We review common situations in Bayesian latent variable models where the prior distribution that a researcher specifies differs from the prior distribution used during estimation. These situations can arise from the positive definite requirement on correlation matrices, from sign indeterminacy of factor loadings, and from order constraints on…

Elementary school teachers at a rural school district in southeastern Arizona integrated the Beyond Textbooks framework in their classroom instruction related to academic achievement; however, exploring how rural elementary teachers integrated Beyond Textbooks in classroom instruction had yet to be investigated. This basic qualitative project…

Mastery-based testing (MBT) is a form of categorical grading where students are repeatedly assessed until they achieve a level of mastery. This paper describes the implementation of MBT in a university quantitative literacy class using a web-based homework system. Qualitative evidence in the form of student comments showed that quantitative…

The authors explored how mindfulness influenced the relationship between perceived stress and counseling self-efficacy (CSE) among 187 counseling students. Results suggest mindfulness mediated the relationship, diminishing the negative impact of stress on CSE. Implications address how counselor educators can promote mindfulness as an avenue…

Curiosity is not prominent in investigations on democratic development. Nor is curiosity discussed in democratic education discourses. However, this article contributes to the present Special Issue the idea that the connection of curiosity and democracy should not be ignored. First, I show that curiosity's connection with democracy has,…

Skilled orators and their public speaking skills have been held in high esteem since antiquity. Artificial intelligence-powered presentation platforms (AI-PPPs) are an emerging educational technology that provides a virtual venue and AI audience for users to practice a presentation or pitch and receive feedback to improve their public speaking…

To remain competitive in an innovative world, American classrooms are promoting careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) by utilizing the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Students are engaged in inquiry by applying scientific practices like argumentation. However, science teachers are finding it difficult to…

The analysis of functional groups in organic compounds and inorganic ions in salts is a laboratory experiment that forms an inevitable part of the undergraduate chemistry curriculum in the science field all over the world. With this experiment, the student learns the testing techniques for the chemicals and gets a true sense of the importance of…

This study reports preschool educators' uses of music in educational settings, as well as challenges faced in incorporating music in the classroom in the U.S. Through a multiple-methods approach, data from two focus groups (N1 = 8, N2 = 6) and a survey (N = 119) are used to gain insight into how frequently preschool educators in the US use various…

Math-anxious people consistently underperform in math. The most widely accepted explanation for "why" this underperformance occurs is that math-anxious people experience heightened anxiety when faced with math, and this in-the-moment anxiety interferes with performance. Surprisingly, this explanation has not been tested directly. Here,…

Research-based assessments (RBAs) measure how well a course achieves discipline-specific outcomes. Educators can use outcomes from RBAs to guide instructional choices and to request resources to implement and sustain instructional transformations. One challenge for using RBAs, however, is a lack of comparative data, particularly given the skew in…

This study aimed at determining the category and analyzes the mental models of the students from three senior high school clusters (low, medium, high) on the solubility and solubility product topic, knowing students' opinions on chemistry subject, knowing learning methods and assessment that teacher used in solubility and solubility products…

Purpose: The present study seeks to examine the efficacy of different training modalities on increasing workplace learning, representatives' intent to transfer what they learned into their work, and importantly how training impacts actual work performance. These relationships are tested in the context of a Chinese division of a multinational…

Drawing on critical literacy as a theoretical framework, this paper explores how a children's book writing assignment designed to center the experiences of underrepresented communities in children's literature contributed to shifts in awareness among predominantly White teacher candidates. The study occurred at a large urban university in…

Although Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) has long focused on incorporating writing and related literacy activities into STEM education, the extent to which these pedagogies are widely used in STEM teaching remains unclear, as does their impact on student course performance, especially for underrepresented and marginalized student groups. Using…