Terror management theory posits that people tend to respond defensively to reminders of death, including worldview defense, self-esteem striving, and suppression of death thoughts. Seven experiments examined whether trait mindfulness-a disposition characterized by receptive attention to present experience-reduced defensive responses to mortality salience (MS). Under MS, less mindful individuals showed higher worldview defense (Studies 1-3) and self-esteem striving (Study 5), yet more mindful individuals did not defend a constellation of values theoretically associated with mindfulness (Study 4). To explain these findings through proximal defense processes, Study 6 showed that more mindful individuals wrote about their death for a longer period of time, which partially mediated the inverse association between trait mindfulness and worldview defense. Study 7 demonstrated that trait mindfulness predicted less suppression of death thoughts immediately following MS. The discussion highlights the relevance of mindfulness to theories that emphasize the nature of conscious processing in understanding responses to threat.

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Web-augmented traditional lecture, fully online, and flipped sections, all taught by the same instructor with the same course schedule, assignments, and exams in the same semester, were compared with regards to student attitudes; statistical reasoning; performance on common exams, homework, and projects; and perceptions of the course and instructor. The Survey of Attitudes Toward Statistics-36 (SATS-36) instrument and eight questions from the Statistical Reasoning Assessment (SRA) were given both at the beginning and end of the semester to measure change. The students selected their own sections, but the students in the sections were similar demographically, with similar pre-course college grade point averages. The SATS-36 showed increases in affect, cognitive competence, and perceived easiness and decreases in value, interest, and effort from beginning to end of the semester for all sections. Only affect and Journal of Statistics Education, Volume 23, Number 1 (2015) 2 perceived easiness showed any differences for section, with traditional higher than online on average for both. Results from the SRA questions showed an increase in correct statistical reasoning skills and decrease in misconceptions for all sections over the semester. Traditional students scored higher on average on all three exams, but there were no significant differences between sections on homework, the project, or on university evaluations of the course or instructor. Results are contextualized with prior educational research on course modalities, and proposals for future research are provided.

Service-learning is a teaching strategy that offers students opportunities to learn both in the classroom and in the wider world. This pedagogical tool provides students with chances to directly interact with local agencies and effect change in the community. Thus, service-learning holds the potential to broaden and significantly enhance the learning climate for students. Based on an established theoretical model of academic motivation, the present study examined the effectiveness of service-learning to enhance the learning climate across a variety of academic disciplines. More than 600 students registered in service-learning courses from more than 30 different disciplines took part in the study. Results showed that when service-learning contributes to an enhancement of the positivity of the learning climate, then positive forms of motivation, civic skills, problem solving, and appreciation of diversity significantly increased over the course of the semester. Results also showed that type of involvement, amount of in-class discussion, and reflections are important factors contributing to the effectiveness of the service-learning environment.

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