This paper examines differences between Bakhtin's dialogic view and argumentation theories with respect to questioning and analyzes the significance of these differences for the theories of pedagogy. In argumentation theories, a question is thought to be shared among the parties in a discussion. In the fields of argumentation and education, in…

Scientific literacy has become the goal of science education throughout the world. To assess scientific literacy, the development of a scientific literacy instrument is imperative. Several scientific literacy instruments have been created, such as those for the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and Project 61 for Science for…

Formative assessment has been long emphasised as a powerful means for enhancing science learning. However, there is still a lack of research to investigate the impacts of formative assessment on both students' motivational beliefs and behaviours in science learning. This study examined such impacts using data from six Western and six East Asian…

Despite efforts to make school science appealing, students' negative attitude toward it persists globally. This qualitative study elucidates how and why undergraduate students in Japan had declining attitudes toward school science during primary and secondary school. Twenty-two first- and second-year students at a Japanese national university…

This research is based on an approach that looks at cross-cultural research design as a "lens" for a deeper understanding of what goes on in the classroom. The research question is how a cross-cultural study like this one can lead to identifying the cultural script of teaching and help educators reflect on their practice. In this…

This report presents a literature review that was conducted to answer the question -- what can be learned from high performing jurisdictions with respect to scientific literacy? The review intends to build a picture of the education systems, specifically science education, in the five jurisdictions which performed the best in the scientific…

This study utilized textual analysis to investigate 27 articles published by Japanese scholars from various disciplines regarding constructivist approaches. The results found that many of the collected articles in this study reported the need for and effectiveness of a constructivist approach in language, STEM, and social sciences education. The…

This study expands on the concept of outreach programs: museum initiatives that look for ways to reach and share knowledge outside their installations, often to schools. We aim to study approaches for the development of content for a history museum outreach program using digital technologies. The significance of this lies in investigating ways to…

This paper reports on a study which investigated the effectiveness of an explicit instruction approach in a Japanese university setting with third-year science and technology students in an English for Specific Purposes (ESP) course. The two aims of this study were: 1) to explore changes in students' attitudes and understanding of summary writing,…

Young people around the world are calling ever more urgently on policymakers to address today's global challenges of sustainability, structural inequality and social justice. So it is little surprise that learning in a global society, understanding sustainable development and being active global citizens are increasingly popular themes for…

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the holistic picture of sustainability curricula in Asian higher education. Design/methodology/approach: Content analysis was conducted based on Asian management education for sustainability in higher education. Online courses arrangement, teaching methods, instructors' educational background and…

As English-medium instruction (EMI) spreads around the world, university teachers and students who are non-native speakers of English (NNS) need to put much effort into the delivery or reception of content. Construction of scientific meaning in the process of learning is already complex when instruction is delivered in the first language of the…

Japan has no formal educational system for gifted children. However, in 2005, Japan's Cabinet approved and established the third Science and Technology Basic Plan (2006-10), which includes "nurturing the individuality and ability of gifted ("sainou" in Japanese) children." Enforcement of this plan is exemplified in programs…

The study has integrated the data from PISA 2006 to 2012 to give an overall picture of the cognitive and affective performances and pedagogy of East Asian regions on PISA scientific literacy. Attempts are made to account for their performances based on the PISA data and cultural characteristics. The cognitive science performance of East Asian…

Where the author teaches is far from the ocean, bordered on one side by forests of ponderosa and by the High Desert on the other. So when his first graders walked into class on the Monday morning after the 2011 earthquake and subsequent tsunami along the coast of Japan--and their usual light conversations about the weekend included some sobering…