Two pivotal and interconnected claims are addressed in this article. First, strategy precedes program effectiveness. Second, graduation rates and rankings are insufficient in any account of academic progress for African American students. In this article, graduation is regarded as the floor and not the ceiling, as it were. The ideal situation in…

This paper looks at the drawings of a sample of 118 children aged between 4 and 7 years old on the topic of plant life and relates the content to their knowledge of the concept of living things. The research project uses two types of tests: a task to analyse the level of understanding of the concept of living things and a free drawing activity.…

Diagrams feature prominently in science education, and there has been an increase in research focusing on students' use of them in knowledge construction. This paper reports on an investigation into first year university students' perceptions of scale and size at the cellular level. It was found that many students appeared to tacitly…

Plants are characterised by a great diversity of easily observed features such as colours or shape, but children show low interest in learning about them. Here, we integrated modern theory of adaptive memory and evolutionary views of the function of fruit colouration on children's retention of information. Survival-relevant (fruit toxicity)…

Evolution is a fundamental, organising concept in biology, yet there is widespread resistance to evolution among US students and there are rising creationist challenges in Europe. Resistance to evolution is linked to lack of understanding of the age of the Earth. An understanding of deep time is thus essential for effective biology education.…

This study examines an innovative model program for the mentorship of diverse graduate students entitled the "Inter-Ethnic/Interdisciplinary Mentoring Institute for Graduate Education" (i.e., "Mentoring Institute"), which was established by the Graduate Student Diversity Programs in the Office of the Vice President for Research…

Teaching scientific writing in biology classes is challenging for both students and instructors. This article offers and reviews several useful "toolkit" items that improve student writing. These include sentence and paper-length templates, funnelling and compartmentalisation, and preparing compendiums of corrections. In addition,…

Students in schools, colleges, and universities are rapidly becoming more diverse while the teaching workforce has failed to keep pace. The underrepresentation of minority teachers on school faculties persists despite efforts by successful national teacher recruitment programs, such as the Institute for Recruitment of Teachers, to redress this…

The quality of doctoral students' academic and social experiences is a key element of their success in graduate school programs. These experiences support the completion of doctoral programs, especially for first-generation college students from low-income backgrounds. Framed by Weidman's (1989) undergraduate socialization model, the…

To remain globally competitive and increase the number of young people completing two- and four-year college degrees, America needs to expand access to higher education and focus attention on the success of those who enroll. Expertise in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) will be particularly important for maintaining a…

In spite of the widening racial achievement gap among U.S. college students (U.S. Census Bureau, 2011), some universities are achieving success in supporting the graduation and postcollege goals of Black undergraduates (Apprey, Bassett, Preston-Grimes, Lewis, & Wood 2014/this issue; Baker, 2006; Hrabowski, 2003; Hrabowski & Maton, 2009).…

This article proposes a model for introducing biological perspectives into teaching dance as a means to encourage students toward deeper, healthier, and more personal relationships with their art form as well as appreciation for their physical and cognitive abilities, both inside and outside of the dance studio. It recommends that dance teachers…

The Leadership Alliance is a national academic consortium currently comprising 32 academic institutions including Ivy League and major-research and minority-serving institutions, including Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). For 2 decades these institutions have worked collaboratively to train, mentor, and support…

This article reflects on the best teaching practices explored and developed by members of a teachers' community and action research project in Arizona. The project is an ongoing collaborative inquiry and curriculum development endeavor that involves seven dance educators who are currently teaching or have previously taught in secondary dance…

Drawn from current research on web-based learning, this practical article presents applied research and informed applications for online dance educators engaged in undergraduate and graduate dance education course work. With a focus on written assessment feedback, the author provides a review of recent literature, an overview of written feedback…