Students often experience social and psychological barriers to success in General Chemistry, which is a key gateway to many students' science pathways. Learning assistants (LAs) have the potential to reduce these barriers and to strengthen students' sense of belonging in General Chemistry and STEM more broadly. Here, we used a 17-item Likert scale…

In cyber charter schools, middle-school students face many barriers to developing STEM identity. My theory of improvement was to address sense of belonging in a large virtual classroom to develop STEM identity in my students. By utilizing diverse STEM role models that reflected my students' racial or ethnic identities and an inquiry-based approach…

Drawing on a social identity framework of mathematical development, the authors present a model, Improving Girls' Math Identity (IGMI), designed to address two key "leaks" in the female STEM pipeline: undergraduate and middle school. IGMI involves a supportive professional development network for undergraduate women preparing to…

Peer Assisted Leaning (PAL) programmes have been shown to enhance learner confidence and have an overall positive effect on learner comprehension, particularly in subjects traditionally perceived as difficult. This research describes the findings of a three-cycle Action Research study into the perceived benefits of implementing such a programme…

What affect does female participation in the Training Future Scientist (TFS) program based on Vygotsky's sociocultural theory and Maslow's Hierarchies of Needs have on achievement levels in science and their attitude toward science and interest in science-based careers? The theoretical framework for this study was developed through a…

The Teen Excellence in Leadership Institute (TELI) was created to provide meaningful leadership and civic-engagement experiences to teens. We integrated Chickering's Theory of Identity Development and the 4-H Citizenship Framework to develop program objectives and a model, consisting of four components: understanding of self, developing a network,…

Recent studies show that conflict situations are a quite frequent reality in schools. These conflict occurrences can be attributed, among other things, to the lack of conflict resolution skills among school personnel. This paper presents a mixed methods study aimed to evaluate the effect of the "Mind the Conflict" intervention model on…

Research suggests that, to narrow the gender gap in engineering, we should focus on helping young girls identify with engineering both because gendered attitudes emerge around kindergarten and because identity is more predictive than performance on persistence in the field. This qualitative study sought to understand the impact of collaborative…

In this paper, the effectiveness of environmental education (EE) programs at fostering ecologically responsible behavior is analyzed through the lens of psychology. In section 1, a critique of knowledge and attitude appeals is presented using contemporary psychological understandings of these constructs to show why many EE programs have been met…

Undergraduate research in higher education has become a movement linked to institutional efforts at integrating high-impact practices and infusing transformative learning. University of Central Oklahoma's Diverse Student Scholars (DSS) is one such program of faculty mentorship that is hosted by a department of marketing within a college of…

This paper proposes a model for implementing a college-wide initiative designed to promote student competence with essential learning outcomes. This mixed-methods study combined descriptive and qualitative approaches to explore experiences of students, faculty, and professional as they engaged in a project that focused on teaching and learning…

Innovations in pedagogy are, at their core, aimed at improving the educational experiences and outcomes of learners. Being as many countries are embracing a philosophy of inclusive education, designers of educational reform must be mindful of the effects of any proposed innovations on the experiences and outcomes of a broad range of diverse…

The motivational effects of mastery goals and performance goals have been widely documented in previous research on achievement motivation. However, recent studies have increasingly indicated a need to include social goals so as to gain a more comprehensive understanding of achievement motivation. The purpose of the present research was to examine…

Schools are recognized as one of the most important settings for promoting social and emotional well-being among children and adolescents. This clustered randomized controlled trial evaluated Zippy's Friends, an international school-based emotional well-being programme, with 766 children from designated disadvantaged schools. The purpose of this…

This study examines the contribution of learner cognitive and motivational characteristics to achievement in science at three grade levels. Specifically, the relations between domain-specific epistemic beliefs about the development and justification of scientific knowledge, achievement goals, knowledge, self-concept, self-efficacy, and achievement…