Two approaches to materiality (i.e. mediated discourse and agential realism) are compared to explore their usefulness in tracking literacies in action and artefacts produced during a play and design activity in a preschool makerspace. Mediated discourse analysis has relied on linguistic framing and social semiotics to make sense of multimodality.…

A number of studies have identified childcare environments as significant resources for children's development, learning through play, and contact with nature. However, there is a lack of knowledge about how, from a child's perspective, specific outdoor physical environments in preschools stimulate children's cognitive play. Emphasizing on the…

This article reports findings from a study conducted with students in three sections of a Health Psychology course that replaced a traditional textbook with open educational resources (OER) as the primary course material. The purpose of the study was to learn how OER impacted students. Data were collected in Fall 2015 with students from New York…

Is digital fiction worthy of serious consideration as a literary text and does it have a place in the English classroom, particularly in light of the establishment of a stand-alone Literature subject as part of the Years 11-12 English program in the Australian Curriculum? To answer these questions this paper briefly looks at the development and…

This essay explores the intersection of employee engagement and workplace diversity and inclusion. The current trend of organizations fusing these two concepts has provided motivation to examine the (dis)connection between theory and practice. This essay advances the perspectives of practitioners, as well as a critical framework used to discuss…

Purpose: The method by which the state allocates resources to its schooling system can serve as an important instrument for achieving desired improvements in levels of educational attainment, social equity and other social policy goals. In many school systems, the allocation of school resources is done according to a needs-based funding formula.…

Based on increased demand for educational programming, leadership at Schmeeckle Reserve, a campus natural area in Stevens Point, WI explored the needs for expanded environmental education efforts. In 2014, a three-phased needs assessment framework was employed to explore educational programming offered in the community. Results from interviews and…

This paper serves as an exploration into some of the ways in which organizations can promote, capture, share, and manage the valuable knowledge of their employees. The problem is that employees typically do not share valuable information, skills, or expertise with other employees or with the entire organization. The author uses research as well as…

In a climate of increased interest in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), school libraries have unique opportunities to grow collections and cultivate partnerships in the sciences. At the federal level and in many states, STEM initiatives encourage hands-on exposure to technologies and open the door for student-led discovery of…

This article describes the design of a social studies unit about the Johnstown Flood of 1889 with a particular emphasis on how specific unit resources engaged middle school students in learning about the geographical and historical context of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. We also report on how the resources supported the teaching and learning of the…

Context: concept Maps (CMs) enable the creation of a schematic representation of a domain knowledge. For this reason, CMs have been applied in different research areas, including Computer Science. Objective: the objective of this paper is to present the results of a systematic mapping study conducted to collect and evaluate existing research on…

Water quality is an important interdisciplinary environmental topic for project-based learning. An undergraduate summer research internship program at a public minority serving institution engaged environmental science majors in community-based research experiences. The research focused on the field monitoring of water quality for surface water…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe the impacts of an ecological footprint (EF) reduction campaign on the pro-environmental behavior of university students, faculty and staff. The campaign emphasized educating participants on specific actions that reduce resource use and the relative environmental benefit of each action.…

While nature center's missions often point to connecting people to nature in various ways, their potential to provide a broader array of services to their communities remains largely unexplored. To better understand the values local community members hold for nature centers, we conducted survey research around 16 centers in the United States.…

In this article, a popular model for organizational development is utilized as a framework for assessing the organizational readiness and capacity of educational institutions whose leaders wish to establish or expand their online/distance education programs. Examples of institutionalization factors to consider and alternative models for assessing…