Social justice-oriented teacher education programs infuse critical pedagogies in their coursework to build teachers' capacity to design and enact teaching that seeks to disrupt systemic oppression and injustice. Graduates of these programs often seek teaching positions in schools that serve working class communities of color with the goal of…

The author explains how using creative assignments reinforces invention, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills in undergraduate health administration students. While several studies look at the use of creative assignments to help students develop these skills, few studies exist on their use in health administration. In addition, the use of…

While ample research has examined how youth in the United States define 'Americanness', little attention has been given to how youth imagine the nation of the future, particularly in light of ongoing immigration. This study investigates how middle school students envision necessary national reforms, and how these views reflect different models of…

California law enforcement academies provide training for individuals entering law enforcement Stress Inoculation Training (SIT) is included in the academy. The topic addressed in this research is the perceived efficacy of SIT in preparing officers to make decisions about when to use force and how much force is reasonable for the situation. The…

This STEM research project asks middle school or high school students to work towards creating ecologically friendly packaging. Packaging that can be composted instead of thrown away and collected in landfills and oceans like plastics. This inquiry uses nanocellulose and focuses on water permeability. The fibers of nanocellulose can be dried to…

This study explored the role of critical reflection on faith formation of Indonesian female Christian students who study in selected colleges in Southern California. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 25 participants and the age of interviewees ranged from 19 to 26 years old. Data analysis was carried out using NVivo 12. From the…

This comparative, mixed-methods study illustrates the impact of weekly facilitated peer review ("Writing Circles") in STEM courses across time: 1) in a lower-division course, Circles improve all learning outcomes for writing and critical thinking, and most significantly, writing; 2) in an upper-division course, Circles are most effective…

The purpose of this study was to measure to what extent an experimental method of teaching argument incorporating elements from both Toulmin's (2004) structural approach and Walton's (2013) dialectical approach effects first-year college students' ability to write strong arguments. This experimental instruction used critical questioning as a…

The Leading-to-Calculus Framework (LTCF) is a collection of math courses meant to prepare students for calculus. From its inception, however, scholars have marked out a number of problems with its approach, particularly for students of color: its content and activities are often too broad, its structure is too rigid, and it fails to regularly…

The University of Southern California (USC) Democracy Project responds to the inadequacies of traditional civics education, particularly its failure to engage marginalized students in meaningful democratic participation. Grounded in the theories of John Dewey and Paulo Freire, the project uses an action civics model to connect students with…

This study evaluates the effectiveness of the UCSF Summer Student Research Program (SSRP) in enhancing research-related skills, academic outcomes, and post-baccalaureate aspirations of underrepresented minority (URM) and non-URM undergraduate students in biomedical sciences and STEM fields. The SSRP, spanning 9 weeks, provides immersive research…

Sharing the journey of developing an ePortfolio assignment, this article focuses on the design process, implementation, and benefits of the ePortfolio as a capstone project for a bachelor's degree program using a constructivist approach. Integrating constructivist educational practices (e.g., student-centered learning, autonomy, self-regulation,…

Limited research exists on the factors that contribute to community college students' development of self-efficacy (SE) while serving as preservice teachers (PSTs) during their early childhood education (ECE) practicum. This lack of research is concerning because educators who have high SE enhance the educational well-being of all children. The…

The technology in the K-12 classroom has changed from being a tool that educators can utilize on an as needed basis, to a classroom necessity. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore K-12 technology directors experiences in the decision-making process of integrating technology in a K-12 education system at a district level…

This article describes "Dark Ride: Disneyland" - a mobile game that encourages Disneyland guests to critically consider Disney's representations of history, culture, and technology. The game was the creation of a group of faculty, students and professionals associated with Brigham Young University. The article contextualizes the game and…