This paper reports on a study involving the design of a virtual community for informal learning about Thai herbs. The community relied on social networking tools and a database of expert knowledge as well as community coordinators. One group of coordinators (Community A) concentrated efforts in recruitment of members on those individuals most…

Until quite recently, young people were extremely passive in political life. This has been repeatedly noted in sociological studies and in the scientific literature. In particular, young people used to be extremely reluctant to take part in elections. For example, in the age group between eighteen and thirty, 47 percent took part in the election…

Biological traits that serve functions, such as a zebra's coloration (for camouflage) or a kangaroo's tail (for balance), seem to have a special role in conceptual representations for biological kinds. In five experiments, we investigate whether and why functional features are privileged in biological kind classification. Experiment 1…

Language learning is inextricably linked to a social context, and this implies that context-related social variables, such as ethnicity or attitudes, can influence how language learning unfolds. Among the many group-engendered social factors, ethnic identity appears to have interesting consequences for language teaching and learning (Pavlenko…

Technological advances during the last decade have provided huge possibilities to support e-learning. However, there are still concerns regarding Return-on-Investment (ROI) of e-learning, its sustainability within organizational boundaries and effectiveness across potential learner groups. Much previous research has concentrated on learners'…

The Mathematics Teacher Education Partnership (MTE-Partnership) was formed to address the undersupply of new secondary mathematics teachers who are well prepared to help their students attain the goals of the Common Core State Standards and other college- and career-ready standards. This national consortium of more than 90 universities and 100…

One of the biggest challenges in doctoral education is creating an intellectual community such that students can not only engage with their field and its pressing challenges, but can also learn how to become scholars with all the social norms, epistemologies, and ways of being and interacting in the specific community of one's discipline. This…

Group research projects frequently are used to teach undergraduate research methods. This study uses multivariate analyses to examine the characteristics of higher-achieving groups (those that earn higher grades on group research projects) and to estimate the effects of participating in higher-achieving groups on subsequent individual learning…

This study explores the experiences of a culturally and linguistically diverse group of immigrant adult students as they attended a 12-week employment preparation course for newcomers to Canada. The main aim of the course was to equip the immigrants with knowledge and skills, including English for employment purposes, which are necessary to be…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence digital technology had on the professional development of Teaching Associates participating in a mentoring program in an English Department at a public four-year university. A qualitative study was conducted involving ten students in the department's two doctoral programs over the course…

This qualitative research study explored the experiences of membership for Black women living in the Southeastern United States who joined historically White sororities. The growth of college diversity poses a problem for the field of psychology considering the abundance of psychological knowledge that was generated without the inclusion of ethnic…

More than 300,000 Chinese students attend U.S. universities annually (USDHS, 2017), many of whom reportedly "Leave China, Study in America, Find Jesus" (H. Zhang, 2016). However, research on this phenomenon of worldview change is thin, especially experiences of atheist or nonreligious Chinese graduate students attending Christian…

This mixed-methods study explores the self-efficacy beliefs of foreign language teachers in central Appalachia, which encompasses eastern Kentucky, north-central Tennessee, southwestern Virginia, and southwestern West Virginia. The participants in this study are high school foreign language teachers in the region; 81 participants completed an…

While discussion protocols can provide helpful structures for conversations about data and other collaborative work, some drawbacks have been noted; for example, protocols can preclude discussion about important topics that are not within the scope of the protocol. Prior research has not yet explored how educators' personal identities and…

This article reports the results of a study inquiring about the role of education-related factors in the development of cultural intelligence. Five hundred fifty-seven students of a Colombian international business (IB) undergraduate program participated in the study. The psychometric properties of the measures were assessed by conducting…