Background: We sought to determine the impact of school gardens and nutrition education on student fruit and vegetable consumption from limited-income communities in Alabama. Methods: Third grade students at 99 Alabama schools with and without gardens on-site were randomized to receive either nutrition education or to a wait-list control group.…

Objective: Data demonstrate that children in the USA eat below the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables, which has been linked with increased risk of obesity and low weight. Previous school-based interventions promoting healthy eating and enjoyment of food have yielded outcomes such as improved weight and children's willingness to try novel…

Relative adiposity (%Fat) was measured using a smartphone-based application in a convenience sample of adults aged 20-52 years (n = 32, 68.7% female, 84.3% White/Caucasian, 26.7 ± 3.5 kg/m2) across different body positions (Anterior versus Posterior) on consecutive days (Day 1 versus Day 2). A reference photo was obtained from the posterior view…

A lack of academic and social readiness limits the successful transition to high school and college for many students from populations historically underrepresented in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) and historically underrepresented groups in biomedical careers (HUG). Also, many families from underrepresented groups share little…

Math anxiety and academic distress, two interrelated forms of psychological stress, are pervasive problems for undergraduate mathematics students. Most of the research in this area has taken a broad view of the impact this stress has on students' learning across an entire course or, more broadly, the entire curriculum for their degree. To…

School readiness is a topic of great interest to early childhood and maternal child health initiatives, such as the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) programme. However, there is a lack of information about best practices or strategies in home visiting and their relative effectiveness in improving school readiness,…

Auburn University engaged in the reaffirmation process with SACSCOC (institutional accreditor) and received recommendations surrounding assessment practices. It was from these recommendations that the Office of Academic Assessment (OAA) was created in July 2015, providing dedicated assessment support to faculty responsible for educational…

Individual decision-making is often expressed through some combination of return or benefit within a context of risk assessment and assumption. Risk is generally defined as variability or chance of loss. Individuals are typically risk averse, where they require a greater benefit for each unit of risk in a decision. Students apply risk assessment…

Digital badging has seen widespread adoption within the US higher education sector with continued growth predicted. Might digital badging present an underrealized opportunity for libraries seeking new vehicles through which to deliver information literacy instructional content? This paper offers an analysis of badging in higher education and…

Outdoor field experiences have long been part of the traditional curriculum in geoscience-related disciplines and are considered a key aspect of professional development in these areas. When the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancelation of many field excursions around the world, geoscience departments were forced to make abrupt changes to the ways…

Purpose: There is little consensus in the literature regarding a) what it means for a school leader to lead with data, and b) how to measure data-informed leadership in a reliable and valid way. This study examines the psychometric properties of an operational measure intended to assess the extent to which a school leader is a data-informed school…

The Poarch Band of Creek Indians is a matriarchal tribe located in Escambia County, Alabama. Poarch Creek women are an integral part of the Tribe and serve in various leadership positions within the organization. Poarch women are members of Alabama's only federally recognized Native American Tribe and their educational experiences are largely…

The case study contained within this dissertation is a part of the International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP). The aim of this project has been to examine successful school principalship in Alabama through in-depth analysis of qualitative interview data. The primary focus of the study is the nature of school…

The problem to be addressed in this quantitative study was the education system's failure to produce individuals with the necessary skills to fulfill high-wage, high-demand technical positions in the market. The study examined whether career counseling self-efficacy levels varied across different experiences, such as educational background, years…

This dissertation, "Old Constraints, New Possibilities: Genre Theory, Student Reflections, and ePortfolios in the First Year Writing Classroom," explores the findings of an IRB-approved study on the reflective practices employed in FYW multimodal ePortfolios. The University of Alabama (UA) FYW conducted an ePortfolio Initiative in 2019…