A significant issue for U.S. institutions of higher education is reducing the anxiety of students in order to help increase retention rates and improve academic performance. The purpose of this study was to analyze the anxiety levels of incoming graduate students at a Midwest regional state university to determine if an online student orientation…

Devastating floods in 2007 across western England resulted in legislative changes which have placed increased responsibility on local government for managing and mitigating local flood risk. For these changes to be effective, professional stakeholders need to understand fundamental concepts in flood science of which they may have no prior…

The University of Arkansas developed and integrated visual communications curriculum related to agricultural communications into secondary agricultural programs throughout the state. The curriculum was developed, pilot tested, revised, and implemented by selected secondary agriculture teachers. The primary purpose of this study was to evaluate…

There is general agreement in the literature that international students are more likely to plagiarise compared to their native speaker peers and, in many instances, plagiarism is unintentional. In this article we describe the effectiveness of an academic writing development programme embedded into a Biological Sciences Taught Masters course…

Background: To improve student performance, teachers need to evaluate the developmental level of the child and to deliver feedback statements that correspond with the student's ability to process the information delivered. Therefore, feedback aligned with the developmental level of the child (aligned developmental feedback--ADF) is sometimes…

This study investigated the impact of different modes of scaffolding on students who are learning science through a web-based collaborative inquiry project in authentic classroom settings and explored the interaction effects with students' characteristics. The intervention study aimed to improve "domain-specific knowledge" and "metacognitive…

Short-term study abroad is the fastest growing area of international education and there is increasing interest in the role of modified applications of this form (e.g. faculty-led, field/environmental, and/or educational travel) in influencing global citizenship. Using an empirical database of over 650 students registered for a study abroad course…

The authors examined the effect a curriculum about cooperative businesses had on high school student attitudes toward these businesses. Cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions were measured before and after participating in the curriculum. Older high school students increased their attitudes toward cooperatives more than did younger…

It is argued that multimedia technology affords an opportunity to better visualise complex relationships often seen in chemistry. This paper describes the influence of chemistry simulation design facets on user progress through a simulation. Three versions of an acid-base titration simulation were randomly allocated to 36 volunteers to examine…

This dissertation is comprised of two manuscripts that resulted from a single study that tested the efficacy of teaching parents how to infuse comprehension strategy instruction into read alouds with their preschool-aged children. Twenty dyads, each composed of an incoming kindergartener and one of his or her parents, participated in this study.…

The purpose of this study was to test an educational swine curriculum geared toward fifth grade classrooms to measure the change in students' knowledge about the pork industry, pork as a nutritious protein source, and the value of byproducts derived from pork production. Objectives of this study were to evaluate overall change in students'…

The purpose of this Executive Position Paper (EPP) is to develop a model for improving the online training modules utilized by a mid-Atlantic Residence Life department. The complexity of the Residence Life staff positions, coupled with demands from other university departments and the need to provide as much information as possible, resulted in an…

This article describes two consecutive enactments of technology-oriented teacher professional development designs, aimed at helping teachers find high-quality online learning resources and use them in designing effective problem-based learning (PBL) activities for their students. To align with current professional development prescriptions, in the…

Replicates and expands upon an earlier study conducted by Robert Szafran in which a pretest was used to explore the effects of prior knowledge upon grades. Confirms that pretest scores and grade point average predict posttest scores. Presents a number of implications for teaching. (KO)

The Juvenile and Adolescent Substance Abuse Prevention Program (JASAP) is a curriculum-based prevention and health promotion program for youth between the ages of 13 to 18 years in Fulton County, Georgia. The program was established in 2007 to promote healthy decision-making skills that would eventually lead to informed choices and decisions…