Whereas present theories of transformative learning tend to focus on the rational and reflective actor, in this article it is suggested that spontaneous action may play a decisive role in transformative learning too. In the spontaneity of action, novelty finds its way into life, gains momentum, is respected by others and reflected by the actor.…

Underprepared college students are a continuing challenge for higher education institutions. Many students arrive at institutions of higher education with weak academic skills and are unable to do college-level school work. As a result, developmental education programs are required to address these inadequacies in student preparation. The purpose…

Listeners segment words from the continuous speech stream in their native language by using rhythmic structure, phrasal structure, and phonotactics (e.g. Christophe et al, 2003: McQueen, 1998). One challenging aspect of second language acquisition is the extraction of words from fluent speech, possibly because learners apply a native language…

The dynamic act of knowledge transfer, or the connection of a student's prior knowledge to features of a new problem, could be considered one of the primary goals of education. Yet studies highlight more instances of failure than success. This dissertation focuses on how knowledge transfer takes place during individual problem solving, in…

This study investigated differences in the structure of stories created by children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and their comparison peers. Children created one story without pictorial cues and one with pictorial cues available. Without cues, children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder told fewer stories based on a…

The shortage of science teachers in the United States and throughout the world indicates a collective need to recruit more students into the science teaching field and to retain current science teachers. This study explores the profiles of U.S. science teacher candidates and investigates what attracts and discourages these pre-service teachers…

In this article, the author presents the science and engineering practices from the recently released "A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas" (NRC 2011). The author recognizes the changes implied by the new framework, and eventually a new generation of science education standards will present new…

Default options exert an influence in areas as varied as retirement program design, organ donation policy, and consumer choice. Past research has offered potential reasons why no-action defaults matter: (a) effort, (b) implied endorsement, and (c) reference dependence. The first two of these explanations have been experimentally demonstrated, but…

Previous research has suggested that adding active learning to traditional college science lectures substantially improves student learning. However, this research predominantly studied courses taught by science education researchers, who are likely to have exceptional teaching expertise. The present study investigated introductory biology courses…

A sweet spot is referred to in sport as the perfect place to strike a ball with a racquet or bat. It is the point of contact between bat and ball where maximum results can be produced with minimal effort from the hand of the player. Similar physics can be applied to the less inspiring examples of door stops; the perfect position of a door stop is…

We developed an instrument to systematically investigate student conceptual understanding of the relationships between the directions of net force, velocity, and acceleration in one dimension and report on data collected on the final version of the instrument from over 650 students. Unlike previous work, we simultaneously studied all six possible…

Despite a growing body of evidence demonstrating the value of Tier 1 and Tier 3 interventions, significantly less is known about Tier 2 level treatments when they are added within the context of a tiered continuum of support. The purpose of this article is to systematically review the existing research base for Tier 2 small group intervention…

Data concerning 127 persons aged 35 years or above who died by suicide (as determined in consecutive cases by a Sydney coroner) were analyzed. Psychological autopsy (PA) interviews were conducted in 52 cases, and details were compared with the 75 cases where data were available only from coroner's files (CF). Most characteristics of the two groups…

Background: The aim of the study was to determine neurological and neuropsychiatric manifestations in a group of patients with previously undiagnosed or untreated phenylketonuria (PKU) in the south-eastern part of Poland. Methods: The study was conducted among 400 adults with severe intellectual disability who were born prior to neonatal screening…

Literature exploring the experiences of gifted individuals has often focused on asynchronous development, particularly during childhood and adolescence. Also discussed in the literature are the unique social, emotional, and behavioral characteristics associated with giftedness. However, there is still an unclear picture concerning the implications…