Social media has permeated almost every aspect of the lives of anyone who utilizes the internet. Teachers and students are no exception. Students are most likely to use social media sites such as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter. This research focuses on best practices related to augmenting school curriculum to utilize these tools to increase student…

While college art instructors strive to respond to the current generation of students, educational psychologists stress the importance of teachers' focusing on students' cognitive-affective makeup in addition to conveying course content. Attribution theory--and more specifically, student perceptions of control over academic outcomes--can serve to…

This article discusses the growing interest in computer-adaptive testing, which supporters say can help guide instruction, increase student motivation, and determine the best use of resources for districts. This method of testing shortens the test by not asking high-achieving students questions that are too easy for them, and likewise not giving…

All too often, designers assume that complex science and cycles of inquiry are beyond the capabilities of young children (5-8 years old). However, with carefully designed mediators, we argue that such concepts are well within their grasp. In this paper we describe two design iterations of the BeeSign simulation software that was designed to help…

As communities across California commit to developing systems of high school pathways that will engage students in school and prepare them to succeed in postsecondary opportunities and contribute to a vital regional economy, many are realizing the importance of providing "broad-based support" for this work. Students need a choice of…

Despite ample evidence of the relative financial illiteracy of students in college, personal finance education remains inconsistent across postsecondary institutions in the United States. Moreover, existing programs and services related to personal finance education have had modest success in attracting student interest and participation. To…

Because Black males are significantly underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors at predominantly White institutions (PWIs), this study sought to answer what the relationships are between racial identity, self-efficacy, institutional integration, and academic experience of successful Black, male STEM majors…

Students' performance in two semesters of our Cell Biology course was examined for this study. Teaching strategies, behaviors, and pre-course variables were analyzed with respect to students' performance. Pre-semester and post-semester surveys were administered to ascertain students' perceptions about class difficulty, amount of study and effort…

In the rapidly changing globalized world, school librarians cannot prepare today's students for every possible outcome, but they can give them the skills that will make them adaptable in 21st-century learning and work settings. The mission for school library programs is to ensure that students are effective users of ideas and information by being…

Background/Context: English language learner (ELL) students are lagging behind because of the extra challenges they face relative to their peers in acquiring academic English language proficiency, and the added burden of learning content in a language in which they are not proficient. The mandated inclusion of ELL students in the nation's…

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to identify specific support services that helped African American male students in California Community Colleges to successfully complete developmental math and/or English courses. Methodology. Data were collected from 123 African American men who were enrolled in one of three Los Angeles area community…

This article examines the effects of a statewide effort to reduce college remediation rates by training high school teachers and providing them with an expository reading and writing curriculum. The authors rely on mixed methods, including observations, teacher and student surveys, and test data from urban high schools. Findings suggest that the…

Background/Context: How do we account for the persistence of below-average math test score performance among California Hispanics who are fluent in English, as well as Spanish-dominant English learners? Recent studies have attributed the problem to an overly rigid focus on "what works" in curriculum and fluency in English to the…

For the thirty-eighth time, 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 Indianapolis, Indiana. The Proceedings of AECT's Convention are published in two…

Automated writing evaluation (AWE) software uses artificial intelligence (AI) to score student essays and support revision. We studied how an AWE program called MY Access![R] was used in eight middle schools in Southern California over a three-year period. Although many teachers and students considered automated scoring unreliable, and teachers'…