Policy makers and state representatives have claimed that, compared to the traditional path to a four-year degree, a course of study that begins in the 2-year sector provides a more affordable option. If this is true, then all else equal, 2-year students who obtained a 4-year degree would be expected to have acquired less student loan debt. To…

Using a dataset containing nearly 500,000 courses taken by over 40,000 community and technical college students in Washington State, this study examines the performance gap between online and face-to-face courses and how the size of that gap differs across student subgroups and academic subject areas. While all types of students in the study…

The study examined the effects of video-based multimedia instruction on secondary school students' achievement and retention in biology. In Nigeria, 120 students (60 boys and 60 girls) were randomly selected from four secondary schools assigned either into one of three experimental groups: Animation + Narration; Animation + On-screen Text;…

This article analyzes sensemaking about faculty departure among administrators, faculty colleagues, and faculty leavers in one research university. A mixed methods database was analyzed to reveal four dominant explanations for faculty departure and two influences on sensemaking. Dominant explanations included better opportunities, the likelihood…

This article examines a technique for engaging critical thinking on multiple-choice exams. University students were encouraged to "challenge" the validity of any exam question they believed to be unfair (e.g., more than one equally correct answer, ambiguous wording, etc.). The number of valid challenges a student wrote was a better…

How can we as educators address complex and controversial topics in the social sciences without encouraging simplistic responses and self-reproducing binary oppositions? Drawing upon an ethnographic analysis of a first-year writing seminar on the history of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, this article proposes novel approaches to overcome…

In an ethnographic study set within a biology department of a public university in the United States, incongruity between the ideals and practice of science education are investigated. Against the background of religious conservative students' complaints about evolution in the curriculum, biology faculty describe their political intents for…

Couched in attitude theory, this follow-up study examines children-voiced perceptions of "enjoyment" and "usefulness" toward a "district mandated" elementary physical education (PE) program. Attitudes of 277 5th and 6th grade males and females from four representative schools from within a district were assessed in a…

"What we have is a systemic failure--one that involves the relationship of physical education programs in public schools with teacher preparation in higher education." (Siedentop & Locke, 1997). This assessment led Prusak, Pennington, Vincent-Graser, Beighle, and Morgan (2010) to an examination of a school district that seemed to…

Rational number interpretations can include part-whole, measure, ratio, quotient, and operator. These are all subconstructs of partitioning (Barnett-Clarke et al. 2010; Behr et al. 1980; Clarke, Roche, and Mitchell 2008; Flores, Samson, and Yanik 2006). Each of these subconstructs uses different cognitive skills (Driscoll 1984), so it is important…

This study examined adolescents' interest in aerobic fitness testing and its relation to the test performances. Adolescents (N = 356) from three middle schools participated in the study. The participants took two aerobic fitness tests: the Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run (PACER) and One-Mile Run (1MR) with a two-day interval,…

Mathematics interventions for struggling students supplement regular instruction and are frequently implemented through computer programs and activity sheet practice (Swanson et al. 2012). However, students with foundational misunderstandings do not benefit from additional drill and practice alone. Instead, interventions that balance concepts with…

The purpose of this study was to confirm the relationships among teachers' self-efficacy, and students' learning motivation, learning atmosphere, and learning satisfaction in senior high school physical education (PE). A sample of 462 PE teachers and 2681 students was drawn using stratified random sampling and cluster sampling from high…

The purpose of this study was to examine how three PE teachers' personal biographies before their formal teacher education programs influenced their early careers in urban schools. Using occupational socialization theory and cultural relevance theory, we conducted in-depth interviews and observed early career physical education teachers who…

Grounded in social cognitive theory, the purpose of this study was to examine leaders' and students' perspectives of factors that contribute to effective voluntary after-school physical activity clubs. Data were collected over two-years via field observations (n= 115) and interviews with students (n= 278) and adult leaders (n= 126).…