This paper reports the findings of the second year of a four-year empirical research project. Its aim is to modify 'step-by-step' instructions for practical activities in a way that may enable the development of experimental design skills among junior high school learners. Each school year pupils spend six lessons doing practical activities using…

Background/Context: Observational studies often employ regression discontinuity (RD) designs and multiple control-group designs to explore the causal quantities of interest. RD designs assess policy and program effectiveness by assigning subjects to treatment based on whether they exceed a pre-defined cutoff. RD designs are classified into two…

Astronomy education is essential for STEM education in primary schools, and integrating engineering design-based science education enhances student engagement and achievement in the field of space science. Integrating engineering design into science education is essential for students to excel in astronomy and to meet the requirements of…

Recently developed randomized-test procedures for two independent-samples single-case designs are presented and applied to a memory-strategy intervention study with eight underperforming students from low SES backgrounds. Research design aspects, data-analysis features, and various output measures are provided to demonstrate the potential utility…

Background/Context: Some observational studies involve multiple layers of treatment selection, specifically in the context of the extended time accommodation (ETA) for English language learners (ELLs). In ETA settings, the first selection occurs due to the eligibility rule, where students whose ELL English proficiency is below a certain threshold…

Background: Over the past 20 years, much has been written about the merits and limitations of matching methods, particularly propensity score matching (see, e.g., Stuart, 2010 for a review of matching approaches), and the myriad ways matching can be implemented to identify a comparison group that is similar to the treatment group on observable…

Findings from experimental studies have increasingly been used to inform policy in school settings. Thus far, the populations in many of these studies are typically defined in a cross-sectional context; namely, the populations are defined in the same academic year in which the study took place or the population is defined at a fixed time point.…

Despite great interest in the transformative mixed methods, an example of using vignettes in a multiphase mixed methods interventional study has been lacking. This study investigates the social justice problem of poverty in the context of financial education with Hong Kong early adolescent ethnic minority students. The discussion contributes to…

These are the appendices for the report "The Effects of an Academic Language Program on Student Reading Outcomes." This study investigated WordGen Elementary, a program designed to improve fourth- and fifth-grade students' ability to understand and communicate academic language and their general reading skill. The program provider…

This follow-up study presents a design-based research (DBR) setting implemented over a three-year project called 'eKidZ - Teach Your Parents Well' which uses research-based learning and follows the four phases of DBR. In an iterative cycle, 20 teenagers aged 14-16 took on the role of researchers and investigated intergenerational learning and the…

Due to the vast territory, there are problems of unbalanced development of education and students' ability level in China. In order to explore the relation between regional education equity and the development of students' scientific ability, and to better promote the development of education and students' growth, it is urgent to carry out the…

Gifted students who were in a fifth-grade telescoped math class during the 2013-2014 school year participated in an in-person qualitative research study regarding their identity development. During the 2019-2020 school year, these same students, who were now juniors and seniors in high school, were contacted to participate in a follow-up study.…

Monitoring the Future (MTF) is an ongoing research program conducted at the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research under a series of investigator-initiated research grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse beginning in 1975. The integrated MTF study includes annual surveys of nationally-representative samples of 8th, 10th,…

Ratio and proportional relationships, along with the interrelated topics of fractions,decimals, and percent, provide a critical foundation for algebra (National Mathematics Advisory Panel, 2008). Proportional reasoning, which not only requires understanding the concept of ratios and that two or more ratios are equal, also requires the ability to…

In my doctoral program, students are immersed in research from the onset. This study was my second-year team study, intended to provide me with experience designing and implementing single case design research. Building on a study from the previous year, I developed an idea to further examine methods for promoting listening comprehension for…