This experimental study explored the use of online expressive writing interventions to cope with distress from heterosexist events among a sample of autistic-LBGQ + individuals. This study included an open writing condition and an emotion focused therapy guided writing condition. Over 89% of the participants indicated that the writing exercises…

Introducing undergraduates to the peer-review process helps them understand how scientific evidence is evaluated and communicated. In a large biology course, technical writing was taught through mock peer-review. Students learned to critique original research through a multistep framework, calibrating their assessment skills with class standards.…

Brief, targeted self-affirmation writing exercises have recently been offered as a way to reduce racial achievement gaps, but evidence about their effects in educational settings is mixed, leaving ambiguity about the likely benefits of these strategies if implemented broadly. A key limitation in interpreting these mixed results is that they come…

The study is a qualitative case study that investigated the patterns of interactions among ESL students during their online interactions to complete their narrative essays. The study found that students were engaged in interactions related to language related assistance, using partner as a resource and providing encouragement as suggested by…

This dissertation presents an in-depth case study investigating the developmental writing program at a small, private Christian liberal arts university in the Southwest United States. This developmental writing program featured an accelerated workshop model with course-embedded peer tutors. Research questions centered on understanding the…

Brief, targeted self-affirmation writing exercises have recently been offered as a way to reduce racial achievement gaps, but evidence about their effects in educational settings is mixed, leaving ambiguity about the likely benefits of these strategies if implemented broadly. A key limitation in interpreting these mixed results is that they come…

One approach to reducing persistent racial/ethnic achievement gaps is to tackle their social-psychological dimensions, including the negative consequences of stereotype threat and other identity threats in school. Initial research suggested that a particularly promising approach is brief self-affirmation writing exercises for 7th grade students;…

Many learners hold traditional beliefs about mathematics that can hamper their learning in the discipline. To address this issue, a "history-based" intervention program entailing problem-solving and writing activities that instigate cognitive conflict was implemented. Data sources were pretest and posttest scores of a 12-theme…

A middle school language arts teacher reflects on his experience in utilizing a school-housed online social network to create avenues for authentic audience, purpose, and response to student writing. With many technology proponents advocating a 21st century education, the fact that interacting with the Web 2.0 environment is essentially a reading…

We used a randomized quasi-experimental design to test the effectiveness of three types of perspective-taking condition in a forgiveness education program. Allport's Contact Hypothesis was used as a framework for the study design. Eighth graders (n?=?132) in an urban Midwestern city were invited to participate. We evaluated the effectiveness of…

This study addresses closing the academic performance gaps between African American and Latino students and their White counterparts, and between girls and boys in mathematics. Of the various models and theories of these social inequalities that have been advanced in literature, one particularly compelling line of research concerns the idea of…

This essay examines the collateral benefits to faculty from a guided learning literature review project for students. We describe a 3-year continuum of project creation and refinement designed to foster critical thinking and writing for second year dental students at the University of the Pacific Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry. We discuss…

The use of Web 2.0 communication practices in assessment may offer a new approach to assessment "as" learning, a goal for assessment that is more highly valued than assessment "of" and even "for" learning in the literature. This paper describes a case study of a wiki-writing assignment that aimed to achieve this goal. The stakes were high, in that…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of voluntary discussion forums in a higher education setting. Specifically, we examined intrinsic forum participation and investigated its relation to course performance across two experiments. In Experiment 1 (N = 1284) an online discussion forum was implemented at the beginning of an…

The results of the U. S Census provide evidence that our population is becoming more varied and that diversity is most salient in our schools. This demographic shift will continue to have a significant impact on the curriculum, students, teachers, and other aspects of education as we have historically known it. One of the most challenging…