This article investigates the perspectives of international students in the United States who use writing centers to support their identities and to meet their writing needs and goals. Using survey and focus group data to look closely at how students use one writing center's online Profile and more broadly at the accessibility and responsiveness…

This article reports on collaborative research that assessed the impact of a joint library and writing center initiative: the Writing and Research Tutor program. This program provided an integrated model of academic support to underrepresented first-year students who were paired with a tutor trained in both writing and research support. The St.…

One of my principal goals at the University of Minnesota is to transform the university's entry-level geoscience program into an effective ''concluding'' geoscience course that provides students with a clear understanding of the many interactions between Earth processes and human society. Although place-based learning appeared to be a promising…

To demonstrate effectiveness, writing centers collect quantitative and/or qualitative information about and from the students who use their services. A broader understanding of effectiveness requires us to consider both direct measures of writing quality and why some students do not use the writing center. This mixed-methods research followed one…

Everyday experience suggests that drivers are less susceptible to motion sickness than passengers. In the context of inertial motion (i.e., physical displacement), this effect has been confirmed in laboratory research using whole body motion devices. We asked whether a similar effect would occur in the context of simulated vehicles in a visual…

Personal narratives are integral to autobiographical memory and to identity, with coherent personal narratives being linked to positive developmental outcomes across the lifespan. In this article, we review the theoretical and empirical literature that sets the stage for a new lifespan model of personal narrative coherence. This new model…

This paper examines the complexities of working with student researchers in a virtual lab setting, logistics, and methods to resolve issues. To demonstrate the feasibility of a virtual lab, a mixed-methods study consisting of quantitative surveys and qualitative data examined changes in doctoral students' confidence as measured by research outcome…

Students taking the "How to Make (Almost) Anything" class at Mahtomedi High School in Mahtomedi, Minn. can literally make almost anything--from chess pieces to cups to chairs, and DVD cases to clocks to lampshades--right in their classroom. And besides getting a daily dose of amazement, these students are making history in the first…

For 6 years, we have offered an integrated weekly laboratory focusing on research methods as part of our general psychology course. Through self-report measures and controlled comparisons, we found that laboratory projects significantly increase students' knowledge and comfort level with scientific approaches and concepts, sustain interest in…

This technical brief describes state-level policies and procedural requirements for guiding teacher evaluation practices at the district level in the seven states served by the Midwest Regional Educational Laboratory: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Building on the Issues & Answers report "Examining…

The bricks-and-mortar infrastructure of community colleges has not nearly kept pace with increases in student enrollments. Not only are colleges bursting at the proverbial seams, but, according to the American Graduation Initiative, many two-year institutions "face large needs due to deferred maintenance or lack the modern facilities and…

This project entailed a three-year efficacy evaluation of the Computer and Team Assisted Mathematical Acceleration (CATAMA) Lab developed by the Center for Social Organization of Schools at Johns Hopkins University. The CATAMA Lab was proposed as an immediate and practical approach to addressing the different types of math deficits held by…

In this article, the author relates the history of one of the first two-year college writing laboratories in the country, the University of Minnesota General College Writing Laboratory, created in 1932. This writing laboratory was a setting in which a student could write "things which he wishes to write in answer to natural demands"…