The purpose of this dissertation was to examine how children's book format influences parent-child book reading engagement. The extant literature suggests that there are at least two potential mechanisms that might moderate children's engagement with and learning from books: (1) the format and features of the book itself and (2) how parents and…

The current mixed-methods study aimed at incorporating a virtual reality (VR) tool (i.e. Google Expeditions) into the writing process of Iranian English as a foreign language (EFL) learners, examining its impact on their writing motivation and performance. To that end, 42 EFL learners were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups,…

This research investigated the effect of the use of mobile-assisted digital content on students' English lesson achievement. This study employed a quasi-experimental design with a pretest and posttest given to both an experimental group and a control group. The study consisted of 29 9th Grade students at a public school in Turkey. The pretest was…

Modeling and simulation activities are common in secondary technology and engineering education classrooms. Virtual simulations are used to integrate engineering design into classroom instruction. The performance outcomes of a student's final virtual design usually depend on the level of knowledge application. When applying the learned content to…

This study examined nutrition intervention curriculum, "Together We Inspire Smart Eating" (WISE). WISE is a research-based, nutrition promotion curriculum specifically designed for pre-school children from families with limited resources. The design was non-randomized treatment/control with standardized pre-/post-test assessments.…

Background: To date, the immediate effects of a semi-occluded vocal tract (SOVT) configuration have been thoroughly demonstrated. However, it is not yet sufficiently confirmed whether a therapy programme (i.e. longer than one session) using SOVT exercises leads to an enhanced phonation and improved vocal quality. Aims: The aim of this study was to…

Background: Discourse analysis procedures are time consuming and impractical in a clinical setting. Critical to clinicians are simple and informative discourse measures that require minimal time and labour to complete. Many studies, however, have overlooked difficulties that clinicians face. We recently developed core lexicon lists for nouns,…

Listening to stories and brain processing of narrative material activates many areas devoted not only to the linguistic processing. In this sense, it could be hypothesized that if this activity would be integrated within the school curricula, it could bring benefits in terms of understanding the text as well as in basic essential cognitive…

Despite a large body of literature on peer feedback and writing motivation, relatively few rigorously designed, experimental studies have been conducted to explore whether or not peer feedback affects students' writing motivation and which dimensions of writing motivation may consequently change. Using an experimental design, this study explored…

The seventh phase of this longitudinal study investigated whether children born through third-party assisted reproduction experienced psychological problems, or difficulties in their relationship with their mothers, in early adulthood. The impact of disclosure of their biological origins, and quality of mother-child relationships from age 3…

The Office of Correctional Education was created through an Act of Congress in 1991 to oversee and coordinate prison education programs as a way to reduce recidivism (Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act, 1990). However, correctional education completion rates are extremely low. Therefore, we used secondary data from the…

There is limited literature on emerging young adult (EYA) care partners, despite a recent rise in interest in this group. The purpose of this study is to compare EYA care partners and their non-care partner peers in the domains of academic achievement and engagement, employment, health-related behaviors and self-care, and mental health and…

This current study explored outcomes of SEL competencies including self-efficacy toward classroom performance, emotion regulation, stress, and the use of breathing and mindfulness strategies after implementing SEL-based yoga programming among youth Grades 3 through 5 (N=403). Findings indicate that SEL-based yoga programs support stress reduction…

Effective policy development will be critical to address educational challenges within the Global South. To accelerate economic, political, and social goals, the Global South is under increasing pressure to mimic policy development from other countries. In 2016, the Liberian Ministry of Education leveraged policy transfer to address systemic…

The purpose of this convergent parallel mixed methods study was to understand how being both Black and a girl impacted the mathematical and STEM experiences of Black adolescent girls enrolled in informal STEM learning programs and Black adolescent girls who are not enrolled in informal STEM learning programs. Using Critical Race Theory, this study…