Effect of a Mindful Breathing Intervention on Community College Students’ Writing Apprehension and Writing Performance

Mindful breathing has been linked to changes in physiology, but we took the practice further by examining whether a mindfulness breathing intervention, a three-minute breathing exercise marked by focused attention on the sensations of breath, affected writing anxiety, and writing performance measures. In addition, we examined mindful breathing as an intervention for community college students—some of the most at risk and underprepared students in higher education in the United States. We compared Daly Miller Writing Apprehension surveys and narrative writing samples from 277 students enrolled in a freshman composition course at a southeastern community college, half of the class sections were randomly assigned to practice a mindful-breathing technique at the beginning of class sessions. Students in the class sections that practiced mindful-breathing group experienced a statistically significant decrease in writing apprehension and mechanical error scores from pre- to post-test when compared to students in the comparison class sections.     

Community College Engineering Students’ Perceptions of Classroom Climate and Fundamental Engineering Skills

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to examine community college engineering students’ perceptions of their classroom climate and how these perceptions are related to fundamental skills in engineering. The study was guided by the following research question: How are community college engineering students’ perceptions of their fundamental engineering skills related to their perceptions of classroom climate? Data from a 2009 National Science Foundation sponsored project, Prototype to Production: Processes and Conditions for Preparing the Engineer of 2020 (P2P), which contains information from students in 15 pre-engineering community college programs, were examined. Measures of classroom climate and fundamental skills related to engineering were first established through an exploratory factor analysis. In order to explore differences in student perceptions by individual characteristics and by institution, hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) was used. Results indicated that for community college engineering students, a warmer perception of classroom climate was associated with a higher perception of fundamental engineering skills. At community colleges, class sizes are generally smaller, especially compared to introductory courses at universities, and may provide a warmer climate for students considering beginning their engineering degrees. Given the diversity within community colleges, these institutions may provide an important pathway for underrepresented groups in engineering.     

The “Voice” of Children of Poverty: Candid Insights to Their Career Aspirations and Perceptions of Self-Efficacy

Career development in children largely involves learning about the world of work from family members, peers, and classroom exploration in elementary school. For children of economic disadvantage, a lack of resources and restricted access to information may curtail their ability to envision career attainment. The current qualitative study explored the career aspirations of fourth- and fifth-grade students living in poverty to discern their career interests, knowledge background, understanding of educational and career pathways, and their self-efficacy for achieving their vision for the future. The data collection process involved focus groups and individual case studies. The investigators highlighted the direct verbal exchange with and among students as the most critical approach to understanding children’s aspirations. Study results indicated that the children envisioned a future of educational and occupational prosperity, but their “dreams” were often circumscribed by their limited knowledge of and exposure to employment options.

     

Understanding Students’ Perceptions of the Nature of Science in the Context of Their Gender and Their Parents’ Occupation

Science & Education - A thorough understanding of the concept of the nature of science (NOS) is essential to the development of scientific literacy among students, as it provides the students...     

College Students’ Psychological Needs and Intrinsic Motivation to Learn: An Examination of Self-Determination Theory

Over the last several decades, instructional communication scholars have studied and measured student motivation as an important learning outcome. Unfortunately, this research has lacked theoretical guidance and has treated student motivation as a construct that varies only in quantity, ignoring existing theory that suggests student motivation is best understood as a construct that differs in quality (i.e., intrinsic motivation). To create two new measures that incorporate theoretical explanations of student motivation, three studies (N = 1,067) were undertaken using self-determination theory (SDT) to operationalize students’ intrinsic motivation as a product of basic psychological need satisfaction. In the first two studies, the Student Psychological Needs Scale and the Intrinsic Motivation to Learn Scale were developed and validated. In the third study, parallel mediation analyses supported SDT’s prediction that the fulfillment of students’ psychological needs (i.e., autonomy, competence, relatedness) would mediate the relationship between personalized education practices and intrinsic motivation to learn.     

High School Students’ Perceptions of the Effects of International Science Olympiad on Their STEM Career Aspirations and Twenty-First Century Skill Development

Social cognitive theory guided the design of a survey to investigate high school students’ perceptions of factors affecting their career contemplations and beliefs regarding the influence of their participation in the international Science Olympiad on their subject interests and twenty-first century skills. In addition, gender differences in students’ choice of competition category were studied. Mixed methods analysis of survey returns from 172 Olympiad participants from 31 countries showed that students’ career aspirations were affected most by their teachers, personal interests, and parents, respectively. Students also indicated that they believed that their participation in the Olympiad reinforced their plan to choose a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) major at college and assisted them in developing and improving their twenty-first century skills. Furthermore, female students’ responses indicated that their project choices were less likely to be in the engineering category and more likely to be in the environment or energy categories. Findings are discussed in the light of increasing the awareness of the role and importance of Science Olympiads in STEM career choice and finding ways to attract more female students into engineering careers.     

Students’ Perceptions of Code-Switching in Natural Sciences Classrooms: A South African Perspective

Although South Africa is a multilingual country with 11 official languages, English dominates as the language of teaching and instruction in almost all schools. In addition to this, the Natural Sciences teachers at the school of study were cautioned not to use code-switching because the school policy states that the medium of instruction should be exclusively English. Recently, students at this school complained about teachers who had been code-switching between one or more indigenous languages and English. The objectives of this investigation, therefore, were to explore the perceptions of Grade 8 students regarding code-switching in Natural Sciences classrooms, their perceptions of the effect of code-switching on their academic achievement and also how the use of this teaching strategy influenced their respect for their teacher. Data were collected by means of a questionnaire and the findings revealed that students believed that the use of code-switching confused many students, resulting in underachievement in Natural Sciences and that they respected teachers more when they taught in English only.     

