Interdisciplinary undergraduate research experiences often require students to work in teams with other students and researchers from different disciplines, creating a need for development of new skills in interdisciplinary collaboration. In this paper, we describe our unique efforts to mentor participants in developing these skills during our…

A study by Kenney, Kenney, and Dumont (2005) identified a supportive learning environment as one of the five indicators for collegiate student engagement, a concept that extends beyond the classroom to permeate the entire educational environment. A student's level of engagement can be impacted as early as orientation and registration, when he is…

This study identified common characteristics in six "good" secondary schools in the rural Appalachian regions of Kentucky and Tennessee. Three schools from each state were selected for study based on nominations by Chief State School Officers and local superintendents and ratings based on statistical information about the schools. Two…