An honors senior thesis introduces students into a world of scholarship and professional activity in a way that no single course, either semester- or year-long, can do (Anderson, Lyons, and Weiner). Many honors educators consider honors thesis work to be the defining honors experience. For graduate schools, employers, and the students themselves,…

Educators in higher education often seek innovative pedagogies to include in their classrooms. This article describes an integrative learning experience and details the planning, implementation, considerations, and benefits of creating a major-specific undergraduate research day. The event created an opportunity for students to gain confidence and…

This case study delineates the process that a small, private liberal arts university employed to amplify its high-impact practices in an already award-winning undergraduate research (UR) program. The process was catalyzed by combined institutional factors: the start of a new accreditation cycle and the launch of our university's strategic vision,…

Little attention has been paid to understanding faculty-student productivity via undergraduate research from the faculty member's perspective. This study examines predictors of faculty-student publications resulting from mentored undergraduate research, including measures of faculty-student collaboration, faculty commitment to undergraduate…

The United States has faced stagnant postsecondary education degree completion rates for over a decade. When coupled with improved educational outcomes in other nations, the one-time world leader in higher education attainment has precipitously declined in standing internationally. Coupling this reality with the need for a more educated workforce…

The flexibility of mixed methods research strategies makes such approaches especially suitable for multisite case studies. Yet the utilization of mixed methods to select sites for these studies is rarely reported. The authors describe their pragmatic mixed methods approach to select a sample for their multisite mixed methods case study of a…

Released time is an arrangement through which students are excused from public schools during regular hours to participate in devotional lessons. South Carolina has become the center of operations for a movement of evangelical Christians to expand proselytizing released time programs throughout the United States. As a result of the movement's…

More than 6,000 charter schools exist in the United States, and of these 120 are Montessori charter schools. When studying charter school practices, researchers often examine issues such as performance accountability measures and effectiveness of charter school curricula. In doing so, the outcomes often overlook the challenges for teachers as they…

The purpose of this research project was to highlight the practices and philosophies of two effective--but different--social studies teachers who balance the demands of teaching in the modern era while honoring their own philosophies for teaching social studies. This project was ground in the theoretical framework provided by TPACK and used a case…

The qualitative study explored the (a) self-identity and individual experiences of five African American female higher education administrators, (b) educational and background preparedness of each African American female administrator, (c) individual support mechanisms of each African American female administrator, (i.e., mentoring, community and…

Background: Despite broad public support and legislative activity, policies intended to promote physical activity in schools have not produced positive outcomes in levels of physical activity or student health. What explains the broad failure of Physical Activity Policies (PAPs)? Thus far, PAP research has used limited quantitative methods to…

Traditional teaching methods no longer motivate students to learn, especially with the influence of technology in their daily lives. This disconnect has led to a continual influx of teachers who are forced to adapt to this shift in teaching, embracing technology, and restructuring pedagogy to include technology-driven lessons. Because perception…

Hands-on learning is a highly effective teaching method for topics in STEM disciplines. Unfortunately, environmental science teachers sometimes lack the tools to engage their students in hands-on experimentation in real-world research outside of the classroom. Partnerships between science professionals and teachers can help address this disparity,…

Institutions of higher education have recently articulated the value of creating environments where diverse individuals can interact. However, "educators have been challenged to articulate clearly the educational purposes and benefits of diversity" (Gurin, Dey, Hurtado, & Gurin, 2002, p. 330). Intergroup dialogue is one approach that…

Students were performing below grade level in reading, fluency, and comprehension in a suburban school in South Carolina. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of teachers about their preferred differentiated instruction approach (face-to-face vs. computer-based) to meet the needs of at-risk students in 2nd grade. The underlying…