This study explores the perspectives of middle school educators and parents in a region with high dropout rates regarding school engagement and social-emotional learning (SEL) competencies. Using a phenomenological approach, data were collected from 16 teachers and 15 parents across three schools through six focus group discussions. Participants…

The intelligence community uses "structured analytic techniques" to help analysts think critically and avoid cognitive bias. However, little evidence exists of how techniques are applied and whether they are effective. We examined the use of the analysis of competing hypotheses (ACH)--a technique designed to reduce "confirmation…

Mental health is different than mental illness. Yet, public and professional's views of mental health often confuses the two terms. This commentary explores what mental health is, what components consist of a mentally healthy person, and how one can improve and enhance mental health among youth.

Participation in post-compulsory physics is a matter of longstanding concern from both economic and equity perspectives. In considering this issue, this study draws upon Bourdieu's theory of social practice, particularly notions of the 'cultural arbitrary', to explore what insights into post-compulsory physics choice might be provided by students…

We provide an overview of existing and emerging ways that institutional researchers can leverage National Student Clearinghouse data to expand a culture of data-driven decision-making across campus, with a focus on examples from the field.

The decisions to go to college and where are life-altering. Accordingly, college choice theory has been a necessary framework for understanding access and destinations in postsecondary education. The author argues for the need to depart from framing college-going around "choice" and puts forth a timely and context-driven alternative to…

The purpose of this position paper is to promote the interest, usefulness and specificity of a coherent system that is based on psychophenomenology as a theoretical framework [Vermersch, P. (2012). "Explicitation et phénoménologie." Paris: PUF], and the explicitation interview [Vermersch, P. (2009). Describing the practice of…

With two-thirds of new leaders being women, it is becoming clearer that the face of our educational organizations is changing in symbolic and substantive ways. Some scholars have argued that every dimension of organizational leadership, including decision making, can be categorized as a masculine or feminine approach. Additionally, each decision…

This study examined final year undergraduate chemistry students' choice of study programme offered at a large research-intensive university in South Africa, applying Social Cognitive Career Theory as a theoretical framework. The sample consisted of 18 students of diverse ethnicity and gender from both the extended curriculum programme and the…

At first glance, scientific laboratory experiences might appear to be challenging to move to the cloud. Skeptics may point to sensory feedback limitations and inequivalence of student outcomes. However, emerging data increasingly provide evidence that scientific laboratory courses are not only amenable to online learning, but also can deliver…

This chapter discusses the overhaul of Plymouth State University using a framework of integration in all matters of decision-making. This is an example of whole system reorganization where traditional independent structures have been replaced by integrated structures representing new ways of working together and integral experiences for students.

The majority of the literature on the psychology of gains and losses suggests that losses lead to an avoidance response. Several studies, however, have shown that losses can also lead to an approach response, whereby an option is selected more often when it produces losses. In five studies we examine the boundary conditions for these contradictory…

How do we assess what we remember? Previous work on metacognition suggests that confidence judgments are more accurate when given after than before a response to a perceptual task. Here we present two experiments that investigate the influence of decision and response on metacognitive accuracy in a memory task so as to establish what kind of…

Any activity that involves making choices entails the risk of failure, and the more personally meaningful the choices are, the more deeply felt the failure will be. Drawing on my experiences in supervising the self-chosen, long-term projects of my eighth-grade students, I argue that it is neither possible nor desirable to prevent young people from…

Past research indicates that individuals respond adaptively to contextual factors in multiattribute choice tasks. Yet it remains unclear how this adaptation is cognitively governed. In this article, empirically testable implementations of two prominent competing theoretical frameworks are developed and compared across two multiattribute choice…