This study seeks to ascertain the degree to which context-based items are offered in Turkish mathematics textbooks as well as the quality of the items in terms of item writing guidelines, whether or not they are given as traditional or context-based. A qualitative research approach is used in this study. The eighth-grade mathematics textbook used…

This research is aimed at developing novel theory to advance innovative methods for examining how collaborative groups progress toward productively engaging during classroom activity that integrates disciplinary practices. This work draws on a situative perspective, along with prior framings of individual engagement, to conceptualize engagement as…

While group projects are popular in middle school classrooms, limited research has been conducted on how to grade them. Teachers usually assign the same score to all group members, which hardly reflects the achievement level of any student. This study explores the feasibility of utilizing peer and self-assessments for grading group projects for…

Writing is a critical component of many secondary classrooms, but little is known about teachers' beliefs and assumptions surrounding their teaching of writing at the secondary level (particularly including the beliefs of special educators) and teaching writing to students with disabilities. Yet, teachers' beliefs impact their own perceptions and…

Diabetes, a chronic condition that impacts millions, is a complex disease. Understanding the disease can contribute to increasing awareness about this debilitating condition and preventing occurrences. Furthermore, inculcation of physiology knowledge may lead to an increased likelihood of career goals that align with this area of study. In pursuit…

This study aimed at in-depth examination of middle school students' perceptions about the scientists. The study was carried out with survey model. The data of the study were gathered via "Questionnaire for Evaluation of Scientists (QES)" and focus group interviews. The data were analysed quantitatively and the quantitative data were…

Reforms to support and expand personalized learning increasingly are being introduced in middle schools across the United States. Personalization, as enacted in response to these reforms, encourages teachers to implement many practices that long have been recommended by advocates of middle grades philosophy. To better understand the practices of…

Disengagement is a concept that captures the gradual behavioral, affective, and cognitive distancing from school, and is thus an early indicator of students being at risk for dropout. Based on a social identity framework, we predicted that higher social identification with the class and a positive classroom climate would be associated with lower…

Drawing on a social identity framework of mathematical development, the authors present a model, Improving Girls' Math Identity (IGMI), designed to address two key "leaks" in the female STEM pipeline: undergraduate and middle school. IGMI involves a supportive professional development network for undergraduate women preparing to…

This study explored the affective outcomes students perceived from participating in a summer program and the program components that contributed to participants' perceived affective development. Participants were 55 middle school students (29 girls) with intellectual gifts who participated in a 4-day-long residential program conducted in a western…

This article discusses how both Catholic schools and the teachers within them illustrated a commitment to living out tenets of the common good as a result of Catholic schools' choices during the COVID-19 pandemic era. Teachers in Catholic schools became adaptive leaders as a result of Catholic schools' choice to provide consistent in-person…

Although reading comprehension research and instruction commonly focus on individuals' ability to extract meaning from text, eighth-grade students whose teachers chose to focus on engaged volitional reading, rather than comprehension, demonstrated expansive forms of meaning-making and purpose. Interviews and observations across two school years…

This is a qualitative action study to understand how elementary and middle school teachers perceive the misunderstandings of the roles, conflicts, and teaching strategies and how it can affect collaboration in the inclusive classroom between general education and special education teachers in the southeastern United States. The guiding framework…

While recent years have witnessed increasing attention to technology-enhanced language learning, investigation regarding how technologies facilitate digital storytelling outcomes among middle school students in English-as-a-foreign-language contexts remains insufficiently explored. Studies concerning the effects of different presentation modes…

Despite the increasing popularity of teacher autonomy studies, there is still a need to explore what kind of mechanism or context is created by autonomy in the background while teachers are using or adapting the curriculum. This study aims to investigate teachers' perceived autonomy at the classroom level as well as their preferences for…