Background: Youth psychosocial and school adjustment results from complex developmental transactions between their individual characteristics and diverse environmental influences, which appear as risk or protective factors throughout one's development. Objective: From an ecosystemic and developmental perspective, this study aims to: (1) identify…

Argumentative writing advances students' understanding of scientific concepts, ability to communicate, and scientific literacy. However, it remains unclear which components of argumentative writing drive such advancement. Further, most studies on argumentative writing have focused on students majoring in science, rather than in the nonsciences.…

This quantitative study analyzed and predicted gender differences of agriculture graduates' attitudes towards and challenges in entrepreneurship in Botswana. The study adopted a descriptive and correlational survey research design. A valid and reliable questionnaire was used for data collection through a survey of randomly sampled 149 final year…

Our paper, "Relationship between self-efficacy measured by the TSES scale and teacher participation in PDS activity," focuses on the collaboration between 19 professional development schools [PDSs] with whom Notre Dame of Maryland University has a partnership. The researchers surveyed in-service teachers in those 19 schools to determine…

The current study examines the wellbeing, resilience and physical activity (PA) levels among Irish pre-service teachers. Participants were a sample of 128 higher education students (29% male; 71% female; mean age range 18-27 years old) who completed a self-report questionnaire, using a combination of established instruments for wellbeing,…

The demand for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) graduates has increased significantly over the last decade. Because of the insufficient number of STEM graduates, this demand has not been met, resulting in a significant shortage of STEM workers in the US (President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, 2012). The…

Predictors of broaching race for trainees and professionals (N = 85) seeing clients were examined in a correlational design. Results showed multicultural competence was a strong positive predictor of broaching, color blindness was a moderate negative predictor, and interpersonal communication as a predictor was mediated by multicultural…

This study examined associations of best friend and peer group aggressive characteristics with students' overt and relational aggression, and whether coolness moderated these associations across the fall and spring of the first year in middle school. Students (N = 174; 57% females) self-reported best friendship and peer group members, as well as…

Achievement goals are motivational antecedents which play an important role in students' self-regulated learning (SRL). Achievement goals are also found to have an influence on students' learning outcomes. However, how achievement goals and SRL jointly affect learning performance is still an underexplored area of research, especially in…

The orthographic choice (OC) task--requiring individuals to choose the correct spelling between a word and a pseudohomophone foil (e.g., "goat" vs. "gote")--has been used as an outcome measure of orthographic learning and as a predictor of individual differences in word reading development. Some consider the OC task a measure…

Multilevel Rasch models are increasingly used to estimate the relationships between test scores and student and school factors. Response data were generated to follow one-, two-, and three-parameter logistic (1PL, 2PL, 3PL) models, but the Rasch model was used to estimate the latent regression parameters. When the response functions followed 2PL…

Place of living has been associated with a variety of effects but is often considered stationary. Newer research reveals that the accumulation of deprivation conveys many of the effects that were initially thought to be captured by place of birth or current place of living; however, the view of accumulation as a static entity implies that only the…

Recently, tracking student behavior has become a very important phase for constructing adaptive educational systems. Several researchers have developed various methods based on machine learning for better tracing students' knowledge. Most of these methods have shown an effective estimation of student features and an accurate prediction of future…

Purpose: Spelling is a skill that relies on an individual's linguistic awareness, the ability to overtly manipulate language. The ability to accurately spell is important for academic and career success into adulthood. The spelling skills of adults have received some attention in the literature, but there is limited information regarding which…

For those who grew up in Britain in the latter half of the twentieth century, there is known to be a strong association between social class or family income and attending a private school. However, increasing private school fees and promotion of school choice in the state sector have potential implications for the predictors of participation in…