When it launched the Youth Arts Initiative (YAI) in 2014, Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) hoped this high-quality arts initiative would address the challenge of attracting and retaining tweens. Research from the first three years of the initiative suggests that it worked: Participants were highly engaged in YAI. This engagement translated…

Mixed methods-grounded theory (MM-GT) has emerged as a promising methodology that intersects the value of mixed methods with rigorous qualitative design. However, recent reviews have found that MM-GT empirical studies tend to lack procedural details. The purpose of this article is to apply the "best practices" for conducting MM-GT in a…

Interest-based instruction involves attending to students' individual interests, including their existing topical interests, and triggering new situational interests, which can be cultivated during instruction. Understanding four teaching actions--approaching curricular planning intentionally, contextualizing learning, building relevance and value…

How can we design mathematical lessons that spark student interest? To answer this, we analyzed teacher-designed and enacted lessons that students described as interesting for how the content unfolded. When compared to those the same students describe as uninteresting, multiple distinguishing characteristics are evident, such as the presence of…

Instructors at rural, two-year institutions have many insights that can inform biology instruction at other colleges to promote rural students' success in the sciences. We present four principles, derived from three case studies of experienced rural instructors, to consider when teaching rural students. These include connecting to students' lives,…

Science instruction reform efforts call for increased opportunities for students to engage with science content and practices. School-based citizen science (CS), when implemented well, addresses this call and provides a meaningful context for student learning. Despite CS projects' increasing role in formal science instruction, research on the…

Each month, the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) surveys a random sample of individuals who three months prior registered on mba.com--the GMAC™ website for prospective graduate business students. Their survey responses provide an inside look into the decision-making process of people currently considering applying to a graduate…

This study tested the feasibility and initial efficacy of a cognitive-behavioral summer treatment (summerMAX[superscript yc]) for high-functioning young children, ages 4-6 years, with ASD (HFASD; without intellectual disability). The treatment was conducted 5 days per week, 6 h per day, over 5 weeks in the summer and included skills instruction…

Research over a long period of time has continued to demonstrate problems in the teaching of science in school. In addition, declining levels of participation and interest in science and related fields have been reported from many particularly western countries. Among the strategies suggested is the recruitment of professional scientists and…

In this study, data collected from 875 college freshman and sophomore students enrolled in a 4-year university in central China are used to examine the applicability and validity of a Chinese version of Holland's Self-Directed Search (SDS) that was adapted in the 1990s. The total sample was randomly divided into two groups. Data from the first…

Instructional leaders have the responsibility to familiarize themselves with assessment strategies and theories of assessment that are aligned to the intended learning outcomes associated with study in the visual arts. This paper will consider multiple assessment strategies that have been applied in high school art education. These assessment…

While the effects of simulation-based courses on the knowledge of participating students may be marginal in relation to standard lecture and discussion-based courses, this article argues that the greatest leverage is gained by increasing participating students' level of interest in the subject of study and in politics more broadly. Participants…

A key theme in science education research concerns the decline in young peoples' interest in science and the need for professionals in hard science. Goal Congruity Theory posits that an important aspect of the decision whether to pursue hard science for study or as a career is the perception that hard science careers do not fulfil social (working…

This study is an extension of two previous studies that provided profiles of persisting STEM majors overall (regardless of academic performance) and persisting STEM majors who earned semester GPAs of 3.0 or higher (Westrick, 2016, 2017). Using data from 25 four-year institutions, this study compared the mean ACT assessment scores, HSGPAs, and ACT…

Purpose: This study aims to assess higher education students' interest in learning sustainability competencies and their pro-ecological worldviews at a large research-intensive university in Finland to provide a background information for developing a sustainability science course. Design/methodology/approach: In total, 797 students participated…