Many researchers have debated potential differences between male and female students' mathematical performance. One important factor that can impact performance is perception of the content. The purpose of the study is to investigate factors that impact high-ability male and female students' perspectives of mathematics. Participants (n = 12;…

Access to quality secondary schooling can be life-changing for students in developing contexts. In Kenya, entrance to such schools has historically been determined by performance on a high-stakes exam. Understandably then, preparation for this exam is a high priority for Kenyan families and educators. To increase the share of students gaining…

Four distinct plastics recycling projects created by middle school students emerged from a one-week long plastics recycling activity incorporated within a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) residential summer camp at a research-intensive university. The plastics recycling activity was a project-based learning (PBL) activity…

Make a Difference (MAD) is a sustainability leadership program for high school students in Auckland, New Zealand. It offers a residential camp and follow-up activities. This article documents a participatory, utilization-focused evaluation of MAD, based on a Theory of Change approach. We ran workshops with MAD coordinators and students and…

Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers are among the fastest growing and highest paying, yet women are largely underrepresented in these fields, and many girls lack access to STEM opportunities in school. Oregon State University's Open Campus partners with the American Association of University Women to bring an experiential…

This mixed-methods research was conducted to understand the impact of learning and player growth in a League of Legends summer camp. Eighteen adolescents engaged in a three-day sleep-over summer camp with various team building activities. Data collected included API metadata from pre- and post-camp as well as semi-structured interview data with…

Background: Summer camps can promote positive youth development. Unfortunately, racial, ethnic, and economic disparities contribute to inequities in camp participation and related research on marginalized youth. Consequently, it is not clear what types of camping programs work best for marginalized youth. Purpose: To conduct a quasi-experimental…

The need to improvise and take action as a practitioner draws on Schwab's notion of deliberation and the Greek concept of poiesis. Inspired by an impromptu discussion with students at a computer summer camp, the author uses the works of Sarason, Eisner, and Stenhouse to show how practitioner performance, student audience, educational inquiry,…

Purpose: For writing instruction, reflection has been an essential tool. Typically, educators ask students to reflect in a structured written, individual format. Less explored is the role that small and whole group reflective conversations have in fostering students' understandings about writing. The purpose of this paper is to explore several…

Self-concept, self-efficacy, and interest are inextricably tied together. Researchers collected data from high school students' (n=44) responses to 4 short answer questions taken from a National Institute of Education interest inventory survey. These students were Texas science and engineering fair winners awarded the opportunity to attend a…

Females are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. They also tend to display less favorable dispositions towards STEM than males. This study investigates the influence of a five-day residential summer mathematics and technology camp on middle school girls' beliefs about mathematics as a gendered…

Building from the theories of Dewey and Kolb and Fry, we sought to examine the impact of experiential education in teacher education on teacher beliefs and practices. The teacher education model described in this article sets out to challenge the seduction of the apprenticeship of observation and create an opportunity for in-service teachers to…

In this paper, we report on our experience as rookies organizing, funding, and running a summer computing camp for middle school girls. The focus of the camp was building mobile applications using App Inventor. The three day/two night camp targeted girls in rural, high poverty school districts and was funded through an award from the National…

In this investigation, we examined how youth during learning conversations at an informal science education camp negotiated and authored identities as learners of science. Using identity theory as our analytical lens, we investigated by application of qualitative methodology the socially constructed nature of youth's identities. We focused on the…

Constructivist-based pedagogy is particularly applicable to gifted secondary students in the sciences due to the increased background knowledge of the population and the nature of the study of science. This research was an investigation of the effectiveness of a residential constructivist-based summer learning experience in aquatic biology and…