The Mission Skills Assessment (MSA) is an online assessment that targets 6 noncognitive constructs: creativity, curiosity, ethics, resilience, teamwork, and time management. Each construct is measured by means of a student self-report scale, a student alternative scale (e.g., situational judgment test), and a teacher report scale. Use of the MSA…

Racial/cultural awareness workshops constitute a salient form of co-curricular diversity engagement in higher education. Although these workshops are generally quite short in duration (often no more than two hours), previous research suggests that workshop participation is associated with undergraduate civic growth. The current study uses…

Problem-based learning methods support student learning of content as well as scientific skills. In the course of problem-based learning, students seek outside information related to the problem, and therefore, information literacy skills are practiced when problem-based learning is used. This work describes a mixed-methods approach to investigate…

Post-secondary institutions spend considerable resources on programs, such as study abroad and international work-integrated learning, which involve students' participation in international experiences. One significant impetus for these programs is the hope that through exposing students to international settings these students will be better…

This paper briefly examines the growing interest in developing resilience in the social work curricula as it is seen as a crucial quality necessary to cope with the increasing demands of the profession. The recent research into developing resilience is dominated by a psychological model which emphasises personal qualities. It runs the risk of…

Globalization continuously shapes our world and influences post-secondary education. This study explored the cultural adaptation process of participants during a short-term study abroad program. Participants experienced stages which included initial feelings, cultural uncertainty, cultural barriers, cultural negativity, academic and career growth,…

Using an ethnographic case study approach, we examined how teachers and parents within an ethnically diverse early childhood program conceptualized and implemented culturally relevant pedagogy and how these primary caregivers were encouraging children's socio-cultural development and awareness. Data sources included questionnaires, interview…

This study examined the need for civic education as a mode of talent dissemination among gifted students. Based on a comprehensive review of literature, civic education was found to be instrumental for gifted students in developing academic, psychological, and social abilities; enhancing civic awareness, responsibility, and commitment; and taking…

School failure is an important aspect of students' development and their progression through the process of education, as well as for the functioning of the education system itself. The paper reports the results of a qualitative study exploring the relationship between primary school teachers' perceptions of student school failure and the…

This article contributes to the growing scholarly literature about students as partners in learning and teaching in higher education by describing an initiative designed to support partnership and a study investigating international staff and student perspectives. The initiative--an international summer institute--is a four-day, professional…

Given the large number of dropouts in the 1st year at university, it is important to identify early predictors of 1st-year academic success. The present study (n = 453 first-year students) contributes to literature on the transition from secondary to higher education by investigating how the non-cognitive factors "pre-university" effort…

Inspired by local arts community engagement initiatives and community music interventions internationally, Wits University (in Johannesburg, South Africa) developed a model of service learning that links the intentions, methodologies and purposes of these domains to promote student learning and benefit communities. This paper examines the quality…

The purpose of this study was to understand how schools address two specific criteria of the Schools to Watch® (STW) program: Social equity and developmental responsiveness. Descriptions of replicable practices, program/school characteristics, and initiatives created by each of the STW sites in Pennsylvania were analyzed. The data also includes…

The benefits attributed to field trips by science educators are: social development; observation and perception skills; giving meaning to learning; providing first-hand experience and stimulating interest and motivation. Arguably, the "real value" of field work is attributed by students. In this study, 100 first-year students took part…

This paper argues that transition is not a one-off event that occurs when students first enter universities but is an on-going process that is repeated over time. We draw on qualitative data from a longitudinal project on "non-traditional" students who entered a research-intensive university in Scotland direct from further education…