Authors of previous research have reported that U.S. English language learner (ELL) students participate in school-sponsored music ensembles (band, orchestra, and choir) at a lower rate than their native-English-speaking peers (non-ELLs). The current study examined this phenomenon using a nationally representative sample of U.S. 10th graders (14-…

This paper reports on a pilot study that investigated the effect of implementing a context-based problem solving instruction (CBPSI) to enhance the problem solving performance of high school mathematics learners. Primarily, the pilot study aimed: (1) to evaluate the efficiency of data collection instruments; and, (2) to test the efficacy of CBPSI…

Visualizing the chemical structure and dynamics of particles has been challenging for many students; therefore, various visualizations and tools have been used in chemistry education. For science educators, it has been important to understand how students visualize and represent particular phenomena--i.e., their mental models-- to design more…

The study explored how to best use scaffolds for supporting students' inquiry practices in computer-supported learning environments. We designed a series of inquiry units assisted with three versions of written inquiry prompts (generic and context-specific); that is, three scaffold-fading conditions: implicit, explicit, and fading. We then…

Students should learn mathematics with understanding. This is one of the ideas in the literature on mathematics education that everyone supports, from educational politicians to curriculum developers, from researchers to teachers, and from parents to students. In order to decide whether or not students understand mathematics we should first…

It is wellknown that the majority of South African learners achieve extremely poorly in Mathematics. Many claim that one of the causes of this poor attainment is teachers' weak knowledge of mathematics, and propose that improving teachers' mathematical knowledge would improve learner attainment. However, the evidence-base for this proposed…

This study examines the attitudes and the behavioural intentions of typically developing (TD) adolescents towards a hypothetical peer with Asperger syndrome (AS). Participants (N = 179, M age = 13.7 years) viewed two PowerPoint presentations one of a TD male target and one of a male target with AS. The target with AS was introduced either with…

Background/Context: Across the United States, secondary school curricula are intensifying as a growing proportion of students enroll in high-level academic math courses. In many districts, this intensification process occurs as early as eighth grade, where schools are effectively constraining their mathematics curricula by restricting course…

Students from low-income families consistently trail behind their peers in retention and degree attainment. Research on college student experiences suggests that low-income students experience "cultural mismatch" at college--they feel that their backgrounds are at odds with the middle-class values dominant on campus (Armstrong &…

The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of a flipped English classroom intervention on high school students' information and communication technology (ICT) and English reading comprehension in Taiwan. Forty 10th graders were randomly selected from a representative senior high school as an experimental group (EG) to attend a 12-h…

This paper reports on the design and enactment of an instructional strategy aimed to support students in constructing scientific explanations. Informed by the philosophy of science and linguistic studies of science, a new instructional framework called premise--reasoning--outcome (PRO) was conceptualized, developed, and tested over two years in…

We present a new system for automated scoring of graph construction items that address complex science concepts, feature qualitative prompts, and support a range of possible solutions. This system utilizes analysis of spatial features (e.g., slope of a line) to evaluate potential student ideas represented within graphs. Student ideas are then…

Well-formulated career and technical education (CTE) programs provide high-quality, coherent instruction that leads to in-demand technical skills and rewarding careers for students from all backgrounds. However, participation in CTE and concentration in specific CTE fields differ by student sociodemographic characteristics. For example, in 2004,…

The Actiotope Model of Giftedness (AMG) focuses on person--environment interactions to define giftedness. The development of the Questionnaire of Educational and Learning Capital (QELC) was based on the AMG. The first aim of this study was to present the reliability and validity of a Turkish version of the QELC for 10th grade students. The second…

This study is conducted to determine the effectiveness of teaching grammar-in-context to minimize students' grammatical errors in writing. The design of the study was a quasi-experimental with a non-randomized pretest-posttest control group. The samples of the study were taken from the population of the tenth-grade students. The control group was…