In today’s world, a growing number of people experience a sense of low purpose, which poses serious risks, especially for adolescents. A lack of purpose is linked to an increased likelihood of psychological issues such as depression and anxiety, while having a clear purpose correlates with numerous benefits, including greater happiness, better health, cognitive abilities, and resilience (Kim & Mocn, 2001; Fingmant, 2002; Pfund & Lewis, 2020). Early adolescence is a critical period where a strong sense of purpose supports identity formation, academic success, empathy, prosocial behavior, and adaptive coping strategies (Bronk & Mangan, 2016; Burrow et al., 2010). However, a large-scale survey across mainland China indicate that only about 1/5 of the youth have defined purpose.

To address this gap, my current research explores the effectiveness of self-guided interventions that use "purpose affirmation" to enhance adolescents' sense of purpose. By adapting techniques from self-affirmation frameworks, this study aims to promote well-being, resilience, and positive developmental outcomes. The goal is to provide targeted support for youth with low levels of purpose, offering strategies that help them navigate challenges and thrive during this formative stage.

A randomized control trial has been performed, two waves of data has been collected. Given the nested structure of data, a series of multi-level regression model have been fitted to explore the effect of "purpose affirmation" intervention on adolescents' purpose in life and percieved happiness.

More to come...

Climate change poses a significant threat to humanity, and promoting pro-environment behaviors (PEB) is vital to mitigating its effects. Adolescence is a crucial period for shaping attitudes and behaviors with long-term impacts, making it essential to foster PEB in this age group.

This study examines how connectedness to nature (emotional bonds with the natural world), efficacy beliefs (confidence in achieving environmental goals), and climate anxiety (worry about climate threats) influence PEB in adolescents (Krettenauer et al., 2024; Moser & Seebauer, 2022; Clayton & Karazsia, 2020). 

Using longitudinal data from a Chinese adolescent sample, the research explores these factors’ impact over time and develops a multi-pathway model to enhance PEB. Findings suggest that efficacy beliefs and climate anxiety are key moderating factos linking nature connectedness to behavior change. The study also reveals a decline in connectedness to nature over time, highlighting the need for targeted interventions.

Additionally, the research identifies reinforcing effects among various specific pro-environmental behaviors, such as waste separation, public transportation, and sustainable packaging. Our future work will explore the mechanisms by which one behavior can positively lead to others.

More to come ...

Embedded Tutoring is a program designed to support English as Second Language (ESL) students to succeed in ESL courses, which guide them towards college-level English courses. In the academic year of 2023-2024, 23 sections were selected to be assigned with an Embedded Tutor. Trained tutors can provide one-on-one tutoring meetings with students, as well as small-group workshops with students.

This is not an RCT, and students can decide to meet with these tutors or not on volunteer bases, which naturally resulted in the biased distribution of intervention group and control group. In the data analysis, propensity score weighting was performed to reduce the selection bias. To be specific, 'twang' package, which adopts machine learning methods, was used in R to perform the propensity score weighting process. Then, a series of binomial logistic regression models were fitted to observe the effects of Embedded Tutoring. I also analyzed the effects between different dosage levels, and the effects between different tutoring approach (1:1 vs workshop).

The results were presented to faculty members, the president office, and Student Success and Equity Council members. The results were used to impact the high-stake decision making on future funding.

The slides for the program review can be viewed HERE.

This evaluation focused on how child and adult visitors at Boston Children’s Museum (BCM) engaged with BCM’s Johnny’s Workbench exhibit, a child-sized workshop that provides children with hands-on opportunities to interact with real tools, gain early STEM experience. 

To help inform the planning of future exhibits and educational experiences focused on construction and the use of real tools, our team sought to investigate the following questions:

1. How are child and adult visitors engaging with Johnny’s Workbench? (How are children and adults physically and verbally interacting with one another in Johnny’s? What are children and adults doing with the tools and activities in Johnny’s? )

2. What, if anything, would enhance the experience of interacting with real tools at Johnny’s Workbench? (What is interesting or less interesting to children and adults about interacting with the tools in Johnny’s? What, if anything, would make Johnny’s better for child and adult visitors? Which resources or activities at the exhibit do visitors find novel, if any? What challenges, if any, are visitors facing as they interact with tools or other displays in the space? )

We used on-site observations, surveys, and interviews to gain a comprehensive understanding of visitors’ perspectives about Johnny’s and the experience of using real tools. Our quantitative and qualitative analyses yielded several key findings and recommendations: 

1. Visitors made connections between the real tools at Johnny’s and real-world work, which may open opportunities for BCM to create authentic settings or discussion prompts that inspire higher-level thinking about tools and their use in everyday life. 

2. Although some adults emphasized child safety while using real tools in Johnny’s, both child and adult visitors expressed interest in activities that fostered a sense of achievement or provided “feedback” on tool use. BCM may consider adapting activities in ways that spur tangible impact or assembly. Visitors may also benefit from increased quantities of favorite tools, like screwdrivers, and more varied tools and activities conducive to building projects. 

3. Visitors found some of the tools in Johnny’s to be too difficult and expressed interest in more scaffolds. Suggestions included blueprints or diagrams that provide step-by-step instructions to children on how to handle and use tools effectively. BCM may also consider adjusting the height of tool stations and weights of materials to make Johnny’s accessible for small children. 

