This dissertation follows a manuscript-style format, beginning with an introduction and literature review, followed by three distinct studies and a concluding section. All three studies use "Lucky Codes," an educational board game designed to foster computational thinking skills in elementary students, as the intervention. The first…

This paper discusses the potential of DGBL to facilitate transformation in the context of religious education, arguing for the fact that it is immersive, interactive, and experiential. The paper outlines how this could substantially provide a more engaging learning environment for students, develop critical thinking, and ensure effective learning…

In the first edition of this book, Dr. Ashcraft transformed the complex, often abstract process of lesson planning into an accessible and concrete practice for English language teachers in any context. The second edition of "Lesson Planning" includes updated research and references, expanded sections on technology, and new reflection…

Background: In computing education, educators are constantly faced with the challenge of developing new curricula, including learning objectives (LOs), while ensuring that existing courses remain relevant. Large language models (LLMs) were shown to successfully generate a wide spectrum of natural language artefacts in computing education.…

The development of the VR ecosystem presents an unprecedented opportunity for the future of retail. Cultivating the foundational knowledge and skills necessary for retail students to thrive in this environment is essential. This study explores the potential of one such intervention through a Virtual Reality Retailing course that integrates a…

Misinformation in digital media is growing at an exponential rate. The rapid growth of technologies such as social media and artificial intelligence necessitates the skills to navigate through the vast amount of digital media information. Education in digital media literacy is critical to ensure students do not fall prey to easily manipulated…

The five chapters of this dissertation are anchored around the theme of supporting teachers in making inclusive instructional decisions in science to facilitate active student participation and engagement in science learning for students with complex support needs (CSN). Chapter 1 describes the benefits of inclusive education for students with…

Chromatography is the most common analytical technique able to identify and quantify a wide gamut of substances in food, environmental, forensic, pharmaceutical, and many other kinds of real samples. We propose a simple drama science activity: students embody different compounds wearing emblems of different colors and dramatize their…

Community, inclusion, and perseverance are essential for student success in STEM. To promote these values, we developed two discussion-based activities for implementation in introductory college STEM courses. Both activities incorporate watching videos that portray scientists telling the stories of their career trajectory, in-class discussions,…

Careers in information systems and technology are top-rated and growing, yet universities are challenged to recruit students into information technology (IT) majors and organizations struggle to find talent with IT and digital skills. Experiential mentorship programs offer an opportunity for both academia and industry to attract students into…

The focus of this article is on the development of expertise in interpreting literature within English Language Arts (ELA). Experts and novices differ significantly in how they approach problems and acquire information, with experts demonstrating more sophisticated pattern recognition, nuances, and conceptual understandings and approaches than…

Social problem solving (SPS) represents a social cognitive reasoning process that gives way to behavior when individuals are navigating challenging social situations. Autistic individuals have been shown to struggle with specific aspects of SPS, which, in turn, has been related to social difficulties in children. However, no previous work has…

Background: Since the 1990s, national standards have been developed in K-12 subject areas. National standards in health education were first released in 1995 with a second set released in 2007. A third edition, the "National Health Education Standards: Model Guidance for Curriculum" and Instruction was developed in 2022 under the…

The alignment of learning materials with learning objectives (LOs) is critical for successfully implementing the problem-based learning (PBL) curriculum. This study investigated the capabilities of Gemini Advanced, a large language model (LLM), in creating clinical vignettes that align with LOs and comprehensive tutor guides. This study used a…

In this paper, drawing on semi-structured interviews with generalist teachers of year-one children in England and Sweden, we examine comparatively the influence of the intended curriculum (teachers in both countries work within mandated national curricula) and the received curriculum (the collectively assumed efficacious practices and goals handed…