Digital Commons Network^™

Volume Cxlvi, Number 2, October 2, 2026, Lawrence University

The Lawrentian

No abstract provided.

Nature Or Nurture? A Study Of Stem Identity In Rural Middle Schools, Elizabeth Earle Browne

College of Education

Underrepresentation of historically marginalized students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) continues to be an issue, particularly in under-resourced, rural communities such as Alabama’s Black Belt. This mixed-methods study examined factors influencing STEM identity among rural middle school students and the relationship between STEM identity and interest in participating in future STEM electives. Grounded in social identity theory, the study explored demographic influences on STEM identity and students’ perceptions of who belongs in STEM. The quantitative phase utilized a modified STEM Identity Survey to collect responses from 145 students across four rural Alabama middle schools. Data were analyzed using …

L’Insécurité Linguistique Selon La Perspective Des Élèves D’Immersion Française En Saskatchewan, Olushola Adedeji, Michael Akinpelu

Tête à Tête: Journal of Francophone Studies

Cet article examine l’insécurité linguistique (IL) chez des élèves d’immersion française (IF) en Saskatchewan en s’appuyant sur la sociolinguistique pour le changement. À partir d’un devis mixte (un questionnaire à large échelle auprès d’élèves de 7e–12e année et des groupes de discussion focalisés avec des élèves de 11e–12e année), l’étude décrit les différentes manifestations de l’IL, ses causes et ses effets sur les élèves tout en recensant des stratégies d’adaptation. Les résultats de l’étude montrent que l’IL est moins liée à une compétence linguistique objective qu’à des conditions sociales et pédagogiques modifiables. Des recommandations concrètes sont proposées, notamment la légitimation …

Effects Of Hydrogen-Infused Water On Endurance Performance, Body Hydration Biomarkers, And Health-Related Quality Of Life In Collegiate Athletes (Hydro2eau): A Randomized-Controlled Clinical Trial, Jovan Kuzmanovic, Nikola Todorovic, Marijana Ranisavljev, David Nedeljkovic, Sergej M. Ostojic

Baltic Journal of Health and Physical Activity

Background: Hydrogen-infused water (HIW) has attracted considerable interest over the past two decades due to its potential health benefits. However, its effects on exercise performance and hydration biomarkers remain inadequately explored, particularly in physically active populations such as collegiate athletes. This study aimed to investigate the impact of medium-term HIW supplementation on running performance, hydration biomarkers, and health-related quality of life in collegiate athletes. Methods: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial was conducted with twelve collegiate athletes (age: 25.1 ± 3.5 years, six female). Participants consumed 660 mL daily of either HIW (300 µmol/L dihydrogen) or control water (0 µmol/L …

Organizational Systems, Support Structures, And Principal Retention In Urban Secondary Schools: A Job Demands And Resources Analysis Of Belonging And Isolation, Meredith L. Perry

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Principal turnover remains a challenge in high-poverty secondary schools, where leadership stability is critical to school improvement and student success. Although factors associated with principal attrition have been studied, less is known about how district-level systems and support structures shape principals’ experiences of connection, belonging, and professional isolation. This qualitative multiple-case study was conducted within a program evaluation context to examine how district policies, processes, and support structures functioned as job demands and job resources influencing principals’ experiences and retention decisions within a large urban school district. Guided by the job demands–resources (JD-R) framework, the study included four secondary principals …

Voucher Reliance And Tuition Determination In Private K-12 Schools: A Quantitative Analysis Of Florida Schools Under 500 Students, Rebekah A. Kogelschatz

PhD in Education

The purpose of this quantitative survey study was to investigate the relationship between voucher dependency and tuition-setting practices among leaders of private K-12 schools in Florida with fewer than 500 students. Guided by resource dependence theory, the study examined school leaders’ perceptions of scholarship funding, tuition income, affordability, sustainability, timing, and flexibility in tuition-setting decisions, as well as the adequacy of current scholarship amounts. A quantitative, non-experimental survey design was used. The sample included 85 decision-making school leaders from private K-12 schools in Florida whose roles involved financial or tuition-setting decisions. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, reliability analysis, confirmatory …

Grieving While Becoming: Examining Where Grief, Whole Person Formation, And Student Support Meet, Tynia J. Albea

Papers

College is often a pivotal period in young adults’ lives. Adulthood may seem like a distant concept. However, grief and trauma appear to affect young adults significantly, often without a safe space to digest or comprehend. Thus, current student support may limit and disrupt a student’s ability to understand their emotional regulation, virtues, and identity. This analysis aims to understand how student support services provide resources and spaces for students experiencing grief and/or trauma and identify how grief intersects with student success. Using student development theory with an empathetic, trauma-informed lens, faculty and staff will be able to support students …

Retention Rates: A Qualitative Study Exploring Teachers’ Perspectives Of Teaching In Northeast Florida, Dawn J. Kell

