We combine administrative data from a regional public university with a novel revealed-preference indicator of student friendships to show that socially connected first-year university students are more likely to be retained into their second year. The impact of friends on retention is statistically and economically significant: each friend raises…

Objective: Identifying the food sources contributing most to total energy percentage, macronutrients, vitamin and mineral consumption among college freshmen, and whether sex played a role. Participants: First-year undergraduate students (N = 269). Methods: Diet was assessed using a DHQ-III and estimated with food source composition tables.…

Objective: To implement a STI risk behavior reduction program to reduce sexual risk behaviors in university-aged students. Participants: Fifty-nine freshman from the university participated in the STI Risk Behavior Reduction program. Methods: Pre- and post-test design using descriptive statistics evaluated the STI Risk Behavior Reduction Program.…

Based on the Achievement Goals Theory and Students' Approaches to Learning, we proposed a model in which students' self-efficacy acts as a mediator between students' performance-approach goals orientation and their approach to learning in dealing with academic tasks throughout an academic year. We used structural equation modelling (SEM) to test…

This practice report describes the development of a compensatory educational model to introduce first-year college students to resilient mindsets. The Teaching Resilient Mindsets Model emphasized (1) realistic expectations, (2) an "always learning" mindset, and (3) being prepared for challenges before they arise. After development, the…

Despite the benefits of collaboration, first-year nursing students prefer not to work together. It was important to find out why nursing students do not want to collaborate. The purpose of this study was to discover first-year nursing students' and faculty's perceptions of how instructor-created opportunities for collaboration contributed to…

A curriculum description of a general introductory biology course titled "Introduction to Research Methods" is presented here. The course aims to provide a glimpse of biomedical research to students who have had no or limited exposure to research to encourage them to do research as freshmen. Thus, this course aims to better equip and…

This dissertation contributed to ongoing conversations about reflection and writing transfer. This study was guided by a main research question: How might asking students to reflect collaboratively, rather than individually, about their writing, help them make connections between first-year writing and other contexts? While other scholars have…

Purpose: The transition to college presents significant challenges for many students as they navigate new academic and social experiences. In the USA, 30% of first-year students drop out before their second year. Research indicates that mentoring programs help students achieve social integration and likely have a positive effect on their…

Gamification is emerging as an active learning innovation in medical education to enhance student engagement and promote life-long learning in a unique and collaborative environment. Clinical enzymology in biochemistry is one of the core topics in the medical curriculum. However, students face challenges in comprehension and retention of…

Objectives: Examines whether a personality characteristic, need for approval, moderates the relationship between harassment exposure and alcohol misuse over time in a college sample, and compare the results between genders. Participants: Six waves of data (fall 2011 to fall 2015) were collected from 1,240 study participants sampled from eight…

This article presents the findings of a study in which college freshman reflected on the process of writing a literacy narrative and considered the impact of such writing on their narrative identities. The author synthesizes existing scholarship on literacy narratives, discusses the methodology of interpretive phenomenological analysis utilized,…

Student engagement in evidence-based argumentation plays a central role in science education. These skills can be developed when identifying organic molecules from the spectroscopic data. Molecular structural analysis fosters deep procedural knowledge, as it involves (i) flexibly applying a set of procedures to extract information from spectra,…

This article reports on the impacts of a nudge intervention designed to narrow the gender gap in technology education. I randomly assigned approximately 4,000 college freshmen to one of three advising interventions during new student orientation. Students in the treatment group received a brochure containing information about technology courses…

This article examines student perspectives on academic failure during the first year of postsecondary education. We focus on students' personal definitions, responses to, and strategies for embracing and bouncing back from failure in their first year. In this study, students understood academic failure as a negotiation between self and…