The purpose of this paper is to describe teacher outcomes from participating in an intensive science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professional learning (PL) initiative for middle school science teachers in the United States. The initiative included intensive summer coursework and ongoing support (e.g., individual coaching,…

The current study seeks to support early adults in maintaining mindfulness practices to ease discomfort during their transition to college. Early adulthood is well-matched for introducing mindfulness practice, and summer bridge programs are a logical place to introduce these skills. Mindfulness programs for college students have shown promising…

Integrating humanities and arts into STEM has been suggested to better prepare students for the workforce. Studies have shown that improvisation (abbreviated as improv), an educational program from humanities and arts, can potentially improve engineering pedagogy and learning. However, little is known about improv's impact on developing…

Recently there has been an emphasis on how time spent outside of the classroom can affect student outcomes, including high school graduation, with the hope of closing academic achievement gaps along socioeconomic and racial lines. This paper provides experimental evidence regarding a particular type of out-of-school activity--early work…

Little is known about college students during their summer break between the first and second years of college, when some students may contemplate whether they will return to college. Using ethnographic method, this article addresses critical questions of low-income college students during their summer breaks of where they go, where they stay, and…

Throughout the learning process, it is common for students to transition to a new teacher, whether they relocate, decide to change teachers, or study at a summer program. During this transition, students must adapt to a potentially different pedagogical philosophy, language, and performance expectations. Using a multiple case study research…

This study explored the literacy engagement of Hispanic rising seventh grade adolescents during a summer literacy program. Using a participatory social justice mixed methods design (Creswell & Plano-Clark, 2018), students' voices were used to design and refine an instructional model proposed to increase their level of engagement in literacy…

In this paper, we highlight climate change pedagogies within the context of an Indigenous Summer Encounter for Latinx and Indigenous children led by Miakan-Band Elders, members of a Central Texas Coahuiltecan community. We focus on anticolonial cartographies activated through movement, sound and performance that enacted Indigenous fugitivity,…

This action research study examined the impact of a summer literacy program on summer reading setback. Gaining Ground is a summer intervention program designed primarily for economically disadvantaged students in Grades K-5. By granting access to self-selected books and implementing project-based curriculum, Gaining Ground aims to improve reading…

First-generation college students (FGCS) experience a myriad of unique challenges when starting their university education, including perceiving themselves as being socially isolated on campus (Markowitz, 2016; Nazione et al., 2011; Wilkins, 2014), experiencing guilt as they leave behind academically family and friends (Banks-Santilli, 2015; Orbe,…

Tangible programming tools (TPTs) are promising teaching aids in programming courses due to their interactivity and ability to enhance early childhood students' computational thinking, spatial reasoning, and executive function skills. However, it remains unclear whether TPTs support these skills simultaneously. This study examines the impact of…

The Junior Knight Camp is an annual summer program that specifically supports elementary school students in an effort to increase knowledge of social studies using an interdisciplinary thematic approach. This interdisciplinary approach includes STEM, the arts, literacy, and physical education. The camp operates on multiple campuses of the…

The camp community understands that participation in camp produces a variety of impacts; what is less understood are the causal mechanisms leading to outcomes. In the past, research on the camp experience treated causal mechanisms as monolithic; this commentary argues that a weakness in existing camp research is the assumption that…

This article details the creation and features of the Aspiring Principals Program, an intentional, mutually beneficial partnership between the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.

The Accelerate Cancer Education (ACE) summer research program at The University of Kansas Cancer Center (KUCC) is a six-week, cancer-focused, summer research experience for high school students from historically marginalized populations in the Kansas City metropolitan area. Cancer affects all populations and continues to be the second leading…