Doctor of Education (Ed.D)

This qualitative phenomenological study explored workplace experiences and motivational factors influencing teacher retention among Northeast Florida charter school educators. With nearly half a million teachers leaving the classroom annually and approximately 41% leaving within their first five years, understanding why educators remain in the profession is imperative for sustaining student success and educational quality. The purpose of this study was to explore motivational factors that lead teachers to remain in the profession despite current challenges. Using a purposeful sampling method, 12 certified Northeast Florida charter school teachers participated in 30-minute semi-structured interviews conducted via Zoom. Each 30-minute interview was recorded, …

From Classroom Conversations To Public Dialogue: Preservice Teachers Engaging With Diverse Children’S Literature, Janell Pycior

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

Preservice teachers often engage with issues of diversity, equity, identity, and representation within the safety of their university classrooms; however, opportunities to extend these conversations into public and professional settings may be less common. This practice-based reflective article examines the experience of moving seven undergraduate preservice teachers enrolled in an upper-level Diversity in Children’s Literature course beyond their familiar classroom environment and into a professional academic conference. The students, majoring in early childhood, elementary, or special education and minoring in reading, participated in a roundtable discussion at the Indiana Academy of Social Sciences focused on diversity and representation in children’s …

The Effects Of Pluss: Adapting An Evidence-Based Reading Intervention For Multilingual Learners, Amanda K. Sanford, Christopher J. Pinkney, Sheldon Loman, Julie Esparza Brown, Theresa Just, Kendall Flori, Camila Swift, Holly Ramstead

Educator Licensure Faculty Publications and Presentations

The effects of an evidence-based literacy intervention with and without added supports to address the unique needs of multilingual learners (MLs) were assessed through an ABAB single-case withdrawal design. The dual dependent variables were reading fluency/accuracy and performance on the workbook that included spelling, vocabulary, and reading comprehension tasks. Three students (one each in second, third, and fourth grades) who qualified for English language development services and exhibited low reading performance (second and third graders) or were identified with a reading disability (fourth grader) participated. From the initial baseline phase (A1) to the final intervention phase (B2), adding supports specific …

Chatgpt, Can You Generate Multiple-Choice Questions For An Undergraduate Computing Course? An Evaluation Of Its Effectiveness Using Classical Test Theory, Eng Lieh Ouh, Kar Way Tan, Siaw Ling Lo, Benjamin Gan, Yuhao Zhang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Educators are increasingly adopting large language models such as ChatGPT to generate multiple-choice questions (MCQs), yet empirical evidence on the quality of these items in computing education assessments remains limited. This study compares 30 ChatGPT-generated and 30 manually crafted items from an undergraduate software design course, and evaluates item difficulty, discrimination, and distractor quality using Classical Test Theory. We triangulated two evaluations using within-subjects and between-subjects designs. Our quantitative findings show that all three metrics in both evaluations point in the same direction. ChatGPT-generated items are easier, less discriminating, and exhibit poorer distractor quality than manually crafted items. Distractor quality …

Listening, Partnering, Designing: Smu Libraries’ Journey Towards Human-Centered Wellness, Vincent Ong, Devika Sangaram, Zhenyan Li

Research Collection Library

As student wellness emerges as one of the most pressing concerns facing academic institutions today, libraries are uniquely and powerfully positioned to reimagine their spaces and services as holistic, human-centered environments that nurture the whole person. This paper presents three initiatives by the Singapore Management University (SMU) Libraries that embody this vision, collectively affirming the library's evolving role as a human-centered wellness hub and its commitment to actively shaping a more inclusive and people-first future.

The first initiative repurposed a vacated collection space into a wellbeing-centered quiet study environment, incorporating user experience (UX) design principles and longitudinal survey evidence, to …

Engl 426: Editing And Production Workshop (Syllabus), Lytton Smith Ph.D.

School of Arts & Sciences

This syllabus was developed by SUNY Geneseo Professor Lytton Smith for the fall 2026 semester.

Course Learning Outcomes

1. Students will demonstrate knowledge of editing practices, including manuscript review and selection, and correspondence with contributors.
2. Students will show proficiency at a variety of practical aspects of publishing such as copyediting, proofreading, layout, creating advertising, and soliciting work from SUNY writers and artists.
3. Students will demonstrate knowledge of contemporary literary journals.
4. Students will show ability to work collaboratively.

A Word From The Writing Team (October 2026), Pam Walter, Mfa, Laura Deloretta, Phd

A Word From the Writing Team (Newsletter)

No abstract provided.

2026-10-01 Caudill Connection, Morehead State University. Caudill College Of Arts, Humanities And Social Sciences.

Caudill Connection

Caudill Connection newsletter for October of 2026.

