Over the last decade there has been an increased focus on high-stakes standardized tests in reading and math. Social studies has been devalued in the classroom as many teachers and administrators focus their attention on reading and math instruction to avoid the punitive consequences of the No Child Left Behind Act. (2001). Based on this…

The main purpose of this study was to compare the strategies used by Chinese-speaking students when confronted with familiar versus unfamiliar topics in a multiple-choice format reading comprehension test. The focus was on describing what students do when they are taking reading comprehension tests by asking students to verbalize their thoughts.…

This study reports on the design and testing of an integrated suite of vocabulary training games for Nintendo[TM] collectively designated "My Word Coach" (Ubisoft, 2008). The games' design is based on a wide range of learning research, from classic studies on recycling patterns to frequency studies of modern corpora. Its general usage…

Supporting undergraduate achievement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines is paramount to ensuring our nation's continued scientific and technological advancement. In this quantitative study, Lorelle Espinosa examines the effect of precollege characteristics, college experiences, and institutional setting on the…

Adult students are more anxious about writing for school, less familiar with academic conventions, and more likely to drop out than younger students. For students learning to move between personal, work, and academic discourse communities, the ongoing and explicit writing instruction argued for in the research of Sternglass, Herrington and Curtis,…

Students in their first year of university face a number of transition issues that can make realising their academic potential difficult. In the sciences, first-year courses cover a large amount of material across broad subject areas, which can make them troublesome for students without background knowledge, and students need to adapt to typically…

This "at a glance" publication investigates the idea of "informal learning", which has been described as an iceberg: "mostly invisible at the surface and immense in its mostly submerged informal aspects" (Livingstone 2000). It does so in order to offer some definitional clarity for those needing to uncover that…

Attachment theory provides a useful conceptual framework for understanding trauma and the treatment of children who have been abused. This article examines childhood trauma and attachment issues from the perspective of behavior analysis, and provides a theoretical basis for two alternative treatment models for previously abused children and their…

The current study sought to evaluate the suicide prevention gatekeeper training program QPR (Question, Persuade, and Refer) among school personnel using a non-equivalent control group design. Substantial gains were demonstrated from pre- to post-test for attitudes, knowledge, and beliefs regarding suicide and suicide prevention. Exploratory…

As a primary educator, I have witnessed the impact literature can have on a child's life. Unfortunately, in our society children are exposed to a much higher level of violence, instability, and death than in previous years. To assist children through these difficult times, it is best to provide them with an outlet of expression. "Bibliotherapy",…

Effective criterion referenced assessment requires grade descriptors to clarify to students what skills are required to gain higher grades. But do students and staff actually have the same perception of the grading system, and if so, do they perform better than those whose perceptions are less accurately aligned with those of staff? Since…

With midlife career transitions becoming more common, and colleges and universities needing to replace retiring faculty members, more professionals who have attained doctoral degrees may be transitioning to a second career in the academy. While their practitioner-based knowledge and leadership skills might be welcomed, especially in applied degree…

Focusing primarily on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), this article reviews evidence regarding the roles of subregions of the medial temporal lobes, prefrontal cortex, posterior representational areas, and parietal cortex in source memory. In addition to evidence from standard episodic memory tasks assessing accuracy for neutral…

Designers of interactive learning environments face the issue of managing the learner's cognitive load, reducing irrelevant sources while optimizing useful sources of load. I propose a conceptual framework aimed at organizing the contributions of the papers presented in this special issue. The framework identifies three main dimensions, namely…

Two experiments are reported that investigated the relative effectiveness of a realistic dynamic visualization as opposed to a schematic visualization for learning about cell replication (mitosis). In Experiment 1, 37 university students watched either realistic or schematic visualizations. Students' subjective task demands ratings as well as…