Nearly every secondary-age student must complete homework for their classes, and for many students with disabilities, completing homework at home is a struggle. Students with disabilities often require substantial support to execute homework assignments, and this responsibility frequently falls to their families. This dynamic can create a…

Early adolescents entering middle school are at a pivotal developmental phase as they become less dependent on parents/guardians and seek greater autonomy while encountering a complexity of social demands requiring them to regulate their emotions, thoughts, and behaviors to achieve academic and social success. Yet, students who receive services…

Physical education is often viewed as a public health tool that can be used to increase the amount of physical activity young people engage in. However, not only should the amount of physical activity at school and in physical education lessons be increased, but students should also acquire the knowledge, skills, motivation and responsibility that…

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) put forth an aspiring call for science educators to enact instructional experiences that enable all students to participate in the real-world practices of science. To achieve this, teachers need to create classroom environments that will attract all students to science learning and support and sustain…

Decades of motivation research have yielded a set of Motivation Design Principles (MDPs) that can be leveraged to support the development of student motivation and engagement in the classroom. This article addresses the translation of these guiding principles to teacher professional learning and subsequently, classroom practice. Drawing from…

Motivational interviewing (MI) is an established, research-based intervention that focuses on building intrinsic motivation to promote lasting, healthy changes in a variety of situations. In school settings, MI has been used to improve student motivation, attendance, punctuality, confidence in schoolwork, and self-determination as well as increase…

Gaming the system, a behavior in which learners exploit a system's properties to make progress while avoiding learning, has frequently been shown to be associated with lower learning. However, when we applied a previously validated gaming detector across conditions in experiments with an algebra tutor, the detected gaming was not associated with…

Virtual reality (VR) is an innovative technology that is rapidly gaining popularity in and out of the classroom. With improvements in hardware and software technology and the push for one-to-one computing, teachers have access to innovative VR supports and resources. These innovative technologies have the potential to improve instruction for…

Policies and practices in middle school continue to perpetuate inequities faced by students from historically marginalized groups. In the current article, we present a literature review that focuses on feedback as one avenue by which inequities are exacerbated, specifically for Black and Latiné middle school students. Furthermore, we describe…

In this paper, we describe the design, development, and implementation of a curriculum based on teaching computer science using an industry-standard game-design software: Unity 3D. We discuss the theoretical underpinnings of our instructional design process and steps we have taken to introduce complexity and maintain student motivation. We discuss…

VR is not a space-age novelty for intense video gamers. It is a legitimate digital tool that can enhance the English language arts (ELA) curriculum and enrich--but not replace--traditional pedagogy. And it is surprisingly easy to implement, even for introductory-level technology users. In this article, the authors discuss the strategies and tools…

Inspiration from 'Confessions of a Shopaholic' led this team to explore how comics can be used for mathematics instruction about percentages. In this article, the authors describe how they conceptualised and developed a teaching package that uses comics to teach percentage concepts to Grade 7 students (age 13 to 14) in Singapore. It goes on to…

Using innovative technologies to study Mars and the sun and other stars is one way to engage learners in learning more about our solar system and how it impacts us on a daily basis. The focus of this paper is to highlight several innovative technologies such as augmented reality and virtual reality that are easily accessible by educators and…

Of the four subjects in an integrated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) approach, mathematics has not received enough focus. This could be in part because mathematics teachers may be apprehensive or unsure about how to implement integrated STEM education in their classrooms. There are benefits to integrated STEM in a…

This presentation will focus on the use of live action and video instruction as a method of content dissemination and to motivate students in learning in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education. Specifically, this area, dubbed "edutainment", will chronicle different interactions with students, teachers and…