The vocabulary of human languages has been argued to support efficient communication by optimizing the trade-off between simplicity and informativeness. The argument has been originally based on cross-linguistic analyses of vocabulary in semantic domains of content words, such as kinship, color, and number terms. The present work applies this…

Critical reflection supports enactment of the social roles of care, like collaboration and advocacy. We require evidence that links critical teaching approaches to future critically reflective practice. We thus asked: does a theory-informed approach to teaching critical reflection influence "what" learners talk about (i.e. topics of…

According to Matthew Lipman, one of the founders of the Philosophy for Children (P4C) programme, critical thinking improves reasonableness and the exercise of good judgement, both of which Lipman takes to be necessary to sustaining a democratic society. Against his view, I argue that although critical thinking can be done well or badly, it does…

Computing confidence intervals around generalizability coefficients has long been a challenging task in generalizability theory. This is a serious practical problem because generalizability coefficients are often computed from designs where some facets have small sample sizes, and researchers have little guide regarding the trustworthiness of the…

Children often say that strange and improbable events, like eating pickle-flavored ice cream, are impossible. Two experiments explored whether these beliefs are explained by limits in children's causal knowledge. Participants were 423 predominantly White Canadian 4- to 7-year-olds (44% female) tested in 2020-2021. Providing children with causal…

Science is an ethical community whose practitioners aim to discover information about the natural world and to explain discernible patterns that might be detected. Those who pursue science generally embrace certain epistemic values that help establish the moral boundaries of the community, while the twin pillars of rationality and empiricism serve…

Theories of agency are often borrowed from psychology and sociology; truly educational theories of agency are rare -- theories that not only classify and measure dimensions of agency but enable us to understand how its formation can be pedagogically facilitated. Based on Sannino's recent work on transformative agency by double stimulation (TADS),…

Over 34 years since its conception, research in educational settings has found evidence for the effectiveness of the 5E Instructional Model. Indeed, several studies have reported evidence of a better conceptual understanding of scientific ideas and models, positive effects on general achievement in science, and positive attitudes toward science.…

The center-of-gravity, Weber, and rectilinear minisum problems are common exemplars in single-facility (single-source) continuous location theory and the first of these is covered in many operations management (OM) textbooks. Extensions to multiple-facility (or multisource) continuous location problems are seldom covered in OM textbooks. I have…

It can be argued that Swanwick's research and scholarship established the field of music education as an area of interdisciplinary study in the United Kingdom. A significant and seminal publication in this legacy is Swanwick's work with Tillman on the sequence of musical development based on Tillman's empirical study of children's compositions.…

This paper explores the use of theory in longitudinal qualitative research, an approach to research which explores lived experiences as they unfold. The authors illustrate how the complexity of conducting qualitative research through time drives an understanding and use of theory that differs from other research approaches. Longitudinal…

Understanding theory is essential to instructional design (ID) research and practice; however, novice designers struggle to make sense of instructional design theory due to its abstract and complex nature, the inconsistent use of theoretical terms and concepts within literature, and the dissociation of theory from practice. While these challenges…

For the communication theory course to be successful, instructors must tap into their students' lives and create a sense of how communication theory is not only relevant to their needs, interests, or goals, but also practical when applied to their social, personal, and organizational relationships. One way in which instructors can create a sense…

For a long time, research on individuals learning in digital environments was primarily based on cognitive-oriented theories. This paper aims at providing evidence that social processes affect individual learning with digital materials. Based on these theories and empirical results, a social-processes-augmented theory is suggested: the…

The purpose of this study is to discern and discuss issues with relevance to the tension between contextuality and generalisation, which recurrently are identified over time in research reviews of teaching methods. The 75 most cited reviews on teaching methods listed in the Web of Science from 1980 to 2017 were analysed. Since our interest is the…