Patrice Juliet Pinder

Ogbu’s (2003) cultural-ecological theory postulates that voluntary immigrants, those who chose to migrate to a new land, would perform well academically because of their perceived beliefs that they could get a good education and could succeed in their “new” land of opportunity than in their “native” country. However, does the aforementioned hold true for these immigrant students to the USA, Canada, and the UK? The present paper addresses a gap identified by Pinder (2010); in which, she called for more studies to explore and document differences in African and Afro-Caribbean students’ performance in the USA and the UK. Thus, this paper addresses the aforementioned. Findings suggest that African students consistently do well academically in the diaspora, and this in part aligns with Ogbu’s assumptions. Data also suggests Afro-Caribbean students are performing well in a few areas of the diaspora--USA, and Canada, but not in the UK. The notion of Afro-Caribbean students not performing well in the UK conflicts or is not in alignment with Ogbu’s theory.

Jin-yan Huang

Ling Zhang

Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) as a methodological framework, this study examined the state distribution of Chinese students studying in America. The results show that during the last decade, the number of Chinese students studying in America has increased five times. Ten years ago, there were over sixty thousand Chinese students studying in America. However, in 2014 and 2015, this number reached over three hundred thousand. Further, the top five states that host most Chinese students in 2015 were California, New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Illinois; the top five states that host fewest Chinese students in 2015 were Alaska, South Dakota, Wyoming, Maine, and Montana. Important implications for Chinese students, educational administrators, and American university professors are provided.

Patrice Juliet Pinder

Although game based learning (gbl) has been widely utilized by the military, education, marketing, and advertising sectors, its effectiveness as a learning strategy or training tool is still unclear (Ariffin, Oxley, & Suliman, 2014). The present study addresses this gap and examines the effectiveness of using game based learning in primary school instruction, particularly in Trinidad and Tobago where little research has been conducted at the primary and pre-school levels. This study employs a mixed-methods research approach and is made of (1) a quantitative questionnaire for teachers and (2) interviews with teachers to get their views/perspectives on the benefits or effects of game based learning to the teaching and learning processes. Data findings from the current study should begin to fill in the research gap with respect to using game based learning as an effective teaching and learning strategy in Trinidad and Tobago’s primary schools.