In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a California public university launched the Pandemic Histories Archive Project (PHAP) in collaboration with the library. This online service-learning opportunity empowered undergraduates to describe and reflect on their pandemic experiences and represent their communities by contributing to the library's…

This study evaluates the effectiveness of the UCSF Summer Student Research Program (SSRP) in enhancing research-related skills, academic outcomes, and post-baccalaureate aspirations of underrepresented minority (URM) and non-URM undergraduate students in biomedical sciences and STEM fields. The SSRP, spanning 9 weeks, provides immersive research…

Background: Overall, high rates of American high school seniors lack writing proficiency (75%) and historically underrepresented minority (URM) populations fare even worse (91% of African American, 89% of Latinx) (U.S. Dept of Education, 2011), which suggests that URM college students enter college with lower writing abilities (Bracco et al.,…

Executive function is the set of cognitive skills needed for goal directed behavior and is a strong predictor of academic success (Best, 2014). The present study examines the effectiveness of a custom video game designed to train the executive function skill of shifting--being able to efficiently shift attention from 1 task to another. In…

Utilizing data from the 2012 University of California Undergraduate Experience Survey (UCUES), the following question was addressed: "What are the direct and indirect effects of writing proficiency on cognitive development among international students?" Because many international students have chosen to study in the United States to…

This article proposes that in addition to training teams of students to succeed in the Mathematical Contest in Modeling, the contest and the preparation for competition can be successfully used as a framework to teach an auxiliary skill set to undergraduate STEM majors through workshop-style modules. The skills emphasized are collaboration across…

As nations have sought to keep pace with rapid technological innovation, governments have renewed their focus on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, with emphasis on developing both technical and non-technical skills in STEM students. This article examines which engineering-relevant skills may be developed by…

This study examines the relationship between the introduction of a four-course writing-intensive capstone series and improvement in inquiry and analysis skills of biology senior undergraduates. To measure the impact of the multicourse write-to-learn and peer-review pedagogy on student performance, we used a modified Valid Assessment of Learning in…

Set in the context of a statewide research university system, this study attempted to improve our understanding of cognitive skills development among international students. Specifically, this study examined how the patterns and predictors of cognitive skills development among this population differ from their domestic counterparts. The study…

High-impact practices foster student success, but faculty faced with heavy teaching loads and lack of resources and infrastructure are challenged to implement such practices. Kinesiology faculty at California State University, East Bay collaborated to implement two student programs: Kinesiology Research Group and Get Fit! Stay Fit! The Kinesiology…

Purpose: To examine the enhancement of a university health course through the utilization of the CIPP Model as a means to develop an integrated service-learning component. Methods: The CIPP model was utilized in two concurrent semesters of an undergraduate health course in order to design and evaluate the implementation of a drug and alcohol…

This article describes a three-year study assessing change in critical thinking demonstrated in essays written for regular class assignments. A rubric was designed and scorers trained to assess critical thinking holistically without knowledge of the writing prompt or author's status. The longitudinal improvement in scores earned by freshmen over…

This brief presents a third party, external perspective on the Akamai Workforce Initiative (AWI), highlighting some of the contributions of the initiative over the last ten years. AWI is a program that seeks to develop a skilled local STEM workforce to meet the needs of Hawai'i's growing high-tech industry. It began as an internship program…

The CSU, Stanislaus, accounting program is providing a new course that meets the university-wide upper-division writing requirement and offers accounting students additional professional study. While a writing skills course is not unusual in a business program, few offer an alternative centered on the accounting body of knowledge. Undergraduate…

The problem. Through observation and the review of literature, students often receive inconsistent and vague messages about plagiarism from faculty. Marcoux (2002) and Roig (2001) found a lack of consensus between faculty concerning definitions and forms of plagiarism. Although some students develop skills in order to avoid plagiarism, almost half…