The full version of the Evaluation Report can be found HERE.

The mass internal migration in China is causing a large numbder of rural migrant children moving to urban areas, who are underrepresented in education, facing widening academic disparities due to social discrimination, unequal resources, and cultural differences.

In this paper, we focused on improving academic performance of rural migrant students in ChangShu, a county-level city in Jiangsu Province, China. We first define the existing challenge of disproportionately low academic performance among migrant students in ChangShu, and collect evidence to determine its root causes. We attribute this problem to the lack of a culturally inclusive environment and the unequal distribution of effective teachers. Four policy alternatives are investigate-based on the root causes, namely - 

1. Adapt the Culturally Responsive Pedagogy into ChangShu Context; 

2. Transition to equitable school-family partnerships that proactive school-based participation for rural migrant parents;   

3. Implementing Skill-Based Professional Development (PD) Program in ChangShu;   

4. Designing Teacher Retention Programs with emotional support in ChangShu.

Lastly, we recommend alternative two, constructing school-family connections, as the most strategic and comprehensive solution, in terms of effectiveness, timeliness, equality and financial feasibility, which has teh most promising projected outcome.

*This Policy Analysis Paper has been published as a chapter of a book. You can find it HERE.

Nature Explorer is a mobile phone application designed to empower parents in guiding educational conversations and interactions with their children, focusing on exploring the plants in people's daily lives. This Al-empowered tool addresses the need for a learner-centered, self- paced, engaging, and personalized approach to nature education. 

Problem of Practice

1. Lack of Educational Strategies
Many parents lack the tools and knowledge to effectively support their children's informal science learning, leading to low cognitive engagement in educational interactions (Mills et al., 2019; Uzick & Patrick, 2018). Nature Explorer bridges this gap by providing resources to enrich parent-child conversations.

2. Addressing Plant Blindness
"Plant blindness" and a disconnection from nature are growing issues in today’s tech-driven world (Sarah, 2019). Nature Explorer counters this by engaging families in interactive experiences that foster appreciation for plants and nature.

3. 21st-Century Learning Needs
Traditional science education often lacks focus on critical thinking and reasoning (Jonathan, 2013). Nature Explorer offers a supplemental, learner-centered approach that encourages scientific reasoning beyond the classroom.

Features

1. Navigate The 'SlowLook’ for Growing Minds
TraNature Explorer empowers parents with guidingconversation prompts that make learning a joyousexperience. From identifying different plants tounderstanding the life cycle of a flower, engage yourchild in meaningful discussions that stimulate theirscientific reasoning abilities.

2. Unleash The Playful Learning by Six Fun Facts
Say goodbye to mundane conversations and hello to captivating explorations!  Nature Explorer is your go- to companion in fostering a love for learning about the green world around us. With its intelligent insights, this app transforms every stroll in the park or backyard adventure into a vibrant lesson on plant life. 

3. Track of your Learning by Keeping diaries in 'Plant Collection'
Capture memories and nurture curiosity by creating personalized plant collections! Document your child's observations, discoveries, and even their imaginative stories. Watch as these collections become cherished keepsakes of your shared exploration, fostering a lifelong connection with the natural world. 

Know more about this product HERE.

This study explores how mobile technology could enhance children's informal science learning outcomes in a botanic garden setting. We hypothesize that mobile technology can facilitate verbal and non-verbal interactions between caregivers and children, thereby fostering children's scientific reasoning processes and promoting positive learning outcomes.

The experiment was conducted in a greenhouse for insectivorous plants at Shanghai Chenshan Botanic Garden. A mobile learning-assisting tool was designed in collaboration with botanic experts, featuring a QR code linked to a digital pamphlet. This pamphlet included short videos, scaffolding questions, interactive quizzes, and science facts. 32 adult-child pairs were randomly assigned to use either the mobile tool or a traditional paper-based pamphlet. Their interactions were recorded, segmented, and coded. Quizzes assessing children's learning outcomes were administered immediately after their greenhouse visit.

By examining the benefits and mechanisms of mobile technology in informal learning settings, this research aims to determine how such tools can effectively enhance children's curiosity, engagement, and knowledge acquisition in science.

This paper is a part of 'Science Education Policy Review and Recommendation' project at China Institute of Education Policy Research.

This paper focuses on science education in science centers, using a comprehensive analysis of literature, policies, and policy practices to address how policies can enhance the role of science and technology museums in science education. First, the paper reviews existing policies related to science and technology museums from several aspects: the expansion of public education functions, integration with school education, development of educational personnel, resource sharing, and optimization of educational infrastructure. It also analyzes recent policy practices in science and technology museums from five dimensions: educational personnel, exhibition and education activities, educational technology, educational resources, and organizational structure.

The paper identifies several issues: the professionalization of educational staff does not yet meet the needs of exhibition and education activities; evaluation mechanisms for science education are not yet established; school-museum cooperation mechanisms are not fully developed; insufficient investment in science education and uncoordinated resource development; and lack of synergy in science education efforts. 

Finally, the paper proposes recommendations to optimize career development pathways for educational staff, create a multi-model educational ecosystem combining museums and schools, diversify the acquisition of resources, and build a community focused on science education in museums.