This article examines the ways in which interdisciplinary small groups were used in a school setting in order to drive students' "joyful engagement and" literacy instruction. Drawing from the work of Dr. Gholdy Muhammad in "Cultivating Genius" (2020) and "Unearthing Joy" (2023) we designed and implemented a summer…

Children's multiple interests intersect with their participation in informal learning practices in dynamic ways. Using a theoretical framework illustrating interest as a multifaceted construct that has different forms and a range of scope and durability, this study investigates how children's situational interests and individual interests are…

Many librarians conduct research in higher education by studying the undergraduate students with whom they work. Instead of research on students, this paper argues the need for library and information science (LIS) research with, for, and by students. It shows why librarians should explore collaborative partnerships with student-researchers to…

Undergraduate seniors at a residential liberal-arts college reflected on their experiences attending on-campus cultural events. These focus groups were transcribed, coded, and analyzed using a grounded theory-derived approach to understand how these events shaped their college experience. The resulting communication artifact revealed a variety of…

In educational assessment, low engagement is problematic when tests are low stakes for students but have significant consequences for teachers or schools. In the current study, we sought to establish the electroencephalographic (EEG) correlates of engagement and to distinguish engagement from mental effort. Forty university students participated…

The current study investigates the relationship between volunteer stewardship action-taking, motivation toward engagement in volunteer activities, and the ability to teach others during the COVID-19 pandemic. The final data set included 1,196 responses from the Penn State Extension Master Gardeners and Master Watershed volunteers, which provided a…

Student views of treatment acceptability of an intervention is important but still is neither regularly assessed nor studied beyond non-behavioral interventions. Furthermore, assessment of treatment acceptability across time is almost never considered. Using data from a longitudinal, randomized controlled trial, we examined variables that…

Global citizenship is critical to the development of a globally ready 21st century workforce in food, fiber, and natural resources. The global citizenship model utilized in this study includes domains of social responsibility, global competency and global civic engagement. The knowledge, skills, and dispositions of educators are critical factors…

Research Findings: This study provides psychometric validation of the Classroom Engagement Scale (CES), a 14-item, teacher-report, formative assessment of behavioral engagement. It is currently used for all kindergarten children in a large, urban school district where it is embedded in the report card. Multi-level factor analysis revealed two…

The purpose of this study was to establish construct validity of a college and career readiness measure using a sample of youth with (n = 356) and without (n = 1,599) disabilities from five high schools across three U.S. states. We established content validity through expert item review, structural validity through initial field-testing, and…

Gardner, Csikszentmihalyi, and Damon defined good work as excellent, ethical, and engaged. In two studies, we explored factors that motivate and challenge undergraduate psychology majors' pursuit of academic good work (N = 100; M[subscript age] = 21.7; mostly female, Caucasian, and seniors). We found that excellent academic work was motivated by…

Generation Z has graduated and in some cases is still in college according to Seemiller and Grace (2016), who define the generation range from 1995-2010. A defining characteristic of Generation Z is that they grew up with technology. They are so involved or comfortable with technology that they "expect" it. Parents lament the lack of…

Funded by the Association of College & Research Libraries through a 2018 Academic Library Impact Research Grant, the Activating Library Classrooms: Evaluating Formal Learning Spaces for Active Learning and Student Engagement project endeavored to evaluate the design and use of formal learning spaces situated within Penn State University…

This paper explores enabling conditions for scaling high-quality project-based learning (PBL) to understand factors that influence how PBL spreads, whether and how it can be sustained and the extent to which it informs meaningful change in schools. We report on a year-long collaboration across three research projects. Each project team analyzed…

This paper describes the integration of geographic information system (GIS) technology in a high school environmental science classroom, specifically examining the impact of GIS technology on student engagement, critical thinking, and interdisciplinary learning for Education for Sustainability (EfS). This environmental science classroom utilized…