This study aimed to determine the effect of mastery learning model supported with reflective thinking activities on the fifth grade medical students' academic achievement. Mixed methods approach was applied in two samples (n = 64 and n = 6). Quantitative part of the study was based on a pre-test-post-test control group design with an experiment…

Gaps between science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and required workplace skills have been identified in industry, academia, and government. Educators acknowledge the need to reform STEM education to better prepare students for their future careers. We pursue this growing interest in the skills needed for STEM…

Academic writing, particularly writing research articles, is an indispensable part of every major in higher education. Hyland (2004) argued that a valuable means of exploring academic writing, and comparing the rhetorical features and preferences of different discourse communities, is through the metadiscourse analysis of the text. The present…

Recent re-conceptualisation of paternal involvement (Pleck, J. H. (2010). Paternal involvement: Revised conceptualization and theoretical linkages with child outcomes. In M. Lamb (Ed.), "The role of the father in child development" (5th ed., pp. 67-107). London: Wiley), while proving fruitful, has yet to be applied to investigations into…

GeoCapabilities is a transatlantic collaborative project for researching the purposes and values of geography education through a "capabilities approach." Inspired by the writings of philosopher Amartya Sen and economist Martha Nussbaum, the capabilities approach provides a normative framework for understanding the broader aims of…

The release of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics and their adoption across the United States calls for careful attention to the alignment between mathematics standards and assessments. This study investigates 2 models that measure alignment between standards and assessments, the Surveys of Enacted Curriculum (SEC) and the Webb…

Human participants and recurrent ("connectionist") neural networks were both trained on a categorization system abstractly similar to natural language systems involving irregular ("strong") classes and a default class. Both the humans and the networks exhibited staged learning and a generalization pattern reminiscent of the…

Implementation of Professional Learning Communities (PLC), as described by DuFour (2006), has depended upon a balance between teacher buy-in and administrative fiat. The tension between the "bottom-up" character of the former and the "top-down" character of the latter presents a leadership challenge: meeting students' learning…

John Maxwell once wrote, "True leadership cannot be awarded, appointed, or assigned. It comes only from influence, and that cannot be mandated. It must be earned. The only thing a title can buy is a little time-either to increase your level of influence with others or to undermine it." There is a plethora of theories and models available…

There is ample evidence that children born to poorer families do not succeed at the same rate as children born to the middle class. On average, low-income children lag behind on almost every cognitive, behavioral, emotional, and health measure. These gaps start early--some of the newest research suggests that cognitive gaps are detectable in…

The purpose of this dissertation research was to critically examine the development of community-based health information exchanges (HIEs) and to comparatively analyze the various models of exchanges in operation today nationally. Specifically this research sought to better understand several aspects of HIE: policy influences, organizational…

The topic of this research is inference for effect size of a curriculum intervention, which is an important research topic in education. The linear relationship between the outcomes of an intervention and teachers' fidelity, the extent to which the intervention was actually delivered by teachers as intended, is an important component for…

The purpose of this study was to assess the performance outcomes of a sales training program. This study is unique in a number of ways. First, it focuses on an under-studied area (sales training effectiveness). Second, it is directed at the evaluation of sales training programs completed by Realtors within the housing industry. Finally, it…

There are 26 single-purpose nursing programs in the United States. They are nursing programs operated by hospitals with the single purpose of supplying the hospitals with well-prepared health care staff. Using a quantitative methodology and an ex post facto design, this study compared employment retention rates between single-purpose and…

In the hotel industry, social media marketing has become a new trend hoteliers are chasing and an increasing number of hotels are using social media to promote their business. However, the marketing effectiveness of social media is still a big challenge in both academic and business world. Since social media marketing is totally different from…