Crossing Digital Borders: Student Success, Peer Mentorship And Ethical Ai Literacy In Community College Curricula, Adrian Bordoni, Jody A. Resko

Open Educational Resources

A changing job market set wthin the context of new Generative Articial Intelligence applications and technology requires academia to integrate, innovate and implement updated materials in their classes. Lack of training and awareness of ethical use of emerging technologies by students will be addressed, and best practices will be modeled, by Peer Mentors.

Faculty Coordinators will train 4 students to serve as Peer Mentors to develop materials as part of an interdisciplinary, career focused set of workshops. These workshops will be hosted in Education and Criminal Justice Classes in person- as well as a hybrid session in collaboration with Faculty …

From Homes To Classrooms: Cultural Wisdom As A Guide For Stem Lesson Planning, Miriam Ortiz, Uma Ganesan, Angela Chapman, William Medina-Jerez, Ruby Lynch Arroyo, Mourat Tchoshanov

Teaching and Learning Faculty Publications

This article describes innovative elementary science instructional approaches based on cultural wisdom developed by preservice teachers enrolled in a teacher preparation program at a university in the U.S.-Mexico border region. As a part of a larger study, three Latina preservice elementary teachers were a part of a teacher residency in conducting community interviews and reflection activities to uncover cultural backgrounds that could inform culturally relevant STEM lesson planning, centering on family and home knowledge. This project began with family interviews during winter break and culminated in lesson planning and implementation during their science methods course in the spring semester. The …

Editor’S Note, Patric R. Spence

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This editorial introduces Volume 43 of the Journal of the Association for Communication Administration and situates the publication within the history of the Association and the communication discipline. It summarizes contributions addressing departmental leadership, academic middle management, organizational change, and professional association leadership. The editorial also describes ongoing efforts to digitize historical publications, correct bibliographic records, and improve access through an institutional repository. Emphasis is placed on preserving the historical record of communication administration and encouraging contributions that draw on practical administrative experience, professional reflection, and research.

Death By A Thousand Cuts: Thoughts On Protecting Faculty And Staff Morale From Ever-Increasing Administrative Demands, Timothy R. Levine

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

Faculty life is more challenging and demanding than ever. Many university administrators give lip service to promoting faculty and staff job satisfaction, retention, morale, and engagement. This essay focuses on one threat to the faculty and staff: the increasing bureaucratic demands from ever more bloated university administrations. A chair-level mitigation strategy is proposed in which chairs selectively shield faculty and staff from some of the burden, while prioritizing and explaining the merits of mission-critical tasks in ways that are transparent and align with scholarly values.

"A View From Mid-Field": Preparing Middle Managers For The Communication Paradoxes Of Change Management, Jennifer A. Sandoval, Robert S. Littlefield

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

In this study, 20 middle managers are interviewed about the increasing need for flexibility, responsiveness, and change management skills at a large, diverse, and public Southeastern university. The data reveal the middle managers identifying and coping with four paradoxical aspects of their change management role: the cognitive/internal paradoxes of capacity and knowledge and the behavior/external paradoxes of advocacy and process. The results demonstrate how these academic administrators managed the shifting terrain through internal agency (knowledge) and external agency (behavior). These paradoxes reveal the complexity of their role as a multihyphenate in today’s academic landscape as well as an overarching tension …

Charting The Pathways: Exploring Institutional Affiliations Of Past Presidents Among The Various Communication Associations, Aubree A. Herman, Narissra Maria Punyanunt-Carter Phd

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This study examines the historical affiliations of past presidents of major U.S. communication associations to identify patterns in disciplinary leadership, organizational representation, and demographic change over time. By tracing the institutions associated with these leaders, the analysis documents both continuity and change in the sources of visible leadership within the field. Findings reveal substantial institutional concentration within individual associations, with a relatively small number of universities accounting for a disproportionate share of presidential terms. The results also demonstrate a pronounced shift in the composition of association leadership. Women represented only a small proportion of presidents before the 1970s but have …

Complete Issue Volume 43

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This is the complete Volume 43 of the Journal of the Association for Communication Administration.

Rethinking Behavior - Fall 2026, Midwest Symposium For Leadership In Behavior Disorders

ReThinking Behavior Magazine

A magazine for professionals serving children and youth with behavioral needs.

