We examined the conversational reflections of 248 families with 6-11-year-old children shortly after they visited a tinkering exhibit. Our aim was to understand the conditions of tinkering and conversational reflection that can enhance STEM learning opportunities for young children. Some families visited the exhibit when there was a design…

The present study reports an empirical investigation into concept formation of young children. Based on interviews conducted before and after participating in a playfully enacted chemistry lesson at a culture center, it is analyzed how 6-year-old children conceptualize water, molecule, and chemistry. Theoretically, the study is informed by…

The development of students' interest in school science activities, their understanding of central chemical concepts, and the interplay between both constructs across Grades 5-11 were analyzed in a cross-sectional paper-and-pencil study (N = 2,510, mean age 11-17 years). Previous empirical findings indicate that students' knowledge increases over…

One of the challenges of keeping older employees up to date and ensuring their continued involvement in the workplace is to provide them with relevant learning opportunities. This article aims to understand the usefulness of the concept of LLL for a group of older employees (50+). This is done using interviews and a document study on the Church of…

Classroom discourse is critical to helping students learn mathematics. Interacting with peers and the teacher within a classroom community assists students in building their understanding of mathematical concepts. A discourse community, sometimes referred to as a math-talk learning community, is "a classroom community in which the teacher and…

The aim of this study was to examine the effect of STEM-based activities conducted in fourth-grade primary school science classes on students' scientific process skills, problem-solving skills and academic success. The study used the experimental model and was carried out according to the pretest-posttest experimental design with a control group.…

Practitioners working with young children in the provision of early childhood education (ECE) are often directed by state governments to mediate specific values through their pedagogical practice. This paper reports the findings from a small scale empirical research study exploring the pedagogy applied by ECE practitioners in this context. I argue…

Providing test questions after an initial study phase is a common instructional technique. In theory, questions that require higher-level (deep) processing should be more beneficial than those that require lower-level (shallow) processing. However, empirical evidence on the matter is inconsistent. To shed light on two potential reasons for these…

Improvisation-based exercises may be the key to unlocking students' innate musical creativities. This article focuses on two exercises--drone improvisation and circle stringing--that can be easily integrated into the orchestra curriculum and adapted to the learning needs of the individual student, small-ensemble, and large-ensemble settings. Of…

This article begins with vignettes that demonstrate how talent potential can (and does) manifest differently in different children. While some children display talent in one or more academic fields, other children demonstrate creative, intellectual, or artistic aptitudes. Regardless of their field or domain of talent, all children can benefit from…

Much of the research into factors that affect children's school performance has focused on parental involvement rather than the nature of children's activities undertaken in school. More research is therefore needed to examine the kinds of activities that affect performance and, in particular, whether the degree of involvement children experience…

The flipped model assisted with technologies has an edge over the non-flipped model. Through collecting, generalizing, systemizing, and summarizing around 70 publications from SSCI, A&HCI, and EI Compendex databases, it was concluded that the flipped approach could assimilate and adapt learners' schemata before class. In class, the pre-class…

This study investigated to what extent quantity (frequency/amount of time) and quality (diversity) of informal digital learning of English (IDLE) activities was conducive to second language (L2) vocabulary outcomes. Data (n = 77) were gathered quantitatively and qualitatively through a questionnaire, English vocabulary tests (ie, measuring…

One of the great challenges interdisciplinary programs face is fguring out how to get students to engage subject matter in a truly integrative way. To accomplish integration, students do not need to become experts in multiple felds, but they do need to understand how multiple modes of thinking, theoretical lenses, and content knowledge can be…

The processes of mitosis and meiosis are oft-cited and long-standing examples of concepts that are difficult for students to learn and understand. While there are many examples in the literature of "how-to-do-it," innovative instructional approaches for teaching mitosis and meiosis, publications that include measurement of learning gains…