Research suggests that teachers' and students' engagement in formative assessment contributes to students' writing development by influencing both what and how students learn. However, while research exists on how teachers and students engage in formative assessment in traditional classroom settings, little work has examined the nature of…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the affordances of participatory simulations by comparing students' models of engagement and science learning outcomes in a multi-team participatory simulated game (MPSG) and a single-team participatory simulated game (SPSG). Two versions of a mobile-based game about marine fishery management were…

Teachers are often at the forefront of efforts to help students struggling socially at school and their support may be particularly critical during the early adolescent developmental period after youth transition to middle school when social concerns become increasingly salient to students. Given their daily interactions with students, teachers…

When COVID-19 shut down in-person programs across the world in 2020, we (the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (MagLab)) as practitioners were in unknown territory. This paper outlines the structure of a 10-week online Summer Exploration Series (SES) program along with the evaluation performed by staff at the MagLab in 2020. The goal of the…

Learning Management Systems use in higher education and at the high school level has been studied, but with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, students in all levels of education began using the tool. Educators had limited time to prepare to use this tool, and research into how teachers used these tools to engage students and support their…

This research evaluated the role of high-status peers in youth's academic engagement. Youth (mean age = 12.7 years) in the United States and China (N = 934) made social status (i.e., sociometric popularity, perceived popularity, and admiration) nominations of their peers in the fall and spring of their first year of middle school. They also…

Engagement and academic success in middle school is critically important to ensure students with disabilities complete high school and have a viable path to and through postsecondary education. Although most middle school students say they want to pursue postsecondary education or training, a significant proportion are not actively engaged in…

Student achievement and engagement are both influenced by the quality of the learning environment. Effective learning environments are characterised by high levels of engagement and interpersonal connection. When learners share a sense of connection to one another and the learning experience, they are said to be experiencing social synchrony, an…

The practices of Project-Based Learning (PjBL) are known to be widespread and effective in both K-12 and higher education settings. There is still little research on how it can provide a community of engagement for middle school learners. This paper reports how engaging middle school learners in PjBL tasks influences the students' perceptions and…

While school self-concept is an important facilitator of a student's school engagement, previous studies rarely investigated whether it may also explain the change in students' school engagement during secondary school. Moreover, as social relations play an increasingly important role in adolescence, the current research distinguishes between the…

This study examined the engagement and disengagement of passive middle school students with minimal attendance and behavioral deficiencies, but that demonstrate academic difficulties in English language arts or mathematics. An exploratory methodology was chosen due to the relative sparse research available in this area, and also to better…

The single most important factor for the success of a student in school is the teacher, yet many factors impact the teacher's ability to do the job as effectively as possible. Data exists regarding the multiple influences that affect the teacher's sense of self-efficacy, however, specific data regarding leadership behaviors is limited. Research…

Despite the racial/ethnic diversity of the United States, a significant difference remains between the standardized achievement scores of White students and Black students, most commonly known as the achievement gap or the opportunity gap. Although it is recognized that the opportunity gap is rooted in structural racism, scholars have examined…

Before COVID, 40 to 60 percent of students were showing signs of disengagement in learning, according to national surveys. The pandemic exacerbated students' disengagement, especially among the most vulnerable youth. Although researchers do not yet fully know the extent of disengagement during COVID and the long-term consequences of this…

In both private and public education, several institutions may use game-based explanations. However, it does not rule out the possibility that most educational institutions use text-based explanations, which makes students tend to get bored because they only have to read and listen, so another alternative is needed: game-based explanations that…