This paper describes the construct of fascination in science, a non-cognitive trait combining interest, curiosity, and mastery skills, and the particular relevance of fascination in science for students during middle school. Grounded in the theory of "Science Learning Activation" and employing data from the longitudinal Activated…

This study investigates the effect of life-based teaching using popular science journals on the success of solving life-based questions prepared by associating them with daily life. The study included 6th-grade students studying in a public secondary school in the spring semester of the 2020-2021 academic year. Using the quasi-experimental method,…

This dissertation study investigated the comparability of reading comprehension of narrative and persuasive text by applying a convergent parallel mixed method design. Participants were middle school students (Grades 6 - 8, N=6). The purpose of the study was to address a gap in reading comprehension research about how students comprehend narrative…

The purpose of this action research was to explore how incorporating choice boards as a tool for personalized learning in social studies influenced sixth-grade students to engage in the classroom. Engagement in the classroom is necessary for students to meet educational goals. In order to remain engaged in their learning, students need intrinsic…

In this design case, we describe our experience of designing and creating a teacher's dashboard as an accompanying tool to support sixth-grade teachers who implement a technology-supported problem-based learning program on sixth-grade space science in their classrooms. We describe in detail the background of this design case, our motivation to…

Today, all 50 states have enacted mandates requiring some level of insurance coverage for the treatment of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). In this paper, I examine the impact of Massachusetts' mandate, ARICA (An Act Relative to Insurance Coverage for Autism) on the academic and behavioral outcomes of students with ASD in the state. Using…

Background: Disembedding is a crucial spatial thinking skill in visual arts and mathematics education. It is important in creating and analyzing artworks by separating a figure from its background, as well as for solving geometric problems where shapes must be viewed from new perspectives. Drawing upon research in psychology, arts, and mathematics…

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in substantial unfinished learning for U.S. students, but to differing degrees for various subgroups. Students of color, from low-income families, or who attended high-poverty schools experienced greater unfinished learning. In this study, we examined the degree of unfinished learning for students who went into the…

This study assesses the psychometric properties of the School Support Scale (SSS), part of the CHKS's Resilience Youth Development Module (RYDM; Furlong et al., 2009), among 231 sixth- and seventh-grade students in urban public schools in Chile. Results indicated satisfactory psychometric properties, replicating a unifactorial structure observed…

Objectives: Limited research exists on how new computer science (CS) teachers understand fundamental Internet principles. This knowledge gap hinders the development of effective upskilling courses, especially as new CS curricula are being introduced worldwide. This study investigates new CS teachers' conceptions of fundamental Internet principles,…

This paper examines and builds on an earlier contribution to this journal focusing on private supplementary tutoring -- widely known as shadow education -- in Francophone West and Central Africa. Drawing on wider literature about research methods in this domain, it examines the basis for the numerical estimates presented in the original article…

In the current technology-driven era, digital game-based learning (DGBL) has emerged as a practical approach for enhancing mathematics achievement among young students. It is believed that digital drill-and-practice educational games can replace traditional pen-and-paper drills in mathematics education and have a better influence on incorporating…

Background: In opaque orthographies, such as English, children with low reading skills tend to rely more on semantic information due to their inadequate acquisition of sub-lexical knowledge. This tendency has also been reported for kanji, a non-alphabetic and opaque Japanese orthography. However, previous studies on this phenomenon have had…

Children are online at increasing frequency, for longer periods of time, and at younger ages than ever before. Schools in the USA are engaged in providing online citizenship education to students; however, there are few evaluations of how well programs work or tools to measure program effectiveness. The current study provides psychometric…

It is well established that socioeconomic status, cognitive ability, and non-cognitive abilities such as self-efficacy are substantially associated with academic achievement. However, the specific relationships of these variables remain a relatively unexplored topic in regard to more recent and representative samples. The current study examined…