Fall 2026, Volume 10, Issue 1

Cultural Humility In The Workplace: A Causal-Comparative Study Of Foreign And Local Hire Employees In International Education, Natalie A. Ortiz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cultural humility is recognized as a framework for fostering respectful relationships in culturally diverse workplaces. However, limited research has examined cultural humility within international education in regard to workplace dynamics and power imbalances that may exist between foreign and local hire educators. The purpose of this quantitative causal-comparative study was to examine differences in perceived cultural humility levels between foreign and local hire employees in PreK-12^th grade private international schools in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. The study also examined whether years of international educational experience and the number of international educational assignments influenced perceived cultural humility levels. Data …

Junior High School Students’ Understanding Of Pathogenic Microbes In The School Environment: A Cross-Grade Descriptive Study At Smp Alkhairaat 1 Palu, Feren Febrianti, I Nengah Kundera, Yulia Windarsih, Mohammad Jamhari, Mursito S. Bialangi, Abdul Ashari

Jurnal Pendidikan Sains

This study aimed to describe students’ understanding of pathogenic microbes and compare descriptive comprehension profiles across Grades VII, VIII, and IX at SMP Alkhairaat 1 Palu. A quantitative descriptive approach was employed involving 49 students selected through purposive sampling. Data were collected using an essay test as the primary instrument, supported by semi-structured interviews and observations of the school environment. The essay test assessed three indicators: conceptual knowledge of pathogenic microbes, understanding of disease transmission mechanisms, and understanding of clean and healthy practices for preventing the transmission of pathogenic microbes. Test data were analyzed descriptively using mean percentage scores, while …

The Ability Of Biology Teachers Of State Madrasah Aliyah In Palu City In Developing Teaching Modules In Merdeka Curriculum, Ulya Afifa, Gamar B. N Shamdas, Syech Zainal, Bustamin Bustamin, Raya Agni, Rafiqa Rafiqa

Jurnal Pendidikan Sains

Teachers’ ability to develop teaching modules is essential for implementing the Merdeka Curriculum because it enables curriculum expectations to be translated into flexible and context-responsive learning. This study aimed to describe Biology teachers’ ability to develop teaching modules at State Islamic Senior High Schools (Madrasah Aliyah Negeri [MAN]) in Palu City and to identify the factors supporting or constraining this ability. A descriptive qualitative study was conducted with seven Biology teachers from MAN 1 Palu, MAN 2 Palu, and MAN Insan Cendekia Palu during February–March 2026. Data were collected through questionnaires, interviews, documentation, and analysis of teaching modules using …

Defining Teacher Envelopment: A Non-Aristotelian Approach To Meta-Practices In The Philosophy Of Teacher Education, Rob Blom

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

The late Jonathan Neufeld argued that redefining teacher development required meta-practices, yet he never defined what these meta-practices were. To define them rigorously requires grounding teacher cultivation practices within coherent structures of truth capable of withstanding philosophical scrutiny—a challenge intensified by post- truth discourse that flattens epistemological depth in secularised educational theory. This paper advances a theory of teacher envelopment to complement conventional teacher development through identifying mindfulness and discernment as foundational meta-practices grounded in non-Aristotelian systems. The framework rests on three interrelated concepts: (1) truth paradigms encompassing contemplative, articulatory, and embodied dimensions; (2) epistemological depth as extensional practices that …

No Mud, No Lotus: Ways To Metabolize Suffering, Heesoon Bai, Heather Williams, Renata Cueto De Souza, Mel Voulgaris, Charles Scott, Anna Rumjahn, Avraham Cohen, Zuzana Vasko Dr.

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

This paper builds on the foundation of mainly Buddhist and existential contemplative philosophies a theoretical and practical framework for understanding and working with suffering as a transformational setting for human development and maturation. The authors propose that the first step in this path of transformation is radical acceptance of suffering as fundamental “truth” about human life, which could re-orient us from the usual mindset of avoidance, denial, dismissal, moralizing, or aggressive elimination of suffering. The next step in this reorientation is seeing suffering as containing valuable “nutrients” for human development and maturation, just as, analogically speaking, mud can grow lotus …

Hear My Voice As Who I Am: Theorizing The Essence Of Poetry In Holistic Global Citizenship Education, Shue-Kei Joanna Mok

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

Poetry as an imaginative language art has long been perceived as the core of humanity, the foundation of human advancement (Arnold,1880; Rorty, 2007). By composing, critiquing, and sharing/performing poems, not only does the process enrich and deepen one’s relationship to oneself, understanding and reflecting on the contextual, historical, cultural, social, and creative backgrounds of the poems and poets allows one to have greater connections with the broader environment across temporal, spatial, and social dimensions with human and non-human beings.

This paper first frames the core concepts and values of global citizenship from a Confucius perspective to emphasize the significance of …

Contemplative Pedagogy, Mindfulness And Reflection In Teacher Education, Karen O. Ragoonaden Dr., Leslie Shayer

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

This study explores the intersections of contemplative pedagogy, mindfulness practices and reflection in education. Contemplative pedagogy and mindfulness practices were introduced to three cohorts in teacher education, in graduate education, and in professional development education. This pedagogy and the practices provided a time, a place and a community to engage in personal and professional reflections about teaching and learning. The themes identified in this study demonstrated that engaging in contemplative pedagogy in a nine-week mindfulness course provided increased opportunities to reflect on self-awareness, on wellbeing and on the professional practice of education. The qualitative results of this study indicate that …