When the road is wet (there is a water layer on the road surface), the road marks become blurred and drivers are distracted. We discuss the contributing processes and identify which processes are dominant to the occurrence of this phenomenon. Modelling and a simple experiment demonstrate that the dominant processes are: (a) refraction of light by…

A case study entitled 'New Age Atlantis or Mysterious Seventh Continent' was developed as an exemplar model to show how the teaching methods and themes of Global Education (GE) can be used in geography lessons. The main intent of this article is to share an example of good practice about the use of this case study in geography lessons in Czechia.…

Educational versions of Millikan's oil-drop experiment have frequently been criticized; suggestions for improvement either focus on technical innovations of the setup or on replacing the experiment by other approaches of familiarization, such as computer simulations. In our approach, we have analysed experimental procedures. In doing so, we were…

When people reflect on their important values, they may become more attuned to the needs of others. Two longitudinal field experiments examined whether a subtle value-affirmation manipulation can initiate relatively enduring increases in young adolescents' prosocial feelings (Study 1; M [subscript age] = 12.9) and prosocial behaviors (Study 2; M…

Adolescents in the United States and their teachers face an enormous academic challenge with respect to reading comprehension. College and career readiness standards outlined in the Common Core (2012) place increased emphasis on preparing students to read increasingly complex text across a range of disciplinary content areas. At issue is how to…

The article argues that science assessment should change from an item-driven to a construct-driven practice and pay more attention to disciplinary scientific reasoning. It investigates assessment scales developed from a novel theoretical rationale, describing scientific reasoning as three fundamental practices (hypothesizing, experimenting, and…

This study investigated the learning dimensions that occur in physical and virtual inquiry-based lab investigations, in first-year secondary chemistry classes. This study took place over a 2 year period and utilized an experimental crossover design which consisted of two separate trials of laboratory investigation. Assessment data and attitudinal…

This article describes a unit of work that was designed for a Year 9 class of mixed ability and which involved the definition and measurement of angles, as well as the practical application of angle properties--such as complimentary angles and the relationships in a transversal. The unit considered the numeracy skills required to interpret a…

An excellent common activity in technology and engineering classes involves dropping an egg from a significant height in a protective device designed and built by students. This article describes how the author uses the classic "egg drop" as an inspiration to have students modify a small crash test vehicle that speeds down a track and crashes into…

The underlying processes used in written compositions are currently a very interesting subject. Participants in this study were 326 people between 10 and 16 years of age, divided into two groups and compared by means of a "writing log". One group was provided assistance in the writing task by means of a graphic organiser, whilst the…

In this research we present the use of some technologies in problem solving activities (at different secondary school grades), aimed at finding a model for a geometric configuration, and representing this model in various ways: through a construction, through a Cartesian graph, etc. The task is part of a teaching experiment, in which students used…

By the 1970s a fundamental shift had taken place in German science education. This was a shift away from the learning of more-or-less isolated facts and facets in Biology, Chemistry, and Physics towards a restructuring of science teaching along the general principles of the respective science domains. The changes included also the addition of…

Background: In the 1970s and 1980s, there was considerable discussion about the potential of student-designed games to help students develop a more refined and deeper understanding of games. Unfortunately, despite these sophisticated conversations, there has been limited empirical research on the effectiveness of student-designed games,…

Previous research indicates that academic emotions are largely organized along domain-specific lines. In the present study (N = 1,687; Grades 8/11), the authors explored the domain specificity of academic emotions in terms of the moderating influence of having the same versus a different course instructor across domains. The authors evaluated…

In this study, relations between learning activities of teachers and changes in their beliefs were examined. Thirty-four teachers in Dutch secondary education were asked to complete a questionnaire regarding their beliefs about teaching and learning on two occasions. They were also asked to report on learning activities that they undertook.…