The aim of the present study is to explore pre-service elementary teachers' evaluations of the evidence and models and their positions on a socio-scientific topic, namely genetically modified organisms (GMOs), after evaluating them through Model Evidence Link (MEL) diagrams. The findings of this study show that the participants mostly constructed…

This paper contributes to the pedagogical discussion on how to promote critical thinking among adolescents in modern media environments. It argues that teachers play an essential role in guiding students' assessment of and decision between credible information sources. The study was carried out among eighth-grade health education teachers and…

Judging the reasonableness of computational results is pivotal for students to understand mathematical concepts. This domain is the most sensitive to the presence of misconceptions in mathematics. Confidence ratings can serve as a measure of the strength of students' conceptual understanding. This study investigated the performance,…

We investigated intra-individual monitoring and regulation in learning from text in sixth-grade students and their teachers. In Experiment 1, students provided judgments of learning (JOLs) for six texts in one of three cue-prompt conditions (after writing delayed keywords or summaries or without a cue prompt) and then selected texts for restudy.…

Proficiency in educational assessment has come to be viewed as a core competency for all teachers. This article identifies a novel means of strengthening teachers' capability in one key aspect of educational assessment: what is variously termed "assessment for learning," or "formative assessment." It explores how involvement in…

Purpose: Complex features of science texts present idiosyncratic challenges for middle grade readers, especially in a post-Common Core educational world where students' learning is dependent on understanding informational text. The primary aim of this study was to explore how middle school readers process science texts and whether such…

Investigations of differences between gifted and nongifted students have examined cognitive abilities, including intelligence quotient (IQ) differences, higher order thinking skills, and divergent thinking (DT). However, little is known about differences in problem finding (PF). Moreover, previous works on gifted students have never explored…

The aim of this mixed-method study is twofold: The first aim concerns pre-service science teachers' (PSTs) perceptions about what makes an argument persuasive. At the first phase, an in-depth analysis of their views about persuasiveness of different quality level arguments in three socioscientific contexts which were global climate change, base…

Although children often believe an adult's claims, they may have opportunities to check these claims by gathering relevant empirical evidence themselves. Here, we examine whether children seize such opportunities, especially when the claim is counterintuitive. Chinese preschool and elementary schoolchildren were presented with five different-sized…

Primary and secondary school teachers in the London area discuss their understanding and operationalising of the concept of ability as applied to their students. Combining elements of achievement and potential, 'ability' is not clearly and consistently defined by teachers and is, strictly speaking, not a necessary concept since other terms account…

Perspective taking, one's knowledge of their own mental and emotional states and inferences about others' mental and emotional states, is an important skill for writing development. In the present study, we examined how perspective taking is expressed in writing and how it is related to overall writing quality. We analyzed seventh graders'…

Perspective taking, one's knowledge of their own mental and emotional states and inferences about others' mental and emotional states, is an important skill for writing development. In the present study, we examined how perspective taking is expressed in writing and how it is related to overall writing quality. We analyzed seventh graders'…

This study involves an in-depth examination of Canadian elementary teachers' cognitive processes and metacognitive strategies they used during a self-directed online learning experience. The virtual revisit think aloud, a methodology that combines a retrospective procedure with screen recording technology, was used to capture verbalisations from…

This study investigated how well seventh-grade students (n = 1,434) evaluated the credibility of online information in science. The analysis examined the extent to which evaluation appeared to share aspects of other elements of online research and comprehension, including locating, synthesizing, and communicating. This study also investigated the…

In a multicultural democratic society, the increasing demographic diversity within and across nation-states calls attention to pedagogical knowledge and skills needed to engage students in discussing controversial cultural issues (CCIs). Woven in the intersection of democratic education and multicultural education, this qualitative study sought to…