Nursing student attrition in community colleges negatively affects students, faculty, colleges, and the nursing profession. The purpose of this quantitative correlational retrospective research study was to examine the possible relationships between each of the independent variables of academic preparedness (as measured by NET mathematics and…

Montana's definition of a basic system of quality public elementary and secondary schools includes educational programs for at-risk students (20-9-309, MCA). State statute defines an at-risk student as a "student who is affected by environmental conditions that negatively impact the student's educational performance or threaten a student's…

The findings from an after-school program entitled Game Design through Mentoring and Collaboration (GDMC) funded by the National Science Foundation's Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program. A total of 139 middle and high schools students in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area to learn the basics of…

The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) Video Study explored instructional practices in the United States (US) in comparison with other countries that ranked higher on the 1999 TIMSS assessment, and revealed that 8th grade science teachers in the US emphasize activities over content during lessons (Roth et al.…

The relative positions of the sun, moon, and earth, their movements, and their relationships are abstract and difficult to understand astronomical concepts in elementary school science. This study proposes a three-dimensional (3-D) virtual reality (VR) model named the "Sun and Moon System." This e-learning resource was designed by…

A recent reform initiative in the Malaysian educational system has sought to develop "Smart schools", intended to better prepare students for adult life in a developing economy and to increase the flow of young people prepared for scientific and technological careers. The study reported in this paper examined lower-secondary science…

Science educators and school administrators are reexamining the educational value of animal dissection in the nation's schools and are focusing on simulation as an instructional alternative. One implication of the debate is that simulations can lead to equivalent learning to hands-on dissection. The second implication is whether dissection is…

A blended in-service arrangement was designed to support Russian science teachers from rural schools in the integration of technology. Blended learning combines multiple delivery modes that are designed to complement each other and promote learning and application-based behavior. The blended in-service arrangement consisted of two main components:…

This study focused on student achievement in ninth grade schools or academies compared to ninth grade students enrolled in traditional high schools. Student achievement was measured by standardized test scores. Other variables tested were gender and ethnicity. All students used in this study were enrolled in the ninth grade during the 2005-2006…

Introductory biology courses are frequently offered separately to biology majors and nonbiology majors, with the assumption that the two groups of students are different enough to merit different courses. To assess the evidence behind this assumption, we compared students in two different genetics classes at the University of Colorado-Boulder, one…

Background: Performance in high school science is a critical indicator of science literacy and regional competitiveness. Factors that influence science proficiency have been studied using national databases, but these do not answer all questions about variable relationships at the state level. School context factors and opportunities to learn…

This article describes kindergarten from the perspective of the whole child. Specifically, it reviews current research on best practices to improve children's math and language arts competencies, memory skills, and the role of kindergarten in beginning science. It also describes the social experiences children have in kindergarten with respect to…

The Integrated science achievement of graduating pre-service teachers over a period of 3 years was examined for gender differences. Data were drawn from students' (126 male and 127 female) final year results from a college of education in Nigeria. Findings revealed that the gender gap in integrated science achievement, among the sample data, could…

A novel instructional computer simulation that incorporates a dynamic analogy to represent Le Chatelier's Principle was designed to investigate the contribution of this feature to students' understanding. Two groups of 12th grade Chemistry students (n=15) interacted with the computer simulation during the study. Both groups did the same…

Data from the "National Education Longitudinal Survey of 1988" (NELS:88) were used to investigate the effect of teacher licensure status on private school students' 12th grade math and science test scores. This data includes schooling and family background information on students that can be linked to employment information on teachers. We find…