The establishment of Title 1 schools in America was to provide additional financial support for schools predominately serving children from low-income communities. However, Title 1 schools often encounter teacher attrition, leading to unpredictable workloads for remaining teachers. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive case study was to…

The purpose for conducting the study was to describe the community, personal experiences, and life events of individuals from rural Arkansas communities in developing their decisions to attend college and how the community impacted their successful enrollment at the University of Arkansas. Specifically, the study set out to explore how rural…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study is to understand why alternatively certified teachers choose to enter and stay in the teaching profession in Florida. The study utilizes the Factors Influencing Teaching Choice (FIT-Choice) Model as the theoretical foundation for the following research questions, "Why do alternatively…

The aim of this study was to examine the effect of gamification on the motivation, engagement and academic achievement of students studying in a flipped learning. The study was conducted with a split-plot factorial design. The participants consist of 54 students studying at a state university in Turkey. The students in the experimental and control…

Beyond the classroom experiences are useful learning endeavors designed to help students connect classroom learning to the real world (Kilgo et al., 2015). The purpose of this action research was to evaluate the effect of a technology-based blended learning system on student motivation and interest in participation in beyond the classroom…

Service-learning and undergraduate research experiences are high-impact practices that have become more common in the sciences, but the benefits of short-term experiences have not been thoroughly investigated. The purpose of this study was to compare within-semester gains for students in a short-term service-learning (SL) or short-term research…

Student-athletes represents a large population within college communities and finding balance between the two identities of "student" and "athlete" can prove to be challenging. Researchers have shown that conflicts between the two identities exist, but there exists a limited number of studies in which scholars have analyzed the…

This dissertation presents three separate studies related to the experiences of university professional staff, including their work stress and relationship to undergraduate students. Findings from these studies show that professional staff are well-positioned to act as institutional and empowerment agents (Stanton-Salazar, 2011) on behalf of…

Low enrollment levels in vocational drilling training programs in the Arabian Gulf area have resulted in a talent gap, with little success in building and retaining national crews. With current simulation technology, it is believed that trainees' learning, motivation, and achievements will increase; however, further study is needed to determine if…

This study was aimed at investigating the impact of music on exercise performance and affective response to exercise in individuals with Down syndrome (DS). Twelve individuals with DS completed a treadmill walking protocol in both music and no music conditions. Heart rate (HR), walking steps, rate of perceived exertion (RPE), and enjoyment scores…

The current study aimed to uncover how the quality of specific course features within the overall classroom environment leads to impacts in student interactions and student motivation within online classrooms. The impacts of internet self-efficacy were also considered. Past research has shown that the classroom environment is important in its…

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began in the United States in early 2020, individuals have been motivated to protect themselves against the risk of the virus by the wearing of masks, social-distancing, and receiving vaccinations. This study utilizes Rogers' (1975) Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) to test motivations of collegiate student-athletes to…

In our technology-based society, the field of computer science is integral to the economic, scientific, and security-related arenas of the United States. Despite efforts to diversify the domain of computing, most computing professionals are male. Consequently, girls rarely see female role models working in computing. The disparity between male and…

How individuals regulate emotions in the face of loss has important consequences for well-being and health, but we know little about which emotion regulation strategies are most effective for older adults for whom loss is ubiquitous. The present laboratory-based study examined effects of three emotion regulation strategies (i.e., detachment,…

We design a commitment contract for college students, "Study More Tomorrow," and conduct a randomized control trial testing a model of its demand. The contract commits students to attend peer tutoring if their midterm grade falls below a pre-specified threshold. The contract carries a financial penalty for noncompliance, in contrast to…