U.S. national data show that American Indians earn lower math and science scores than other ethnic/racial groups. In the current study, a brief, self-affirmation intervention was aimed at increasing science motivational beliefs in American Indian middle school students (n = 212, M[subscript age] = 12.7 years). Students, each read a biography of a…

This dissertation conducted a science classroom intervention using two instructional approaches, computational modeling and paper-based pictorial modeling, in the context of food webs. A series of research papers were written on the impact of the intervention on students' attitudes and learning, and on teachers via professional development and…

My dissertation is a pre-mid-post-test, quantitative research design, including surveys and written assessments, to answer these research questions: 1. How do students' science mindset vary over time when engaged in science inquiry activities? Is there a difference between male and female students? 2. Is there a relationship between 7th grade…

Findings from recent studies suggest that students' pathways into mathematics-related careers begin as early as middle school when students are forming lasting self-perceptions of their academic abilities. Middle school is also a time when students begin making choices about future coursework in math, science, and technology that will have…

Although many agree that writing can make a unique contribution to learning, harnessing that contribution is difficult, particularly in the middle grades. The purpose of this study was to measure the efficacy of a feasible writing-to-learn intervention in Grade 6-11 science classes. We focused on middle school students because this group has been…

Communicative self-efficacy serves as an important link between discussing controversial issues and civic engagement because confidence in one's discourse skills is important to managing conflicting perspectives and developing solutions to community-based problems. Freely available to schools, "Word Generation" is a cross-content…

A binational team of investigators culturally adapted, implemented, and tested the efficacy in Mexico of "keepin' it REAL," a US-designed prevention intervention for youth. This article reports on the social validity of the adapted intervention by assessing its feasibility, acceptability, and utility, as perceived by participating middle…

Two studies examined the roles of altruistic values, egalitarianism, self-efficacy, and perceptions of utility in shaping children's interest in scientific fields. In Study 1, middle school girls attending an intervention program ("n"=617) heard presentations by female scientists (expected to increase egalitarianism), engaged in hands-on science…

Middle school is a critical period in the cognitive and academic development of young women, and a time when their performance and interest in science may decline. After school programs play a key role in engaging youth in learning by providing opportunities to increase health and wellness, set goals, and strategize problem solving. Skills…

Previous research has linked inquiry-based science instruction (i.e., science instruction that engages students in doing science rather than just learning about science) with greater gains in student learning than text-book based methods (Vanosdall, Klentschy, Hedges & Weisbaum, 2007; Banilower, 2007; Ferguson 2009; Bredderman, 1983;…

This is an abstract for an action research project report on improving student motivation. Students struggle with motivation to perform well in school. This study was designed to increase student motivation in the classroom setting. The targeted population consisted of one third grade classroom, one fourth grade classroom, and three periods of…

For the thirty-sixth year, the Research and Theory Division of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) is sponsoring the publication of these Proceedings. Papers published in this volume were presented at the annual AECT Convention in Anaheim, California. The Proceedings of AECT's Convention are published in two…