One way to address the leaking pipeline toward STEM-related careers (i.e., science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) is to intervene on students' STEM motivation in school. However, a neglected question in intervention research is how such interventions affect motivation in subjects not targeted by the intervention. This question was…

Enrollments in postsecondary education have climbed steadily for more than 20 years. However, during this same time period, students enrolled in their school of first-choice in decreasing numbers. In fact, slightly more than 55% indicated they enrolled at their first-choice college in 2013 (Eagan, Lozano, Hurtado, & Case, 2013). Thus, more…

Many community college students show a lack of interest and engagement in studying history; students' disinterest in history curriculum appears to stem from a teacher centered pedagogy of lecturing and reading unaesthetic history textbooks. Using historical fiction to teach history and develop student interest and engagement is examined in this…

Although research on racial identity in relation to educational outcomes has expanded in recent years, little is known how it interacts with other constructs that influence achievement. The present study examined the relationship among the components of racial identity (centrality, private regard, and public regard) and sense of belonging on the…

This study examines the presence of Chinese students in U.S. universities and colleges. Due to the large number of Chinese students in the United States this research attempts to explore the reasons why so many Chinese students choose to study abroad and why the United States is their preferred destination. This population is a vital component of…

This study examined the influence of motivation on academic achievement. The theoretical rationale for the study is grounded in bridging two influential yet isolated literatures of motivation: goal setting theory and achievement goal theory. Although it is clear that academic performance should be influenced by assigned learning goals,…

Shadows can be found easily everywhere around us, so that we rarely find it interesting to reflect on how they work. In order to raise curiosity among students on the optics of shadows, we can display the shadows in 3D, particularly using a stereoscopic set-up. In this paper we describe the optics of stereoscopic shadows using simple schematic…

In the wake of interest-study research in science education over the past 10 years, investigators have published many articles on how to define, measure, and develop students' interest in learning science. This present study approaches empirical investigations on students' interest in learning science from a different perspective. We…

Chocolate chip cookies are used to illustrate the importance and effectiveness of control charts in Statistical Process Control. By counting the number of chocolate chips, creating the spreadsheet, calculating the control limits and graphing the control charts, the student becomes actively engaged in the learning process. In addition, examining…

Background: Technical, nonengineering required courses taken at the onset of an engineering degree provide students a foundation for engineering coursework. Students who perform poorly in these foundational courses, even in those tailored to engineering, typically have limited success in engineering. A profile approach may explain why these…

Background: Socially engaged engineering activities such as community development have grown rapidly in popularity. The engineers who participate in these activities seem more diverse and more broadly interested than the larger population of engineers in the United States. Purpose/Hypothesis: This article compares the personal attributes,…

Although undergraduate students are often involved in academic research as volunteers, paid assistants or to receive extra-credit, very little attention has been paid to how well these students perform when they assist researchers. The current study compares the number of surveys gathered at a large local event and the number of missing entries…

Background: Extrinsic incentives and constraints to learning, such as the promise of a reward or the expectation of an evaluation, have long been used by educators to motivate students. Previous research has consistently found that expected reward consistently undermines intrinsic task motivation and creativity of products and performance in…

Being a university teacher in the Libya is most of the time described as a challenge. In the case of the current unstable situation in Libya, the task is formidable in many cases. This paper investigates the challenges encountered by Alzawia university teachers in four colleges. It attempts to answer the following questions: what are the…

Students who are enrolled in MOOCs tend to have different motivational patterns than fee-paying college students. A majority of MOOC students demonstrate characteristics akin more to "tourists" than formal learners. As a consequence, MOOC students' completion rate is usually very low. The current study examines the relations among…