Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the United States, particularly small HBCUs, are no strangers to crises and unforeseen challenges. Through various challenges, including financial instability, low student enrollment, and accreditation challenges and crises--many beyond leadership's control--most HBCUs have been able to…

The symbolic reference to being in the "beyond" captures how individuals occupying the hybrid space create identities and cultures that extend beyond the dominant pathways recognized in engineering. The fundamental understanding of the cultural theory suggests that hybridity emerges when two cultural identities overlap that were…

While the advocacy of differentiation as best pedagogical practices for instruction of gifted students can be found in scholarly literature, minimal research attention has been given to high-ability students' perceptions about their lived classroom experiences. Lack of challenging and accelerated content for identified gifted students can lead to…

This teacher-research study explored how opportunities for multimodal project learning provided time in the classroom for ongoing conversations and inquiries that promoted student agency and growth, cultivated content and literacy learning, and inherently provided authentic assessment opportunities. This study documented the multimodal curriculum…

I study the technology transfer process at universities and federal laboratories, based on 49 interviews of postdoctoral scientists and their supervisors (principal investigators or PIs) at two large U.S. research universities and four major National Institute of Health and Department of Energy federal laboratories. This dissertation is unique in…

Agency and empowerment in the art classroom can exist at the epitome of how a student explores and defines her-/him-/themself, and then voices that recognition. Merriam-Webster ("Agency," n.d.) defines "agency" as "a person or thing through which power is exerted or an end is achieved" (n.p.). Empowerment can be seen…

This paper investigates the implications of some social anarchists' views on education for thinking about authority, educational paternalism and compulsory schooling. In the first part of the paper, some key concepts in social anarchist theory will be introduced in order to demonstrate the importance of education for social anarchists. The paper…

Georges Bataille (1887-1962) is one of the most significant thinkers of the 20th century, whose anti-humanist anthropology influenced subsequent existentialist and post-structuralist philosophy. His wide-ranging writings (across philosophy, archaeology, economics, sociology, poetry, erotica and history of art) frequently mention children,…

We explored Asian international students' successful learning experiences and adjustment through the lens of self-determination theory. To explore how international students perceive their classroom learning environments and learning experiences in more detail, a sequential explanatory mixed-methods approach was used. In the quantitative phase,…

COVID-19 has caused the overnight migration of learning and teaching to online platforms and has significantly impacted students' learning opportunities and experiences worldwide. The results of emergency online learning have heavily relied on students' abilities to exercise agency in maintaining active motivation and engagement with online…

As the number of English Learners (EL) increases, U.S. schools must understand and meet their unique needs. Employing qualitative methodology, the authors sought to understand the academic experience of twelve, 10th grade ELs. Three themes of academic success, perception of the student/teacher relationship, and perception of self, along with…

Shifts in special education over the last 25 years have increased the pressure on special education teacher preparation programs to improve the quality of opportunities to learn provided to teacher candidates. One aspect of quality that has not been extensively explored in the literature is the interaction between the individual candidate--the…

Background: The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) recommend all disabled people receive support to develop their autonomy. Subsequently, evolving models for supported decision-making and informed consent present guidance to enable autonomy support, which have relevance to people with intellectual…

This online survey study of 141 university students examined the impact of sense of belonging, resilience, time management skills, and academic performance on their psychological wellbeing. Results showed that resilience significantly predicted psychological well-being. Resilience and time management predicted environmental mastery. Both…

Homework is a core pedagogical tool used by schools around the world. Yet concern for heavy homework load has been raised regarding stress on students and families and how it may overshadow opportunities for non-academic development. Drawing support from Self-Determination Theory and Hope Theory, an innovative intervention project was designed to…