This mixed-methods study explores differences in novice and experienced undergraduate students' perceptions of their cognitive, personal, and professional gains from engaging in scientific research. The study was conducted in four different undergraduate research (UR) programs at two research-extensive universities; three of these programs had a…

Laboratory instruction is critical to the understanding of biology and is a central piece of biological sciences instruction. Although much investigation has focused on the content of biology laboratory exercises, we contend that understanding the extent to which the laboratory materials can aid or limit experimental investigation is of equal…

Object-oriented programming is seen as a difficult skill to master. There is considerable debate about the most appropriate way to introduce novice programmers to object-oriented concepts. Is it possible to uncover what the critical aspects or features are that enhance the learning of object-oriented programming? Practitioners have differing…

The purpose of my study was to examine how volunteer tutors without teaching experience who received minimal training perceived their ability to effectively tutor children with learning disabilities. I found that the tutors initially felt that they could improve their tutee's literacy skills; however, the data suggest that the tutors…

Data visualizations designed for academic scientists are not immediately meaningful to everyday scientists. Communicating between a specialized, expert audience and a general, novice public is non-trivial; it requires careful translation. However, more widely available visualization technologies and platforms, including new three-dimensional…

This qualitative study investigated the types of content-based student performance data World Language teachers used to improve instruction and student academic achievement, the purposes for which they used data, the issues they encountered, and the suggestions they made for more effective use of data. The Standards for Foreign Language Learning…

Recently, there have been numerous researches focusing on postmethod. Generally, the researches can be divided into three perspectives: a new look at method, theoretical exploration of postmethod, implication for teacher education. Obviously, language researchers tend to focus on the theoretical review on postmethod ignoring the actual use of…

Teachers often complain about the professional development opportunities. And it is not uncommon for absenteeism to increase among teachers and staff during in-service days. The biggest problem that professional development has encountered is that it is usually developed as an isolated requirement, with no real connection to daily teaching and…

Teacher preparation programs across the country have faced criticisms regarding the quality of their programs. Additionally, these programs now compete with non-traditional programs when their graduates seek positions in public schools. As a result of many conversations as well as audits of the degree program at institutions in the state of Texas,…

Federal, state, and local accountability mandates (i.e., No Child Left Behind Act of 2001) and declining fiscal resources have put increasing pressure on school boards to find the "right" superintendent that can lead their district through this tumultuous period in public education. With over 50% of the current superintendents planning…

The leader, more than any other individual in an organization, has a profound impact upon that organization's success. Whether in the business sector or public education, it is nearly impossible for an organization to acquire and sustain success without strong leadership. Many businesses go to great lengths to develop individuals with leadership…

This article explores the identity of youth in relation to the information sources they choose in the constellation of information of video games, using the massively multiplayer online game "World of Warcraft" as an example. From this study, several identities are recognized that are combinations of the participants skill and level in the game,…

A cognitive construct that is important when solving engineering design problems is executive control process, or metacognition. It is a central feature of human consciousness that enables one "to be aware of, monitor, and control mental processes." The framework for this study was conceptualized by integrating the model for creative design, which…

Within the next few years, traditional online public access catalogs will be replaced by more robust and interconnected discovery layers that can serve as primary public interfaces to simultaneously search many separate collections of resources. Librarians have envisioned this type of discovery tool since the 1980s, and research shows that…

Scratch, a visual programming language, was used in many studies in computer science education. Most of them reported positive results by integrating Scratch into K-12 computer courses. However, the object-oriented concept, one of the important computational thinking skills, is not represented well in Scratch. Alice, another visual programming…