The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2015 is the sixth administration of this international comparative study since 1995 when first administered. TIMSS is used to compare over time the mathematics and science knowledge and skills of fourth- and eighth-graders. TIMSS is designed to align broadly with mathematics and…

Cooperative learning techniques have been found to be quite successful in a variety of learning environments. However, in university-level accounting courses, investigations of the efficacy of cooperative learning pedagogical methods have produced mixed results at best. To continue the search for a cooperative learning method that is effective in…

In this article, we seek to reconceptualize content-based instruction (CBI) curricula and practices from a critical perspective. Further, we propose developing criticality as an essential component of CBI, advocating for an approach we call critical content-based instruction (CCBI). While the importance of CBI has long been recognized, previous…

Objective: This study explored how high school and postsecondary academic parameters may relate to the choice of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) major for students beginning their postsecondary education at community colleges. Our study incorporated these two clusters of factors into a statistical model to examine STEM…

This paper reports the results of a survey with 40 students enrolled in an Android Application Development course offered during the spring semester of 2013 and 2014. The course used App Inventor to build the apps and required students to have an introduction to programming course as a prerequisite. The survey asked for demographic information and…

The goal is to provide a robust and challenging problem statement for a capstone, advanced systems analysis and design course for CIS/MIS/CS majors. In addition to the problem narrative, a representative solution for much of the business modeling deliverables is presented using the UML paradigm. A structured analysis deliverable will be the topic…

Although many researchers have investigated sport education (SE) as a curriculum model at different educational levels (Bennett & Hastie, 1997; MacPhail, Gorely, Kirk, & Kinchin, 2008; MacPhail & Kinchin, 2004; Spittle & Byrne, 2009), there has been limited research on preservice physical education (PE) teachers' perceptions of SE.…

In response to the need for a scalable, institutionally supported model of educational change, the Science Education Initiative (SEI) was created as an experiment in transforming course materials and faculty practices at two institutions--University of Colorado Boulder (CU) and University of British Columbia. We find that this departmentally…

The wallpaper effect describes a phenomenon in which educators try to make data-drive decisions but rely exclusively on summary data (the outer layer of the wallpaper) for their information. These summary data may obscure reality--the layers and layers of systemic practices and policies that establish the conditions under which students learn.…

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015 offers a number of opportunities for states and districts to advance deeper learning and ensure that all students graduate from high school with the ability to think critically, solve complex problems, collaborate with peers, communicate effectively, and be self-directed. Deeper learning is the…

In this project, 10 female Japanese students in the "Advanced Interpersonal Communication" course at a Japanese university used smartphone technology and a downloaded application to search for containers (called caches or geocaches) that had been hidden near the university campus by their instructor. The instructor placed different…

Diversifying the STEM workforce is a national concern. To address this concern, researchers, policymakers, and educators are working to increase STEM career interest and achievement in a more diverse population of learners. Black girls and young women represent a unique population of STEM learners that remain relatively untapped and largely under…

Aim/Purpose: As online video lectures rapidly gain popularity in formal and informal learning environments, one of their main challenges is student retention. This study investigates the influence of adding interactivity to online video lectures on students' attention span. Background: Interactivity is perceived as increasing the attention span of…

This is a research brief of the full report (published separately). The Career and Technical Education (CTE) Student Survey, administered in Spring 2017, was designed to gather students' feedback about their experiences taking the advanced CTE courses offered in their specific career pathway. Students who participated in the Austin Independent…

The purpose of this mixed-methods capstone is to investigate the effectiveness of the math acceleration initiative that began in the studied school district in 2009 and the impact the initiative has had on mathematics enrollment at the high school level. This research project followed cohorts of students during the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 school…