The Simmons World Challenge is a unique, interdisciplinary program recently developed at Simmons College. It immerses students in an intensive winter-session course that challenges them to tackle a pressing social issue, such as poverty or hunger, and create actionable solutions to the problem. The program was conceived and designed to harness the…

We describe experience with a pilot week-long, No-Child-Left-Inside (NCLI), outdoor program implemented in Cache Valley, Utah, in 2012. Through response analysis of a "pre-then-post" children's survey and a parent-completed demographic survey, we assess program effectiveness in raising children's enthusiasm for nature-related behaviors…

We describe the development and initial evaluation of the efficacy of "We Have Skills!" (WHS), a video-based social skills instructional program for early elementary school students. The components of WHS were designed to be scientifically sound, maximally useful to elementary school teachers, and effective in increasing students' social…

Given the increased educational benefits of the Post 9/11 G. I. Bill for veterans, and as the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan wind down and the troops come home, the number of military veterans entering colleges and universities is expected to increase. As non-traditional students with significant life experience, often including combat,…

Objective: This report describes the development and preliminary findings regarding the reliability, validity, and sensitivity of a scale that has been developed to assess practitioners' perceived familiarity with, attitudes about, and implementation of the phases of the evidence-based practice (EBP) process. Method: After a panel of national…

There is a need within health, physical education, recreation, dance, and sport programs to increase community engagement via experiential learning. The Chase Charlie Races are presented in this article as a model pedagogical strategy to engage community youths and families in a training program and running event to help promote fitness. Key…

Illustrates how the director and teachers of a child care program and the staff of a residential nursing home facility collaborated to develop, implement, and evaluate an onsite intergenerational program. Describes program goals; recruitment plan; elder, staff, and teacher orientation; options for intergenerational activities; and program…

Introduction: Children today are under much more stress than a few decades ago due to academic pressure, family financial hardship, competition with peers, and stressed parents. Consequently, stress-related health issues and behavioral problems, such as cardiovascular diseases, headaches, insomnia, anxiety, depression, violent or withdrawal…

Over the last decade, the Intelligent Computer Tutoring Group (ICTG) has implemented many successful constraint-based Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs) in a variety of instructional domains. Our tutors have proven their effectiveness not only in controlled lab studies but also in real classrooms, and some of them have been commercialized.…

Because children who are deaf or hard of hearing are being identified at birth, fitted with advanced hearing technology, and enrolled in early intervention programs, families increasingly seek professionals who can provide services that support their choice of listening and spoken language. The increased demand for these services and shortages of…

The Food Safety Knowledge Network (FSKN) is a collaboration between Michigan State University, the Global Food Safety Initiative of the Consumer Goods Forum, and other food industry and public sector partners. FSKN's goal is to help strengthen the food industry's response to the complex food safety knowledge and training challenges that affect…

Negotiation skills are essential in everyday life, whether in a professional or personal context. Negotiation enables two parties to address misunderstandings and avoid conflicts through an exchange that depends as much on the interpersonal skills of the negotiators as the tactics employed. Acquiring these skills requires not only sound conceptual…

Although research identifies a plethora of evidence-based instructional practices, classroom teachers find research difficult to access, often not implemented due to perceived lack of relevance to classroom practice. Bridging this gap between research and practice requires continued and mediated support as teachers translate and contextualize…

Most successes in intelligent tutoring systems have come in well-defined domains like algebra or physics. We investigate how to support students in acquiring ill-defined skills of intercultural competence using an online environment that employs clips of feature films from a target culture. To test the effectiveness of a set of attention-focusing…

The Aircraft Instrument Comprehension (AIC) Program is a self-instructional program designed to teach undergraduate student pilots to read instruments that indicate the position of the aircraft in flight, based on sequential instructional stages of information, prompted practice, and unprompted practice. The program includes a 36-item multiple…