Prior research has established that the depth and breadth of remedial need in basic skills (math and English) exhibited by a student at college entry are strongly and negatively associated with the likelihood of achieving college-level competency in those subjects (i.e., successful remediation). This well-documented finding is built upon a body of…

Higher education employees often participate in university-sponsored defined contribution pension plans that place the investment decision responsibility upon them. In order to examine investment decision-making behavior with retirement savings plans we investigated attitude-mediated, individual difference determinants of risky decision-making…

This study investigates the role of students' sense of belonging to their university in college student retention. Using individual growth curve modeling, we examined (a) whether sense of belonging predicts intentions to persist, and (b) the effects of an intervention designed to enhance students' sense of belonging. African American and white…

Through the lens of the emerging economic theory of higher education, we look at the relationship between salary and prestige. Starting from the premise that academic institutions seek to maximize prestige, we hypothesize that monetary rewards are higher for faculty activities that confer prestige. We use data from the 1999 National Study of…

This study analyzes the influence of local labor market conditions on the year-to-year persistence and attainment decisions of a sample of traditional-aged students who attended community colleges during the 1990s. The findings suggest that the enrollment and attainment decisions of these first-time community college students were not made purely…

There has been wide recognition that today's graduates need the type of generic capabilities necessary for lifelong learning. However, the mechanism by which universities can develop these generic skills is not clearly established. This study aimed to investigate the mechanism for their development. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to…

The impact of academic programs--such as developmental mathematics programs--on student retention, has been a controversial topic for administrators, policy makers, and faculty in higher education. Despite deep interest in the effectiveness of these programs in retaining students, scholars have been unable to determine whether such programs have a…

This study examines differences between women and men on 19 outcomes of college and assesses the extent to which those differences are attributable to gender gaps that existed prior to college or to men's and women's differential college experiences. The data are drawn from a national longitudinal sample of students (N = 17,637) attending 204…

This paper presents findings from a study of the experiences and outcomes of older and younger community college students. We developed a discrete-time hazard model using longitudinal transcript data on a cohort of first-time community college students in Florida to compare the impact of enrollment pathways (such as remediation) and enrollment…

Little research has been conducted on how students work when they are required to plan, build and evaluate artefacts in technology rich learning environments such as those supported by tools including flow charts, "Labview" programming and Lego construction. In this study, activity theory was used as an analytic tool to examine the social…

This study draws on recent research on the central role of representation in learning. While there has been considerable research on students' understanding of evaporation, the representational issues entailed in this understanding have not been investigated in depth. The study explored students' engagement with evaporation phenomena through…

Concepts learned in the classroom were reinforced and augmented by presenting them in a different context using cryogenics-based enrichment programmes (CBEPs) held in an out-of-school setting. The effectiveness of two CBEPs, which involve the use of liquid nitrogen and liquid oxygen, was explored. Using a sample of 265 upper primary students, it…

With increasing numbers of students learning science through a second language in many school contexts, there is a need for research to focus on the impact language has on students' understanding of science concepts. Like other countries, Brunei has adopted a bilingual system of education that incorporates two languages in imparting its…

The aim of this study was to compare the achievement of prospective primary science teachers in a problem-based curriculum with those in a conventional primary science teacher preparation program with regard to success in learning about gases and developing positive attitudes towards chemistry. The subjects of the study were 101 first year…

A CD-ROM consisting of videos of two lessons by different teachers demonstrating exemplary science teaching was used to elicit, develop and track the changing conceptions of good science teaching of student teachers enrolled for the one-year Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) at several stages during the programme. It was found that the…