Understanding and supporting students' development of graph literacy is important. We studied how aspects of graph literacy might be supported (or hindered) in middle school by analyzing the content in textbooks. Specifically, we conducted a content analysis of tasks involving two-dimensional Cartesian graphs presented in grade 6-8 US textbooks.…

The purpose of this study is to implement an a-didactical activity relating to the acquisition of the triangle inequality, prepared within the framework of the "Didactic Situations Theory" (TDS), and to report the experiences of the students during the implementation process. The study employs a case study method based on a qualitative…

Research shows that writing motivation decreases throughout schooling and predicts writing performance. However, this evidence comes primarily from cross-sectional studies. Here, we adopted a longitudinal approach to (a) examine the development of attitudes toward writing, writing self-efficacy domains, and motives to write from Grade 6 to 7, and…

This article reports on a case study from a larger project exploring ways in which online citizen science projects can enhance students' learning in science and in digital technology. In this case, two teachers integrated the digital technology curriculum with the science capability "interpreting representations" using the engaging…

The Georgia Department of Education has clearly defined standards for learning about Africa in the seventh grade. However, there exists great variation in how textbooks present this material and address these standards. Using a qualitative content analysis approach, we assess the presentation of Africa in three widely used Georgia social studies…

This study explored the interest, outcome expectations, choice goals and choice actions in engineering and technology, collaboration value, problem solving attitudes, and spatial reasoning and orientation skills of 63 middle school females in grades six, seven, and eight. The participants were involved in a five full-day coding robotics summer…

The aim of this study is to examine the effects of Realistic Mathematics Education (RME) on 7th grade students' achievement on integer operations and their attitudes towards mathematics and to determine students' views about the RME approach. The research was carried out with the participation of 11 students. Exploratory sequential mixed design…

The purpose of this study is to examine effects of Brain-Based Learning (BBL) method on seventh grade students' metacognitive awareness. Concurrent nested mixed method was used in the study. Thirty 7th grade students (21 girls, nine boys) participated in this study voluntarily. The unit of "Structure and Properties of Matter" was taught…

The body is undoubtedly the first language of communication in human history. Body language, which dates back to the first human, was the first language with which humans communicated with each other. Human being is a social being; just as it needs nutrition, shelter, security, knowledge, respect and love, it also needs communication. Therefore,…

Background: Prior work has shown that middle school students struggle with algebra and that game-based educational technologies, such as DragonBox and From Here to There!, are effective at improving students' algebraic performance. However, it remains unclear which aspects of algebraic knowledge shift as a result of playing these games and what…

Supporting students in becoming effective problem solvers is a critical component of K-12 mathematics instruction. Unfortunately, little is known about the factors that are related to problem solving proficiency in middle school students. We report the results of a study that employed a hierarchical linear regression analysis to examine the…

A group of adults, dressed in authentic medieval costumes, organize and stage a full-scale battle at a local park; weapons (made from foam), roles, and medieval speech are all part of the event. This is known as "Live Action Role Play" -- more commonly referred to as "LARP." Although many settings and scenarios have been used…

Student's learning and retention of academic content in a meaningful way depends on strengthening their cognitive structures. Once this structure, which provides a framework in which new knowledge will be included, is ascertained, engaging in teaching activities can create an opportunity for learners to have a different learning experience. Word…

Recent advances in automated writing evaluation have enabled educators to use automated writing quality scores to improve assessment feasibility. However, there has been limited investigation of bias for automated writing quality scores with students from diverse racial or ethnic backgrounds. The use of biased scores could contribute to…

The present longitudinal study examined whether extracurricular activities in the arts and corresponding scores in art classes have a positive association with general academic performance. Data were collected from 488 seventh-grade children (259 boys and 229 girls) for over two years. Information regarding their participation in extracurricular…