Using an experimenter-developed system, articles from four school psychology journals for the years 2000-2005 (n = 929) were classified. Results showed that 40% of the articles were narrative, 29% correlational, 16% descriptive, 8% causal-experimental, 4% causal-comparative, and 2% were meta-analytic. Further analysis of the causal-experimental…

The paper describes a study of the contexts of six teams, expert in research and development of digital media for learning mathematics, who cross-experimented in classrooms with the use of each other's artefacts. Contextual issues regarding the designed tasks and technologies, the socio-systemic milieu and the ways in which the researchers worked…

This article is a methodological contribution to the use of design experiments in educational research. We will discuss the implications of a historical and situated interpretation to design experiments, the consequences this has for the analysis of the collected data and empirically based suggestions to improve the designs of the computer-based…

The racial achievement gap in education is an important social problem to which decades of research have yielded no scalable solutions. Recent evidence from "No Excuses" charter schools--which demonstrates that some combination of school inputs can educate the poorest minority children--offers a guiding light. In the 2010-2011 school…

The apartheid policies in South Africa had a marked influence on the accessibility and quality of school science experienced by the different race groups. African learners in particular were seriously disadvantaged in this regard. The issues of equity and redress were foremost in transformation of the education system, and the accompanying…

The aim of the study is to investigate the influence of gender and gender pairing on students' learning performances and knowledge elaboration processes in Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL). A sample of ninety-six secondary school students, participated in a two-week experiment. Students were randomly paired and asked to solve…

The objective of this paper is to provide some practical insight into the process of implementing large-scale randomized controlled trials (RCT) in educational settings and to provide general recommendations for researchers conducting education-based RCTs in the future. The authors draw their recommendations from their recent experiences…

The purpose of the present article is to assess the impact that recent federal policies have had on education research. Using published journal articles as a data source, the study examines reports on the frequency of use for terms representing federal priorities for education research (experimental, randomization, hypothesis, and quantitative)…

Project-based learning (PBL) is a highly effective means of motivating students to learn independently. However, training or encouraging teachers to practice PBL in their classrooms is challenging, especially if the educational system does not accommodate creative teaching practices. In particular, in a test-driven educational system, time…

In this activity, a possible problem related to global warming is clarified by the principle of states of water. The activity consists of an experiment that includes three scientific principles: Archimedes' Principle, the Law of Conservation of Matter, and the fluidity of liquids. The experiment helps students raise questions and open new horizons…

This experiment illustrates how the effective use of a technology treatment integrated into pre-algebra curricula can help students achieve on the New Jersey Standardized Grade 8 Proficiency Assessment (GEPA). The researcher obtained data by comparing a treatment group to a control group; the first group was given a weekly 44-minute-long…

Teaching nuclear physics in secondary schools offers us a unique possibility to increase our students' awareness of the influence that modern science and its achievements have on the everyday life of contemporary people. Students gain an opportunity to learn in what ways the outcome of laboratory research is put to use in such fields as medicine,…

This paper describes a study intended to demonstrate how an emerging skill, problem solving with technology, might be measured in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Two computer-delivered assessment scenarios were designed, one on solving science-related problems through electronic information search and the other on solving…

In the goal of science teacher education, the role of reflection to cultivate the teacher as a transformative practitioner has been largely recognised. Reflective thinking is crucial for teachers to be mindfully and knowledgeably situated in teaching and transforming their actions. This study looks into the dilemmas of teaching practical work in…

A crucial element of the logic of the scientific method is the Control of Variables Strategy (CVS), in which conclusions about causal relations are enabled by manipulating a focal variable of interest while holding all other variables constant. Understanding CVS in elementary grades generally is poor, but can be improved with systematic…