The "hole-in-the-wall" experiments of 1999, as named by the popular media, started with an Internet-connected computer being embedded in a wall facing a slum in Kalkaji, New Delhi, India. Several studies showed that groups of children, when given access to the Internet, can learn by themselves. Children's academic marks improved, and…

Philosophy seems to have gained solid ground in the hearts and minds of educational researchers and practitioners. We critique Philosophy for Children as an experimental programme aimed at improving children's thinking capacity, by questioning the concept of critique itself. What does it mean when an institutional framework like the school…

In the current study, two experiments were carried out: the first tested the development of derivational root and word-pattern morphological awareness in Arabic; the second tested morphological processing in Arabic spelling. 143 Arabic native speaking children with normal reading skills in 2nd, 4th and 6th grade participated in the study. The…

Adults adopt the traits of characters in narratives, but little is known about whether children do so. In Study 1, 7- and 10-year-olds (N = 96) heard a 2.5-minute recording about a professor or cheerleader. Reporting higher engagement in the professor narrative related to more time playing with an analytical toy (a Rubik's cube), whereas reporting…

Casual games are everywhere. People play them throughout life to pass the time, to engage in social interactions, and to learn. However, their simplicity and use in distraction-heavy environments can attenuate their potential for learning. This experimental study explored the effects playing an online, casual game has on awareness of human…

The present study tested the "interference hypothesis"-that learning and using more advanced representations and strategies requires the inhibition of prior, less advanced ones. Specifically, it examined the relation between inhibitory control and number line estimation performance. Experiment 1 compared the accuracy of adults' (N = 53)…

This dissertation explored beliefs about learning from multiple related visual representations in science, and compared beliefs to learning outcomes. Three research questions were explored: 1) What beliefs do pre-service teachers, non-educators and children have about learning from visual representations? 2) What format of presenting those…

This paper describes a randomised educational experiment (n = 47) that examined two different teaching methods and compared their effectiveness at correcting one science misconception using a sample of trainee primary school teachers. The treatment was designed to promote engagement with the scientific concept by eliciting emotional responses from…

The effects of task complexity and vicarious reward upon children's ability to learn a substantial educational task through modeling were investigated. After observing a models performance, all subjects (elementary school students) were offered direct reward for matching responses. Accuracy of imitative learning was inversely related to task…

The aim of these pages is to provide some perspective on Project Zero's recent work, updating earlier accounts which have appeared in the Journal of Aesthetic Education and elsewhere. (Author)

This article provided brief accounts of significant current innovation and research in Australia. (Author/RK)

Studies the effectiveness of therapeutic modeling using dissimilar or similar models. Pre- and post-measures of fear were taken on behavioral and attitude dimensions. Behaviorally, model similarity in level of fear was unimportant, while similarity in age was. More similar models on either variable produced greater change in attitudes. (Author/SJL)

The process by which a child learns music is discussed. (CK)

Based on a paper given at the Third Annual Conference of the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language, London, England, December 30, 1969 to January 2, 1970. (VM)