The purpose of this mixed methods study was to describe the perceptions of African American students pertaining to their engagement in Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition course and Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition examination. A purposive sampling design was employed to select 12 participants from one urban…

Providing model-based accounts (explanations and predictions) of water and substances in water moving through environmental systems is an important practice for environmental science literacy and necessary for citizens confronting global and local water quantity and quality issues. In this article we present a learning progression for water in…

Environmental education researchers argue that pre-service teachers have a limited understanding of education for sustainability. The research described in this article applies a phenomenographic approach to investigating variations in how a representative cohort of 30 pre-service teachers, at various stages of completing an education degree at a…

In a small Midwestern liberal arts college, a class focusing on "Farming and Rural Life in Literature" attracted a large number of agriculture students. Although many disliked and avoided reading, these students began to use literature as a way to understand the natural world, their role in it and the experiences they shared with other…

African American students are one of the historically disadvantaged groups by the public education system. Related to this phenomenon is the overrepresentation of African American children in special education due to disability diagnoses, which has been referred to as disproportionality. It has been hypothesized that disproportionality is due to…

This paper ranges widely to track of the evolution of Hardy's view on love and marriage, and analyzes two reasons why this unique view developed: one is Nature; another is Time.

Energy is relevant to all areas of human life; energy sustains us through food, drives our transportation, warms and cools our buildings, and powers our electrical gadgets. In nature, ecosystems function by capturing and transforming energy. Agroecosystems are formed when humans manipulate the capture and flow of energy for food, fiber, and fuel…

This article reports that Florida State University officials are gearing up for what could be another bruising battle this month over a proposed biomass plant that could bring the campus cleaner, cheaper energy and monetary support for alternative-energy research. Or, it could bring noise and pollution to a nearby neighborhood, according to…

We review empirical studies on kinship foster care in the United States. We conceptualize kinship foster care within the context of Urie Bronfenbrenner's (1994) most recent ecological systems theory. Because there are multiple levels of influences on the developmental outcomes of children placed in kinship foster home, understanding the…

Trauma-related assistance in response to disasters or catastrophes is needed locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally, and the authors argue that there is a necessity for counseling psychologists and counseling psychology programs to incorporate it into their prevention, training, and social justice repertoire. Counseling psychologists…

The U.S. is comprised of many different cultural and linguistic groups, and this diversity is reflected in every state and local school district. However, the ongoing underachievement and high dropout rate of some racial/ethnic groups is still of major concern. This paper focuses on a discussion of three powerful factors related to the schooling…

The present study aimed to describe and evaluate a transformative, embodied, emergent learning approach to acquiring ecological literacy through higher education. A class of teacher candidates in a bachelor of education program filled out a survey, which had them rate their level of agreement with 15 items related to ecological macro-models.…

This paper conceptualizes the theoretical framework of modeling learning spaces for self-directed learning at university courses. It binds together two ideas: (a) self-directed learners' common learning spaces may be characterized as abstract niches, (b) niche characteristics are collectively determined through individually perceived affordances.…

This article reviews risk factors for youth suicide in South Korea (hereafter referred to as Korea), based on the ecological systems theory. Although youth suicide is a major concern for Korean society, understanding of this phenomenon has been limited since most of the empirical studies address personal characteristics without much consideration…

Although children often characterize animals by the animals' color or pattern, the children seldom understand the evolutionary and ecological factors that favor particular colors. In this article, we describe two activities that help students understand the distinct evolutionary strategies of warning coloration and camouflage. Because both of…