High-achieving minority students have fewer friends than their majority counterparts. Exploring patterns of friendship formation in the Add Health data, we find strong racial homophily in friendship formations as well as strong achievement homophily within race. However, we find that achievement matters less in cross-racial friendships. As a…

Energy is a central concept across the sciences and an important goal of science education is to support all students so that they develop a full understanding of the energy concept. However, given the abstract and complex nature of the energy concept, only a few students develop an understanding so that they can use energy ideas to make sense of…

We present the validation of a questionnaire for compulsory secondary school students (seventh to tenth grade), designated "Educational learning environments for ESO pupils" (CEApA_ESO), for the purpose of evaluating learning environments. Although many instruments have been developed in this area, our work attempts to comprehensively…

Making connections within and between different aspects of mathematics is recognised as fundamental to learning mathematics with understanding. However, exactly what these connections are and how they serve the goal of learning mathematics is rarely made explicit in curriculum documents with the result that mathematics tends to be presented as a…

Phubbing, the ignoring of one's companions to pay attention to one's phone, is ubiquitous. Yet far less is known about its interpersonal transmission. Based on the social learning theory and the theory of normative social behavior, this cross-sectional study tested the associations between perceived parental phubbing and teenagers' phubbing. Two…

One of the major purposes of this study is to investigate the potential impact of gender and information and computer technology (ICT) resources on students' computational thinking (CT) competencies. To this end, the Computational Thinking Test for Junior High Students (CTT-JH) was developed and validated. Research participants included 437 junior…

This study investigates, and further develops, a framework for analyzing technological knowledge emanating from school design projects; a framework that has the potential to be used as a tool for teachers when choosing and planning design projects. The study also intends to answer the research question: What technological knowledge, associated to…

For biology students, the diversity, complexity, and abundance of content in this field yield a heavy study load. Hence, appropriate learning strategies are key in supporting learners' academic success. In biology, the factors gender and interest hold a unique position within the natural sciences, as there is an academic imbalance to the…

In order to discuss the role of mathematics education in developing students' STEM Capabilities and 21st Century skills, it is necessary to define what is meant by these terms given the extent to which they are broadly used in global contexts. A literature review aimed at providing clarity, through affording a concise interpretation of each term…

Background: Parental support plays an important role in children's schoolwork motivation and may have been even more important during the first UK COVID-19 pandemic lockdown because all schoolwork was completed at home. When examining the effect of parental support on children's schoolwork motivation, research has typically focused on comparing…

Relative age effects (RAEs), where older children within an age-based group have better academic, sporting, self-concept and mental health outcomes than their younger peers, have been demonstrated in multiple countries. Australian research has found self-concept and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder RAEs, but academic RAEs have not been…

Inspired by a "whole child" framing, the current study takes a "whole classroom" perspective to consider classroom practice. Study aims included: (1) presenting a systematic video-based observational coding strategy to concurrently consider practice domains that have implications for learning--cognitive instruction, classroom…

We investigated (1) grade differences in perceived stigma-based peer victimization (SBPV); (2) differences in perceived student and teacher/staff defending against types of SBPV; and (3) whether defending against SBPV affected student subjective wellbeing (SSWB) via anti-victimization school climate perceptions. Participants were 1124 US…

The Chinese education system is characterized as highly meritocratic and examination-oriented. Scores in high-stakes public standardized examinations mainly determine upward educational transitions. Private tutoring classes (PTCs) are a typical measure to boost students' academic achievement. Mental health is also assumed to affect one's behaviors…

Representation of disability in school textbooks may influence pupils' knowledge and perceptions of people with disabilities. The aim of this study was to investigate representation of people with disabilities in school textbooks. The study employed a mixed-methods approach. Quantitative frequency analysis was used to investigate the extent of…