scores of students who were allowed unlimited retakes of a multiple-choice test with the scores of students who were limited to only four retakes (five trials) of the same test. The tests were each made up of 20 randomly drawn questions from a large pool of questions about research methods. Three…

This paper examines the educational impacts of the Berkshire Wireless Learning Initiative (BWLI), a pilot program that provided 1:1 technology access to all students and teachers across five public and private middle schools in western Massachusetts. Using a pre/post comparative study design, the current study explores a wide range of program…

The purpose of this study was to seek conclusive data for answering the following research question: To what extent can the attitudes of community colleges students be improved through the systematic application of commercially produced attitude change packages? Eight California community colleges conducted an experiment using a variety of…

Research is described which explores the hypothesis that different classroom situations may be optimal for different individuals. The approach used cluster analysis to identify student and classroom "types" whose interactions were then examined in an analysis of variance framework. About 1,300 fourth graders from 50 classrooms were…

This paper concerns a national evaluation study of the Upward Bound (UB) Program conducted for the U.S. Office of Education by the Research Triangle Institute. It describes the practical constraints imposed on the study design and the features of the design that were shaped by these constraints. The design features include the quasi-experimental…