In our current period of escalating climate change, we urgently need to better understand the modern climate and climate drivers in understudied regions of the world. This article provides a succinct and current literature review of one such region: the Maya Lowlands. The region has a long history of study on human--climatic interaction but little…

This case study reviews the implementation of a learning analytics (LA) system at a large southeastern university. The LA system uses cloud computing to automate data collection and distribution, providing faculty with insights into student performance and engagement. The system includes weekly alert emails and dashboards offering detailed…

Transferring to a four-year institution is an important pathway to student success. Many students who enroll in community college intend to transfer to a four-year institution and subsequently earn a bachelor's degree. However, few students ultimately do, with low-income students transferring at lower rates than their peers. The Texas Transfer…

In response to research raising concerns about developmental placement, new placement systems and curricular models designed to increase the number of students placed into entry-level college courses have emerged in recent years. These systems aim to more accurately identify students who may benefit from some type of developmental instruction and…

The professionalisation of teaching is of increasing importance in UK higher education due to converging processes including the proliferation of managerialism, increasing quality agendas and changes to student fee structures. These have brought into sharp relief the need for greater understanding of how quality teaching evolves in university…

Although I am an economic geographer trained in the United States, most of my research has been conducted in Germany or Canada. Thus, I developed my disciplinary schema in a context different from the one where I now use it. This US-focused training taught me that before one examines the local dynamics of a particular industry, labor market, or…

K-3 Plus was established in 2007 as a six-year pilot project that permitted schools with high numbers of at-risk students to begin the school year 25 days earlier for kindergarten through third grade. The purpose of the K-3 Plus program is to demonstrate that increased instructional time in kindergarten and the early grades narrows the achievement…

The written lab report--a concise and accurate accounting of an experiment, including a summary of the procedure, presentation of the results, reasoned analysis, and thoughtful explanation--is essential to the scientific endeavor and a key expression and product of inquiry. Generally, however, students and teachers dislike these reports, the…

The past four decades have seen a rapid decline in marriage rates and a rapid increase in nonmarital births. These changes have had at least three worrisome effects on children. Scholars disagree about the magnitude of these effects, but surveys and other research evidence appear to definitively establish that the nation has more poverty, more…

This research examines the relationship between career related self-concept and dimensions of informal learning of science. The overlapping dimensions of career interest development and informal learning suggest that self-directed informal learning of science can advance individual self-concept for "possible scientific self." Possible…

This paper presents the findings of an evaluation of the mandatory Construction Induction Training initiative (CIT). The paper details a pilot study conducted in 2010 with the commercial construction sector and a subsequent study in 2011 of the housing and civil sectors conducting business in the metropolitan area of Perth and in regional Western…

In an endeavour to find solutions to the country's improving but ailing education system the South African government through some of its departments is attempting to find out if the introduction of technology in the class room has the potential to improve teaching and learning. The paper is based on a pilot study currently underway in Cofimvaba…

This book aims to provide readers with a general as well as an advanced overview of the key trends in childhood obesity. Obesity is an illness that occurs due to a combination of genetic, environmental, psychosocial, metabolic and hormonal factors. The prevalence of obesity has shown a great rise both in adults and children in the last 30 years.…

Objective: First, to describe a community-academic partnership that piloted a parent and home-based programme focused on the intersection of health and education from a social determinants foundation and determine the feasibility and acceptability of such work. Second, to examine trends and co-occurrence of social and environmental context,…

This paper reports on early findings from a pilot study into student retention beyond Year 10. Located in rural, regional and disadvantaged communities in Tasmania, the research has implications at State, national and international levels. It is being funded by a nationally competitive Australian Research Council Linkage grant and the Tasmanian…