Seeds of Algebraic Thinking comes from the Knowledge in Pieces (KiP) perspective of learning. KiP is a systems approach to learning that stems from the constructivist idea that people learn by building on prior knowledge. As people experience the world, they acquire small, sub-conceptual knowledge elements. When people engage in a particular…

For the past decade, the College of Chemistry at UC Berkeley has iteratively redesigned general chemistry laboratory courses to introduce students to green chemistry concepts, while simultaneously using green chemistry as a relevant context to learn chemistry. To investigate the effectiveness of this curriculum we developed approaches to…

From the experiential learning perspective, this study investigates middle and high school students (n = 1009) who used an online module to learn about wildfire hazards, risks, and impacts through computational simulations of wildfire phenomena. These students were taught by 18 teachers in urban, rural, and suburban schools across the United…

This Family and Practitioner Brief discusses how deaf children who have not had access to a complete language from birth often encounter unique challenges in developing academic language skills, particularly in the realm of inference-making.

Rural adolescents are at risk for firearm-related injury and death. In response, professional organizations have called for communication between adolescents, parents, and providers about firearms. A shared understanding of firearms between providers and families can facilitate effectiveness of health interventions. However, few studies engage…

Many learners seem to struggle to grasp the concepts of forces and Newton's law of motion, possibly owing to decontextualised teaching pedagogies used in science classrooms. This study investigates Grade 11 Physical Sciences teachers' perspectives in South Africa on integrating Indigenous Knowledge (IK) to improve learners' understanding of…

The perceptions of students who study environmental science related to pollution are certainly different because they are influenced by various circumstances. These circumstances, among others, depend on what they observe around them and their prior knowledge. This study aimed to determine the concept of pollution according to the cognitive…

This study examined the extent to which college algebra instructors employ pedagogical practices previously found to assist students master difficult STEM content material and address their own previous math deficits. Faculty classroom behaviors were assessed with a modified version of the Generalized Observation and Reflection Platform (GORP).…

Introductory science courses can be a struggle for instructors and students not only because of the challenging nature of the material, but also due to differences in the background knowledge of students. Provision of pre-lecture resources reviewing or introducing key concepts is recommended to support diverse students. In this paper, we describe…

Nowadays, mathematics teachers in K-12 strive to promote their students' mathematical knowledge and computational thinking (CT) skills. There is an increasing need for effective CT-embedded mathematics learning material and a better understanding of students' views toward them. In this work, we present the results of a research study, which…

While existing studies have underscored the educational benefits of generating explanatory hypotheses (EHs) in response to unexpected outcomes, empirical research on the underlying mechanisms driving their effectiveness in science learning remains limited. Thus, this study aimed to empirically examine the effectiveness of generating an EH for…

A cohort of pre-service mathematics students was exposed to a teaching strategy based on retrieval practice and test-potentiated learning. The aim of the study was to determine how high and low prior topic knowledge study participants compare in terms of their procedural fluency and conceptual understanding after exposure to the teaching strategy.…

Presenting novel numbers about climate change to people after they estimate those numbers can shift their attitudes and scientific conceptions. Prior research suggests that such science learning can be supported by encouraging learners to make use of given benchmark information, however there are several other numerical estimation skills that may…

Students experience many difficulties learning the fundamental relationships in Newtonian mechanics, partly due to preexisting mental models that originate from their everyday lives. These preconceptions often persist even after instruction in mechanics and lead to a supposed incompatibility between physics lessons in school and personal…

Leveraging the effectiveness of Concept-Based Language Instruction (C-BLI) in language teaching and learning, including in the teaching of specific linguistic features of target languages (Negueruela, 2003; Van Compernolle, 2012), pragmatic elements such as sarcasm (Kim & Lantolf, 2018), and even discipline-specific concepts (e.g., Casal,…