As part of an effort to improve students' knowledge of constellations and bright stars in an introductory level descriptive astronomy survey course, we measured the baseline knowledge that students bring to the class and how their score evolve over the course of the semester. This baseline is needed by the broader astronomy education research…

Students' self-efficacy expectations (SEE) in mathematics are associated with their engagement and learning experiences. Going beyond previous operationalisations of SEE we propose a new instrument that takes into account not only "facet-specificity" (expectations related to particular competences or skills) and "strength"…

The Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) Student Survey is administered each year to measure students' perceptions about their learning experiences. In 2014-15, the content of the survey, as well as the grades to which it was administered, were changed to better capture measures of engagement and grit during students' transition years. Over…

In this paper, we report on the experiences of three 9th-grade South African students (13-14 years) in doing open science investigation projects for a science expo. A particular focus of this study was the manner in which these students merge the world of school science with their social world to create a hybrid space by appropriating knowledge…

Drawing on the theories of symbolic interactionism, social constructivism, and flow, this research examines the integration of the electronic game of the World Food Programme of the UN "Food Force" in a unit on active citizenship and poverty eradication. The research was conducted in two ninth-grade classes of an urban high school in…

There is a need for game-based learning frameworks that provide a lens for understanding learning experiences afforded in digital games. These frameworks should aim to facilitate game analyses, identification of learning opportunities, and support for learner experiences. This article uses the inquiry, communication, construction, and expression…

Emphasizing task importance, which is regarded as a way of motivating engaged behavior, may increase an individual's anxiety. The present research investigated whether academic self-efficacy could moderate the maladaptive relation between task importance and test anxiety. 1978 and 1670 Grade 9 Singaporean students participated in a survey related…

Background: Limited research has been conducted on student voice with students in physical education. Accessing and responding to student voice are relevant for researchers and physical education teachers to develop physical education programs that are meaningful and have a sense of purpose to the students themselves. It is through listening to…

Proficiency-based or competency-based approaches to education are undergoing a resurgence in both K-12 and higher education settings, spurred in part by advances in digital learning technologies. These approaches allow students to progress at their own pace through a diverse range of personalized learning experiences aligned to students'…

Seeking to increase conceptual understanding by sustaining adolescents' engagement and interest in secondary science classrooms, an intervention, the Engagement Model of Academic Literacy for Learning (EngageALL), was designed to implement a disciplinary literacy approach and organize instruction according to characteristics of student interest…

Introduction: This study, based in a Scottish secondary school, aimed to examine the views of students who were completing work experience, on their information literacy practices, and the differences they found between the school and workplace information environments while on work experience. The views of guidance teachers were also explored.…

This study is a transcendental phenomenological study that described the experience of students' interest in science from elementary school through middle school grades and the identification of the factors that increase or decrease interest in science. Numerous researchers have found that interest in science changes among children and the change…

The use of technology (information and communication technology, ICT) in secondary education is an important aspect of the current curriculum and of teachers' pedagogy. Learning supported by computers is supposed to be motivating for students and is, therefore, assumed to have positive effects on learning experiences and results. However, the…

This article is about my experiences as a ninth grade history teacher trying to implement a "big idea" unit on ancient African history. My experiences as a first year teacher and also my experience in seeing this unit develop over three years are chronicled. I conclude that implementing a big idea strategy of instruction is possible in a…

The Algebra Project DR K-12, funded by the National Science Foundation as a Research and Development Project, addressed the challenge of offering significant STEM content for students to ensure public literacy and workforce readiness. The project's primary purpose was to test the feasibility and effectiveness of a model for establishing four-year…