Background and Context: Historically, women have been underrepresented in computer science. To address this gender gap, researchers advocate for high-quality computer science programs for early childhood. Objectives: This study examines gender differences in coding performance before and after implementing a 24-lesson visual programming curriculum…

Students' individual characteristics influence the effectiveness of instruction and learning and, therefore, the depth of learning. This study brings forth the voices of middle school students regarding their science learning preferences through four modalities: visual, auditory, sensorimotor, and agency support. We examined the relationship…

Energy is a central concept across the sciences and an important goal of science education is to support all students so that they develop a full understanding of the energy concept. However, given the abstract and complex nature of the energy concept, only a few students develop an understanding so that they can use energy ideas to make sense of…

The dissertation consists of three studies that are the process of designing, developing, and evaluating generative-AI-powered story-authoring platforms for children. The first study focuses on the formative study on how stakeholders in education (i.e., teachers, parents, and students) perceive and leverage generative AI platforms (i.e., ChatGPT…

This study examines the challenges of female doctoral students in China at the intersection of neoliberal education and Confucian gender roles. Employing qualitative interviews with 12 students, it explores how they navigate academic pressures and societal expectations. Leveraging Margaret Archer's reflexivity theory, key findings show that these…

According to Self-Determination Theory, teachers can enhance their students' motivation, engagement, and learning through need-supportive teaching, which involves providing autonomy support, structure, and involvement. However, within classes, there appears to be great variation in the degree to which teachers support students' psychological…

This research explores the impact of ChatGPT, an AI tool, on ESL students' writing proficiency at a Saudi Arabian university. Using a mixed-methods approach, data from 130 students showed a significant positive effect on their writing. A focus group interview with six students highlighted opportunities such as personalized feedback, language skill…

In two different occasions in the twentieth century John Dewey and Maxine Greene stressed the point that educators should attend to 'what the known demands of us'. Following this dictum, from a critical perspective and with a constructive pedagogical spirit, in this paper we portray a new paradigm for values education that addresses the major…

This article takes a deep dive into my doctoral journey and my lived experience as an emerging Black African scholar doing decolonial research in a South African colonial and Westernized university. I wrestle with the contradictions and tensions that emerged during this period that took place at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. I also look back…

This study navigates the constructive role of English as a foreign language (EFL) as a critical intercultural discourse of locus of enunciation and linguistic citizenship through which teachers in Chinese educational context act as agents of action and social change. Based on a critical discourse analysis of learner diary entries, the study traces…

The current experimental study among 451 Belgian adolescents examined how televised narratives that suggest that academic performance can change with hard work and effort (i.e. malleability narrative) compared to narratives that focus on inability to change academic performances (i.e. fixed narrative) differently affect academic self-perceptions,…

For adolescent girls living in highly marginalized contexts, agency is part of an everyday struggle. Girls make decisions about their lives while navigating social structures, norms, and systems. Yet the agency of girls and young women living in marginalized contexts is often misunderstood, unrecognized, underdeveloped, and/or actively stifled.…

This qualitative study examined the perspectives of educational professionals on integrating H5P technology to foster self-regulated learning (SRL) in blended learning environments at a post-secondary institution in Ontario, Canada. Using a phenomenological approach, data were collected through semi-structured interviews with five educators, five…

Undergraduate students from lower social class backgrounds may experience poorer academic and life satisfaction when encountering classism in higher education. However, few studies have examined links among classism, career, academic, and well-being outcomes among undergraduate students, and existing studies have been cross-sectional. Therefore,…

Psychological well-being is fundamental for adolescents to be adaptive and fully functioning in the environment. For adolescents who stay in boarding school, even though they are away from their parents due to boarding school rules, parents still have a role to provide support and direct their behavior through parental control. On the other hand,…