This research examined whether the informational advantage of an animation over a static picture (and over no visualizations as a control condition) can be compensated by presenting the information in the text that constitutes this informational advantage. In addition, it was investigated whether learners' spatial abilities acted as a compensator…

Understanding the factors that contribute to an effective teacher has the potential to influence selection and preparation of pre-service teachers and may influence student outcomes. Prior research suggests a relationship between teacher characteristics (academic achievement, verbal ability, gender) and teacher effectiveness, however, these…

The study is based on an implementation of the basic steps of the Change Laboratory methodology (Engeström, Virkkunen, Helle, Pihlaja & Poikela, 1996) at the University of Ioannina. It was derived by a discussion with master's students during a course about science education curricula in pre-school and primary education and their effectiveness…

In recent years, the number of new asylum applications in Germany has risen with a peak in 2015. Many refugees arrive with high levels of prior education and corresponding educational aspirations. Hence, German universities and preparatory colleges (so-called 'Studienkollegs') have created additional preparatory courses and supporting services for…

This study examines the effectiveness of classroom experiments conducted before the relevant theories were taught. The experiments were used to provide students with first-hand experience of decision-making under various rivalry settings and to demonstrate several key predictions of oligopoly models. Statistical methods were used to analyze the…

We explore the sources of student engagement with curricular content in an Introductory Physics for Life Science (IPLS) course at Swarthmore College. Do IPLS students find some life-science contexts more interesting than others, and, if so, what are the sources of these differences? We draw on three sources of student data to answer this question:…

At a Texas community college, stakeholders wanted to strengthen the financial literacy module offered in the student development course for undergraduates. The problem was that no formative data existed on students' financial literacy, and it was not known if knowledge of financial literacy for students who participated in a prior financial…

This article proposes ways to authentically amplify writer's workshop for emergent bilinguals. Through the study of one bilingual teacher's mediation in teaching, we examined the affordances that translanguaging and transmodal practices have for emergent bilingual students' writing processes. In this case study, we focused on a writing sequence…

Although much research on English for specific purposes (ESP) has been conducted, little focus has been placed on investigating the mechanisms involved in ESP readers' comprehension process. This case study explored the reading process that characterizes a competent ESP reader's comprehension. A juris doctor student attending a major university in…

This investigation examined the approaches bilingual education elementary teachers implemented to develop student science and English language understanding. In this investigation, teachers used Proficiency Level Descriptors (PLDs) to assess bilingual-ELs' (BLs) English writing understanding. Teacher interviews, student writing samples, and the…

African township schools are characterised by cultural and linguistic diversity, hence, teachers have the dual task of ensuring that learners grasp scientific concepts, while also catering for the diversity in the learners' backgrounds. The study reported on here was aimed at investigating teachers' beliefs and practices in teaching life sciences…

This paper explores how a monolingual English-speaking teacher working with transnational emergent multilinguals (TEMs) in a sheltered English classroom in the U.S. capitalized on students' interjections turning them into teachable moments. Specifically, it explores how these instances allowed the teacher to model and teach TEMs how to draw on…

The paper presents an analysis of engagement markers in the Lectures on Physics by eminent scientist and Nobel prizewinner R. P. Feynman, based on K. Hyland's model of interaction in academic discourse as stance and engagement. The Lectures were taught at the California Institute of Technology during 1961-63 and, having been turned into a…

Ages 10-14 mark a period in which children develop a strong sense of whether science is 'for them,' a time that typically coincides with the start of middle school in the United States and their first exposure to more rigorous science classes and testing. Experiences with science in and out of school can shape children's motivation to choose…

Universities across the United States are grappling with both funding and enrollment pressures and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Decreasing state funding coupled with lower birth rates of the recent past (Grawe, 2018) are forcing colleges and universities to rethink enrollment and retention strategies. Amid the push to…