Influence of Culture and Community Perceptions on Birth and Perinatal Care of Immigrant Women: Doulas’ Perspective

A qualitative study examined the perceptions of doulas practicing in Washington State regarding the influence of cultural and community beliefs on immigrant women’s birth and perinatal care, as well as their own cultural beliefs and values that may affect their ability to work interculturally. The findings suggest that doulas can greatly aid immigrant mothers in gaining access to effective care by acting as advocates, cultural brokers, and emotional and social support. Also, doulas share a consistent set of professional values, including empowerment, informed choice, cultural relativism, and scientific/evidence-based practice, but do not always recognize these values as culturally based. More emphasis on cultural self-awareness in doula training, expanding community doula programs, and more integration of doula services in health-care settings are recommended.     

Intersectionality of Ethnicity/Race and Gender in the Phenomenology of African American College Students’ Presenting Problems: a Profile Analysis Using Nonmetric Multidimensional Scaling

Multidimensional scaling analyses (MDS) was used to uncover the phenomenology or implicit cognitions underlying presenting problems for which African American male and female students reported seeking college counseling services, in comparison to their European American counterparts. Normative, idiographic, and idiothetic approaches to the measurement of explicit versus implicit dimensions of students’ reports of eight psychological issues (seven disorders and medication use) for which they sought counseling in two timeframes (historical and current) were conducted by ethnicity/race and gender. It was hypothesized that idiographic and idiothetic approaches, which involved profile analyses using nonmetric MDS, would be more likely to reveal intersectionality between ethnicity/race and gender than the normative approach. Results supported the hypothesis of the greater sensitivity of the two individual difference models. Nonmetric MDS analyses revealed significant differences across profiles, with African American males underutilizing mental health services but displaying significant psychological distress; and African American females receiving significantly more pharmacotherapy for depression. Implications for college mental health services for African Americans are discussed.     

Writing Like a Scientist: Exploring Elementary Teachers’ Understandings and Practices of Writing in Science

This qualitative study examined the connections between elementary teachers’ conceptions of how scientists use writing and how the teachers used writing during science lessons. Data collected included lesson observations, interviews, handouts to students, and curriculum resources. The findings revealed that teachers in this study thought scientists write for several purposes: the presentation of data, observations, experiences, procedures, and facts. The teachers used writing tasks that mirrored this with their students. The teachers also had a limited definition of creativity in writing, and when they had students write creatively in science it was to add in fictional elements. Implications of this study include providing teachers with better models for how and why scientists write, including these models in more inquiry-based science lessons, and directly relating concepts of nature of science to elementary science writing.     

Urban and Rural College Students’ Family Background and Their Participation in Student Organization: A Study in Guangzhou University

Abstract

Based on the survey of “undergraduate family and educational background and freshman learning experience,” a statistical analysis of Guangzhou University first-year undergraduate students’ family backgrounds and participation in student organizational activities found a significant correlation between family background and the degree of student participation in such activities. A preliminary discussion of the findings is presented on the basis of cultural reproduction theory.     

Exploring the Borderlands: Elementary School Teachers’ Navigation of Immigration Practices in a New Latino Diaspora Community

Drawing primarily on interview data from a 5-year ethnography on the school experiences of Mexican immigrant children in a New Latino Diaspora community, we explore how their teachers understood and responded to increasing deportation-based immigration practices affecting children’s lives. We illustrate how teachers fell along a continuum regarding their desire and success in pushing beyond their comfort zones to create spaces in which they learned from, and built on, students’ immigration experiences. We argue for teacher education that prepares educators to become border crossers who engage with aspects of difference, such as immigration status, that are rarely discussed in schools.     

The Relationship Between Students’ Casual Interest in Science and Their Perceptions of the Undergraduate Laboratory Environment

Research in Science Education - Science instructors assume that they have created their laboratory curriculum in such a way as to reflect an ideal science instructional laboratory, but students may...     

Getting from Here to There: The Role of Geography in Community College Students’ Transfer Decisions

Community colleges have received renewed attention from policymakers seeking to increase college attendance and completion rates because they provide open access to postsecondary education for historically marginalized students. Yet, transfer rates from community colleges to 4-year institutions are low. Inequities in opportunity that are shaped by geography and compounded throughout childhood may restrict higher education opportunities for low-income, first-generation college students. Most studies examining how geography constrains college choice focus on high school students’ initial decisions about higher education, not community college students. We analyze the spatial distribution of community college students’ “choice sets,” the 4-year institutions that they are considering transferring to. Using qualitative interviews and geospatial analysis, we examine how these spatial patterns compare between two community-college systems in Central Texas. We find that students’ choice sets are geographically constrained, but that for many students, these zones are geographically large, suggesting that interventions and targeted outreach from universities could help students identify and select from greater range of options. Our findings have important implications for college access and completion among first-generation college students, and for policies that seek to interrupt patterns of inequity tied to location.